Current Biology最新文献

{"title":"Acorn woodpeckers.","authors":"Walter D Koenig, Eric L Walters, Joey Haydock","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.021","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Walt Koenig and colleagues introduce the acorn woodpecker, a cooperatively breeding, food-caching bird of North America.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":"35 18","pages":"R869-R870"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145130447","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":"Embryonic development: Tracing the origin of epiblast cells.","authors":"Violaine Paulus, Claire Chazaud","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.018","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The epiblast is the source of all the cells of our bodies and of the pluripotent embryonic stem cells. Novel work using fluorescent reporter-based cell tracking supports a stochastic mechanism for epiblast differentiation and reveals SOX2 as the most obvious marker.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":"35 18","pages":"R892-R895"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145130240","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":"Corrections in single-cell migration path in vivo are controlled by pulses in polar Rac1 activation.","authors":"Dennis Hoffmann, Tal Agranov, Lucas Kühl, Laura Ermlich, Michal Reichman-Fried, Benjamin D Simons, Nir S Gov, Erez Raz","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.063","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.063","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Directed migration of single cells is central to a large number of processes in development and adult life. Corrections to the migration path of cells are often characterized by periodic loss of polarity that is followed by the generation of a new leading edge in response to guidance cues, a behavior termed \"run and tumble.\" While this phenomenon is essential for accurate arrival at migration targets, the precise molecular mechanisms responsible for the periodic changes in cell polarity are unknown. To investigate this issue, we employ germ cells in live zebrafish embryos as an in vivo model and show that a tunable molecular network controls periodic pulsations of Rac1 activity and actin polymerization. This process, which we term \"polar pulsations,\" is responsible for the transitions between the run and tumble phases. In addition, we provide evidence for the role of apolar blebbing activity during tumble phases in erasing the memory of the previous front-back polarity of the migrating cell. To understand how the molecular components give rise to this distinct behavior, we develop a minimal mathematical model of the biochemical network that accounts for the observed cell behavior. Together, our in vivo findings and the mathematical model suggest that a pulsatory signaling network regulates the accuracy of individual cell migration.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"4365-4382.e8"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144946737","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":"Supraspinal commands have a modular organization that is behavioral context specific.","authors":"Joanna Y N Lau, James E Fitzgerald, Isaac H Bianco","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.066","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.066","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Animals generate a range of locomotor patterns that subserve diverse behaviors, and in vertebrates, the required supraspinal commands derive from reticulospinal neurons in the brainstem. Yet how these commands are encoded across the reticulospinal population is unknown, making it unclear whether a universal control logic generates the full locomotor repertoire or if distinct sets of command modules might compose movement in different behavioral contexts. Here, we used calcium imaging, high-resolution behavior tracking, and statistical modeling to comprehensively survey reticulospinal activity and relate single-cell activity to movement kinematics as larval zebrafish generated a broad diversity of swim types. We found that reticulospinal population activity had a low-dimensional organization and identified 8 functional archetypes that provided a succinct and robust encoding of the full range of locomotor actions. Across much of locomotor space, 5 functional archetypes supported multiplexed control of swim speed and independent control of direction, whereas an independent set of 3 functional archetypes controlled the specialized swims that zebrafish use during hunting to orient toward prey. Overall, our study reveals a modular supraspinal control architecture that is partitioned according to behavioral context.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"4408-4425.e6"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144946774","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":"Dissecting a peptidergic signaling pathway in Trichoplax adhaerens by gene silencing.","authors":"Wanqing Li, Minjun Jin, Muyang Ren, Qiuyao Guo, Xiaofei Lu, Meng Qiu, Bo Dong, Chengtian Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.077","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.077","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Trichoplax adhaerens, a simple multicellular marine organism from the phylum Placozoa,¹^,² is one of the most basal metazoan lineages, alongside Ctenophora, Porifera, and Cnidaria.³^,⁴^,⁵ With its remarkably simple body plan,⁶^,⁷Trichoplax provides valuable insights into the evolution of multicellularity.⁸^,⁹ Interestingly, despite lacking true tissues and organs, Trichoplax has evolved multiple cell types that can perform coordinated, complex behaviors, including feeding.¹⁰^,¹¹^,¹²^,¹³ Peptidergic signaling has been implicated in the regulation of such behaviors,¹⁴^,¹⁵^,¹⁶^,¹⁷^,¹⁸^,¹⁹ though the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. A major challenge in investigating these processes has been the lack of established genetic manipulation methods for this organism. In this study, we developed an effective gene knockdown technique using silica nanoparticle-mediated RNA interference (RNAi),²⁰^,²¹^,²²^,²³ which demonstrates superior efficiency and biosafety compared with traditional transfection methods. Using this approach, we confirmed the roles of two ciliary genes in ciliogenesis and identified the function of a classic neuropeptide in regulating feeding behavior. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulations and knockdown experiments revealed the receptor for this neuropeptide, providing new insights into the coordination of cell movement and feeding in this basal metazoan. Our findings present a novel and effective gene knockdown strategy for Trichoplax, advancing the potential for gene manipulation in marine models and enhancing our understanding of placozoan biology.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"4577-4586.e4"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144946780","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":"Architectural shift to epiphytism fuels exotic bryophyte invasiveness.","authors":"Saioa Ricou-Dreneuc, Claudine Ah-Peng, Yoan Coudert","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.068","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.068","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Anthropogenic activities reshape ecosystems globally, creating conditions that facilitate the establishment of alien species. Disruption of ecological balance enables alien species to become invasive - a property characterized by a species' capacity to spread and become dominant in its introduced range, outcompeting indigenous species, and leading to their displacement or extinction¹. Beyond its biological relevance, understanding the mechanisms promoting invasiveness is crucial for predicting and mitigating ecological and socioeconomic impacts. Over 2,840 invasive vascular land plant species have been reported²^,³, whereas fewer than 100 bryophyte species have been documented as alien, with only a small fraction exhibiting invasive characteristics⁴.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":"35 18","pages":"R876-R877"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145129941","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":"Zebra finches produce soft laryngeal whistles during thermal panting that are not adaptive vocal signals.","authors":"Tommi Anttonen, Hugo Loning, Freja M Felbo, Jakob Christensen-Dalsgaard, Simon C Griffith, Marc Naguib, Coen P H Elemans","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.054","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Birds and mammals converged upon the same physical mechanism of vocal fold vibration¹^,² to produce the wide variety of communicative vocal signals critical for their reproduction, social interactions, survival, and speciation.³^,⁴^,⁵ Recent work reported high-frequency (7-11 kHz) vocalizations in zebra finches,⁶ termed \"heat\" or \"incubation\" calls, that are suggested to have close-range communicative relevance in the context of global warming.⁶^,⁷ However, their acoustics are poorly described, and by what biophysical mechanism they are produced remains unknown. We recorded heat-associated vocalizations in adult zebra finches in vivo and showed that they are extremely soft, frequency-modulated vocalizations with source levels of 13.9 ± 3.3 dB sound pressure level (SPL) at 1 m and dominant frequencies of 6.8 ± 0.6 kHz. Through in vitro experiments, we establish that these vocalizations are aerodynamic whistles produced inside the avian larynx, not syrinx, during inspiration. Respiratory air flow during whistle production is higher than during regular song and consistent with thermal panting for evaporative cooling.⁷^,⁸ Laryngeal geometry and dimensional flow analysis suggest that these whistles are laminar-flow whistles that occur when a flow boundary layer is in a transition phase from laminar to turbulent flows.⁹^,¹⁰^,¹¹ Our data imply that in earlier experiments,⁶^,⁷ playbacks were conducted at 30 dB above the physiologically relevant playback level (i.e., several magnitudes). Furthermore, heat whistles are at least 35 dB below the behavioral perception limit even of adults¹² with more sensitive hearing than juveniles.¹³^,¹⁴ Therefore, we show-contra previous works⁶^,⁷-that heat whistles cannot function as adaptive signals or cues in parent-embryo communication.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145130389","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":"Crossover designation recruits condensin to reorganize the meiotic chromosome axis.","authors":"Victor A Leon, Tovah E Markowitz, Soogil Hong, Adhithi R Raghavan, Jonna Heldrich, Keun P Kim, Andreas Hochwagen","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.019","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.019","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Crossover recombination supports meiotic chromosome inheritance and fertility by establishing chiasmata between homologous chromosomes prior to the first meiotic division. In addition to the physical exchange of DNA mediated by meiotic recombination, chiasma formation also involves restructuring of the underlying chromosome axis, possibly to help with chiasma maturation or to resolve chromosomal interlocks. Here, we identify condensin as an important regulator of axis remodeling in S. cerevisiae. Condensin is recruited near sites of meiotic crossover designation by pro-crossover factors but is largely dispensable for DNA exchange. Instead, condensin helps to create discontinuities in the meiotic chromosome axis by promoting removal of cohesin. In addition, chromosomes of condensin mutants exhibit unusually common parallel chromatin clouds and experience a chromosomal buildup of the conserved axis remodeler Pch2. Consistent with an important role of axis restructuring at crossover sites, the canonical anaphase-bridge phenotype of condensin mutants is partly rescued by redirecting meiotic DNA repair to sister chromatids instead of homologous chromosomes, suggesting that crossover-associated axis reorganization is important for faithful meiotic chromosome segregation.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":"35 18","pages":"4537-4552.e6"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145130066","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":"The evolution of an individual-like dispersive stage in colonial siphonophores.","authors":"Maciej K Mańko, Catriona Munro, Lucas Leclère","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.068","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.068","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Reproduction in sedentary colonial species often involves the release of a dispersive stage, such as a larva or individual zooids, which promotes gene flow and enables range expansion. In some species of pelagic colonial siphonophores (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa), reproduction occurs through colony fragmentation, an evolutionarily unique strategy in which the entire terminal zooid cluster, instead of releasing individual reproductive zooids, detaches as a dispersive unit known as a eudoxid. Although composed of multiple functionally specialized zooids, the eudoxid behaves as a single individual, suggesting an elusive evolutionary transition in individuality. The mechanisms and evolutionary origins of eudoxid production, however, remain unknown. Using live imaging, immunohistochemistry, and pharmacological inhibition, we provide a mechanistic understanding of eudoxid formation. We demonstrate that eudoxid release is controlled by a dedicated muscle and involves tissue remodeling, resulting in the formation of a physiologically integrated dispersive unit with distinct behaviors. Our analyses suggest that eudoxids evolved once, through the concomitant reorganization of colony architecture and the evolution of zooid structures. We also show that eudoxids and their parental colonies often have different distributions, suggesting niche partitioning. These findings reveal how muscle evolution and structural modifications of the colony enabled the emergence of a unique, individual-like dispersive stage, contributing to the ecological success of siphonophores in marine environments.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145102701","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":"Transcriptional interference gates monogenic odorant receptor expression in ants.","authors":"Giacomo L Glotzer, P Daniel H Pastor, Daniel J C Kronauer","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.09.026","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.09.026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Communication is crucial to social life, and in ants, it is mediated primarily through olfaction. Ants have more odorant receptor (OR) genes than any other group of insects, generated through tandem duplications that produce large genomic arrays of related genes. The mechanism by which olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) produce a single functional OR from these arrays remains unclear. In ant OSNs, only mRNA from one OR in an array is exported into the cytoplasm, while upstream genes are silent and transcripts from downstream genes remain nuclear. Here, we show that readthrough transcription in the downstream direction generates non-translated transcripts. We also find that OR promoters are bidirectional, producing antisense long non-coding RNAs. We suspect that neither readthrough nor antisense transcription produces functional RNA but that bidirectional transcription alone is critical to suppressing the expression of all other OR genes in a tandem array. Finally, we present evidence that this regulatory architecture is conserved across ants and bees, suggesting that this mechanism for functionally monogenic OR expression is widespread in insects with expanded OR repertoires.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12493986/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145102679","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}