Current Biology最新文献

{"title":"Cell biology: A new dynamin superfamily protein remodels mitochondrial dynamics.","authors":"Hassan Hashimi","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.01.069","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.01.069","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Dynamin superfamily proteins mediate mitochondrial fusion in fungi and animals. A new study expands the taxonomic reach of this superfamily and provides insights into the roles these proteins play by investigating MfnL, a family member involved in trypanosomal mitochondrial dynamics. Importantly, MfnL occurs widely in eukaryotes and prokaryotes.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":"35 6","pages":"R218-R221"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143709245","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":"Facultative parthenogenesis.","authors":"Ellie B W Smith, David M Shuker","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.02.039","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.02.039","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ellie Smith and David Shuker introduce facultative parthenogenesis, the ability of organisms to alternate between sexual and asexual reproduction.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":"35 6","pages":"R204-R206"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143709297","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":"A common molecular mechanism underlying Cornelia de Lange and CHOPS syndromes.","authors":"Toyonori Sakata, Shoin Tei, Kosuke Izumi, Ian D Krantz, Masashige Bando, Katsuhiko Shirahige","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.01.044","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.01.044","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The cohesin protein complex is essential for the formation of topologically associating domains (TADs) and chromatin loops on interphase chromosomes.¹^,²^,³^,⁴^,⁵ For the loading onto chromosomes, cohesin requires the cohesin loader complex formed by NIPBL⁶^,⁷^,⁸ and MAU2.⁹ Cohesin localizes at enhancers and gene promoters with NIPBL in mammalian cells¹⁰^,¹¹^,¹²^,¹³^,¹⁴ and forms enhancer-promoter loops.¹⁵^,¹⁶ Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS) is a rare, genetically heterogeneous disorder affecting multiple organs and systems during development,¹⁷^,¹⁸ caused by mutations in the cohesin loader NIPBL gene (>60% of patients),¹⁹^,²⁰^,²¹^,²²^,²³ as well as in genes encoding cohesin, a chromatin regulator, BRD4, and cohesin-related factors.²⁴^,²⁵^,²⁶^,²⁷ We also reported CHOPS syndrome that phenotypically overlaps with CdLS²⁸^,²⁹ and is caused by gene mutations of a super elongation complex (SEC) core component, AFF4. Although these syndromes are associated with transcriptional dysregulation,²⁴^,²⁸^,³⁰^,³¹^,³² the underlying mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we provide the first comprehensive analysis of chromosome architectural changes caused by these mutations using cell lines derived from CdLS and CHOPS syndrome patients. In both patient cells, we found a decrease in cohesin, NIPBL, BRD4, and acetylation of lysine 27 on histone H3 (H3K27ac)³³^,³⁴^,³⁵ in most enhancers with enhancer-promoter loop attenuation. By contrast, TADs were maintained in both patient cells. These findings reveal a shared molecular mechanism in these syndromes and highlight unexpected roles for cohesin, cohesin loaders, and the SEC in maintaining the enhancer complexes. These complexes are crucial for recruiting transcriptional regulators, sustaining active histone modifications, and facilitating enhancer-promoter looping.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"1353-1363.e5"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143472314","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":"Pupillometric signature of implicit learning of statistical regularities.","authors":"Paola Binda, Chiara Terzo, Marco Turi, David C Burr","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.02.011","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.02.011","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Animals learn about the statistical regularities of their environment by a process of implicit learning, a powerful mechanism that may operate by mere exposure.¹ Implicit learning supports processes such as speech acquisition but also learning about the spatial and temporal structure of the world more generally, which is essential for effective interaction.² Here, we used a frequency-tagging technique to demonstrate a pupillometric signature of the learning of the temporal structure (pairing of numerosities) of sequential arrays. Although the numerosity pairings were unnoticed by all participants, the pupil responded clearly to their repetition frequency (1 Hz). Pupillometry allowed us to track the learning as it unfolded (the response became significant after less than 3 min of passive viewing), without ever directing attention to the temporal structure of the stimuli. Diverting attention away from the numerosity feature did not prevent learning, but it did affect the dynamics of the response acquisition. A clear pupillometric response was also elicited by pairing dyads of digits. In all our stimuli, the local features were randomized, implying that learning successfully generalized across stimuli that were locally different and only acquired a temporal structure once their global statistics (overall shape or numerosity) were extracted.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"1431-1435.e2"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11951917/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143572522","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":"Cadherin 4 assembles a family of color-preferring retinal circuits that respond to light offset.","authors":"Aline Giselle Rangel Olguin, Pierre-Luc Rochon, Catherine Theriault, Thomas Brown, Houwen Yao, Michel Cayouette, Erik P Cook, Arjun Krishnaswamy","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.02.008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.02.008","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Retinal interneurons and projection neurons (retinal ganglion cells, RGCs) connect in specific combinations in a specialized neuropil called the inner plexiform layer (IPL). The IPL is divided into multiple sublaminae, with neurites of each neuronal type confined to one or a few layers. This laminar specificity is a major determinant of circuit specificity and circuit function. Using a combination of approaches, we show that RGCs targeting IPL sublaminae 1 and 3a (s1-s3a) express the cell adhesion molecule cadherin 4 (Cdh4). Using calcium imaging and iterative immunostaining, we classified Cdh4 RGCs into nine types that each encode unique aspects of dark visual stimuli. Cdh4 loss selectively disrupted the layer targeting of these RGCs, reduced their synaptic inputs from interneurons, and severely altered their visual responses. Overexpression of Cdh4 in other retinal neurons directed their neurites to s1-s3a through homophilic interactions. Taken together, these results demonstrate that Cdh4 is a novel layer-targeting system for nearly a quarter of all RGCs.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"1298-1310.e7"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143623879","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":"Rho/Rok-dependent regulation of actomyosin contractility at tricellular junctions restricts epithelial permeability in Drosophila.","authors":"Thea Jacobs, Jone Isasti Sanchez, Steven Reger, Stefan Luschnig","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.01.043","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.01.043","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cell contacts in epithelia are remodeled to regulate paracellular permeability and to control the passage of migrating cells, but how barrier function is modulated while preserving epithelial integrity is not clear. In the follicular epithelium of Drosophila ovaries, tricellular junctions (TCJs) open transiently in a process termed patency to allow passage of externally produced yolk proteins for uptake by the oocyte. Here, we show that modulation of actomyosin contractility at cell vertices controls TCJ permeability. Before patency, circumferential actomyosin bundles are anchored at apical follicle cell vertices, where tension-sensing junctional proteins, Rho-associated kinase (Rok), and active myosin II accumulate and maintain vertices closed. TCJ opening is initiated by redistribution of myosin II from circumferential bundles to the medial zone, accompanied by decreasing tension on vertices. This transition requires activation of Cofilin-dependent filamentous actin (F-actin) disassembly by the phosphatase Slingshot and myosin II inactivation by myosin light-chain phosphatase and is counteracted by Rok. Accordingly, constitutive activation of myosin or of Rho signaling prevents vertex opening, whereas reduced myosin II or Rok activity causes excessive vertex opening. Thus, the opening of intercellular gaps in the follicular epithelium relies on relaxation of actomyosin contractility rather than active actomyosin-based pulling forces. Conversely, F-actin assembly is required for closing intercellular gaps after patency. Our findings are consistent with a force transduction model in which TCJ integrity is maintained by vertex-anchored contractile actomyosin. We propose that the cell-type-specific organization of actomyosin at cell vertices determines the mode of contractility-dependent regulation of epithelial permeability.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"1181-1196.e5"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143448537","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":"Rho GTPase dynamics distinguish between models of cortical excitability.","authors":"Dominic Chomchai, Marcin Leda, Adriana Golding, George von Dassow, William M Bement, Andrew B Goryachev","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.02.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.02.003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Rho GTPases pattern the cell cortex in a variety of fundamental cell-morphogenetic processes, including division, wound repair, and locomotion. It has recently become apparent that this patterning arises from the ability of the Rho GTPases to self-organize into static and migrating spots, contractile pulses, and propagating waves in cells from yeasts to mammals.¹ These self-organizing Rho GTPase patterns have been explained by a variety of theoretical models that require multiple interacting positive and negative feedback loops. However, it is often difficult, if not impossible, to discriminate between different models simply because the available experimental data do not simultaneously capture the dynamics of multiple molecular concentrations and biomechanical variables at fine spatial and temporal resolution. Specifically, most studies typically provide either the total Rho GTPase signal or the Rho GTPase activity, as reported by various sensors, but not both. Therefore, it remains largely unknown how membrane accumulation of Rho GTPases (i.e., Rho membrane enrichment) is related to Rho activity. Here, we dissect the dynamics of RhoA by simultaneously imaging both total RhoA and active RhoA in propagating waves of Rho activity and F-actin polymerization.²^,³^,⁴^,⁵ We find that within nascent waves, accumulation of active RhoA precedes that of total RhoA, and we exploit this finding to distinguish between two popular theoretical models previously used to explain propagating cortical Rho waves.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"1414-1421.e4"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143515063","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":"Reward expectation and receipt differentially modulate the spiking of accumbens D1+ and D2+ neurons.","authors":"T W Faust, A Mohebi, J D Berke","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.02.007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.02.007","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The nucleus accumbens (NAc) helps govern motivation to pursue reward. Two distinct sets of NAc projection neurons-expressing dopamine D1 vs. D2 receptors-are thought to promote and suppress motivated behaviors, respectively. However, support for this conceptual framework is limited: in particular, the spiking patterns of these distinct cell types during motivated behavior have been largely unknown. Using optogenetic tagging, we recorded the spiking of identified D1+ and D2+ neurons in the NAc core as unrestrained rats performed an operant task in which motivation to initiate work tracks recent reward rate. D1+ neurons preferentially increased firing as rats initiated trials and fired more when reward expectation was higher. By contrast, D2+ cells preferentially increased firing later in the trial, especially in response to reward delivery-a finding not anticipated from current theoretical models. Our results provide new evidence for the specific contribution of NAc D1+ cells to self-initiated approach behavior and will spur updated models of how D2+ cells contribute to learning.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"1285-1297.e3"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143531334","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":"A neural computational framework for face processing in the human temporal lobe.","authors":"Runnan Cao, Jie Zhang, Jie Zheng, Yue Wang, Peter Brunner, Jon T Willie, Shuo Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.02.063","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.02.063","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A key question in cognitive neuroscience is how unified identity representations emerge from visual inputs. Here, we recorded intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) from the human ventral temporal cortex (VTC) and medial temporal lobe (MTL), as well as single-neuron activity in the MTL, to demonstrate how dense feature-based representations in the VTC are translated into sparse identity-based representations in the MTL. First, we characterized the spatiotemporal neural dynamics of face coding in the VTC and MTL. The VTC, particularly the fusiform gyrus, exhibits robust axis-based feature coding. Remarkably, MTL neurons encode a receptive field within the VTC neural feature space, constructed using VTC neural axes, thereby bridging dense feature and sparse identity representations. We further validated our findings using recordings from a macaque. Lastly, inter-areal interactions between the VTC and MTL provide the physiological basis of this computational framework. Together, we reveal the neurophysiological underpinnings of a computational framework that explains how perceptual information is translated into face identities.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143673597","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":"Bats resolve conflicting sensory information for individual recognition.","authors":"Mirjam Knörnschild, Martina Nagy, Danilo Russo","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.02.060","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.02.060","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Recognizing conspecifics individually is paramount in shaping animal societies,¹^,²^,³^,⁴^,⁵^,⁶^,⁷^,⁸ and vocal signals can play an important role in this process.⁹^,¹⁰^,¹¹^,¹² Humans¹³ and some other species¹⁴^,¹⁵^,¹⁶^,¹⁷^,¹⁸ identify individuals by integrating information from different sensory modalities. This ability can facilitate stable relationships, kin recognition, and cooperative interactions.⁵^,⁶^,⁷^,⁸ Studies of individual recognition in wild animals remain rare.¹⁹^,²⁰^,²¹ Here, we present experimental evidence that wild greater sac-winged bats, Saccopteryx bilineata, a species with stable social groups, high roost fidelity, and a preference for well-lit day-roosts,²²^,²³ recognize individual group members. In many species,²⁴^,²⁵^,²⁶^,²⁷^,²⁸^,²⁹ including bats,³⁰^,³¹^,³²^,³³^,³⁴ individuals produce distress calls when physically constrained by a predator. We show that distress calls of S. bilineata encode individual signatures. Further, we conducted playback experiments at the day-roosts to test for individual recognition. We used a violation-of-expectation paradigm in which the subject is presented with information for individual identification aligning or conflicting with one another.¹⁷ When individual recognition occurs, the subject may show heightened attention to conflicting information¹⁷^,¹⁹^,²¹ or the plausible association.¹⁸^,³⁵^,³⁶ Remarkably, roosting bats only approached the source of a distress call under plausible conditions-when the supposed caller was absent from the roost. When confronted with an impossibility-the supposed caller was in the roost and its voice simultaneously came from elsewhere-bats ignored the playback entirely. This striking ability to detect and reject such inconsistencies reveals a high level of cognitive sophistication, as these bats reconcile what they see or smell with what they hear to assess the reality of a situation.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143709223","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}