Current Biology最新文献

{"title":"Identification of an a-factor-like pheromone secreted by the heterothallic ascomycete Aspergillus fumigatus.","authors":"Sven Krappmann, Elisabeth Gabl, Tobias Pazen, Anna Heizmann, Stefanie Pöggeler, Thomas Krüger, Olaf Kniemeyer, Jürgen Einsiedel, Peter Gmeiner, Yidong Yu, Paul S Dyer, Scott E Baker, Minou Nowrousian","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.03.080","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.03.080","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Members of the fungal kingdom serve as models for numerous cellular processes, among them sexuality.¹ In heterothallic ascomycetes, mating-type systems ensure that only compatible isolates fuse to enter the sexual phase.²^,³^,⁴^,⁵^,⁶ This includes reciprocal secretion and recognition of pheromones, commonly termed α-factor and a-factor, which are processed from peptide precursors.⁷^,⁸^,⁹^,¹⁰ Identification of fungal mating pheromones and their cognate receptors has been achieved by homology searches¹¹^,¹²^,¹³^,¹⁴^,¹⁵^,¹⁶^,¹⁷; however, this approach had failed to detect a-factor-like pheromones from Eurotiomycetes,⁵^,¹⁸^,¹⁹^,²⁰^,²¹ a fungal group including medically and economically important species.²² Sexuality of the opportunistic pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus²³^,²⁴^,²⁵ is genetically determined by a bipolar mating-type system encoding MAT1-1-1 and MAT1-2-1 regulators.¹⁶^,²⁶^,²⁷^,²⁸^,²⁹^,³⁰ By analyzing transcriptome data from strains overexpressing the corresponding MAT genes,³¹ we identified a candidate pheromone precursor gene B (ppgB) to encode the elusive Eurotiomycete a-factor pheromone. Its deduced peptide is 24 aa in length and features a canonical CaaX farnesylation motif. Further analyses provided supporting evidence that PpgB is a prototype for the a-factor-like pheromone of the aspergilli, including expression of ppgB in a MAT1-2-1-dependent manner, and that an A. fumigatus ppgBΔ deletion strain was unable to mate and form fruiting bodies with a compatible partner. Inspection of Aspergillus genomes from members of the section Fumigati revealed high conservation of PpgB sequence as well as of the α-factor-like PpgA, indicating that incompatibility factors other than solely pheromone discrimination are responsible for speciation. The identification of the A. fumigatusa-factor-like pheromone closes a substantial knowledge gap with respect to cellular recognition and sexual propagation of Eurotiomycete fungi.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"2414-2423.e5"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143968934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An end-to-end model of active electrosensation.","authors":"Denis Turcu, Abigail N Zadina, L F Abbott, Nathaniel B Sawtell","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.03.074","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.03.074","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Weakly electric fish localize and identify objects by sensing distortions in a self-generated electric field. Fish can determine the resistance and capacitance of an object, for example, even though the field distortions being sensed are small and highly dependent on object distance and size. The neural computations underlying these remarkable behavioral capacities are poorly understood. We measured responses of electroreceptor afferents and constructed a filter-based model that accurately accounts for them. We also built models of the electric fields generated by the fish and of the distortions in these fields due to objects of different resistances and capacitances at different locations. Combining these models provides an accurate and efficient method for generating large artificial datasets simulating fish interacting with a wide variety of objects. Using these sets, we trained an artificial neural network (ANN), representing brain areas downstream of the electroreceptors, to extract the 3D location, size, and electrical properties of objects. Model performance is comparable to that of real fish in experimentally tested behavioral tasks. Performance is maximized if the ANN operates in two stages: first estimating object distance and size and then using this information to extract electrical properties. These results highlight the potential of end-to-end modeling for studies of electrosensation and suggest a specific form of modularity in electrosensory processing that can be tested experimentally.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"2295-2306.e4"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143971863","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Representations of personally familiar voices are better resolved in the brain.","authors":"Elise Kanber, Clare Lally, Raha Razin, Victor Rosi, Lúcia Garrido, Nadine Lavan, Carolyn McGettigan","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.03.081","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.03.081","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The human voice is highly flexible, allowing for diverse expression during communication,¹ but presents perceptual challenges through large acoustic variability.²^,³^,⁴^,⁵^,⁶^,⁷^,⁸^,⁹^,¹⁰^,¹¹ The ability to recognize an individual person's voice depends on the listener's ability to overcome this within-speaker variability to extract a single identity percept.²^,¹⁸ Previous work has found that this process is greatly assisted by familiarity,⁶^,⁹^,¹³ with evidence suggesting that more extensive and varied exposure to a voice is associated with the formation of a more robust mental representation of it.⁴^,⁸ Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with representational similarity analysis¹⁴ to characterize how personal familiarity with a voice is reflected in neural representations. We measured and compared brain responses with voices of differing familiarity-a personally familiar voice, a voice familiarized through lab training, and a new (untrained) voice-while listeners identified these voices from naturally varying, spontaneous speech clips. Personally familiar voices elicited brain response patterns in voice-, face-, and person-selective corticesthat showed higher within- and between-speaker dissimilarity, compared with lower-familiarity lab-trained and untrained voices. These findings indicated that representations for the sounds of personally familiar voices are better resolved from each other in the brain, and they align with other research reporting intelligibility advantages for speech produced by familiar talkers.¹⁵^,¹⁶^,¹⁷^,¹⁸ Overall, our findings suggest that extensive and varied exposure to personally familiar voices results in the development of finer-grained representations of those voices, which cannot be achieved via short-term lab training.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"2424-2432.e6"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143971865","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Functional imaging and connectome analyses reveal organizing principles of taste circuits in Drosophila.","authors":"Jinfang Li, Rabiah Dhaliwal, Molly Stanley, Pierre Junca, Michael D Gordon","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.04.035","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.04.035","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Taste is crucial for many innate and learned behaviors. In the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, taste impacts processes including feeding, oviposition, locomotion, mating, and memory formation. These diverse roles may necessitate the apparent distributed nature of taste responses across different circuits in the fly brain, leading to complexity that has hindered attempts to deduce unifying principles of taste processing and coding. Here, we combine information from the whole-brain connectome with functional calcium imaging to examine the neural representation of taste at early steps of processing. We find that the majority of taste-responsive cells in the subesophageal zone (SEZ), including local interneurons (SEZ-LNs) and projection neurons (SEZ-PNs) targeting the superior protocerebrum, are predicted to encode a single taste modality. This prediction is borne out by calcium imaging of cholinergic and GABAergic cells in the SEZ, as well as five representative SEZ-PNs. Although the connectome reveals some SEZ-PNs receiving direct inputs from sensory neurons, many receive primarily indirect taste inputs via cholinergic SEZ-LNs. These cholinergic SEZ-LNs appear to function as nodes to convey feedforward information to dedicated sets of morphologically similar SEZ-PNs. Together, these studies suggest a previously unappreciated logic and structure to fly taste circuits.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"2391-2405.e4"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143978494","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Region-specific nucleus accumbens dopamine signals encode distinct aspects of avoidance learning.","authors":"Gabriela C Lopez, Louis D Van Camp, Ryan F Kovaleski, Michael D Schaid, Venus N Sherathiya, Julia M Cox, Talia N Lerner","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.04.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.04.006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Avoidance learning-learning to avoid bad outcomes-is an essential survival behavior. Dopamine signals are widely observed in response to aversive stimuli, indicating they could play a role in learning about how to avoid these stimuli.¹^,²^,³^,⁴^,⁵ However, it is unclear what computations dopamine signals perform to support avoidance learning. Furthermore, substantial heterogeneity in dopamine responses to aversive stimuli has been observed across nucleus accumbens (NAc) subregions.³^,⁶^,⁷^,⁸ To understand how heterogeneous dopamine responses to aversive stimuli contribute to avoidance learning, we recorded NAc core (Core) and NAc ventromedial shell (vmShell) dopamine during a task in which mice could avoid a footshock punishment by moving to the opposite side of a 2-chamber apparatus during a 5-s warning cue. Both signals evolved substantially-but differently-with learning. We found that Core and vmShell dopamine signals responded oppositely to shocks at the beginning of training and oppositely to warning cues as cue-shock associations developed in mid-training. Core dopamine responses strengthen with learning and are especially evident during expert performance. vmShell dopamine responses to cues and shocks were present during early learning but were not sustained during expert performance. Our data support a model in which Core dopamine encodes prediction errors that guide the consolidation of avoidance learning, while vmShell dopamine guides initial cue-shock associations by signaling aversive salience.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"2433-2443.e5"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12092177/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143987581","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Animal behavior: Individual vocal recognition in bats.","authors":"John M Ratcliffe","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.03.070","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.03.070","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Several animals are able to recognize and discriminate between individuals based on various sensory cues. A new study shows that wild bats recognize individual group members by voice and tailor their responses accordingly.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":"35 10","pages":"R386-R388"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144110157","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Plant reproduction: Seed size gated by central cell fertilization.","authors":"Zijun Lan, Sheng Zhong, Li-Jia Qu","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.03.078","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.03.078","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Double fertilization produces the embryo and endosperm, the primary components of a seed. A recent study shows how central cell fertilization specifically initiates the opening of a vascular gate to ensure efficient allocation of maternal resources for optimal seed development.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":"35 10","pages":"R389-R391"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144110271","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Chimpanzee drumming shows rhythmicity and subspecies variation.","authors":"Vesta Eleuteri, Jelle van der Werff, Wytse Wilhelm, Adrian Soldati, Catherine Crockford, Nisarg Desai, Pawel Fedurek, Maegan Fitzgerald, Kirsty E Graham, Kathelijne Koops, Jill Pruetz, Liran Samuni, Katie Slocombe, Angela Stoeger, Michael L Wilson, Roman M Wittig, Klaus Zuberbühler, Henry D Camara, Gnan Mamy, Andrea Ravignani, Catherine Hobaiter","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.04.019","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.04.019","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Rhythmic percussion is present across human cultures and has been proposed as one of the earliest evolved forms of musical expression.¹ Key features of human rhythmic percussion include individual and regional variation, as well as structural features widespread across musical cultures, such as the use of non-random timing and isochrony (i.e., evenly spaced note onsets).²^,³^,⁴^,⁵ Comparative studies of drumming in our ape relatives contribute to understanding the evolutionary origins of human rhythmic percussion. In this context, large, diverse datasets allow testing for species-level universals and regional variation. Chimpanzees and bonobos, like humans, drum on instrumental substrates.²^,⁶^,⁷^,⁸^,⁹ Wild chimpanzees drum on resonant tree buttresses, showing individual variation during traveling and resting contexts, and often integrate drumming into their long-distance pant-hoot vocalizations.⁶^,⁷^,⁸ But whether wild chimpanzee drumming shows structural musical features and regional variation in rhythm or in its integration within pant-hoots remains unknown. We show that wild chimpanzees drum with non-random timing and isochrony, providing evidence that rhythmic drumming on instrumental substrates may have been present in our last common ancestor.² Furthermore, we found subspecies-level regional rhythmic variation, showing that western chimpanzees drum isochronously, while eastern chimpanzees drum by alternating shorter and longer inter-hit intervals. Western chimpanzees also produce more drumming hits, drum at a faster tempo, and integrate drumming earlier in the pant-hoot vocalization, typically during the rhythmic build-up phase. Chimpanzee buttress drumming shows both species-level structural features of human musicality and stable subspecies regional differences across diverse ecologies.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"2448-2456.e4"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143977177","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Avian photoreceptor homologies and the origin of double cones.","authors":"Yu Liu, Erica C Hurley, Yohey Ogawa, Maria Gause, Matthew B Toomey, Connie A Myers, Joseph C Corbo","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.02.040","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.02.040","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Birds possess the most complex photoreceptor system among vertebrates, with one rod and six cone types, including four single cones (violet, blue, green, and red) and two constituent cells of the double cone (DC-P and DC-A). The evolutionary relationships of avian photoreceptors to those of other vertebrate taxa have not been systematically explored. Here, we perform single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) on retinas of newly hatched chickens to trace cell-type homologies across species. Analysis of differentially expressed transcription factors (TFs) suggests that avian rods and single cone types correspond to cognate cell types in fish and placental mammals, whereas double cones have a distinct origin. We propose that DC-P arose from an ancestral red cone, as revealed by expression of the red cone cell fate determinants thyroid hormone receptor β (THRB) and SAMD7, whereas DC-A may have arisen from an ancestral blue cone, as suggested by expression of the blue cone TFs FOXQ2 and SKOR1. These expression signatures are shared by DC-P and DC-A of the green anole lizard (Anolis carolinensis), suggesting conservation throughout Sauropsida. Consistent with our hypothesis, CRISPR-mediated knockout of THRB causes loss of red cones and DC-P, but not DC-A, and the appearance of supernumerary rods and green cones, suggestive of direct transfating. Furthermore, cis-regulatory analysis suggests that separate enhancers control red cone opsin expression in DC-P and DC-A, consistent with distinct evolutionary origins. Taken together, our studies trace the evolutionary relationships of avian photoreceptors and suggest separate origins of DC-P and DC-A from ancestral red and blue cones, respectively.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"2215-2227.e6"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143981701","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Gastrulation: Lessons from the quail embryo.","authors":"Guilherme Ventura, Diana Pinheiro","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.04.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.04.001","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Early development relies on reciprocal interactions between embryonic and extraembryonic tissues, but how this interplay controls embryo shape remains unclear. New findings in quail show that divergent morphogenetic responses in embryonic and extraembryonic territories involve non-uniform force propagation.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":"35 10","pages":"R384-R386"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144110225","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}