Dendrochronology: Large datasets help explain when and how trees grow but not why
Curr Biol. 2024 Mar 25;34(6):R237-R239. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.01.051.ABSTRACTA meta-analysis of a large dataset of wood cell formation observations from several tree species in the Northern Hemisphere suggests that the 5th of June is favorable for cell division and enlargement, while the summer solstice promotes cell wall thickening.PMID:38531314 | DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2024.01.051 (Source: Current Biology)
Source: Current Biology - March 26, 2024 Category: Biology Authors: Paolo Cherubini Source Type: research
Self-recognition: From touching the body to knowing the self
Curr Biol. 2024 Mar 25;34(6):R239-R241. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.007.ABSTRACTRecognizing oneself in a mirror is a classic test of self-concept. A new study has revealed the perceptual-motor foundations of conceptual self-knowledge: infants' success in the mirror test was accelerated after touching a tactile stimulus while viewing themselves in a mirror.PMID:38531315 | DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.007 (Source: Current Biology)
Source: Current Biology - March 26, 2024 Category: Biology Authors: Karen E Adolph Catherine S Tamis-LeMonda Source Type: research
Sexual reproduction: Is the genetic pathway for female germ cell specification conserved in land plants?
Curr Biol. 2024 Mar 25;34(6):R241-R244. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.01.062.ABSTRACTLand plants share several core factors responsible for female gametophyte development, despite their differing structures and developmental programs. New work providing molecular dissection of reproductive phases in non-angiosperm plants is a powerful tool for elucidating the underlying genetic network.PMID:38531316 | DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2024.01.062 (Source: Current Biology)
Source: Current Biology - March 26, 2024 Category: Biology Authors: Emiko Yoro Keiko Sakakibara Source Type: research
Cancer cell invasion: Caveolae and invadosomes are partners in crime
Curr Biol. 2024 Mar 25;34(6):R244-R246. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.006.ABSTRACTDuring cancer progression, tumor cells need to disseminate by remodeling the extracellular tumor matrix. A recent study sheds light on the intricate cooperation between caveolae and invadosomes that facilitates the spread of cancer cells.PMID:38531317 | DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.006 (Source: Current Biology)
Source: Current Biology - March 26, 2024 Category: Biology Authors: Laura Sotodosos-Alonso Miguel A Del Pozo Source Type: research
Pathogen evolution: Protective microbes act as a double-edged sword
Curr Biol. 2024 Mar 25;34(6):R247-R249. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.013.ABSTRACTVaccines and infection can sometimes cause incomplete immunity, which allows for pathogen re-infection with decreased disease severity but also contributes to the evolution of pathogen virulence. A new study demonstrates that incomplete immunity from resident protective microbes results in similar evolutionary trajectories.PMID:38531318 | DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.013 (Source: Current Biology)
Source: Current Biology - March 26, 2024 Category: Biology Authors: Hala Tamim El Jarkass Aaron W Reinke Source Type: research
Sensory ecology: Uncovering the neural basis of settlement in a marine larva
Curr Biol. 2024 Mar 25;34(6):R249-R251. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.019.ABSTRACTMarine larvae must sense various environmental cues to find a suitable spot where they can settle and metamorphose. New work identifies the specific neurons that transduce these cues in the larva of Ciona, a non-vertebrate chordate.PMID:38531319 | DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.019 (Source: Current Biology)
Source: Current Biology - March 26, 2024 Category: Biology Authors: Alberto Stolfi Source Type: research
Ecology: A few species dominate forest tree abundance pan-tropically
Curr Biol. 2024 Mar 25;34(6):R251-R254. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.016.ABSTRACTAn analysis of over 1 million old-growth tropical forest trees reveals that ∼2.2% of species comprise 50% of the individuals in Africa, Amazonia, and Southeast Asia, suggesting that the ecological mechanisms underpinning tree community assembly are ubiquitous across the tropics.PMID:38531320 | DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.016 (Source: Current Biology)
Source: Current Biology - March 26, 2024 Category: Biology Authors: David P Edwards Robert W Davies Mike R Massam Source Type: research
Ecosystem restoration: Healing blasts from the past
Curr Biol. 2024 Mar 25;34(6):R254-R256. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.012.ABSTRACTBlast fishing reduces coral reefs to fields of rubble. A new study of a project to restore blast-fished reefs reveals rapid recovery of reef carbonate budgets and reef health but highlights that further work is needed to restore coral biodiversity.PMID:38531321 | DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.012 (Source: Current Biology)
Source: Current Biology - March 26, 2024 Category: Biology Authors: Liam Lachs Source Type: research
Sensory neurobiology: Muscles power pheromone sensation
Curr Biol. 2024 Mar 25;34(6):R257-R259. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.020.ABSTRACTWhile we understand how the five main sensory organs enable and facilitate stimulus detection, little is known about how the vomeronasal organ enables pheromone sensation. A new study finds specialized muscles poised to coordinate stimulus delivery, dynamics, and arousal.PMID:38531322 | DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.020 (Source: Current Biology)
Source: Current Biology - March 26, 2024 Category: Biology Authors: Jennifer Jensen Lisa Stowers Source Type: research
The WIP6 transcription factor TOO MANY LATERALS specifies vein type in C < sub > 4 < /sub > and C < sub > 3 < /sub > grass leaves
Curr Biol. 2024 Mar 19:S0960-9822(24)00303-8. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.03.007. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTGrass leaves are invariantly strap shaped with an elongated distal blade and a proximal sheath that wraps around the stem. Underpinning this shape is a scaffold of leaf veins, most of which extend in parallel along the proximo-distal leaf axis. Differences between species are apparent both in the vein types that develop and in the distance between veins across the medio-lateral leaf axis. A prominent engineering goal is to increase vein density in leaves of C3 photosynthesizing species to facilitate the introduction ...
Source: Current Biology - March 26, 2024 Category: Biology Authors: Daniela Vlad Maricris Zaidem Chiara Perico Olga Sedelnikova Samik Bhattacharya Jane A Langdale Source Type: research
Ancestry dynamics and trait selection in a designer cat breed
Curr Biol. 2024 Mar 21:S0960-9822(24)00304-X. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.075. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe Bengal cat breed was developed from intercrosses between the Asian leopard cat, Prionailurus bengalensis, and the domestic cat, Felis catus, with a last common ancestor approximately 6 million years ago. Predicted to derive ∼94% of their genome from domestic cats, regions of the leopard cat genome are thought to account for the unique pelage traits and ornate color patterns of the Bengal breed, which are similar to those of ocelots and jaguars. We explore ancestry distribution and selection signatures in the Be...
Source: Current Biology - March 26, 2024 Category: Biology Authors: Christopher B Kaelin Kelly A McGowan Anthony D Hutcherson John M Delay Jeremiah H Li Sarah Kiener Vidhya Jagannathan Tosso Leeb William J Murphy Gregory S Barsh Source Type: research
Learning leaves a memory trace in motor cortex
Curr Biol. 2024 Mar 21:S0960-9822(24)00298-7. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.03.003. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTHow are we able to learn new behaviors without disrupting previously learned ones? To understand how the brain achieves this, we used a brain-computer interface (BCI) learning paradigm, which enables us to detect the presence of a memory of one behavior while performing another. We found that learning to use a new BCI map altered the neural activity that monkeys produced when they returned to using a familiar BCI map in a way that was specific to the learning experience. That is, learning left a "memory trace" in the...
Source: Current Biology - March 26, 2024 Category: Biology Authors: Darby M Losey Jay A Hennig Emily R Oby Matthew D Golub Patrick T Sadtler Kristin M Quick Stephen I Ryu Elizabeth C Tyler-Kabara Aaron P Batista Byron M Yu Steven M Chase Source Type: research
Prolonged faunal turnover in earliest ants revealed by North American Cretaceous amber
Curr Biol. 2024 Mar 18:S0960-9822(24)00241-0. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.058. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTAll ∼14,000 extant ant species descended from the same common ancestor, which lived ∼140-120 million years ago (Ma).1,2 While modern ants began to diversify in the Cretaceous, recent fossil evidence has demonstrated that older lineages concomitantly occupied the same ancient ecosystems.3 These early-diverging ant lineages, or stem ants, left no modern descendants; however, they dominated the fossil record throughout the Cretaceous until their ultimate extinction sometime around the K-Pg boundary. Even as stem ant...
Source: Current Biology - March 23, 2024 Category: Biology Authors: Christine Sosiak Pierre Cockx Pablo Aragon és Suarez Ryan McKellar Phillip Barden Source Type: research
New Canadian amber deposit fills gap in fossil record near end-Cretaceous mass extinction
Curr Biol. 2024 Mar 21:S0960-9822(24)00257-4. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.03.001. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTAmber preserves an exceptional record of tiny, soft-bodied organisms and chemical environmental signatures, elucidating the evolution of arthropod lineages and the diversity, ecology, and biogeochemistry of ancient ecosystems. However, globally, fossiliferous amber deposits are rare in the latest Cretaceous and surrounding the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction.1,2,3,4,5 This faunal gap limits our understanding of arthropod diversity and survival across the extinction boundary.2,6 Contrasting hypotheses prop...
Source: Current Biology - March 23, 2024 Category: Biology Authors: Elyssa J T Loewen Micheala A Balkwill J úlia Mattioli Pierre Cockx Maria Velez Caicedo Karlis Muehlenbachs Ralf Tappert Art Borkent Caelan Libke Michael S Engel Christopher Somers Ryan C McKellar Source Type: research
Neural evidence for referential understanding of object words in dogs
Curr Biol. 2024 Mar 19:S0960-9822(24)00171-4. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.029. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTUsing words to refer to objects in the environment is a core feature of the human language faculty. Referential understanding assumes the formation of mental representations of these words.1,2 Such understanding of object words has not yet been demonstrated as a general capacity in any non-human species,3 despite multiple behavior-based case reports.4,5,6,7,8,9,10 In human event-related potential (ERP) studies, object word knowledge is typically tested using the semantic violation paradigm, where words are presented ...
Source: Current Biology - March 23, 2024 Category: Biology Authors: Marianna Boros Lilla Magyari Bogl árka Morvai Ra úl Hernández-Pérez Shany Dror Attila Andics Source Type: research
