eLife is pleased to present a Special Issue to highlight recent advances in the mechanistic understanding of microbiome function.

Song learning accuracy can be predicted and traced in the structural properties of the brains of juvenile male zebra finches already at 20 days post-hatching.

VIP inhibitory neurons are active in response to novel images but are suppressed by familiar stimuli and show ramping activity when expected stimuli are omitted.

Activated Drosophila macrophages undergo transient metabolic remodeling towards Hypoxia inducible factor 1 α-driven aerobic glycolysis, a program that induces systemic metabolic changes and is crucial for resistance to infection.

Assays using recombinant HIF prolyl hydroxylases did not support hydroxylation of more than 20 reported non-HIF substrates under conditions where robust HIF hydroxylation was observed.

Forward genetic screens define a novel genetic landscape by which diverse, unrelated autism risk genes may converge to commonly affect the robustness of synaptic transmission.

Mitochondrial-targeted SS-31 peptide ameliorates mitochondrial dysfunction and rescues pre-existing cardiac dysfunction in old mice, supporting the translational potential of mitochondrial protective interventions to treat age-related diseases.

Two novel subsets of microglia identified by their unique autofluorescence profiles differ in their subcellular organization, proteomic signatures and in their response to aging and lysosomal dysfunction.

Genetic and molecular analyses reveal the decisive role of fatty acid oxidation (FAO) acting downstream to the ROS-JNK circuit essential for hemocyte progenitor differentiation in Drosophila..

Transcriptome analysis of mouse brain revealed that the APOE4 allele and sex can alter air pollution neurotoxicity in adults.