RESEARCH ARTICLES
- The effects of laboratory housing and spatial enrichment on brain size and metabolic rate in the eastern mosquitofish, Gambusia holbrooki
Summary: The discovery of a difference in brain size between adult mosquitofish living in the wild, in spatially enriched tanks and in bare tanks has implications for the effect of environmental enrichment on transferability of data from laboratory animals to their wild counterparts.
- Protective role of microRNA-29a in denatured dermis and skin fibroblast cells after thermal injury
Summary: Inhibition of miR-29a can promote the proliferation and migration of skin fibroblast cells after thermal injury, and upregulate the production of COL1A2 and VEGF-A to further enhance the collagen synthesis and angiogenesis in skin and help burn wound healing in the later phase.
- Thermal biology of the sub-polar–temperate estuarine crab Hemigrapsus crenulatus (Crustacea: Decapoda: Varunidae)
Summary: The preferred temperature of the intertidal temperate crab Hemigrapsus crenulatus was determined to be between 12°C and 25°C. Oceanic warming would trap this species between tropical and polar temperatures, causing increasing population stress with unknown ecological consequences.
- Prickle isoforms control the direction of tissue polarity by microtubule independent and dependent mechanisms
Summary: Learning how Pk and Sple differentially interpret directional cues allows a broader understanding of the varied signals and mechanisms linking the core module to tissue axes in planar cell polarity.
- Cdk4 functions in multiple cell types to control Drosophila intestinal stem cell proliferation and differentiation
Summary: We identify that the growth status of absorptive enterocyte cells in the Drosophila intestine controls the proliferation and differentiation of stem and progenitor cells, thereby controlling organ homeostasis.
- The plant hopper Issus coleoptratus can detoxify phloem sap saponins including the degradation of the terpene core
Summary: In contrast to other insects the plant hopper Issus coleoptratus does not accumulate toxic saponins from ivy. I. coleoptratus can degrade the saponines by its salivary glands and its gut as shown by HPLC-MS.
- Phylogenetic analysis and tissue distribution of elasmobranch glucose transporters and their response to feeding
Summary: Our results indicate the presence of three putative glucose transporters in elasmobranchs (GLUT1, 3, 4) and holocephalans (GLUT1, 2, 3). We determined that GLUT1 and GLUT4 mRNA levels change in various dogfish tissues in response to feeding.
- Dive characteristics can predict foraging success in Australian fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) as validated by animal-borne video
Summary: We assessed the ability of dive characteristics in Australian fur seals to predict foraging behavior and success that were directly observed on video. TDR data was able to reliably predict presence of prey as well as total successful prey captured per dive.
- Does migratory distance affect fuelling in a medium-distance passerine migrant?: results from direct and step-wise simulated magnetic displacements
Summary: Fuelling rate in migrating dunnocks, a predominantly diurnal migratory songbird is influenced by a manipulated magnetic field when the birds are magnetically displaced north, but not south, in autumn.
- Engrailed 1 shapes the dopaminergic and serotonergic landscape through proper isthmic organizer maintenance and function
Summary: Local molecular coding under the influence of En1 is essential for proper spatiotemporal expression of key factors involved in the maintenance and function of the isthmic organizer.
- Changes in cell shape are correlated with metastatic potential in murine and human osteosarcomas
Summary: Human and murine invasive osteosarcoma cancer cell lines, developed by selection in vivo from a less invasive parental line, show distinguishable differences in shape from the parental line that fall into two categories: more mesenchymal or more amoeboid.
- Co-expression networks in generation of induced pluripotent stem cells
Summary: We developed a novel adenoviral iPSC reprogramming vector integrating Yamanaka's four factors in a single cassette, allowing for the identification of biologically relevant co-expression networks.
- Gene array analysis of neural crest cells identifies transcription factors necessary for direct conversion of embryonic fibroblasts into neural crest cells
Summary: In this study, we identified the transcription factors specifically expressed in developing neural crest cells, and showed that SOX10 and SOX9 directly converted fibroblasts into neural crest cells.
- Prickle1 mutation causes planar cell polarity and directional cell migration defects associated with cardiac outflow tract anomalies and other structural birth defects
Summary: Outflow tract malalignment and multiple birth defects observed in the Prickle1 mutant may arise from cell polarity perturbation, which may involve disruptions in Wnt signaling and of cilia function.
- Regulation of differentiation flux by Notch signalling influences the number of dopaminergic neurons in the adult brain
Summary: The early emergence of dopaminergic neurons under reduced Notch signalling results from a change in the differentiation flux that defines the final number of neurons produced.
- Analysis of coelom development in the sea urchin Holopneustes purpurescens yielding a deuterostome body plan
Summary: A common body plan for echinoderms, chordates and hemichordates resolves the apparent morphological disparity between the pentameral and the bilateral body plans of these major deuterostome phyla.
- Genetic basis of hindlimb loss in a naturally occurring vertebrate model
Summary: Here we genetically characterise mutations in tbx4 which underlie pelvic finless, a naturally occurring model of hindlimb loss in zebrafish that lacks pelvic fin structures.
- miR-22 inhibits mouse ovarian granulosa cell apoptosis by targeting SIRT1
Summary: Overexpression of miR-22 inhibits mGC apoptosis by targeting SIRT1, and knockdown of SIRT1 attenuated apoptosis in mGCs. Taken together, these findings provide an improved understanding of the molecular mechanisms of miR-22-mediated follicular development.
- Photobleaching studies reveal that a single amino acid polymorphism is responsible for the differential binding affinities of linker histone subtypes H1.1 and H1.5
Summary: Mouse linker histone subtypes H1.1 and H1.5 bind to chromatin with different affinities due to a single amino acid polymorphism. Overexpression of H1.1 in fibroblasts accelerates cell cycle progression.
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Interview – Savant Thakur
Savant Thakur was a Ph.D. student in Professor Gordon S. Lynch’s lab (The University of Melbourne) working towards understanding the mechanisms of defective muscle repair in muscle diseases and wasting disorders. Sadly, Savant passed away on June 16, 2019 and so one of his supervisors, Professor Lynch, spoke to BiO about Savant's work and character.
A day in the life of a returning spider lab
Back in 2016, two PhD students in Alistair McGregor’s lab at Oxford Brookes shared a day in the life of a spider lab on the Node. Four years and one pandemic later, we caught up with Alistair to find out how his lab has responded to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.