Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

This paper by Karimian et al proposes an oscillator model tuned to implement binding by synchrony (BBS*) principles in a visual task. The authors set out to show how well these BBS principles explain human behavior in figure-ground segregation tasks. The model is inspired by electrophysiological findings in non-human primates, suggesting that gamma oscillations in early visual cortex implement feature-binding through a synchronization of feature-selective neurons. The psychophysics experiment involves the identification of a figure consisting of gabor annuli, presented on a background of gabor annuli. The participants' task is to identify the orientation of the figure. The task difficulty is varied based on the contrast and density of the gabor annuli that make up the figure. The same figures (without the background) are used as inputs to the oscillator model. The authors report that both the discrimination accuracy in the psychophysics experiment and the synchrony of the oscillators in the proposed model follow a similar "Arnold Tongue" relationship when depicted as a function of the texture-defining features of the figure. This finding is interpreted as evidence for BBS/gamma synchrony being the underlying mechanism of the figure-ground segregation.

• Note that I chose to use "BBS" over gamma synchrony (used by the authors) in this review, as I am not convinced that the authors show evidence for synchronization in the gamma-band.

Strengths:

The design of the proposed model is well-informed by electrophysiological findings, and the idea of using computational modeling to bridge between intracranial recordings in non-human primates and behavioral results in human participants is interesting. Previous work has criticized the BBS synchrony theory based on the observation that synchronization in the gamma-band is highly localized and the frequency of the oscillation depends on the visual features of the stimulus. I appreciate how the authors demonstrate that frequency-dependence and local synchronization can be features of BBS, and not contradictory to the theory. As such, I feel that this work has the potential to contribute meaningfully to the debate on whether BBS is a biophysically realistic model of feature-binding in visual cortex.

Weaknesses:

I have several concerns regarding the presented claims, assessment of meaning and size of the presented effects, particularly with regard to the absence of a priori defined effect sizes.

Firstly, the paper makes strong claims about the frequency-specificity (i.e., gamma synchrony) and anatomical correlates (early visual cortex) of the observed effects. These claims are informed by previous electrophysiological work in non-human primates but are not directly supported by the paper itself. For instance, the title contains the word "gamma synchrony", but the authors do not demonstrate any EEG/MEG or intracranial data in from their human subjects supporting such claims, nor do they demonstrate that the frequencies in the oscillator model are within the gamma band. I think that the paper should more clearly distinguish between statements that are directly supported by the paper (such as: "an oscillator model based on BBS principles accounts for variance in human behavior") and abstract inferences based on the literature (such as "these effects could be attributed to gamma oscillations in early visual cortex, as the model was designed based on those principles").

Secondly, unlike the human participants, the model strictly does not perform figure-ground segregation, as it only receives the figure as an input. Finally, it is unclear what effect sizes the authors would have expected a priori, making it difficult to assess whether their oscillator model represents the data well or poorly. I consider this a major concern, as the relationship between the synchrony of the oscillatory model and the performance of the human participants is confounded by the visual features of the figure. Specifically, the authors use the BBS literature to motivate the hypothesis that perception of the texture-defined figure is related to the density and contrast heterogeneity of the texture elements (gabor annuli) of the figure. This hypothesis has to be true regardless of synchrony, as the figure will be easier to spot if it consists of a higher number of high-contrast gabors than the background. As the frequency and phase of the oscillators and coupling strength between oscillators in the grid change as a function of these visual features, I wonder how much of the correlation between model synchrony and human performance is mediated by the features of the figure. To interpret to what extent the similarity between model and human behavior relies on the oscillatory nature of the model, the authors should find a way to estimate an empirical threshold that accounts for these confounding effects. Alternatively, it would be interesting to understand whether a model based on competing theories (e.g., Binding by Enhanced Firing, Roelfsema, 2023) would perform better or worse at explaining the data.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

The authors aimed to investigate whether gamma synchrony serves a functional role in figure-ground perception. They specifically sought to test whether the stimulus-dependence of gamma synchrony, often considered a limitation, actually facilitates perceptual grouping. Using the theory of weakly coupled oscillators (TWCO), they developed a framework wherein synchronization depends on both frequency detuning (related to contrast heterogeneity) and coupling strength (related to proximity between visual elements). Through psychophysical experiments with texture discrimination tasks and computational modeling, they tested whether human performance follows patterns predicted by TWCO and whether perceptual learning enhances synchrony-based grouping.

Strengths:

(1) The theoretical framework connecting TWCO to visual perception is innovative and well-articulated, providing a potential mechanistic explanation for how gamma synchrony might contribute to both feature binding and separation.

(2) The methodology combines psychophysical measurements with computational modeling, with a solid quantitative agreement between model predictions and human performance.

(3) In particular, the demonstration that coupling strengths can be modified through experience is remarkable and suggests gamma synchrony could be an adaptable mechanism that improves with visual learning.

(4) The cross-validation approach, wherein model parameters derived from macaque neurophysiology successfully predict human performance, strengthens the biological plausibility of the framework.

Weaknesses:

(1) The highly controlled stimuli are far removed from natural scenes, raising questions about generalisability. But, of course, control (almost) excludes ecological validity. The study does not address the challenges of natural vision or leverage the rich statistical structure afforded by natural scenes.

(2) The experimental design appears primarily confirmatory rather than attempting to challenge the TWCO framework or test boundary conditions where it might fail.

(3) Alternative explanations for the observed behavioral effects are not thoroughly explored. While the model provides a good fit to the data, this does not conclusively prove that gamma synchrony is the actual mechanism underlying the observed effects.

(4) Direct neurophysiological evidence linking the observed behavioral effects to gamma synchrony in humans is absent, creating a gap between the model and the neural mechanism.

Achievement of Aims and Support for Conclusions:

The authors largely achieved their primary aim of demonstrating that human figure-ground perception follows patterns predicted by TWCO principles. Their psychophysical results reveal a behavioral "Arnold tongue" that matches the synchronization patterns predicted by their model, and their learning experiment shows that perceptual improvements correlate with predicted increases in synchrony.

The evidence supports their conclusion that gamma synchrony could serve as a viable neural grouping mechanism for figure-ground segregation. However, the conclusion that "stimulus-dependence of gamma synchrony is adaptable to the statistics of visual experiences" is only partially supported, as the study uses highly controlled artificial stimuli rather than naturalistic visual statistics, or shows a sensitivity to the structure of experience.

Likely Impact and Utility:

This work offers a fresh perspective on the functional role of gamma oscillations in visual perception. The integration of TWCO with perceptual learning provides a novel theoretical framework that could influence future research on neural synchrony.

The computational model, with parameters derived from neurophysiological data, offers a useful tool for predicting perceptual performance based on synchronization principles. This approach might be extended to study other perceptual phenomena and could inspire designs for artificial vision systems.

The learning component of the study may have a particular impact, as it suggests a mechanism by which perceptual expertise develops through modified coupling between neural assemblies. This could influence thinking about perceptual learning more broadly, but also raises questions about the underlying mechanism that the paper does not address.

Additional Context:

Historically, the functional significance of gamma oscillations has been debated, with early theories of temporal binding giving way to skepticism based on gamma's stimulus-dependence. This study reframes this debate by suggesting that stimulus-dependence is exactly what makes gamma useful for perceptual grouping.

The successful combination of computational neuroscience and psychophysics is a significant strength of this study.

The field would benefit from future work extending (if possible) these findings to more naturalistic stimuli and directly measuring neural activity during perceptual tasks. Additionally, studies comparing predictions from synchrony-based models against alternative mechanisms would help establish the specificity of the proposed framework.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

The manuscript Kroon et al. described two algorithms, which when combined achieve high throughput automation of "martinizing" protein structures with selected protonation states and post-translational modifications.

The authors have addressed all of my concerns as provided previously. Specifically, Figure S2 will be a very useful guideline for future improvement (e.g., parallelization) of the code.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

This work introduces a Vermouth library framework to enhance software development within the Martini community. Specifically, it presents a Vermouth-powered program, Martinize2, for generating coarse-grained structures and topologies from atomistic structures. In addition to introducing the Vermouth library and the Martinize2 program, this paper illustrates how Martinize2 identifies atoms, maps them to the Martini model, generates topology files, and identifies protonation states or post-translational modifications. Compared with the prior version, the authors provide a new figure to show that Martinize2 can be applied to various molecules, such as proteins, cofactors, and lipids. To demonstrate the general application, Martinize2 was used for converting 73% of 87,084 protein structures from the template library, with failed cases primarily blamed on missing coordinates.

I appreciate the changes that the authors made to clarify the novelty. I have no doubt this paper will receive attention and citations.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

In this study, the authors provide a new computational platform called Vermouth to automate topology generation, a crucial step that any biomolecular simulation starts with. Given a wide arrange of chemical structures that need to be simulated, varying qualities of structural models as inputs obtained from various sources, and diverse force fields and molecular dynamics engines employed for simulations, automation of this fundamental step is challenging, especially for complex systems and in case that there is a need to conduct high-throughput simulations in the application of computer-aided drug design (CADD). To overcome this challenge, the authors develop a programing library composed of components that carry out various types of fundamental functionalities that are commonly encountered in topological generation. These components are intended to be general for any type of molecules and not to depend on any specific force field and MD engines. To demonstrate the applicability of this library, the authors employ those components to reassemble a pipeline called Martinize2 used in topology generation for simulations with a widely used coarse-grained model (CG) MARTINI. This pipeline can fully recapitulate the functionality of its original version Martinize but exhibit greatly enhanced generality, as confirmed by the ability of the pipeline to faithfully generate topologies for two high-complexity benchmarking sets of proteins.

Strengths:

The main strength of this work is the use of concepts and algorithms associated with induced subgraph in graph theory to automate several key but non-trivial steps of topology generation such as the identification of monomer residue units (MRU), the repair of input structures with missing atoms, the mapping of topologies between different resolutions, and the generation of parameters needed for describing interactions between MRUs. In addition, the documentation website provided by the authors is very informative, allowing users to get quickly started with Vermouth.

Weaknesses:

Although the Vermouth library can work for different force fields, exhibiting certain generality, its application has been demonstrated only with GROMACS. The extension of the library to other major MD engines could be future directions for improvement but may not be needed for this study.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

Work by Brosseau et. al. combines NMR, biochemical assays, and MD simulations to characterize the influence of the C-terminal tail of EmrE, a model multi-drug efflux pump, on proton leak. The authors compare the WT pump to a C-terminal tail deletion, delta_107, finding that the mutant has increased proton leak in proteoliposome assays, shifted pH dependence with a new titratable residue, faster alternating access at high pH values, and reduced growth, consistent with proton leak of the PMF.

Strengths:

The work combines thorough experimental analysis of structural, dynamic, and electrochemical properties of the mutant relative to WT proteins. The computational work is well aligned in vision and analysis. Although all questions are not answered, the authors lay out a logical exploration of the possible explanations.

Weaknesses:

A few analyses that were missing in the first submission were included/corrected in the revision.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

This manuscript explores the role of the C-terminal tail of EmrE in controlling uncoupled proton flux. Leakage occurs in the wild-type transporter under certain conditions but is amplified in the C-terminal truncation mutant D107. The authors use an impressive combination of growth assays, transport assays, NMR on WT and mutants with and without key substrates, classical MD, and reactive MD to address this problem. Overall, I think that the claims are well supported by the data, but I am most concerned about the reproducibility of the MD data, initial structures used for simulations, and the stochasticity of the water wire formation. These can all be addressed in a revision with more simulations as I point out below. I want to point out that the discussion was very nicely written, and I enjoyed reading the summary of the data and the connection to other studies very much.

Strengths:

The Henzler-Wildman lab is at the forefront of using quantitative experiments to probe the peculiarities in transporter biophysics, and the MD work from the Voth lab complements the experiments quite well. The sheer number of different types of experimental and computational approaches performed here is impressive.

Weaknesses:

The primary weaknesses are related to the reproducibility of the MD results with regard to the formation of water wires in the WT and truncation mutant. This could be resolved with simulations starting from structures built using very different loops and C-terminal tails.

The water wire gates identified in the MD should be tested experimentally with site-directed mutagenesis to determine if those residues do impact leak.

Comments on revisions:

Having reviewed the latest version of the manuscript, I continue to believe that this is a solid paper with important results. I find the new data regarding the computational pKa estimate of E14 compelling.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

This study addresses the roles of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in animal physiology and membrane function. A C. elegans strain carrying the fat-2(wa17) mutation possesses a very limited ability to synthesize PUFAs and there is no dietary input because the E. coli diet consumed by lab grown C. elegans does not contain any PUFAs. The fat-2 mutant strain was characterized to confirm that the worms grow slowly, have rigid membranes, and have a constitutive mitochondrial stress response. The authors showed that chemical treatments or mutations known to increase membrane fluidity did not rescue growth defects. A thorough genetic screen was performed to identify genetic changes to compensate for the lack of PUFAs. The newly isolated suppressor mutations that compensated for FAT-2 growth defects included intergenic suppressors in the fat-2 gene, as well as constitutive mutations in the hypoxia sensing pathway components EGL-9 and HIF-1, and loss of function mutations in ftn-2, a gene encoding the iron storage protein ferritin. Taken together, these mutations lead to the model that increased intracellular iron, an essential cofactor for fatty acid desaturases, allows the minimally functional FAT-2(wa17) enzyme to be more active, resulting in increased desaturation and increased PUFA synthesis.

Strengths:

(1) This study provides new information further characterizing fat-2 mutants. The authors measured increased rigidity of membranes compared to wild type worms, however this rigidity is not able to be rescued with other fluidity treatments such as detergent or mutants. Rescue was only achieved with polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation.

(2) A very thorough genetic suppressor screen was performed. In addition to some internal fat-2 compensatory mutations, the only changes in pathways identified that are capable of compensating for deficient PUFA synthesis was the hypoxia pathway and the iron storage protein ferritin. Suppressor mutations included an egl-9 mutation that constitutively activates HIF-1, and Gain of function mutations in hif-1 that are dominant. This increased activity of HIF conferred by specific egl-9 and hif-1 mutations lead to decreased expression of ftn-2. Indeed, loss of ftn-2 leads to higher intracellular iron. The increased iron apparently makes the FAT-2 fatty acid desaturase enzyme more active, allowing for the production of more PUFAs.

(3) The mutations isolated in the suppressor screen show that the only mutations able to compensate for lack of PUFAs were ones that increased PUFA synthesis by the defective FAT-2 desaturase, thus demonstrating the essential need for PUFAs that cannot be overcome by changes in other pathways. This is a very novel study, taking advantage of genetic analysis of C. elegans, and it confirms the observations in humans that certain essential PUFAs are required for growth and development.

(4) Overall, the paper is well written, and the experiments were carried out carefully and thoroughly. The conclusions are well supported by the results.

Weaknesses:

Overall, there are not many weaknesses. The main one I noticed is that the lipidomic analysis shown in Figs 3C, 7C, S1 and S3. While these data are an essential part of the analysis and provide strong evidence for the conclusions of the study, it is unfortunate that the methods used did not enable the distinction between two 18:1 isomers. These two isomers of 18:1 are important in C. elegans biology, because one is a substrate for FAT-2 (18:1n-9, oleic acid) and the other is not (18:1n-7, cis vaccenic acid). Although rarer in mammals, cis-vaccenic acid is the most abundant fatty acid in C. elegans and is likely the most important structural MUFA. The measurement of these two isomers is not essential for the conclusions of the study.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

The authors use a genetic screen in C. elegans to investigate the physiological roles of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). They screen for mutations that rescue fat-2 mutants, which have strong reductions in PUFAs. As a result, either mutations in fat-2 itself or mutations in genes involved in the HIF-1 pathway were found to rescue fat-2 mutants. Mutants in the HIF-1 pathway rescue fat-2 mutants by boosting their catalytic activity (via upregulated Fe2+). Thus, the authors show that in the context of fat-2 mutation, the sole genetic means to rescue PUFA insufficiency is to restore PUFA levels.

Strengths:

As C. elegans can produce PUFAs de novo as essential lipids, the genetic model is well-suited to study the fundamental roles of PUFAs. The genetic screen finds mutations in convergent pathways, suggesting that it has reached near-saturation. The authors extensively validate the results of the screening and provide sufficient mechanistic insights to show how PUFA levels are restored in HIF-1 pathway mutants. As many of the mutations found to rescue fat-2 mutants are of gain-of-function, it is unlikely that similar discoveries could have been made with other approaches like genome-wide CRISPR screenings, making the current study distinctive. Consequently, the study provides important messages. First, it shows that PUFAs are essential for life. The inability to genetically rescue PUFA deficiency, except for mutations that restore PUFA levels, suggests that they have pleiotropic essential functions. In addition, the results suggest that the most essential functions of PUFAs are not in fluidity regulation, which is consistent with recent reviews proposing that the importance of unsaturation goes beyond fluidity (doi: 10.1016/j.tibs.2023.08.004 and doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a041409). Thus, the study provides fundamental insights about how membrane lipid composition can be linked to biological functions.

Weaknesses:

The authors put in a lot of effort to answer the questions that arose through peer review, and now all the claims seem to be supported by experimental data. Thus, I do not see obvious weaknesses. Of course, it remains unclear what PUFAs do beyond fluidity regulation, but this is something that cannot be answered from a single study.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

In this manuscript the authors present a novel CRISPR/Cas9-based genetic tool for the dopamine receptor dop1R2. Based on the known function of the receptor in learning and memory, they tested the efficacy of the genetic tool by knocking out the receptor specifically in mushroom body neurons. The data suggest that dop1R2 is necessary for longer lasting memories through its action on ⍺/ß and ⍺'/ß' neurons but is dispensable for short-term memory and thus in ɣ neurons. The experiments impressively demonstrate the value of such a genetic tool and illustrate the specific function of the receptor in subpopulations of KCs for longer-term memories.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

This manuscript examines the role of the dopamine receptor, Dop1R2, in memory formation. This receptor has complex roles in supporting different stages of memory, and the neural mechanisms for these functions is poorly understood. The authors are able to localize Dop1R2 function to the vertical lobes of the mushroom body, revealing a role in later (presumably middle-term) aversive and appetitive memory. In general the experimental design is rigorous, and statistics are appropriately applied. The manuscript provides a thorough assessment of how Dop1R2 functions within the mushroom bodies to regulate protein-synthesis dependent and independent memory, and provides a valuable new tool for the community.

Strengths:

(1) The FRT lines generated provide a novel tool for temporal and spatially precise manipulation of Dop1R2 function. This tool will be valuable to study the role of Dop1R2 in memory and other behaviors potentially regulated by this gene.

(2) Given the highly conserved role of Dop1R2 in memory and other processes, these findings have high potential to translate to vertebrate species.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

Kaldun et al. investigated the role of Dopamine Receptor Dop1R2 in different types and stages of olfactory associative memory in Drosophila melanogaster. Dop1R2 is a type 1 Dopamine receptor that can act both through Gs-cAMP and Gq-ERCa2+ pathways. The authors first developed a sophisticated tool where tissue-specific knock-out mutants can be generated using Crispr/Cas9 technology in combination with the Gal4/UAS gene-expression toolkit. They direct the K.O. mutation to intrinsic neurons of the main associative memory centre fly brain: the mushroom body (MB). There are three main types of MB-neurons, or Kenyon cells, according to their axonal projections: a/b; a'/b' and g neurons.

Kaldun et al. found that, while not required for short-term memory, dop1R2 is necessary in a/b and a'/b' but not in gamma neurons to display normal appetitive and aversive middle-term (2h) and long-term (24h) memory. These results showcase a compartmentalized role of Dop1R2 in specific neuronal subtypes of the main memory centre of the fly brain for the expression of middle and long-term memories.

The conclusions of this paper are very well supported by the data, and the authors systematically addressed the requirement of a very interesting type of dopamine receptor in both appetitive and aversive memories. These findings are important for the fields of learning and memory and dopaminergic neuromodulation, among others.

Importantly, the authors of this paper produced a tool to generate tissue-specific knock out mutants of dop1R2. Although reports on the requirement of this gene in different memory phases exist, the genetic tools used here represent the most sophisticated approach to induce a loss of function phenotypes in neurons of interest.

Overall, the authors generated a very useful tool to study dopamine neuromodulation in any given circuit when used in combination with the powerful genetic toolkit available in Drosophila. The reports on this paper confirmed a previously described role of Dop1R2 in the expression of aversive and appetitive LTM providing spatio-temporal resolution and additionally, they mapped these effects to two types of memory neurons in the fly brain, shedding light into the intricate modulation of dopamine in memory circuits.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

The study by Deng et al reports single cell expression analysis of developing mouse hearts and examines the requirements for cardiac fibroblasts in heart maturation. The work includes extensive gene expression profiling and bioinformatic analysis. The prenatal fibroblast ablation studies show new information on the requirement of these cells on heart maturation before birth.

The strengths of the manuscript are the new single cell datasets and comprehensive approach to ablating cardiac fibroblasts in pre and postnatal development in mice. Extensive data are presented on mouse embryo fibroblast diversity and morphology in response to fibroblast ablation. Histological data support localization of major cardiac cell types and effects of fibroblast ablation on cardiac gene expression at different times of development.

A weakness of the study is that the major conclusions regarding collagen signaling and heart maturation are based on gene expression patterns and are not functionally validated.

Comments on Revised Version (from BRE):

Most of my comments have been adequately addressed. Additional comments on new data in the revised manuscript are below.

(1) In the new figure S11, it is not really possible to draw major conclusions on mitral valve morphology and maturation since the planes of sections to not seem comparable. Observations regarding attachment to the papillary muscle might be dependent on the particular section being evaluated. However, it is useful to see that the valves are not severely affected in the ablated animals.

(2) In the last supplemental figure S19, it is not possible to determine if results are or are not statistically significant for n=2 as shown for FS and EF for the ablated animals and controls. The text says that there is a trend of improved heart function, but evaluation of additional animals is needed to support this conclusion.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

This study aims to elucidate the role of fibroblasts in regulating myocardium and vascular development through signaling to cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells. This focus is significant, given that fibroblasts, cardiomyocytes, and vascular endothelial cells are the three primary cell types in the heart. The authors employed a Pdgfra-CreER-controlled diphtheria toxin A (DTA) system to ablate fibroblasts at various embryonic and postnatal stages, characterizing the resulting cardiac defects, particularly in myocardium and vasculature development. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis of the ablated hearts identified collagen as a crucial signaling molecule from fibroblasts that influences the development of cardiomyocytes and vascular endothelial cells.

This is an interesting manuscript; however, there are several major issues, including an over-reliance on the scRNA-seq data, which shows inconsistencies between replicates.

Some of the major issues are described below.

(1) The CD31 immunostaining data (Figure 3B-G) indicate a reduction in endothelial cell numbers following fibroblast deletion using PdgfraCreER+/-; RosaDTA+/- mice. However, the scRNA-seq data show no percentage change in the endothelial cell population (Figure 4D). Furthermore, while the percentage of Vas_ECs decreased in ablated samples at E16.5, the results at E18.5 were inconsistent, showing an increase in one replicate and a decrease in another, raising concerns about the reliability of the RNA-seq findings.

(2) Similarly, while the percentage of Ven_CMs increased at E18.5, it exhibited differing trends at E16.5 (Fig. 4E), further highlighting the inconsistency of the scRNA-seq analysis with the other data.

(3) Furthermore, the authors noted that the ablated samples had slightly higher percentages of cardiomyocytes in the G1 phase compared to controls (Fig. 4H, S11D), which aligns with the enrichment of pathways related to heart development, sarcomere organization, heart tube morphogenesis, and cell proliferation. However, it is unclear how this correlates with heart development, given that the hearts of ablated mice are significantly smaller than those of controls (Figure 3E). Additionally, the heart sections from ablated samples used for CD31/DAPI staining in Figure 3F appear much larger than those of the controls, raising further inconsistencies in the manuscript.

(4) The manuscript relies heavily on the scRNA-seq dataset, which shows inconsistencies between the two replicates. Furthermore, the morphological and histological analyses do not align with the scRNA-seq findings.

(5) There is a lack of mechanistic insight into how collagen, as a key signaling molecule from fibroblasts, affects the development of cardiomyocytes and vascular endothelial cells.

(6) In Figure 1B, Col1a1 expression is observed in the epicardial cells (Figure 1A, E11.5), but this is not represented in the accompanying cartoon.

(7) Do the PdgfraCreER+/-; RosaDTA+/- mice survive after birth when induced at E15.5, and do they exhibit any cardiac defects?

Comments on Revised Version (from BRE):

The manuscript has greatly improved following the revision, and I have no additional comments to offer.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

The authors investigated fibroblasts' communication with key cell types in developing and neonatal hearts, with focus on critical roles of fibroblast-cardiomyocyte and fibroblast-endothelial cells network in cardiac morphogenesis. They tried to map the spatial distribution of these cell types and reported the major pathways and signaling molecules driving the communication. They also used Cre-DTA system to ablate Pdgfra labeled cells and observed myocardial and endothelial cell defects at development. They screened the pathways and genes using sequencing data of ablated heart. Lastly they reported a compensatory collagen expression in long term ablated neonate heart. Overall, this study provides us with important insight on fibroblasts' roles in cardiac development and will be a powerful resource for collagens and ECM focused research.

Strengths:

The authors utilized good analyzing tools to investigate on multiple database of single cell sequencing and Multi-seq. They identified significant pathways, cellular and molecular interactions of fibroblasts. Additionally, they compared some of their analytic findings with human database, and identified several groups of ECM genes with varying roles in mice.

Weaknesses:

This study is majorly based on sequencing data analysis. At the bench, they used very strident technique to study fibroblast functions by ablating one of the major cell population of heart. Also, experimental validation of their analyzed downstream pathways will be required eventually.

Comments on Revised Version (from BRE):

The authors did a good job addressing the questions asked at first review. However, I have some minor concerns.

(1) The paper notes that collagen signaling is observed in FB-VasEC in humans, but not in FB-VenCM, unlike mice. Did the authors analyze predictive ligand receptor interaction as they did with control and ablated mice heart? This could add valuable new insights that how FB regulate ventricular CM in human heart.

(2) The authors provided data on Defect in CD31 expression in several models. Did they observe any other phenotypes associated with defective endothelial or vascular system? Such as, blood accumulation in pericardium, larger/smaller capillaries? Did they also examine percentage of Cdh5+ cells?

(3) Please mention the sample age of Figure 2A-C.

(4) Please follow the same style to describe X axis in graphs in Figure 3D (and all similar graphs in the manuscript) as followed in 3G.

(5) It is important to provide echocardiographic M mode images with a comparable number of cardiac cycles in control and ablated (Fig. 6H).

(6) In the long-term neonatal ablation experiments, collagen expressions return to normal. The manuscript attributes this to possible "compensatory expression," Do they have any thoughts how this is regulated? Are other cell types stepping in, or are surviving FBs proliferating?

(7) While collagen is shown to be a dominant signaling molecule, its centrality is inferred primarily from scRNA-seq and ligand-receptor predictions. Did authors try any functional rescue experiment (e.g., exogenous collagen supplementation or receptor blockade) to directly validate this pathway's role in vivo?

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

In this study, authors propose an alternative platform for nanobody discovery using a phage-displayed synthetic library. Authors relied on DNA templates originally created by McMahon et al. (2018) to build the yeast-displayed synthetic library. To validate their platform, authors screened for nanobodies against 8 Drosophila secreted proteins. Nanobody screening has been performed with phage-displayed nanobody libraries followed by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to validate positive hits. Nanobodies with higher affinity have been then tested for immunostaining and immunoblotting applications using Drosophila adult guts and hemolymph, respectively.

Strengths:

The authors presented a detailed protocol with various and complementary approaches to select nanobodies and test their application for immunostaining and immunoblotting experiments. Data are convincing and the manuscript is well-written, clear and easy to read.

Weaknesses:

When using membrane-tethered forms of the antigens to test the affinity of nanobodies identified by ELISA, many nanobodies fail to recognize the antigens. While authors suggested a low affinity of these nanobodies for their antigens, this hypothesis has not been tested in the manuscript.

Improving the protocol at each step for nanobody selection would greatly increase a successful rate for nanobodies discovery with high affinity.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

This study uses MEG to test for a neural signature of the trial history effect known as 'serial dependence.' This is a behavioral phenomenon whereby stimuli are judged to be more similar than they really are, in feature space, to stimuli that were relevant in the recent past (i.e., the preceding trials). This attractive bias is prevalent across stimulus classes and modalities, but a neural source has been elusive. This topic has generated great interest in recent years, and I believe this study makes a unique contribution to the field.

Specifically, while previous neuroimaging studies have found apparent reactivations of previous information, or repulsive biases that may indirectly relate to serial dependence, here Fischer at al. find an attractive bias in neural activity patterns that aligns with the direction of the behavioral effect. Moreover, the data show that the bias emerges later in a trial, after perceptual encoding, which speaks to an ongoing debate about whether such biases are perceptual or decisional.

The revised preprint thoroughly addresses many of the initial concerns, but the results are still open to interpretation. For instance, the model training/testing regime allows that some training data timepoints may be inherently noisier than others (e.g., delay period more so than encoding), and potentially more (or differently) susceptible to bias. The S1 and S2 epochs show no attractive bias, but they may also be based on more high fidelity training sets (i.e., encoding), and therefore less susceptible to the bias that is evident in the retrocue epoch. So, the results could reflect that serial dependence is indeed a post-perceptual process, or it may instead be that the WM representations, as detected with these MEG analyses, become noisier and more subject to reveal the attractive bias over time.

The results are intriguing, but the study was not powered to examine whether there is any feature-specificity to the neural bias (e.g., whether it matches the behavioral pattern that biases are amplified within a particular range of feature distances between stimuli). Nor do analyses get at temporally precise information about when attractive and repulsive biases appear, which would help to better reconcile the work with previous findings. As in, the reconstructions average across coarse trial epochs. The S1 and S2 reconstructions show no attractive bias, and appear to show subtle repulsion, but if the timing were examined more precisely, we might see repulsion magnified at earlier timepoints that shift toward attraction at later time points, thereby counteracting the effect. That is to say that the averaging approach, across feature values and timepoints, still leaves these important theoretical questions unresolved.

Nonetheless, the work marks an important step in identifying the neurophysiological bases of serial dependence. Ideally, all of the data, including the eye-tracking, would be made available so that others might try to address some of these follow-up questions.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

The study aims to probe the neural correlates of visual serial dependence - the phenomenon that estimates of a visual feature (here motion direction) are attracted towards the recent history of encoded and reported stimuli. The authors utilize an established retro-cue working memory task together with magnetoencephalography, which allows to probe neural representations of motion direction during encoding and retrieval (retro-cue) periods of each trial. The main finding is that neural representations of motion direction are not systematically biased during the encoding of motion stimuli, but are attracted towards the motion direction of the previous trial's target during the retrieval (retro-cue period), just prior to the behavioral response. By demonstrating a neural signature of attractive biases in working memory representations, which align with attractive behavioral biases, this study highlights the importance of post-encoding memory processes in visual serial dependence.

Strengths:

The main strength of the study is its elegant use of a retro-cue working memory task together with high temporal resolution MEG, enabling to probe neural representations related to stimulus encoding and working memory. The behavioral task elicits robust behavioral serial dependence and replicates previous behavioral findings by the same research group. The careful neural decoding analysis benefits from a large number of trials per participant, considering the slow-paced nature of the working memory paradigm. This is crucial in a paradigm with considerable trial-by-trial behavioral variability (serial dependence biases are typically small, relative to the overall variability in response errors). While the current study is broadly consistent with previous studies showing that attractive biases in neural responses are absent during stimulus encoding (prev. studies reported repulsive biases), to my knowledge, it is the first study showing attractive biases in current stimulus representations during working memory. The study also connects to previous literature showing reactivations of previous stimulus representations, although the link between reactivations and biases remains somewhat vague in the current manuscript. Together, the study reveals an interesting avenue for future studies investigating the neural basis of visual serial dependence.

Weaknesses:

The main weakness of the current manuscript is that the authors could have done more analyses to address the concern that their neural decoding results are driven by signals related to eye movements. The authors show that participants' gaze position systematically depended on the current stimuli's motion directions, which, together with previous studies on eye movement-related confounds in neural decoding, justifies such a concern. The authors seek to rule out this confound by showing that the consistency of stimulus-dependent gaze position does not correlate with (a) the neural reconstruction fidelity and (b) the attractive shift in reconstructed motion direction. However, the authors' approach of quantifying stimulus-dependent eye movements only considers gaze angle and not gaze amplitude, and thus potentially misses important features of eye movements that could manifest in the MEG data. Moreover, it is unclear whether the gaze consistency metric should correlate with attractive history biases in neural decoding, if there were a confound. These two concerns could be potentially addressed by (1) directly decoding stimulus motion direction from x-y gaze coordinates and relating this decoding performance to neural reconstruction fidelity, and (2) investigating whether gaze coordinates themselves are history-dependent and are attracted to the average gaze position associated with the previous trials' target stimulus. If the authors could show that (2) is not the case, I would be much more convinced that their main finding is not driven by eye movement confounds.

The sample size (n = 10) is definitely at the lower end of sample sizes in this field. The authors collected two sessions per participant, which partly alleviates the concern. However, given that serial dependencies can be very variable across participants, I believe that future studies should aim for larger sample sizes.

It would have been great to see an analysis in source space. As the authors mention in their introduction, different brain areas, such as PPC, mPFC and dlPFC have been implicated in serial biases. This begs the question which brain areas contribute to the serial dependencies observed in the current study? For instance, it would be interesting to see whether attractive shifts in current representations and pre-stimulus reactivations of previous stimuli are evident in the same or different brain areas.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

The study aims to probe the neural correlates of visual serial dependence - the phenomenon that estimates of a visual feature (here motion direction) are attracted towards the recent history of encoded and reported stimuli. The authors utilize an established retro-cue working memory task together with magnetoencephalography, which allows to probe neural representations of motion direction during encoding and retrieval (retro-cue) periods of each trial. The main finding is that neural representations of motion direction are not systematically biased during the encoding of motion stimuli, but are attracted towards the motion direction of the previous trial's target during the retrieval (retro-cue period), just prior to the behavioral response. By demonstrating a neural signature of attractive biases in working memory representations, which align with attractive behavioral biases, this study highlights the importance of post-encoding memory processes in visual serial dependence.

Strengths:

The main strength of the study is its elegant use of a retro-cue working memory task together with high temporal resolution MEG, enabling to probe neural representations related to stimulus encoding and working memory. The behavioral task elicits robust behavioral serial dependence and replicates previous behavioral findings by the same research group. The careful neural decoding analysis benefits from a large number of trials per participant, considering the slow-paced nature of the working memory paradigm. This is crucial in a paradigm with considerable trial-by-trial behavioral variability (serial dependence biases are typically small, relative to the overall variability in response errors). While the current study is broadly consistent with previous studies showing that attractive biases in neural responses are absent during stimulus encoding (prev. studies reported repulsive biases), to my knowledge, it is the first study showing attractive biases in current stimulus representations during working memory. The study also connects to previous literature showing reactivations of previous stimulus representations, although the link between reactivations and biases remains somewhat vague in the current manuscript. Together, the study reveals an interesting avenue for future studies investigating the neural basis of visual serial dependence.

Weaknesses:

The main weakness of the current manuscript is that the authors could have done more analyses to address the concern that their neural decoding results are driven by signals related to eye movements. The authors show that participants' gaze position systematically depended on the current stimuli's motion directions, which, together with previous studies on eye movement-related confounds in neural decoding, justifies such a concern. The authors seek to rule out this confound by showing that the consistency of stimulus-dependent gaze position does not correlate with (a) the neural reconstruction fidelity and (b) the attractive shift in reconstructed motion direction. However, the authors' approach of quantifying stimulus-dependent eye movements only considers gaze angle and not gaze amplitude, and thus potentially misses important features of eye movements that could manifest in the MEG data. Moreover, it is unclear whether the gaze consistency metric should correlate with attractive history biases in neural decoding, if there were a confound. These two concerns could be potentially addressed by (1) directly decoding stimulus motion direction from x-y gaze coordinates and relating this decoding performance to neural reconstruction fidelity, and (2) investigating whether gaze coordinates themselves are history-dependent and are attracted to the average gaze position associated with the previous trials' target stimulus. If the authors could show that (2) is not the case, I would be much more convinced that their main finding is not driven by eye movement confounds.

The sample size (n = 10) is definitely at the lower end of sample sizes in this field. The authors collected two sessions per participant, which partly alleviates the concern. However, given that serial dependencies can be very variable across participants, I believe that future studies should aim for larger sample sizes.

It would have been great to see an analysis in source space. As the authors mention in their introduction, different brain areas, such as PPC, mPFC and dlPFC have been implicated in serial biases. This begs the question which brain areas contribute to the serial dependencies observed in the current study? For instance, it would be interesting to see whether attractive shifts in current representations and pre-stimulus reactivations of previous stimuli are evident in the same or different brain areas.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

Participants in this study completed three visits. In the first, participants received experimental thermal stimulations which were calibrated to elicit three specific pain responses (30, 50, 70) on a 0-100 visual analogue scale (VAS). Experimental pressure stimulations were also calibrated at an intensity to the same three pain intensity responses. In the subsequent two visits, participants completed another pre-calibration check (Visit 2 of 3 only). Then, prior to the exercise NALOXONE or a SALINE placebo-control was administered intravenously. Participants then completed 1 of 4 blocks of HIGH (100%) or LOW (55%) intensity cycling which was tailored according to a functional threshold power (FTP) test completed in Visit 1. After each block of cycling lasting 10 minutes, participants entered an MRI scanner and were stimulated with the same thermal and pressure stimulations that corresponded to 30, 50, and 70 pain intensity ratings from the calibration stage. Therefore, this study ultimately sought to investigate whether aerobic exercise does indeed incur a hypoalgesia effect. More specifically, researchers tested the validity of the proposed endogenous pain modulation mechanism. Further investigation into whether the intensity of exercise had an effect on pain and the neurological activation of pain-related brain centres were also explored. Results show that in the experimental visits (Visit 2 and 3), when participants exercised at two distinct intensities as intended. Power output, heart rate, and perceived effort ratings were higher during the HIGH versus LOW intensity cycling. In particular. HIGH intensity exercise was perceived as "hard" / ~15 on the Borg (1974, 1998) scale, whereas LOW intensity exercise was perceived as "very light" / ~9 on the same scale.

The fMRI data from Figure 1 indicates that the anterior insula, dorsal posterior insula and middle cingulate cortex show pronounced activation as stimulation intensity and subsequent pain responses increased, thus linking these brain regions with pain intensity and corroborating what many studies have shown before.

Results also showed that participants rated a higher pain intensity in the NALOXONE condition at all three stimulation intensities compared to the SALINE condition. Therefore, the expected effect of NALOXONE in this study seemed to occur whereby opioid receptors were "blocked" and thus resulted in higher pain ratings compared to a SALINE condition where opioid receptors were "not blocked". When accounting for participant sex, NALOXONE had negligible effects at lower experimental nociceptive stimulations for females compared to males who showed a hyperalgesia effect to NALOXONE at all stimulation intensities (peak effect at 50 VAS). Females did show a hyperalgesia effect at stimulation intensities corresponding to 50 and 70 VAS pain ratings. The fMRI data showed that the periaqueductal gray (PAG) showed increased activation in the NALOXONE versus SALINE condition at higher thermal stimulation intensities. The PAG is well-linked to endogenous pain modulation.

When assessing the effects of NALOXONE and SALINE after exercise, results showed no significant differences in subsequent pain intensity ratings.

When assessing the effect of aerobic exercise intensity on subsequent pain intensity ratings, authors suggested that aerobic exercise in the form of a continuous cycling exercise tailored to an individual's FTP is not effective at eliciting an exercise-induced hypoalgesia response -irrespective of exercise intensity. This is because results showed that pain responses did not differ significantly between HIGH and LOW intensity exercise with (NALOXONE) and without (SALINE) an opioid antagonist. Therefore, authors have also questioned the mechanisms (endogenous opioids) behind this effect.

Strengths:

Altogether, the paper is great piece of work that has provided some truly useful insight into the neurological and perceptual mechanisms associated with pain and exercise-induced modulation of pain. The authors have gone to great lengths to delve into their research question(s) and their methodological approach is relatively sound. The study has incorporated effective pseudo-randomisation and conducted a rigorous set of statistical analysis to account for as many confounds as possible. I will particularly credit the authors on their analysis which explores the impact of sex and female participants' stage of menses on the study outcomes. It would be particularly interesting for future work to pursue some of these lines of research which investigate the differences in the endogenous opioid mechanism between sexes and the added interaction of stage of menses or training status - all of which the authors point out in their discussion.

There are certainly many other areas that this article contributes to the literature due to the depth of methods the research team have used. For example, the authors provide much insight into: the impact of exercise intensity on the exercise-induced hypoalgesia effect; the impact of sex on the endogenous opioid modulation mechanism; and the impact of exercise intensity on the neurological indices associated with endogenous pain modulation and pain processing. All of which, the researchers should be credited for due to the time and effort they have spent completing this study. Indeed, their in-depth analysis of many of these areas provides ample support for the claims they make in relation to these specific questions. As such, I consider their evidence concerning the fMRI data to be very convincing (and interesting).

Weaknesses:

Although the authors have their own view of their results, I, however, do still maintain a slightly different take on what the post-exercise pain ratings seem to show and its implications for judging whether an exercise-induced hypoalgesia effect is present or not and whether this is related to the opioid system.

For example, my basic assumptions relate to data which appears to show that there is an exercise-induced hypoalgesia effect as average pain ratings are ~30% lower than pre-calibrated/resting pain ratings within the SALINE condition at the same temperature of stimulation. Then, it appears there is evidence for the endogenous opioid mechanism as the NALOXONE condition demonstrates a minimal hypoalgesia effect after exercise. I.e., NALOXONE indeed blocked the opioid receptors, and such inhibition prevented the endogenous opioid system from taking effect.

However, through a comprehensive revision of their work, the authors have addressed many areas that myself and my fellow reviewer have questioned and provided a comprehensive set of responses and edits about this. So while I may have some opposing views on the mechanisms at play, I believe that each reader can decide and interpret the data for themselves which has been presented well by the authors.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

This interesting study compared two different intensities of aerobic exercise (low-intensity, high-intensity) and their efficacy in inducing a hypoalgesic reaction (i.e. exercise-induced hypoalgesia; EIH). fMRI was used to identify signal changes in the brain, with infusion of naloxone used to identify hypoalgesia mechanisms. No differences were found in post exercise pain perception between the high-intensity and low-intensity conditions, with naloxone infusion causing increased pain perception across both conditions which was mirrored by activation in the medial frontal cortex (identified by fRMI).

Strengths:

• The use of fMRI and naloxone provides a strong approach by which to identify possible mechanisms of EIH.

• The infusion of naloxone to maintain a stable concentration helps to ensure a consistent effect and that the time-course of the protocol won't affect consistency of changes in pain perception

• The manipulation checks (differences in intensity of exercise, appropriate pain induction) are approached in a systematic way.

• The interactions for fitness level and sex provide some interesting findings which should be explored further.

Weaknesses:

• Given the absence of a baseline/control condition (for exercise), the efficacy of high/low intensity exercise on EIH cannot be assessed. Providing this would have extended and strengthened the findings/conclusions.

• Whilst the exercise test (functional threshold power) used to set the intensity of the low/high exercise bouts set participants to exercise at different intensities, this method does not ensure that they exercised above/below particular thresholds (i.e. within either heavy or severe domains). This could have created very different relative challenges between participants.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

The work has significant implications for understanding immune evasion and nutrient uptake mechanisms in trypanosomes.

While the experimental rigor is commendable, revisions are needed to clarify methodological limitations and to broaden the discussion of functional consequences.

The authors argue that prior studies missed surface-localized TfR due to harsh washing/fixation (e.g., methanol). While this is plausible, additional evidence would strengthen the claim.

It remains unclear how centrifugation steps of various lengths (as in previous publications) can equally and quantitatively redistribute TfR into the flagellar pocket. If this were the case, it should be straightforward for the authors to test this experimentally.

If TfR is distributed over the cell surface, live-cell imaging with fluorescent transferrin should be performed as a control. Modern detection limits now reach the single-molecule level, and transient immobilization of live trypanosomes has been established, which would exclude hydrodynamic surface clearance as a confounding factor.

In most images, TfR is not evenly distributed on the surface but rather appears punctate. Could this reflect localization to membrane domains? Immuno-EM with high-pressure frozen parasites could resolve this question and is relatively straightforward.

The authors might consider discussing whether differences in parasite life cycle stages (procyclic versus bloodstream forms) or culture conditions (e.g., cell density) affect localization. The developmentally regulated retention of GPI-anchored procyclin in the flagellar pocket might be worth mentioning.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

An interesting manuscript from the Carrington lab is presented investigating the behavior of single vs double GPI-anchored nutrient receptors in bloodstream form (BSF) T. brucei. These include the transferrin receptor (TfR), the HpHb receptor (HpHbR), and the factor H receptor (FHR). The central question is why these critical proteins are not targeted by host-acquired immunity. It has generally been thought that they are sequestered in the flagellar pocket (FP), where they are subject to rapid endocytosis - any Ab:receptor complexes would be rapidly removed from the cell surface. This manuscript challenges that assumption by showing that these receptors can be found all over the outer cell body and flagella surfaces, if one looks in an appropriate manner (rapid direct fixation in culture media).

The main part of the manuscript focuses on TfR, typically a GPI1 heterodimer of very similar E6 (GPI anchored) and E7 (truncated, no GPI) subunits. These are expressed coordinately from 15 telomeric expression sites (BES), of which only one can be transcribed at a time. The authors identify a native E6:E7 pair in BES7 in which E7 is not truncated and therefore forms a GPI2 heterodimer. By in situ genetic manipulation, they generate two different sets of GPI1:GPI2 TfR combinations expressed from two different BESs (BES1 and BES7). Comparative analyses of these receptors form the bulk of the data.

The main findings are:

(1) Both GPI1 and GPI2 TfR can be found on the cell body/flagellar surface. (2) Both are functional for Tf binding and uptake. (3) GPI2 TfR is expressed at ~1.5x relative to GPI1 TfR. (4) Ultimate TfR expression level (protein) is dependent on the BES from which it is expressed.

Most of these results are quite reasonably explained in light of the hydrodynamic flow model of the Engstler lab and the GPI valence model of the Bangs lab. Additional experiments, again by rapid fixation, with HpHbR and FHR, show that these GPI1 receptors can also be seen on the cell surface, in contrast to published localizations.

It is quite interesting that the authors have identified a native GPI2 TfR. However, essentially all of the data with GPI2 TfR are confirmatory for the prior, more detailed studies of Tiengwe et al. (2017). That said, the suggestion that GPI2 was the ancestral state makes good evolutionary sense, and begs the question of why trypanosomes prefer GPI1 TfR in 14 of 15 ESs (i.e., what is the selection pressure?).

Strengths and weaknesses:

(1) BES7 TfR subunit genes (BES7_Tb427v10): There are actually three (in order 5'-3'): E7gpi, E6.1 and E6.2. E6.1 and E6.2 have a single nucleotide difference. This raises the issue of coordinate expression. If overall levels of E6 (2 genes) are not down-regulated to match E7 (1 gene), this will result in a 2x excess of E6 subunits. The most likely fate of these is the formation of non-functional GPI2 homodimers on the cell surface, as shown in Tiengwe et al. (2017), which will contribute to the elevated TfR expression seen in BES7.

(2) Surface binding studies: This is the most puzzling aspect of the entire manuscript. That surface GPI2 TfR should be functional for Tf binding and uptake is not surprising, as this has already been shown by Tiengwe et al. (2017), but the methodology for this assay raises important questions. First, labeled Tf is added at 500 nM to live cells in complete media containing 2.5 uM unlabeled Tf - a 5x excess. It is difficult to see how significant binding of labeled TfR could occur in as little as 15 seconds under these conditions. Second, Tiengwe et al. (2017) found that trypanosomes taken directly from culture could not bind labeled Tf in direct surface labeling experiments. To achieve binding, it was necessary to first culture cells in serum-free media for a sufficient time to allow new unligated TfR to be synthesized and transported to the surface. This result suggests that essentially all surface TfR is normally ligated and unavailable to the added probe. Third, the authors have themselves argued previously, based on binding affinities, that all surface-exposed TfR is likely ligated in a natural setting (DOI: 10.1002/bies.202400053). Could the observed binding actually be non-specific due to the high levels of fixative used?

(3) Variable TfR expression in different BESs: It appears that native TfR is expressed at higher levels from BES7 compared to BES1, and even more so when compared to BES3. This raises the possibility that the anti-TfR used in these experiments has differential reactivity with the three sets of TfRs. The authors discount this possibility due to the overall high sequence similarities of E6s and E7s from the various ESs. However, their own analyses show that the BES1, BES3, and BES7 TfRs are relatively distal to each other in the phylogenetic trees, and this Reviewer strongly suspects that the apparent difference in expression is due to differential reactivity with the anti-TfR used in this work. In the grand scheme, this is a minor issue that does not impact the other major conclusions concerning TfR localization and function, nor the behavior of HpHbR and FHR. However, the authors make very strong conclusions about the role of BESs in TfR expression levels, even claiming that it is the 'dominant determinant' (line 189).

(4) Surface immuno-localization of receptors: These experiments are compelling and useful to the field. To explain the difference with essentially all prior studies, the authors suggest that typical fixation procedures allow for clearance of receptor:ligand complexes by hydrodynamic flow due to extended manipulation prior to fixation (washing steps). Despite the fact that these protocols typically involve ice-cold physiological buffers that minimize membrane mobility, this is a reasonable possibility. Have the authors challenged their hypothesis by testing more typical protocols themselves? Other contributing factors that could play a role are the use of deconvolution, which tends to minimize weak signals, and also the fact that investigators tend to discount weak surface signals as background relative to stronger internal signals.

(5) Shedding: A central aspect of the GPI valence model (Schwartz et al., 2005, Tiengwe et al., 2017) is that GPI1 reporters that reach the cell body surface are shed into the media because a single dimyristoylglycerol-containing GPI anchor does not stably associate with biological membranes. As the authors point out, this is a major factor contributing to higher steady-state levels of cell-associated GPI2 TfR relative to GPI1 TfR. Those studies also found that the size/complexity of the attached protein correlated inversely with shedding, suggesting exit from the flagellar pocket as a restricting factor in cell body surface localization. The amount of newly synthesized TfR shed into the media was ~5%, indicating that very little actually exits the FP to the outer surface. In this regard, is it possible to know the overall ratio of cell surface:FP:endosomal localized receptors? Could these data not be 'harvested' from the 3D structural illumination imaging?

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

In the manuscript by Winke et al, the authors present evidence that fear-induced analgesia is mediated by somatostatin projection cells from the vlPAG to the RVM. This study uses a mouse model of fear-induced analgesia, and incorporates optogenetic circuit manipulation with behaviour and electrophysiology to gain a meaningful insight into a novel circuit involved in fear-induced analgesia.

Strengths:

(1) This is a well-constructed study with appropriate controls and analyses.

(2) Alternative interpretations of the data are systematically considered and eliminated via rational experiments. The authors are commended for a nice piece of experimental work.

(3) The vlPAG is a known region of pain modulation, and this study adds valuable insight to the circuit involved in fear-associated analgesia.

Weaknesses:

(1) Only male mice are included in this study.

(2) Animals are excluded from analyses based on clearly defined criteria, but it is not clear how many mice were excluded from each group.

(3) The authors implement a pain sensitivity assay that involves a hot plate with progressively increasing temperature. The time to nociceptive responses is reported. Without reporting the actual temperature at which the mice respond, it makes it difficult to compare nociceptive responses to previously published work (which typically use a defined and static hotplate temperature).

(4) The authors present evidence that inhibition of SST vlPAG cells enhances spinal nociceptive electrophysiological responses, but the corresponding pain sensitivity is not altered (Figure 2, CS- condition). The reason for the discrepancy between electrophysiological and behavioural responses is not clear.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

Wenke et al. investigated the role of vlPAG somatostatin-expressing neurons in the mediation of analgesia during defensive states. A newly developed paradigm of cued fear-conditioned analgesia, which consists of a combination of an auditory fear retrieval session and a pain test, was used to evaluate this cell population's contribution to fear-mediated analgesia. Optogenetic manipulation of vlPAG SST+ neurons modulated the responses to a nociceptive cue (Hot Plate) presented concomitantly with an aversively conditioned tone. At the same time, alterations in the freezing levels could be observed during optogenetic activation of vlPAG SST+ neurons. In order to disentangle the impact of these cells on analgesia from their impact on the expression of defensive behaviors, the authors performed electrophysiological recordings from the dorsal horn in the spinal cord of anesthetized mice. A vlPAG-RVM-DH pathway was identified to trigger nociceptive C-fibers upon optic activation of the RVM. Finally, pathway-specific activation of SST+ vlPAG-RVM neurons could abolish CS-induced analgesia.

Strengths:

The study addresses a relevant topic, that is, brainstem circuits for pain-modulatory mechanisms as part of defensive states evoked by threat. This is important because the circuit mechanisms underlying pain are still not fully understood, and defining molecular markers of cellular circuit substrates may support the identification of potential pharmaceutical targets in treating pain. The authors confirm a previous study in that a somatostatin-positive cellular population presents a crucial vlPAG circuit element mediating anti-nociceptive effects. Key novelty aspects of the present study are the demonstration that these neurons seem to play a role specifically in threat-induced analgesia. This was possible by the elegant design and application of a novel fear analgesia paradigm, combined with cell- and pathway-specific optogenetics.

Weaknesses:

Despite the convincing and rigorous experimental approach, the study leaves some interpretational room when it comes to the proposed circuit mechanism. This could either be addressed by additional experiments or by more discussion of alternative circuit layouts.

Major Comments:

(1) The paper by Zhang et al. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36641028/), which identified a role for vlPAG SOM+ neurons in mediating anti-nociception in neuropathic pain, needs to be referenced and its results discussed, if not reconciled. While functionally, both studies find an analgetic role of vlPAG SOM+ neurons projecting to the RVM, Zhang et al., using slice physiology, characterize those neurons as glutamatergic. In Figure 4E of Zhang et al. they find general (fear-independent) analgetic effects with PAG-RVM specificity by performing chemogenetic experiments.

It can be argued that in addition to the two functionally distinct inhibitory SOM subtypes hypothesized by Winke et al., there is another, excitatory subpopulation. Also, the different experimental conditions (chronic vs. acute pain, non-threat vs. fearful cues/contexts may recruit different vlPAG SOM+ populations. All of this is conceivable, yet I wonder whether the contrasting findings could more parsimoniously be reconciled. The author's own results presented here in Supplementary Figure 3 suggests that SOM+ vlPAG cells are co-localizing with glutamate and thus could also be excitatory. In addition to this rather complementary piece of evidence, a more extensive characterization of vlPAG neurons using IHC and slice physiology would be needed to justify the unambiguous identification of their inhibitory nature.

In the absence of a direct identification of these cells exclusively releasing GABA, an alternative explanation should be considered. What about looking at vlPAG SOM+ neurons as a putatively mixed bag of local, inhibitory interneurons and long-range, RVM-projecting excitatory cells? This model would then open up interesting questions as to the actual function of somatostatin as a modulator of vlPAG circuit activity and associated function, and from my perspective, would nicely fit into the view of PAG circuits as integrators of complex survival responses.

(2) "Our data indicate that the optogenetic inhibition of SST+ vlPAG cells promotes analgesia irrespective of the animal's defensive state. In contrast, the optogenetic activation of long-range SST+ vlPAG cells that project to the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) abolishes the analgesia mediated by fear behavior." (lines 32-35). Consider toning down these conclusions, as contrasting activation with inhibition of two different (though overlapping) populations cannot be fully conclusive. Alternatively, a pathway-specific (vlPAG-RVM) inhibitory experiment could help to fully understand the circuit mechanism and verify the necessity of these neurons.

(3) Despite an overall very thorough reporting style, some information is missing from the manuscript:

a) In Figures 2d and f, what are the freezing levels during optogenetic manipulation? From Figure 3d, one can expect that freezing is inhibited during the hot plate test, which could bias the NC response towards shorter latencies. b) In Figure 5, the histological experiment showing the vlPAG-to-RVM pathway is presented by a qualitative image only. Here, some quantification would strengthen the finding. c) In Figures 6 c and d "Consistently, activation of the SST+ vlPAG-RVM pathway during CFCA had no impact on CS-presentation, whereas the same manipulation performed during CS+ blocked the increase in NC response latency compared to GFP controls." (line 194-196). Is it possible that the NC response cannot be any lower than the one during CS-, thus constituting a floor effect? d) Connected to major point 1- this experiment is important for defining the circuit mode and therefore should be as convincing as possible. However, for the colocalization experiment in Supplementary Figure 3, the methodological description is missing and thus makes it hard to comprehend how this data set was generated (how many data points, etc.). The visual depiction of the results is non-standard and not easily graspable. Consider e.g., a Venn diagram.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

Conditioned analgesia refers to the ability of a learned fear cue to suppress pain-related behavior and neural activity. Understudied, the authors developed a novel conditioned analgesia procedure in which a cue that had been paired or unpaired with shock was played while a hot plate increased temperature. Compared to several control conditions, the authors found increased latency to a nociceptive response (paw licking). The authors identified somatostatin neurons in the periaqueductal gray as a likely mediator of the behavior. They then showed that: (1) stimulating vlPAG-SST neurons blocked nociceptive response latency increases to the CS+, (2) stimulating vlPAG-SST neurons suppressed fear retrieval freezing, (3) stimulating vs. inhibiting vlPAG-SST neurons drove opposing modulation of c-fibers and Aδ-fibers, (4) direct-projecting vlPAG SST neurons modulate freezing while RVM-projecting vlPAG SST neurons modulate conditioned analgesia.

Strengths:

These experiments have many strengths. The behavioral assay is chief among them. The assay is robust and controls for confounding factors to reveal a repeatable effect of a shock-paired cue to delay nociceptive responding. The optogenetic experiments provide the correct level of temporal precision, given the authors' time-specific interest in cued responding. Combining neuronal manipulations with spinal recordings is particularly innovative, especially in the context of more behavioral neuroscience-based assays. All-in-all, I found this to be an exceptionally strong set of experiments.

Weaknesses:

No obvious weaknesses were identified by this Reviewer.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

This study provides new insight into the non-canonicial voltage-gating mechanism of BK channels through prolonged (10 us) MD simulations of the Slo1 transmembrane domain conformation and K+ conduction in response to high imposed voltages (300, 750 mV). The results support previous conclusions based on functional and structural data and MD simulations that the voltage-sensor domain (VSD) of Slo1 undergoes limited conformational changes compared to Kv channels, and predicts gating charge movement comparable in magnitude to experimental results. The gating charge calculations further indicate that R213 and R210 in S4 are the main contributors owing to their large side chain movements and the presence of a locally focused electric field, consistent with recent experimental and MD simulation results by Carrasquel-Ursulaez et al.,2022. Most interestingly, changes in pore conformation and K+ conduction driven by VSD activation are resolved, providing information regarding changes in VSD/pore interaction through S4/S5/S6 segments proposed to underly electromechanical coupling.

Strengths:

Include that the prolonged timescale and high voltage of the simulation allow apparent equilibration in the voltage-sensor domain (VSD) conformational changes and at least partial opening of the pore. The study extends the results of previous MD simulations of VSD activation by providing quantitative estimates of gating charge movement, showing how the electric field distribution across the VSD is altered in resting and activated states, and testing the hypothesis that R213 and R210 are the primary gating charges by steered MD simulations. The ability to estimate gating charge contributions of individual residues in the WT channel is useful as a comparison to experimental studies based on mutagenesis which have yielded conflicting results that could reflect perturbations in structure. Use of dynamic community analysis to identify coupling pathways and information flow for VSD-pore (electromechanical) coupling as well as analysis of state-dependent S4/S5/S6 interactions that could mediate coupling provide useful predictions extending beyond what has been experimentally tested.

Weaknesses:

Weaknesses include that a truncated channel (lacking the C-terminal gating ring) was used for simulations, which is known to have reduced single channel conductance and electromechanical coupling compared to the full-length channel. In addition, as VSD activation in BK channels is much faster than opening, the timescale of simulations was likely insufficient to achieve a fully open state as supported by differences in the degree of pore expansion in replicate simulations, which are also smaller than observed in Ca-bound open structures of the full-length channel. Taken together, these limitations suggest that inferences regarding coupling pathways and interactions in the fully open voltage-activated channel may be only partially supported and therefore incomplete. That said, adequate discussion regarding these limitations are provided together with dynamic community analysis based on the Ca-bound open structure. The latter supports the main conclusions based on simulations, while providing an indication of potential interaction differences between simulated and fully open conformations. Another limitation is that while the simulations convincingly demonstrate voltage-dependent channel opening as evidenced by pore expansion and conduction of K+ and water through the pore, single channel conductance is underestimated by at least an order of magnitude, as in previous studies of other K+ channels. These quantitative discrepancies suggest that MD simulations may not yet be sufficiently advanced to provide insight into mechanisms underlying the extraordinarily large conductance of BK channels.

Comments on revisions:

My previous questions and concerns have been adequately addressed.

My only new comment is that the numbering of residues in Fig. S8 does not match the standard convention for hSlo and needs to be doublechecked. For the residues I checked, the numbers appear to be shifted 3 compared hSlo (e.g. Y315, P317, E318, G324 should be Y318, P320, E321, G327).

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

The manuscript by Jia and Chen addresses the structural basis of voltage-activation of BK channels using computational approaches. Although a number of experimental studies using gating current and patch-clamp recording have analyzed voltage-activation in terms of observed charge movements and the apparent energetic coupling between voltage-sensor movement and channel opening, the structural changes that underlie this phenomenon have been unclear. The present studies use a reduced molecular system comprising the transmembrane portion of the BK channel (i.e. the cytosolic domain was deleted), embedded in a POPC membrane, with either 0 or 750 mV applied across the membrane. This system enabled acquisition of long simulations of 10 microseconds, to permit tracking of conformational changes of the channel. The authors principal findings were that the side chains of R210 and R213 rapidly moved toward the extracellular side of the membrane (by 8 - 10 Å), with greater displacements than any of the other charged transmembrane residues. These movements appeared tightly coupled to movement of the pore-lining helix, pore hydration, and ion permeation. The authors estimate that R210 and R213 contribute 0.25 and 0.19 elementary charges per residue to the gating current, which is roughly consistent with estimates based on electrophysiological measurements that used the full-length channel.

Strengths:

The methodologies used in this work are sound, and these studies certainly contribute to our understanding of voltage-gating of BK channels. An intriguing observation is the strongly coupled movement of the S4, S5, and S6 helices that appear to underlie voltage-dependent opening. Based on Fig 2a-d, the substantial movements of the R210 and R213 side chains occur nearly simultaneously to the S6 movement (between 4 - 5 usec of simulation time). This seems to provide support for a "helix-packing" mechanism of voltage gating in the so-called "non-domain-swapped" voltage-gated K channels.

Weaknesses:

The main limitation is that these studies used a truncated version of the BK channel, and there are likely to be differences in VSD-pore coupling in the context of the full-length channels that will not be resolved in the present work. Nonetheless, the authors provide a strong rationale for their use of the truncated channel, and the results presented will provide a good starting point for future computational studies of this channel.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

This paper developed a model of chromosome mosaicism by using a new aneuploidy-inducing drug (AZ3146), and compared this to their previous work where they used reversine, to demonstrate the fate of aneuploid cells during murine preimplantation embryo development. They found that AZ3146 acts similarly to reversine in inducing aneuploidy in embryos, but interestingly showed that the developmental potential of embryos is higher in AZ3146-treated vs. reversine-treated embryos. This difference was associated with changes in HIF1A, p53 gene regulation, DNA damage, and fate of euploid and aneuploid cells when embryos were cultured in a hypoxic environment.

Strengths:

In the current study, the authors investigate the fate of aneuploid cells in the preimplantation murine embryo using a specific aneuploidy-inducing compound to generate embryos that were chimeras of euploid and aneuploid cells. The strength of the work is that they investigate the developmental potential and changes in gene expression profiles under normoxic and hypoxic culture conditions. Further, they also assessed how levels of DNA damage and DNA repair are altered in these culture conditions. They also assessed the allocation of aneuploid cells to the divergent cell lineages of the blastocyst stage embryo.

Weaknesses:

The authors have still not addressed the inconsistent/missing description for sample size, the appropriate number of * for each figure panel, and the statistical tests used.

The authors assign 5% oxygen as hypoxia. This is not the case as the in vivo environment is close to this value. 5% is normoxia. Clinical IVF/embryo culture occurs at 5% O2. Please adjust your narrative around this.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

This study by Sanchez-Vasquez is a very innovative approach to induce aneuploidy and then study the contribution of treated cells to different lineages, including post implantation. It connects well to the authors previous work to induce mosaic aneuploidies. The authors identify sensitivity to HIF1a loss in treated embryos with likely aneuploidy. This work is part of an important line of work with evaluates the consequences of aneuploidy in mammalian embryo.

Weaknesses:

Given that this is a study on the induction of aneuploidy, it would be meaningful to assess aneuploidy immediately after induction, and then again before implantation. This is also applicable to the competition experiments on page 7/8. What is shown is the competitiveness of treated cells. Because the publication centers around aneuploidy, inclusion of such data in the main figure at all relevant points would strengthen it. There is some evaluation of karyotypes only in the supplemental - why? Would be good not to rely on a single assay that the authors appear to not give much importance.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

The manuscript by Cho and colleagues investigates de novo tight junction formation during the differentiation of immortalized human HaCaT keratinocytes to granular-like cells, as well as during epithelial remodeling that occurs upon the apoptotic of individual cells in confluent monolayers of the representative epithelial cell line EpH4. The authors demonstrate the involvement of Rho-ROCK with well-conducted experiments and convincing images. Moreover, they unravel the underlying molecular mechanism, with Rho-ROCK activity activating the transmembrane serine protease Matriptase, which in turn leads to the cleavage of EpCAM and TROP2, respectively, releasing Claudins from EpCAM/TROP2/Claudin complexes at the cell membrane to become available for polymerization and de novo tight junction formation. These functional studies in two different cell culture systems are complemented by localization studies of the according proteins in the stratified mouse epidermis in vivo.

In total, these are new and very intriguing and interesting findings that add important new insights into the molecular mechanisms of tight junction formation, identifying Matriptase as the "missing link" in the cascade of formerly described regulators. The involvement of TROP2/EpCAM/Claudin has been reported recently (Szabo et al., Biol. Open 2022; Bugge lab), and Matriptase had been formerly described to be required for tight junction formation as well, again from the Bugge lab. Yet, the functional correlation / epistasis between them, and their relation to Rho signaling, had not been known thus far.

Strengths:

Convincing functional studies in two different cell culture systems, complemented by supporting protein localization studies in vivo. The manuscript is clearly written and most data are convincingly demonstrated, with beautiful images and movies.

Weaknesses:

The previously described weaknesses have been fully wiped out during the revisions.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

In this manuscript the authors investigate how epithelia maintain intercellular barrier function despite and during cellular rearrangements upon e.g. apoptotic extrusion in simple epithelia or regenerative turnover in stratified epithelia like this epidermis. A fundamental question in epithelial biology. Previous literature has shown that Rho mediated local regulation of actomyosin is essential not only for cellular rearrangement itself but also directly controls tight junction barrier function. The molecular mechanics however remained unclear. Here the authors use extensive fluorescence imaging of fixed and live cells together with genetic and drug mediated interference to show that Rho activation is required and sufficient to form de novo tight junctional strands at intercellular contacts in epidermal keratinocytes (HaCat) and mammary epithelial cells. After having confirmed previous literature they then show that Rho activation activates the transmembrane protease matriptase which cleaves EpCAM and TROP2, two claudin binding transmembrane proteins, to release claudins and enable claudin strand formation and therefore tight junction barrier function.

Strengths:

The presented mechanism is shown to be relevant for epithelial barriers being conserved in simple and stratifying epithelial cells and mainly differs due to tissue specific expression of EpCAM and TROP2. The authors present carefull state of the art imaging and logical experiments that convincingly support the statements and conclusion. The manuscript is well written and easy to follow.

Weaknesses:

Whereas the in vitro evidence of the presented mechanism is strongly supported by the data, the in vivo confirmation is mostly based on the predicted distribution of TROP2. Whereas the causality of Rho mediated matriptase activation has been nicely demonstrated it remains unclear how Rho activates matriptase.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

The study by Wu et al presents interesting data on bacterial cell organization, a field that is progressing now, mainly due to the advances in microscopy. Based mainly on fluorescence microscopy images, the authors aim to demonstrate that the two structures that account for bacterial motility, the chemotaxis complex and the flagella, colocalize to the same pole in Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells and to expose the regulation underlying their spatial organization and functioning.

Comments on revisions:

The authors have addressed all major and minor points that I raised in a satisfying way during the revision process. The work can now be regarded as complete, the assumptions were clarified, the results are convincing, the conclusions are justified, and the novelty has been made clear.

This manuscript will be of interest to cell biologists, mainly those studying bacteria, but not only

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

Here, the authors studied the molecular mechanisms by which the chemoreceptor cluster and flagella motor of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) are spatially organized in the cell. They argue that FlhF is involved in localizing the receptors-motor to the cell pole, and even without FlhF, the two are colocalized. Finally, the authors argue that the functional reason for this colocalization is to insulate chemotactic signaling from other signaling pathways, such as cyclic-di-GMP signaling.

Strength:

The experiments and data are high quality. It is clear that the motor and receptors co-localize, and that elevated CheY levels lead to elevated c-di-GMP.

Weakness:

The explanation for the functional importance of receptor-motor colocalization is plausible but is still not conclusively demonstrated. Colocalization might reduce CheY levels throughout the cell in order to reduce cross-talk with c-di-GMP. This would mean that if physiologically-relevant levels of CheYp near the pole were present throughout the cell, c-di-GMP levels would be elevated to a point that is problematic for the cell. Clearly demonstrating this seems challenging.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

The authors investigated the assembly and polar localization of the chemosensory cluster in P. aeruginosa. They discovered that a certain protein (FlhF) is required for the polar localization of the chemosensory cluster while a fully-assembled motor is necessary for the assembly of the cluster. They found that flagella and chemosensory clusters always co-localize in the cell; either at the cell pole in wild type cells or randomly-located in the cell in FlhF mutant cells. They hypothesize that this co-localization is required to keep the level of another protein (CheY-P), which controls motor switching, at low levels as the presence of high-levels of this protein (if the flagella and chemosensory clusters were not co-localized) is associated with high-levels of c-di-GMP and cell aggregations.

Strengths:

The manuscript is clearly written and straightforward. The authors applied multiple techniques to study the bacterial motility system including fluorescence light microscopy and gene editing. In general, the work enhances our understanding of the subtlety of interaction between the chemosensory cluster and the flagellar motor to regulate cell motility.

Weaknesses:

The major weakness for me in this paper is that the authors never discussed how the flagellar genes expression is controlled in P. aeruginosa. For example, in E. coli there is a transcriptional hierarchy for the flagellar genes (early, middle, and late genes, see Chilcott and Hughes, 2000). Similarly, Campylobacter and Helicobacter have a different regulatory cascade for their flagellar genes (See Lertsethtakarn, Ottemann, and Hendrixson, 2011). How does the expression of flagellar genes in P. aeruginosa compare to other species? how many classes are there for these genes? is there a hierarchy in their expression and how does this affect the results of the FliF and FliG mutants? In other words, if FliF and FliG are in class I (as in E. coli) then their absence might affect the expression of other later flagellar genes in subsequent classes (i.e., chemosensory genes). Also, in both FliF and FliG mutants no assembly intermediates of the flagellar motor are present in the cell as FliG is required for the assembly of FliF (see Hiroyuki Terashima et al. 2020, Kaplan et al. 2019, Kaplan et al. 2022). It could be argued that when the motor is not assembled then this will affect the expression of the other genes (e.g., those of the chemosensory cluster) which might play a role in the decreased level of chemosensory clusters the authors find in these mutants.

Comments on revisions:

I believe the authors have performed additional experiments that improved their manuscript and they have answered many of my comments and those of the other reviewers. I am supportive of publishing this manuscript, but I still find the following points that are not clear to me (probably I am misunderstanding some points; the authors can clarify).

(1) In response to reviewer 1, the authors say that they "analyzed and categorized the distribution of the chemotaxis complex in both wild-type and flhF mutant strains into three patterns: precise-polar, near-polar, and mid-cell localization." I can see what they mean by polar and mid-cell, but near-polar sounds a bit elusive? Can they provide examples of this stage and mention how accurately they can identify it? Also, do the pie charts they show in Figure S4 really show "significant alterations"? There is a difference between 98% and 85% as they mention in their response to reviewer 1, but I am not sure that this is significant? Probably they can explain/change the language in the text? Also, the number of cells they counted for FlhF mutant is more than the double of other strains (WT and FlhF FliF mutant)?

(2) One thing that also confused me is the following: One point that the authors stress is that FlhF localizes both the flagellum and the chemoreceptors to the pole. However, if I look at Figure 2B, the flagellum and the chemoreceptors still co-localize together (although not at the pole). If FlhF was responsible for co-localizing both of them to the pole, then wouldn't one expect them to be randomly localized in this mutant and by that I mean that they do not co-localize but that each of them (the flagellum and the chemoreceptors) are located in a different random location of the cell (not co-localized). The fact that they are still co-localized together in this mutant could also be interpreted by, for example, that FlhF localizes the flagellum to the pole and another mechanism localizes the chemoreceptors to the flagellum, hence, they still co-localize in this mutant because the chemoreceptors follow the flagellum by another mechanism to wherever it goes?

(3) In the response to reviewers, the authors mention "suggesting that the assembly of the receptor complex is likely influenced mainly by the C-ring and MS-ring structures rather than by the P ring" . However, in the article, they still write "The complete assembly of the motor serves as a partial prerequisite for the assembly of the chemotaxis complex, and its assembly site is also regulated by the polar anchor protein FlhF" despite their FlgI results which is not in accordance with this statement? Also, As I mentioned in my previous report, in FliG and FliF mutant the motor does not assemble (see Hiroyuki Terashima et al. 2020., and Kaplan et al., 2022).

(4) The authors have said in their response to my point "and currently, there is no evidence that FliA activity is influenced by proteins like FliG". I just want to clarify what I meant in my previous report: In E. coli, FliA binds to FlgM, and when the hook is assembled FlgM is secreted outside the cell allowing FliA to trigger the transcription of class III genes, which include the chemosensory genes (see Figure 5 in Beeby et al, 2020 in FEMS Microbiology, and Chilcott and Hughes, 2000). This implies that if the hook is not built, then late genes (including the chemoreceptors) should not be present. However, in Kaplan et al., 2019, the authors imaged a FliF mutant in Shewanella oneidensis (Figure S3) and still saw that chemoreceptors are present (I believe the authors must highlight this). This suggests that species such as Shewanella and Pseudomonas have a different assembly process than that E. coli, and although the authors say that in the text, I believe they still can refine this part more in the spirit of what I wrote here.

I do not like to ask for additional experiments in the second round of review, so for me if the authors modify the text to tackle these points and allow for probable alternative explanations/ highlight gaps/ modify language used for some claims, then that is fine with me.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

In this work, authors recorded the dynamics of the 5-HT with fiber photometry from CA1 in one hemisphere and LFP from CA1 in the other hemisphere. They have observed an ultra-slow oscillation in the 5-HT signal both during wakefulness and NREM sleep. The authors have studied different phases of the ultra-slow oscillation to examine the potential difference in the occurrence of some behavioral state-related physiological phenomena (hippocampal ripples, EMG, and inter-area coherence).

Strengths:

The relation between the falling/rising phase of the ultra-slow oscillation and the ripples is sufficiently shown. There are some minor concerns about the observed relations that should be addressed with some further analysis.

Systematic observations have started to establish a strong relation between the dynamics of neural activity across the brain and measures of behavioral arousal. Such relations span a wide range of temporal scales that are heavily inter-related. Ultra-slow time scales are specifically understudied due to technical limitations and neuromodulatory systems are the strongest mechanistic candidates for controlling/modulating the neural dynamics at these time scales. The hypothesis of the relation between a specific time scale and one certain neuromodulator (5-HT in this manuscript) could have a significant impact on the understanding of the hierarchy in the temporal scales of neural activity.

Weaknesses:

weaknesses appropriately addressed by reviewers in the current version

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

In their study, Cooper et al. investigated the spontaneous fluctuations in extracellular 5-HT release in the CA1 region of the hippocampus using GRAB5-HT3.0. Their findings revealed the presence of ultra-low frequency (less than 0.05 Hz) oscillations in 5-HT levels during both NREM sleep and wakefulness. The phase of these 5-HT oscillations was found to be related to the timing of hippocampal ripples, microarousals, electromyogram (EMG) activity, and hippocampal-cortical coherence. In particular, ripples were observed to occur with greater frequency during the descending phase of 5-HT oscillations, and stronger ripples were noted to occur in proximity to the 5-HT peak during NREM. Microarousal and EMG peaks occurred with greater frequency during the ascending phase of 5-HT oscillations. Additionally, the strongest coherence between the hippocampus and cortex was observed during the ascending phase of 5-HT oscillations. These patterns were observed in both NREM sleep and the awake state, with a greater prevalence in NREM. The authors posit that 5-HT oscillations may temporally segregate internal processing (e.g., memory consolidation) and responsiveness to external stimuli in the brain.

Strengths:

The findings of this research are novel and intriguing. Slow brain oscillations lasting tens of seconds have been suggested to exist, but to my knowledge they have never been analyzed in such a clear way. Furthermore, although it is likely that ultra-slow neuromodulator oscillations exist, this is the first report of such oscillations, and the greatest strength of this study is that it has clarified this phenomenon both statistically and phenomenologically.

Weaknesses:

As with any paper, this one has some limitations. While there is no particular need to pursue them, I will describe ten of them below, including future directions:

Contralateral recordings: 5-HT levels and electrophysiological recordings were obtained from opposite hemispheres due to technical limitations. Ipsilateral simultaneous recordings may show more direct relationships.

Sample size: The number of mice used in the experiments is relatively small (n=6). Validation with a larger sample size would be desirable.

Lack of causality: The observed associations show correlations, not direct causal relationships, between 5-HT oscillations and neural activity patterns.

Limited behavioral states: The study focuses primarily on sleep and quiet wakefulness. Investigation of 5-HT oscillations during a wider range of behavioral states (e.g., exploratory behavior, learning tasks) may provide a more complete understanding.

Generalizability to other brain regions: The study focuses on the CA1 region of the hippocampus. It's unclear whether similar 5-HT oscillation patterns exist in other brain regions.

Long-term effects not assessed: Long-term effects of ultra-low 5-HT oscillations (e.g., on memory consolidation or learning) were not assessed.

Possible species differences: It's uncertain whether the findings in mice apply to other mammals, including humans.

Technical limitations: The temporal resolution and sensitivity of the GRAB5-HT3.0 sensor may not capture faster 5-HT dynamics.

Interactions with other neuromodulators: The study does not explore interactions with other neuromodulators (e.g., norepinephrine, acetylcholine) or their potential ultraslow oscillations.

Limited exploration of functional significance: While the study suggests a potential role for 5-HT oscillations in memory consolidation and arousal, direct tests of these functional implications are not included.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

Activity of serotonin (5-HT) releasing neurons as well as 5-HT levels in brain structures targeted by serotoninergic axons are known to fluctuate substantially across the animal's sleep/wake cycle, with high 5-HT during wakefulness (WAKE), intermediate 5-HT levels during non-REM sleep (NREM) and very low 5-HT levels during REM sleep. Recent studies have shown that during NREM, activity of 5-HT neurons in raphe nuclei oscillates at very low frequencies (0.01 - 0.05 Hz) and this ultraslow oscillation is negatively coupled to broadband EEG power. However, how exactly this 5-HT oscillation affects neural activity in downstream structures is unclear.

The present study addresses this gap by replicating the observation of the ultraslow oscillation in the 5-HT system, and further observing that hippocampal sharp wave-ripples (SWRs), biomarkers of offline memory processing, occur preferentially in barrages on the falling phase of the 5-HT oscillation during both wakefulness and NREM sleep. In contrast, the study found that the raising phase of the 5-HT oscillation is associated with microarousals during NREM and increased muscular activity during WAKE. Finally, the raising 5-HT phase was also found to be associated with increased synchrony between the hippocampus and neocortex.

In vivo findings are further supported by an ex vivo demonstration of dose-dependent serotonergic SWR modulation, lends support to the potential causal relationship between 5-HT slow oscillation and hippocampal dynamics.

Overall, the study constitutes a valuable contribution to the field by reporting a close association between, on one hand, raising 5-HT and arousal and, on the other hand, falling 5-HT and offline memory processes.

Strengths:

The study makes a compelling use of the state-of-the art methodology to address its aims: the genetically encoded 5-HT sensor used in the study is ideal for capturing the ultraslow 5-HT dynamics and the novel detection method for SWRs outperforms current state-of-the-art algorithms and will be useful to many scientists in the field. Explicit validation of both of these methods is a particular strength of this study.

The analytical methods used in the article are appropriate and are convincingly applied, the use of a general linear mixed model for statistical analysis is a particularly welcome choice as it guards against pseudoreplication while preserving statistical power.

Pharmacological demonstration of serotonergic SWR modulation in brain slices adds further weight to the possible direct role of 5-HT in hippocampal dynamics in vivo.

Overall, the manuscript makes a strong case for distinct sub-states across WAKE and NREM, associated with different phases of the 5-HT oscillation.

Weaknesses:

All in vivo evidence presented in the study is correlational, although the ex vivo results do suggest a possibility of a causal relationship between 5HT levels and hippocampal dynamics in the intact brain.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

This work contributes several important and interesting observations regarding the heterotolerance of non-growing Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa to the antimicrobial peptide tachyplesin. The primary mechanism of action of tachyplesin is thought to be disruption of the bacterial cell envelope, leading to leakage of cellular contents after a threshold level of accumulation. Although the MIC for tachyplesin in exponentially growing E. coli is just 1 ug/ml, the authors observe that a substantial fraction of a stationary phase population of bacteria survives much higher concentrations, up to 64 ug/ml. By using a fluorescently labelled analogue of tachyplesin, the authors show that the amount of per-cell intracellular accumulation of tachyplesin displays a bimodal distribution, and that the fraction of "low accumulators" correlates with the fraction of survivors. Using a microfluidic device, they show that low accumulators exclude propidium iodide, suggesting that their cell envelopes remain largely intact, while high accumulators of tachyplesin also stain with propidium iodide. They show that this phenomenon holds for several clinical isolates of E. coli with different genetic determinants of antibiotic resistance, and for a strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. However, the bimodal distribution does not occur in these organisms for several other antimicrobial peptides, or for tachyplesin in Klebsiella pneumoniae or Staphylococcus aureus, indicating some degree of specificity in the interaction between AMP and bacterial cell envelope. They next explore the dynamics of the fluorescent tachyplesin accumulation and show interestingly that a high degree of accumulation is initially seen in all cells, but that the "low accumulator" subpopulation manages to decrease the amount of intracellular fluorescence over time, while the "high accumulator"subpopulation continues to increase its intracellular fluorescence. Focusing on increased efflux as a hypothesised mechanism for the "low accumulator" phenotype, based on transcriptomic analysis of the two subpopulations, the authors screen putative efflux inhibitors to see if they can block the formation of the low accumulator subpopulation. They find that both the protonophore CCCP and the SSRI sertraline can block the formation of this subpopulation and that a combination of sertraline plus tachyplesin kills a greater fraction of the stationary phase cells than either agent alone, similar to the killing observed when growing cells are treated with tachyplesin.

Strengths:

This study provides new insight into the heterogeneous behaviours of non-growing bacteria when exposed to an antimicrobial peptide, and into the dynamics of their response. The single-cell analysis by FACS and microscopy is compelling. The results provide a much-needed single cell perspective on the phenomenon of tolerance to AMPs and a good starting point for further exploration.

Weaknesses:

The authors have substantially improved the clarity of the manuscript and have added additional experiments to probe further the location of the AMP relative to low and high accumulators, and the physiological states of these sub-populations. These experiments strengthen the assertion that low accumulators keep the AMP at the cell surface while high accumulators permit intracellular access to the AMP.

The phenomenon of the emergence of low accumulators, which are phenotypically tolerant to the antimicrobial peptide tachyplesin, is interesting and important even if there is still work to be done to understand the mechanism by which it occurs.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

This study reports on the existence of subpopulations of isogenic E. coli and P. aeruginosa cells that are tolerant to the antimicrobial peptide tachyplesin and are characterized by accumulation of low levels of a fluorescent tachyplesin-NBD conjugate. The authors then set out to address the molecular mechanisms, providing interesting insights even though the mechanism remains incompletely defined: The work demonstrates that increased efflux may cause this phenotype, putatively together with other changes in membrane lipid composition. The authors further demonstrate that pharmacological manipulation can prevent generation of tolerance. The authors are cautious in their interpretation and the claims made are largely justified by the data.

Strengths:

Going beyond the commonly used bulk techniques for studying susceptibility to AMPs, Lee et al. used of fluorescent antibiotic conjugates in combination with flow cytometry analysis to study variability in drug accumulation at the single cell level. This powerful approach enabled the authors to expose bimodal drug accumulation pattern that were condition dependent, but conserved across a variety of E. coli clinical isolates. Using cell sorting in combination with colony-forming unit assays as well as quantitative fluorescence microscopic analysis in a microfludics-setup the authors compellingly demonstrate that low accumulators (where fluorescence signal is mostly restricted to the membrane), can survive antibiotic treatment, whereas high accumulators (with high intracellular fluorescence) were killed.

The relevance of efflux for the ´low accumulator´ phenotype and its survival is convincingly demonstrated by the following lines of evidence: i) A time-course experiment on tachyplesin-NBD pre-loaded cells revealed that all cells initially were high accumulators, before a subpopulation of cells subsequently managed to reduce signal intensity, demonstrating that the ´low accumulator´ phenotype is an induced response and not a pre-existing property. Ii) Double-mutants deficient in the delta acrA delta tolC double-KO, which showed reduced levels of low accumulators´. Interestingly, ´low accumulator´populations were nearly abrogated in bacteria deficient in the qse quorum sensing system, suggesting its centrality for the tachyplesin response. Even though this system may control acrA, the strength of the phenotype may suggest that it may control additional as-of-yet unidenitified factors relevant in the response to tachyplesin. Iii) treatment with efflux pump inhibitor sertraline and verapamil (even though some caution needs to be taken since it is not perfectly selective, see weakness) prevents generation of low accumulators. The observation that sertraline enhances tachyplesin-based killing is an important basis for developing combination therapies.

The study convincingly illustrates how susceptibility to tachyplesin adaptively changes in a heterogeneous way dependent on the growth phases and nutrient availability. This is highly relevant also beyond the presented example of tachyplesin and similar subpopulation-based adaptive changes to the susceptibility towards antimicrobial peptides or other drugs may occur during infections in vivo and they would likely be missed by standardized in vitro susceptibility testing.

Weaknesses:

Some mechanistic questions regarding tachyplesin-accumulation and survival remain. One general shortcoming of the setup of the transcriptomics experiment is that the tachyplesin-NBD probe itself has antibiotic efficacy and induces phenotypes (and eventually cell death) in the ´high accumulator´ cells. As the authors state themselves, this makes it challenging to interpret whether any differences seen between the two groups are causative for the observed accumulation pattern of if they are a consequence of differential accumulation and downstream phenotypic effects.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

This important study shows that stationary phase bacteria survive antimicrobial peptide treatment by switching on efflux pumps, generating low accumulating subpopulations that evade killing-a finding with clear implications for the design of peptide based antibiotics and for researchers studying antimicrobial resistance. The evidence is solid and frequently convincing, as diverse single cell assays, genetics and chemical inhibition coherently link reduced intracellular peptide to survival, even though a few mechanistic details warrant further exploration.

Strengths:

The authors investigate how Escherichia coli (and, to a lesser extent, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) survive exposure to the antimicrobial peptide (AMP) tachyplesin. Because resistance to AMPs is thought to rely heavily on non genetic adaptations rather than on classical mutation based mechanisms, the study focuses on phenotypic heterogeneity and seeks to pinpoint the cellular processes that protect a subset of cells. Using fluorescently labelled tachyplesin, single cell imaging, flow cytometry, transcriptomics, targeted genetics, and chemical perturbations, the authors report that stationary phase cultures harbor two phenotypic states: high accumulating cells that die and low accumulating cells that survive. They further propose and show that inducible efflux activity is the primary driver of survival and show that either efflux inhibition (sertraline, verapamil) or nutrient supplementation prevents the emergence of low accumulators and boosts killing.

The experiments unambiguously reveal that the cells respond to stress heterogeneously, with two distinct subpopulations - one with better survival than the other. This primary phenotype is convincingly shown across various E. coli strains, including clinical isolates. The authors probed the underlying mechanism from several angles, with important additional experiments in the revised version that strengthens the original conclusions in several ways. Newly added efflux assays with ethidium bromide, together with proteinase treatment experiments and ΔacrAΔtolC and ΔqseB/qseC mutant data, illustrate that the low accumulating subpopulation can actively export intracellular compounds. The authors took great care to temper their language to acknowledge other potential alternatives that could explain some of the data such as altered influx, vesicle release or proteolysis, metabolic activity of the cells, indirect effects of sertraline treatment, etc. Additional metabolic dye measurements confirm that low accumulators are less metabolically active, and a new data on nutrient supplementation shows that forcing growth increases peptide uptake and lethality. The authors clarify the crucial point of where antimicrobial peptides actually bind on the cell within the broader survival mechanism and present their conclusions, along with potential caveats, with commendable clarity.

Weaknesses:

Despite these advances, the contribution of efflux may require more direct evidence to further dissect whether efflux is necessary, sufficient, or contributory. The facts that the key low-efflux mutant still retains a small fraction of survivors and that the inhibitors used may cause other physiological changes leading to higher efflux are still unaccounted for. The lipidomic and vesicle findings, while intriguing, remain descriptive, and direct tests of their functional relevance would further solidify the mechanistic models.

Conclusion:

Even with these limitations, the study provides valuable insight into non genetic resistance mechanisms to AMPs and highlights inducible heterogeneity as a critical obstacle to peptide therapeutics. In a much broader context, this study also underscores the importance of efflux physiology even for those antimicrobials that seemingly would not have intracellular targets.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

In this study, the authors developed an organoid system containing smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs; pacemaker cells), but few enteric neurons. This system generates rhythmic contractions similar to those observed in the developing gut. The stereotypical arrangement of SMCs and ICCs within the organoid allowed the authors to identify these cell types without the need for antibody staining. Leveraging this feature, they used calcium imaging and pharmacological approaches to investigate how calcium transients develop through interactions between the two cell types.

The authors first show that calcium transients are synchronized among ICC-ICC, SMC-SMC, and SMC-ICC pairs. They then used gap junction inhibitors to suggest that gap junctions are specifically involved in ICC-to-SMC signaling. Finally, they applied inhibitors of myosin II and L-type Ca²⁺ channels to demonstrate that SMC contraction is crucial for the generation of rhythmic activity in ICCs, suggesting the presence of SMC-to-ICC signaling. Additionally, they show that two organoids become synchronized upon fusion, with SMCs mediating this synchronization.

Strengths:

The organoid system provides a useful model for studying the specific roles of SMCs and ICCs in live samples.

Weaknesses:

Since all functional analyses were conducted pharmacologically in vitro, the findings need to be further validated through genetic approaches in vivo in future studies.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

In this study, Yagasaki et al. describe an organoid system to study the interactions between smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs). While these interactions are essential for the control of rhythmic intestinal contractility (i.e., peristalsis), they are poorly understood, largely due to the complexity of and access to the in vivo environment and the inability to co-culture these cell types in vitro for long term under physiological conditions. The "gut contractile organoids" organoids described herein are reconstituted from stromal cells of the fetal chicken hindgut that rapidly reorganize into multilayered spheroids containing an outer layer of smooth muscle cells and an inner core of interstitial cells. The authors demonstrate that they contract cyclically and additionally use calcium imagining to show that these contractions occur concomitantly with calcium transients that initiate in the interstitial cell core and are synchronized within the organoid and between ICCs and SMCs. Furthermore, they use several pharmacological inhibitors to show that these contractions are dependent upon non-muscle myosin activity and, surprisingly, independent of gap junction activity. Finally, they develop a 3D hydrogel for the culturing of multiple organoids and found that they synchronize their contractile activities through interconnecting smooth muscle cells, suggesting that this model can be used to study the emergence of pacemaking activities. Overall, this study provides a relatively easy-to-establish organoid system that will be of use in studies examining the emergence of rhythmic peristaltic smooth muscle contractions and how these are regulated by interstitial cell interactions. However, further validation and quantification will be necessary to conclusively determine show the cellular composition of the organoids and how reproducible their behaviors are.

Strengths:

This work establishes a new self-organizing organoid system that can easily be generated from the muscle layers of the chick fetal hindgut to study the emergence of spontaneous smooth muscle cell contractility. A key strength of this approach is that the organoids seem to contain few cell types (though more validation is needed), namely smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs). These organoids are amenable to live imaging of calcium dynamics as well as pharmacological perturbations for functional assays, and since they are derived from developing tissues, the emergence of the interactions between cell types can be functionally studied. Thus, the gut contractile organoids represent a reductionist system to study the interactions between SMCs and ICCs in comparison to the more complex in vivo environment, which has made studying these interactions challenging.

Weaknesses:

The study lacks complementary in vivo experiments, but these will be exciting to follow up in future studies.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

The paper presents a novel contractile gut organoid system that allows for in vitro studying of rudimentary peristaltic motions in embryonic tissues by facilitating GCaMP-live imaging of Ca2+ dynamics, while highlighting the importance and sufficiency of ICC and SMC interactions in generating consistent contractions reminiscent of peristalsis. It also argues that ENS at later embryonic stages might not be necessary for coordination of peristalsis.

Strengths:

The manuscript by Yagasaki, Takahashi, and colleagues represents an exciting new addition to the toolkit available for studying fundamental questions in the development and physiology of the hindgut. The authors carefully lay out the protocol for generating contractile gut organoids from chick embryonic hindgut and perform a series of experiments that illustrate the broader utility of these organoids for studying the gut. This reviewer is highly supportive of the manuscript following highly responsive revisions in response to prior reviewer feedback.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

By measuring intracellular changes in membrane voltage from a single neuron of the medulla the authors attempted to develop a method for determining the balance of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic drive onto a single neuron.

Strengths:

This data-driven approach to explore neural circuits is described well in this study and could be valuable in identifying microcircuits that generate rhythms. Importantly, perhaps, this inference method could enable microcircuits to be studied without the need for time-consuming anatomical tracing or other more involved electrophysiological techniques. Therefore, I can see the value in developing an approach of this type.

Weaknesses:

The implications of several assumptions associated with this inference technique have been considered by the authors.

Most importantly, it is my understanding that this approach assumes a linear I-V when extracting information about the excitatory and inhibitory synaptic conductances (see equations 6 and 7). In Figure 6, the authors explore the impact of varying the reversal potential for the extraction of information about synaptic drive, but this still assumes that the underlying conductance is linear. However, open rectification will be a feature of any conductance generated by asymmetric distributions of ions (see the GHK current equation) and will therefore be a particular issue for the inhibition resulting from asymmetrical Cl- ion gradients across GABA-A receptors as well as the K+ conductance indirectly activated by GABA-B receptor activation. The mixed cation conductance that underlies most synaptic excitation will also generate a non-linear I-V relationship due to the inward rectification associated with polyamine block of AMPA receptors. The authors present evidence that the I-V relationship is linear over most of the voltage range examined, and this is a helpful addition. The authors have discussed the absence of active conductances contributing to the I-V, but I still wonder how the extraction of information concerning the excitatory and inhibitory conductances relies on the assumption of a linear I-V for these conductances.

This approach has similarities to earlier studies undertaken in the visual cortex that estimated the excitatory and inhibitory synaptic conductance changes that contributed to membrane voltage changes during receptive field stimulation. However, these approaches also involved the recording of transmembrane current changes during visual stimulation that were undertaken in voltage-clamp at various command voltages to estimate the underlying conductance changes. Molkov et al have attempted to essentially deconvolve the underlying conductance changes without this information and I am concerned that this simply may not be possible. However, I appreciate the efforts taken by the authors to address this issue.

The current balance equation (1) cited in this study is based upon the parallel conductance model developed by Hodgkin & Huxley. One key element of the HH equations is the inclusion of an estimate of the capacitive current generated due to the change in voltage across the membrane capacitance. While the present study considers the impact of membrane capacitance, a deeper discussion on how variations in capacitance across different neuron types might affect inference accuracy would be useful. Differences in capacitance could introduce variability in inferred conductances, potentially influencing model predictions.

Studies using acute slicing preparations to examine circuit effects have often been limited to the study of small microcircuits, especially feedforward and feedback interneuron circuits. It is widely accepted that any information gained from this approach will always be compromised by the absence of patterned afferent input from outside the brain region being studied. In this study, descending control from the Pons and the neocortex will not be contributing much to the synaptic drive and ascending information from respiratory muscles will also be absent completely. This may not have been such a major concern if this study had been limited to demonstrating the feasibility of a methodological approach. However, this limitation does need to be considered when using an approach of this type to speculate on the prevalence of specific circuit motifs within the medulla (Figure 4). Therefore, I would argue that some discussion of this limitation should be included in this manuscript.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

In the revised version of the manuscript, the authors have adequately addressed all our concerns. The authors should spell check their manuscript, e.g., correct phosphor-site to phospho-site etc.

Summary:

The study aims to create a comprehensive repository about the changes in protein abundance and their modification during oocyte maturation in Xenopus laevis.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

The authors analyzed Xenopus oocytes at different stages of meiosis using quantitative phosphoproteomics. Their advanced methods and analyses revealed changes in protein abundances and phosphorylation states to an unprecedented depth and quantitative detail. In the manuscript they provide an excellent interpretation of these findings putting them in the context of past literature in Xenopus as well as in other model systems. The clarity of these explanations improved significantly in the revised version of the manuscript, and several minor imprecisions have been corrected as well.

Strengths:

High-quality data, careful and detailed analysis, and outstanding interpretation in the context of the large body of literature.

Weaknesses:

Merely a resource, none of the findings are tested in functional experiments.

I am very impressed by the quality of the data and the careful and detailed interpretation of the findings. In this form, the manuscript will be an excellent resource to the cell division community in general, and it presents a very large number of hypotheses that can be tested in future experiments. Xenopus has been and still is a popular and powerful model system that led to critical discoveries around countless cellular processes, including the spindle, nuclear envelope, and translational regulation, just to name a few. This also includes a huge body of literature on the cell cycle describing its phosphoregulation. It is indeed somewhat frustrating to see that these earlier studies using phospho-mutants and phospho-antibodies were just scratching the surface. The phosphoproteomics analysis presented here reveals much more extensive and much more dynamic changes in phosphorylation states. Thereby, in my opinion, this manuscript opens a completely new chapter in this line of research, setting the stage for more systematic future studies.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

The authors performed time-resolved proteomics and phospho-proteomics in Xenopus oocytes from prophase I through the MII arrest of the unfertilized egg. The data contains protein abundance and phosphorylation sites of a large number set of proteins at different stages of oocyte maturation. The large sets of data are of high quality. In addition, the authors discussed several key pathways critical for the maturation. The data is very useful for researchers, not only researchers in Xenopus oocytes but also those in oocyte biology in other organisms.

Strengths:

The data of proteomics and phospho-proteomics in Xenopus oocyte maturation is very useful for future studies to understand molecular networks in oocyte maturation.

Weaknesses:

Although the authors offered molecular pathways of the phosphorylation in translation, protein degradation, cell cycle regulation, and chromosome segregation. The authors did not check the validity of the molecular pathways based on their proteomic data by experimentation. But this is not essential since this is a resource paper.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

This manuscript presents a compelling study identifying RBMX2 as a novel host factor upregulated during Mycobacterium bovis infection.

The study demonstrates that RBMX2 plays a role in:

(1) Facilitating M. bovis adhesion, invasion, and survival in epithelial cells.

(2) Disrupting tight junctions and promoting EMT.

(3) Contributing to inflammatory responses and possibly predisposing infected tissue to lung cancer development.

By using a combination of CRISPR-Cas9 library screening, multi-omics, coculture models, and bioinformatics, the authors establish a detailed mechanistic link between M. bovis infection and cancer-related EMT through the p65/MMP-9 signaling axis. Identification of RBMX2 as a bridge between TB infection and EMT is novel.

Strengths:

This topic and data are both novel and significant, expanding the understanding of transcriptomic diversity beyond RBM2 in M. bovis responsive functions.

Weaknesses:

(1) The abstract and introduction sometimes suggest RBMX2 has protective anti-TB functions, yet results show it facilitates pathogen adhesion and survival. The authors need to rephrase claims to avoid contradiction.

(2) While p65/MMP-9 is convincingly implicated, the role of MAPK/p38 and JNK is less clearly resolved.

(3) Metabolomics results are interesting but not integrated deeply into the main EMT narrative.

(4) A key finding and starting point of this study is the upregulation of RBMX2 upon M. bovis infection. However, the authors have only assessed RBMX2 expression at the mRNA level following infection with M. bovis and BCG. To strengthen this conclusion, it is essential to validate RBMX2 expression at the protein level through techniques such as Western blotting or immunofluorescence. This would significantly enhance the credibility and impact of the study's foundational observation.

(5) The manuscript would benefit from a more in-depth discussion of the relationship between tuberculosis (TB) and lung cancer. While the study provides experimental evidence suggesting a link via EMT induction, integrating current literature on the epidemiological and mechanistic connections between chronic TB infection and lung tumorigenesis would provide important context and reinforce the translational relevance of the findings.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

I am not familiar with cancer biology, so my review mainly focuses on the infection part of the manuscript. Wang et al identified an RNA-binding protein RBMX2 that links the Mycobacterium bovis infection to the epithelial-Mesenchymal transition and lung cancer progression. Upon mycobacterium infection, the expression of RBMX2 was moderately increased in multiple bovine and human cell lines, as well as bovine lung and liver tissues. Using global approaches, including RNA-seq and proteomics, the authors identified differential gene expression caused by the RBMX2 knockout during M. bovis infection. Knockout of RBMX2 led to significant upregulations of tight-junction related genes such as CLDN-5, OCLN, ZO-1, whereas M. bovis infection affects the integrity of epithelial cell tight junctions and inflammatory responses. This study establishes that RBMX2 is an important host factor that modulates the infection process of M. bovis.

Strengths:

(1) This study tested multiple types of bovine and human cells, including macrophages, epithelial cells, and clinical tissues at multiple timepoints, and firmly confirmed the induced expression of RBMX2 upon M. bovis infection.

(2) The authors have generated the monoclonal RBMX2 knockout cell lines and comprehensively characterized the RBMX2-dependent gene expression changes using a combination of global omics approaches. The study has validated the impact of RBMX2 knockout on the tight-junction pathway and on the M. bovis infection, establishing RBMX2 as a crucial host factor.

Weaknesses:

(1) The RBMX2 was only moderately induced (less than 2-fold) upon M. bovis infection, arguing its contribution may be small. Its value as a therapeutic target is not justified. How RBMX2 was activated by M. bovis infection was unclear.

(2) Although multiple time points have been included in the study, most analyses lack temporal resolution. It is difficult to appreciate the impact/consequence of M. bovis infection on the analyzed pathways and processes.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

This study investigates the role of the host protein RBMX2 in regulating the response to Mycobacterium bovis infection and its connection to epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a key pathway in cancer progression. Using bovine and human cell models, the authors have wisely shown that RBMX2 expression is upregulated following M. bovis infection and promotes bacterial adhesion, invasion, and survival by disrupting epithelial tight junctions via the p65/MMP-9 signaling pathway. They also demonstrate that RBMX2 facilitates EMT and is overexpressed in human lung cancers, suggesting a potential link between chronic infection and tumor progression. The study highlights RBMX2 as a novel host factor that could serve as a therapeutic target for both TB pathogenesis and infection-related cancer risk.

Strengths:

The major strengths lie in its multi-omics integration (transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics) to map RBMX2's impact on host pathways, combined with rigorous functional assays (knockout/knockdown, adhesion/invasion, barrier tests) that establish causality through the p65/MMP-9 axis. Validation across bovine and human cell models and in clinical tissue samples enhances translational relevance. Finally, identifying RBMX2 as a novel regulator linking mycobacterial infection to EMT and cancer progression opens exciting therapeutic avenues.

Weaknesses:

Although it's a solid study, there are a few weaknesses noted below.

(1) In the transcriptomics analysis, the authors performed (GO/KEGG) to explore biological functions. Did they perform the search locally or globally? If the search was performed with a global reference, then I would recommend doing a local search. That would give more relevant results. What is the logic behind highlighting some of the enriched pathways (in red), and how are they relevant to the current study?

(2) While the authors show that RBMX2 expression correlates with EMT-related gene expression and barrier dysfunction, the evidence for direct association remains limited in this study. How does RBMX2 activate p65? Does it bind directly to p65 or modulate any upstream kinases? Could ChIP-seq or CLIP-seq provide further evidence for direct RNA or DNA targets of RBMX2 that drive EMT or NF-κB signaling?

(3) The manuscript suggests that RBMX2 enhances adhesion/invasion of several bacterial species (e.g., E. coli, Salmonella), not just M. bovis. This raises questions about the specificity of RBMX2's role in Mycobacterium-specific pathogenesis. Is RBMX2 a general epithelial barrier regulator or does it exhibit preferential effects in mycobacterial infection contexts? How does this generality affect its potential as a TB-specific therapeutic target?

(4) The quality of the figures is very poor. High-resolution images should be provided.

(5) The methods are not very descriptive, particularly the omics section.

(6) The manuscript is too dense, with extensive multi-omics data (transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics) but relatively little mechanistic integration. The authors should have focused on the key mechanistic pathways in the figures. Improving the narratives in the Results and Discussion section could help readers follow the logic of the experimental design and conclusions.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

The authors use the theory of planned behavior to understand whether or not intentions to use sex as a biological variable (SABV), as well as attitude (value), subjective norm (social pressure), and behavioral control (ability to conduct behavior), across scientists at a pharmacological conference. They also used an intervention (workshop) to determine the value of this workshop in changing perceptions and misconceptions. Attempts to understand the knowledge gaps were made.

Strengths:

The use of SABV is limited in terms of researchers using sex in the analysis as a variable of interest in the models (and not a variable to control). To understand how we can improve on the number of researchers examining the data with sex in the analyses, it is vital we understand the pressure points that researchers consider in their work. The authors identify likely culprits in their analyses. The authors also test an intervention (workshop) to address the main bias or impediments for researchers' use of sex in their analyses.

Weaknesses:

There are a number of assumptions the authors make that could be revisited:

(1) that all studies should contain across sex analyses or investigations. It is important to acknowledge that part of the impetus for SABV is to gain more scientific knowledge on females. This will require within sex analyses and dedicated research to uncover how unique characteristics for females can influence physiology and health outcomes. This will only be achieved with the use of female-only studies. The overemphasis on investigations of sex influences limits the work done for women's health, for example, as within-sex analyses are equally important.

(2) It should be acknowledged that although the variability within each sex is not different on a number of characteristics (as indicated by meta-analyses in rats and mice), this was not done on all variables, and behavioral variables were not included. In addition, across-sex variability may very well be different, which, in turn, would result in statistical sex significance. In addition, on some measures, there are sex differences in variability, as human males have more variability in grey matter volume than females. PMID: 33044802.

(3) The authors need to acknowledge that it can be important that the sample size is increased when examining more than one sex. If the sample size is too low for biological research, it will not be possible to determine whether or not a difference exists. Using statistical modelling, researchers have found that depending on the effect size, the sample size does need to increase. It is important to bare this in mind as exploratory analyses with small sample size will be extremely limiting and may also discourage further study in this area (or indeed as seen the literature - an exploratory first study with the use of males and females with limited sample size, only to show there is no "significance" and to justify this as an reason to only use males for the further studies in the work.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

The investigators tested a workshop intervention to improve knowledge and decrease misconceptions about sex inclusive research. There were important findings that demonstrate the difficulty in changing opinions and knowledge about the importance of studying both males and females. While interventions can improve knowledge and decrease perceived barriers, the impact was small.

Strengths:

The investigators included control groups and replicated the study in a second population of scientists. The results appear to be well substantiated. These are valuable findings that have practical implications for fields where sex is included as a biological variable to improve rigor and reproducibility.

Weaknesses:

I found the figures difficult to understand and would have appreciated more explanation of what is depicted, as well as greater space between the bars representing different categories.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

This manuscript aims to determine cultural biases and misconceptions in inclusive sex research and evaluate the efficacy of interventions to improve knowledge and shift perceptions to decrease perceived barriers for including both sexes in basic research.

Overall, this study demonstrates that despite the intention to include both sexes and a general belief in the importance of doing so, relatively few people routinely include both sexes. Further, the perceptions of barriers to doing so are high, including misconceptions surrounding sample size, disaggregation, and variability of females. There was also a substantial number of individuals without the statistical knowledge to appropriately analyze data in studies inclusive of sex. Interventions increased knowledge and decreased perception of barriers.

Strengths:

(1) This manuscript provides evidence for the efficacy of interventions for changing attitudes and perceptions of research.

(2) This manuscript also provides a training manual for expanding this intervention to broader groups of researchers.

Weaknesses:

The major weakness here is that the post-workshop assessment is a single time point, soon after the intervention. As this paper shows, intention for these individuals is already high, so does decreasing perception of barriers and increasing knowledge change behavior, and increase the number of studies that include both sexes?

Similarly, does the intervention start to shift cultural factors? Do these contribute to a change in behavior?

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Structural colors (SC) are based on nanostructures reflecting and scattering light and producing optical wave interference. All kinds of living organisms exhibit SC. However, understanding the molecular mechanisms and genes involved may be complicated due to the complexity of these organisms. Hence, bacteria that exhibit SC in colonies, such as Flavobacterium IR1, can be good models.

Based on previous genomic mining and co-occurrence with SC in flavobacterial strains, this article focuses on the role of a specific gene, moeA, in SC of Flavobacterium IR1 strain colonies on an agar plate. moeA is involved in the synthesis of the molybdenum cofactor, which is necessary for the activity of key metabolic enzymes in diverse pathways.

The authors clearly showed that the absence of moeA shifts SC properties in a way that depends on the nutritional conditions. They further bring evidence that this effect was related to several properties of the colony, all impacted by the moeA mutant: cell-cell organization, cell motility and colony spreading, and metabolism of complex carbohydrates. Hence, by linking SC to a single gene in appearance, this work points to cellular organization (as a result of cell-cell arrangement and motility) and metabolism of polysaccharides as key factors for SC in a gliding bacterium. This may prove useful for designing molecular strategies to control SC in bacterial-based biomaterials.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

The authors constructed an in-frame deletion of moeA gene, which is involved in molybdopterin cofactor (MoCo) biosynthesis, and investigated its role in structural colors in Flavobacterium IR1. The deletion of moeA shifted colony color from green to blue, reduced colony spreading, and increased starch degradation, which was attributed to the upregulation of various proteins in polysaccharide utilization loci. This study lays the ground for developing new colorants by modifying genes involved in structural colors.

Overall, this is a well-written paper in which the authors effectively address their research questions through proper experimentation. This work will help us understand the genetic basis of structural colors in Flavobacterium and open new avenues to study the roles of additional genes and proteins in structural colors.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

In the article Goyal and colleagues investigate the role of negatively charged biopolymers, i.e., polyphosphate (polyP) and DNA, play in phase separation of cytidine repressor (CytR) and fructose repressor (FruR). The authors find that both negative polymers drive the formation of metastable protein/polymer condensates. However, polyP-driven condensates form more gel- or solid-like structures over time while DNA-driven condensates tend to dissipate over time. The authors link this disparate condensate behavior to polyP-induced structures within the enzymes. Specifically, they observe the formation of polyproline II-like structures within two tested enzyme variants in the presence of polyP. Together, their results provide a unique insight into the physical and structural mechanism by which two unique negatively charged polymers can induce distinct phase transitions with the same protein. This study will be a welcomed addition to the condensate field and provide new molecular insights into how binding partner-induced structural changes within a given protein can affect the mesoscale behavior of condensates.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

In the article Goyal et al. investigate how protein/polymer phase transition behavior is modulated by different binding partners-specifically, DNA and polyphosphate (PolyP). The authors show that while both DNA and PolyP can induce metastable condensates, only PolyP drives unique phase transition behaviors by effectively discriminating among initial protein ensembles with varying degrees of conformational heterogeneity, compactness, and plasticity. This selectivity is attributed to PolyP's ability to unfold the enzyme during condensate formation, supported by the observation of polyproline II-rich structures in two tested variants (CytR WT and DM). Overall, this work offers valuable insights into the mechanistic factors underlying condensation assembly and advances our understanding of how molecular interactions influence phase behavior.

Strengths:

The authors employed a well-designed and technically sound experimental approach to investigate how the initial protein conformational ensemble influences phase transition behavior in the presence of two charged polymers. Specifically, they examined phase transitions of CytR and FruR variants in the context of either polyphosphate (PolyP) or DNA, enabling a direct comparison that effectively highlights key differences. This study provides mechanistic insights into the role of PolyP in driving condensation and may contribute to a broader understanding of assembly processes involving PolyP, particularly in the context of bacterial stress responses.

Weaknesses:

The primary weakness of this manuscript lies in the lack of a consistent trend linking the unique phase transitions observed in protein/PolyP systems to the initial protein conformational ensemble. The observed differences in assembly and maturation behavior do not consistently correlate with conformational heterogeneity, plasticity, or compactness of the starting ensemble. This is particularly evident in the divergent outcomes between the CytR/PolyP and FruR/PolyP systems. Consequently, the phase behavior of protein/PolyP condensates does not reliably reflect the composition of the initial conformational ensemble, limiting its effectiveness as a probe for conformational state characterization.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

In this interesting and original paper, the authors examine the effect that heat stress can have on the ability of bacterial cells to evade infection by lytic bacteriophages. Briefly, the authors show that heat stress increases tolerance of Klebsiella pneumoniae to infection by the lytic phage Kp11. They also argue that this increased tolerance facilitates the evolution of genetically encoded resistance to the phage. In addition, they show that heat can reduce the efficacy of phage therapy. Moreover, they define a likely mechanistic reason for both tolerance and genetically encoded resistance. Both lead to a reorganization of the bacterial cell envelope, which reduces the likelihood that phage can successfully inject their DNA.

Strengths:

I found large parts of this paper well written and clearly presented. I also found many of the experiments simple yet compelling. For example, the experiments described in figure 3 clearly show that prior heat exposure can affect the efficacy of phage therapy. In addition the experiments shown in figure 4 and 6 clearly demonstrate the likely mechanistic cause of this effect. The conceptual figure 7 is clear and illustrates the main ideas well. I think this paper would be publishable even without its central claim, namely that tolerance facilitates the evolution of resistance. The reason is that the effect of environmental stressors on stress tolerance has to my knowledge so far only been shown for drug tolerance, not for tolerance to an antagonistic species.

Weaknesses:

I did not detect any weaknesses that would require a major reorganization of the paper, or that may require crucial new experiments without which the paper should not be published. The originally submitted paper needed some work in clarifying specific and central conclusions that the authors draw, which the authors have done during revision.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

An initial screening of pretreatment with different stress treatments of K. pneumonia allowed the identification of heat stress as a protection factor against the infection of the lytic phage Kp11. Then experiments prove that this is mediated not by an increase of phage resistant bacteria but due to an increase in phage transient tolerant population, that the authors identified as bacteriophage persistence in analogy to antibiotic persistence. Then they proved that phage persistence mediated by heath shock enhanced the evolution of bacterial resistance against the phage. The same trait was observed using other lytic phages, their combinations and two clinical strains, as well as E. coli and two T phages, hence the phenomenon may be widespread in enterobacteria.

Next, the elucidation of heat induced phage persistence was done, determining that phage adsorption was not affected but phage DNA internalization was impaired by the heat pretreatment, likely to alterations in the bacterial envelope, including the downregulation of envelope proteins and of LPS; furthermore, heat treated bacteria were less sensitive to polymyxins due to the decrease in LPS.

Finally, cyclic exposure to heat stress allowed the isolation of a mutant that was both resistant to heat treatment, polymyxins and lytic phage, that mutant had alterations in PspA protein that allowed a gain of function and that promoted the reduction of capsule production and loss of its structure; nevertheless this mutant was severely impaired in immune evasion as it was easily cleared from mice blood, evidencing the trade-off's between phage/heat and antibiotic resistance and the ability to counteract the immune response.

Strengths:

The experimental design and the sequence in which they are presented is ideal for the understanding of their study and the conclusions are supported by the findings, also the discussion points out the relevance of their work particularly in the effectiveness of phage therapy and allow the design of strategies to improve their effectiveness.

Weaknesses:

In its present form it lacks the incorporation of some relevant previous work that explored the role of heat stress in phage susceptibility, antibiotic susceptibility, trade offs between phage resistance and resistance against other kinds of stress, virulence, etc. and the fact that exposure to lytic phages induces antibiotic persistence.

Comments on revised version:

Thanks for addressing most of my comments; however, although you replied this in the rebuttal:

"Thank you for highlighting these important studies. We have incorporated the work by Majkowska-Skrobek et al. (2021), Gordillo Altamirano et al. (2021), and García-Cruz et al. (2024) into the discussion "

I was not able to find the new section in the discussion of the manuscript.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

One enduring mystery involving the evolution of genomes is the remarkable variation they exhibit with respect to size. Much of that variation is due to differences in the number of transposable elements, which often (but not always) correlates with the overall quantity of DNA. Amplification of TEs is nearly always either selectively neutral or negative with respect to host fitness. Given that larger effective population sizes are more efficient at removing these mutations, it has been hypothesized that TE content, and thus overall genome size, may be a function of effective population size. The authors of this manuscript test this hypothesis by using a uniform approach to analysis of several hundred animal genomes, using the ration of synonymous to nonsynonymous mutations in coding sequence as a measure of overall strength of purifying selection, which serves as a proxy for effective population size over time. The data convincingly demonstrates that it is unlikely that effective population size has a strong effect on TE content and, by extension, overall genome size (except for birds, which are weird).

Strengths:

Although this ground has been covered before in many other papers, the strength of this analysis is that it is comprehensive and treats all the genomes with the same pipeline, making comparisons more convincing. Although this is a negative result, it is important because it is relatively comprehensive and indicates that there will be no simple, global hypothesis that can explain the observed variation.

Weaknesses:

In the first draft, the authors slipped between assertions of correlation and assertions of cause-effect relationships not established in the results. However, they have corrected the language so that it more carefully makes this distinction.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

The Mutational Hazard Hypothesis (MHH) suggests that lineages with smaller effective population sizes should accumulate slightly deleterious transposable elements leading to larger genome size. Marino and colleagues tested the MHH using a set of 807 vertebrate, mollusc and insect species. The authors mined repeats de novo and estimated dN/dS for each genome. Then, they used dN/dS and life history traits as reliable proxies for effective population size and tested for correlations between these proxies and repeat content while accounting for phylogenetic nonindependence. The results suggest that overall, lineages with lower effective population sizes do not exhibit increases in repeat content or genome size. This contrasts with expectations from the MHH. The authors speculate that changes in genome size may be driven by lineage-specific host-TE conflicts rather than effective population size.

Strengths:

The general conclusions of this paper are supported by a powerful dataset of phylogenetically diverse species. Furthermore, the hypothesis tested is important and has proved challenging to test in the past due to technical challenges and confounding factors. The use of C-values rather than assembly size for many species (when available) helps to mitigate the challenges associated with underrepresentation of repetitive regions in short-read based genome assemblies. Overall, both the phylogenetic breadth of species considered and the approaches employed make the results highly convincing.

Weaknesses:

My primary concerns were related to possible biases in the author's data due to their approach to TE annotation. The authors have sufficiently acknowledged and addressed these concerns in their revised manuscript. I note no further weaknesses.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Overall, the data presented in this manuscript is of good quality. Understanding how cells control RPA loading on ssDNA is crucial to understanding DNA damage responses and genome maintenance mechanisms. The authors used genetic approaches to show that disrupting PCNA binding and SUMOylation of Srs2 can rescue the CPT sensitivity of rfa1 mutants with reduced affinity for ssDNA. In addition, the authors find that SUMOylation of Srs2 depends on binding to PCNA and the presence of Mec1.

Comments on previous revisions:

I am satisfied with the revisions made by the authors, which helped clarify some points that were confusing in the initial submission.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

This is an interesting paper that delves into the post-translational modifications of the yeast Srs2 helicase and proteins with which it interacts in coping with DNA damage. The authors use mutants in some interaction domains with RPA and Srs2 to argue for a model in which there is a balance between RPA binding to ssDNA and Srs2's removal of RPA.

The manuscript mostly addresses previous concerns by doubling down on the model without providing additional direct evidence of interactions between Srs2 and PCNA, and that "precise sites of Srs2 actions in the genome remain to be determined." One additional Srs2 allele has been examined, showing some effect in combination with rfa1-zm2.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

The superfamily I 3'-5' DNA helicase Srs2 is well known for its role as an anti-recombinase, stripping Rad51 from ssDNA, as well as an anti-crossover factor, dissociating extended D-loops and favoring non-crossover outcome during recombination. In addition, Srs2 plays a key role in in ribonucleotide excision repair. Besides DNA repair defects, srs2 mutants also show a reduced recovery after DNA damage that is related to its role in downregulating the DNA damage signaling or checkpoint response. Recent work from the Zhao laboratory (PMID: 33602817) identified a role of Srs2 in downregulating the DNA damage signaling response by removing RPA from ssDNA. This manuscript reports further mechanistic insights into the signaling downregulation function of Srs2.

Using the genetic interaction with mutations in RPA1, mainly rfa1-zm2, the authors test a panel of mutations in Srs2 that affect CDK sites (srs2-7AV), potential Mec1 sites (srs2-2SA), known sumoylation sites (srs2-3KR), Rad51 binding (delta 875-902), PCNA interaction (delta 1159-1163), and SUMO interaction (srs2-SIMmut). All mutants were generated by genomic replacement and the expression level of the mutant proteins was found to be unchanged. This alleviates some concern about the use of deletion mutants compared to point mutations. Double mutant analysis identified that PCNA interaction and SUMO sites were required for the Srs2 checkpoint dampening function, at least in the context of the rfa1-zm2 mutant. There was no effect of this mutants in a RFA1 wild type background. This latter result is likely explained by the activity of the parallel pathway of checkpoint dampening mediated by Slx4, and genetic data with an Slx4 point mutation affecting Rtt107 interaction and checkpoint downregulation support this notion. Further analysis of Srs2 sumoylation showed that Srs2 sumoylation depended on PCNA interaction, suggesting sequential events of Srs2 recruitment by PCNA and subsequent sumoylation. Kinetic analysis showed that sumoylation peaks after maximal Mec1 induction by DNA damage (using the Top1 poison camptothecin (CPT)) and depended on Mec1. This data are consistent with a model that Mec1 hyperactivation is ultimately leading to signaling downregulation by Srs2 through Srs2 sumoylation. Mec1-S1964 phosphorylation, a marker for Mec1 hyperactivation and a site found to be needed for checkpoint downregulation after DSB induction, did not appear to be involved in checkpoint downregulation after CPT damage. The data are in support of the model that Mec1 hyperactivation when targeted to RPA-covered ssDNA by its Ddc2 (human ATRIP) targeting factor, favors Srs2 sumoylation after Srs2 recruitment to PCNA to disrupt the RPA-Ddc2-Mec1 signaling complex. Presumably, this allows gap filling and disappearance of long-lived ssDNA as the initiator of checkpoint signaling, although the study does not extend to this step.

Strengths:

(1) The manuscript focuses on the novel function of Srs2 to downregulate the DNA damage signaling response and provide new mechanistic insights.

(2) The conclusions that PCNA interaction and ensuing Srs2-sumoylation are involved in checkpoint downregulation are well supported by the data.

Reviewer #1 (Public Review):

Summary:

In this manuscript, Jiao D et al reported the induction of synthetic lethality by combined inhibition of anti-apoptotic BCL-2 family proteins and WSB2, a substrate receptor in CRL5 ubiquitin ligase complex. Mechanistically, WSB2 interacts with NOXA to promote its ubiquitylation and degradation. Cancer cells deficient in WSB2, as well as heart and liver tissues from Wsb2-/- mice exhibit high susceptibility to apoptosis induced by inhibitors of BCL-2 family proteins. The anti-apoptotic activity of WSB2 is partially dependent on NOXA.

Overall, the finding that WSB2 disruption triggers synthetic lethality to BCL-2 family protein inhibitors by destabilizing NOXA is rather novel. The manuscript is largely hypothesis-driven, with experiments that are adequately designed and executed. However, there are quite a few issues for the authors to address, including those listed below.

Specific comments from the previous round of review:

(1) At the beginning of the Results section, a clear statement is needed as to why the authors are interested in WSB2 and what brought them to analyze "the genetic co-dependency between WSB2 and other proteins".

(2) In general, the biochemical evidence supporting the role of WSB2 as a SOCS box-containing substrate-binding receptor of CRL5 E3 in promoting NOXA ubiquitylation and degradation is relatively weak. First, since NOXA2 binds to WSB2 on its SOCS box, which consists of a BC box for Elongin B/C binding and a CUL5 box for CUL5 binding, it is crucial to determine whether the binding of NOXA on the SOCS box affects the formation of CRL5WSB2 complex. The authors should demonstrate the endogenous binding between NOXA and the CRL5WSB2 complex. Additionally, the authors may also consider manipulating CUL5, SAG, or ElonginB/C to assess if it would affect NOXA protein turnover in two independent cell lines. Second, in all the experiments designed to detect NOXA ubiquitylation in cells, the authors utilized immunoprecipitation (IP) with FLAG-NOXA/NOXA, followed by immunoblotting (IB) with HA-Ub. However, it is possible that the observed poly-Ub bands could be partly attributed to the ubiquitylation of other NOXA binding proteins. Therefore, the authors need to consider performing IP with HA-Ub and subsequently IB with NOXA. Alternatively, they could use Ni-beads to pull down all His-Ub-tagged proteins under denaturing conditions, followed by the detection of FLAG-tagged NOXA using anti-FLAG Ab. The authors are encouraged to perform one of these suggested experiments to exclude the possibility of this concern. Furthermore, an in vitro ubiquitylation assay is crucial to conclusively demonstrate that the polyubiquitylation of NOXA is indeed mediated by the CRL5WSB2 complex.

(3) In their attempt to map the binding regions between NOXA and WSB2, the authors utilized exogenous proteins of both WSB2 and NOXA. To strengthen their findings, it would be more convincing to perform IP with exogenous wt/mutant WSB2 or NOXA and subsequently perform IB to detect endogenous NOXA or WSB2, respectively. Additionally, an in vitro binding assay using purified proteins would provide further evidence of a direct binding between NOXA and WSB2.

Comments on latest version:

The authors have adequately addressed my previous comments.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

The manuscript focuses on the olfactory system of Pieris brassicae larvae and the importance of olfactory information in their interactions with the host plant Brassica oleracea and the major parasitic wasp Cotesia glomerata. The authors used CRISPR/Cas9 to knockout odorant receptor co-receptors (Orco), and conducted a comparative study on the behavior and olfactory system of the mutant and wild-type larvae. The study found that Orco-expressing olfactory sensory neurons in antennae and maxillary palps of Orco knockout (KO) larvae disappeared, and the number of glomeruli in the brain decreased, which impairs the olfactory detection and primary processing in the brain. Orco KO caterpillars show weight loss and loss of preference for optimal food plants; KO larvae also lost weight when attacked by parasitoids with the ovipositor removed, and mortality increased when attacked by untreated parasitoids. On this basis, the authors further studied the responses of caterpillars to volatiles from plants attacked by the larvae of the same species and volatiles from plants on which the caterpillars were themselves attacked by parasitic wasps. Lack of OR mediated olfactory inputs prevents caterpillars from finding suitable food sources and from choosing spaces free of enemies.

Strengths:

The findings help to understand the important role of olfaction in caterpillar feeding and predator avoidance, highlighting the importance of odorant receptor genes in shaping ecological interactions.

Weaknesses:

There are the following major concerns:

(1) Possible non-targeted effects of Orco knockout using CRISPR/Cas9 should be analyzed and evaluated in Materials and Methods and Results

(2) Figure 1E: Only one olfactory receptor neuron was marked in WT. There are at least three olfactory sensilla at the top of the maxillary palp. Therefore, to explain the loss of Orco expressing neurons in the mutant (Figure 1F), a more rigorous explanation of the photo is required.

(3) In Figure 1G, H, the four glomeruli circled by dotted lines: their corresponding relationship between the two figures needs to be further clarified.

(4) Line 130: Since the main topic in this study is the olfactory system of larvae, the experimental results of this part are all about antennal electrophysiological responses, mating frequency and egg production of female and male adults of wild type and Orco KO mutant, it may be considered to include this part in the supplementary files. It is better to include some data about the olfactory responses of larvae.

(5) Line 166: The sentences in the text is about the choice test between " healthy plant vs. infested plant", while in Fig 3C, it is "infested plant vs. no plant". The content in the text does not match the figure.

(6) Lines 174-178: Fig 3A showed that the body weight of Orco KO larvae in the absence of parasitic wasps also decreased compared with that of WT. Therefore, in the experiments of Fig 3A and E, the difference in the body weight of Orco KO larvae in the presence or absence of parasitic wasps without ovipositors should also be compared. The current data cannot determine the reduced weight of KO mutant is due to the Orco knockout or the presence of parasitic wasps.

(7) Lines 179-181: Fig 3F show that the survival rate of larvae of Orco KO mutant decreased in the presence of parasitic wasps, and the difference in survival rate of larvae of WT and Orco KO mutant in the absence of parasitic wasps should also be compared. The current data cannot determine whether the reduced survival of the KO mutant is due to the Orco knockout or the presence of parasitic wasps.

(8) In Figure 4B, why do the compounds tested had no volatiles derived from plants? Cruciferous plants have the well-known mustard bomb. In the behavioral experiments the larvae responses to ITC compounds were not included, which is suggested to be explained in the discussion section.

(9) The custom-made setup and the relevant behavioral experiments in Fig 4C needs to be described in detail (Line 545).

(10) Materials and Methods Line 448: 10 μL paraffin oil should be used for negative control.

Comments on revised version:

The authors have replied my concerns and made revisions accordingly.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

This study aims to identify the proteins that compose the electrical synapse, which are much less understood than those of the chemical synapse. Identifying these proteins is important to understand how synaptogenesis and conductance are regulated in these synapses.

Using a proteomics approach, the authors identified more than 50 new proteins and used immunoprecipitation and immunostaining to validate their interaction of localization. One new protein, a scaffolding protein (Sipa1l3), shows particularly strong evidence of being an integral component of the electrical synapse. The function of Sipa1l3 remains to be determined.

Another strength is the use of two different model organisms (zebrafish and mice) to determine which components are conserved across species. This approach also expands the utility of this work to benefit researchers working with both species.

The methodology is robust and there is compelling evidence supporting the findings.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

This study aimed to uncover the protein composition and evolutionary conservation of electrical synapses in retinal neurons. The authors employed two complementary BioID approaches: expressing a Cx35b-TurboID fusion protein in zebrafish photoreceptors and using GFP-directed TurboID in Cx36-EGFP-labeled mouse AII amacrine cells. They identified conserved ZO proteins and endocytosis components in both species, along with over 50 novel proteins related to adhesion, cytoskeleton remodeling, membrane trafficking, and chemical synapses. Through a series of validation studies¬-including immunohistochemistry, in vitro interaction assays, and immunoprecipitation-they demonstrate that novel scaffold protein SIPA1L3 interacts with both Cx36 and ZO proteins at electrical synapse. Furthermore, they identify and localize proteins ZO-1, ZO-2, CGN, SIPA1L3, Syt4, SJ2BP, and BAI1 at AII/cone bipolar cell gap junctions.

Strengths:

The study demonstrates several significant strengths in both experimental design and validation approaches. First, the dual-species approach provides valuable insights into the evolutionary conservation of electrical synapse components across vertebrates. Second, the authors compare two different TurboID strategies in mice and demonstrate that the HKamac promoter and GFP-directed approach can successfully target the electrical synapse proteome of mouse AII amacrine cells. Third, they employed multiple complementary validation approaches-including retinal section immunohistochemistry, in vitro interaction assays, and immunoprecipitation-providing evidence supporting the presence and interaction of these proteins at electrical synapses.

Weaknesses:

The major weakness of this paper is the insufficient number of replicates in the proteomics datasets. The zebrafish datasets include only two biological replicates, while the mouse dataset has only one high-quality replicate. Due to the limited number of replicates, it is not possible to determine which enriched proteins are statistically significant.

Additionally, the Neutravidin staining in the TurboID condition is not restricted to where Cx35 is expressed but is broadly distributed throughout the INL and IPL in the zebrafish retina (Figure 1B, bottom). Therefore, it is necessary to include NeutrAvidin staining in non-labeled retinas to verify whether the biotinylated proteins are specifically associated with Cx35 expression. Although the western blot results showed increased protein enrichment in the TurboID condition compared to non-labeled retinas, this does not confirm that the streptavidin pull-down proteins are associated with Cx35.

Similarly, it is important to include NeutrAvidin staining in both TurboID and non-labeled conditions in the mouse retina to verify that the biotinylated proteins are specifically associated with gap junctions.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

This study by Tetenborg S et al. identifies proteins that are physically closely associated with gap junctions in retinal neurons of mice and zebrafish using BioID, a technique that labels and isolates proteins in proximal to a protein of interest. These proteins include scaffold proteins, adhesion molecules, chemical synapse proteins, components of the endocytic machinery, and cytoskeleton-associated proteins. Using a combination of genetic tools and meticulously executed immunostaining, the authors further verified the colocalizations of some of the identified proteins with connexin-positive gap junctions. The findings in this study highlight the complexity of gap junctions. Electrical synapses are abundant in the nervous system, yet their regulatory mechanisms are far less understood than those of chemical synapses. This work will provide valuable information for future studies aiming to elucidate the regulatory mechanisms essential for the function of neural circuits.

Strengths:

A key strength of this work is the identification of novel gap junction-associated proteins in AII amacrine cells and photoreceptors using BioID in combination with various genetic tools. The well-studied functions of gap junctions in these neurons will facilitate future research into the functions of the identified proteins in regulating electrical synapses.

The authors have addressed my concerns in the revised manuscript.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

This study presents evidence that remote memory in the APP/PS1 mouse model of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with PV interneuron hyperexcitability and increased inhibition of cortical engram cells. Its strength lies in the fact that it explores a neglected aspect of memory research - remote memory impairments related to AD (for which the primary research focus is usually on recent memory impairments) -which has received minimal attention to date. While the findings are intriguing, the weakness of the paper hovers around purely correlational types of evidence and superficial data analyses, which require substantial revisions as outlined below.

Major concerns:

(1) In light of previous work, including that by the authors themselves, the data in Figure 1 should be complemented by measurements of recent memory recall in order to assess whether remote memories are exclusively impaired or whether remote memory recall merely represents a continuation of recent memory impairments.

(2) Figure 2 shows electrophysiological properties of PV cells in the mPFC that correlate with the behavior shown in Figure 1. However, the mice used in Figure 2 are different than the mice used in Figure 1. Thus, the data are correlative at best, and the authors need to confirm that behavioral impairments in the APP/PS1 mice crossed to PV-Cre (and SST-Cre mice) used in Figure 2 are similar to those of the APP/PS1 mice used in Figure 1. Without that, no conclusions between behavioral impairments and electrophysiological as well as engram reactivation properties can be made, and the central claims of the paper cannot be upheld.

(3) The reactivation data starting in Figure 3 should be analysed in much more depth: a) The authors restrict their analysis to intra-animal comparisons, but additional ones should be performed, such as inter-animal (WT vs APP/PS1) as well as inter-age (12-16w vs 16-20w). In doing so, reactivation data should be normalized to chance levels per animal, to account for differences in labelling efficiency - this is standard in the field (see original Tonegawa papers and for a reference). This could highlight differences in total reactivation that are already apparent, such as for instance in WT vs APP/PS1 at 20w (Figure 3o), and highlight a decrease in reactivation in AD mice at this age, contrary to what is stated in lines 213-214. b) Comparing the proportion of mcherry+ cells in PV- and PV+ is problematic, considering that the PV- population is not "pure" like the PV+, but rather likely to represent a mix of different pyramidal neurons (probably from several layers), other inhibitory neurons like SST and maybe even glial cells. Considering this, the statement on line 218 is misleading in saying that PVs are overrepresented. If anything, the same populations should be compared across ages or groups. c) A similar concern applies to the mcherry- population in Figure 4, which could represent different types of neurons that were never active, compared to the relatively homogeneous engram mcherry+ population. This could be elegantly fixed by restricting the comparison to mCherry+Fos+ vs mCherry+Fos- ensembles, and could indicate engram reactivation-specific differences in perisomatic inhibition by PV cells.

(4) At several instances, there are some doubts about the statistical measures having been employed: a) In Figure 4f, it is unclear why a repeated measurement ANOVA was used as opposed to a regular ANOVA. b) In Supplementary Figure 2b, a Mann-Whitney test was used, supposedly because the data were not normally distributed. However, when looking at the individual data points, the data does seem to be normally distributed. Thus, the authors need to provide the test details as to how they measured the normalcy of distribution.

Minor concerns:

(1) Line 117: The authors cite a recent memory impairment here, as shown by another paper. However, given the notorious difficulty in replicating behavioral findings, in particular in APP/PS1 mice (number of backcrossings, housing conditions, etc., might differ between laboratories), such a statement cannot be made. The authors should either show in their own hands that recent memory is indeed affected at 12 weeks of age, or they should omit this statement.

(2) Pertaining to Figure 3, low-resolution images of the mPFC should be provided to assess the spread of injection and the overall degree of double-positive cells.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

This study presents a comprehensive investigation of remote memory deficits in the APP/PS1 mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. The authors convincingly show that these deficits emerge progressively and are paralleled by selective hyperexcitability of PV interneurons in the mPFC. Using viral-TRAP labeling and patch-clamp electrophysiology, they demonstrate that inhibitory input onto labeled engram cells is selectively increased in APP/PS1 mice, despite unaltered engram size or reactivation. These findings support the idea that alterations in inhibitory microcircuits may contribute to cognitive decline in AD.

However, several aspects of the study merit further clarification. Most critically, the central paradox, i.e., increased inhibitory input without an apparent change in engram reactivation, remains unresolved. The authors propose possible mechanisms involving altered synchrony or impaired output of engram cells, but these hypotheses require further empirical support. Additionally, the study employs multiple crossed transgenic lines without reporting the progression of amyloid pathology in the mPFC, which is important for interpreting the relationship between circuit dysfunction and disease stage. Finally, the potential contribution of broader network dysfunction, such as spontaneous epileptiform activity reported in APP/PS1 mice, is also not addressed.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

This study provides the first evidence that glucose availability, previously shown to support cell survival in other models, is also a key determinant for post-implantation MSC survival in the specific context of pulmonary fibrosis. To address glucose depletion in this context, the authors propose an original, elegant, and rational strategy: enhancing intracellular glycogen stores to provide transplanted MSCs with an internal energy reserve. This approach aims to prolong their viability and therapeutic functionality after implantation.

Strengths:

The efficacy of this metabolic engineering strategy is robustly demonstrated both in vitro and in an orthotopic mouse model of pulmonary fibrosis.

Comments and questions for clarification:

(1) Glycogen biosynthesis typically involves several enzymes. In this context, could the authors comment on the effect of overexpressing a single enzyme - especially a mutant version - on the structure or quality of the glycogen synthesized?

(2) Regarding the in vitro starvation experiments (Figure 2C), what oxygen conditions (pO₂) were used? Are these conditions physiologically relevant and representative of the in vivo lung microenvironment?

(3) In the in vitro model, how many hours does it take for the intracellular glycogen reserve to be completely depleted under starvation conditions?

(4) For the in vivo model, is there a quantitative analysis of the survival kinetics of the transplanted cells over time for each group? This would help to better assess the role and duration of glycogen stores as an energy buffer after implantation.

(5) Finally, the study was performed in male mice only. Could sex differences exist in the efficacy or metabolism of the engineered MSCs? It would be helpful to discuss whether the approach could be expected to be similarly effective in female subjects.

(6) The number of mice for each group and time point should be specified.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

In this article, the authors investigate enhancing the therapeutic and regenerative properties of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) through genetic modification, specifically by overexpressing genes involved in the glycogen synthesis pathway. By creating a non-phosphorylatable mutant form of glycogen synthase (GYSmut), the authors successfully increased glycogen accumulation in MSCs, leading to significantly improved cell survival under starvation conditions. The study highlights the potential of glycogen engineering to improve MSC function, especially in inflammatory or energy-deficient environments. However, critical gaps in the study's design, including the lack of validation of key findings, limited differentiation assessments, and missing data on MSC-GYSmut resistance to reactive oxygen species (ROS), necessitate further exploration.

Strengths:

(1) Novel Approach: The study introduces an innovative method of enhancing MSC function by manipulating glycogen metabolism.

(2) Increased Glycogen Storage: The genetic modification of GYS1, resulting in GYSmut, significantly increased glycogen accumulation, leading to improved MSC survival under starvation, which has strong implications for enhancing MSC therapeutic properties in energy-deficient environments.

(3) Potential Therapeutic Impact: The findings suggest significant therapeutic potential for MSCs in conditions that require improved survival, persistence, and immunomodulation, especially in inflammatory or energy-limited settings.

(4) In Vivo Validation: The in vivo murine model of pulmonary fibrosis demonstrated the improved survival and persistence of MSC-GYSmut, supporting the translational potential of the approach.

Weaknesses:

(1) Lack of Differentiation Assessments: The study did not evaluate key MSC differentiation pathways, including chondrogenic and osteogenic differentiation. The absence of analysis of classical MSC surface markers and multipotency limits the understanding of the full potential of MSC-GYSmut.

(2) Missing Validation of RNA Sequencing Data: Although RNA sequencing data revealed promising transcriptomic changes in chondrogenesis and metabolic pathways, these findings were not experimentally validated, limiting confidence.

(3) Lack of ROS Resistance Analysis: Resistance to reactive oxygen species (ROS), an important feature for MSCs under regenerative conditions, was not assessed, leaving out a critical aspect of MSC function.

(4) Inconsistencies in In Vivo Data: There is a discrepancy between the number of animals shown in the figures and the graph (three individuals vs. five animals), as well as missing details on how luciferase signal intensity was quantified, requiring further clarification.

(5) Limited Exploration of Immunosuppressive Properties: The study did not address the immunosuppressive functions of MSC-GYSmut, which are critical for MSC-based therapies in clinical settings.

Conclusion:

The study presents an exciting new direction for enhancing MSC function through glycogen metabolism engineering. While the results show promise, key experiments and validations are missing, and several areas, such as differentiation capacity, ROS resistance, and immunosuppressive properties, require further investigation. Addressing these gaps would solidify the conclusions and strengthen the potential clinical applications of MSC-GYSmut in regenerative medicine.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

Formins are complex proteins with multiple effects on actin filament assembly, including nucleation, capping with processive elongation, and bundling. Determining which of these activities are important for a given biological process and normal cellular function is a major challenge.

Here, the authors study the formin FHOD3L, which is essential for normal sarcomere assembly in muscle cells. They identify point mutants of FHOD3L in which formin nucleation and elongation/bundling activities are functionally separated. Expression of these mutants in neonatal rat ventricular myocytes shows that the control of actin filament elongation by formin is the major activity required for normal assembly of functional sarcomeres.

Strengths:

The strength of this work is to combine sensitive biochemical assays with excellent work in neonatal rat ventricular myocytes. This combination of approaches is highly effective for analyzing the function of proteins with multiple activities in vitro. The authors have pushed the experiments and data analysis as far as possible with the technologies available to them.

Weaknesses:

FHOD3L is not the easiest formin to study because of its relatively weak nucleation activity and the short duration of capping events. This difficulty imposes rigorous biochemical analysis and careful interpretation of the data. As the authors acknowledge, it will be important in future to perform complementary multi-color TIRF experiments to confirm that the brief accelerations in the elongation of actin filaments are indeed due to FHOD3 binding.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Valencia et al. aim to elucidate the biochemical and cellular mechanisms through which the human formin FHOD3 drives sarcomere assembly in cardiomyocytes. To do so, they combined rigorous in vitro biochemical assays with comprehensive in vivo characterizations, evaluating two wild type FHOD3 isoforms and two function-separating mutants. Surprisingly, they found that both wild type FHOD3 isoforms can nucleate new actin filaments, as well as elongate existing actin filaments in conjunction with profilin following barbed-end capping. This is in addition to FHOD3's proposed role as an actin bundler. Next, the authors focused on the longer isoform FHOD3L due to its essential role in sarcomere assembly in cardiomyocytes. They asked whether FHOD3L promote sarcomere assembly through its activity in actin nucleation or rather elongation. To do so, the authors designed two function-separating mutants: the K1193L mutation in the FH2 domain, known for its importance in actin nucleation, and the glycine-serine linker substitution in the FH1 domain ("GS-FH1",) known for its requirement in actin elongation. They demonstrated that while K1193L maintains its elongation activity and greatly diminishes nucleation and bundling, in GS-FH1 keeps its nucleation activity while lose its capacity to drive elongation. Armed with these tools, the authors attempted to rescue FHOD3L siRNA-treated neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVM) with transgenes carrying wild type, K1193L, or GS-FH1 mutant forms of human FHOD3. In each condition, they evaluated the numbers and morphology of sarcomeres, as well as their ability to beat and generate cardiac rhythm. The authors found that while the wild type FHOD3L and the K1193L mutant can rescue sarcomere morphology and physiology, the GS-FH1 mutant fails to do so. Given that in GS-FH1 mainly elongation activity is compromised, the authors concluded that the elongation activity of FHOD3 is essential for its role in sarcomere assembly in cardiomyocytes, while its nucleator activity is dispensable. Overall, this important study provided a broadened view on the biochemical activities of FHOD3, and a pioneering view on a possible cellular mechanism of how FHOD3L drives sarcomere assembly. If further validated, this can lead to new mechanistic models of sarcomere assembly and potentially new therapeutic targets of cardiomyopathy.

The conclusions of this paper are mostly well supported by the comprehensive biochemical analyses performed by the authors. In my original assessment, I raised the point that the extreme low level of GS-FH1 signal in transfected cells in Figure 6A may reflect a failure of actin-binding by this construct in vivo, rather than its inability of driving elongation. The authors have thoroughly addressed this concern by: 1) providing new images of the GS-FH1 rescue condition with HA-FHOD3L signal intensities matching that of the K1193L rescue condition, and 2) quantitatively demonstrating that the expression levels in the GS-FH1 rescue condition are comparable with that of wild type FHOD3L rescue condition. This is nicely complemented by the new phalloidin staining of the GS-FH1 rescue condition, which showcased additional details of actin puncta reminiscent of that present in muscle stress fibers or premyofibrils. Overall, I am now convinced that the GS-FH1 cannot rescue sarcomere formation even when expressed at comparable levels. Given that GS-FH1 demonstrates actin elongation defects in vitro, it is reasonable to conclude that the actin elongation function of FHOD3L is essential for sarcomere formation in vivo.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

The article presents the details of the high-resolution light-sheet microscopy system developed by the group. In addition to presenting the technical details of the system, its resolution has been characterized and its functionality demonstrated by visualizing subcellular structures in a biological sample.

Strengths:

(1) The article includes extensive supplementary material that complements the information in the main article.

(2) However, in some sections, the information provided is somewhat superficial.

Weaknesses:

(1) Although a comparison is made with other light-sheet microscopy systems, the presented system does not represent a significant advance over existing systems. It uses high numerical aperture objectives and Gaussian beams, achieving resolution close to theoretical after deconvolution. The main advantage of the presented system is its ease of construction, thanks to the design of a perforated base plate.

(2) Using similar objectives (Nikon 25x and Thorlabs 20x), the results obtained are similar to those of the LLSM system (using a Gaussian beam without laser modulation). However, the article does not mention the difficulties of mounting the sample in the implemented configuration.

(3) The authors present a low-cost, open-source system. Although they provide open source code for the software (navigate), the use of proprietary electronics (ASI, NI, etc.) makes the system relatively expensive. Its low cost is not justified.

(4) The fibroblast images provided are of exceptional quality. However, these are fixed samples. The system lacks the necessary elements for monitoring cells in vivo, such as temperature or pH control.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

The authors present Altair-LSFM (Light Sheet Fluorescence Microscope), a high-resolution, open-source microscope, that is relatively easy to align and construct and achieves sub-cellular resolution. The authors developed this microscope to fill a perceived need that current open-source systems are primarily designed for large specimens and lack sub-cellular resolution or are difficult to construct and align, and are not stable. While commercial alternatives exist that offer sub-cellular resolution, they are expensive. The authors' manuscript centers around comparisons to the highly successful lattice light-sheet microscope, including the choice of detection and excitation objectives. The authors thus claim that there remains a critical need for high-resolution, economical, and easy-to-implement LSFM systems.

Strengths:

The authors succeed in their goals of implementing a relatively low-cost (~ USD 150K) open-source microscope that is easy to align. The ease of alignment rests on using custom-designed baseplates with dowel pins for precise positioning of optics based on computer analysis of opto-mechanical tolerances, as well as the optical path design. They simplify the excitation optics over Lattice light-sheet microscopes by using a Gaussian beam for illumination while maintaining lateral and axial resolutions of 235 and 350 nm across a 260-um field of view after deconvolution. In doing so they rest on foundational principles of optical microscopy that what matters for lateral resolution is the numerical aperture of the detection objective and proper sampling of the image field on to the detection, and the axial resolution depends on the thickness of the light-sheet when it is thinner than the depth of field of the detection objective. This concept has unfortunately not been completely clear to users of high-resolution light-sheet microscopes and is thus a valuable demonstration. The microscope is controlled by an open-source software, Navigate, developed by the authors, and it is thus foreseeable that different versions of this system could be implemented depending on experimental needs while maintaining easy alignment and low cost. They demonstrate system performance successfully by characterizing their sheet, point-spread function, and visualization of sub-cellular structures in mammalian cells, including microtubules, actin filaments, nuclei, and the Golgi apparatus.

Weaknesses:

There is a fixation on comparison to the first-generation lattice light-sheet microscope, which has evolved significantly since then:

(1) The authors claim that commercial lattice light-sheet microscopes (LLSM) are "complex, expensive, and alignment intensive", I believe this sentence applies to the open-source version of LLSM, which was made available for wide dissemination. Since then, a commercial solution has been provided by 3i, which is now being used in multiple cores and labs but does require routine alignments. However, Zeiss has also released a commercial turn-key system, which, while expensive, is stable, and the complexity does not interfere with the experience of the user. Though in general, statements on ease of use and stability might be considered anecdotal and may not belong in a scientific article, unreferenced or without data.

(2) One of the major limitations of the first generation LLSM was the use of a 5 mm coverslip, which was a hinderance for many users. However, the Zeiss system elegantly solves this problem, and so does Oblique Plane Microscopy (OPM), while the Altair-LSFM retains this feature, which may dissuade widespread adoption. This limitation and how it may be overcome in future iterations is not discussed.

(3) Further, on the point of sample flexibility, all generations of the LLSM, and by the nature of its design, the OPM, can accommodate live-cell imaging with temperature, gas, and humidity control. It is unclear how this would be implemented with the current sample chamber. This limitation would severely limit use cases for cell biologists, for which this microscope is designed. There is no discussion on this limitation or how it may be overcome in future iterations.

(4) The authors' comparison to LLSM is constrained to the "square" lattice, which, as they point out, is the most used optical lattice (though this also might be considered anecdotal). The LLSM original design, however, goes far beyond the square lattice, including hexagonal lattices, the ability to do structured illumination, and greater flexibility in general in terms of light-sheet tuning for different experimental needs, as well as not being limited to just sample scanning. Thus, the Alstair-LSFM cannot compare to the original LLSM in terms of versatility, even if comparisons to the resolution provided by the square lattice are fair.

(5) There is no demonstration of the system's live-imaging capabilities or temporal resolution, which is the main advantage of existing light-sheet systems.

While the microscope is well designed and completely open source, it will require experience with optics, electronics, and microscopy to implement and align properly. Experience with custom machining or soliciting a machine shop is also necessary. Thus, in my opinion, it is unlikely to be implemented by a lab that has zero prior experience with custom optics or can hire someone who does. Altair-LSFM may not be as easily adaptable or implementable as the authors describe or perceive in any lab that is interested, even if they can afford it. The authors indicate they will offer "workshops," but this does not necessarily remove the barrier to entry or lower it, perhaps as significantly as the authors describe.

There is a claim that this design is easily adaptable. However, the requirement of custom-machined baseplates and in silico optimization of the optical path basically means that each new instrument is a new design, even if the Navigate software can be used. It is unclear how Altair-LSFM demonstrates a modular design that reduces times from conception to optimization compared to previous implementations.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

This manuscript introduces a high-resolution, open-source light-sheet fluorescence microscope optimized for sub-cellular imaging.

The system is designed for ease of assembly and use, incorporating a custom-machined baseplate and in silico optimized optical paths to ensure robust alignment and performance. The authors demonstrate lateral and axial resolutions of ~235 nm and ~350 nm after deconvolution, enabling imaging of sub-diffraction structures in mammalian cells.

The important feature of the microscope is the clever and elegant adaptation of simple gaussian beams, smart beam shaping, galvo pivoting and high NA objectives to ensure a uniform thin light-sheet of around 400 nm in thickness, over a 266 micron wide Field of view, pushing the axial resolution of the system beyond the regular diffraction limited-based tradeoffs of light-sheet fluorescence microscopy.

Compelling validation using fluorescent beads and multicolor cellular imaging highlights the system's performance and accessibility. Moreover, a very extensive and comprehensive manual of operation is provided in the form of supplementary materials. This provides a DIY blueprint for researchers who want to implement such a system.

Strengths:

(1) Strong and accessible technical innovation:

With an elegant combination of beam shaping and optical modelling, the authors provide a high-resolution light-sheet system that overcomes the classical light-sheet tradeoff limit of a thin light-sheet and a small field of view. In addition, the integration of in silico modelling with a custom-machined baseplate is very practical and allows for ease of alignment procedures. Combining these features with the solid and super-extensive guide provided in the supplementary information, this provides a protocol for replicating the microscope in any other lab.

(2) Impeccable optical performance and ease of mounting of samples:

The system takes advantage of the same sample-holding method seen already in other implementations, but reduces the optical complexity. At the same time, the authors claim to achieve similar lateral and axial resolution to Lattice-light-sheet microscopy (although without a direct comparison (see below in the "weaknesses" section). The optical characterization of the system is comprehensive and well-detailed. Additionally, the authors validate the system imaging sub-cellular structures in mammalian cells.

(3) Transparency and comprehensiveness of documentation and resources:

A very detailed protocol provides detailed documentation about the setup, the optical modeling, and the total cost.

Weaknesses:

(1) Limited quantitative comparisons:

Although some qualitative comparison with previously published systems (diSPIM, lattice light-sheet) is provided throughout the manuscript, some side-by-side comparison would be of great benefit for the manuscript, even in the form of a theoretical simulation. While having a direct imaging comparison would be ideal, it's understandable that this goes beyond the interest of the paper; however, a table referencing image quality parameters (taken from the literature), such as signal-to-noise ratio, light-sheet thickness, and resolutions, would really enhance the features of the setup presented. Moreover, based also on the necessity for optical simplification, an additional comment on the importance/difference of dual objective/single objective light-sheet systems could really benefit the discussion.

(2) Limitation to a fixed sample:

In the manuscript, there is no mention of incubation temperature, CO₂ regulation, Humidity control, or possible integration of commercial environmental control systems. This is a major limitation for an imaging technique that owes its popularity to fast, volumetric, live-cell imaging of biological samples.

(3) System cost and data storage cost:

While the system presented has the advantage of being open-source, it remains relatively expensive (considering the 150k without laser source and optical table, for example). The manuscript could benefit from a more direct comparison of the performance/cost ratio of existing systems, considering academic settings with budgets that most of the time would not allow for expensive architectures. Moreover, it would also be beneficial to discuss the adaptability of the system, in case a 30k objective could not be feasible. Will this system work with different optics (with the obvious limitations coming with the lower NA objective)? This could be an interesting point of discussion. Adaptability of the system in case of lower budgets or more cost-effective choices, depending on the needs.

Last, not much is said about the need for data storage. Light-sheet microscopy's bottleneck is the creation of increasingly large datasets, and it could be beneficial to discuss more about the storage needs and the quantity of data generated.

Conclusion:

Altair-LSFM represents a well-engineered and accessible light-sheet system that addresses a longstanding need for high-resolution, reproducible, and affordable sub-cellular light-sheet imaging. While some aspects-comparative benchmarking and validation, limitation for fixed samples-would benefit from further development, the manuscript makes a compelling case for Altair-LSFM as a valuable contribution to the open microscopy scientific community.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

The manuscript by Brothwell and colleagues describes a central role for hepatic cardiolipin deficiency in MASH. The authors identify cardiolipin as a mediator of two long-standing problems in the field: how dysregulated lipid metabolism relates to altered mitochondrial metabolism during MASLD, and what the innate changes are in the steatotic liver that cause the increased respiration. The authors identified reduced liver cardiolipin in humans with MASH and in a variety of mouse models with MASH. When they knocked out hepatic cardiolipin synthesis, mice developed steatosis and inflammation. These mice also recapitulated the elevated hepatic oxidative metabolism and oxidative stress found in obese humans with MASLD. Some of the in vivo functional data related to glucose homeostasis and substrate metabolism could be stronger, and interpretation of the in vitro flux data needs some clarification, but in both cases, the data are not essential to the main conclusions of the manuscript. Overall, the study offers compelling evidence that cardiolipin is reduced in MASLD and that impaired cardiolipin synthesis is sufficient to recapitulate many features of MASLD.

Strengths:

The main strengths of the study are:

(1) The identification of reduced cardiolipin levels in the liver of humans with MASLD and in a variety of mouse models of MASLD.

(2) The finding that loss of cardiolipin synthesis recapitulates steatosis and inflammation in MASH.

(3) The finding that loss of cardiolipin increases mitochondrial respiration, ROS production, and fat oxidation (in a separate hepatocyte cell line), again recapitulates several previous studies in obese humans with MASLD.

(4) Evidence, though less definitive, that cardiolipin deficiency promotes electron leak by disrupting respiratory supercomplexes and preventing CoQ reduction.

Weaknesses:

(1) Figure 3A-D tries to make the point that liver CLS KO causes defects in substrate handling in vivo, based on glucose and pyruvate tolerance tests. The KO mice have a blunted response to a glucose tolerance test, but the pyruvate tolerance test showed very little (almost no) effect on glucose levels in either WT or LKO mice. The small blunting of the response in the LKO is impossible to interpret (if it's real), since the ability to clear glucose is also increased, and no tracers were used. It might be useful to monitor pyruvate and lactate levels during the experiment. However, this reviewer doesn't think the data is essential to prove the authors' main points.

(2) After presenting convincing evidence that respiration is elevated in isolated mitochondria from CLS KO liver, the authors follow up the findings by investigating whether 13C-palmitate and 13C-glucose oxidation are altered by CLS knockdown in murine Hepa1-6 cells (Figure 4). A few comments are worth mentioning about Figure 4:

a. It is not clear why the authors chose to use a hepatoma cell line rather than primary hepatocytes from LKO mice. The latter would be more convincing, since there could be important differences in metabolism between hepatoma cells and hepatocytes (e.g., preference for fatty acids vs glucose). Nevertheless, I think the approach is sufficient to test the general effect of loss of CLS on substrate metabolism.

b. The authors use the M+2 enrichments of TCA cycle intermediates to infer rates of oxidation of [U-13C]palmitate or [U-13C]glucose. It is important to note that this kind of data reports fractional carbon sources (i.e., substrate preference) rather than rates of oxidation. For example, data from the 13C-palmitate experiment indicates that the CLS KD cells increase the fractional contribution from 13C palmitate (compared to glucose, for example) to the TCA cycle, but the actual rate of palmitate oxidation is not implicit in the data. However, it is reasonable to suggest that, in combination with the increased rates of O2 consumption observed in isolated mitochondria, this data supports increased fat oxidation.

c. I have some concern that the [U-13C]glucose experiment is more complicated to interpret than the description implies. I'm not sure what happens in this cell line, but in the liver, most labeling from pyruvate (i.e., originating from glucose in this case) enters the TCA cycle via pyruvate carboxylase, with smaller amounts entering via PDH (depending on the nutritional state). Since one could expect pyruvate carboxylase to contribute M+3 labeled TCA cycle intermediates initially, and M+2 on the first turn of the cycle, it's hard to conclude what the data indicates about glucose oxidation. The authors could generalize the conclusion by framing the TCA cycle enrichment data as the contribution of glucose carbons and noting in Figure 4A that pyruvate carbons can enter the TCA cycle via PDH or pyruvate carboxylase, without attempting to assign their relative contributions. There are better ways to do it, but it's a small nuance here since the authors aren't making a critical point about the pathways.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

In this study, the authors show that alterations in the lipid composition of the inner mitochondrial membrane, particularly changes in cardiolipin (CL) content, lead to defects in electron transport, supercomplex formation, and oxidative stress. Using liver-specific CLS knockout mice, which are characterized by dysfunctional capacity for cardiolipin synthesis, the authors highlight an underappreciated role for CL in MASH pathology. Overall, this is an interesting study highlighting the importance of functional/physiological electron transport (and in this context, electron leakage) in MASH pathophysiology. Despite that, this manuscript has several weaknesses that require attention.

(1) For all LKO studies, it is stated that the decrease in hepatic CL is causal for the observed phenotype. However, it is evident that many other lipids are impacted by CLS KO, including a marked increase in hepatic PG. In this respect, the authors show no evidence that the observed metabolic phenotype is indeed due to the reduction in CL and not to other accompanying changes.

(2) In the results, the authors highlight that 'MASLD has been shown to alter the total cellular lipidome in liver.' Given that this study focused on CL, it would be useful to include specific studies that pointed to changes in hepatic CL content in MASLD/MASH/fibrosis.

(3) The initial human mitochondrial lipidomics studies show a reduction in mitochondrial CL and PG content. What was the content/expression of CL synthase and PGP synthase in these samples? If this cannot be assessed, is there any association of CLS or PGPS expression and MASLD/fibrosis (etc) in publicly available databases (e.g, GEP liver) that may explain the reduction in mitochondrial PG and CL content?

(4) The validation of MASH in patients (Figure 1B) is not convincing (ie., no quantification/scoring provided). NAS /fibrosis scoring (according to Kleiner) would help to define if all patients have indeed MASH, and what subset has fibrosis. Could the reduction in CL/PG content be (also) associated with fibrosis? In addition, Masson's Trichrome should be added to Figure 1B.

(5) In human lipidomics, the authors suggest that reductions are observed in tetralinoleoyl CL (Figure 1C). However, Figure 1C only shows the combined FA acyl chain length + unsaturation, therefore not allowing for FA-specific ID (unless such data are available from the LC/MS analysis).

(6) Figures 1 J/K/I. It is obvious that the background in all murine immunoblotting analysis has been altered. The authors should provide unaltered images for these immunoblots.

(7) For Figure 1, it is unclear what is meant by 'we performed all mitochondrial lipidomic analyses by quantifying lipids per mg of mitochondrial proteins'. Was the murine lipidomics carried out on fractionated mitochondria or whole liver? If whole liver, then how were the data corrected, particularly given that PG is not a mitochondria-specific lipid?

(8) While total CL content seems indeed decreased across the different mouse models, this is mostly due to 1-2 CL species showing a pronounced reduction, with the remainder being unaltered. This should at least be acknowledged in the results. This is similarly the case in the LKO livers.

(9) Figure 2. A secondary biochemical analysis of changes in lipid content should be provided, e.g., total triglyceride content, particularly given that the histology analysis does not show any major changes in hepatic lipid droplets/steatosis. In addition, the Masson's Trichrome staining shows almost no collagen deposition.

(10) Figure 3. 'CLS deletion modestly reduced glucose handling' should be reworded. The LKO mice show improved glucose tolerance (despite the MASH phenotype), which is not evident from the above wording.

(11) Looking at the mechanism behind the increase in hepatic steatosis, the authors state that lipid accumulation can occur due to increased lipogenesis, or dysfunctional VLDL secretion or beta oxidation, and subsequently assessed the relevant proteins/pathways. What about fatty acid uptake, which is also one of the four major pathways impacted in MASLD? This should be included in this assessment in Figure 3.

(12) For Figure 5A, it is simply stated 'CLS deletion promotes liver fibrosis in standard chow-fed condition', and it is unclear what is highlighted within the selected EM images and what the arrows refer to. The authors should clarify this within the text.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

Mitochondrial oxphos causes lipid accumulation, leading to MASH, although the mechanism has been poorly understood. In this study, Funai and colleagues identify that reductions in cardiolipin in the mitochondria cause disruptions in the electron transport chain. Knockout of cardiolipin synthase was sufficient to drive MASH phenotypes, increase respiratory capacity, and cause electron leak at complexes II and III. It is well established that loss of cardiolipin increases ROS. Studies to date have been performed on whole tissue lysates, but to rule out which changes in mitochondrial lipids are driven by changes in mitochondrial number versus lipid synthesis/turnover, the authors uniquely purified mitochondria from human and mouse livers in MASH and NASH models for this study. This study provides critical information to the field that will inevitably help us better understand the mechanisms underlying MASH and NASH onset. The evidence provided is both convincing and compelling. With further suggested revision experiments, this study has the potential to change our understanding of MASH and NASH pathogenesis.

Strengths:

The authors use a unique approach of lipidomics on purified mitochondria. They also analyze many distinct MASH models and provide a unique resource for the field of comprehensive lipidomics analysis of the different ways in which MASH can be induced. The use of human tissue elevates the impact/significance of the findings.

Weaknesses:

The data on the super complexes was the least compelling, and frankly, I do not think the authors needed those data to make a compelling argument! The authors should shift their focus more to the compelling electron leak data they have collected. If possible, it would also strengthen the work to include cardiolipin rescues on more of the experiments. Finally, expanding their explanations of the model systems would be very helpful for the readership.

Reviewer #4 (Public review):

Summary:

Here, the authors wish to shed light on factors that contribute to the development of liver disease in what used to be called 'the metabolic syndrome'. This is a human-health problem of considerable significance, and the insights they provide, namely the implication of a defect in mitochondrial cardiolipin (CL) content to the progression from metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease to steatohepatitis, are plausible.

Strengths:

The experimental evidence proffered is derived from the observation of lower levels of (CL) in mitochondria from the liver of patients undergoing liver transplant or resection due to end-stage steatohepatitis compared with mitochondria derived from livers of patients with other conditions. This correlation is buttressed by observations made in mice with liver-selective compromise in CL synthesis and which suggest a pathological environment associated with mitochondrial dysfunction and enhanced oxidative stress, features deemed to play a role in the progression from steatotic liver disease to steatohepatitis.

The paper is well written, and the findings are well explained and superficially convincing.

Weaknesses:

It is unclear how much can be learned from compromising a key enzyme that produces a key mitochondrial lipid in a busy metabolic organ like the liver - isn't the discovery of a mitochondrial defect in such a context rather trivial? And how reliably can these findings be related to the human observations? Most importantly, the chain of causality implied by the title is unproven: the key question of whether or not (somehow) preventing the drop in cardiolipin content affects the course of steatohepatitis remains unanswered.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

The manuscript by Zeng et al. describes the discovery of an F-actin-binding Legionella pneumophila effector, which they term Lfat1. Lfat1 contains a putative fatty acyltransferase domain that structurally resembles the Rho-GTPase Inactivation (RID) domain toxin from Vibrio vulnificus, which targets small G-proteins. Additionally, Lfat1 contains a coiled-coil (CC) domain.

The authors identified Lfat1 as an actin-associated protein by screening more than 300 Legionella effectors, expressed as GFP-fusion proteins, for their co-localization with actin in HeLa cells. Actin binding is mediated by the CC domain, which specifically binds to F-actin in a 1:1 stoichiometry. Using cryo-EM, the authors determined a high-quality structure of F-actin filaments bound to the actin-binding domain (ABD) of Lfat1. The structure reveals that actin binding is mediated through a hydrophobic helical hairpin within the ABD (residues 213-279). A Y240A mutation within this region increases the apparent dissociation constant by two orders of magnitude, indicating a critical role for this residue in actin interaction.

The ABD alone was also shown to strongly associate with F-actin upon overexpression in cells. The authors used a truncated version of the Lfat1 ABD to engineer an F-actin-binding probe, which can be used in a split form. Finally, they demonstrate that full-length Lfat1, when overexpressed in cells, fatty acylates host small G-proteins, likely on lysine residues.

While this is a solid study, the authors should consider the following points when preparing a revised manuscript:

Major points:

(1) Legionella effectors are often activated by binding to eukaryote-specific host factors, including actin. The authors should test the following: a) whether Lfat1 can fatty acylate small G-proteins in vitro; b) whether this activity is dependent on actin binding; and c) whether expression of the Y240A mutant in mammalian cells affects the fatty acylation of Rac3 (Figure 6B), or other small G-proteins.

(2) It should be demonstrated that lysine residues on small G-proteins are indeed targeted by Lfat1. Ideally, the functional consequences of these modifications should also be investigated. For example, does fatty acylation of G-proteins affect GTPase activity or binding to downstream effectors?

(3) Line 138: Can the authors clarify whether the Lfat1 ABD induces bundling of F-actin filaments or promotes actin oligomerization? Does the Lfat1 ABD form multimers that bring multiple filaments together? If Lfat1 induces actin oligomerization, this effect should be experimentally tested and reported. Additionally, the impact of Lfat1 binding on actin filament stability should be assessed. This is particularly important given the proposed use of the ABD as an actin probe.

(4) Line 180: I think it's too premature to refer to the interaction as having "high specificity and affinity." We really don't know what else it's binding to.

(5) The authors should reconsider the color scheme used in the structural figures, particularly in Figures 2D and S4.

(6) In Figure 3E, the WT curve fits the data poorly, possibly because the actin concentration exceeds the Kd of the interaction. It might fit better to a quadratic.

(7) The authors propose that the individual helices of the Lfat1 ABD could be expressed on separate proteins and used to target multi-component biological complexes to F-actin by genetically fusing each component to a split alpha-helix. This is an intriguing idea, but it should be tested as a proof of concept to support its feasibility and potential utility.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

The manuscript by Zheng et al reports the structural and biochemical study of novel effectors from the bacterial pathogen Legionella pneumophila. The authors continued from results from their earlier screening for L. pneumophila proteins that affect host F-actin dynamics to show that Llfat1 (Lpg1387) interacts with actin via a novel actin-binding domain (ABD). The authors also determined the structure of the Lfat1 ABD-F-actin complex, which allowed them to develop this ABD as a probe for F-actin. Finally, the authors demonstrated that Llfat1 is a lysine fatty acyltransferase that targets several small GTPases in host cells.

Strengths:

This is a very complete work that shows the structure of a novel bacterial actin-binding protein in complex with F-actin, and the biochemical activity of the protein was also revealed. Overall, this is a very exciting study and should be of great interest to scientists in both bacterial pathogenesis and the actin cytoskeleton of eukaryotic cells.

Weaknesses:

(1) The authors should use biochemical reactions to analyze the KFAT of Llfat1 on one or two small GTPases shown to be modified by this effector in cellulo. Such reactions may allow them to determine the role of actin binding in its biochemical activity. This notion is particularly relevant in light of recent studies that actin is a co-factor for the activity of LnaB and Ceg14 (PMID: 39009586; PMID: 38776962; PMID: 40394005). In addition, the study should be discussed in the context of these recent findings on the role of actin in the activity of L. pneumophila effectors.

(2) The development of the ABD domain of Llfat1 as an F-actin domain is a nice extension of the biochemical and structural experiments. The authors need to compare the new probe to those currently commonly used ones, such as Lifeact, in labeling of the actin cytoskeleton structure.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Monziani and Ulitsky present a large and exhaustive study on the lncRNA EPB41L4A-AS1 using a variety of genomic methods. They uncover a rather complex picture of an RNA transcript that appears to act via diverse pathways to regulate the expression of large numbers of genes, including many snoRNAs. The activity of EPB41L4A-AS1 seems to be intimately linked with the protein SUB1, via both direct physical interactions and direct/indirect of SUB1 mRNA expression.

The study is characterised by thoughtful, innovative, integrative genomic analysis. It is shown that EPB41L4A-AS1 interacts with SUB1 protein and that this may lead to extensive changes in SUB1's other RNA partners. Disruption of EPB41L4A-AS1 leads to widespread changes in non-polyA RNA expression, as well as local cis changes. At the clinical level, it is possible that EPB41L4A-AS1 plays disease-relevant roles, although these seem to be somewhat contradictory with evidence supporting both oncogenic and tumour suppressive activities.

A couple of issues could be better addressed here. Firstly, the copy number of EPB41L4A-AS1 is an important missing piece of the puzzle. It is apparently highly expressed in the FISH experiments. To get an understanding of how EPB41L4A-AS1 regulates SUB1, an abundant protein, we need to know the relative stoichiometry of these two factors. Secondly, while many of the experiments use two independent Gapmers for EPB41L4A-AS1 knockdown, the RNA-sequencing experiments apparently use just one, with one negative control (?). Evidence is emerging that Gapmers produce extensive off-target gene expression effects in cells, potentially exceeding the amount of on-target changes arising through the intended target gene. Therefore, it is important to estimate this through the use of multiple targeting and non-targeting ASOs, if one is to get a true picture of EPB41L4A-AS1 target genes. In this Reviewer's opinion, this casts some doubt over the interpretation of RNA-seq experiments until that work is done. Nonetheless, the Authors have designed thorough experiments, including overexpression rescue constructs, to quite confidently assess the role of EPB41L4A-AS1 in snoRNA expression.

It is possible that EPB41L4A-AS1 plays roles in cancer, either as an oncogene or a tumour suppressor. However, it will in the future be important to extend these observations to a greater variety of cell contexts.

This work is valuable in providing an extensive and thorough analysis of the global mechanisms of an important regulatory lncRNA and highlights the complexity of such mechanisms via cis and trans regulation and extensive protein interactions.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

In this manuscript, Monziani et al. identified long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) that act in cis and are coregulated with their target genes located in close genomic proximity. The authors mined the GeneHancer database, and this analysis led to the identification of four lncRNA-target pairs. The authors decided to focus on lncRNA EPB41L4A-AS1.

They thoroughly characterised this lncRNA, demonstrating that it is located in the cytoplasm and the nuclei, and that its expression is altered in response to different stimuli. Furthermore, the authors showed that EPB41L4A-AS1 regulates EPB41L4A transcription, leading to a mild reduction in EPB41L4A protein levels. This was not recapitulated with siRNA-mediated depletion of EPB41L4AAS1. RNA-seq in EPB41L4A-AS1-depleted cells with single LNA revealed 2364 DEGs linked to pathways including the cell cycle, cell adhesion, and inflammatory response. To understand the mechanism of action of EPB41L4A-AS1, the authors mined the ENCODE eCLIP data and identified SUB1 as an lncRNA interactor. The authors also found that the loss of EPB41L4A-AS1 and SUB1 leads to the accumulation of snoRNAs, and that SUB1 localisation changes upon the loss of EPB41L4A-AS1. Finally, the authors showed that EPB41L4A-AS1 deficiency did not change the steady-state levels of SNORA13 nor RNA modification driven by this RNA. The phenotype associated with the loss of EPB41L4A-AS1 is linked to increased invasion and EMT gene signature.

Overall, this is an interesting and nicely done study on the versatile role of EPB41L4A-AS1 and the multifaceted interplay between SUB1 and this lncRNA, but some conclusions and claims need to be supported with additional experiments. My primary concerns are using a single LNA gapmer for critical experiments, increased invasion, and nucleolar distribution of SUB1- in EPB41L4A-AS1-depleted cells. These experiments need to be validated with orthogonal methods.

Strengths:

The authors used complementary tools to dissect the complex role of lncRNA EPB41L4A-AS1 in regulating EPB41L4A, which is highly commendable. There are few papers in the literature on lncRNAs at this standard. They employed LNA gapmers, siRNAs, CRISPRi/a, and exogenous overexpression of EPB41L4A-AS1 to demonstrate that the transcription of EPB41L4A-AS1 acts in cis to promote the expression of EPB41L4A by ensuring spatial proximity between the TAD boundary and the EPB41L4A promoter. At the same time, this lncRNA binds to SUB1 and regulates snoRNA expression and nucleolar biology. Overall, the manuscript is easy to read, and the figures are well presented. The methods are sound, and the expected standards are met.

Weaknesses:

The authors should clarify how many lncRNA-target pairs were included in the initial computational screen for cis-acting lncRNAs and why MCF7 was chosen as the cell line of choice. Most of the data uses a single LNA gapmer targeting EPB41L4A-AS1 lncRNA (eg, Fig. 2c, 3B, and RNA-seq), and the critical experiments should be using at least 2 LNA gapmers. The specificity of SUB1 CUT&RUN is lacking, as well as direct binding of SUB1 to lncRNA EPB41L4A-AS1, which should be confirmed by CLIP qPCR in MCF7 cells. Finally, the role of EPB41L4A-AS1 in SUB1 distribution (Figure 5) and cell invasion (Figure 8) needs to be complemented with additional experiments, which should finally demonstrate the role of this lncRNA in nucleolus and cancer-associated pathways. The use of MCF7 as a single cancer cell line is not ideal.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

In this paper, the authors made some interesting observations that EPB41L4A-AS1 lncRNA can regulate the transcription of both the nearby coding gene and genes on other chromosomes. They started by computationally examining lncRNA-gene pairs by analyzing co-expression, chromatin features of enhancers, TF binding, HiC connectome, and eQTLs. They then zoomed in on four pairs of lncRNA-gene pairs and used LNA antisense oligonucleotides to knock down these lncRNAs. This revealed EPB41L4A-AS1 as the only one that can regulate the expression of its cis-gene target EPB41L4A. By RNA-FISH, the authors found this lncRNA to be located in all three parts of a cell: chromatin, nucleoplasm, and cytoplasm. RNA-seq after LNA knockdown of EPB41L4A-AS1 showed that this increased >1100 genes and decreased >1250 genes, including both nearby genes and genes on other chromosomes. They later found that EPB41L4A-AS1 may interact with SUB1 protein (an RNA-binding protein) to impact the target genes of SUB1. EPB41L4A-AS1 knockdown reduced the mRNA level of SUB1 and altered the nuclear location of SUB1. Later, the authors observed that EPB41L4A-AS1 knockdown caused an increase of snRNAs and snoRNAs, likely via disrupted SUB1 function. In the last part of the paper, the authors conducted rescue experiments that suggested that the full-length, intron- and SNORA13-containing EPB41L4A-AS1 is required to partially rescue snoRNA expression. They also conducted SLAM-Seq and showed that the increased abundance of snoRNAs is primarily due to their hosts' increased transcription and stability. They end with data showing that EPB41L4A-AS1 knockdown reduced MCF7 cell proliferation but increased its migration, suggesting a link to breast cancer progression and/or metastasis.

Strengths:

Overall, the paper is well-written, and the results are presented with good technical rigor and appropriate interpretation. The observation that a complex lncRNA EPB41L4A-AS1 regulates both cis and trans target genes, if fully proven, is interesting and important.

Weaknesses:

The paper is a bit disjointed as it started from cis and trans gene regulation, but later it switched to a partially relevant topic of snoRNA metabolism via SUB1. The paper did not follow up on the interesting observation that there are many potential trans target genes affected by EPB41L4A-AS1 knockdown and there was limited study of the mechanisms as to how these trans genes (including SUB1 or NPM1 genes themselves) are affected by EPB41L4A-AS1 knockdown. There are discrepancies in the results upon EPB41L4A-AS1 knockdown by LNA versus by CRISPR activation, or by plasmid overexpression of this lncRNA.

Reviewer #1:

Summary:

The Authors investigated the anatomical features of the excitatory synaptic boutons in layer 1 of the human temporal neocortex. They examined the size of the synapse, the macular or the perforated appearance and the size of the synaptic active zone, the number and volume of the mitochondria, the number of the synaptic and the dense core vesicles, also differentiating between the readily releasable, the recycling and the resting pool of synaptic vesicles. The coverage of the synapse by astrocytic processes was also assessed, and all the above parameters were compared to other layers of the human temporal neocortex. The Authors conclude that the subcellular morphology of the layer 1 synapses is suitable for the functions of the neocortical layer, i.e. the synaptic integration within the cortical column. The low glial coverage of the synapses might allow the glutamate spillover from the synapses enhancing synaptic crosstalk within this cortical layer.

Strengths:

The strengths of this paper are the abundant and very precious data about the fine structure of the human neocortical layer 1. Quantitative electron microscopy data (especially that derived from the human brain) are very valuable, since this is a highly time- and energy consuming work. The techniques used to obtain the data, as well as the analyses and the statistics performed by the Authors are all solid, strengthen this manuscript, and support the conclusions drawn in the discussion.

Reviewer #2:

The study of Rollenhagen et al examines the ultrastructural features of Layer 1 of human temporal cortex. The tissue was derived from drug-resistant epileptic patients undergoing surgery, and was selected as further from the epilepsy focus, and as such considered to be non-epileptic. The analyses has included 4 patients with different age, sex, medication and onset of epilepsy. The manuscript is a follow-on study with 3 previous publications from the same authors on different layers of the temporal cortex:

Layer 4 - Yakoubi et al 2019 eLife

Layer 5 - Yakoubi et al 2019 Cerebral Cortex,

Layer 6 - Schmuhl-Giesen et al 2022 Cerebral Cortex

They find, the L1 synaptic boutons mainly have single active zone a very large pool of synaptic vesicles and are mostly devoid of astrocytic coverage.

Strengths:

The MS is well written easy to read. Result section gives a detailed set of figures showing many morphological parameters of synaptic boutons and surrounding glial elements. The authors provide comparative data of all the layers examined by them so far in the Discussion. Given that anatomical data in human brain are still very limited, the current MS has substantial relevance. The work appears to be generally well done, the EM and EM tomography images are of very good quality. The analyses is clear and precise.

Weaknesses:

The authors made all the corrections required and answered all of my concerns, included additional data sets, and clarified statements where needed.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

Mollá-Albaladejo et al. investigate the neurons downstream of GR64f and Gr66a, called G2Ns. They identify downstream neurons using trans-Tango labeling with RFP and then perform bulk RNA-seq on the RFP-sorted cells. Gene expression is up- or downregulated between the cell populations and between fed and starved states. They specifically identify Leukocinin as a neuropeptide that is upregulated in starved Gr66a cells. Leucokinin cells, identified by a GAL4 line, indeed show higher expression when starved, especially in the SEZ. Furthermore, Leucokinin cells colocalize with the trans-Tango signal from downstream neurons of both GRs. This connection is confirmed with GRASP and active GRASP. According to EM data, Leucokinin cells in the SEZ receive a lot of input and connect to many downstream neurons. In behavior experiments performed with flies lacking Leucokinin neurons, flies show reduced responsiveness to sugar and bitter mixtures when starved. The authors suggest that Leucokinin neurons integrate bitter and sugar tastes and that their output is modified by a hunger state.

Strengths:

The authors use a multitude of tools to identify SELK neurons downstream of taste sensory neurons and as starvation-sensitive cells. This study provides an example of how combining genetic labeling, RNA-seq, and EM analysis can be used to investigate the function of specific neural circuits.

Weaknesses:

The authors now provide more evidence to show a functional connection between sensory neurons and SELK neurons, for example, by using active GRASP, however, different staining methods reveal different connectivity patterns. The authors describe a behavioral phenotype when flies are starved, however, the phenotype can still not clearly be assigned to the SELK neurons.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

A core task of the brain is processing sensory cues from the environment. The neural mechanisms of how sensory information is transmitted from peripheral sense organs to subsequent being processing in defined brain centers remains an important topic in neuroscience. The taste system hereby assesses the palatability of food by evaluating the chemical composition and nutrient content while integrating the current need of energy by assessing the satiation level of the organism. The current manuscript provides insights into the early circuits gustatory coding using the fruit fly as model. By combining trans-tango and FACS-based bulk RNAseq to assess the target neurons of sweet sensing (using by Gr64f-Gal4) and bitter sensing (using Gr66a-Gal4) in a first set of experiments the authors investigate genes that are differentially expressed or co-expressed in normal and starved conditions. With a focus on neuropeptides and neurotransmitters differential expression in the different conditions were assessed resulting in the identification of Leucokinin as potentially interesting gene. The notion is further supported by RNAseq of Lk-Gal4>mCD8:GFP sorted cells and immunostainings. GRASP and BacTrace experiments further supports that the two Lk expressing cells in the SEZ should indeed be postsynaptic to both type of sensors. Using EM-based connectomics data (based on a previous publication by Engert et al.), the authors also look for downstream targets of the bitter versus sweet gustatory neurons to identify the Lk-neurons. Based on morphology they identify candidates and further depict the potential downstream neurons in the connectome, which appears largely in agreement with GRASP experiments. Finally silencing the Lk-neurons shows an increased PER response in starved flies (when combined with bitter compounds) as well as increased feeding in a FlyPad assay.

Strengths:

Overall this is an intriguing manuscript, which provides insight into the organization of 2nd order gustatory neurons. It specifically provides strong evidence for the Lk-neurons as target of sweet and bitter GRNs and provides evidence for their role in regulating sweet vs bitter based behavioral responses. Particularly the integration of different techniques and datasets in an elegant fashion is a strong side of the manuscript. Moreover to put the known LK-neurons into the context of 2nd order gustatory signalling is strengthening the knowledge about this pathway.

Weaknesses:

I do not see any major weakness in the current manuscript. Novelty is to some degree lessened by the fact, that the RNAseq approach did not identify new neurons but rather put the known LK-neurons as major finding. Similarly the final behavioral section is not very deep and to some degree corroborates the previous publication by the Keene and Nässel labs- that said, the model they propose is indeed novel (but lacks depth in analyses, e.g. there is no physiology that would support the modulation of Lk neurons by either type of GRN). The connectomic section appears a bit out of place and after reading it it's not really clear what one should make of the potential downstream neurons (particularly since the Lk-receptor expression has been previously analyzed); here it might have been interesting to address if/how Lk-neurons may signal directly via a classical neurotransmitter (an information that might be found easily in the adult brain single-cell data).

Comments on the latest version:

I feel all points have been included to a satisfactory degree.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

To make feeding decisions, animals need to process three types of information: positive cues like sweetness, negative cues like bitterness, and internal states such as hunger or satiety. This study aims to identify where the information is integrated in the fruit fly brain. The authors applied RNA sequencing on second-order gustatory neurons responsible for sweet and bitter processing, under fed and starved conditions. The sequencing data reveal significant changes in gene expression across sweet vs. bitter pathways and fed vs. starved states. The authors focus on the neuropeptide Leucokinin (Lk), whose expression is dependent on the starvation state. They identify a pair of neurons, named SELK neurons, which express Lk and receive direct input from both sweet and bitter gustatory neurons. These SELK neurons are ideal candidates to integrate gustatory and internal state information. Behavioral experiments show that blocking these neurons in starved flies alters their tolerance to bitter substances during feeding.

Strengths:

(1) The study employs a well-designed approach, targeting specific neuronal populations, which is more efficient and precise compared to traditional large-scale genetic screening methods.

(2) The RNAseq results provide valuable data that can be utilized in future studies to explore other molecules beyond Lk.

(3) The identification of SELK neurons offers a promising avenue for future research into how these neurons integrate conflicting gustatory signals and internal state information.

Weaknesses:

Unfortunately, due to technical challenges, the authors were unable to directly image the functional activity of SELK neurons.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

The goal of this work is to understand the clinical observation of a subgroup of diabetics who experience extremely high levels of blood glucose levels after a period of high carbohydrate intake. These symptoms are similar to the onset of Type 1 diabetes but, crucially, have been observed to be fully reversible in some cases.

The authors interpret these observations by analyzing a simple yet insightful mathematical model in which β-cells temporarily stop producing insulin when exposed to high levels of glucose. For a specific model realization of such dynamics (and for specific parameter values) they show that such dynamics lead to two distinct stable states. One is the relatively normal/healthy state in which β-cells respond appropriately to glucose by releasing insulin. In contrast, when enough β-cells "refuse" to produce insulin in a high-glucose environment, there is not enough insulin to reduce glucose levels, and the high-glucose state remains locked in because the high-glucose levels keep β-cells in their inactive state. The presented mathematical analysis shows that in their model the high-glucose state can be entered through an episode of high glucose levels and that subsequently the low-glucose state can be re-entered through prolonged insulin intake.

The strength of this work is twofold. First, the intellectual sharpness of translating clinical observations of ketosis-prone type 2 diabetes (KPD) into the need for β-cell responses on intermediate timescales. Second, the analysis of a specific model clearly establishes that the clinical observations can be reproduced with a model in which β-cells dynamics reversibly enter a non-insulin-producing state in a glucose-dependent fashion.

The likely impact of this work is a shift in attention in the field from a focus on the short and long-term dynamics in glucose regulation and diabetes progression to the intermediate timescales of β-cell dynamics. I expect this to lead to much interest in probing the assumptions behind the model to establish what exactly the process is by which patients enter a 'KPD state'. Furthermore, I expect this work to trigger much research on how KPD relates to "regular" type 2 diabetes and to lead to experimental efforts to find/characterize previously overlooked β-cell phenotypes.

In summary, the authors claim that observed clinical dynamics and possible remission of KPD can be explained through introducing a temporarily inactive β-cell state into a "standard model" of diabetes. The evidence for this claim comes from analyzing a mathematical model and clearly presented.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

In this manuscript, Ridout et al. present an intriguing extension of beta cell mass-focused models for diabetes. Their model incorporates reversible glucose-dependent inactivation of beta cell mass, which can trigger sudden-onset hyperglycemia due to bistability in beta cell mass dynamics. Notably, this hyperglycemia can be reversed with insulin treatment. The model is simple, elegant, and thought-provoking.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

The authors use a sophisticated and novel task design and Bayesian computational modeling to test their hypothesis that information generalization (operationalized as a combination of self-insertion and social contagion) in social situations is disrupted in Borderline Personality Disorder. Their main finding relates to the observation that two different models best fit the two tested groups: While the model assuming both self-insertion and social contagion to be present when estimating others' social value preferences fit the control group best, a model assuming neither of these processes provided the best fit to BPD participants.

Strengths:

The two revisions have substantially strengthened the paper and the manuscript is much clearer and easier to follow now. The introduction now precisely states the author's hypotheses, and the connections to the theoretical framework are presented with much greater clarity. I appreciate that the authors now clearly label exploratory analyses where applicable.

The strengths of the presented work lie in the sophisticated task design and the thorough investigation of their theory by use of mechanistic computational models to elucidate social decision-making and learning processes in BPD. Although at present it is not clear whether the differing strategies in impression formation observed in BPD are in any way causal to negative outcomes in the condition, the study represents an important step towards better understanding cognitive processes in BPD. The paradigm and models are also potentially relevant for the investigation of other psychiatric conditions.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

Argunşah et al. describe and investigate the mechanisms underlying the differential response dynamics of barrel vs septa domains of the whisker-related primary somatosensory cortex (S1). Upon repeated stimulation, the authors report that the response ratio between multi- and single-whisker stimulation increases in layer (L) 4 neurons of the septal domain, while remaining constant in barrel L4 neurons. This difference is attributed to the short-term plasticity properties of interneurons, particularly somatostatin-expressing (SST+) neurons. This claim is supported by the increased density of SST+ neurons found in L4 of the septa compared to barrels, along with a stronger response of (L2/3) SST+ neurons to repeated multi- vs single-whisker stimulation. The role of the synaptic protein Elfn1 is then examined. Elfn1 KO mice exhibited little to no functional domain separation between barrel and septa, with no significant difference in single- versus multi-whisker response ratios across barrel and septal domains. Consistently, a decoder trained on WT data fails to generalize to Elfn1 KO responses. Finally, the authors report a relative enrichment of S2- and M1-projecting cell densities in L4 of the septal domain compared to the barrel domain.

Strengths:

This paper describes and aims to study a circuit underlying differential response between barrel columns and septal domains of the primary somatosensory cortex. This work supports the view that barrel and septal domains contribute differently to processing single versus multi-whisker inputs, suggesting that the barrel cortex multiplexes sensory information coming from the whiskers in different domains.

Weaknesses:

While the observed divergence in responses to repeated SWS vs MWS between the barrel and septal domains is intriguing, the presented evidence falls short of demonstrating that short-term plasticity in SST+ neurons critically underpins this difference. The absence of a mechanistic explanation for this observation limits the work's significance. The measurement of SST neurons' response is not specific to a particular domain, and the Elfn1 manipulation does not seem to be specific to either stimulus type or a particular domain. The study's reach is further constrained by the fact that results were obtained in anesthetized animals, which may not generalize to awake states. The statistical analysis appears inappropriate, with the use of repeated independent tests, dramatically boosting the false positive error rate. Furthermore, the manuscript suffers from imprecision; its conclusions are occasionally vague or overstated.

The authors suggest a role for SST+ neurons in the observed divergence in SWS/MWS responses between barrel and septal domains. However, this remains speculative, and some findings appear inconsistent. For instance, the increased response of SST+ neurons to MWS versus SWS is not confined to a specific domain. Why, then, would preferential recruitment of SST+ neurons lead to divergent dynamics between barrel and septal regions? The higher density of SST+ neurons in septal versus barrel L4 is not a sufficient explanation, particularly since the SWS/MWS response divergence is also observed in layers 2/3, where no difference in SST+ neuron density is found. Moreover, SST+ neuron-mediated inhibition is not necessarily restricted to the layer in which the cell body resides. It remains unclear through which differential microcircuits (barrel vs septum) the enhanced recruitment of SST+ neurons could account for the divergent responses to repeated SWS versus MWS stimulation.

The Elfn1 KO mouse model seems too unspecific to suggest the role of the short-term plasticity in SST+ neurons in the differential response to repeated SWS vs MWS stimulation across domains. Why would Elfn1-dependent short-term plasticity in SST+ neurons be specific to a pathway, or a stimulation type (SWS vs MWS)? Moreover, the authors report that Elfn1 knockout alters synapses onto VIP+ as well as SST+ neurons (Stachniak et al., 2021; previous version of this paper)-so why attribute the phenotype solely to SST+ circuitry? In fact, the functional distinctions between barrel and septal domains appear largely abolished in the Elfn1 KO.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

Argunsah and colleagues demonstrate that SST-expressing interneurons are concentrated in the mouse septa and differentially respond to repetitive multi-whisker inputs. Identifying how a specific neuronal phenotype impacts responses is an advance.

Strengths:

(1) Careful physiological and imaging studies.

(2) Novel result showing the role of SST+ neurons in shaping responses.

(3) Good use of a knockout animal to further the main hypothesis.

(4) Clear analytical techniques.

Weaknesses:

No major weaknesses were identified by this reviewer. Overall I appreciated the paper but feel it overlooked a few issues and had some recommendations on how additional clarifications could strengthen the paper. These include:

(1) Significant work from Jerry Chen on how S1 neurons that project to M1 versus S2 respond in a variety of behavioral tasks should be included (e.g. PMID: 26098757). Similarly, work from Barry Connor's lab on intracortical versus thalamocortical inputs to SST neurons, as well as excitatory inputs onto these neurons (e.g. PMID: 12815025) should be included.

(2) Using Layer 2/3 as a proxy to what is happening in layer 4 (~line 234). Given that layer 2/3 cells integrate information from multiple barrels, as well as receiving direct VPm thalamocortical input, and given the time window that is being looked at can receive input from other cortical locations, it is not clear that layer 2/3 is a proxy for what is happening in layer 4.

(3) Line 267, when discussing distinct temporal response, it is not well defined what this is referring to. Are the neurons no longer showing peaks to whisker stimulation, or are the responses lasting a longer time? It is unclear why PV+ interneurons which may not be impacted by the Elfn1 KO and receive strong thalamocortical inputs, are not constraining activity.

(4) Line 585 "the earliest CSD sink was identified as layer 4..." were post-hoc measurements made to determine where the different shank leads were based on the post-hoc histology?

(5) For the retrograde tracing studies, how were the M1 and S2 injections targeted (stereotaxically or physiologically)? How was it determined that the injections were in the whisker region (or not)?

(6) Were there any baseline differences in spontaneous activity in the speta versus barrel regions, and did this change in the KO animals?

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

This study investigates the functional differences between barrel and septal columns in the mouse somatosensory cortex, focusing on how local inhibitory dynamics, particularly involving Elfn1-expressing SST⁺ interneurons, may mediate temporal integration of multi-whisker (MW) stimuli in septa. Using a combination of in vivo multi-unit recordings, calcium imaging, and anatomical tracing, the authors propose that septa integrate MW input in an Elfn1-dependent manner, enabling functional segregation from barrel columns.

Strengths:

The core hypothesis is interesting and potentially impactful. While barrels have been extensively characterized, septa remain less understood, especially in mice, and this study's focus on septal integration of MW stimuli offers valuable insights into this underexplored area. If septa indeed act as selective integrators of distributed sensory input, this would add a novel computational role to cortical microcircuits beyond what is currently attributed to barrels alone. The narrative of this paper is intellectually stimulating.

Weaknesses:

The methods used in the current study lack the spatial and cellular resolution needed to conclusively support the central claims. The main physiological findings are based on unsorted multi-unit activity (MUA) recorded via low-channel-count silicon probes. MUA inherently pools signals from multiple neurons across different distances and cell types, making it difficult to assign activity to specific columns (barrel vs. septa) or neuron classes (e.g., SST⁺ vs. excitatory). The recording radius (~50-100 µm or more) and the narrow width of septa (~50-100 µm or less) make it likely that MUA from "septal" electrodes includes spikes from adjacent barrel neurons. The authors do not provide spike sorting, unit isolation, or anatomical validation that would strengthen spatial attribution. Calcium imaging is restricted to SST⁺ and VIP⁺ interneurons in superficial layers (L2/3), while the main MUA recordings are from layer 4, creating a mismatch in laminar relevance.

Furthermore, while the role of Elfn1 in mediating short-term facilitation is supported by prior studies, no new evidence is presented in this paper to confirm that this synaptic mechanism is indeed disrupted in the knockout mice used here. Additionally, since Elfn1 is constitutively knocked out from development, the possibility of altered circuit formation-including changes in barrel structure and interneuron distribution, cannot be excluded and is not addressed.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

The manuscript titled "The distinct role of human PIT in attention control" by Huang et al. investigates the role of the human posterior inferotemporal cortex (hPIT) in spatial attention. Using fMRI experiments and resting-state connectivity analyses, the authors present compelling evidence that hPIT is not merely an object-processing area, but also functions as an attentional priority map, integrating both top-down and bottom-up attentional processes. This challenges the traditional view that attentional control is localized primarily in frontoparietal networks.

The manuscript is strong and of high potential interest to the cognitive neuroscience community. Below, I raise questions and suggestions to help with the reliability, methodology, and interpretation of the findings.

(1) The authors argue that hPIT satisfies the criteria for a priority map, but a clearer justification would strengthen this claim. For example, how does hPIT meet all four widely recognized criteria, such as spatial selectivity, attentional modulation, feature invariance, and input integration, when compared to classical regions such as LIP or FEF? A more systematic summary of how hPIT meets these benchmarks would be helpful. Additionally, to what extent are the observed attentional modulations in hPIT independent of general task difficulty or behavioral performance?

(2) The authors report that hPIT modulation is invariant to stimulus category, but there appear to be subtle category-related effects in the data. Were the face, scene, and scrambled images matched not only in terms of luminance and spatial frequency, but also in terms of factors such as semantic familiarity and emotional salience? This may influence attentional engagement and bias interpretation.

(3) The result that attentional load modulates hPIT is important and adds depth to the main conclusions. However, some clarifications would help with the interpretation. For example, were there observable individual differences in the strength of attentional modulation? How consistent were these effects across participants?

(4) The resting-state data reveal strong connections between hPIT and both dorsal and ventral attention networks. However, the analysis is correlational. Are there any complementary insights from task-based functional connectivity or latency analyses that support a directional flow of information involving hPIT? In addition, do the authors interpret hPIT primarily as a convergence hub receiving input from both DAN and VAN, or as a potential control node capable of influencing activity in these networks? Also, were there any notable differences between hemispheres in either the connectivity patterns or attentional modulation?

(5) A few additional questions arise regarding the anatomical characteristics of hPIT: How consistent were its location and size across participants? Were there any cases where hPIT could not be reliably defined? Given the proximity of hPIT to FFA and LOp, how was overlap avoided in ROI definition? Were the functional boundaries confirmed using independent contrasts?

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary

This study investigates the role of the human posterior inferotemporal cortex (hPIT) in attentional control, proposing that hPIT serves as an attentional priority map that integrates both top-down (endogenous) and bottom-up (exogenous) attentional processes. The authors conducted three types of fMRI experiments and collected resting-state data from 15 participants. In Experiment 1, using three different spatial attention tasks, they identified the hPIT region and demonstrated that this area is modulated by attention across tasks. In Experiment 2, by manipulating the presence or absence of visual stimuli, they showed that hPIT exhibits strong attentional modulation in both conditions, suggesting its involvement in both bottom-up and top-down attention. Experiment 3 examined the sensitivity of hPIT to stimulus features and attentional load, revealing that hPIT is insensitive to stimulus category but responsive to task load - further supporting its role as an attentional priority map. Finally, resting-state functional connectivity analyses showed that hPIT is connected to both dorsal and ventral attention networks, suggesting its potential role as a bridge between the two systems. These findings extend prior work on monkey PITd and provide new insights into the integration of endogenous and exogenous attention.

Strengths

(1) The study is innovative in its use of specially designed spatial attention tasks to localize and validate hPIT, and in exploring the region's role in integrating both endogenous and exogenous attention, as prior works focus primarily on its involvement in endogenous attention.

(2) The authors provided very comprehensive experiment designs with clear figures and detailed descriptions.

(3) A broad range of analyses was conducted to support the hypothesis that hPIT functions as an attentional priority map -- including experiments of attentional modulation under both top-down and bottom-up conditions, sensitivity to stimulus features and task load, and resting-state functional connectivity. These analyses showed consistent results.

(4) Multiple appropriate statistical analyses - including t-tests, ANOVAs, and post-hoc tests - were conducted, and the results are clearly reported.

Weaknesses

(1) The sample size is relatively small (n = 15), and inter-subject variability is big in Figures 5 and 6, as seen in the spread of individual data points and error bars. The analysis of attention-modulated voxel map intersections appears to be influenced by multiple outliers.

(2) The authors acknowledge important limitations, including the lack of exploration of feature-based attention and the temporal constraints inherent to fMRI.

(3) Prior research has established that regions such as the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC) are involved in both endogenous and exogenous attention and have been proposed as attentional priority maps. It remains unclear what is uniquely contributed by hPIT, how it functionally interacts with these classical attentional hubs, and whether its role is complementary or redundant. The study would benefit from more direct comparisons with these regions.

(4) The functional connectivity analysis is only performed on resting-state data, and this approach does not capture context-dependent interactions. Task-based data analysis can provide stronger evidence.

(5) The study does not report whether attentional modulation in hPIT is consistent across the two hemispheres. A comparison of hemispheric effects could provide important insight into lateralization and inter-individual variability, especially given the bilateral localization of hPIT.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

Charonitakis and co-authors characterize dishabituation in adult flies, where they use olfactory habituation to octanol, then dishabituate the flies with disruptions of electric shock or yeast odors. They systematically investigate the neurotransmitters and neural circuits involved in dishabituation and figure out a lot about how this process works in the brain, as an independent circuit. I like the paper, and I like the very structured approach to figuring out the problem.

Strengths:

The introduction nicely sets the stage for the work presented, bringing in knowledge from other organisms and motivating the study.

The results section lays out a logical set of experiments, using a common set of behavioral assays in many flies exposed to thermogenetic or optogenetic manipulation. The paper systematically figures out the necessity and/or sufficiency of specific brain regions and neurotransmitters, culminating in a new understanding of how the important process of dishabituation works.

I like the bar graph representation for the data throughout, with the helpful icons - if a paper figures are going to be 90% bar graphs, it helps when they are super clear like this! And I like how all the parts build up to the conclusion in the last figure, nicely summarizing the thorough characterization of dishabituation.

Weaknesses:

There are no major concerns, but some material could be added for clarity and to make the work more accessible to a more general scientific audience. A figure clearly showing the habituation protocol and the use of the dishabituators would be a good addition, even if the procedure has been done before and is cited. There can always be readers who are seeing this for the first time.

It would also be nice to comment on other ways dishabituation can happen (for example, when the stimulus is removed for a short time and returns) and what their time scales are.

And more generally, the paper could perhaps improve by making a stronger case for why the results are important not just for flies but for neuroscience in general.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

This is an interesting study in Drosophila comparing potentially differential requirements for subsets of Kenyon Cells (KCs) and Dopaminergic neurons (DANS) in olfactory dishabituation driven by either a novel odor ("homosensory") or footshock ("heterosensory). The authors measure olfactory aversion to Octanol (OCT) in a T-maze, induce olfactory habituation with a 4-minute prior exposure to OCT, and use either brief yeast odor (YO) or footshock (FS) to achieve dishabituation. The major observation that YO-mediated dishabituation is mediated by reward-activated DANs (PAM cluster), while FS-mediated dishabituation is mediated by punishment-activated PPL-DANs is generally solid and convincing. Also convincing are experiments showing the involvement of KCs in the pathway for YO and FS-induced dishabituation, and the argument that KCs drive DAN activation that causes dishabituation, though not experimentally shown, is more than reasonable. The work is significant because, as the authors take pains to point out, circuits and pathways for dishabituation have been very lightly studied, and clear identification of dopaminergic neuron subsets in dishabituation achieved by different means represents unique and interesting progress.

However, the claim that this represents a fundamental difference between homosensory and heterosensory pathways for dishabituation is overstated. The introductory section does not adequately present current broad models for habituation and dishabituation. There are many different time scales, even for Drosophila olfactory habituation. These, as well as potential underlying mechanistic differences, need to be acknowledged; any claim should be specifically qualified for the time scales being studied here. Additionally, there are several unclear, vague, and inaccurate sections and statements. A more careful, precise, and considered presentation of current views, as well as more measured claims of the impact of the findings, would substantially enhance my enthusiasm.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

In this manuscript, Charonitakis, Pasadaki et al. investigated the neural circuits underlying homosensory/within-modal and heterosensory/cross-modal dishabituation of the olfactory avoidance response in Drosophila. Taking advantage of the accessible and sophisticated gene expression manipulation tools in the flies, this study traced neural pathways underlying response facilitation caused by different types of sensory stimuli and revealed both distinct and convergent neural components underlying these different forms of behavioral plasticity. The study first demonstrated that olfactory habituation of the octanol avoidance response can be facilitated by either a different odor (homosensory stimulus) or a foot shock (heterosensory stimulus). Then, the flies' nervous system was manipulated with gene expression tools to identify key neural components involved in mediating the behavioral facilitation caused by different types of sensory stimuli. It was found that different sensory stimuli are input into different parts of the nervous system, and signals converge in the mushroom bodies to generate response facilitation. It was also found that these facilitatory pathways are different from the olfactory habituation pathway in the lateral horns.

Strengths:

The authors took full advantage of the advanced genetic tools in flies and performed a series of experiments to pinpoint neural components in each pathway.

Weaknesses:

The key issue is that the main concepts of this manuscript appear to be based on a misunderstanding/misinterpretation of the literature. As the authors set out to settle the debate "whether the novel dishabituating stimulus elicits sensitization of the habituated circuits, or it engages distinct neuronal routes to bypass habituation reinstating the naïve response", it seems that the authors based their investigation on the premise that "sensitization" is mediated by a facilitatory process within the S-R pathway, and "dishabituation" by a facilitatory process outside the S-R pathway. This is not the status quo in the field, particularly with the prevailing theory like the Dual-Process Theory.

The original version of Dual-Process Theory (Groves and Thompson 1970, but also see Thompson 2008, Neurobiol Learn Mem) already hypothesized that habituation happens within the specific S-R pathway, and sensitization occurs separately in an "organism-wide" state system that modulates the output of all S-R pathways. Dishabituation is recognized by the Dual-Process Theory as sensitization (organism-wide facilitation) manifested on top of existing habituation (depressed S-R pathway). This notion has been supported by a wide range of studies, including cat spinal cord reflex (e.g. Spencer et al. 1966) and work in Aplysia on heterosynaptic facilitation for both sensitization and dishabituation. Therefore, simply showing that the newly identified facilitatory pathways are outside the S-R habituation pathway is insufficient to demonstrate dishabituation.

As behavioral facilitation of a habituated response can be achieved by dishabituating (specific recovery of the S-R pathway) and/or superimposed sensitizing (organism-wide) processes, dishabituation and sensitization of this olfactory response must be first dissociated; however, the study provided no evidence for the dissociation. Without this piece of evidence, the claim of this paper that the newly identified pathways mediate dishabituation is not fully supported.

The literature review of this manuscript has some discrepancies. In the introduction, the authors wrote "initial studies in Aplysia were consistent with the "dual-process theory" (Groves and Thompson 1979), where response recovery due to dishabituation appeared to result from sensitization superimposed on habituation, thus driving reversal of the attenuated response (Carew, Castellucci et al. 1971, Hochner, Klein et al. 1986, Marcus, Nolen et al. 1988, Ghirardi, Braha et al. 1992, Cohen, Kaplan et al. 1997, Antonov, Kandel et al. 1999, Hawkins, Cohen et al. 2006)." Hochner 1986 and Marcus 1988 in fact indicated otherwise. Hochner 1986 suggests that dishabituation and sensitization involve different molecular processes, while Marcus 1988 showed that dishabituation and sensitization have different behavioral characteristics. Therefore, the authors' statement is not supported by the cited literature.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

The authors note that while many software packages exist for spike sorting, these do not automatically differentiate with known accuracy between excitatory and inhibitory neurons. Moreover, most existing spike sorting packages are for in vivo use, where the majority of electrodes are separated from each other by several hundred microns or more. There is a need for spike sorting packages that can take advantage of high-density electrode arrays where all electrodes are within a few tens of microns of other electrodes. Here, the authors offer such a software package with SpikeMAP, and they validate its performance in identifying parvalbumin interneurons that were optogenetically stimulated.

Strengths:

The main strength of this work is that the authors use ground truth measures to show that SpikeMAP can take features of spike shapes to correctly identify known parvalbumin interneurons against a background of other neuron types. They use spike width and peak to peak distance as the key features for distinguishing between neuron types, a method that has been around for many years (Barthó, Peter, et al. "Characterization of neocortical principal cells and interneurons by network interactions and extracellular features." Journal of neurophysiology 92.1 (2004): 600-608.), but whose performance has not been validated in the context of high density electrode arrays.

Another strength of this approach is that it is automated - a necessity if your electrode array has 4096 electrodes. Hand-sorting or even checking such a large number of channels is something even the cruelest advisor would not wish upon a graduate student. With such large channel counts, it is essential to have automated methods that are known to work accurately. Hence, the combination of validation and automation is an important advance.

A nice feature of this work is that with high-density electrode arrays, the spike waveforms appear on multiple nearby electrodes simultaneously. And since spike amplitudes fall off with distance, this allows triangulation of neuron locations within the regular electrode array. Thus, spike correlations between neuron types, or within neuron types, can be plotted as a function of distance. While SpikeMAP is not the first to do this (Peyrache, Adrien, et al. "Spatiotemporal dynamics of neocortical excitation and inhibition during human sleep." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109.5 (2012): 1731-1736.), it is a welcome capability of this package.

It is also good that the code for this package is open-source, allowing a community of people (I expect in vitro labs will especially want to use this) to use the code and further improve it.

Weaknesses:

As this code was developed for use with a 4096 electrode array, it is important to be aware of double-counting neurons across the many electrodes. I understand that there are ways within the code to ensure that this does not happen, but care must be taken in two key areas. Firstly, action potentials traveling down axons will exhibit a triphasic waveform that is different from the biphasic waveform that appears near the cell body, but these two signals will still be from the same neuron (for example, see Litke et al., 2004 "What does the eye tell the brain: Development of a System for the Large-Scale Recording of Retinal Output Activity"; figure 14). I did not see anything that would directly address this situation, so it might be something for you to consider in updated versions of the code. Secondly, spike shapes are known to change when firing rates are high, like in bursting neurons (Harris, K.D., Hirase, H., Leinekugel, X., Henze, D.A. & Buzsáki, G. Temporal interaction between single spikes and complex spike bursts in hippocampal pyramidal cells. Neuron 32, 141-149 (2001)). I did not see this addressed in the present version of the manuscript.

Another area for possible improvement would be to build on the excellent validation experiments you have already conducted with parvalbumin interneurons. Although it would take more work, similar experiments could be conducted for somatostatin and vasoactive intestinal peptide neurons against a background of excitatory neurons. These may have different spike profiles, but your success in distinguishing them can only be known if you validate against ground truth, like you did for the PV interneurons.

Appraisal:

This work addresses the need for an automated spike sorting software package for high-density electrode arrays. Although no spike sorting software is flawless, the package presented here, SpikeMAP, has been validated on PV interneurons, inspiring a degree of confidence. This is a good start, and further validation on other neuron types could increase that confidence. Groups doing in vitro experiments, where 4096 electrode arrays are more common, could find this system particularly helpful.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

In this paper, entitled "SpikeMAP: An unsupervised spike sorting pipeline for cortical excitatory and inhibitory 2 neurons in high-density multielectrode arrays with ground-truth validation", the authors present spikeMAP, a pipeline for the analysis of large-scale recordings of in vitro cortical activity. According to the authors, spikeMAP not only allows for the detection of spikes produced by single neurons (spike sorting), but also allows for the reliable distinction between genetically determined cell types by utilizing viral and optogenetic strategies as ground-truth validation. While I find that the paper is nicely written and easy to follow, I find that the algorithmic part of the paper is not really new and should have been more carefully compared to existing solutions. While the GT recordings to assess the possibilities of a spike sorting tool to distinguish properly between excitatory and inhibitory neurons are interesting, spikeMAP does not seem to bring anything new to state-of-the-art solutions, and/or, at least, it would deserve to be properly benchmarked. I would suggest that the authors perform a more intensive comparison with existing spike sorters.

Strengths:

The GT recordings with optogenetic activation of the cells, based on the opsins, is interesting and might provide useful data to quantify how good spike sorting pipelines are, in vitro, to discriminate between excitatory and inhibitory neurons. Such an approach can be quite complementary to artificially generated ground truth.

Weaknesses:

(1) The global workflow of spikeMAP, described in Figure 1, seems to be very similar to that of Hilgen et al. 2020 (10.1016/j.celrep.2017.02.038). Therefore, the first question is what is the rationale of reinventing the wheel, and not using tools that are doing something very similar (as mentioned by the authors themselves). I have a hard time, in general, believing that spikeMAP has something particularly special, given its Methods, compared to state-of-the-art spike sorters. This is why, at the very least, the title of the paper is misleading, because it lets the reader think that the core of the paper will be about a new spike sorting pipeline. If this is the main message the authors want to convey, then I think that numerous validations/benchmarks are missing to assess first how good spikeMAP is, with reference to spike sorting in general, before deciding if this is indeed the right tool to discriminate excitatory vs inhibitory cells. The GT validation, while interesting, is not enough to entirely validate the paper. The details are a bit too scarce for me, or would deserve to be better explained (see other comments after).

(2) Regarding the putative location of the spikes, it has been shown that the center of mass, while easy to compute, is not the most accurate solution [Scopin et al, 2024, 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2024.110297]. For example, it has an intrinsic bias for finding positions within the boundaries of the electrodes, while some other methods, such as monopolar triangulation or grid-based convolution,n might have better performances. Can the authors comment on the choice of the Center of Mass as a unique way to triangulate the sources?

(3) Still in Figure 1, I am not sure I really see the point of Spline Interpolation. I see the point of such a smoothing, but the authors should demonstrate that it has a key impact on the distinction of Excitatory vs. Inhibitory cells. What is special about the value of 90kHz for a signal recorded at 18kHz? What is the gain with spline enhancement compared to without? Does such a value depend on the sampling rate, or is it a global optimum found by the authors?

(4) Figure 2 is not really clear, especially panel B. The choice of the time scale for the B panel might not be the most appropriate, and the legend filtered/unfiltered with a dot is not clear to me in Bii. In panel E, the authors are making two clusters with PCA projections on single waveforms. Does this mean that the PCA is only applied to the main waveforms, i.e. the ones obtained where the amplitudes are peaking the most? This is not really clear from the methods, but if this is the case, then this approach is a bit simplistic and does not really match state-of-the-art solutions. Spike waveforms are quite often, especially with such high-density arrays, covering multiple channels at once, and thus the extracellular patterns triggered by the single units on the MEA are spatio-temporal motifs occurring on several channels. This is why, in modern spike sorters, the information in a local neighbourhood is often kept to be projected, via PCA, on the lower-dimensional space before clustering. Information on a single channel only might not be informative enough to disambiguate sources. Can the authors comment on that, and what is the exact spatial resolution of the 3Brain device? The way the authors are performing the SVD should be clarified in the methods section. Is it on a single channel, and/or on multiple channels in a local neighbourhood?

(5) About the isolation of the single units, here again, I think the manuscript lacks some technical details. The authors are saying that they are using a k-means cluster analysis with k=2. This means that the authors are explicitly looking for 2 clusters per electrode? If so, this is a really strong assumption that should not be held in the context of spike sorting, because, since it is a blind source separation technique, one can not pre-determine in advance how many sources are present in the vicinity of a given electrode. While the illustration in Figure 2E is ok, there is no guarantee that one can not find more clusters, so why this choice of k=2? Again, this is why most modern spike sorting pipelines do not rely on k-means, to avoid any hard-coded number of clusters. Can the authors comment on that?

(6) I'm surprised by the linear decay of the maximal amplitude as a function of the distance from the soma, as shown in Figure 2H. Is it really what should be expected? Based on the properties of the extracellular media, shouldn't we expect a power law for the decay of the amplitude? This is strange that up to 100um away from the soma, the max amplitude only dropped from 260 to 240 uV. Can the authors comment on that? It would be interesting to plot that for all neurons recorded, in a normed manner V/max(V) as function of distances, to see what the curve looks like.

(7) In Figure 3A, it seems that the total number of cells is rather low for such a large number of electrodes. What are the quality criteria that are used to keep these cells? Did the authors exclude some cells from the analysis, and if yes, what are the quality criteria that are used to keep cells? If no criteria are used (because none are mentioned in the Methods), then how come so few cells are detected, and can the authors convince us that these neurons are indeed "clean" units (RPVs, SNRs, ...)?

(8) Still in Figure 3A, it looks like there is a bias to find inhibitory cells at the borders, since they do not appear to be uniformly distributed over the MEA. Can the authors comment on that? What would be the explanation for such a behaviour? It would be interesting to see some macroscopic quantities on Excitatory/Inhibitory cells, such as mean firing rates, averaged SNRs... Because again, in Figure 3C, it is not clear to me that the firing rates of inhibitory cells are higher than Excitatory ones, whilst they should be in theory.

(9) For Figure 3 in general, I would have performed an exhaustive comparison of putative cells found by spikeMAP and other sorters. More precisely, I think that to prove the point that spikeMAP is indeed bringing something new to the field of spike sorting, the authors should have compared the performances of various spike sorters to discriminate Exc vs Inh cells based on their ground truth recordings. For example, either using Kilosort [Pachitariu et al, 2024, 10.1038/s41592-024-02232-7], or some other sorters that might be working with such large high-density data [Yger et al, 2018, 10.7554/eLife.34518].

(10) Figure 4 has a big issue, and I guess the panels A and B should be redrawn. I don't understand what the red rectangle is displaying.

(11) I understand that Figure 4 is only one example, but I have a hard time understanding from the manuscript how many slices/mices were used to obtain the GT data? I guess the manuscript could be enhanced by turning the data into an open-access dataset, but then some clarification is needed. How many flashes/animals/slices are we talking about? Maybe this should be illustrated in Figure 4, if this figure is devoted to the introduction of the GT data.

(12) While there is no doubt that GT data as the ones recorded here by the authors are the most interesting data from a validation point of view, the pretty low yield of such experiments should not discourage the use of artificially generated recordings such as the ones made in [Buccino et al, 2020, 10.1007/s12021-020-09467-7] or even recently in [Laquitaine et al, 2024, 10.1101/2024.12.04.626805v1]. In these papers, the authors have putative waveforms/firing rate patterns for excitatory and inhibitory cells, and thus, the authors could test how good they are in discriminating the two subtypes.

Joint Public Review:

This manuscript presents an algorithm for identifying network topologies that exhibit a desired qualitative behaviour, with a particular focus on oscillations. The approach is first demonstrated on 3-node networks, where results can be validated through exhaustive search, and then extended to 5-node networks, where the search space becomes intractable. Network topologies are represented as directed graphs, and their dynamical behaviour is classified using stochastic simulations based on the Gillespie algorithm. To efficiently explore the large design space, the authors employ reinforcement learning via Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS), framing circuit design as a sequential decision-making process.

This work meaningfully extends the range of systems that can be explored in silico to uncover non-linear dynamics and represents a valuable methodological advance for the fields of systems and synthetic biology.

Strengths

The evidence presented is strong and compelling. The authors validate their results for 3-node networks through exhaustive search, and the findings for 5-node networks are consistent with previously reported motifs, lending credibility to the approach. The use of reinforcement learning to navigate the vast space of possible topologies is both original and effective, and represents a novel contribution to the field. The algorithm demonstrates convincing efficiency, and the ability to identify robust oscillatory topologies is particularly valuable. Expanding the scale of systems that can be systematically explored in silico marks a significant advance for the study of complex gene regulatory networks.

Weaknesses

The principal weakness of the manuscript lies in the interpretation of biological robustness. The authors identify network topologies that sustain oscillatory behaviour despite perturbations to the system or parameters. However, in many cases, this persistence is due to the presence of partially redundant oscillatory motifs within the network. While this observation is interesting and of clear value for circuit design, framing it as evidence of evolutionary robustness may be misleading. The "mutant" systems frequently exhibit altered oscillatory properties, such as changes in frequency or amplitude. From a functional cellular perspective, mere oscillation is insufficient - preservation of specific oscillation characteristics is often essential. This is particularly true in systems like circadian clocks, where misalignment with environmental cycles can have deleterious effects. Robustness, from an evolutionary standpoint, should therefore be framed as the capacity to maintain the functional phenotype, not merely the qualitative behaviour.

A secondary limitation is that, despite the methodological advances, the scale of the systems explored remains modest. While moving from 3- to 5-node systems is non-trivial, five elements still represent a relatively small network. It is somewhat surprising that the algorithm does not scale further, particularly when considering the performance of MCTS in other domains - for instance, modern chess engines routinely explore far larger decision trees. A discussion on current performance bottlenecks and potential avenues for improving scalability would be valuable.

Finally, it is worth noting that the emergence of oscillations in a model often depends not only on the topology but also critically on parameter choices and the nature of the nonlinearities. The use of Hill functions and high Hill coefficients is a common strategy to induce oscillatory dynamics. Thus, the reported results should be interpreted within the context of the modelling assumptions and parameter regimes employed in the simulations.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

Animal behavior is continuously influenced by the internal state moment-by-moment, including emotion primitives, as the authors pointed out. Although emotion is a more human-related state, evolutionary conservation is undeniable, which can be inferred by the behavioral manifestation. To further elaborate on the neuronal mechanisms of emotion primitives, the simplest behavioral parameter related to emotional primitives should be well-characterized. In this study, the authors described in detail wall-following behavior (WAFO) and the total walking distance (TOWA) using flies after subjecting them to various conditions or flies being genetically manipulated according to the previous reports that could affect emotion primitives. Overall, the study is well designed and structured. In addition, the discussion on emotion primitives will be of value to the field.

Strengths:

The strength of this study is its use of a simple behavioral parameter, TOWA, and also a simple design of behavior, WAFO. The importance of the behavioral assay is reproducibility and comparability. In fact, the author demonstrated a summary of comparisons where different treatments result in scalable behavioral changes in WAFO and TOWA.

Weaknesses:

The weakness of the study is the lack of further experiments to support their assumption related to TOWA.

The authors suggested that TOWA can be interpreted as a behavioral proxy for exogenously induced arousal. However, it could be interpreted as higher activity, although the authors argued that the circadian clock increasing locomotor activity around ZT0 and ZT12 does not affect TOWA, and therefore TOWA is not related to the locomotor activity per se. As the author cited, flies lose locomotor activity in the circular arena of 6.6 cm in diameter, whereas they continuously move during a 1-h recording in the authors' arena of 1 cm in diameter.

I would agree that the arena of 1 cm in diameter, but not 6.6 cm in diameter, serves as an exogenous stimulus inducing arousal, and TOWA is manifested by arousal. However, TOWA would also be affected by other behavioral parameters, including the activity, motivation for exploration, or perception of the space. Therefore, it could be reasonable to re-examine some of the flies tested in this study in the circular arena of 6.6 cm in diameter. If arousal is biased by the components presented in Figure 6 and TOWA can assess mainly exogenously induced arousal, the treatment altering TOWA in the arena of 1 cm in diameter would not affect their behavior in the arena of 6.6 cm in diameter. My concern is that Figure 6 may demonstrate too simplistic a diagram to interpret the results. I would suggest adding the experiments using the arena of 6.6 cm diameter or softening the argument.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

This work seeks to establish the Open Field Test (OFT) as a paradigm to measure emotion-like states in the fruit fly Drosophila. To do this, the authors first applied various stressors and aversive stimuli to wild-type flies and tracked their locomotion. By measuring wall-following (WAFO) and total walking (TOWA), they showed that these behaviors are generally increased by stressors, but return to baseline levels after their removal. Then, they used the same approach to analyze the effects of pharmacological, genetic, and neuronal activity manipulations, showing that diazepam, serotonin, dopamine, and neuropeptide F affect locomotion in the OFT in largely expected ways that are consistent with their functions in rodents. Finally, the authors demonstrate that wild-type fly strains from the laboratory or caught in the wild differ significantly in their OFT behavior, with wild-caught flies generally behaving as if more 'stressed'. Given the numerous advantages of Drosophila, this study can form the foundation for using the OFT in conjunction with this animal model to elucidate the molecular and neuronal mechanisms that underlie emotion primitives.

Strengths:

The main strength of the paper is the rigorous use of several stressful or aversive treatments and their subsequent removal to show that WAFO is a robust proxy for stress-like emotional primitives across multiple stimuli. The pharmacological, molecular, and neuronal activity manipulations, although more limited in scope, lend further credence to the authors' central claim.

Weaknesses:

The conceptual advance of this research is unclear, as previous work (Mohammad et al., 2016, Curr Biol.) carried out similar treatments and manipulations and reached largely similar conclusions. Moreover, while WAFO is a good proxy for 'stress', I am not convinced that TOWA necessarily represents an emotional state in all cases. Indeed, as the authors themselves acknowledge, changes in total walking may be associated with other factors, such as starvation-induced hyperactivity, physical exhaustion after sleep deprivation, increased sex drive after mating, alcohol sedation, etc. Another unclear point is the interpretation of some unexpected results, such as the finding that both serotonin transporter overexpression and its knockdown give the same phenotype. Finally, there are some issues with the use of the OFT in rodent research (e.g., inconsistent effects of anxiolytic drugs; see Rosso et al., 2022, Neurosci Biobehav Rev., for a meta-analysis). These should be explained to place the Drosophila findings in their appropriate context.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

This is a valuable study providing solid evidence that the putative non-canonical initiation factor eIF2A has little or no role in the translation of any expressed mRNAs in cultured human (primarily HeLa) cells. Previous studies have implicated eIF2A in GTP-independent recruitment of initiator tRNA to the small (40S) ribosomal subunit, a function analogous to canonical initiation factor eIF2, and in supporting initiation on mRNAs that do not require scanning to select the AUG codon or that contain near-cognate start codons, especially upstream ORFs with non-AUG start codons, and may use the cognate elongator tRNA for initiation. Moreover, the detected functions for eIF2A were limited to, or enhanced by, stress conditions where canonical eIF2 is phosphorylated and inactivated, suggesting that eIF2A provides a back-up function for eIF2 in such stress conditions. CRISPR gene editing was used to construct two different knock-out cell lines that were compared to the parental cell line in a large battery of assays for bulk or gene-specific translation in both unstressed conditions and when cells were treated with inhibitors that induce eIF2 phosphorylation. None of these assays identified any effects of eIF2A KO on translation in unstressed or stressed cells, indicating little or no role for eIF2A as a back-up to eIF2 and in translation initiation at near-cognate start codons, in these cultured cells.

The study is very thorough and generally well executed, examining bulk translation by puromycin labeling and polysome analysis and translational efficiencies of all expressed mRNAs by ribosome profiling, with extensive utilization of reporters equipped with the 5'UTRs of many different native transcripts to follow up on the limited number of genes whose transcripts showed significant differences in translational efficiencies (TEs) in the profiling experiments. They also looked for differences in translation of uORFs in the profiling data and examined reporters of uORF-containing mRNAs known to be translationally regulated by their uORFs in response to stress, going so far as to monitor peptide production from a uORF itself. The high precision and reproducibility of the replicate measurements instil strong confidence that the myriad of negative results they obtained reflects the lack of eIF2A function in these cells rather than data that would be too noisy to detect small effects on the eIF2A mutations. They also tested and found no evidence for a recent claim that eIF2A localizes to the cytoplasm in stress and exerts a global inhibition of translation. Given the numerous papers that have been published reporting functions of eIF2A in specific and general translational control, this study is important in providing abundant, high-quality data to the contrary, at least in these cultured cells.

Strengths:

The paper employed two CRISPR knock-out cell lines and subjected them to a combination of high-quality ribosome profiling experiments, interrogating both main coding sequences and uORFs throughout the translatome, which was complemented by extensive reporter analysis, and cell imaging in cells both unstressed and subjected to conditions of eIF2 phosphorylation, all in an effort to test previous conclusions about eIF2A functioning as an alternative to eIF2.

Weaknesses:

No major issues were observed as the authors have provided additional evidence of the extent of ISR induction by tunicamycin. The discussion was also expanded to address concerns stemming from the previous version of the manuscript.

[Editors note: Reviewers and editors concluded that the authors revised the article in a satisfactory manner and no further concerns were raised]

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary

Roiuk et al describe a work in which they have investigated the role of eIF2A in translation initiation in mammals without much success. Thus, the manuscript focuses on negative results. Further, the results, while original, are generally not novel, but confirmatory, since related claims have been made before independently in different systems with Haikwad et al study recently published in eLife being the most relevant.

Despite this, we find this work highly important. This is because of a massive wealth of unreliable information and speculations regarding eIF2A role in translation arising from series of artifacts that began at the moment of eIF2A discovery. This, in combination with its misfortunate naming (eIF2A is often mixed up with alpha subunit of eIF2, eIF2S1) has generated a widespread confusion among researchers who are not experts in eukaryotic translation initiation. Given this, it is not only justifiable but critical to make independent efforts to clear up this confusion and I very much appreciate the authors' efforts in this regard.

Strengths

The experimental investigation described in this manuscript is thorough, appropriate and convincing.

Weaknesses

No major weaknesses as the authors have improved their presentation.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

Beyond what is stated in the title of this paper, not much needs to be summarized. eIF2A in HeLa cells promotes translation initiation of neither the main ORFs nor short uORFs under any of the conditions tested.

Strengths:

Very comprehensive, in fact, given the huge amount of purely negative data, an admirably comprehensive and well-executed analysis of the factor of interest.

Weaknesses:

The study is limited to the HeLa cell line, which is now addressed and clearly stated by the authors.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

I congratulate the authors on this beautiful work.

This manuscript introduces a biologically informed RNN (bioRNN) that predicts the effects of optogenetic perturbations in both synthetic and in vivo datasets. By comparing standard sigmoid RNNs (σRNNs) and bioRNNs, the authors make a compelling case that biologically grounded inductive biases improve generalization to perturbed conditions. This work is innovative, technically strong, and grounded in relevant neuroscience, particularly the pressing need for data-constrained models that generalize causally.

I have some suggestions for improvement, which I present in the order of re-reading the paper.

Major

(1) In line 76, the authors make a very powerful statement: 'σRNN simulation achieves higher similarity with unseen recorded trials before perturbation, but lower than the bioRNN on perturbed trials.' I couldn't find a figure showing this. This might be buried somewhere and, in my opinion, deserves some spotlight - maybe a figure or even inclusion in the abstract.

(2) It's mentioned in the introduction (line 84) and elsewhere (e.g., line 259) that spiking has some advantage, but I don't see any figure supporting this claim. In fact, spiking seems not to matter (Figure 2C, E). Please clarify how spiking improves performance, and if it does not, acknowledge that. Relatedly, in line 246, the authors state that 'spiking is a better metric but not significant' when discussing simulations. Either remove this statement and assume spiking is not relevant, or increase the number of simulations.

(3) The authors prefer the metric of predicting hits over MSE, especially when looking at real data (Figure 3). I would bring the supplementary results into the main figures, as both metrics are very nicely complementary. Relatedly, why not add Pearson correlation or R2, and not just focus on MSE Loss?

(4) I really like the 'forward-looking' experiment in closed loop! But I felt that the relevance of micro perturbations is very unclear in the intro and results. This could be better motivated: why should an experimentalist care about this forward-looking experiment? Why exactly do we care about micro perturbation (e.g., in contrast to non-micro perturbation)? Relatedly, I would try to explain this in the intro without resorting to technical jargon like 'gradients'.

Minor

(1) In the intro, the authors refer to 'the field' twice. Personally, I find this term odd. I would opt for something like 'in neuroscience'.

(2) Line 45: When referring to previous work using data-constrained RNN models, Valente et al. is missing (though it is well cited later when discussing regularization through low-rank constraints).

(3) Line 11: Method should be methods (missing an 's').

(4) In line 250, starting with 'So far', is a strange choice of presentation order. After interpreting the results for other biological ingredients, the authors introduce a new one. I would first introduce all ingredients and then interpret. It's telling that the authors jump back to 2B after discussing 2C.

(5) The black dots in Figure 3E are not explained, or at least I couldn't find an explanation.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Sourmpis et al. present a study in which the importance of including certain inductive biases in the fitting of recurrent networks is evaluated with respect to the generalization ability of the networks when exposed to untrained perturbations.

The work proceeds in three stages:<br /> (1) a simple illustration of the problem is made. Two reference (ground-truth) networks with qualitatively different connectivity, but similar observable network dynamics, are constructed, and recurrent networks with varying aspects of design similarity to the reference networks are trained to reproduce the reference dynamics. The activity of these trained networks during untrained perturbations is then compared to the activity of the perturbed reference networks. It is shown that, of the design characteristics that were varied, the enforced sign (Dale's law) and locality (spatial extent) of efference were especially important.<br /> (2) The intuition from the constructed example is then extended to networks that have been trained to reproduce certain aspects of multi-region neural activity recorded from mice during a detection task with a working-memory component. A similar pattern is demonstrated, in which enforcing the sign and locality of efference in the fitted networks has an influence on the ability of the trained networks to predict aspects of neural activity during unseen (untrained) perturbations.<br /> (3) The authors then illustrate the relationship between the gradient of the motor readout of trained networks with respect to the net inputs to the network units, and the sensitivity of the motor readout to small perturbations of the input currents to the units, which (in vivo) could be controlled optogenetically. The paper is concluded with a proposed use for trained networks, in which the models could be analyzed to determine the most sensitive directions of the network and, during online monitoring, inform a targeted optogenetic perturbation to bias behavior.

The authors do not overstate their claims, and in general, I find that I agree with their conclusions. A couple of points to be made:

(1) Some aspects of the methods are unclear. For comparisons between recurrent networks trained from randomly initialized weights, I would expect that many initializations were made for each model variant to be compared, and that the performance characteristics are constructed by aggregating over networks trained from multiple random initializations. I could not tell from the methods whether this was done or how many models were aggregated.

2) It is possible that including perturbation trials in the training sets would improve model performance across conditions, including held-out (untrained) perturbations (for instance, to units that had not been perturbed during training). It could be noted that if perturbations are available, their use may alleviate some of the design decisions that are evaluated here.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

In this manuscript, the authors describe a good-quality ancient maize genome from 15th-century Bolivia and try to link the genome characteristics to Inca influence. Overall, the manuscript is below the standard in the field. In particular, the geographic origin of the sample and its archaeological context is not well evidenced. While dating of the sample and the authentication of ancient DNA have been evidenced robustly, the downstream genetic analyses do not support the conclusion that genomic changes can be attributed to Inca influence. Furthermore, sections of the manuscript are written incoherently and with logical mistakes. In its current form, this paper is not robust and possibly of very narrow interest.

Strengths:

Technical data related to the maize sample are robust. Radiocarbon dating strongly evidenced the sample age, estimated to be around 1474 AD. Authentication of ancient DNA has been done robustly. Spontaneous C-to-T substitutions, which are present in all ancient DNA, are visible in the reported sample with the expected pattern. Despite a low fraction of C-to-T at the 1st base, this number could be consistent with the cool and dry climate in which the sample was preserved. The distribution of DNA fragment sizes is consistent with expectations for a sample of this age.

Weaknesses:

(1) Archaeological context for the maize sample is weakly supported by speculation about the origin and has unreasonable claims weighing on it. Perhaps those findings would be more convincing if the authors were to present evidence that supports their conclusions: i) a map of all known tombs near La Paz, ii) evidence supporting the stone tomb origins of this assemblage, and iii) evidence supporting non-Inca provenance of the tomb.

(2) Dismissal of the admixture in the reported samples is not evidenced correctly. Population f3 statistic with an outgroup is indeed one of the most robust metrics for sample relatedness; however, it should not be used as a test of admixture. For an admixture test, the population f3 statistic should be used in the form: i) target population, ii) one possible parental population, iii) another possible parental population. This is typically done iteratively with all combinations of possible parental populations. Even in such a form, the population f3 statistic is not very sensitive to admixture in cases of strong genetic drift, and instead population f4 statistic (with an outgroup) is a recommended test for admixture.

(3) The geographic placement of the sample based on genetic data is not robust. To make use of the method correctly, it would be necessary to validate that genetic samples in this region follow the assumption of the 'isolation-by-distance' with dense sampling, which has not been done. Additionally, the authors posit that "This suggests that aBM might not only be genetically related to the archaeological maize from ancient Peru, but also in the possible geographic location." The method used to infer the location is based on pure genetic estimation. The above conclusion is not supported by this method, and it directly contradicts the authors' suggestion that the sample comes from Bolivia.

(4) The conclusion that Ancient Andean maize is genetically similar to European varieties and hence shares a similar evolutionary history is not well supported. The PCA plot in Figure 4 merely represents sample similarity based on two components (jointly responsible for about 20% of the variation explained), and European samples could be very distant based on other components. Indeed, the direct test using the outgroup f3 statistic does not support that European varieties are particularly closely related to ancient Andean maize. Perhaps these are more closely related to Brazil? We do not know, as this has not been measured.

(5) The conclusion that long branches in the phylogenetic tree are due to selection under local adaptation has no evidence. Long branches could be the result of missing data, nucleotide misincorporations, genetic drift, or simply due to the inability of phylogenetic trees to model complex population-level relationships such as admixture or incomplete lineage sorting. Additionally, captions to Figure S3, do not explain colour-coding.

(6) The conclusion that selection detected in aBM sample is due to Inca influence has no support. Firstly, selection signature can be due to environmental or other factors. To disentangle those, the authors would need to generate the data for a large number of samples from similar cultural contexts and from a wide-ranging environmental context, followed by a formal statistical test. Secondly, allele frequency increase can be attributed to selection or demographic processes, and alone is not sufficient evidence for selection. The presented XP-EHH method seems more suitable. Overall, methods used in this paper raise some concerns: i) how accurate are allele-frequency tests of selection when only single individual is used as a proxy for a whole population, ii) the significance threshold has been arbitrary fixed to an absolute number based on other studies, but the standard is to use, for example, top fifth percentile. Finally, linking selection to particular GO terms is not strong evidence, as correlation does not imply causation, and links are unclear anyway.

In sum, this manuscript presents new data that seems to be of high quality, but the analyses are frequently inappropriate and/or over-interpreted.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

The manuscript presents valuable new datasets from two ancient maize seeds that contribute to our growing understanding of the maize evolution and biodiversity landscape in pre-colonial South America. Some of the analyses are robust, but the selection elements are not supported.

Strengths:

The data collection is robust, and the data appear to beof sufficiently high quality to carry out some interesting analytical procedures. The central finding that aBM maize is closely related to maize from the core Inca region is well supported, although the directionality of dispersal is not supported.

Weaknesses:

The selection results are not justified, see examples in the detailed comments below.

(1) The manuscript mentions cultural and natural selection (line 76), but then only gives a couple of examples of selecting for culinary/use traits. There are many examples of selection to tolerate diverse environments that could be relevant for this discussion, if desired.

(2) I would be extremely cautious about interpreting the observations of a Spanish colonizer (lines 95-99) without very significant caveats. Indigenous agriculture and foodways would have been far more nuanced than what could be captured in this context, and the genocidal activities of the Europeans would have impacted food production activities to a degree, and any contemporaneous accounts need to be understood through that lens.

(3) The f3 stats presented in Figure 2 are not set up to test any specific admixture scenarios, so it is unsupported to conclude that the aBM maize is not admixed on this basis (lines 201-202). The original f3 publication (Patterson et al, 2012) describes some scenarios where f3 characteristics associate with admixture, but in general, there are many caveats to this approach, and it's not the ideal tool for admixture testing, compared with e.g., f4 and D (abba-baba) statistics.

(4) I'm a little bit skeptical that the Locator method adds value here, given the small training sample size and the wide geographic spread and genetic diversity of the ancient samples that include Central America. The paper describing that method (Battey et al 2020 eLife) uses much larger datasets, and while the authors do not specifically advise on sample sizes, they caution about small sample size issues. We have already seen that the ancient Peruvian maize has the most shared drift with aBM maize on the basis of the f3 stats, and the Locator analysis seems to just be reiterating that. I would advise against putting any additional weight on the Locator results as far as geographic origins, and personally I would skip this analysis in this case.

(5) The overlap in PCA should not be used to confirm that aBM is authentically ancient, because with proper data handling, PCA placement should be agnostic to modern/ancient status (see lines 224-226). It is somewhat unexpected that the ancient Tehuacan maize (with a major teosinte genomic component) falls near the ancient South American maize, but this could be an artifact of sampling throughout the PCA and the lack of teosinte samples that might attract that individual.

(6) What has been established (lines 250-251) is genetic similarity to the Inca core area, not necessarily the directionality. Might aBM have been part of a cultural region supplying maize to the Inca core region, for example? Without a specific test of dispersal directionality, which I don't think is possible with the data at hand, this is somewhat speculative.

(7) Singleton SNPs are not a typical criterion for identifying selection; this method needs some citations supporting the exact approach and validation against neutral expectations (line 278). Without Datasets S2 and S3, which are not included with this submission, it is difficult to assess this result further. However, it is very unexpected that ~18,000 out of ~49,000 SNPs would be unique to the aBM lineage. This most likely reflects some data artifact (unaccounted damage, paralogs not treated for high coverage, which are extremely prevalent in maize, etc). I'm confused about unique SNPs in this context. How can they be unique to the aBM lineage if the SNPs used overlap the Grzybowski set? The GO results do not include any details of the exact method used or a statistical assessment of the results. It is not clear if the GO terms noted are statistically enriched.

(8) The use of XP-EHH with pseudohaplotype variant calls is not viable (line 293). It is not clear what exact implementation of XP-EHH was used, but this method generally relies on phased or sometimes unphased diploid genotype calls to observe shared haplotypes, and some minimum population size to derive statistical power. No implementation of XP-EHH to my knowledge is appropriate for application to this kind of dataset.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

The authors seek to place archaeological maize samples (2 kernels) from Bolivia into genetic and geographical context and to assess signatures of selection. The kernels were dated to the end of the Incan empire, just prior to European colonization. Genetic data and analyses were used to characterize the distance from other ancient and modern maize samples and to predict the origin of the sample, which was discovered in a tomb near La Paz, Bolivia. Given the conquest of this region by the Incan empire, it is possible that the sample could be genetically similar to populations of maize in Peru, the center of the Incan empire. Signatures of selection in the sample could help reveal various environmental variables and cultural preferences that shaped maize genetic diversity in this region at that time.

Strengths:

The authors have generated substantial genetic data from these archaeological samples and have assembled a data set of published archaeological and modern maize samples that should help to place these samples in context. The samples are dated to an interesting time in the history of South America during a period of expansion of the Incan empire and just prior to European colonization. Much could be learned from even this small set of samples.

Weaknesses:

(1) Sample preparation and sequencing:<br /> Details of the quality of the samples, including the percentage of endogenous DN,A are missing from the methods. The low percentage of mapped reads suggests endogenous DNA was low, and this would be useful to characterize more fully. Morphological assessment of the samples and comparison to morphological data from other maize varieties is also missing. It appears that the two kernels were ground separately and that DNA was isolated separately, but data were ultimately pooled across these genetically distinct individuals for analysis. Pooling would violate assumptions of downstream analysis, which included genetic comparison to single archaeological and modern individuals.

(2) Genetic comparison to other samples:<br /> The authors did not meaningfully address the varying ages of the other archaeological samples and modern maize when comparing the genetic distance of their samples. The archaeological samples were as old as >5000 BP to as young as 70 BP and therefore have experienced varying extents of genetic drift from ancestral allele frequencies. For this reason, age should explicitly be included in their analysis of genetic relatedness.

(3) Assessment of selection in their ancient Bolivian sample:<br /> This analysis relied on the identification of alleles that were unique to the ancient sample and inferred selection based on a large number of unique SNPs in two genes related to internode length. This could be a technical artifact due to poor alignment of sequence data, evidence supporting pseudogenization, or within an expected range of genetic differentiation based on population structure and the age of the samples. More rigor is needed to indicate that these genetic patterns are consistent with selection. This analysis may also be affected by the pooling of the Bolivian archaeological samples.

(4) Evidence of selection in modern vs. ancient maize: In this analysis, samples were pooled into modern and ancient samples and compared using the XP-EHH statistic. One gene related to ovule development was identified as being targeted by selection, likely during modern improvement. Once again, ancient samples span many millennia and both South, Central, and North America. These, and the modern samples included, do not represent meaningfully cohesive populations, likely explaining the extremely small number of loci differentiating the groups. This analysis is also complicated by the pooling of the Bolivian archaeological samples.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

The authors note that it is challenging to perform diffusion MRI tractography consistently in both humans and macaques, particularly when deep subcortical structures are involved. The scientific advance described in this paper is effectively an update to the tracts that the XTRACT software supports. The claims of robustness are based on a very small selection of subjects from a very atypical dMRI acquisition (n=50 from HCP-Adult) and an even smaller selection of subjects from a more typical study (n=10 from ON-Harmony).

Strengths:

The changes to XTRACT are soundly motivated in theory (based on anatomical tracer studies) and practice (changes in seeding/masking for tractography), and I think the value added by these changes to XTRACT should be shared with the field. While other bundle segmentation software typically includes these types of changes in release notes, I think papers are more appropriate.

Weaknesses:

The demonstration of the new tracts does not include a large number of carefully selected scans and is only compared to the prior methods in XTRACT. The small n and limited statistical comparisons are insufficient to claim that they are better than an alternative. Qualitatively, this method looks sound.

Subject selection at each stage is unclear in this manuscript. On page 5 the data are described as "Using dMRI data from the macaque (𝑁 = 6) and human brain (𝑁 = 50)". Were the 50 HCP subjects selected to cover a range of noise levels or subject head motion? Figure 4 describes 72 pairs for each of monozygotic, dizygotic, non-twin siblings, and unrelated pairs - are these treated separately? Similarly, NH had 10 subjects, but each was scanned 5 times. How was this represented in the sample construction?

In the paper, the authors state "the mean agreement between HCP and NH reconstructions was lower for the new tracts, compared to the original protocols (𝑝 < 10^−10). This was due to occasionally reconstructing a sparser path distribution, i.e., slightly higher false negative rate," - how can we know this is a false negative rate without knowing the ground truth?

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

In this article, Assimopoulos et al. expand the FSL-XTRACT software to include new protocols for identifying cortical-subcortical tracts with diffusion MRI, with a focus on tracts connecting to the amygdala and striatum. They show that the amygdalofugal pathway and divisions of the striatal bundle/external capsule can be successfully reconstructed in both macaques and humans while preserving large-scale topographic features previously defined in tract tracing studies. The authors set out to create an automated subcortical tractography protocol, and they accomplished this for a subset of specific subcortical connections for users of the FSL ecosystem.

Strengths:

A main strength of the current study is the translation of established anatomical knowledge to a tractography protocol for delineating cortical-subcortical tracts that are difficult to reconstruct. Diffusion MRI-based tractography is highly prone to false positives; thus, constraining tractography outputs by known anatomical priors is important. Key additional strengths include 1) the creation of a protocol that can be applied to both macaque and human data; 2) demonstration that the protocol can be applied to be high quality data (3 shells, > 250 directions, 1.25 mm isotropic, 55 minutes) and lower quality data (2 shells, 100 directions, 2 mm isotropic, 6.5 minutes); and 3) validation that the anatomy of cortical-subcortical tracts derived from the new method are more similar in monozygotic twins than in siblings and unrelated individuals.

Weaknesses:

Although this work validates the general organizational location and topographic organization of tractography-derived cortical-subcortical tracts against prior tract tracing studies (a clear strength), the validation is purely visual and thus only qualitative. Furthermore, it is difficult to assess how the current XTRACT method may compare to currently available tractography approaches to delineating similar cortical-subcortical connections. Finally, it appears that the cortical-subcortical tractography protocols developed here can only be used via FSL-XTRACT (yet not with other dMRI software), somewhat limiting the overall accessibility of the method.

Overall Appraisal:

This new method will accelerate research on anatomically validated cortical-subcortical white matter pathways. The work has utility for diffusion MRI researchers across fields.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:<br /> This manuscript describes the role of PRDM16 in modulating BMP response during choroid plexus (ChP) development. The authors combine PRDM16 knockout mice and cultured PRDM16 KO primary neural stem cells (NSCs) to determine the interactions between BMP signaling and PRDM16 in ChP differentiation.<br /> They show PRDM16 KO affects ChP development in vivo and BMP4 response in vitro. They determine genes regulated by BMP and PRDM16 by ChIP-seq or CUT&TAG for PRDM16, pSMAD1/5/8, and SMAD4. They then measure gene activity in primary NSCs through H3K4me3 and find more genes are corepressed than coactivated by BMP signaling and PRDM16 and focus on the 31 genes found to be co-repressed by BMP and PRDM16. Wnt7b is in this set and the authors then provide evidence that PRDM16 and BMP signaling together repress Wnt activity in the developing choroid plexus.

Strengths:<br /> Understanding context-dependent response to cell signals during development is an important problem. The authors use a powerful combination of in vivo and in vitro systems to dissect how PRDM16 may modulate BMP response in early brain development.

Main weakness of the experimental setup:<br /> (1) Because the authors state that primary NSCs cultured in vitro lose endogenous Prdm16 expression, they drive expression by a constitutive promoter. However, this means the expression levels is very different from endogenous levels (as explicitly shown in Supp. Fig. 2B) and the effect of many transcription factors is strongly dose-dependent, likely creating differences between the PRDM16-dependent transcriptional response in the in vitro system and in vivo. Although the authors combine in vitro and in vivo evidence on the role of PRDM16 as a co-factor for MBP signaling and verified that BMP induces quiescence in their NSC model in a PRDM16-dependent manner, this experimental setup remains a weakness and likely affects the results of the various genomics experiments.

Other experimental weaknesses that make the evidence less convincing:

(1) It seems that the authors compare Prdm16_KO cells to Prdm16 WT cells overexpressing flag_Prdm16. Aside from the possible expression of endogenous Prdm16, other cell differences may have arisen between these cell lines. A properly controlled experiment would compare Prdm16_KO ctrl (possibly infected with a control vector without Prdm16) to Prdm16_KO_E (i.e. the Prdm16_KO cells with and without Prdm16 overexpression.) The authors acknowledged this problem in their rebuttal, stating that they were unable to overexpress PRDM16 in KO cells.

(2) The authors show in Fig.2E that Ttr is not upregulated by BMP4 in PRDM16_KO NSCs. This appears inconsistent with the presence of Ttr expression in the PRDM16_KO brain in Fig.1C. The authors explained in their rebuttal that the Ttr protein levels are not detectable in the NSCs with antibodies but the effect is still visible at the level of mRNA. The dramatic difference in protein expression is curious.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

The authors have revised their manuscript in response to reviewer feedback, incorporating several modifications to improve clarity and provide additional supporting information. To address concerns about confusing terminology, they have standardized the reference to PRDM16 overexpressing cells as Prdm16_OE, clarifying its expression from a constitutive promoter. They also revised the text to resolve seemingly contradictory statements about ChP development in the mutant. New bioinformatic analysis comparing PRDM16 binding in E12.5 ChP cells to co-repressed versus BMP-only-repressed genes has been performed and included in Supplementary Figure 5C, providing a statistical assessment of PRDM16's regulatory role on co-repressed genes. Several figures were updated, including adding an illustration of the Prdm16 cGT allele to Figure 1B, providing a zoomed-in inset for Figure 1E, and including individual channels for Wnt2b and marking boundaries in Figure 7A. Full-view images and examples of spot segmentation for SCRINSHOT analysis are now available in a new supplementary figure, and the presentation of RT-qPCR data in Supplementary Figure 2B was improved by using separate graphs for overexpression samples to avoid a broken Y-axis. Furthermore, the authors have added more references to introductory statements, annotated structures like the ChP, CH, and fourth ventricle in figures, and clarified that the beta-Gal signal was used as a marker for mutant ChP cells in Figure 1D. Finally, the manuscript now includes a discussion of the recently published, related study by Hurwitz et al. (2023) in the discussion section, highlighting similarities and differences. Overall, the authors have satisfactorily addressed the reviewers' comments.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:<br /> Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling instructs multiple processes during development including cell proliferation and differentiation. The authors set out to understand the role of PRDM16 in these various functions of BMP signaling. They find that PRDM16 and BMP co-operate to repress stem cell proliferation by regulating the genomic distribution of BMP pathway transcription factors. They additionally show that PRDM16 impacts choroid plexus epithelial cell specification. The authors provide evidence for a regulatory circuit (constituting of BMP, PRDM16 and Wnt) that influences stem cell proliferation/differentiation.

Strengths:<br /> I find the topics studied by the authors in this study of general interest to the field, the experiments well-controlled and the analysis in the paper sound. I have no major scientific concerns.

Weaknesses:<br /> I have some minor recommendations which will help improve the paper (regarding the discussion).

Comments on revised version:

The authors have addressed my concerns in the revised version of the manuscript.

Reviewer #1 (Public Review):

This manuscript describes a series of experiments documenting trophic egg production in a species of harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex rugosus. In brief, queens are the primary trophic egg producers, there is seasonality and periodicity to trophic egg production, trophic eggs differ in many basic dimensions and contents relative to reproductive eggs, and diets supplemented with trophic eggs had an effect on the queen/worker ratio produced (increasing worker production).

The manuscript is very well prepared and the methods are sufficient. The outcomes are interesting and help fill gaps in knowledge, both on ants as well as insects, more generally.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

The revised manuscript by Genzoni et al. reports the striking discovery of a regulatory role for trophic eggs. Prior to this study, trophic eggs were widely assumed to play a nutritional role in the colony, but this study shows that trophic eggs can suppress queen development, and therefore, can play a role in regulating caste determination in specific social contexts. In this revised version of the manuscript, the authors have addressed many of the concerns raised in the first version regarding the lack of sufficient information and context in the Introduction and Discussion.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

In the manuscript submission by Zhao et al. entitled, "Cardiac neurons expressing a glucagon-like receptor mediate cardiac arrhythmia induced by high-fat diet in Drosophila" the authors assert that cardiac arrhythmias in Drosophila on a high fat diet is due in part to adipokinetic hormone (Akh) signaling activation. High fat diet induces Akh secretion from activated endocrine neurons, which activate AkhR in posterior cardiac neurons. Silencing or deletion of Akh or AkhR blocks arrhythmia in Drosophila on high fat diet. Elimination of one of two AkhR expressing cardiac neurons results in arrhythmia similar to high fat diet.

Strengths:

The authors propose a novel mechanism for high fat diet induced arrhythmia utilizing the Akh signaling pathway that signals to cardiac neurons.

Comments on revisions:

The authors have addressed my other concerns. The only outstanding issue is in regard to the following comment:

The authors state that "HFD led to increased heartbeat and an irregular rhythm." In representative examples shown, HFD resulted in pauses, slower heart rate, and increased irregularity in rhythm but not consistently increased heart rate (Figures 1B, 3A, and 4C). Based on the cited work by Ocorr et al (https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0609278104), Drosophila heart rate is highly variable with periods of fast and slow rates, which the authors attributed to neuronal and hormonal inputs. Ocorr et al then describe the use of "semi-intact" flies to remove autonomic input to normalize heart rate. Were semi-intact flies used? If not, how was heart rate variability controlled? And how was heart rate "increase" quantified in high fat diet compared to normal fat diet? Lastly, how does one measure "arrhythmia" when there is so much heart rate variability in normal intact flies?

- The authors state that 8 sec time windows were selected at the discretion of the imager for analysis. I don't know how to avoid bias unless the person acquiring the imaging is blinded to the condition and the analysis is also done blind. Can you comment whether data acquisition and analysis was done in a blinded fashion? If not, this should be stated as a limitation of the study.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Zhao et al. provide new insights into the mechanism by which a high-fat diet (HFD) induces cardiac arrhythmia employing Drosophila as a model. HFD induces cardiac arrhythmia in both mammals and Drosophila. Both glucagon and its functional equivalent in Drosophila Akh are known to induce arrhythmia. The study demonstrates that Akh mRNA levels are increased by HFD and both Akh and its receptor are necessary for high-fat diet-induced cardiac arrhythmia, elucidating a novel link. Notably, Zhao et al. identify a pair of AKH receptor-expressing neurons located at the posterior of the heart tube. Interestingly, these neurons innervate the heart muscle and form synaptic connections, implying their roles in controlling the heart muscle. The study presented by Zhao et al. is intriguing, and the rigorous characterization of the AKH receptor-expressing neurons would significantly enhance our understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying HFD-induced cardiac arrhythmia.

Many experiments presented in the manuscript are appropriate for supporting the conclusions while additional controls and precise quantifications should help strengthen the authors' arguments. The key results obtained by loss of Akh (or AkhR) and genetic elimination of the identified AkhR-expressing cardiac neurons do not reconcile, complicating the overall interpretation.

The most exciting result is the identification of AkhR-expressing neurons located at the posterior part of the heart tube (ACNs). The authors attempted to determine the function of ACNs by expressing rpr with AkhR-GAL4, which would induce cell death in all AkhR-expressing cells, including ACNs. The experiments presented in Figure 6 are not straightforward to interpret. Moreover, the conclusion contradicts the main hypothesis that elevated Akh is the basis of HFD-induced arrhythmia. The results suggest the importance of AkhR-expressing cells for normal heartbeat. However, elimination of Akh or AkhR restores normal rhythm in HFD-fed animals, suggesting that Akh and AkhR are not important for maintaining normal rhythms. If Akh signaling in ACNs is key for HFD-induced arrhythmia, genetic elimination of ACNs should unalter rhythm and rescue the HFD-induced arrhythmia. An important caveat is that the experiments do not test the specific role of ACNs. ACNs should be just a small part of the cells expressing AkhR. Specific manipulation of ACNs will significantly improve the study. Moreover, the main hypothesis suggests that HFD may alter the activity of ACNs in a manner dependent on Akh and AkhR. Testing how HFD changes calcium, possibly by CaLexA (Figure 2) and/or GCaMP, in wild-type and AkhR mutant could be a way to connect ACNs to HFD-induced arrhythmia. Moreover, optogenetic manipulation of ACNs may allow for specific manipulation of ACNs.

Interestingly, expressing rpr with AkhR-GAL4 was insufficient to eliminate both ACNs. It is not clear why it didn't eliminate both ACNs. Given the incomplete penetrance, appropriate quantifications should be helpful. Additionally, the impact on other AhkR-expressing cells should be assessed. Adding more copies of UAS-rpr, AkhR-GAL4, or both may eliminate all ACNs and other AkhR-expressing cells. The authors could also try UAS-hid instead of UAS-rpr.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

The manuscript by Duilio M. Potenza et al. explores the role of Arginase II in cardiac aging, majorly using whole-body arg-ii knock-out mice. In this work, the authors have found that Arg-II exerts non-cell-autonomous effects on aging cardiomyocytes, fibroblasts, and endothelial cells mediated by IL-1b from aging macrophages. The authors have used arg II KO mice and an in vitro culture system to study the role of Arg II. Authors have also reported the cell-autonomous effect of Arg-II through mitochondrial ROS in fibroblasts that contribute to cardiac aging. These findings are sufficiently novel in cardiac aging and provide interesting insights. While the phenotypic data seem strong, the mechanistic details are unclear. How Arg II regulates the IL-1b and modulates cardiac aging is still being determined.

Strengths:

This study provides interesting information on the role of Arg II in cardiac aging.

The phenotypic data in the Arg II KO mice is convincing, and the authors have assessed most of the aging-related changes.

The data is supported by an in vitro cell culture system.

Weaknesses:

The manuscript needs more mechanistic details on how Arg II regulates IL-1b and modulates cardiac aging.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

This study investigates the role of arginase-II (Arg-II) in cardiac aging. The authors challenge previous assumptions by demonstrating that Arg-II is not expressed in aged cardiomyocytes, but is upregulated in non-myocyte cells, specifically macrophages, fibroblasts, and endothelial cells. Using Arg-II knockout mice, they show protection against age-associated cardiac inflammation, fibrosis, apoptosis, endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT), and ischemic injury. Mechanistically, Arg-II promotes IL-1β release from macrophages and increases mitochondrial ROS in fibroblasts, contributing to cardiac aging through both cell-autonomous and non-cell-autonomous mechanisms.

The study is well-structured and combines genetic models, molecular assays, and histological analyses to support its conclusions. Including both human and mouse samples strengthens the translational relevance of the findings. The authors have addressed most of the reviewers' comments and have made efforts to improve the manuscript by adding experimental data, explanations, and further discussion.

The data convincingly support their conclusions. This work provides valuable insights into the mechanisms of cardiac aging, aligns with growing evidence of non-cell-autonomous contributions to aging-related pathologies, and highlights the importance of intercellular signaling in maintaining cardiac health during aging.

Although the use of cell-specific knockout mouse models would enhance the depth and translational potential of the findings, it is understandable that such an approach would be beyond the scope of a single study. This work lays the groundwork for future investigations into conditional Arg-II knockouts in specific cell types to elucidate the cell-specific roles of Arg-II in cardiac aging.

Overall, this is a solid and impactful study with strong experimental support

Joint Public Review:

Summary:

The authors have conducted the largest to date Mendelian Randomization (MR) analysis of the association between genetically predicted measures of adiposity and risk of head and neck cancer (HNC) overall and by subsites within HNC. MR uses genetic predictors of an exposure, such as gene variants associated with high BMI or tobacco use, rather than data from individual physical exams or questionnaires, and if it can be done in its idealized state, there should be no problems with confounding. Traditional epidemiologic studies have reported a variety of associations between BMI (and a few other measures of adiposity) and risk of HNC that typically differ by the smoking status of the subjects. Those findings are controversial given the complex relationship between tobacco and both BMI and HNC risk. Tobacco smokers are often thinner than non-smokers, so this could create an artificial ('confounded') association that may not be fully adjusted away in risk models. The findings of a BMI-HNC association are often attributed to residual confounding, and this seems ripe for an MR approach if suitable genetic instrumental variables can be created. Here, the authors built a variety of genetic instrumental variables for BMI and other measures of adiposity, as well as two instrumental variables for smoking habits, and then tested their hypotheses in a large case-control set of HNC and controls with genetic data.

The authors found that the genetic model for BMI was associated with HNC risk in simple models, but this association disappeared when using models that better accounted for pleiotropy, the condition when genetic variants are associated with more than one trait, such as both BMI and tobacco use. When they used both adiposity and tobacco use genetic instruments in a single model, there was a strong association with genetically predicted tobacco use (as is expected), but there was no remaining association with genetic predictors of adiposity. They conclude that high BMI/adiposity is not a risk factor for HNC.

Strengths:

The primary strength was the expansive use of a variety of different genetic instruments for BMI/adiposity/body size, along with employing a variety of MR model types, several of which are known to be less sensitive to pleiotropy. They also used the largest case-control sample size to date.

Weaknesses:

The lack of pleiotropy is an unconfirmable assumption of MR, and the addition of those models is therefore quite important, as this is a primary weakness of the MR approach. Given that concern, I read the sensitivity analyses using pleiotropy-robust models as the main result, and in that case, they can't test their hypotheses as these models do not show a BMI instrumental variable association. The other weakness, which might be remedied, is that the power of the tests here is not described. When a hypothesis is tested with an under-powered model, the apparent lack of association could be due to inadequate sample size rather than a true null. Typically, when a statistically significant association is reported, power concerns are discounted as long as the study is not so small as to create spurious findings. That is the case with their primary BMI instrumental variable model - they find an association so we can presume it was adequately powered. But the primary models they share are not the pleiotropy-robust methods MR-Egger, weighted median, and weighted mode. The tests for these models are null, and that could mean a couple of things: (1) the original primary significant association between the BMI genetic instrument was due to pleiotropy, and they therefore don't have a robust model to explore the effects of the tobacco genetic instrument. (2) The power for the sensitivity analysis models (the pleiotropy-robust methods) is inadequate, and the authors share no discussion about the relative power of the different MR approaches. If they do have adequate power, then again, there is no need to explore the tobacco instrument.

Reviewing Editor Comments:

We suggest that the authors add power estimates to assess whether the sample size is sufficient, given the strength and variability of the genetic instruments. It would also be helpful to present effect estimates for the tobacco instruments alone, to clarify their independent contribution and improve the interpretation of the joint models. In addition, the role of pleiotropy should be addressed more clearly, including which model is considered primary. Stratified analyses by smoking status are encouraged, as prior studies indicate that BMI-HNC associations may differ between smokers and non-smokers. Finally, the comparison with previous studies should be revised, as most reported null findings without accounting for tobacco instruments. If this study finds an association, it should not be framed as a replication.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

In this manuscript, Wolfson and co-authors demonstrate a combination of an injury-specific enhancer and engineered AAV that enhances transgene expression in injured myocardium. The authors characterize spatiotemporal dynamics of TREE-directed AAV expression in the injured heart using a non-invasive longitudinal monitoring system. They show that transgene expression is drastically increased 3 days post-injury, driven by 2ankrd1a. They reported a liver-detargeted capsid, AAV cc.84, with decreased viral entry into the liver while maintaining TREE transgene specificity. They further identified the IR41 serotype with enhanced transgene expression in injured myocardium from AAV library screening. This is an interesting study that optimizes the potential application of TREE delivery for cardiac repair. However, several concerns were raised prior to publication:

Major Concerns:

(1) In Figure 1, the authors demonstrated that 2andkrd1aEN is not responsive to sham injury after AAV delivery, but Figure 3 shows a strong response to sham when AAV is delivered after injury. The authors do not provide an explanation for this observation.

(2) In Figure 4, a higher GFP signal is observed in all areas of the heart of the IR41-treated mouse compared to AAV9. The authors should compare GFP expression between AAV9 and IR41 in uninjured hearts and provide insights into enhanced cardiac tropism to confirm that IR41 is MI injury enriched, not Sham as well.

(3) The authors should clarify which model is being used between myocardial infarction (MI) and Ischemia-reperfusion (IR) throughout the figures, as the experimental schemes and figure legends did not match with each other (MI or IR in Figure 1A, 1D, 3A, and 3E). Both models cause different types of injuries. The authors should explain the difference in TREE expression in both models.

(4) In Figure 2, the authors use REN instead of 2ankrd1aEN to demonstrate liver-detargeting using AAV cc.84. Is there a specific reason?

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

In this manuscript by Wolfson et al., various adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) were delivered to mice to assess the cardiac-specificity, injury border-zone cardiomyocyte transduction rate, and temporal dynamics, with the goal of finding better AAVs for gene therapies targeting the heart. The authors delivered tissue regeneration enhancer elements (TREEs) controlling luciferase expression and used IVIS imaging to examine transduction in the heart and other organs. They found that luciferase expression increased in the first week after injury when using AAV9-TREE-Hsp68 promoter, waning to baseline levels by 7 weeks. However, AAV9 vectors transduced the liver, which was significantly reduced by using an AAV.cc84 liver de-targeting capsid. The authors then performed in vivo screening of AAV9 capsids and found AAV-IR41 to preferentially transduce injured myocardium when compared to AAV9. Finally, the authors combined TREEs with AAV-IR41 to show improved luciferase expression compared to AAV9-TREE at 7, 14, and 21 days after injury.

Overall, this manuscript provides insights into TREE expression dynamics when paired with various heart-targeting capsids, which can be useful for researchers studying ischemic injury of murine hearts. While the authors have shown the success of using AAV9-TREEs in porcine hearts, it is unknown whether the expression dynamics would be similar in pigs or humans, as mentioned in the limitations.

The following questions and concerns can be addressed to improve the manuscript:

(1) From the IVIS data, it seems that the Hsp68 promoter might not be "normally silent in mouse tissues," specifically in the liver (Figure S1B). Are there any other promoters that can be combined with TREEs to induce cardiac-injury specific expression while minimizing liver expression? This could simplify capsid design to focus on delivery to injured areas.

(2) Why is it that AAV9-TREE-Hsp68-Luc wane in expression (Figure 1C and 1D), whereas AAV.cc84-TREE-Hsp68-Luc expresses stably for over 2 months (3E)? This has important implications for the goal of transience in gene delivery.

(3) AAV-IR41 was found to transduce cardiomyocytes in the injured zone. However, this capsid also shows a very strong off-target liver expression. From a capsid design perspective, is it possible to combine AAV-cc84 and AAV-IR41?

(4) It would be helpful to see immunostaining for the various time points in Figure 5. Is it possible to use an anti-luciferase antibody (or AAV-TREE-Hsp68-eGFP) to compare the two TREE capsids?

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

The tissue regeneration enhancer elements (TREEs) identified in zebrafish have been shown to drive injury-activated temporal-spatial gene expression in mice and large animals. These findings increase the translational potential of findings in zebrafish to mammals. In this manuscript, the authors tested TREEs in combination with different adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors using in vivo luciferase bioluminescent imaging that allows for longitudinal tracking. The TREE-driven luciferase delivered by a liver de-targeted AAV.cc84 decreased off-target transduction in the liver. They further screened an AAV library to identify capsid variants that display enhanced transduction for myocardium post-myocardial infarction. A new capsid variant, AAV.IR41, was found to show increased transduction at the infarct border zones.

Strengths:

The authors injected AAV-cargo several days after ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury as a clinically relevant approach. Overall, this study is significant in that it identifies new AAV vectors for potential new gene therapies in the future. The manuscript is well-written, and their data are also of high quality.

Weaknesses:

The authors might be using MI (myocardial infarction) and I/R injury interchangeably in their text and labels. For instance, "We systemically transduced mice at 4 days after permanent left coronary artery ligation with either AAV9 or IR41 harboring a 2ankrd1aEN-Hsp68::fLuc transgene. IVIS imaging revealed higher expression levels in animals transduced with IR41 compared to AAV9, in both sham and I/R groups (Fig. 5A)". They should keep it consistent. There is also no description for the MI model.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

The manuscript addresses the discordant reports of the Murphy (Moore et al., 2019; Kaletsky et al., 2020; Sengupta et al., 2024) and Hunter (Gainey et al., 2025) groups on the existence (or robustness) of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance (TEI) controlling learned avoidance of C. elegans to Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Several papers from Colleen Murphy's group describe and characterize C. elegans transgenerational inheritance of avoidance behaviour. In the hands of the Murphy group, the learned avoidance is maintained for up to four generations, however, Gainey et al. (2025) reported an inability to observe inheritance of learned avoidance beyond the F1 generation. Of note, Gainey et al used a modified assay to measure avoidance, rather than the standard assay used by the Murphy lab. A response from the Murphy group suggested that procedural differences explained the inability of Gainey et al.(2025) to observe TEI. They found two sources of variability that could explain the discrepancy between studies: the modified avoidance assay and bacterial growth conditions (Kaletsky et al., 2025). The standard avoidance assay uses azide as a paralytic to capture worms in their initial decision, while the assay used by the Hunter group does not capture the worm's initial decision but rather uses cold to capture the location of the population at one point in time.

In this short report, Akinosho, Alexander, and colleagues provide independent validation of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance (TEI) of learned avoidance to P. aeruginosa as described by the Murphy group by demonstrating learned avoidance in the F2 generation. These experiments used the protocol described by the Murphy group, demonstrating reproducibility and robustness.

Strengths:

Despite the extensive analyses carried out by the Murphy lab, doubt may remain for those who have not read the publications or for those who are unfamiliar with the data, which is why this report from the Vidal-Gadea group is so important. The observation that learned avoidance was maintained in the F2 generation provides independent confirmation of transgenerational inheritance that is consistent with reports from the Murphy group. It is of note that Akinosho, Alexander et al. used the standard avoidance assay that incorporates azide, and followed the protocol described by the Murphy lab, demonstrating that the data from the Moore and Kaletsky publications are reproducible, in contrast to what has been asserted by the Hunter group.

Weaknesses:

While I would have liked to see a confirmation of the daf-7::GFP data in F2, and perhaps inheritance of avoidance beyond F2, the premise of the manuscript is that they have independently verified the transgenerational inheritance of learned avoidance as described by the Murphy lab, and this bar has been met.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

The manuscript "Independent validation of transgenerational inheritance of learned pathogen avoidance in C. elegans" by Akinosho and Vidal-Gadea offers evidence that learned avoidance of the pathogen PA14 can be inherited for at least two generations. In spite of initial preference for the pathogen when exposed in a 'training session', 24 hours of feeding on this pathogen evoked avoidance. The data are robust, replicated in 4 trials, and the authors note that diminished avoidance is inherited in generations F1 and F2.

Strengths:

These results contrast with those reported by Gainey et al, who only observed intergenerational inheritance for a single generation. Although the authors' study does not explain why Gainey et el fail to reproduce the Murphy lab results, one possibility is that a difference in a media ingredient could be responsible.

Weaknesses:

The authors do not list the sources of their media ingredients, which might be important with regard to reproducibility.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary

This short paper aims to provide an independent validation of the transgenerational inheritance of learned behaviour (avoidance) that has been published by the Murphy lab. The robustness of the phenotype has been questioned by the Hunter lab. In this paper, the authors present one figure showing that transgenerational inheritance can be replicated in their hands. Overall, it helps to shed some light on a controversial topic.

Strengths

The authors clearly outline their methods, particularly regarding the choice of assay, so that attempting to reproduce the results should be straightforward. It is nice to see these results repeated in an independent laboratory.

Weaknesses

Previous reports on this topic have provided raw data, which is helpful when assessing sample sizes. The authors provided a spreadsheet containing the choice assay results for individual assays, but not the raw data. In the methods, it is stated that F2 animals were produced from F1 animals by bleaching, but there are many more F2 assays than F1. Were multiple F2 assays performed on the offspring from one F1 plate? If so, they do not represent independent assays.

I think that the introduction somewhat overstates their findings - do they really "address potential methodological variations that might influence results"? This makes it sound as though they test different conditions, whereas they only use one assay setup throughout.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

Mast cells have previously been reported to play an important role in bacterial immune defense and act protectively in sepsis. However, many of these findings were based on studies using Kit mutant mice. In this study, the authors conducted a detailed investigation using mast cell-deficient Cpa3 Cre-Master mice. As a result, the authors found that the Cpa3 Cre-Master mice exhibited responses similar to wild-type mice in terms of bacterial immune defense. This suggests that the observed phenotype is not due to mast cell-dependent bacterial immune defense, but rather is associated with dysbiosis of the gut microbiota.

Strengths:

Mast cells have long been reported to play an important role in the protective response against sepsis, and their function in infection defense has been demonstrated. However, Kit mutant mice have been reported to exhibit impaired peristalsis, and several mast cell-specific genetically modified mouse lines have since been developed and examined in detail. This study presents an important finding by logically demonstrating that the exacerbation of sepsis in Kit mice is due to alterations in the gut microbiota, and that the phenotype previously thought to be mast cell-dependent was, in fact, not.

In addition, the experiments were carefully designed using mice with matched genetic backgrounds. These findings underscore the importance of microbiota composition in interpreting immune phenotypes and highlight the need for co-housing controls in mutant mouse studies.

A major strength of this work is the robustness of the CLP data, generated over eight years by three independent researchers across two institutions with large sample sizes, lending strong support to the conclusions.

Weaknesses:

The study assesses only a limited subset of gut bacterial species, leaving the extent to which E. coli expansion contributes to the observed phenotype unclear. Moreover, in the cohousing experiments, there is no evidence provided to confirm successful microbiota normalization between groups. A more detailed analysis of the microbial composition would be necessary to strengthen the reliability of the findings.

It is also important to note that Cpa3-deficient mice exhibit not only mast cell depletion but also defects in basophils and T cells. These additional immunological alterations may counterbalance one another, potentially masking phenotypic changes and complicating interpretation.

Furthermore, it remains to be determined whether the altered gut microbiota observed in KitW/Wv mice is a consequence of impaired intestinal motility, whether a similar phenotype is observed in KitW-sh/W-sh mice, and whether comparable results occur in SCF-deficient models. Addressing these questions would provide greater clarity on the contribution of mast cells versus secondary factors in the observed phenotypes.

Given that KitW/Wv mice exhibit impaired peristalsis, is the observed increase in E. coli a consequence of this dysfunction?

Previous studies with BMMC reconstitution experiments have indicated that mast cells are a source of TNF - how does this align with the current findings?

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

This study presents a useful finding that the high susceptibility to CLP sepsis of Kit-mutant mice is not due to mast cell deficiency, but to dysbiosis.

However, the present data are insufficient and incomplete to support the conclusion, and would benefit from more rigorous approaches. With the mechanism part strengthened, this paper would be of interest to researchers on mast cell biology and mucosal immunology.

Recommendations:

(1) The authors showed that E. coli increases in the cecum of Kit-mutant mice, which causes high CLP susceptibility. However, they did not provide any evidence E. coli is responsible for the high susceptibility. In the Figure 3 experiments, the authors administered the same number of cecal bacteria and did not show the number of E. coli after the administration. The authors should provide evidence showing that depletion of E. coli decreases susceptibility.

(2) The author should provide direct evidence of dysbiosis by, for example, shotgun sequencing of cecal and fecal contents.

(3) In case the authors find dysbiosis, they should analyze the mechanisms by which Kit mutation causes dysbiosis.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

The manuscript discusses the role of phosphorylated ubiquitin (pUb) by PINK1 kinase in neurodegenerative diseases. It reveals that elevated levels of pUb are observed in aged human brains and those affected by Parkinson's disease (PD), as well as in Alzheimer's disease (AD), aging, and ischemic injury. The study shows that increased pUb impairs proteasomal degradation, leading to protein aggregation and neurodegeneration. The authors also demonstrate that PINK1 knockout can mitigate protein aggregation in aging and ischemic mouse brains, as well as in cells treated with a proteasome inhibitor. While this study provided some interesting data, several important points should be addressed before being further consideration.

Strengths:

(1) Reveals a novel pathological mechanism of neurodegeneration mediated by pUb, providing a new perspective on understanding neurodegenerative diseases.

(2) The study covers not only a single disease model but also various neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, aging, and ischemic injury, enhancing the breadth and applicability of the research findings.

Comments on revisions:

This study, through a systematic experimental design, reveals the crucial role of pUb in forming a positive feedback loop by inhibiting proteasome activity in neurodegenerative diseases. The data are comprehensive and highly innovative. However, some of the results are not entirely convincing, particularly the staining results in Figure 1.

In Figure 1A, the density of DAPI staining differs significantly between the control patient and the AD patient, making it difficult to conclusively demonstrate a clear increase in PINK1 in AD patients. Quantitative analysis is needed. In Fig 1C, the PINK1 staining in the mouse brain appears to resemble non-specific staining.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

In this beautiful paper the authors examined the role and function of NR2F2 in testis development and more specifically on fetal Leydig cells development. It is well known by now that FLC are developed from an interstitial steroidogenic progenitor at around E12.5 and are crucial for testosterone and INSL3 production during embryonic development, which in turn shapes the internal and external genitalia of the male. Indeed, lack of testosterone or INSL3 are known to cause DSD as well as undescended testis, also termed as cryptorchidism.

The authors first characterized the expression pattern of the NR2R2 protein during testis development and then used two cKO systems of NR2F2, namely the Wt1-creERT2 and the Nr5a1-cre to explore the phenotype of loss of NR2F2. They found in both cases that mice are presenting with undescended testis and major reduction in FLC numbers. They show that NR2F2 has no effect on the amount and expression of the progenitor cells but in its absence, there are less FLC and they are immature.

The effect of NR2F2 is cell autonomous and does not seem to affect other signalling pathways implemented in Leydig cell development as the DHH, PDGFRA and the NOTCH pathway.

Overall, this paper is excellent, very well written, fluent and clear. The data is well presented, and all the controls and statistics are in place. I think this paper will be of great interest to the field and paves the way for several interesting follow up studies as stated in the discussion

Comments on revised version:

The authors have fully addressed my concerns and the manuscript is looking excellent.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

The major conclusion of the manuscript is expressed in the title: "NR2F2 is required in the embryonic testis for Fetal Leydig Cell development" and also at the end of the introduction and all along the result part. All the authors' assertions are supported by very clear and statistically validated results from ISH, IHC, precise cell counting and gene expression levels by qPCR. The authors used two different conditional Nr2f2 gene ablation systems that demonstrate the same effects at the FLC level. They also showed that the haplo-insufficiency of Wt1 in the first system (knock-in Wt1-cre-ERT2) aggravated the situation in FLC differentiation by disturbing the differentiation of Sertoli cells and their secretion of pro-FLC factors, which had a confounding effect and encouraged them to use the second system. This demonstrates the great rigor with which the authors interpreted the results. In conclusion, all authors' claims and conclusions are justified by their high-quality results.

Comments on revised version:

In their revised version, the authors have taken full account of all my suggestions, and I congratulate them on this. I have no further comments to make on this new version.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

In this manuscript, Azlan et al. identified a novel maternal factor called Sakura that is required for proper oogenesis in Drosophila. They showed that Sakura is specifically expressed in the female germline cells. Consistent with its expression pattern, Sakura functioned autonomously in germline cells to ensure proper oogenesis. In sakura KO flies, germline cells were lost during early oogenesis and often became tumorous before degenerating by apoptosis. In these tumorous germ cells, piRNA production was defective and many transposons were derepressed. Interestingly, Smad signaling, a critical signaling pathway for the GSC maintenance, was abolished in sakura KO germline stem cells, resulting in ectopic expression of Bam in whole germline cells in the tumorous germline. A recent study reported that Bam acts together with the deubiquitinase Otu to stabilize Cyc A. In the absence of sakura, Cyc A was upregulated in tumorous germline cells in the germarium. Furthermore, the authors showed that Sakura co-immunoprecipitated Otu in ovarian extracts. A series of in vitro assays suggested that the Otu (1-339 aa) and Sakura (1-49 aa) are sufficient for their direct interaction. Finally, the authors demonstrated that the loss of otu phenocopies the loss of sakura, supporting their idea that Sakura plays a role in germ cell maintenance and differentiation through interaction with Otu during oogenesis.

Strengths:

To my knowledge, this is the first characterization of the role of CG14545 genes. Each experiment seems to be well-designed and adequately controlled

Weaknesses:

However, the conclusions from each experiment are somewhat separate, and the functional relationships between Sakura's functions are not well established. In other words, although the loss of Sakura in the germline causes pleiotropic effects, the cause-and-effect relationships between the individual defects remain unclear.

Comments on latest version:

The authors have attempted to address my initial concerns with additional experiments and refutations. Unfortunately, my concerns, especially my specific comments 1-3, remain unaddressed. The present manuscript is descriptive and fails to describe the molecular mechanism by which Sakura exerts its function in the germline. Nevertheless, this reviewer acknowledges that the observed defects in sakura mutant ovaries and the possible physiological significance of the Sakura-Out interaction are worth sharing with the research community, as they may lay the groundwork for future research in functional analysis.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

In this manuscript, Azlan et al. identified a novel maternal factor called Sakura that is required for proper oogenesis in Drosophila. They showed that Sakura is specifically expressed in the female germline cells. Consistent with its expression pattern, Sakura functioned autonomously in germline cells to ensure proper oogenesis. In sakura KO flies, germline cells were lost during early oogenesis and often became tumorous before degenerating by apoptosis. In these tumorous germ cells, piRNA production was defective and many transposons were derepressed. Interestingly, Smad signaling, a critical signaling pathway for the GSC maintenance, was abolished in sakura KO germline stem cells, resulting in ectopic expression of Bam in whole germline cells in the tumorous germline. A recent study reported that Bam acts together with the deubiquitinase Otu to stabilize Cyc A. In the absence of sakura, Cyc A was upregulated in tumorous germline cells in the germarium. Furthermore, the authors showed that Sakura co-immunoprecipitated Otu in ovarian extracts. A series of in vitro assays suggested that the Otu (1-339 aa) and Sakura (1-49 aa) are sufficient for their direct interaction. Finally, the authors demonstrated that the loss of otu phenocopies the loss of sakura, supporting their idea that Sakura plays a role in germ cell maintenance and differentiation through interaction with Otu during oogenesis.

Strengths:

To my knowledge, this is the first characterization of the role of CG14545 genes. Each experiment seems to be well-designed and adequately controlled

Weaknesses:

However, the conclusions from each experiment are somewhat separate, and the functional relationships between Sakura's functions are not well established. In other words, although the loss of Sakura in the germline causes pleiotropic effects, the cause-and-effect relationships between the individual defects remain unclear.

Comments on latest version:

The authors have attempted to address my initial concerns with additional experiments and refutations. Unfortunately, my concerns, especially my specific comments 1-3, remain unaddressed. The present manuscript is descriptive and fails to describe the molecular mechanism by which Sakura exerts its function in the germline. Nevertheless, this reviewer acknowledges that the observed defects in sakura mutant ovaries and the possible physiological significance of the Sakura-Out interaction are worth sharing with the research community, as they may lay the groundwork for future research in functional analysis.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

In this very thorough study, the authors characterize the function of a novel Drosophila gene, which they name Sakura. They start with the observation that sakura expression is predicted to be highly enriched in the ovary and they generate an anti-sakura antibody, a line with a GFP-tagged sakura transgene, and a sakura null allele to investigate sakura localization and function directly. They confirm the prediction that it is primarily expressed in the ovary and, specifically, that it is expressed in germ cells, and find that about 2/3 of the mutants lack germ cells completely and the remaining have tumorous ovaries. Further investigation reveals that Sakura is required for piRNA-mediated repression of transposons in germ cells. They also find evidence that sakura is important for germ cell specification during development and germline stem cell maintenance during adulthood. However, despite the role of sakura in maintaining germline stem cells, they find that sakura mutant germ cells also fail to differentiate properly such that mutant germline stem cell clones have an increased number of "GSC-like" cells. They attribute this phenotype to a failure in the repression of Bam by dpp signaling. Lastly, they demonstrate that sakura physically interacts with otu and that sakura and otu mutants have similar germ cell phenotypes. Overall, this study helps to advance the field by providing a characterization of a novel gene that is required for oogenesis. The data are generally high-quality and the new lines and reagents they generated will be useful for the field.

Comments on latest version:

With these revisions, the authors have addressed my main concerns.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

This paper provides a computational model of a synthetic task in which an agent needs to find a trajectory to a rewarding goal in a 2D-grid world, in which certain grid blocks incur a punishment. In a completely unrelated setup without explicit rewards, they then provide a model that explains data from an approach-avoidance experiment in which an agent needs to decide whether to approach, or withdraw from, a jellyfish, in order to avoid a pain stimulus, with no explicit rewards. Both models include components that are labelled as "Pavlovian"; hence the authors argue that their data show that the brain uses a "Pavlovian" fear system in complex navigational and approach-avoid decisions.

In the first setup, they simulate a model in which a "Pavlovian" component learns about punishment in each grid block, where as a Q-learner learns about the optimal path to the goal, using a scalar loss function for rewards and punishments. "Pavlovian" and Q-learning components are then weighed at each step to produce an action. Unsurprisingly, the authors find that including the "Pavlovian" component into the model reduces the cumulative punishment incurred, and this increases as the weight of the "Pavlovian" system increases. The paper does not explore to what extent increasing the punishment loss (while keeping reward loss constant) would lead to the same outcomes with a simpler model architecture.

In the second setup, an agent learns about punishments alone. So-called "Pavlovian biases" have previously been demonstrated in this task (i.e. an over avoidance when the correct decision is to approach). The authors explore several models to account for the Pavlovian biases.

Strengths:

Overall, the modelling exercises are interesting and relevant and incrementally expand the space of existing models.

Weaknesses:

For the first task, the simulation results are not compared to a simple Q-learning model. The second task is somewhat artificial, a problem compounded by the virtual reality setup. According to the cover story, participants get "stung by a jellyfish" on average 88 times during the experiment. In one condition, withdrawal from a jelly fish lead to a sting.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

The authors tested the efficiency of a model combining Pavlovian fear valuation and instrumental valuation. This model is amenable to many behavioral decision and learning setups - some of which have been or will be designed to test differences in patients with mental disorders (e.g., anxiety disorder, OCD, etc.).

Strengths:

(1) Simplicity of the model which can at the same time model rather complex environments.

(2) Introduction of a flexible omega parameter.

(3) Direct application to a rather advanced VR task.

(4) The paper is extremely well written. It was a joy to read.

Weaknesses:

Almost none! In very few cases, the explanations could be a bit better.

Comments on revised version:

No further comments.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

This paper aims to address the problem of exploring potentially rewarding environments that contain danger, based on the assumption that an independent Pavlovian fear learning system can help guide an agent during exploratory behaviour such that it avoids severe danger. This is important given that otherwise later gains seem to outweigh early threats, and agents may end up putting themselves in danger when it is advisable not to do so.

The authors develop a computational model of exploratory behaviour that accounts for both instrumental and Pavlovian influences, combining the two according to uncertainty in the rewards. The result is that Pavlovian avoidance has a greater influence when the agent is uncertain about rewards.

Strengths:

The study does a thorough job of testing this model using both simulations and data from human participants performing an avoidance task. Simulations demonstrate that the model can produce "safe" behaviour, where the agent may not necessarily achieve the highest possible reward but ensures that losses are limited. Interestingly, the model appears to describe human avoidance behaviour in a task that tests for Pavlovian avoidance influences better than a model that doesn't adapt the balance between Pavlovian and instrumental based on uncertainty. The methods are robust, and generally there is little to criticise about the study.

Weaknesses:

The methods are robust, and generally there is little to criticise about the study. The extent of the testing in human participants is fairly limited, but goes far enough to demonstrate that the model can account for human behaviour in an exemplar task. There are, however, some elements of the model that are unrealistic (for example, the fact that pre-training is required to select actions with a Pavlovian bias would require the agent to explore the environment initially and encounter a vast amount of danger in order to learn how to avoid the danger later), although this could simply reflect a lengthy evolutionary process.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

Mallimadugula et al. combined Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations, thiol-labeling experiments, and RNA-binding assays to study and compare the RNA-binding behavior of the Interferon Inhibitory Domain (IID) from Viral Protein 35 (VP35) of Zaire ebolavirus, Reston ebolavirus, and Marburg marburgvirus. Although the structures and sequences of these viruses are similar, the authors suggest that differences in RNA binding stem from variations in their intrinsic dynamics, particularly the opening of a cryptic pocket. More precisely, the dynamics of this pocket may influence whether the IID binds to RNA blunt ends or the RNA backbone.

Overall, the authors present important findings to reveal how the intrinsic dynamics of proteins can influence their binding to molecules and, hence, their functions. They have used extensive biased simulations to characterize the opening of a pocket which was not clearly seen in experimental results - at least when the proteins were in their unbound forms. Biochemical assays further validated theoretical results and linked them to RNA binding modes. Thus, with the combination of biochemical assays and state-of-the-art Molecular Dynamics simulations, these results are clearly compelling.

Strengths:

The use of extensive Adaptive Sampling combined with biochemical assays clearly point to the opening of the Interferon Inhibitory Domain (IID) as a factor for RNA binding. This type of approach is especially useful to assess how protein dynamics can affect its function.

Weaknesses:

Although a connection between the cryptic pocket dynamics and RNA binding mode is proposed, the precise molecular mechanism linking pocket opening to RNA binding still remains unclear.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

The authors aimed to determine whether a cryptic pocket in the VP35 protein of Zaire ebolavirus has a functional role in RNA binding and, by extension, in immune evasion. They sought to address whether this pocket could be an effective therapeutic target resistant to evolutionary evasion by studying its role in dsRNA binding among different filovirus VP35 homologs. Through simulations and experiments, they demonstrated that cryptic pocket dynamics modulate the RNA binding modes, directly influencing how VP35 variants block RIG-I and MDA5-mediated immune responses.<br /> The authors successfully achieved their aim, showing that the cryptic pocket is not a random structural feature but rather an allosteric regulator of dsRNA binding. Their results not only explain functional differences in VP35 homologs despite their structural similarity but also suggest that targeting this cryptic pocket may offer a viable strategy for drug development with reduced risk of resistance.

This work represents a significant advance in the field of viral immunoevasion and therapeutic targeting of traditionally "undruggable" protein features. By demonstrating the functional relevance of cryptic pockets, the study challenges long-standing assumptions and provides a compelling basis for exploring new drug discovery strategies targeting these previously overlooked regions.

Strengths:

The combination of molecular simulations and experimental approaches is a major strength, enabling the authors to connect structural dynamics with functional outcomes. The use of homologous VP35 proteins from different filoviruses strengthens the study's generality, and the incorporation of point mutations adds mechanistic depth. Furthermore, the ability to reconcile functional differences that could not be explained by crystal structures alone highlights the utility of dynamic studies in uncovering hidden allosteric features.

Weaknesses:

While the methodology is robust, certain limitations should be acknowledged. For example, the study would benefit from a more detailed quantitative analysis of how specific mutations impact RNA binding and cryptic pocket dynamics, as this could provide greater mechanistic insight. This study would also benefit from providing a clear rationale for the selection of the amber03 force field and considering the inclusion of volume-based approaches for pocket analysis. Such revisions will strengthen the robustness and impact of the study.

Comments on revisions:

The authors addressed the concerns raised.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

The authors suggest a mechanism that explains the preference of<br /> viral protein 35 (VP35) homologs to bind the backbone of double stranded RNA versus blunt ends. These preferences have a biological impact in terms of the ability of different viruses to escape the immune response of the host.<br /> The proposed mechanism involves the existence of a cryptic pocket, where VP35 binds the blunt ends of dsRNA when the cryptic pocket is closed and preferentially binds the RNA double stranded backbone when the pocket is open.<br /> The authors performed MD simulation results, thiol labelling experiments, fluorescence polarization assays, as well as point mutations to support their hypothesis.

Strengths:

This is a genuinely interesting scientific questions, which is approached through multiple complementary experiments as well as extensive MD simulations. Moreover, structural biology studies focused on RNA-protein interactions are particularly rare, highlighting the importance of further research in this area.

Weaknesses:

- Sequence similarity between Ebola-Zaire (94% similarity) explains their similar behaviour in simulations and experimental assays. Marburg instead is a more distant homolog (~80% similarity relative to Ebola/Zaire). This difference is sequence and structure can explain the propensities, without the need to involve the existence of a cryptic pocket.<br /> - No real evidence for the presence of a cryptic pocket is presented, but rather a distance probability distribution between two residues obtained from extensive MD simulations. It would be interesting to characterise the modelled RNA-protein interface in more detail

Comments on revisions:

-I still think that the term cryptic pocket is misleading here, unless the cryptic pocket is more thoroughly characterised. I would find it more appropriate to use the term open/closed state.

- Mg ions are known to be crucial in stabilising RNA structure both in vitro and in MD simulations (see e.g. Draper BJ 2008 and many others). While I understand that the authors cannot repeat simulations in presence of ions, I believe that this detail should be more clearly detailed in the manuscript.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:<br /> In the manuscript by Tie et.al., the authors couple the methodology which they have developed to measure LQ (localization quotient) of proteins within the Golgi apparatus along with RUSH based cargo release to quantify the speed of different cargos traveling through Golgi stacks in nocodazole induced Golgi ministacks to differentiate between cisternal progression vs stable compartment model of the Golgi apparatus. The debate between cisternal progression model and stable compartment model has been intense and going on for decades and important to understand the basic way of function/organization of the Golgi apparatus. As per the stable compartment model, cisterna are stable structures, and cargo moves along the Golgi apparatus in vesicular carriers. While as per cisternal progression model, Golgi cisterna themselves mature acquiring new identity from the cis face to the trans face and act as transport carriers themselves. In this work, authors provide a missing part regarding intra-Golgi speed for transport of different cargoes as well as the speed of TGN exit and based on the differences in the transport velocities for different cargoes tested favor a stable compartment model. The argument which authors make is that if there is cisternal progression, all the cargoes should have a similar intra-Golgi transport speed which is essentially the rate at which the Golgi cisterna mature. Furthermore, using a combination of BFA and Nocodazole treatments authors show that the compartments remain stable in cells for at least 30-60 minutes after BFA treatment.

Strengths:<br /> The method to accurately measure localization of a protein within the Golgi stack is rigorously tested in the previous publications from the same authors and in combination with pulse chase approaches has been used to quantify transport velocities of cargoes through the Golgi. This is a novel aspect in this paper and differences in intra-Golgi velocities for different cargoes tested makes a case for a stable compartment model.

Weaknesses:<br /> None noted in the revised version of the manuscript.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:<br /> This manuscript describes the use of quantitative imaging approaches, that have been a key element of the labs work over the past years, to address one of the major unresolved discussions in trafficking: intra-Golgi transport. The approach used has been clearly described in the labs previous papers, and is thus clearly described. The authors clearly address the weaknesses in this manuscript, and do not overstate the conclusions drawn from the data. The only weakness not addressed is the concept of blocking COPI transport with BFA, which is a strong inhibitor and causes general disruption of the system. This is an interesting element of the paper, which I think could be improved upon by using more specific COPI inhibitors instead, although I understand that this is not necessarily straightforward.

I commend the authors on their clear and precise presentation of this body of work, incorporating mathematical modelling with a fundamental question in cell biology. In all, I think that this is a very robust body of work, that provides a sound conclusion in support of the stable compartment model for the Golgi.

General points:<br /> The manuscript contains a lot of background in its results sections, and the authors may wish to consider rebalancing the text: The section beginning at Line 175 is about 90% background and 10% data. Could some data currently in supplementary be included here to redress this balance, or this part combined with another?

Minor points:<br /> Equation 2: A should be in front of the ln2. It's already resolved in equation 3, so likely only needs changing in the text

Line 152: Why is there a lack of experimental data? High ER background and low golgi signal make it difficult to select ministacks: would be good to see examples of these images. Is 0 a relevant timepoint as cargo is still at the ER? Instead would a timepoint <5' be better demonstrate initial arrival in fast cargo, and 0' discarded?

Table 1 Line 474: 1-3 independent replicates: is there a better way of incorporating this into the table to make it more streamlined? It would be useful to see each cargo as a mean with error. Is there a more demonstrative way to present the table, for example (but does not have to be) fastest cargo first (Tintra) as in Table 2?

Line 264 / Fig 3B: It's unclear to me why the VHH-anti-GFP-mCherry internalisation approach was used, when the cells were expressing GFP, that could be used for imaging. Also, this introduces a question over trafficking of the VHH itself, to access the same compartments as the GFP-proteins are localised. It would be useful to describe the choice of this approach briefly in the text.

446 Typo "internalization"

Post-Revision

I thank the authors for their work revising the paper in light of our comments. I am satisfied with their response, and I have no other comments.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

The manuscript by Tie et al. provides a quantitative assessment of intra-Golgi transport of diverse cargos. Quantitative approaches using fluorescence microscopy of RUSH synchronized cargos, namely GLIM and measurement of Golgi residence time, previously developed by the author's team (publications from 20216 to 2022), are being used here.

Most of the results have been already published by the same team in 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2021. In this manuscript, the authors have put together measurement of intra-Golgi transport kinetics and Golgi residence time of many cargos. The quantitative results are supported by a large number of Golgi mini-stacks/cells analyzed. They are discussed with regard to the intra-Golgi transport models being debated in the field, namely the cisternal maturation/progression model and the stable compartments model.

The authors show that different cargos have distinct intra-Golgi transport kinetics and that the Golgi residence time of glycosyltransferases is high. From this and experiment using brefeldinA, the authors suggest that the rim progression model, adapted from the stable compartments model, fits with their experimental data.

Strengths:<br /> The major strength of this manuscript is to put together many quantitative results that the authors previously obtained and to discuss them to advance our understanding of the intra-Golgi transport mechanisms.<br /> The analysis by fluorescence microscopy of intra-Golgi transport is tough and this is a tour de force of the authors even though their approach shows limitations, which are clearly stated. Their work is remarkable in regards of the numbers of Golgi markers and secretory cargos which have been analyzed.

Weaknesses:<br /> Most of the data provided here were already published and thus accessible for the community. The tubular connections between cisternae and the diffusion/biochemical properties of cargos are not taken into account to interpret the results. Indeed, tubular connections and biochemical properties of the cargos may affect their transit through the Golgi and the kinetics with which they reach the TGN for Golgi exit.

The use of nocodazole might affect cellular homeostasis but this is clearly stated by the authors and is acceptable as we need to perturb the system to conduct this analysis.

The manual selection of the Golgi mini-stack being analyzed (where the cargo and the Golgi reference markers are clearly detectable ) might introduce a bias in the analysis.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

This work provides structural and mechanistic insights into the disordered protein recognition process inside the endoplasmic reticulum by the inositol-requiring enzyme 1. Using state-of-the-art molecular dynamics simulation tools, the authors propose a mechanism of disordered protein recognition that reconciles contradictory findings of biochemical and structural biology experiments.

Strengths:

(1) All MD simulations have been carried out in triplicate, and several different folded conformations were generated using alphafold2. This provides adequate statistics to draw meaningful conclusions from the simulations.

(2) Potential limitations of the disordered protein force fields and water models have been taken into consideration. Particularly, performing the simulation in both TIP3P and TIP4PD water models ensures that the conclusions drawn are not influenced by the force field choice.

(3) The binding of a large number of disordered peptides was investigated, ensuring that the conclusions drawn about disordered peptide recognition are sufficiently general.

Weaknesses:

(1) The timescales of the peptide recognition and unbinding process are much longer than what can be sampled from unbiased simulations. Therefore, the proposed mechanism of recognition should only be considered a hypothesis based on the results presented here. For example, peptides that do not dissociate within one one-microsecond MD simulation are considered to be stable binders. However, they may not have a viable way to bind to the narrow protein cleft in the first place.

(2) Oftentimes, representative structures sampled from MD simulation are used to draw conclusions (e.g., Figure 4 about the role of R161 mutation in binding affinity). This is not appropriate as one unbinding event being observed or not observed in a microsecond-long trajectory does not provide sufficient information about the binding strength of the free energy difference.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

In this manuscript, the authors investigated the interactions between IRE and unfolded peptides using all-atom molecular dynamics simulations. The interactions between a couple of unfolded peptides and IRE might shed light on the activation of the UPR.

Strengths:

(1) Well-written manuscript tailored for a biology audience.

(2) State-of-the-art structural predictions and all-atom simulations.

(3) Validation with existing experimental data

(4) Clear schematic diagram summarizing the mechanisms learned from simulations.

(5) Shared simulation data and code in a public repository.

Weaknesses:

(1) Improving presentation to include more computational details.

(2) More quantitative analysis in addition to visual structures.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

In this important work, the authors use extensive MD simulations to study how the IRE1 protein can detect unfolded peptides. Their study consolidates contradicting experimental results and offers a unique view of the different sensing models that have been proposed in the literature. Overall, it is an excellent study that is quite extensive. The research is solid, meticulous, and carefully performed, leading to convincing conclusions.

Strengths:

The strength of this work is the extensive and meticulous molecular dynamics simulations. The authors use and investigate different structural models, for example, carefully comparing a model based on a PDB structure with reconstructed loops with an AlphaFold 2 Multimer model. The author also investigates a wide range of different protein structural models that probe different aspects of the peptide sensing process. These solid and meticulous MD simulations allow the authors to obtain convincing conclusions concerning the peptide sensing process of the IRE1 protein.

Weaknesses:

A potential weakness of the study is the usage of equilibrium (unbiased) molecular dynamics simulations, so that processes and conformational changes on the microsecond time scale can be probed. Furthermore, there can be inaccuracies and biases in the description of unfolded peptides and protein segments due to the protein force fields. Here, it should be noted that the authors do acknowledge these possible limitations of their study in the conclusions.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

The innate immune system serves as the first line of defense against invading pathogens. Four major immune-specific modules - the Toll pathway, the Imd pathway, melanization, and phagocytosis- play critical roles in orchestrating the immune response. Traditionally, most studies have focused on the function of individual modules in isolation. However, in recent years, it has become increasingly evident that effective immune defense requires intricate interactions among these pathways.

Despite this growing recognition, the precise roles, timing, and interconnections of these immune modules remain poorly understood. Moreover, addressing these questions represents a major scientific undertaking.

Strengths:

In this manuscript, Ryckebusch et al. systematically evaluate both the individual and combined contributions of these four immune modules to host defense against a range of pathogens. Their findings significantly enhance our understanding of the layered architecture of innate immunity.

Weaknesses:

While I have no critical concerns regarding the study, I do have several suggestions to offer that may help further strengthen the manuscript. These include:

(1) Have the authors validated the efficiency of the mutants used in this study? It would be helpful to include supporting data or references confirming that the mutations effectively disrupted the intended immune pathways.

(2) Given the extensive use of double, triple, and quadruple mutants, a more detailed description of the mutant construction process is warranted.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

In this work, the authors take a holistic view of Drosophila immunity by selecting four major components of fly immunity often studied separately (Toll signaling, Imd signaling, phagocytosis, and melanization), and studying their combinatory effects on the efficiency of the immune response. They achieve this by using fly lines mutant for one of these components, or modules, as well as for a combination of them, and testing the survival of these flies upon infection with a plethora of pathogens (bacterial, viral, and fungal).

Strengths:

It is clear that this manuscript has required a large amount of hands-on work, considering the number of pathogens, mutations, and timepoints tested. In my opinion, this work is a very welcome addition to the literature on fly immune responses, which obviously do not occur in one type of response at a time, but in parallel, subsequently, and/or are interconnected. I find that the major strength of this work is the overall concept, which is made possible by the mutations designed to target the specific immune function of each module (at least seemingly) without major effects on other functions. I believe that the combinatory mutants will be of use for the fly community and enable further studies of the interplay of these components of immune response in various settings.

To control for the effects arising from the genetic variation other than the intended mutations, the mutants have been backcrossed into a widely used, isogenized Drosophila strain called w1118. Therefore, the differences accounted for by the genotype are controlled.

I also appreciate that the authors have investigated the two possible ways of dealing with an infection: tolerance and resistance, and how the modules play into those.

Weaknesses:

While controlling for the background effects is vital, the w1118 background is problematic (an issue not limited to this manuscript) because of the wide effects of the white mutation on several phenotypes (also other than eye color/eyesight). It is a possibility that the mutation influences the functionality of the immune response components, for example, via effects of the faulty tryptophan handling on the metabolism of the animal.

I acknowledge that it is not reasonable to ask for data in different backgrounds better representing a "wild type" fly (however, that is defined is another question), but I think this matter should be brought up and discussed.

The whole study has been conducted on male flies. Immune responses show quite extensive sex-specific variation across a variety of species studied, also in the fly. But the reasons for this variation are not fully understood. Therefore, I suggest that the authors conduct a subset of experiments on female flies to see if the findings apply to both sexes, especially the infection-specificity of the module combinations.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

This study addresses a critical gap in veterinary diagnostics by developing a CRISPR-based diagnostic toolbox (SHERLOCK4AAT) for detecting animal African trypanosomosis. It describes the development and field deployment of SHERLOCK4AAT, a CRISPR-Cas13-based diagnostic toolbox for the eco-epidemiological surveillance of animal African trypanosomosis (AAT) in West Africa.

The authors successfully created and validated species-specific assays for multiple trypanosomes, including T. congolense, T. vivax, T. theileri, T. simiae, and T. suis, alongside pan-trypanosomatid and pan-Trypanozoon assays. The field validation in pigs from Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire revealed high trypanosome prevalence (62.7%), frequent co-infections, and importantly identified T. b. gambiense in one animal at each site, suggesting pigs may serve as potential reservoirs for this human-infective parasite.

A major strength of the study lies in its methodological innovation. By adapting SHERLOCK to target both conserved and species-discriminating sequences, the authors achieved high sensitivity and specificity in detecting Trypanosoma species. Their use of dried blood spots, validated thresholds through ROC analyses, and statistical robustness (e.g., Bayesian latent class modeling) provides a strong foundation for their conclusions.

The results are significant: over 60% of pigs tested positive for at least one trypanosome species, with co-infections observed frequently and T. b. gambiense detected in pigs at both sites. These findings have direct implications for the role of animal reservoirs in human disease transmission and underscore the value of pigs as sentinel hosts in gHAT elimination efforts.

The limitations are well acknowledged, particularly the suboptimal sensitivity of the T. vivax assay and the reliance on synthetic controls for T. suis and T. simiae. However, these limitations do not undermine the overall conclusions, and the paper provides a clear roadmap for further assay refinement and implementation.

This study offers a timely, impactful, and well-substantiated contribution to the field. The SHERLOCK4AAT toolbox holds promise for improving AAT diagnostics in resource-limited settings and advancing One Health surveillance frameworks.

Strengths:

(1) The adaptation of SHERLOCK technology for AAT represents a significant technical advancement, offering higher sensitivity than traditional parasitological methods and the ability to detect multiple species simultaneously.

(2) Rigorously performed with validation using appropriate controls, ROC curve analyses, and Bayesian latent class modelling, establishing clear analytical sensitivity and specificity for most assays.

(3) Testing 424 pig samples across two countries provides robust evidence of the tool's utility and reveals important epidemiological insights about trypanosome diversity and prevalence.

(4) The identification of T. b. gambiense in pigs at both sites has significant implications for HAT elimination strategies and highlights the need for integrated One Health approaches.

(5) The use of dried blood spots and RNA detection for active infections makes the approach practical for field surveillance in resource-limited settings.

Weaknesses:

(1) The manuscript would benefit from more detailed discussion of practical considerations such as cost, equipment requirements, and training needs for implementing SHERLOCK in endemic areas and rural settings which would improve applicability.

(2) Limited discussion of pig selection criteria: More justification for choosing pigs as sentinel animals and discussion of potential limitations of this approach would strengthen the manuscript.

(3) More details on why certain genes were targeted would strengthen the methods.

(4) Table formatting could be improved for readability.

(5) Some figures are complex and would benefit from additional explanations in the legends.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

The manuscript is important due to the significance of the findings. The strength of evidence is convincing.

Strengths:

(1) Using a Novel SHERLOCK4AAT toolkit for diagnosis.

(2) Identification of various sub-species of Trypanosomes.

(3) Differentiating the animal subspecies from the human one.

Weaknesses:

(1) The title is too long, and the use of definite articles should be reduced in the title.

(2) The route of blood sample collection in the animals should be well defined and explained.

Reviewer #3 (Public review):

Summary:

The study adapts CRISPR-based detection toolkit (SHERLOCK assay) using conserved and species-specific targets for the detection of some members of the Trypanosomatidae family of veterinary importance and species-specific assays to differentiate between the six most common animal trypanosome species responsible for AAT (SHERLOCK4AAT). The assays were able to discriminate between Trypanozoon (T. b. brucei, T. evansi, and T. equiperdum), T. congolense (Savanah, Forest Kilifi, and Dzanga sangha), T. vivax, T. theileri, T. simiae, and T. suis. The design of both broad and species-specific assays was based primarily on sequences of the 18S rRNA, GAPDH (Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase), and invariant flagellum antigen (IFX) genes for species identification. Most importantly, the authors showed varying limits of detection for the different SHERLOCK assays, which is somewhat comparable to PCR-derived molecular techniques currently used for detecting animal trypanosomes, even though some of these methodologies have used other primers that target genes such as ITS1 and 7SL sRNA.

The data presented in the study are particularly useful and of significant interest for the diagnosis of AAT in affected areas.

Strengths:

The assays convincingly allow for the analysis and detection of most trypanosomes in AAT.

Weaknesses:

Inability for the assay to distinguish T. b. brucei, T. evansi, and T. equiperdum using the 18S rRNA gene, as well as the IFX gene, not achieving the sensitivity requirements for detection of T. vivax. Both T. brucei brucei and T. vivax are the most predominant infective species in animals (in addition to T. congolense), therefore, a reliable assay should be able to convincingly detect these to allow for proper use of the diagnostic assay.

Reviewer #1 (Public review):

Summary:

The research investigates the frequency-dependent effects of transcutaneous tibial nerve stimulation (TTNS) on bladder function in healthy humans and via a computational model. The authors report that low-frequency (1 Hz) TTNS accelerates the urge to void, while high-frequency (20 Hz) TTNS delays it, corroborated by a computational model suggesting brainstem-mediated mechanisms. The work bridges experimental and theoretical approaches to propose a novel framework for TTNS applications in urinary retention.

Strengths:

(1) The integration of human experiments and computational modeling is a major strength. The model successfully replicates bladder dynamics and provides mechanistic insights into frequency-dependent effects.

(2) Identifies potential therapeutic applications for urinary retention, a condition with limited non-invasive treatments.

(3) Figures are clear and illustrative, and supplementary materials provide essential methodological depth.

(4) Controlled experimental design (eg., single-blinded, fluid/caffeine restrictions, etc), detailed computational model parameters and validation against animal data, transparency in data exclusion criteria and statistical adjustments.

Weaknesses:

(1) The study uses healthy participants; extrapolation to clinical populations (e.g., urinary retention patients) requires validation.

(2) The simulated bladder capacity (100-150 mL) is lower than physiological ranges (300-400 mL). While the authors note this, the impact on model validity should be further addressed.

(3) The model omits nociceptive afferents, limiting its applicability to pathological conditions like overactive bladder.

(4) The lack of significant differences in urge intensity between groups (despite timing differences) warrants deeper discussion. Is the primary effect on efferent activity (as suggested) rather than sensory perception?

(5) One of the highlights of this study is the identification of the effect of low-frequency (1 Hz) tibial nerve stimulation (TNS) on facilitating bladder contraction. Although the authors have clarified this effect in healthy participants, it would strengthen the conclusion if a UAB animal model (e.g., PMCID: PMC7927909, PMC8163611, PMC7847056, PMC8799394) were used to evaluate the same effect.

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

Tibial nerve (electrical) stimulation (TNS) has emerged over the past 15 years as a non-invasive method to treat bladder overactivity, but interestingly, new animal work has suggested that TNS could actually be used to excite the bladder when appropriately tuning the stimulation frequency, effectively inverting its effect, perhaps opening the door to treat different conditions (e.g., UAB). The present study tests how healthy people respond to low and high frequency TNS, with the authors showing that they can substantially delay people's first sensation of bladder fullness with high frequencies (20Hz, shown many times before) but also that they can slightly hasten people's first sensation with low frequencies (1Hz, new result in humans). Moreover, the authors develop a computational model of interconnected conductance-based simulated neurons arranged in a physiologically plausible circuit that reproduces some aspects of the frequency-dependent effects of TNS. Their simulations suggest that we might expect low-frequency TNS to also increase the duration of bladder contractions in humans. The study highlights a potential new research direction, optimizing TNS stimulation parameters to increase basal bladder excitability.

Strengths:

The main strength of the work is to call attention to a new possibility of inverting the effect of TNS in humans by manipulating stimulation frequency, opening new indications for the therapy. This is highly relevant because of the recent popularity of TNS and its non-invasiveness, which lends itself to rapid testing and evaluation for new conditions and a high willingness to adopt. The authors convincingly demonstrate a modest excitatory effect on bladder sensation with low-frequency TNS, which clearly warrants further investigation.

The high-level design of the hypotheses, concepts, and experiments is clearly articulated in both the methods and in particularly clear diagrams, letting the reader focus their attention on the most important findings.

It is rare to develop a new computational model of the lower urinary tract at a systems level, and even more so for it to incorporate circuits in the spinal cord and brainstem centers, and this work undoubtedly advances the field's ability to engineer such systems. Further, because the model is comprised of linked conductance-based point-neurons, it is an excellent tool to investigate how an arguably plausible wiring diagram for neural control of the LUT could result in stimulation frequency-dependent effects on pelvic efferents. It is a proof of concept demonstrating how their mechanistic hypothesis of TNS could be implemented neurophysiologically by the nervous system.

Weaknesses:

The main drawback of the work is the frequent overinterpretation of the results. The human study and computational model are both proof-of-principle studies because the experimental effect size and sample size are modest, and the computational model is poorly validated and does not generate physiologically typical cystometric responses in simulations that are designed to recapitulate nominal LUT behavior.

Despite the stated caveats about the small effect in the human study, it should be emphasized throughout that this result is most reasonably interpreted as showing the possibility that TNS can have a low-frequency excitatory effect that merits follow-up, rather than a conclusive demonstration. The effect size is small (as the authors note) and should be placed in context with some minimally clinically important difference, if possible. The result is statistically significant, but even this may be subject to revision due to the small sample and the effect of post-hoc outlier removal and data analysis choices.

Given the apparent mismatch between the model and the cystometric behavior at the systems level in the "normal" case (e.g., low capacity, low voiding efficiency, omitted pressure profiles, frequency, etc.) and the absence of quantitative model validation (e.g., it was not compared directly with any experimental data from human urodynamics or rodent cystometry, beyond the initial fit to the neural data, no sensitivity analyses were performed, no goodness of fit computed, etc.) the discussion should be much more circumspect about interpreting the results at a systems level and should probably contain a paragraph explicitly detailing the limitations of the model. The subsequent interpretation should focus narrowly on the neural circuitry, rather than things like contraction duration, where the model is at its strongest. As written, the authors over-interpret what the in silico study can reasonably be used to infer about LUT function.

More justification is needed for why the contraction duration of the model is the central focus of analysis, when it connects only tentatively to the human study results, which focus on urgency. While not necessarily incorrect, a clearer link or motivation should be offered for how this informs our understanding of frequency-dependent TNS afferent or efferent inhibition during filling (which was the focus of the human studies and the abstract). In other words, why doesn't the model reproduce the 1Hz excitation effect of expediting void onset (or urgency in the human study), and why is it justified to look at contraction duration as a surrogate measure?

The authors claim that "voiding behavior occurred earlier [at 1Hz stim in the model]", pointing to Figure 6A as evidence, but this panel appears to show a single example model run where 1Hz voiding occurs only ~1s earlier (display makes this very hard to estimate). This is insufficient evidence to support the claim. Later, it is stated that "TNS did not ... void much earlier". The claims should be made compatible, and all such claims should have reasonable supporting evidence.

There are a number of reporting concerns that can be easily addressed:

(1) Human Study:

(a) To interpret the human study analysis, a fuller description of the "optional 10m inute extension" is necessary. How were participants presented with this option, how was blinding preserved, what fraction of participants accepted, and did phase 1 results influence their decisions to continue?

(b) For reproducibility, details about the TNS parameters should be articulated, such as the method of determining "motor thresholds" (unless this is synonymous with "urge to urinate"), the shape of the stimulation pulses (e.g., biphasic, charge balanced), typical applied current, etc.

(2) The Computational Model

(a) The code availability statement for this type of work is inadequate. The model used for simulations in this work, as well as the code used to initialize (and randomize synaptic connections), needs to be hosted publicly because i) a model this intricate is extremely hard to reproduce/verify without code, ii) simulations are an essential piece of the argument, iii) hosting code requires very little overhead. Although there is an appropriate level of detail in the model description, it would not be possible to reproduce the model in any reasonable amount of time (or at all) because of the implementation-level details that are, understandably, omitted from the methods (e.g., what is a "unit", what 'exactly' do the connections in the PMC and PAG diagrams relate to, what were the final parameters used for all conductances, which parameters were "matched" to the original papers and which were not, etc.).

b) Critical cystometric/urodynamic values that are typically analyzed to assess healthy LUT function are detrusor pressure (timeseries) and/or post-void residual or voiding efficiency (scalars). These should be included to verify that the model is representative of the "normal" case. This is especially important because the model's "normal" behavior appears to have extremely low voiding efficiency (Figure 6A).

Reviewer #2 (Public review):

Summary:

The paper addresses how the S. coelicolor contractile injection system (CISSc) interacts with the membrane, how it contracts and fires, and how it affects both cell viability and differentiation, which it has been implicated to do in previous work from this group and others. The Streptomyces CIS systems have been enigmatic in the sense that they are free-floating in the cytoplasm in an extended form and are seen in contracted conformation (i.e. after having been triggered) mainly in dead and partially lysed cells, suggesting involvement in some kind of regulated cell death. So, how do the structure and function of the CISSc system compare to other types of CIS from other bacteria and phages, does it interact with the cytoplasmic membrane, how does it do that, and is the membrane interaction involved in the suggested role in stress-induced, regulated cell death? The authors address these questions by investigating the role of a membrane protein, CisA, that is encoded by a gene in the CIS gene cluster in S. coelicolor. Further, they show for the first time the structure of the assembled CISSc, purified from the cytoplasm of S. coelicolor, analysed using single-particle cryo-electron microscopy.

Strengths:

The beautiful visualisation of the CIS system both by cryo-electron tomography of intact bacterial cells and by single-particle electron microscopy of purified CIS assemblies are clearly the strengths of the paper, both in terms of methods and results. Further, the paper provides genetic evidence that the membrane protein CisA is required for the contraction of the CISSc assemblies that are seen in partially lysed or ghost cells of the wild type. The conclusion that CisA is a transmembrane protein and the inferred membrane topology are well supported by experimental data. The cryo-EM data suggest that CisA is not a stable part of the extended form of the CISSc assemblies. These findings raise the question of what CisA does. Interestingly, Alphafold modelling suggests that the cytoplasmic part of CisA interacts directly with the base plate protein Cis11.

Weaknesses:

The investigations of the role of CisA in function, membrane interaction, and triggering of contraction of CIS assemblies are key parts of the paper and are highlighted in the title. However, the data presented to answer these questions are partially incomplete and have some limitations.

As an example, although the modelling that suggests interaction between CisA and the base plate protein Cis11 appears compelling, the interaction has not yet been possible to test and verify experimentally. Further, it remains unclear whether or how CisA recruits the CISSc system to the membrane. Overall, the mechanism by which CisA may act on CISSc and cause firing remains largely unclear.

Further, the paper does not provide new insights into the role of the CISSc system in growth or developmental biology of streptomycetes. The assay of how CisA affects the function of the system involves monitoring stress-induced loss of viability based on loss of cytoplasmic GFP signal, as described in a previous paper. The assay looks only at single hyphal fragments released from mycelial networks or mycelial pellets, and it could have been interesting to observe effects also under other growth conditions. Similarly, the effect on the developmental life cycle is limited to showing accelerated sporulation in the CisA mutant, similar to what was previously shown for mutants lacking other parts of the system. The paper shows that CisA is needed for the observed phenotypic effects of the CISSc system, but the overall biological roles of the CISSc and CisA remain elusive.

Concluding remarks: