eLife Assessment

The study presents valuable findings of a new E. coli cell-free protein synthesis (eCFPS) system that has been simplified by reducing the number of core components from 35 to 7; furthermore, the findings communicate a simplified 'fast lysate' preparation that eliminates the need for traditional runoff and dialysis steps. The system's robustness is exhibited by its applicability to nanoluc, an ubiquitous protein and to more challenging proteins like vimentin and the active restriction endonuclease Bsal. The evidence is convincing and supports the main claims on efficiency backed up by investigations on the mechanisms. The paper will be of interest to scientists in cell and molecular biology, microbiology, biotechnology and protein synthesis.

eLife Assessment

This is an important study that comprehensively determines the consequences of DNMT3A mutations on human neuronal development in culture. The data derived from multiple different mutations in iPSC and hESC derived neurons and organoids are convincing and well controlled. This work will be of interest to researchers who study chromatin mechanisms of brain development and to those interested in DMNT3A mutations in Tatton-Brown-Rahman Syndrome.

eLife Assessment

This important work presents a novel computational framework for modeling macroscopic traveling waves in the mouse cortex by integrating open-source connectomic and transcriptomic data into a spiking network model. This approach allows the computational model to assign excitatory/inhibitory connections based on neurotransmitter profiles and extends simulations to the 3D domain. The authors present results that demonstrate how spatiotemporal dynamics such as slow oscillations (0.5-4 Hz) emerge and self-organize at the whole-brain scale. This study provides convincing initial insights into the structural basis of traveling waves at the whole-brain scale, and allows future links between connectome-driven spiking neural networks and whole-hemisphere imaging in the mouse.

eLife Assessment

This important study identifies a non-canonical essential role for acyl carrier protein in maintaining apicoplast metabolism and blood-stage survival in Plasmodium falciparum. The main conclusions are compellingly supported by strong genetic and biochemical evidence, while function of fatty acid synthesis pathways in low-lipid conditions will require future studies to fully resolve. The work provides novel mechanistic insight into ACP-mediated stabilization of pyruvate kinase II and will be of broad interest to the malaria and apicoplast biology communities.

eLife Assessment

This study shows that combining forced cell cycle re-entry with Rbpj deletion enhances Müller glia dedifferentiation and promotes their conversion into retinal neuron-like cells in the uninjured mouse retina. It provides a valuable strategy for improving Müller glia-mediated neurogenesis and advancing regenerative potential in the mammalian retina. Overall, the data are convincing. The authors have also addressed concerns regarding Müller glia function, cell survival, and the limitations of neuronal maturation and integration, further strengthening the conclusions of the study.

eLife Assessment

This study investigates the role of the Z-disc protein Zasp52 in Drosophila flight muscles and provides evidence that an intrinsically disordered region (IDR) helps to stabilize and promote the localization of the protein to the Z-disc. Overall, this represents an important study that provides insights into Z-disc function and maintenance. The data are convincing, supported by strong genetic evidence and behavioral tests, well-controlled experiments, and detailed statistical analyses. Characterization of a new actin-binding motif mutant and FRAP analysis further support the functional importance of the Zasp52 IDR.

eLife Assessment

This study reports important findings regarding social influence on charitable donations, showing that giving is shaped by the statistical properties of others' donations in a manner that can be captured by a reinforcement learning model. The evidence for the conclusions is solid, although the computational modelling could be better motivated and described, the individual differences analyses could be more robust, and some design choices could be better motivated. Overall, the core effect appears robust and is supported by multiple well-designed experiments, but the conclusions that rely upon computational modelling and individual differences may require further support.

eLife Assessment

In this important study, Lau et al. identify non-conserved nucleotides within the common binding motifs of BLIMP1 and IRF4 that provide a molecular mechanism for their distinct roles as crucial transcription factors during the antibody-secreting cell differentiation. The major strength of this manuscript is the solid and detailed characterization of human in vitro plasma cell differentiation. However, several overstatements exist, therefore requiring careful revision to improve the manuscript.

eLife Assessment

This important study shows that cave-adapted Astyanax mexicanus have shifted from avoiding alarm and decay odors to being attracted by them, alongside sex-specific responses to social odors. The evidence for the behavioral and heritability claims is convincing, supported by analyses of different cave populations and F2 hybrids, as well as starvation-induced plasticity experiments. Whole-brain pERK mapping offers suggestive mechanistic insight, although uncertainties in anatomical assignments and aspects of statistical and ethogram reporting temper the strength of the neurobiological conclusions. The work will be of interest to anyone working on the evolution of behavior.

eLife Assessment

Using sci-L3-Strand-seq, this study shows genome-wide, single-cell evidence that DSBs triggered by CRISPR/Cas9 are frequently resolved through sister chromatid exchange (SCE), which is undetectable with conventional whole-genome sequencing approaches. This important work provides helpful metrics quantifying the occurrence of SCE events at targeted and repetitive genomic loci that are of particular interest to those working in gene editing, DNA repair, genome instability, or repetitive genomic loci. However, the evidence supporting the proposed involvement of under-replicated region/replication-termination-zone resolution and TRAIP/URR-like pathways is currently incomplete and could be strengthened with an increased number of reciprocal daughter-cell pairs and by genetic or molecular perturbation, or alternatively, this can be addressed by changing the discussion.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study provides insights into the developmental regulation of the unusual form of holometabolous metamorphosis that occurs in the black soldier fly, in which a distinct prepupal stage is interposed between the final larval instar and pupation. This type of life history strategy is similar to what is seen in insects at the hemimetabolous-holometabolous boundary, but, given the phylogenetic position of dipterans, it is likely to be a derived trait. The combination of developmental characterization, gene expression profiling, and RNAi-mediated functional analyses provides solid evidence supporting the authors' conclusions and will be of interest to researchers studying insect development and the evolution of metamorphosis.

eLife Assessment

What can a neural network trained to imitate animal behavior tell us about biology? This valuable work uses deep reinforcement learning to train an artificial neural network to transform the dynamics of a recurrent neural network based on the C. elegans connectome into an adult Drosophila walking program in a physical model of the fly body, demonstrating that achieving plausible output dynamics does not in and of itself imply biologically meaningful simulation. Evidence for this basic claim is solid, but more extensive analyses, better methodological description, and a discussion of deeper challenges in the undertaking of biological brain modeling would strengthen the study. This result demands the attention of the practitioners of the growing field of connectome simulation for the purpose of gaining mechanistic understanding of nervous system function.

eLife Assessment

This study provides valuable insights into the role of the bile acid receptor TGR5 in regulating bone marrow adipose tissue. This revised manuscript has additional characterization of TGR5 expression in hematopoietic and stromal populations, and phenotypic differences observed between sexes, during aging, and under high-fat diet conditions. Although the scope of the study has expanded, the mechanism of how TGR5 in the microenvironment regulates hematopoietic recovery is still incomplete.

eLife Assessment

This important study partially fills the gap in the knowledge of olfaction at the level of the Anterior Olfactory Nucleus (AON) and Piriform Cortex with functional magnetic resonance imaging, electrophysiology, and modeling. The methods used are convincing. Some of the findings confirm ongoing hypotheses, such as the behavioral importance of AON for odor source discrimination, while other results shed light on the dynamics of the connection between the olfactory system and the rest of the brain. However, the lack of access to raw data hampers the assessment of data quality.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study addresses two debates about how confidence is computed: whether it continues the accumulation process that produced the initial choice or reflects a separate one, and whether that accumulation stops at a time limit or an evidence boundary. The evidence is solid, combining systematic model comparison with an independent neural marker of evidence accumulation to adjudicate between models that behaviour alone cannot separate. Support for the boundary-based stopping rule is stronger than for the single-process account, as the neural comparison is qualitative rather than quantified and the alternatives tested cover only a narrow range of plausible two-stage architectures. The work will be of interest to researchers studying decision-making and metacognition.

eLife Assessment

The work presented represents important new evidence linking the cascade of neural processes triggered by memory-based prediction errors. The study uses an impressive collection of approaches and methods to characterize and measure cognitive control, arousal, and memory changes as a function of memory-based violations. Analyses are technically sophisticated and rigorous and, taken together, provide solid evidence that there are multiple processes accompanying prediction errors, and that they differentially relate to successful encoding.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study uses the Cntnap2 mouse model of autism to investigate how reduced activity in the dorsal CA1 region of the hippocampus contributes to impaired temporal binding and memory flexibility. The authors combined trace conditioning and radial maze assays with fibre photometry, optogenetic rescue, and brain-wide c-Fos mapping to provide solid evidence that dorsal CA1 hypoactivity limits the retention of temporally separated associations and biases learning towards less flexible strategies. The work advances understanding of hippocampal contributions to cognitive alterations associated with autism and will be of broad interest to researchers studying memory, hippocampal function, and neurodevelopmental disorders.

eLife Assessment

This study addresses a valuable question with implications for the development of EEG-based neurofeedback interventions for pain. However, the strength of evidence is incomplete because the principal conclusions rely on post hoc responder analyses and methodological ambiguities that weaken the support for the claimed causal relationship between gamma modulation and pain reduction.

eLife Assessment

This fundamental study reveals a new downstream mechanism that mediates mTOR's effect on lifespan in C. elegans. Using a combination of genetic, genomic, and functional analyses, the authors uncovered that a bile acid-like hormone, dafachronic acid (DA), acts downstream of mTOR to modulate lifespan. The reviewers found the evidence provided to be compelling.

eLife Assessment

This important study combines crystallographic fragment-based screening with fluorescence-polarization competition assays to demonstrate that the SARS-CoV-2 accessory protein ORF9b, and its interface with the mitochondrial import receptor TOM70, is accessible to small-molecule binding. This is a result with practical implications beyond coronavirus biology for efforts to restore interferon signalling and the antiviral response. The structural evidence is convincing, resting on an unusually large body of ligand-bound crystal structures whose fragment hotspots are independently corroborated by orthogonal biophysical approaches including fluorescence polarization and SPR. This work would benefit from additional information regarding the use of CHAI-1 and other attempts to determine the interactions between hit compounds and Tom70.

eLife Assessment

This important manuscript proposes a dual behavioral/computational approach to assess emotional regulation in humans. The authors present convincing evidence for the idea that emotional distancing (as routinely used in clinical interventions for e.g. mood and anxiety disorders) enhances emotional control.

Editors Assessment:

Here is a Data Release article sharing the reference genome of the Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii), a species with broad ecological, economic, and cultural importance. This specimen coming from the eastern Bering Sea which are genetically quite different from those from the Gulf of Alaska. This high-quality chromosome-scale reference was built from Hi-C and PacBio Hifi reads, creating a 795MB assembly anchoring to 26 chromosomes. There was initially a mixup with the data availability but after review this was resolved and all data is publicly available. This data allows study of cryptic diversity in Clupea and its evolutionary history in the subarctic.

This evaluation refers to version 1 of the preprint

eLife Assessment

This important study on multisensory learning examines the effect of integrating color vision and olfaction in the center for learning and memory (the mushroom body) in the fruit fly brain, and finds that memory performance is improved, with neurons otherwise selective for color being recruited into odor memories via interneuron interactions. The combination of carefully controlled behavioural experiments, neurogenetic manipulations of individual neurons and detailed analyses of synaptic connectivity in the fly brain connectome convincingly supports the findings. The circuit- and receptor-level demonstration of interactions across sensory modalities in memory performance will be of interest to the broader neuroscience field.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study provides key insights into the role of the G protein-coupled receptor GPR34 in an Alzheimer's disease (AD) model. Notably, its findings differ, at least in part, from those of previous studies, although the underlying reasons for these discrepancies are not investigated or discussed. The data show that GPR34 deficiency enhances the transcriptional disease-associated microglia signature in microglia and provide solid evidence that myelin is a GPR34 ligand, although the relevance of myelin engulfment in AD is unclear. This study would be of interest for neuro-immunologists and AD clinicians.

eLife Assessment

This is a fundamental study of individual variation and the contribution of learning to behavioural individuality. The experimental design of massively parallel behavioural phenotypes is outstanding and the conclusions are supported by a compelling and rigorous analysis across a large number of experiments in thousands of individuals across genotypes and conditions. The dataset further represents an advance in studying visual associative learning thanks to the ability to make longitudinal measurements of many behavioural decisions within the same animals. These results are a major contribution to the understanding of the sources of behavioural individuality.

eLife Assessment

This short report is an important study that visual acuity declines nonlinearly with cone dropout, while eye motion partially compensates by improving sampling from remaining cones. The method for experimentally simulating cone dropout is compelling, leveraging state-of-the-art imaging and testing in human subjects.

eLife Assessment

This important study provides evidence that plateau pikas, at moderate densities, can facilitate yak nutrition by suppressing a poisonous plant, offering a helpful perspective on reciprocal interactions between small mammal ecosystem engineers and large herbivores. The evidence is convincing, supported by a manipulative field experiment and appropriate measurements of intermediary ecological processes. The work will be of interest to ecologists, conservation biologists, and rangeland managers, particularly those studying grassland herbivore interactions and livestock management.

eLife Assessment

This important study provides new insights into the regulation of cell organization and division in Trypanosoma brucei through the phosphorylation-dependent control of a kinesin motor protein by a polo-like kinase. The authors present convincing evidence, combining rigorous biochemical, cell biological, and imaging analyses, demonstrating that phosphorylation modulates kinesin localization and function, thereby influencing cellular organization and cytokinesis. The findings advance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms governing trypanosome cell division and will be of broad interest to researchers studying trypanosomes, cytoskeletal regulation, and eukaryotic cell division.

eLife Assessment

This important study demonstrates that nutrient resorption efficiency in the widespread wetland grass Phragmites australis is largely canalized by phylogeographic lineage, ecotype and geographic origin, rather than responding plastically to short-term salt stress. The findings have implications beyond plant ecophysiology because they suggest that predictions of wetland nutrient cycling under increasing salinization should account for the genetic composition of plant populations. The evidence supporting the central conclusions is compelling, based on a well-designed common-garden experiment involving 110 genotypes, paired control and salinity treatments, and convergent metabolomic, ionomic and whole-plant evidence confirming that the treatment imposed substantial physiological stress. The interpretation is nevertheless limited to one growing season and a single, moderate salinity treatment, leaving open whether chronic, more severe or multigenerational exposure might induce plastic or transgenerational responses; further clarification of the relationships among phylogeographic lineage, ecotype and latitude, and a more cautious interpretation of the variance explained by latitude, would strengthen the manuscript.

eLife Assessment

This important study introduces an open-source software package that improves the computational efficiency of whole-brain modelling and facilitates individualised model fitting in large neuroimaging cohorts. The evidence is convincing for the main computational and practical claims, supported by evaluations across multiple optimisation strategies, speed benchmarks, and demonstrations using human neuroimaging data. Its modular design and documentation should make it a resource that is of value to researchers interested in scalable and individualised brain network modelling.

eLife Assessment

This is a valuable study addressing a debated question in brain repair research by testing whether NeuroD1 can convert brain immune cells into nerve cells using a virus-free genetic approach and live imaging. The solid evidence presented here supports that, under the conditions tested, NeuroD1-expressing cells do not become nerve cells and instead retain their original identity; however, some aspects of expression level, injury timing, and cell-type composition would benefit from further clarification. This work will be of interest to neuro-immunologists.

eLife Assessment

This is a valuable study of the effects of selective or broadband amyloid deposition in medial septum (MS) cholinergic neurons on neuropathology, cognition, sleep, and hyperexcitability in aging mice carrying risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD). The investigation is still incomplete, with some weaknesses related to conceptualization and methodology that need to be addressed.

eLife Assessment

This study uses a technically challenging long-term in vivo recordings and computational modeling to investigate whether hawkmoth olfactory receptor neurons show circadian modulation of spontaneous firing. The study provides solid evidence that ORNs have a circadian pattern of spontaneous firing that is Orco-dependent and yet that Orco transcript abundance does express a circadian rhythmicity and that cAMP can modulate all Orco-dependent activity. Together with computational work, the work is valuable in proposing a provocative hypothesis that an Orco-centred post-translational feedback loop generates the circadian rhythm.

eLife Assessment

This fundamental work significantly advances our understanding of how contact-dependent antagonism enables keystone bacteria to establish and maintain their niche over time. The evidence obtained is convincing, supporting most of the conclusions drawn. This work will be of significant interest to the microbiome research community.

eLife Assessment

This study presents a valuable insight into the mechanism of action of With-No-lysine (K) kinases (WNK) in the insulin-dependent signaling in the context of learning and memory. The study uses solid methodological approaches that align with the current standards in the field. The revised manuscript, which includes diverse models ranging from mouse to cell systems assessed by a broad range of complementary techniques, convincingly argues that WNK signaling contributes to neuronal function in insulin-sensitive brain regions such as the hippocampus through its effects on GLUT4 trafficking.

eLife Assessment

This manuscript presents a valuable computational tool for identifying 3-5 gene regulatory network topologies capable of generating oscillatory dynamics. The application of Monte Carlo Tree Search to circuit design is novel and effectively expands the scale at which non-linear behaviours can be explored in silico. The efficiency of the proposed algorithm is convincing, and the work will be of interest to the systems and synthetic biology communities. While the generality of the identified circuit properties is constrained by the simplifying modelling assumptions and parameter choices, the methodological contribution represents a significant advance in the field.

eLife Assessment

This study reports the discovery of a new circuit mechanism for light-avoidance behavior in the marine annelid, Platynereis dumerilii. Using calcium imaging, molecular perturbations, behavioral measurements, and modeling, the authors provide compelling evidence that nitric oxide is released by postsynaptic neurons onto ciliary photoreceptors to prolong and enhance their response to ultraviolet light. The fundamental new role of nitric oxide described in this study may be conserved across animal phyla and thus will be of broad interests to neuroscientists and neuroendocrinologists.

eLife Assessment

This manuscript applies a theoretical analysis to two published datasets on yeast and bacterial evolution to compare different ways of quantifying fitness. It makes an important advance by clarifying how discrepancies can arise by using different approaches and provides recommendations for best practices. Overall, this is an impressive and highly beneficial study that is based on convincing evidence and has the potential of setting standards in this rapidly growing field.

eLife Assessment

The authors ask whether a simple whole-head spectral power analysis of human magnetoencephalography data recorded at rest in a large cohort of adults shows robust effects of age, and their results provide compelling evidence that it does. The relative simplicity of the analysis is a major strength of the paper, and the authors are careful to control for many different confounds - although perhaps highly correlated factors like brain anatomy still pose a slight issue. The paper provides a valuable power analysis framework that should inform researchers across the broader neuroimaging community.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study demonstrates how rhythmic inputs can shape sequential working memory. The study puts forward plausible dynamic mechanisms, but some of the central behavioral effects are small, so the evidence - at present - remains incomplete.

eLife Assessment

This important study provides new insight into how frontostriatal circuits encode elapsed time and exhibit decision-related dynamics during an auditory change-detection task. Analyses of simultaneously recorded neurons from the frontal orienting field (FOF) and anterior dorsal striatum (ADS) provide solid evidence that FOF and ADS show similar dynamics during evidence accumulation, but that FOF shows stronger movement-aligned reorganization near the time of the decision report. However, the mechanistic interpretation would be strengthened by clearer links between the population-level analyses, single-neuron activity, and relevant circuit anatomy. The work will be of broad interest to systems neuroscientists studying timing, decision-making, and frontostriatal dynamics.

eLife Assessment

This important study combines behavioral testing, fiber photometry recordings, and optogenetic manipulations to understand the role of CRH+ neurons in the PVN of the hypothalamus in social and non-social settings, while varying the degree of familiarity. The approaches used and the finding that these neurons respond to various social (and non-social) stimuli are strong; however, the conclusion that the activity of these neurons is driven solely by unfamiliar situations and the lack of dynamic analysis of fiber photometry data leaves the manuscript incomplete. This elegant study will likely be of interest to the field of social neuroscience and, if outstanding issues are addressed, would expand our understanding of the role of the PVN in behavior.

eLife Assessment

This important work provides new insights into the role of lysine acetylation of alpha-synuclein, the protein involved in Parkinson's Disease. The evidence is convincing and the work will be of interest to researchers in the fields of protein biophysics and post-translational modifications.

eLife Assessment

The authors propose the existence of an AQP4-positive tanycyte-associated canal system in the hippocampus based on histological, ultrastructural, immunohistochemical, and RNA-based approaches. There are serious concerns regarding the evidence, and the identification of the tanycyte-related structures can be questioned. At this stage, the evidence for the central claims of the manuscript has to be regarded as inadequate.

eLife Assessment

This work describes a valuable method for monitoring pathogens using an innovative, field-deployable device that attracts animals and collects saliva on filter paper in a non-invasive manner. While the strategy is effective at collecting samples and ensuring their preservation, support for some claims remains incomplete. This study will interest scientists in various fields, ranging from biodiversity, ecology, and conservation to infectious diseases and public health.

eLife Assessment

This study provides an important and biologically plausible account of how human perceptual judgments of heading direction are influenced by a specific pattern of motion in optic flow fields known as retinal curl. By combining psychophysical experiments and neural modeling, the authors demonstrate that what was previously considered an incidental, 'nuisance' signal actually serves as a functional control signal for estimating heading and steering toward a fixated target. The evidence supporting the role of curl signals is convincing and advances our understanding of vision-based navigation at the behavioral level. A particular strength of the work is the direct manipulation of curl within flow fields, demonstrating that it effectively cancels or reverses heading biases. This work provides an invaluable framework for future exploration into the neural mechanisms of steering control based on retinal curl.

eLife Assessment

This manuscript describes a series of studies using four different Go/No Go task variants in combination with fast-scan cyclic voltammetry to determine the role of dopamine release in the ventromedial striatum in action selection, controllability of reward pursuit, effort, and reward approach. The authors conclude that dopamine signals in the ventromedial striatum integrate the invigoration of action initiation with continuous estimation of spatial, but not temporal, proximity to rewards. There is solid support for the conclusions, and the findings are valuable, with theoretical implications for the role of dopamine in reward-driven behavior.

eLife Assessment

In their important manuscript, Gangadharan, Kober and Rice focus on how Stu2/XMAP215-family microtubule polymerases use their TOG domains to catalytically promote microtubule growth, testing whether their mechanism follows an enzyme-like kinetic model similar to that of actin polymerases. The authors integrate measurements including microtubule polymerization rates and TOG-tubulin binding kinetics to convincingly show that Stu2 follows an enzyme-like model where tight tubulin binding enables efficient polymerization, revealing a shared mechanism with actin polymerases despite their evolutionary divergence. This work will be of general interest to the cell biology and biophysics communities.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study explores changes in the Drosophila microbiome in response to environmental temperature over more than ten years. The evidence that temperature leads to diversification of bacterial clades is solid, despite the need for greater clarity in defining and tracking strain competition. The work will interest researchers working with microbiomes, microbial ecology, and evolutionary biology.

eLife Assessment

This manuscript focuses on developing a structural model of how the multidomain ECM protein SVEP1 enables Angiopoietin (ANG) binding to the orphan receptor TIE1, resulting in downstream receptor phosphorylation and signaling. This is an important study, based on solid data. The results will be of interest to scientists working in vascular biology and RTK signaling.

eLife Assessment

This useful study examines whether microsaccade direction primarily indexes shifts rather than the maintenance of covert spatial attention, offering a potentially informative account of inconsistencies in the prior literature. However, the evidence remains incomplete because the key effects are based on relatively sparse microsaccadic events, while concerns about event detection, fixation control, subject-level robustness, and the interpretation of gaze-density analyses remain unresolved. The correlational design and absence of a neutral condition or independent measure of attentional shifting further limit the central claim. The work will be of interest to researchers studying attention, eye movements, and visuomotor mechanisms.

eLife Assessment

The authors describe a cell-specific mechanism by which glutamate transporters regulate the fidelity with which T-stellate cells in the mouse ventral cochlear nucleus relay information from auditory nerve inputs. The study is supported by solid electrophysiological data. It provides valuable insights into how the rapid binding of glutamate to transporters shapes auditory information processing at specific synapses.

eLife Assessment

This work provides a valuable contribution by leveraging simulation-based inference to investigate candidate compensatory mechanisms in neuronal network models and offering new insights into how distinct pathological perturbations may require different interventions. The computational evidence is convincing and has been strengthened by additional reproducibility analyses, although some aspects of inference validation and the biological interpretation of posterior dependencies warrant further investigation. The study establishes a helpful computational framework for exploring disease-specific compensatory mechanisms and will be of broad interest to the computational and systems neuroscience communities.

eLife Assessment

This useful study employs an innovative chemoproteomic and multi-modal experimental approach to support VDAC2 as a key functional mediator of STX effects on mitochondrial bioenergetics. However, concerns remain regarding the physiological and disease relevance, including the reliance on cell lines, lack of loss-of-function validation, unresolved binding specificity, and limited justification for focusing on POMC neurons in the context of Alzheimer's disease. As a result, the evidence is incomplete for a link between VDAC2 and Alzheimer's pathogenesis, and aspects of the binding data raise alternative interpretations, including a potential role for other VDAC isoforms.

eLife Assessment

This important study reports a novel phenomenon of maternal growth during pregnancy that is independent of growth hormone (GH), adding a new dimension to maternal biology of reproduction. The evidence is convincing and supported by state-of-the-art methodologies conducted in mice and persuasive observations in humans with hereditary isolated GH deficiency. Revised discussion should focus on possible mechanisms, including the role of IGF2, and on directions for future research.

eLife Assessment

In this valuable study, Zhang et al. investigated EEG neurofeedback as a method to modulate brain activity prior to painful stimulation and examined its effect on pain perception in a well-powered, double-blind study. Results showed that real, but not sham, feedback enabled learning-dependent enhancement of pre-stimulus α oscillations. However, the evidence for a neurofeedback-specific reduction in pain remains incomplete, as the current paradigm cannot distinguish between genuine neurofeedback effects and placebo effects. Nonetheless, this work is likely to be of interest to researchers in the fields of neurofeedback and pain.

eLife Assessment

This important study investigates whether perceived gender is represented in the brain in a category-invariant manner across faces, bodies, and objects, identifying the right middle temporal gyrus (rMTG) as a potential locus. The evidence is incomplete due to major conceptual concerns, weak statistical methods, and unaddressed low-level confounds like stimulus size and motion. This work will be of interest to psychology and social neuroscience researchers in face and person perception literature, provided the authors temper their claims regarding abstract representation.

eLife Assessment

This important study extends a model of cortical normalization (ORGaNICs) to interacting cortical areas and shows that communication through coherence and communication subspaces can arise from a single set of dynamics. The evidence is solid, showing analytically that contrast-dependent gamma dynamics and a low-dimensional inter-areal communication subspace arise from one parameter set, though the comparisons to data remain qualitative and the analytics rest on a linearization that is not checked against numerical simulation. The work will interest neuroscientists and theorists concerned with inter-areal communication, cortical oscillations, and divisive normalization.

eLife Assessment

This valuable descriptive study describes the expression of a developmentally relevant transcription factor in the adult Tribolium brain. The evidence supporting the claims is convincing and based on a very detailed and rigorous analysis of light microscopy data, which, however, lacks single-cell resolution. This neuroanatomical study is of interest to the field of insect neural development and neuroscience.

eLife Assessment

This paper describes a valuable tool for the detection and analysis of dentate spikes, network events in the dentate gyrus that are common yet understudied. This tool could help standardize dentate spike detection and analysis across labs and is therefore likely to be of interest to hippocampal neurophysiologists. However, the strength of evidence for its broad usefulness was viewed as incomplete, due to several identified bugs in the program and insufficient explanations of parameter selection and methods.

eLife Assessment

This study reports important and invaluable findings that advance understanding of how attention is distributed between what we look at directly and what lies outside the center of gaze during active visual search. The evidence supporting the main claims is solid, with a large and rich dataset spanning multiple brain areas, although some aspects of the interpretation would benefit from additional controls and clearer separation of attention from eye-movement planning. The work will be of particular interest to researchers studying attention, visual perception, and eye movements behavior.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study characterizes how antibody responses converge on similar functional solutions despite diverse genetic backgrounds, providing a resource that is of importance in understanding immune responses and informing vaccine research. The evidence is solid, with extensive and well-executed analyses supporting the primary findings, although broader conclusions regarding vaccine design would benefit from more cautious interpretation and fuller discussion of the study's limitations. The work will be of interest to researchers studying antibody responses, viral evolution, and vaccine development.

eLife Assessment

This is an important study reporting a new phenotype for a gene cluster that has previously been associated with the responses of the Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa to flow fluid. Expression of the froABCD gene cluster is induced by HOCl in vitro and by activated immune cells, which produce these types of reactive chlorine species and the evidence presented by the authors is in many places convincing. Overall, the authors have been responsive to the previous review, although the exact mechanism of fro-induction by HOCl remains unclear. The high cysteine- and methionine content of the anti-sigma factor FroI hints at a direct oxidative modification of this protein during activation of the operon and a corneal infection model shows that fro is upregulated in P. aeruginosa 20 h after infection, but the evidence that HOCl is the causative agent of fro upregulation under these conditions is at present circumstantial. This study is of interest to infection biologists interested in mechanisms of bacterial pathogenicity.

eLife Assessment

This study provides important insights into the neural mechanisms linking sleep and long-term memory consolidation. By combining behavioural, genetic, imaging, and connectomic approaches in Drosophila, it identifies a target neural circuit that will be of broad interest to researchers studying sleep, memory, and neural circuits. The evidence supporting the involvement of the identified circuit in the regulation of sleep and memory is solid and represents a substantial advance in the field. Nevertheless, there is limited evidence to support the mechanistic claim that this circuit directly links sleep and memory consolidation within the available data, and some results should therefore be interpreted with appropriate caution.

eLife Assessment

This important study introduces NoSeMaze, a semi-naturalistic platform for continuous, high-dimensional tracking of social and cognitive behaviors in group-housed mice, and uses it to show that individual social rank is stable across changing social contexts. By integrating automated dominance measures, proactive social behaviors, and reinforcement-learning-based profiles, the authors demonstrate a novel framework for examining how stable individual differences shape social structure. The findings provide compelling evidence that dominance traits are stable across changing social contexts and largely independent of non-social cognitive performance, supporting the view that social rank reflects an intrinsic dimension of individuality however, the broader functional significance of dominance in this paradigm remains somewhat ambiguous, including the extent to which the measured behaviors capture how dominance operates in more naturalistic social settings. This work will be of broad relevance for behavioral neuroscience and social behavior research.

eLife Assessment

This important study provides evidence that locus coeruleus activity is coordinated with heart rate during sleep, confirming previous work in mice and humans, with a possible role for sleep-dependent memory consolidation. The claims are supported by convincing evidence. This work will be of interest to neuroscientists focusing on sleep, memory, and autonomic functions.

eLife Assessment

This important study reveals distinct representations of task-related information in the dendrites and somata of cortical neurons during sensorimotor learning and behavioral adaptation. The evidence is compelling, combining imaging of dendritic and somatic activity during behavior to demonstrate compartment-specific encoding of sensory cues, motor actions, and corrective signals. The work will be of broad interest to neuroscientists studying dendritic computation, motor learning, and the cellular mechanisms underlying adaptive behavior.

eLife Assessment

This study provides a useful analysis of the effects of arginine vasopressin (AVP) on islet cells in pancreatic tissue slices, using sophisticated spatiotemporal calcium recordings to show that AVP affects α and β cells differently depending on glucose concentration. The calcium imaging, analytical approaches, and V1b receptor-targeted peptide ligands are strengths of the work. However, the reviewers were concerned that the proposed mechanistic model is not sufficiently supported by the data. Characterisation of β-cell responses remains incomplete, and potential off-target effects and limited receptor specificity raise alternative explanations, including indirect effects mediated through α cells. The study would have been strengthened by signalling pathway analyses, genetic validation (e.g. β-cell-specific V1bR deletion), or selective V1b receptor silencing. The RNAscope data included in the revision indicate broader expression patterns but do not clearly establish receptor localisation within specific endocrine populations.

eLife Assessment

In this important work, the authors develop methods to forecast epidemic growth from viral sequencing data alone. The evidence for the usefulness of the approach is solid, but some justifications and methodological details are incomplete. This study should be of broad interest to the community interested in viral dynamics and epidemiology.

eLife Assessment

The paper provides a valuable, foundational dataset that will undoubtedly provide substantial value to the cancer research community. The aggregation and harmonization of a broad, rich, multi-omic dataset is convincing and will potentially support further downstream research on GIST, which currently has poor supporting datasets. Support for the accompanying claims is more incomplete, however: the biological demonstration rests on a single gene tested by one approach, several analyses lack sample sizes and multiple-testing correction, the claims made for the LLM assistant are not backed by direct evaluation, and the curated data matrices would ideally be deposited independently of the web.

eLife Assessment

This important study presents the development of a model to quantify the dynamics of stress-induced volatile emissions in plants and identify biologically relevant differences in these responses. The model is based on a convincing methodology and represents a starting point for studies of similar responses in other plants or investigations of induced phenotypes in different biological systems.

eLife Assessment

This important study presents a cell-based screen for small-molecule activators of GCN2, an eIF2α kinase that regulates the Integrated Stress Response under diverse stress conditions. The authors identify a compound as a potent GCN2 activator with GCN1-independent activity under the tested conditions, providing a new pharmacological tool for probing GCN2 regulation. The revised manuscript provides compelling support for the central conclusions through a clearer description of the screening workflow, extended kinetic analyses, and demonstration that the identified compound causes a GCN2-dependent reduction in protein synthesis.

eLife Assessment

This important paper describes the role of the Pre-rRNA in meiotic sex chromosome inactivation in mouse spermatocytes. The cytological analyses of nucleolar components and the chemical inhibition of RNA polymerase I for rDNA transcription provided solid evidence, supporting the authors' conclusions. However, the results were not well described or explained in the text, making the logic difficult to follow. This paper will be of interest to researchers in meiotic chromosome structure and the nucleolus.

eLife Assessment

The authors addressed a significant biological question, namely the role of glutamine metabolism in humoral responses, and they obtained solid conclusions. The strength of this study is that the authors used state-of-the-art transgenic mouse models together with in vitro analysis, thereby providing important insights into the question posed. The manuscript has been further substantiated by adding more appropriate experimental controls and describing more in-depth functionality/physiological relevance.

eLife Assessment

This interesting study adapts machine learning tools to analyze movements of a chromatin locus in living cells in response to serum starvation. The machine learning approach developed is useful, the experiments are well controlled, and the data are solid. The study will benefit from future work testing predictions by perturbation experiments. This work will be of interest to those studying chromosome biology and gene expression patterns.

eLife Assessment

This important study reports insights into how the caspase Dcp-1, best known for cell death, can also promote tissue growth in Drosophila, extending the authors' earlier work by identifying regulatory factors that shape this non-lethal activity. The compelling findings identify a physical and functional interaction between Dcp-1 and Bruce, as well as new Dcp-1-interacting proteins that function in autophagy: Sirt1, Fkbp59, Debcl, Buffy, Atg2, and Atg8a. This work helps broaden the understanding of the non-lethal roles of Dcp-1.

eLife Assessment

The authors describe a new member of the KCNE auxiliary subunits of potassium channels from a lamprey. This new subunit represents an early evolutionary member which confers new properties when expressed along with KCNQ channels. In the revised version of the manuscript, the authors present convincing evidence from several experimental approaches. The contents of this manuscript are important and should be relevant to understanding both the mechanism of modulation of KCNQ channels by KCNE subunits and the evolutionary history of these subunits, which this manuscript now extends to the divergence of early vertebrates.

eLife Assessment

This useful study addresses a timely question about semantic prioritisation in visual working memory, using behavioural manipulations and drift-diffusion modelling. However, the strength of evidence is incomplete for the broader claims about working-memory representations because the main interpretation relies on indirect inferences from non-decision time, which cannot uniquely identify memory access or retrieval.

eLife Assessment

The manuscript by von Velsen et al. offers valuable structural insights into the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway by providing cryo-EM structures of stabilized MEK1-ERK2 kinase-substrate complexes in inactive, active, and nucleotide-free states, complemented by HDX-MS, SAXS, ITC, crystallography, and molecular dynamics. The work provides solid evidence for the overall architecture of the complex and identifies interaction sites that help explain MAPK pathway specificity. However, some mechanistic conclusions are not yet fully supported, particularly the designation of one state as an active phosphoryl-transfer configuration, the claim that substrate binding releases the MEK1 catalytic machinery, the proposed link to processive phosphorylation, and the extrapolation to disease-associated mutations.

eLife Assessment

The authors use a novel patch-leaving task to reveal a reward-reset strategy when mice choose to leave a depleting resource, and find that accumulated step-like activity in the dorsomedial striatum is correlated with the timing of these decisions. These important behavioral and neural findings are supported by substantial and convincing data. Additional control analyses would strengthen the evidence that these signals are specifically related to timing and patch-leaving decisions, rather than alternative task-related processes.

eLife Assessment

This work presents a software and hardware suite for targeted photostimulation that can be used in vivo. The package is a well-designed and documented hardware/software suite with a comprehensive build guide. This tool will likely promote important neuroscience advances through targeted real-time perturbation of the cerebral cortex. Overall, this manuscript makes a compelling case on how to design and make available power tools for the research community.

eLife Assessment

This important study uses longitudinal EEG to chart how neural tracking of syllables and word-level statistical structure develops over the first two years of life in infants at high and low likelihood for autism and links these measures to verbal outcomes at 18-20 months. The strength of evidence is convincing: the prospective longitudinal design, careful data-quality handling, and partial least squares analyses are appropriate and well executed, though some interpretations of the group differences in syllable tracking, along with the possible contributions of multilingual exposure and sleep state during recording, warrant caution. The work will be of interest to developmental cognitive neuroscientists studying language acquisition and early neural markers of neurodevelopmental conditions.

eLife Assessment

In this valuable study, the authors identified a rare population of Nestin-expressing cells within the external granule layer of the early postnatal mouse cerebellum. They demonstrated that these cells are distinct from Sox2+ progenitors and can give rise to medulloblastoma. Collectively, the findings provide convincing evidence that this unique Nestin+ population is susceptible to oncogenic transformation and may underlie the preferential emergence of Sonic hedgehog-driven medulloblastomas.

eLife Assessment

This manuscript presents important new findings showing that the transcription factor and regulator of lipid and glucose metabolism PPARγ is methylated by the enzyme SETD6. The data convincingly demonstrate that methylation of PPARγ by SETD6 regulates its function in controlling transcription of lipid storage and metabolism genes and thereby modulates lipid accumulation in liver cells. This work uncovers a new role for post-translational modulation by lysine methylation in controlling transcription factor activity and lipid metabolism in a relevant physiological context.

eLife Assessment

This study presents valuable data suggesting that ATP-induced modulation of alveolar macrophage (AM) functions is associated with NLRP3 inflammasome activation and enhanced phagocytic capacity. While the in vivo and in vitro data reveal an interesting phenotype, the evidence provided is incomplete and does not fully support the paper's conclusions. Additional investigations would be of value in complementing the data and strengthening the interpretation of the results. This study should be of interest to immunologists and the mucosal immunity community.

eLife Assessment

This manuscript reports valuable results on the role of MDC1 and Treacle in DSB repair in rDNA repeats. It has been previously established that MDC1 is replaced by Treacle as the main adaptor in the nucleolar DNA damage response. This work provides convincing evidence that MDC1 is required for the recruitment of RAD51 and BRCA1 to DSBs in rDNA. The work involves multiple MDC1 knockout models and establishes that RFN8-RNF168 act downstream of MDC1in parallel with the RAP80-ABRAXAS pathway in the recruitment of the HR machinery to nucleolar DSBs.

eLife Assessment

This study offers valuable insights into the role of post-translational modifiers, specifically SUMO2ylation at K81 in p66Shc, and its impact on endothelial function through reactive oxygen species. A series of compelling experiments demonstrated that lysine 81 of p66Shc is the site of SUMO2 conjugation, which is crucial for mitochondrial localization and essential for S36 phosphorylation, leading to specific pathological effects. The combination of cell overexpression and animal studies provides solid data supporting this mechanistic link.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study introduces an innovative experimental design to address a crucial and timely issue in microbial ecology: the potential bias in soil microbial community analyses caused by extracellular DNA degradation. The work contributes to the field by providing convincing evidence that variable extracellular DNA degradation rates impact microbial ecology studies. This research will appeal to microbial ecologists and researchers interested in using molecular techniques to evaluate microbial community structure.

eLife Assessment

This useful study uses creative scalp EEG decoding methods to attempt to demonstrate that two forms of learned associations in a Stroop task are dissociable, despite sharing similar temporal dynamics. However, the evidence supporting the conclusions is incomplete due to concerns with the experimental design and methodology. This paper would be of interest to researchers studying cognitive control and adaptive behavior, if the concerns raised in the reviews can be addressed satisfactorily.

eLife Assessment

This study offers a large-scale resource that maps the transcriptional landscape following combinatorial transcription factor overexpression. The authors propose a modular framework for understanding gene regulatory networks and identify transcription factor cocktails for cellular reprogramming. While the dataset and proposed principles are valuable, the strength of the evidence is incomplete, in part due to the complexity of the computational analyses and limited orthogonal experimental validation. The study will be of interest to the fields of gene regulation and developmental biology.

eLife Assessment

This useful paper describes a software tool, "DrosoMating", which allows automated, high-throughput quantification of 6 common metrics of courtship and mating behaviors in Drosophila melanogaster. The validity of the tool is convincingly shown to perform as well as expert human assessments, across a wide range of conditions. While it is not suitable yet for posed based classification of individual actions, and its utility with respect to new deep learning-based tools such as DeepLabCut, SLEAP have yet to be assessed, the efficient coarse-grained detection of behavioral states in low resolution videos offered by DrosoMating represents a very helpful addition to analytical tools available for assessing courtship behaviour in Drosophila.

eLife Assessment

This study provides an important advance in understanding how disordered proteins interact with cell membranes by identifying the sequence rules that enable aromatic residues to penetrate deeply into the membrane interior. The integration of complementary computational approaches, including molecular simulations, large-scale sequence analysis, and the development of an online prediction server, makes the work potentially impactful for the membrane protein and intrinsically disordered protein communities. The evidence supporting the main conclusions is generally convincing.

eLife Assessment

This is an important study on the role of Slap in restricting Src activity and proliferation of colonic cells in vivo. The authors present solid evidence that an EPHB2-SRC signaling axis stimulates the proliferation of colon precursors and is controlled by the Src-binding protein SLAP, whose loss promotes tumorigenesis.

eLife Assessment

This useful study describes a physical mechanism for the emergence of spiral patterns in the outer epithelial layer of the mammalian cornea independent of pre-patterning or guidance cues, using an agent-based model of self-propelled particles with alignment. The well constructed model show that spiral patterns can emerge from the interaction between the limbus position, cell division, extrusion, and collective cell migration. While the conclusions are solid, some significant questions related to the importance of topological defect remain, and the comparison between the model and data are so far mostly qualitative.

eLife Assessment

This important study contributes to our understanding of how epithelial cells establish polarity by identifying a hierarchy in which Par3 acts upstream of centrosome positioning and apical membrane initiation. The evidence supporting the main conclusions is convincing, and the authors addressed the unresolved questions about microtubule organization and the need for clearer integration of quantitative and conceptual points raised in review. The work will be of interest to cell and developmental biologists.

eLife Assessment

The authors show that innate defensive behavior in mice is shaped by threat intensity, reward value, and social hierarchy, highlighting how value and social context influence instinctive decisions. The authors provide a valuable characterization of escape behavior which approximates naturalistic conditions. Despite minor methodological limitations, the work provides a solid foundation for future investigation of how reward and social context interact to influence behavior.

eLife Assessment

This important study addresses a discrepancy between population-level growth laws and single-cell correlations. It shows, for flagellar and synthetic genes in E. coli, that while gene expression of certain genes reduces population-average growth, expression levels positively correlate with growth at the single-cell level. The measurements are convincing, and the proposed mechanism - inheritance of growth factors such as ribosomes during asymmetric division - is consistent with the data.

eLife Assessment

This fundamental study demonstrates that polarized second-harmonic generation microscopy can be used to probe the ON/OFF states of myosin in both permeabilized and intact muscle, making this key measurement accessible to a greater number of labs. This has the potential to help with the study of disease-causing mutations and our understanding of drug function. The methodology is well defined, and the results are convincing; however, there are some limitations to the interpretation of the data.

eLife Assessment

This useful study uses creative scalp EEG decoding methods to demonstrate that two forms of learned associations in a Stroop task are dissociable, despite sharing similar temporal dynamics. The evidence supporting the conclusions is solid, although it could be further strengthened with a modified experimental design. This paper would be of interest to researchers studying cognitive control and adaptive behavior.

eLife Assessment

This important study provides solid evidence that crickets use bat-associated odors as cues of predation risk, extending the classic bat-insect arms race beyond its traditional acoustic framework. The authors combine fecal metabarcoding, behavioral assays, electrophysiology, chemical analyses, and field observations to show that Loxoblemmus equestris avoids the odor of the insectivorous bat Scotophilus kuhlii, and that synthetic limonene can elicit antennal responses, avoidance in the laboratory, and reduced calling activity in the field. Together, the multidisciplinary results provide a coherent and convincing chain of evidence for an olfactory component of predator detection in this bat-insect system. The work will be of broad interest to researchers in sensory ecology, chemical ecology, predator-prey interactions, and bat-insect coevolution.

eLife Assessment

This work of fundamental significance introduces a novel statistical model of spiking activity that incorporates continuous-time gain modulation. The authors provide exceptional evidence that the model outperforms earlier approaches and alternative candidates in capturing spiking responses across multiple visual areas in the macaque. Beyond its methodological contribution, the study offers new insights into how stimulus-driven variability and internally generated gain fluctuations evolve over time and between brain areas. The framework is likely to find broad application beyond the datasets examined here.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study uses repeated experience sampling to track the relationship between depressive symptoms and perceptual confidence. The central claim that depression impairs the integration of momentary confidence into a global sense of confidence is supported by solid, robust evidence. However, the largely subclinical, highly compliant sample with limited mood variability restricts the generalisability of the conclusions. This study will be of interest to researchers studying mood disorders and metacognition, as it suggests more ecologically valid ways to investigate how mental health influences metacognition.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study presents evidence that the human brain encodes perceptual absence and numerical absence through distinct neural codes, while confirming that symbolic and non-symbolic forms of zero share a common representation. The evidence supporting this dissociation is convincing, drawing on neural decoding techniques and Bayesian analyses, although some concerns remain about task design and decoding method, which could partly explain the lack of shared representation. The work will be of interest to neuroscientists and psychologists studying numerical cognition and the boundary between perception and higher-level cognition.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study presents a comparative dataset on crab locomotion to investigate the evolution of sideways walking. The evidence supporting the authors' claims is convincing. This work will be of broad interest to researchers in animal locomotion and evolutionary biology.

eLife Assessment

This important study investigates how the size of an LLM may influence its ability to model the human neural response to language recorded by ECoG. Overall, solid evidence is provided that larger language models can better predict the human ECoG response. This study will be of interest to both neuroscientists and psychologists who work on language comprehension and computer scientists working on LLMs.

eLife Assessment

This study demonstrates that toll-like receptor 4 in non-myeloid cells is a central regulator of leptomeningeal inflammation in the context of neonatal E. coli meningitis. The data, derived from conditional gene deletions in mice, and from cultured endothelial cells, are convincing and support the authors' conclusions. This work is important because it advances our understanding of the host cellular and molecular factors underlying meningitis pathogenesis, especially in the context of the vascular barrier breakdown.

eLife Assessment

This study employs state-of-the-art quantitative imaging and genomics approaches to address a fundamental question regarding the establishment of Polycomb domains during Drosophila embryogenesis. The authors identify the maternal-to-zygotic transition, rather than earlier developmental stages, as the critical window for Polycomb domain establishment, providing significant clarification of the timing of this process and they further investigate the roles of Zelda and GAGA factor, demonstrating that Zelda, but not GAGA factor, contributes to Polycomb domain establishment. Overall, the conclusions are well supported by the experimental evidence presented. These compelling findings advance our understanding of how Polycomb domains are established during early embryogenesis and have broad implications for chromatin regulation and developmental biology.

eLife Assessment

The study presents valuable findings on early behavioral phenotypes that arise in an ADHD-associated adgrl3.1 mutant zebrafish, using a new behavioral approach with a closed-loop OMR assay. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid; however, the validation of the method and analysis is incomplete and would benefit from more rigorous approaches and validation practices. This work will be of broad interest to developmental biologists and behavioral neuroscientists.

eLife Assessment

This valuable cross-sectional longitudinal study leverages high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to examine its effect on procrastination behavior over an extended time span. The cross-sectional longitudinal study a testing of competing models provided solid evidence for how stimulating DLPFC impacts reveal-world procrastination behavior. Whether these results generalize to a larger population will be a significant future direction. This work will be of interest to those interested in cortical function, procrastination, and related states.

eLife Assessment

This study presents a valuable human organoid platform for investigating neuron-immune interactions in Alzheimer's disease and modeling the interplay between innate and adaptive immunity in the context of amyloid pathology. The system has the potential to advance the field by enabling the study of human-specific neuroimmune interactions that are difficult to recapitulate in rodent models; however, the evidence supporting several central conclusions remains incomplete. Key claims, including the causal role of microglia-derived chemokines in T cell recruitment and the existence of a neuroinflammatory feedback loop, rely primarily on correlative observations and lack the mechanistic experiments necessary to establish causality; in addition, a major confounding factor, the non-autologous nature of the cellular components, is not adequately addressed. Despite these limitations, the study will be of considerable interest to researchers in neuroimmunology and Alzheimer's disease.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study presents a comparative analysis of the transcriptomic features underlying C. elegans longevity, providing insights into how different changes in gene expression can promote longevity. The authors present solid evidence with analysis and selected functional validation showing that some long-lived animals share common changes while others appear to use opposing strategies. The datasets and analyses contained within and the user-friendly website developed will be of interest to researchers interested in complicated transcriptomic analyses and/or the biology of aging.

[Editors' note: this paper was reviewed by Review Commons.]

eLife Assessment

This important study uses an elegant visual-anagram approach to test whether perceived animacy shapes visual working memory and guides visual attention while tightly controlling for lower- and mid-level image properties. The evidence is convincing and provides a rigorous demonstration that perceived animacy influences visual cognition beyond the contribution of its typical visual correlates. The findings will be of broad interest to researchers studying high-level vision, attention, and working memory.

eLife Assessment

This study provides important insights into the neural mechanisms linking sleep and long-term memory consolidation. By combining behavioural, genetic, imaging, and connectomic approaches in Drosophila, it identifies a target neural circuit that will be of broad interest to researchers studying sleep, memory, and neural circuits. The evidence supporting the involvement of the identified circuit in the regulation of sleep and memory is solid and represents a substantial advance in the field. Nevertheless, there is limited evidence to support the mechanistic claim that this circuit directly links sleep and memory consolidation within the available data, and some results should therefore be interpreted with appropriate caution.

eLife Assessment

This important work examines the effects of gaze on valuation signals in the human brain as participants choose between bundles of sequentially presented items food items. The paper provides convincing analyses of how gaze affects participants choice behaviour and how this varies across time. The work will be of interest to neuroscientists working on attention and decision-making.

eLife Assessment

This important study reports the development of the first tankyrase degrader and demonstrates its enhanced ability to inhibit β-catenin signaling compared to conventional tankyrase inhibitors. The evidence supporting the conclusions is comprehensive and convincing, based on rigorous biochemical and cellular analyses. The findings will be of broad interest to researchers studying Wnt signaling, protein degradation, and cancer biology.

eLife Assessment

This revised paper provides solid evidence for HGF-induced trafficking of the HGF receptor, MET, together with metalloprotease MT1-MMP into invadopodia and the role of this trafficking in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell invasion in vitro. The evidence could be improved with additional experimental controls and analysis, but the findings will be valuable for cancer cell biologists investigating TNBC.