RESEARCH ARTICLES
- Antimicrobial potential of actinomycetes isolated from the unexplored hot Merzouga desert and their taxonomic diversity
Summary: Merzouga sand dunes are among Morocco’s extreme environments. This unexplored ecosystem represents a habitat for the isolation of a high diversity of actinomycetes with antimicrobial potential and biotechnological applications.
- Terminalia fagifolia Mart. & Zucc. elicits vasorelaxation of rat thoracic aorta through nitric oxide and K+ channels dependent mechanism
Summary: The investigation of the relaxing effect of extract and fractions of the stem bark partition of Terminalia fagifolia on aortic rings is a pioneering study involving the participation of K+ channels, which demonstrates a potential alternative therapeutic method for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
- Zebrafish duox mutations provide a model for human congenital hypothyroidism
Summary: Zebrafish harbouring two loss-of-function alleles of the single duox gene exhibit various adult phenotypes reminiscent of human congenital hypothyroidism.
- Joint moments during sprinting in unilateral transfemoral amputees wearing running-specific prostheses
Summary: Asymmetric joint moment adaptations occur for unilateral transfemoral amputees to compensate for replacement of the biological leg with a passive prosthetic knee joint and running-specific prosthesis.
- Gcn5 histone acetyltransferase is present in the mitoplasts
Summary: In yeast mitochondria the Gcn5 protein is present in the mitoplasts and is localized in the inner mitochondrial membrane. Its deletion affects the mitochondrial phenotype and is related to a marked decrease of mitochondrial DNA content.
- Ultraviolet B-induced Otx2 expression in lens epithelial cells promotes epithelial–mesenchymal transition
Summary: UVB irradiation upregulates Otx2 in mouse lens epithelial cells. Otx2 overexpression induces the epithelial–mesenchymal transition and alters gene expression and characteristics of lens cells, likely contributing to cataract formation.
- Molecular characterization and overexpression of mnp6 and vp3 from Pleurotus ostreatus revealed their involvement in biodegradation of cotton stalk lignin
Summary: Pleurotus ostreatus mnp6 and vp3 could degrade cotton stalk lignin and may preferentially degrade S-lignin.
- n-3 PUFA biosynthesis by the copepod Apocyclops royi documented using fatty acid profile analysis and gene expression analysis
Summary: Here, we demonstrate n-3 PUFA biosynthesis in the copepod Apocyclops royi from Taiwanese aquaculture pond systems using fatty acid profiling and gene expression analysis.
- Microtubule stabilizer reveals requirement of Ca2+-dependent conformational changes of microtubules for rapid coiling of haptonema in haptophyte algae
Summary: Microscopy observations and pharmacological experiments revealed that the rapid coiling of a non-motor microtubule-based motile organelle, the haptonema, is explained by conformational changes of microtubules, including twisting and writhing.
- The Forkhead box F1 transcription factor inhibits collagen deposition and accumulation of myofibroblasts during liver fibrosis
Summary: The transcription factor FOXF1 is expressed in liver fibroblasts and regulates fibrosis by repressing pro-fibrotic genes. FOXF1 prevents aberrant extracellular matrix depositions during hepatic fibrosis.
- Low-dose ionizing radiation alleviates Aβ42-induced cell death via regulating AKT and p38 pathways in Drosophila Alzheimer's disease models
Summary: Low-dose ionizing radiation can reduce cell death by regulating AKT/p38 signaling pathway and improve Aβ42-induced symptoms in Drosophila Alzheimer's disease, suggesting that low-dose ionizing radiation may be applicable for treatment.
- Atypical septate junctions maintain the somatic enclosure around maturing spermatids and prevent premature sperm release in Drosophila testis
Summary: Septate junctions seal the somatic enclosure around maturing spermatids in Drosophila testis. The junction integrity, maintained by Dlg1 and NrxIV, is essential for keeping the somatic enclosure intact until the mature spermatids are released.
- The role of NF-κB and Elk-1 in the regulation of mouse ADAM17 expression
Summary: We show the involvement of ERK1/2 and NF-κB pathways in the stimulation of mouse Adam17 expression and determine functional Elk-1- and NF-κB binding sites in its promoter.
- Cux2 refines the forelimb field by controlling expression of Raldh2 and Hox genes
Summary: Cux2 in the lateral plate mesoderm refines the forelimb field via regulation of Raldh2 and Hoxb genes in chicken embryos.
METHODS AND TECHNIQUES
- Tracking diphyodont development in miniature pigs in vitro and in vivo
Summary: Little is known about diphyodont development in large animals. Our pilot trial characterized this gene expression and developed an alternative method to track diphyodont development in pigs.
This issue
Other journals from The Company of Biologists
Cover article – A solution to prevent secondary flow in adherent cell cultures
Peter Szaraz and his colleagues show that, although secondary flow in small scale cultures can crucially affect cell phenotype and function, a simple modification of the classical round-shaped cell culture vessels can minimize the adverse effect of secondary flow.
Josh Currie, Tatiana Sandoval-Guzmán and their co-workers study dermal Prrx1 enhancer-positive cells, which are injury-responsive fibroblasts, and demonstrate that they readily migrate into the wound bed and amplify on average 16-fold beyond their uninjured numbers.
Have you seen our interviews with the early-career first authors of our papers? Recently, we caught up with first authors Peter Szaraz, Josh Currie, Jeanette C. Perron, Louise Roberts and Qingting Hu.
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Recent disease mechanism highlights in BiO – Bernhard Weber and his team find that mice carrying the human Y227N mutation in the endogenous Best1 gene reveal a pathologic phenotype in testis. This provides an in vivo tool to evaluate therapeutic efficacies aimed at restoring protein function.
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preLights - Cross-kingdom recognition of bacterial small RNAs induces transgenerational pathogenic avoidance
Madhuja Samaddar highlights a preprint from Coleen Murphy’s lab, which uncovers how C. elegans pass on a learned avoidance of pathogenic Pseudomonas aeruginosa to four generations of its progeny!