Current Biology最新文献

{"title":"Slit2/Robo1 signaling constrains image stabilization responses to preserve ethologically favorable directional asymmetry.","authors":"James K Kiraly, Annika Balraj, Paige Leary, Zihao You, Scott C Harris, Jeanette D Hyer, Felice A Dunn, Alex L Kolodkin","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.030","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Visual sensation relies on retinal circuitry to receive environmental inputs and convey relevant information for behavioral outputs. Many species depend on gaze stabilization behaviors, such as the optokinetic reflex (OKR), to perceive and correct for global motion. OKR calculation begins in the retina, where ON direction-selective ganglion cells (oDSGCs) respond to slow visual motion and deliver information to the accessory optic system (AOS) to inform oculomotor outputs. Here, we find that the guidance receptor roundabout-1 (Robo1) and its ligand Slit2 are selectively expressed in mammalian retinal AOS components and refine oDSGC circuitry to constrain OKR gain for appropriate image stabilization responses. Robo1 or Slit2 loss-of-function (LOF) mutants exhibit an increase in OKR gain, reducing directional asymmetry by elevating naturally weaker OKR responses. These behavioral enhancements largely arise from alterations in the retina, and loss of Slit2 in starburst amacrine cells (SACs) enhances oDSGC firing properties, with increased spike responses, excitatory synaptic puncta, and downstream AOS activation. These findings reveal that the Slit2/Robo1 signaling tunes oDSGC circuitry to maintain regulated image stabilization behavior.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145058334","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 conserved machinery of bipolar prospindle formation controls acentrosomal spindle orientation in land plants.","authors":"Takema Sasaki, Kimitsune Ishizaki, Hiroyasu Motose, Yoshihisa Oda","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.038","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.038","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Correct spindle orientation is essential for the development of multicellular organisms.¹^,² In animal cells, astral microtubules control spindle orientation by determining the position of centrosomes.¹ However, the mechanisms that determine spindle orientation in acentrosomal plant cells are poorly understood. Here, we show that the microtubule-associated protein CORD³^,⁴ controls spindle orientation via prospindle assembly in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha (Marchantia) and the angiosperm Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis). Wild-type cells formed bipolar microtubule structures called prospindles prior to nuclear envelope breakdown and assembled spindles along the prospindle axis. By contrast, CORD-deficient cells failed to maintain the bipolar prospindle, leading to the formation of multipolar prospindles and spindle misorientation. Spindle misorientation also caused phragmoplast misorientation, leading to abnormal cell plate alignment, although phragmoplast orientation was partially corrected during telophase. These results suggest that CORD maintains prospindle bipolarity, thereby controlling proper spindle orientation in Marchantia and Arabidopsis. This study reveals a conserved mechanism for the control of acentrosomal spindle orientation in land plants.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145058347","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 evidence for early origin of tactile acuity in the vertebrate somatosensory system.","authors":"Ke Tan, Lorraine F Hillgen-Santa, Morven Graham, Yaping Li, Xinran Liu, Song Pang, Elena O Gracheva, Sviatoslav N Bagriantsev","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.035","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.035","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Mammals and reptiles possess a sophisticated somatosensory system for precise tactile discrimination via mechanosensory end-organs, such as Meissner and Pacinian corpuscles and others. These structures detect sustained pressure, velocity, and vibrations, thereby facilitating nuanced environmental interactions. It is not known whether the ancestral anamniotic somatosensory system, typically lacking such structures, provides comparable tactile discrimination. Here, we investigate the Schnauzenorgan, a specialized foraging chin appendage in the mormyrid fish, Gnathonemus petersii, and show that it detects touch via functionally distinct myelinated mechanosensory afferents. Although these afferents terminate in the skin as seemingly free nerve endings, they detect sustained pressure, transient touch, velocity, and low- and high-frequency vibrations. Thus, despite lacking typical end-organs, the Schnauzenorgan enables tactile discrimination rivaling that of amniotic extremities. Our findings reveal a previously unrecognized functional complexity in the ancestral piscine somatosensory system, suggesting that the nuanced mechanosensory capacity of amniotes was inherited from anamniote predecessors.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12478595/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145058388","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":"Learned precision tool use in carrion crows.","authors":"Felix W Moll, Julius Würzler, Andreas Nieder","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.033","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Tool use is rare in the animal kingdom but relatively common among dexterous generalists such as primates, parrots, and corvid songbirds.¹ New Caledonian (NC) crows, known for their instinctive tool-making abilities, have long intrigued researchers; however, the motor-cognitive skills underlying these behaviors-such as the level of cause-and-effect understanding and precise yet flexible motor control-remain unresolved.²^,³^,⁴^,⁵^,⁶ To investigate how learning shapes these skills, we studied carrion crows, an NC-crow-related corvid species with similar cognitive abilities but no tool-use-specific adaptations.⁷^,⁸ We trained three tool-naive carrion crows to use a beak-held stick to retrieve food pellets from a transparent Plexiglas crack in an automated apparatus. Utilizing computational pose estimation,⁹ we tracked the crows' development of stick tool skills over thousands of trials. Our findings demonstrate that tool-naive carrion crows learn to handle tools with impressive skill, achieving dexterity similar to habitual tool users like NC crows. More notably, we observed that all the crows developed efficient, unique, and goal-directed movement patterns. Even after extensive training, the crows retained a remarkable level of flexibility, swiftly correcting errors and adjusting the orientation of the stick to maintain precise alignment. Our findings suggest that reinforcement learning alone can foster skilled tool use in dexterous, cognitively flexible corvids. This implies that only modest evolutionary changes-such as a predisposition to maneuver elongated objects when exploring crevices⁷^,¹⁰-may be needed to transform dexterous generalists into habitual tool users.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145039413","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":"Constraints on chromosome evolution revealed by the 229 chromosome pairs of the Atlas blue butterfly.","authors":"Charlotte J Wright, Dominic Absolon, Martin Gascoigne-Pees, Roger Vila, Mara K N Lawniczak, Mark Blaxter","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.032","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Chromosomal arrangements are important for processes including genetic recombination, adaptation, and speciation. Related taxa often possess similar numbers of chromosomes, but some groups show remarkable variation in chromosome numbers. Most Lepidoptera, the butterflies and moths, have 31 or 32 chromosomes, but some species deviate from this norm. We present a chromosome-level genome assembly of a heterogametic female Atlas blue butterfly (Polyommatus atlantica; Lycaenidae) and find that it has 227 pairs of autosomes and four sex chromosomes, the highest recorded chromosome number in non-polyploid Metazoa. We show that the 227 autosomes, exceptionally small even for Lepidoptera, are derived from extensive fragmentation of the 24 ancestral lycaenid autosomes. We predict that autosomal fissions mostly occurred in euchromatic, lightly packed regions of chromosomes. We assemble two large Z chromosomes, one of which comprises the ancestral Z fused with an autosome and retains its ancestral length, while the other is a neo-Z, formed from the fusion and sex linkage of an intact ancestral autosome with a fragment of a second autosome. We find two large W chromosomes, derived from copies of the Z-linked, ancestrally autosomal sequences. In contrast to the autosomes, the sex chromosomes have not experienced fission. We observe the frequent presence of chromosome-internal arrays of the telomeric repeat motif in P. atlantica. Such arrays are not observed in the genomes of close relatives that have not undergone fission and suggest a possible mechanism for rapid, viable fragmentation. Altogether, our findings in P. atlantica suggest several constraints that govern karyotypic change, a key component of eukaryotic genome evolution.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145039361","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":"Ultrasonic signals support a large-scale communication landscape in wild mice.","authors":"Léo Perrier, Lény Lego, Tristan Cladière, Martin Blanchard, Lindelani Makuya, Wiebke Berns, Aurélie Pradeau, Carsten Schradin, Michael D Greenfield, Nicolas Mathevon, Florence Levréro","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.028","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Communication is central to mammalian social life, enabling group coordination and individual interactions, and often involves a trade-off between reach and privacy.¹ While signals resisting environmental attenuation reach distant audiences, they risk interception by predators or eavesdroppers; conversely, short-range signals ensure private exchanges.² Rodents frequently utilize ultrasonic vocalizations,³^,⁴^,⁵ which, due to rapid environmental attenuation,⁶ are generally considered a private channel for close-contact interactions within social groups.⁵^,⁷ Although laboratory studies revealed that rodents' ultrasonic vocalizations encode rich information like emotions,⁵^,⁸ identity,⁹^,¹⁰ sex,¹¹^,¹²^,¹³ and strain,¹²^,¹³ the role of these physically constrained signals in organizing broader social landscapes remains largely unexplored in the wild.¹⁴^,¹⁵^,¹⁶^,¹⁷ Here, we investigated the communication system of the African striped mouse (Rhabdomys pumilio), a highly social and territorial rodent, combining propagation experiments, passive acoustic monitoring, and playback in the field. We show that striped mice emit ultrasonic calls within family groups and at territorial boundaries, using different types of vocalizations depending on the location. Furthermore, these signals carry group-specific information, allowing mice to discriminate between group members, neighbors, and strangers. By vocalizing at key locations, striped mice extend the functional range of their short-range signals to support a large-scale communication landscape mediating complex territorial dynamics.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145039421","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 Arp2/3 complex maintains gut epithelial integrity under mechanical challenge.","authors":"Louisiane Perrin, Venkata Ram Gannavarapu, Carlos Pérez-González, Claudia Rivera, Stéphanie Descroix, Ana-Maria Lennon-Duménil, Yohanns Bellaïche, Denis Krndija, Danijela Matic Vignjevic","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Epithelia are specialized and selective tissue barriers that separate the organism's interior from the external environment. Among adult tissues, the gut epithelium must withstand microbial and biochemical insults but also mechanical stresses imposed by luminal contents and gastrointestinal motility. In addition, the continuous renewal of the intestinal epithelium creates tension¹^,² that must be withstood by cell-cell junctions and the actomyosin cytoskeleton to preserve barrier integrity.³^,⁴^,⁵^,⁶^,⁷^,⁸^,⁹^,¹⁰^,¹¹^,¹² Despite these continuous challenges, the intestinal epithelium maintains a robust barrier function, though the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Among the multiple actin regulators present at cell-cell junctions, the Arp2/3 complex acts as a mechanosensitive nucleator of F-actin at adherens junctions¹³ and is critical for maintaining cell adhesions in vitro¹⁴^,¹⁵^,¹⁶^,¹⁷ and in C. elegans intestinal¹⁸ and Drosophila notum¹⁹ epithelial cells. Here, we identify the actin nucleator Arp2/3 complex as a critical regulator of intestinal epithelial integrity under mechanical stress. Using a gut epithelium-specific, inducible Arpc4 knockout mouse model, we show that Arp2/3 loss of function leads to increased intestinal permeability, epithelial fracturing, and, ultimately, lethality. Arp2/3 depletion disrupts tight junction protein localization, compromising epithelial stability and making it prone to functional failure. Using ex vivo cultured intestinal slices and intestinal epithelial organoids, we found that these functional defects require mechanical challenge and elevated actomyosin contractility to manifest. Together, our findings establish Arp2/3 as a key regulator of intestinal epithelial homeostasis, ensuring tight junction stability, thus highlighting potential therapeutic targets for disorders associated with barrier dysfunction and inflammation.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145033108","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":"KIF13B controls ciliary protein content by promoting endocytic retrieval and suppressing release of large extracellular vesicles from cilia.","authors":"Csenge K Rezi, Alina Frei, Fabiola Campestre, Karsten Boldt, Benjamin Mary, Anna Maria Fixdahl, Anna-Louise With Petersen, Aurelien Sicot, Christina R Berggreen, Julie Laplace, Søren L Johansen, Julie K T Sørensen, Mohamed Chamlali, Martin W Berchtold, Søren T Christensen, Zeinab Anvarian, Helen L May-Simera, Lotte B Pedersen","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.08.022","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Dynamic control of ciliary membrane protein content is crucial for the organelle's homeostasis and signaling function and involves removal of ciliary components by intraflagellar transport (IFT) and BBSome-mediated export, endocytic retrieval, and/or extracellular vesicle (EV) shedding. We report that the kinesin-3 motor KIF13B regulates ciliary protein composition and EV shedding in cultured kidney epithelial cells, with effects that vary over time. In early stages of ciliation, Kif13b^-/- cells aberrantly accumulate polycystin-2 (PC2) within cilia and release large EVs enriched with CCDC198 and the centriole distal appendage protein CCDC92, which also localizes to the ciliary tip. These cells also produce fewer small EVs through the neutral sphingomyelinase 2 pathway. Upon cilia maturation, Kif13b^-/- cells accelerate large EV release of numerous ciliary proteins, including PC2, BBSome, and IFT components, which correlates with gradual depletion of CCDC92 and PC2 from the ciliary tip and shaft, respectively. Furthermore, over time, Kif13b^-/- cells show an upregulation in the release of small EVs, which differ in composition from wild-type small EVs. Specifically, mutant small EVs lack several proteins that are enriched in small EVs from BBSome-deficient cells, including palmitoyl transferase ZDHHC5, which localizes to cilia where it accumulates upon BBSome dysfunction and regulates ciliary length and PC2 levels. Our results suggest that KIF13B acts at the level of centriole distal appendages to limit ciliary protein entry and promote endocytic retrieval downstream of the BBSome, thereby suppressing EV release from cilia. Furthermore, the ciliary localization of CCDC198 and ZDHHC5 indicates they are potential novel ciliopathy candidates.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145033110","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":"Catherine Peichel.","authors":"Catherine Peichel","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.058","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.058","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Interview with Katie Peichel, who studies the evolutionary genetics of sticklebacks at the University of Bern, Switzerland.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":"35 17","pages":"R823-R826"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145029222","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":"Topi.","authors":"Jakob Bro-Jørgensen","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.070","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Bro-Jørgensen introduces the reader to the topi antelope, in which female compete for preferred mates and males use false alarm snorts to manipulate receptive females.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":"35 17","pages":"R826-R827"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145029301","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}