Table of Contents
RESEARCH ARTICLES
- Innovative approaches to establish and characterize primary cultures: an ex vivo 3D system and the zebrafish model
Summary: Patient-derived primary cells maintain their original phenotype when cultured on 3D scaffolds, and their in vivo behavior can be effectively studied with innovative zebrafish models.
- Enhancing NAD+ salvage metabolism is neuroprotective in a PINK1 model of Parkinson's disease
Summary: Dietary supplementation with an NAD+ salvage metabolite or decreasing Parp activity suppress mitochondrial dysfunction and is neuroprotective in a PINK1 model of Parkinson's disease.
- Meningeal retinoic acid contributes to neocortical lamination and radial migration during mouse brain development
Summary: Involvement of the signalling molecule retinoic acid in neurogenesis of the developing cerebral cortex is shown through targeted deletion of its synthesizing enzyme.
- Protein kinase C is involved with upstream signaling of methyl farnesoate for photoperiod-dependent sex determination in the water flea Daphnia pulex
Summary: This study is the first experimental evidence that PKC is involved in the male sex determination process associated with methyl farnesoate signaling in daphnid species.
- The Crumbs_C isoform of Drosophila shows tissue- and stage-specific expression and prevents light-dependent retinal degeneration
Summary: Loss of Crb_C, one protein isoform encoded by Drosophila crumbs, results in light-dependent retinal degeneration, but does not affect any of the other crumbs-specific functions.
- A feedback mechanism between PLD and deadenylase PARN for the shortening of eukaryotic poly(A) mRNA tails that is deregulated in cancer cells
Summary: Cell signaling enzyme phospholipase D2 (PLD2) and its reaction product, phospholipid phosphatidic acid (PA), are involved in mediating PARN-induced eukaryotic mRNA decay.
- A developmental transcriptomic analysis of Pax1 and Pax9 in embryonic intervertebral disc development
Summary: In this study, we show the essential molecular roles of Pax1/Pax9 in early IVD development and their connection with other chrondrogenic players – Sox trio, BMP and TGF B pathways.
- A polycystin-type transient receptor potential (Trp) channel that is activated by ATP
Summary: We show that a Trp channel related to the mammalian polycystin channel, rather than a P2X receptor, is responsible for the purinergic stimulation of cytosolic calcium levels in Dictyostelium cells.
- Diet quality determines lipase gene expression and lipase/esterase activity in Daphnia pulex
Summary: We show for the first time that the waterflea Daphnia pulex has the ability to finely tune its lipolytic machinery to changes in the nutritional quality of its diet.
- Lipid droplet dynamics during Schizosaccharomyces pombe sporulation and their role in spore survival
Summary: Lipid droplets of yeast mother cells are shown to redistribute to their nascent spores by live-cell imaging analysis, suggesting that the lipid droplets are important for yeast spore survival.
- Analysis of the Fgfr2C342Y mouse model shows condensation defects due to misregulation of Sox9 expression in prechondrocytic mesenchyme
Summary: Mutation of FGFR2 causes a misregulation of Sox9, leading to disrupted mesenchymal condensation, and thus skeletal and craniofacial birth defects in mice, with implications for human Crouzon syndrome.
- Dynamic analysis of the mesenchymal-epithelial transition of blood-brain barrier forming glia in Drosophila
Summary: This study examines the major steps and underlying mechanisms of mesenchymal-epithelial transition of the blood-brain-barrier forming glia in Drosophila, including the role of basal lamina, septate junctions and of trimeric G protein signaling.
- Establishment and maintenance of sexual preferences that cause a reproductive isolation between medaka strains in close association
Summary: Two laboratory strains of medaka assortatively mate in complete sympatry, and their sexual preferences are gradually developed during growth and firmly maintained after sexual maturation.
- MiR-142 modulates human pancreatic cancer proliferation and invasion by targeting hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1α) in the tumor microenvironments
Summary: Our findings provide insights to the functional mechanism of miR-142, suggesting that the miR-142/HIF-1α axis may interfere with the proliferative and invasive property of pancreatic cancer cells.
- Trehalose 6-phosphate signal is closely related to sorbitol in apple (Malus domestica Borkh. cv. Gala)
Summary: Metabolite analysis of the Tre6P pathway in apple fruit, Malus domestica, reveals that Tre6P levels were highly and positively correlated with sorbitol content, but not with sucrose content.
- The effect of foot posture on capacity to apply free moments to the ground: implications for fighting performance in great apes
Summary: We tested the capacity of the heel-down foot posture of great apes to apply free moments to the ground because this could influence performance when fighting from a bipedal stance.
- Identification of SSR markers closely linked to the yellow seed coat color gene in heading Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L. ssp. pekinensis)
Summary: Genetic mapping of the yellow seed coat gene Brsc-ye to a 40.2 kb region of the Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa ssp. pekinensis) genome will allow marker-assisted selection and breeding of yellow-seeded lines.
- Vasotocin receptor blockade disrupts maternal care of offspring in a viviparous snake, Sistrurus miliarius
Summary: In a squamate reptile, post-birth maternal effort is related to maternal energetic status, and vasotocin receptors may play a role in mediating maternal care.
- Oocyte shuttle, a recombinant protein transporting donor DNA into the Xenopus oocyte in situ
Summary: A newly developed oocyte shuttle protein, binding donor DNA and carrying it from the bloodstream to the oocyte nucleus within the ovary, should greatly facilitate production of transgenic Xenopus embryos.
METHODS & TECHNIQUES
- A genetically encoded biosensor for visualising hypoxia responses in vivo
Summary: This study describes a biosensor for visualising the hypoxic state of cells in vivo. They demonstrate that the Drosophila larval brain contains distinct hypoxic microenvironments that correlate with local airway supply.
CORRESPONDENCE
- On the importance of understanding physiology when estimating energetics in cetaceans
Summary: Fahlman and associates (2016) have emphasized the importance of proper physiological insight when modelling energy expenditure in large cetaceans. Here we argue that they have themselves failed in this endeavour.
- Response to ‘On the importance of understanding physiology when estimating energetics in cetaceans’
Summary: Our paper highlights how temporal changes in tidal volume and the oxygen exchange ratio significantly affect the accuracy of models that use only breathing frequency to estimate metabolic rate.