{"title":"Legumes and Linguistics: Translating Mendel for the Twenty-First Century.","authors":"Kersten Hall, Staffan Müller-Wille","doi":"10.1101/cshperspect.a041811","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a041811","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Gregor Mendel's seminal publication, \"Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden\" (\"Experiments on Plant Hybrids\"), which appeared in 1866, is regarded as one of the founding documents of genetics and has therefore been translated several times. In 2016, with the support of the British Society for the History of Science (BSHS), we produced a new online translation of Mendel's paper, alongside a facsimile and transcription of the original German text and an extensive commentary that offered historical and linguistic insights into nearly every sentence. The translation and commentary were made available on the BSHS website and 4 years later were published as a book by Masaryk University Press. In this paper, we build on the introduction to our translation to reflect and include some important developments in the scholarship around Mendel that have taken place since the translation was first published.</p>","PeriodicalId":10494,"journal":{"name":"Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142343017","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Telomerase in Cancer Therapeutics.","authors":"Silvia Siteni, Anthony Grichuk, Jerry W Shay","doi":"10.1101/cshperspect.a041703","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a041703","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>While silent in normal differentiated human tissues, telomerase is reactivated in most human cancers. Thus, telomerase is an almost universal oncology target. This update describes preclinical and clinical advancements using a variety of approaches to target telomerase. These include direct telomerase inhibitors, G-quadruplex DNA-interacting ligands, telomerase-based vaccine platforms, telomerase promoter-driven attenuated viruses, and telomerase-mediated telomere targeting approaches. While imetelstat has been recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), several other approaches are in late-stage clinical development. The pros and cons of the major approaches will be reviewed.</p>","PeriodicalId":10494,"journal":{"name":"Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142343019","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Dorothy P Schafer, Beth Stevens, Mariko L Bennett, Frederick C Bennett
{"title":"Role of Microglia in Central Nervous System Development and Plasticity.","authors":"Dorothy P Schafer, Beth Stevens, Mariko L Bennett, Frederick C Bennett","doi":"10.1101/cshperspect.a041810","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a041810","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The nervous system comprises a remarkably diverse and complex network of cell types, which must communicate with one another with speed, reliability, and precision. Thus, the developmental patterning and maintenance of these cell populations and their connections with one another pose a rather formidable task. Emerging data implicate microglia, the resident myeloid-derived cells of the central nervous system (CNS), in spatial patterning and synaptic wiring throughout the healthy, developing, and adult CNS. Importantly, new tools to specifically manipulate microglia function have revealed that these cellular functions translate, on a systems level, to effects on overall behavior. In this review, we give a historical perspective of work to identify microglia function in the healthy CNS, and highlight exciting new discoveries about their contributions to CNS development, maintenance, and plasticity.</p>","PeriodicalId":10494,"journal":{"name":"Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142343018","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gerard Crowley, David Attwell, Hemali Phatnani, Harald Sontheimer, Soyon Hong
{"title":"Glia in Neurodegenerative Disease","authors":"Gerard Crowley, David Attwell, Hemali Phatnani, Harald Sontheimer, Soyon Hong","doi":"10.1101/cshperspect.a041375","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a041375","url":null,"abstract":"It is becoming increasingly clear that the dominant, century-old neurocentric view of neurodegeneration is insufficient to explain why certain neurons degenerate, in particular with aging. Genetic studies in patient populations as well as mechanistic and functional studies in animal models altogether implicate nonneuronal cells, especially glia, to play more than bystander roles in neurodegeneration. Throughout the life span, neuronal function and homeostasis are modulated by glia, the functions of which become even more critical with aging. This review highlights key emerging concepts of the role of glia in neurodegeneration.","PeriodicalId":10494,"journal":{"name":"Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2024-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142253966","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Glial Malignancies","authors":"Suzanne J. Baker, Hui Zong, Michelle Monje","doi":"10.1101/cshperspect.a041373","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a041373","url":null,"abstract":"Gliomas comprise a diverse spectrum of related tumor subtypes with varying biological and molecular features and clinical outcomes. Advances in detailed genetic and epigenetic characterizations along with an appreciation that subtypes associated with developmental origins, including brain location and patient age, have shifted glioma classification from the historical reliance on histopathological features to updated categories incorporating molecular signatures and spatiotemporal incidence. Within a subtype, individual gliomas show cellular heterogeneity, generally containing subpopulations resembling different types of normal glial and progenitor cells. In addition to tumor-autonomous mechanisms of aberrant growth regulation driven by genetic mutations and signaling between tumor cells, interactions with the tumor microenvironment, including neurons, astrocytes, oligodendrocyte precursor cells, and the immune microenvironment play important roles in driving glioma growth and influencing response to treatment. The emerging understanding of the complex contributions of normal brain to glioma growth represents new opportunities for therapeutic advances.","PeriodicalId":10494,"journal":{"name":"Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2024-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142253968","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Biology of Glia","authors":"Beth Stevens, Kelly R. Monk, Marc R. Freeman","doi":"10.1101/cshperspect.a041809","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a041809","url":null,"abstract":"Glial cells play critical roles in the nervous system. Rather than being passive support cells as long thought, they are highly active participants. Recent work has shed new light on their many functions, include regulation of synapse formation and function, control of neural circuits, and neuro-immune interactions. It is also shedding light on the part they play in neurodegenerative diseases and malignancies such as glioma, as well as the process of axonal regeneration and CNS repair.","PeriodicalId":10494,"journal":{"name":"Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology","volume":"117 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2024-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142253967","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Artificial Intelligence Learns Protein Prediction.","authors":"Michael Heinzinger, Burkhard Rost","doi":"10.1101/cshperspect.a041458","DOIUrl":"10.1101/cshperspect.a041458","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>From <i>AlphaGO</i> over <i>StableDiffusion</i> to <i>ChatGPT</i>, the recent decade of exponential advances in artificial intelligence (AI) has been altering life. In parallel, advances in computational biology are beginning to decode the language of life: <i>AlphaFold2</i> leaped forward in protein structure prediction, and protein language models (pLMs) replaced expertise and evolutionary information from multiple sequence alignments with information learned from reoccurring patterns in databases of billions of proteins without experimental annotations other than the amino acid sequences. None of those tools could have been developed 10 years ago; all will increase the wealth of experimental data and speed up the cycle from idea to proof. AI is affecting molecular and medical biology at giant steps, and the most important might be the leap toward more powerful protein design.</p>","PeriodicalId":10494,"journal":{"name":"Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11368192/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141300239","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ken A Thompson, Yaniv Brandvain, Jenn M Coughlan, Kira E Delmore, Hannah Justen, Catherine R Linnen, Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos, Catherine A Rushworth, Hilde Schneemann, Molly Schumer, Rike Stelkens
{"title":"The Ecology of Hybrid Incompatibilities.","authors":"Ken A Thompson, Yaniv Brandvain, Jenn M Coughlan, Kira E Delmore, Hannah Justen, Catherine R Linnen, Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos, Catherine A Rushworth, Hilde Schneemann, Molly Schumer, Rike Stelkens","doi":"10.1101/cshperspect.a041440","DOIUrl":"10.1101/cshperspect.a041440","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ecologically mediated selection against hybrids, caused by hybrid phenotypes fitting poorly into available niches, is typically viewed as distinct from selection caused by epistatic Dobzhansky-Muller hybrid incompatibilities. Here, we show how selection against transgressive phenotypes in hybrids manifests as incompatibility. After outlining our logic, we summarize current approaches for studying ecology-based selection on hybrids. We then quantitatively review QTL-mapping studies and find traits differing between parent taxa are typically polygenic. Next, we describe how verbal models of selection on hybrids translate to phenotypic and genetic fitness landscapes, highlighting emerging approaches for detecting polygenic incompatibilities. Finally, in a synthesis of published data, we report that trait transgression-and thus possibly extrinsic hybrid incompatibility in hybrids-escalates with the phenotypic divergence between parents. We discuss conceptual implications and conclude that studying the ecological basis of hybrid incompatibility will facilitate new discoveries about mechanisms of speciation.</p>","PeriodicalId":10494,"journal":{"name":"Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11368197/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139048453","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Leon C.D. Smyth, Natalie Beschorner, Maiken Nedergaard, Jonathan Kipnis
{"title":"Cellular Contributions to Glymphatic and Lymphatic Waste Clearance in the Brain","authors":"Leon C.D. Smyth, Natalie Beschorner, Maiken Nedergaard, Jonathan Kipnis","doi":"10.1101/cshperspect.a041370","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a041370","url":null,"abstract":"Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) bathes and cushions the brain; however, it also serves a major role in the clearance of metabolic wastes and in the distribution of glucose, lipids, and amino acids. Unlike every other organ in the body, the brain parenchyma lacks a traditional lymphatic system to drain fluids and central nervous system (CNS) antigens. It was historically assumed that all brain wastes were removed by endogenous processing, such as phagocytosis and autophagy, while excess fluids drained directly into the blood. However, the twin discoveries of the glial-lymphatic (glymphatic) system and meningeal lymphatics have transformed our understanding of brain waste clearance. The glymphatic system describes the movement of fluids through the subarachnoid space (SAS), the influx along periarterial spaces into the brain parenchyma, and the ultimate efflux back into the SAS along perivenous spaces where it comes into direct contact with the meningeal lymphatics. The dura mater of the meninges contains a bona fide lymphatic network that can drain CSF that has entered the dura. Together, these pathways provide insights into the clearance of molecules and fluids from the brain, and show that the CNS is physically connected to the adaptive immune system. Here, we outline the glymphatic and lymphatic systems, and describe the cellular components that are important to their function.","PeriodicalId":10494,"journal":{"name":"Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2024-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141933294","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Stefano Schiaffino, Francesco Chemello, Carlo Reggiani
{"title":"The Diversity of Skeletal Muscle Fiber Types","authors":"Stefano Schiaffino, Francesco Chemello, Carlo Reggiani","doi":"10.1101/cshperspect.a041477","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a041477","url":null,"abstract":"The widespread presence of slow-red and fast-white muscles in all vertebrates supports the evolutionary advantage of having two types of motors available for animal movement—a slow economical motor used for most activities, and a fast energetically costly motor used for rapid movements and emergency actions, and actions that require a lot of force. Skeletal muscles are composed of multiple fiber types whose structural and functional properties have only in part been characterized. Further progress in this field is mainly occurring along two directions: Multiomics approaches are providing a global picture of the molecular composition of muscle fibers up to the single fiber and single nucleus level. Signaling studies are identifying many transcription factors and pathways controlling fiber-type specification. These new data should now be integrated into a wider whole-body context by defining the matching between muscle fiber and motor neuron heterogeneity in the neuromuscular system, as well as the relevance of muscle fiber types in systemic homeostatic functions, including metabolism and thermogenesis.","PeriodicalId":10494,"journal":{"name":"Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology","volume":"74 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2024-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141933436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}