RESEARCH ARTICLES
- Perturbation of maternal PIASy abundance disrupts zygotic genome activation and embryonic development via SUMOylation pathway
Summary: Maternal protein degradation is one developmental event leading to acquiring totipotency. PIASy is identified as a maternal protein that is degraded for accomplishing zygotic transcription and development.
- Tests of the chromatographic theory of olfaction with highly soluble odors: a combined electro-olfactogram and computational fluid dynamics study in the mouse
Summary: This paper casts doubt on the classical chromatographic theory of olfaction, showing there is no correlation between olfactory receptor spatial layout and odor solubility patterns, a necessary condition of the theory.
- Immune response of hibernating European bats to a fungal challenge
Summary: Our experimental immunological study on European bats provides new information on the functionality of the immune system in hibernation. For this we challenged bats with a fungal antigen and measured different immunological parameters.
- Heterogeneity and plasticity of porcine alveolar macrophage and pulmonary interstitial macrophage isolated from healthy pigs in vitro
Summary: The heterogeneity and plasticity of macrophages will be helpful for the understanding of pathologic mechanisms and the prevention of swine infectious disease.
- CLASP promotes microtubule bundling in metaphase spindle independently of Ase1/PRC1 in fission yeast
Summary: The conserved microtubule-associated protein CLASP/Peg1/Cls1 bundles microtubules of the metaphase spindle in fission yeast. Unlike its conventional role in anaphase, this CLASP function does not depend upon Ase1/PRC1.
- Growth and toxicity of Halomicronema metazoicum (Cyanoprokaryota, Cyanophyta) at different conditions of light, salinity and temperature
Summary: This is a contribution to understand toxigenic relationships between cyanobacteria and invertebrates because such interactions, still largely unexplored, may dramatically influence the ecology of several species associated with seagrass ecosystems.
- Cellular response to bacterial infection in the grasshopper Oxya chinensis
Summary: We examined the cellular response of Oxya chinensis against bacterial challenges. We showed that two types of haemocytes shared the duty of phagocytosis.
- Heparan sulfate negatively regulates intestinal stem cell proliferation in Drosophila adult midgut
Summary: Heparan sulfate chains in Drosophila adult intestinal stem cells negatively regulate stem cell proliferation and differentiation to control tissue homeostasis under physiological conditions.
- Long non-coding RNA SNHG1 indicates poor prognosis and facilitates disease progression in acute myeloid leukemia
Summary: Long non-coding RNA SNHG1 can facilitate the progression of acute myeloid leukemia by targeting an anti-tumor miR-101, and the upregulation of SNHG1 can predict poor prognosis in acute myeloid leukemia.
- Acid sphingomyelinase regulates the localization and trafficking of palmitoylated proteins
Summary: Acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) regulates palmitoylated protein trafficking and localization.
- Heterogeneous beta-catenin activation is sufficient to cause hepatocellular carcinoma in zebrafish
Summary: Here we show that expression of activated β-catenin in a subset of early hepatocytes is sufficient to drive liver tumorigenesis. Heterogeneity in β-catenin activation continues during HCC progression.
- Endurance exercise resistance to lipotoxic cardiomyopathy is associated with cardiac NAD+/dSIR2/PGC-1α pathway activation in old Drosophila
Summary: Exercise training prevents lipotoxic cardiomyopathy induced by a high-fat diet or cardiac dSir2 knockdown in old Drosophila.
- Restriction of mitochondrial calcium overload by mcu inactivation renders a neuroprotective effect in zebrafish models of Parkinson's disease
Summary: Mitochondrial calcium overload causes mitochondrial dysfunction in Parkinson's disease. Inactivation of mitochondrial calcium uniporter reverses mitochondrial calcium overload and rescues dopaminergic neurons in our zebrafish models of Parkinson's disease.
- Targeting of copper-trafficking chaperones causes gene-specific systemic pathology in Drosophila melanogaster: prospective expansion of mutational landscapes that regulate tumor resistance to cisplatin
Summary: We demonstrate the essential roles of Atox1 and CCS copper-trafficking chaperones in Drosophila development and aging. We also provide insights for their therapeutic exploitation as cisplatin regulators during cancer chemotherapy.
- Luminal-contact-inhibition of epithelial basal stem cell multipotency in prostate organogenesis and homeostasis
Summary: Lineage tracing shows that ablation of prostate luminal cells reactivates adult basal cell multipotency, while luminal–basal cell contact inhibits basal stem cell activities in organoids.
METHODS & TECHNIQUES
- Computational analysis of size, shape and structure of insect wings
Summary: We provide a set of simple quantitative measures to compare morphological variation in size, shape, and structure of insect wings across species, families and orders.
FIRST PERSON
This issue
Other journals from The Company of Biologists
Biology Open and COVID-19
We are aware that the COVID-19 pandemic is having an unprecedented impact on researchers worldwide. The Editors of all The Company of Biologists’ journals have been considering ways in which we can alleviate concerns that members of our community may have around publishing activities during this time. Read about the actions we are taking at this time.
Please don’t hesitate to contact the Editorial Office if you have any questions or concerns.
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.