RESEARCH ARTICLES
- Unanchored ubiquitin chains do not lead to marked alterations in gene expression in Drosophila melanogaster
Summary: Our Drosophila studies indicate the lack of a marked, coordinated response towards unanchored poly-ubiquitin in flies, suggesting that untethered ubiquitin chains are not necessarily problematic in intact organisms.
- Re-evaluation of the causes of variation among mouse aggregation chimaeras
Summary: Analysis of published results suggests that two stochastic allocation steps in chimaeric mouse blastocysts, without the geometrical sampling mechanism proposed previously, could explain much of the variation among aggregation chimaeras.
- Numb regulates cell tension required for mammary duct elongation
Summary: Numb regulates cortical cell tension, which is necessary to maintain proper cell shape and packing density during mammary duct elongation.
- The optimal mechanical condition in stem cell-to-tenocyte differentiation determined with the homogeneous strain distributions and the cellular orientation control
Summary: We determined the relationship between the cyclic strain of culture membrane and cellular gene expression, from which the most effective strain for tenogenic differentiation of stem cells was elucidated.
- Cold adaptive potential of pine wood nematodes overwintering in plant hosts
Summary: The modifications in fatty acid composition and cryoprotectant levels, as elements of its changing physiology, play important roles in the overwintering success of the pine wood nematode.
- Physiological and behavioral stress responses to predators are altered by prior predator experience in juvenile qingbo (Spinibarbus sinensis)
Summary: A predator-naive carp can recognize its natural predator, and this recognition can be intensified by prior experience with a predator or the presence of a conspecific.
- Defining the dynamic chromatin landscape of mouse nephron progenitors
Summary: An investigation of the chromatin landscape of mouse nephron progenitors across their life span supports the view that old nephron progenitors are epigenetically poised for differentiation.
- Tpl2 is required for VEGF-A-stimulated signal transduction and endothelial cell function
Summary: Our study shows that the growth factor VEGF-A stimulates synthesis in endothelial cells of a proto-oncoprotein and protein kinase, Tpl2, and this is required for signal transduction and angiogenesis.
- Blockage of glutamine-dependent anaplerosis affects mTORC1/2 activity and ultimately leads to cellular senescence-like response
Summary: Glutamine-dependent anaplerosis is essential to cell growth and closely associated with mTORC1 activation and mTORC2 inactivation, and impedes cellular senescence particularly associated with p16INK4A.
- Dietary iron restriction leads to a reduction in hepatic fibrosis in a rat model of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis
Summary: We reveal that dietary iron restriction leads to a reduction in hepatic inflammation, oxidative stress and fibrosis in rats fed a choline-deficient L-amino acid-defined (CDAA) diet.
- Quantitative proteomic profiling of tumor-associated vascular endothelial cells in colorectal cancer
Summary: We provided large-scale proteomic profiling of vascular endothelial cells in colorectal cancer with quantitative information, a number of potential antiangiogenic targets and a novel vision in the angiogenesis bio-mechanism of CRC.
- Xenotransplantation of Human glioblastoma in Zebrafish larvae: in vivo imaging and proliferation assessment
Summary: The combination of light sheet fluorescent microscopy and flow cytometry allows assessment of proliferation and tumor growth of human GBM inside zebrafish, making it a useful model to identify effective anti-proliferative agents in a preclinical setting.
- Effects of chronic inhibition of Testosterone metabolism on cardiac remodeling after ischemia/reperfusion-induced myocardial damage in gonadectomized rats
Summary: Coronary ischemia/reperfusion-induced injury in gonadectomyzed male rats is decreased by testosterone, protection is increased by blocking its 5α-reduction and blocked by inhibition of its aromatization.
- Pioglitazone abolishes cognition impairments as well as BDNF and neurotensin disturbances in a rat model of autism
Summary: Exposure of rats to lipopolysaccharide during gestation induced autistic-like behaviors in the juvenile offspring. Daily postnatal pioglitazone treatment abolished cognition impairments as well as brain-derived neurotrophic factor and neurotensin disturbances.
- Meiosis in the scorpion Tityus silvestris: new insights into achiasmatic chromosomes
Summary: The scorpion Tityus silvestris, despite not presenting chiasma, performs initial stages of the recombination process and maintains the homologues synapse and different epigenetic modifications until late stages of meiosis I.
- Karyoevolution of Crenicichla heckel 1840 (Cichlidae, Perciformes): a process mediated by inversions
Summary: This paper has a great importance for understanding karyotype evolutionary dynamics in neotropical freshwater fish, focusing on repetitive DNA and the role of inversions in Crenicichla.
- Longitudinal characterization of diet-induced genetic murine models of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis with metabolic, histological, and transcriptomic hallmarks of human patients
Summary: We revealed that ob/ob mice under fast food diet (FFD) regime develop metabolic, histological and transcriptomic dysfunctions similar to human non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).
- Hedgehog signaling regulates osteoblast differentiation in zebrafish larvae through modulation of autophagy
Summary: Our report of an essential regulation role of hedgehog signaling and autophagy on osteoblast differentiation may contribute to research on bone development biology, hedgehog signaling and the autophagy pathway.
- Exosomal transfer of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell-derived miR-340 attenuates endometrial fibrosis
Summary: miR-340 in the exosomes released from BMSCs are transferred to endometrial cells, which regulate gene expression, repress endometrial fibrosis and promote functional recovery in rats subjected to mechanical damage.
- Physiological profile of undifferentiated bovine blastocyst-derived trophoblasts
Summary: Fundamental physiology of the bovine trophectoderm and hallmarks of the self-renewing undifferentiated ‘trophoblast stem cells’ are interpreted through systematic analysis of the cellular proteome and transcriptome.
- Intercellular transfer of P-glycoprotein mediates the formation of stable multi-drug resistance in human bladder cancer BIU-87 cells
Summary: Intercellular transfer of P-glycoprotein forms stable multi-drug resistance, which complements the formation mechanism of MDR and indicates that new treatment strategies need to be designed to overcome MDR.
METHODS AND TECHNIQUES
- SuperCLEM: an accessible correlative light and electron microscopy approach for investigation of neurons and glia in vitro
Summary: We developed an advanced, accessible and adaptable correlative light and electron microscopy pipeline for study of neuron-glia cultures and demonstrate its power by deriving accurate 3D models of myelinated axons.
- Beyond the whole-mount phenotype: high-resolution imaging in fluorescence-based applications on zebrafish
Summary: We propose a GMA embedding method that preserves fluorescent signals without the need for antibodies. The method complements whole-mount methods especially if advanced imaging technology is not readily available.
- Detection of changes in mitochondrial hydrogen sulfide in vivo in the fish model Poecilia mexicana (Poeciliidae)
Summary: We established the mitochondria-targeted mass spectrometry probe MitoA for H2S detection in vivo in the animal model Poecilia mexicana for the first time.
- High-yield isolation of menstrual blood-derived endometrial stem cells by direct red blood cell lysis treatment
Summary: MenSC isolation by directly lysing the red blood cells not only guarantees substantial amounts of superior MenSCs with low passage number, but also is time efficient and economical.
This issue
Other journals from The Company of Biologists
Cover article – Numb regulates cell tension required for mammary duct elongation
Image credit: Sudipa J. Chatterjee
Luke McCaffrey and colleagues show that Numb regulates cortical cell tension, which is necessary to maintain proper cell shape and packing density during mammary duct elongation.
The combination of light sheet fluorescent microscopy and flow cytometry allows assessment of proliferation and tumor growth of human GBM inside zebrafish, find Veronica Akle and team, making it a useful model to identify effective anti-proliferative agents in a preclinical setting.
Have you seen our interviews with the early-career first authors of our papers? Recently, we caught up with first authors Gigi Lau, Nick Barts and Xiao-Zhi Cheng.
Biology Open has strong credentials and publishing with us is easy and fast. BiO aims to provide rapid publication for scientifically sound observations and valid conclusions in developmental, cell, experimental and translational biology. Submit your paper here; you’ll be in good company.
Recent experimental biology highlights in BiO – Jia-Jia Xu, Shi-Jian Fu and Cheng Fu show that predator-naive carp show a typical stress response when exposed to predators and can instinctually discriminate between natural predators and non-predators.
Transfer to Biology Open
If your submission to one of our other journals, Development, Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Experimental Biology or Disease Models & Mechanisms, is unsuccessful, did you know you can transfer your paper and any reviews directly to Biology Open? The majority of papers transferred with reviews are accepted for publication. Find out how here.
preLights - Co-reviewing and ghostwriting by early career researchers in the peer review of manuscripts
Gautam Dey and Tessa Sinnige highlight a preprint from Gary McDowell et al. which discusses the widespread uncredited participation by early career researchers in peer review.