Current Biology最新文献

{"title":"Multiple plastid losses within photosynthetic stramenopiles revealed by comprehensive phylogenomics.","authors":"Kristina X Terpis, Eric D Salomaki, Dovilė Barcytė, Tomáš Pánek, Heroen Verbruggen, Martin Kolisko, J Craig Bailey, Marek Eliáš, Christopher E Lane","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2024.11.065","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.11.065","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ochrophyta is a vast and morphologically diverse group of algae with complex plastids, including familiar taxa with fundamental ecological importance (diatoms or kelp) and a wealth of lesser-known and obscure organisms. The sheer diversity of ochrophytes poses a challenge for reconstructing their phylogeny, with major gaps in sampling and an unsettled placement of particular taxa yet to be tackled. We sequenced transcriptomes from 25 strategically selected representatives and used these data to build the most taxonomically comprehensive ochrophyte-centered phylogenomic supermatrix to date. We employed a combination of approaches to reconstruct and critically evaluate the relationships among ochrophytes. While generally congruent with previous analyses, the updated ochrophyte phylogenomic tree resolved the position of several taxa with previously uncertain placement and supported a redefinition of the classes Picophagea and Synchromophyceae. Our results indicated that the heterotrophic, plastid-lacking heliozoan Actinophrys sol is not a sister lineage of ochrophytes, as proposed recently, but rather phylogenetically nested among them, implying that it lacks a plastid due to loss. In addition, we found the heterotrophic ochrophyte Picophagus flagellatus to lack all hallmark plastid genes yet to exhibit mitochondrial proteins that seem to be genetic footprints of a lost plastid organelle. We thus document, for the first time, plastid loss in two separate ochrophyte lineages. Furthermore, by exploring eDNA data, we enrich the ochrophyte phylogenetic tree by identifying five novel uncultured class-level lineages. Altogether, our study provides a new framework for reconstructing trait evolution in ochrophytes and demonstrates that plastid loss is more common than previously thought.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142964282","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":"Opposite asymmetry in visual perception of humans and macaques.","authors":"Ekin Tünçok, Lynne Kiorpes, Marisa Carrasco","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2024.12.024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.12.024","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In human adults, visual perception varies throughout the visual field. Performance decreases with eccentricity¹^,² and varies around polar angle. At isoeccentric locations, performance is typically higher along the horizontal than vertical meridian (horizontal-vertical asymmetry [HVA]) and along the lower than the upper vertical meridian (vertical meridian asymmetry [VMA]).³^,⁴^,⁵^,⁶^,⁷^,⁸^,⁹^,¹⁰^,¹¹^,¹²^,¹³^,¹⁴^,¹⁵^,¹⁶^,¹⁷^,¹⁸^,¹⁹^,²⁰^,²¹^,²²^,²³ It is unknown whether the macaque visual system, the leading animal model for understanding human vision,²⁴^,²⁵ also exhibits these performance asymmetries. Here, we investigated whether and how visual field asymmetries differ between these two groups. Human adults and adult macaque monkeys (Macaca nemestrina) performed a two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) motion direction discrimination task for a target presented among distractors at isoeccentric locations. Both groups showed heterogeneous visual sensitivity around the visual field, but there were striking differences between them. Human observers showed a large VMA-their sensitivity was poorest at the upper vertical meridian-a weak horizontal-vertical asymmetry, and lower sensitivity at intercardinal locations. Macaque performance revealed an inverted VMA-their sensitivity was poorest in the lower vertical meridian. The opposite pattern of VMA in macaques and humans revealed in this study may reflect adaptive behavior by increasing discriminability at locations with greater relevance for visuomotor integration. This study reveals that performance also varies as a function of polar angle for monkeys, but in a different manner than in humans, and highlights the need to investigate species-specific similarities and differences in brain and behavior to constrain models of vision and brain function.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143002047","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":"Adjustable wind selectivity in shearwaters implies knowledge of the foraging landscape.","authors":"Stephanie M Harris, Charles M Bishop, Sarah Bond, Paul G Fernandes, Tim Guilford, Patrick J Lewin, Oliver Padget, Pete Robins, Will T Schneider, James J Waggitt, Sophie B Wilmes, Line S Cordes","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2024.12.017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.12.017","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Understanding the movements of highly mobile animals is challenging because of the many factors they must consider in their decision-making. Many seabirds, for example, are adapted to use winds to travel long distances at low energetic cost¹^,²^,³ but also potentially benefit from targeting specific foraging hotspots.⁴^,⁵^,⁶ To investigate how an animal makes foraging decisions, given the inevitable trade-off between these factors, we tracked over 600 foraging trips of breeding Manx shearwaters (Puffinus puffinus; N = 218 individuals) using GPS accelerometers. By first uncovering the relationships between wind and the flapping effort put into flight, we show that shearwaters, while generally wind selective, adjust their wind selectivity, apparently balancing flight costs against the benefits of travel toward known targets. This is supported by a number of scenarios that alter the balance between maximizing flight efficiency and goal-oriented flight. First, shearwaters exhibit lower wind selectivity during homing movement when constrained to target-driven navigation toward the colony. Second, when wind speeds are low, flight costs vary little with travel direction, which shearwaters respond to by reducing wind selectivity in their outbound commutes, again favoring target-driven movement toward presumably memorized foraging areas. Finally, birds are also less wind selective during longer continuous periods of flight, presumably also associated with target-oriented movement. Our findings reveal how an animal's foraging strategy can dynamically optimize the complex trade-off between efficient travel and accessing known foraging areas, implying the incorporation of prior knowledge of the cost-benefit landscape well beyond the range of what can be detected directly.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143002031","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":"ABA-auxin cascade regulates crop root angle in response to drought.","authors":"Yali Xiong, Xiaoyun Song, Poonam Mehra, Suhang Yu, Qiaoyi Li, Dilixiadanmu Tashenmaimaiti, Malcolm Bennett, Xiuzhen Kong, Rahul Bhosale, Guoqiang Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2024.12.003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.12.003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Enhancing drought resistance through the manipulation of root system architecture (RSA) in crops represents a crucial strategy for addressing food insecurity challenges. Abscisic acid (ABA) plays important roles in drought tolerance; yet, its molecular mechanisms in regulating RSA, especially in cereal crops, remain unclear. In this study, we report a new mechanism whereby ABA mediates local auxin biosynthesis to regulate root gravitropic response, thereby controlling the alteration of RSA in response to drought in cereal crops. Under drought conditions, wild-type (WT) plants displayed a steep root angle compared with normal conditions, while ABA biosynthetic mutants (mhz4, mhz5, osaba1, and osaba2) showed a significantly shallower crown root angle. Gravitropic assays revealed that ABA biosynthetic mutants have reduced gravitropic responses compared with WT plants. Hormone profiling analysis indicated that the mhz5 mutant has reduced auxin levels in root tips, and exogenous auxin (naphthaleneacetic acid [NAA]) application restored its root gravitropic defects. Consistently, auxin reporter analysis in mhz5 showed a reduced auxin gradient formation in root epidermis during gravitropic bending response compared with WT plants. Furthermore, NAA, rather than ABA, was able to rescue the compromised gravitropic response in the auxin biosynthetic mutant mhz10-1/tryptophan amino transferase2 (ostar2). Additionally, the maize ABA biosynthetic mutant viviparous5 (vp5) also showed gravitropic defects and a shallower seminal root angle than WT plants, which were restored by external auxin treatment. Collectively, we suggest that ABA-induced auxin synthesis governs the root gravitropic machinery, thereby influencing root angle in rice, maize, and possibly other cereal crops.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142970031","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 optimality underpins the repeated evolution of the extreme \"saber-tooth\" morphology.","authors":"Tahlia I Pollock, William J Deakin, Narimane Chatar, Pablo S Milla Carmona, Douglass S Rovinsky, Olga Panagiotopoulou, William M G Parker, Justin W Adams, David P Hocking, Philip C J Donoghue, Emily J Rayfield, Alistair R Evans","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2024.11.059","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.11.059","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>\"Saber teeth\"-elongate, blade-like canines-are a classic example of convergence, having evolved repeatedly throughout mammalian history. Within canine teeth, there is a trade-off between the aspects of shape that improve food fracture and those that increase tooth strength. Optimal morphologies strike a balance between these antagonistic functional criteria. The extreme saber-tooth morphology is thought to confer functional advantage for more specialized predatory adaptations and optimization; however, the adaptive bases underpinning their evolution remain unclear. To determine whether saber-tooth shape reflects selection for functionally optimal morphologies, we generated a morphospace of the 3D shape of 70 non-saber and 25 saber-tooth species, a subset of which were used to quantify functional metrics of puncture performance and breakage resistance. These data were combined using a Pareto rank-ratio algorithm to evaluate optimality. We demonstrate that extreme saber-tooth morphologies are functionally optimal, occupying a localized peak in our optimality landscape. Unlike other optimal canine morphologies, extreme saber teeth optimize puncture performance at the expense of breakage resistance. This identifies functional optimality as a key driver underpinning the repeated evolution of this iconic tooth.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142964280","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":"Imageless imagery in aphantasia revealed by early visual cortex decoding.","authors":"Shuai Chang, Xinyu Zhang, Yangjianyi Cao, Joel Pearson, Ming Meng","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2024.12.012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.12.012","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Activity in the early visual cortex is thought to tightly couple with conscious experience, including feedback-driven mental imagery. However, in aphantasia (a complete lack of visual imagery), the state of mental imagery, what takes its place, or how any activity relates to qualia remains unknown. This study analyzed univariate (amplitude) and multivariate (decoding) blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signals in primary visual cortex during imagery attempts. \"Imagery\" content could be decoded equally well in both groups; however, unlike in those with imagery, neural signatures in those with validated aphantasia were ipsilateral and could not be cross-decoded with perceptual representations. Further, the perception-induced BOLD response was lower in those with aphantasia compared with controls. Together, these data suggest that an imagery-related representation, but with less or transformed sensory information, exists in the primary visual cortex of those with aphantasia. Our data challenge the classic view that activity in primary visual cortex should result in sensory qualia.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142970036","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":"Retraction Notice to: The mTORC1/S6K1 Pathway Regulates Glutamine Metabolism through the eIF4B- Dependent Control of c-Myc Translation.","authors":"Alfredo Csibi, Gina Lee, Sang-Oh Yoon, Haoxuan Tong, Didem Ilter, Ilaria Elia, Sarah-Maria Fendt, Thomas M Roberts, John Blenis","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2024.12.016","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2024.12.016","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"232"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142827661","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":"Genomic reconstruction reveals impact of population management strategies on modern Galápagos dogs.","authors":"Gabriella J Spatola, Tatiana R Feuerborn, Jennifer A Betz, Reuben M Buckley, Gary K Ostrander, Emily V Dutrow, Alberto Velez, C Miguel Pinto, Alex C Harris, Jessica M Hale, Bruce D Barnett, Timothy A Mousseau, Elaine A Ostrander","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2024.10.079","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2024.10.079","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Free-breeding dogs have occupied the Galápagos Islands at least since the 1830s; however, it was not until the 1900s that dog populations grew substantially, endangering wildlife and spreading disease.¹^,²^,³^,⁴ In 1981, efforts to control the population size of free-roaming dogs began.¹ Yet, there exist large free-roaming dog populations on the islands of Isabela and Santa Cruz whose ancestry has never been assessed on a genome-wide scale. We thus performed a complete genomic analysis of the current Galápagos dog population, as well as historical Galápagos dogs sampled between 1969 and 2003, testing for population structure, admixture, and shared ancestry. Our dataset included samples from 187 modern and six historical Galápagos dogs, together with whole-genome sequences from over 2,000 modern purebred and village dogs. Our results indicate that modern Galápagos dogs are recently admixed with purebred dogs but show no evidence of a population bottleneck related to the culling. Additionally, identity-by-descent analyses reveal evidence of shared shepherd-dog ancestry in the historical dogs. Overall, our results demonstrate that the 1980s culling of dogs was ineffective in controlling population size and did little to reduce genetic diversity, instead producing a stable and expanding population with genomic signatures of modern purebred dogs. The insights from this study can be used to improve population control strategies for the Galápagos Islands and other endangered endemic communities.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"208-216.e5"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11706705/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142791419","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":"Mechanistic basis of temperature adaptation in microtubule dynamics across frog species.","authors":"Luca Troman, Ella de Gaulejac, Abin Biswas, Jennifer Stiens, Benno Kuropka, Carolyn A Moores, Simone Reber","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2024.12.022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.12.022","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cellular processes are remarkably effective across diverse temperature ranges, even with highly conserved proteins. In the context of the microtubule cytoskeleton, which is critically involved in a wide range of cellular activities, this is particularly striking, as tubulin is one of the most conserved proteins while microtubule dynamic instability is highly temperature sensitive. Here, we leverage the diversity of natural tubulin variants from three closely related frog species that live at different temperatures. We determine the microtubule structure across all three species at between 3.0 and 3.6 Å resolution by cryo-electron microscopy and find small differences at the β-tubulin lateral interactions. Using in vitro reconstitution assays and quantitative biochemistry, we show that tubulin's free energy scales inversely with temperature. The observed weakening of lateral contacts and the low apparent activation energy for tubulin incorporation provide an explanation for the overall stability and higher growth rates of microtubules in cold-adapted frog species. This study thus broadens our conceptual framework for understanding microtubule dynamics and provides insights into how conserved cellular processes are tailored to different ecological niches.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142969962","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":"Multisensory integration of social signals by a pathway from the basal amygdala to the auditory cortex in maternal mice.","authors":"Alexandra C Nowlan, Jane Choe, Hoda Tromblee, Clancy Kelahan, Karin Hellevik, Stephen D Shea","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2024.10.078","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2024.10.078","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Social encounters are inherently multisensory events, yet how and where social cues of distinct sensory modalities merge and interact in the brain is poorly understood. When their pups wander away from the nest, mother mice use a combination of vocal and olfactory signals emitted by the pups to locate and retrieve them. Previous work revealed the emergence of multisensory interactions in the auditory cortex (AC) of both dams and virgins who cohabitate with pups (\"surrogates\"). Here, we identify a neural pathway that relays information about odors to the AC to be integrated with responses to sound. We found that a scattered population of glutamatergic neurons in the basal amygdala (BA) projects to the AC and responds to odors, including the smell of pups. These neurons exhibit increased activity when the female is searching for pups that terminates upon contact. Finally, we show that selective optogenetic activation of BA-AC neurons modulates responses to pup calls, and that this modulation switches from predominantly suppressive to predominantly excitatory after maternal experience. This supports an underappreciated role for the amygdala in directly shaping sensory representations in an experience-dependent manner. We propose that the BA-AC pathway supports integration of olfaction and audition to facilitate maternal care and speculate that it may carry valence information to the AC.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"36-49.e4"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142779640","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}