Current Biology最新文献

{"title":"NuMA mechanically reinforces the spindle independently of its partner dynein.","authors":"Nathan H Cho, Merve Aslan, Aryan Taheri, Ahmet Yildiz, Sophie Dumont","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.028","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.028","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>During cell division, both motor and non-motor proteins organize microtubules to build the spindle and maintain it against opposing forces. Nuclear mitotic apparatus (NuMA), a long microtubule-binding protein, is essential to spindle structure and function. NuMA recruits the motor dynein to actively cluster spindle microtubule minus-ends, but whether NuMA performs other spindle roles remains unknown. Here, we show that NuMA acts independently of dynein to passively reinforce the mammalian spindle. NuMA that cannot bind dynein is sufficient to protect spindle poles against fracture under external force. In contrast, NuMA with a shorter coiled coil or disrupted self-interactions cannot protect spindle poles, and NuMA turnover differences cannot explain mechanical differences. In vitro, NuMA's C terminus self-interacts and bundles microtubules without dynein, dependent on residues essential to pole protection in vivo. Together, this suggests that NuMA reinforces spindle poles by crosslinking microtubules, using its long coiled coil and self-interactions to reach multiple, far-reaching pole microtubules. We propose that NuMA acts as a mechanical \"multitasker\" targeting contractile motor activity and separately crosslinking microtubules, with both functions synergizing to drive spindle mechanical robustness.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"4084-4095.e5"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12348805/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144793717","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":"Divergent origin of the insect cephalic endoskeleton and the trachea from a homologous metameric structure.","authors":"Daniel Barcenilla-Merino, Carlos Sánchez-Higueras, James C-G Hombría","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.041","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.041","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>During animal evolution, organs adapt to perform new functions. In some cases, adaptive changes over large evolutionary distances can lead to divergence that obscures the organs' origin, as is observed in the highly specialized structures formed in the cephalic region. The genetic and cellular analysis of how metamerically repeated organs develop in segmented animals can help us understand the formation of such extremely divergent homologous organs. In this work, we use Drosophila melanogaster to study the origin of the tentorium, the conserved cephalic endoskeleton of insects. We find that the tentorium develops from three groups of cephalic cells specified on the lateral side of the intercalary, maxillary, and labial segments, at positions where the trunk segments form the tracheal primordia. Similar to the tracheae, the three tentorium primordia invaginate and coalesce to form a continuous epithelial tubular structure connected to the external epithelium. This tube serves as an apodeme to which the muscles moving the mouthparts bind. We find that the tentorium expresses and requires similar upstream genes as those required for tracheal specification. Moreover, genetic experiments show that the tentorium can be transformed into trachea, and that the trachea can express tentorial-specific markers, indicating that the two organs evolved from an ancient homologous metamerically repeated structure. Our results show that the tracheae arise from a homology group that in the cephalic segments gives rise to the tentorium, corpora allata, and prothoracic endocrine glands, highlighting the plasticity of homologous structures to diverge into extremely diverse morphological and functional organs.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"4165-4177.e4"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144798495","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":"Dopaminergic projections to the prefrontal cortex are critical for rapid threat avoidance learning.","authors":"Zachary Zeidler, Marta Fernandez Gomez, Tanya A Gupta, Meelan Shari, Scott A Wilke, Laura A DeNardo","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.035","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.035","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>To survive, animals must rapidly learn to avoid predictable threats. Such learning depends on detecting reliable cue-outcome relationships that efficiently drive behavioral adaptations. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) integrates learned information about the environment to guide adaptive behaviors¹^,²^,³^,⁴^,⁵^,⁶^,⁷ and is critical for threat avoidance.⁸^,⁹^,¹⁰^,¹¹^,¹²^,¹³^,¹⁴ However, most studies focused on well-learned threat avoidance strategies, and the specific inputs that signal avoidability and drive rapid avoidance learning remain poorly understood. Dopamine (DA) inputs from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) potently modulate prefrontal function and are preferentially engaged by aversive stimuli.¹⁵^,¹⁶^,¹⁷^,¹⁸^,¹⁹^,²⁰^,²¹ Pharmacological blockade, DA depletion, and microdialysis experiments implicated DA in threat avoidance²²^,²³^,²⁴^,²⁵ but lacked the spatiotemporal resolution required to define the timing of mPFC DA signals during avoidance learning. We used high-resolution tools to dissect the role of the VTA-mPFC DA circuit in rapid avoidance learning. Optogenetic suppression of VTA DA terminals in mPFC selectively slowed learning of a cued avoidance response without affecting cue-shock association learning, reactive escape behaviors, or expression of previously learned avoidance. Using a fluorescent DA sensor, we observed rapid, event-locked DA activity that emerged transiently during learning initiation. Increased DA encoded aversive outcomes and their predictive cues, while decreased DA encoded their omission and predicted how quickly mice learned to avoid. In yoked mice lacking control over shock omission, these dynamics were largely absent. Together, these findings demonstrate that the VTA-mPFC DA circuit is necessary for rapid acquisition of proactive avoidance behaviors and reveal transient event-related DA signals underlying this form of learning.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"4259-4269.e3"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12338064/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144811939","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":"Age-dependent response to anthropogenic habitat during migration of an endangered raptor.","authors":"Ron Efrat, Yael Lehnardt, Alexandr Bragin, Evgeny Bragin, Tal Avgar, Todd Katzner, Nir Sapir","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.061","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.061","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Decisions made by migrating animals can impact individual fitness and population dynamics.¹^,² For avian migrants, these decisions can be affected by environmental³^,⁴^,⁵^,⁶^,⁷ and anthropogenic⁸^,⁹^,¹⁰^,¹¹^,¹² factors and by internal¹³^,¹⁴^,¹⁵^,¹⁶^,¹⁷^,¹⁸ states. However, recent reviews have pointed to multiple gaps in our understanding of these decisions.¹⁹^,²⁰^,²¹^,²² We studied the decisions made by migrating endangered Steppe Eagles Aquila nipalensis by tracking individuals for up to 7 years with GPS transmitters. We used weather reanalysis models and high-resolution remote sensing to obtain environmental and anthropogenic information.²³^,²⁴ Using complementary statistical methods, we differentiated between two behavioral states, migratory flights and stopovers, and studied how different factors shape the birds' movements and the transition between these states.²⁵^,²⁶ Most prominently, we detected effects of experience on the birds' response to anthropogenic habitats, with juvenile eagles drawn to them, adults avoiding them, and sub-adults showing no preference. Experience also affected the choice of tailwind and flight direction during migration, with juvenile individuals choosing stronger winds and more direct routes than more experienced eagles. During stopover, experienced eagles flew greater distances than less experienced eagles, and during both stopover and migratory periods, stronger tailwinds increased the distance birds moved. Finally, winds blowing toward the migratory direction increased the probability that a bird would initiate migration after a stopover, while opposite winds had the opposite effect. Our results advance our understanding of the ontogeny of bird migration and the effects of environmental and anthropogenic factors on migratory decision-making, with implications for the conservation of migratory species.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"4301-4308.e3"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144946661","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":"Live imaging endogenous transcription factor dynamics reveals mechanisms of epiblast and primitive endoderm fate segregation.","authors":"Rebecca P Kim-Yip, David Denberg, Denis F Faerberg, Hayden Nunley, Isabella Leite, Madeleine Chalifoux, Bradley Joyce, Jared Toettcher, Bin Gu, Eszter Posfai","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.031","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.031","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The segregation of the epiblast (EPI) and primitive endoderm (PE) cell types in the preimplantation mouse embryo is not only a crucial decision that sets aside the precursors of the embryo proper from extraembryonic cells, respectively, but also has served as a central model to study a key concept in mammalian development: how much of developmental patterning is predetermined vs. stochastically emergent. Here, we address this question by quantitative live imaging of multiple endogenously tagged transcription factors key to this fate decision and trace their dynamics at a single-cell resolution through the formation of EPI and PE cell fates. Strikingly, we reveal an initial symmetry breaking event, the formation of a primary EPI cell lineage, and show that this is linked to the dynamics of the prior inner cell mass/trophectoderm fate decision through the expression of SOX2. This primary EPI lineage, through fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling, induces an increase in the transcription factor GATA6 in other inner cell mass cells, setting them on the course toward PE differentiation. Interestingly, this trajectory can switch during a defined developmental window, leading to the emergence of secondary EPI cells. Finally, we show that early expression levels of NANOG, which are seemingly stochastic, can bias whether a cell's trajectory switches to secondary EPI or continues as PE. Our data give unique insight into how fate patterning is initiated and propagated during unperturbed embryonic development through the interplay of lineage-history-biased and stochastic cell-intrinsic molecular features, unifying previous models of EPI/PE segregation.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"4106-4120.e7"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12406577/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144764765","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":"Biomechanics: Squeezing power drives ballistic tongues.","authors":"Sam Van Wassenbergh","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.017","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Chameleons and lungless salamanders independently evolved very fast projectile tongues. In both cases, ballistic performance involves a long, blunt-ended skeletal rod that slides freely within a powerful squeezing muscle, without the need for exceptional material properties.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":"35 17","pages":"R832-R833"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145029272","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":"Visual loom caused by self-movement or object-movement elicits distinct responses in mouse superior colliculus.","authors":"Stefano Zucca, Auguste Schulz, Pedro J Gonçalves, Jakob H Macke, Aman B Saleem, Samuel G Solomon","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.013","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.013","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The meaning of a visual image depends on context-a mouse sees an expanding visual stimulus when approaching a dark refuge or when a cat approaches them, and distinguishing between the two is a matter of life and death. The superior colliculus (SC) is an evolutionarily ancient hub essential for survival behaviors like approach and avoidance of threats.¹^,² We therefore combined virtual reality and neural recordings to ask whether matching visual stimuli to self-motion alters behavior and neural activity in SC. We first measured locomotion behavior and neural activity while animals approached an object in virtual reality or while the same object loomed at them. In both contexts, vision dominated activity in the superficial layers of SC (SCs), whereas locomotion had more influence on activity in the intermediate layers (SCim). In addition, animals instinctively slowed their locomotion when nearing the object or when the object neared them. To directly test animals' ability to distinguish self from object motion, we replayed the visual images generated during object approach. Locomotion behavior often changed during replay, showing animals can determine whether visual motion is matched to their self-movement. Further, decoders trained on locomotion behavior or on population activity in SC, particularly in SCim, were able to reliably discriminate self-movement and object movement contexts. We conclude that both mouse behavior and SC activity distinguish the context of visual motion and can thus discriminate motion arising from an animal's own movement and that of an external agent.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"4241-4250.e4"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144764766","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":"Representational drift gates critical-period plasticity in mouse visual cortex.","authors":"Thomas C Brown, Aaron W McGee","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.026","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Brief monocular deprivation during a developmentally critical period, but not thereafter, shifts cortical responses toward the non-deprived eye. The characteristics of neural circuitry that permit this experience-dependent plasticity are poorly understood. Here, we performed repeated calcium imaging at cellular resolution to track the tuning properties of populations of excitatory layer 2/3 neurons in the visual cortex of juvenile mice during the critical period, adult mice after the critical period, and adult nogo-66 receptor (ngr1) mutant mice that retain critical-period plasticity. The instability of tuning for populations of neurons, termed \"representational drift,\" was significantly greater during the critical period than in adulthood. Adult ngr1 mutant mice displayed representational drift similar to that of juvenile mice. We propose that representational drift adapts the tuning of populations of neurons to recent experience during the critical period.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"4251-4258.e3"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12419199/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144793719","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":"Phosphatidylethanolamine is a phagocytic ligand implicated in the binding and removal of apoptotic and bacterial extracellular vesicles.","authors":"Ava A Kavianpour, Sina Ghasempour, Kirsten J Meyer, Trieu Le, Ruiqi Cai, Pedro Elias Marques, Justin R Nodwell, Spencer A Freeman","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.043","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.043","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The efficient recognition and removal of apoptotic cells and extracellular vesicles (EVs) by phagocytes is critical to prevent secondary necrosis and maintain tissue homeostasis. Such detection involves receptors and bridging molecules that recognize aminophospholipids-normally restricted to the inner leaflet of healthy cells-which become exposed on the surface of dead cells and the vesicles they produce.¹^,²^,³^,⁴^,⁵ A majority of studies focus on phosphatidylserine (PS), for which there are well-established receptors that either bind to the lipid directly or indirectly via intermediary proteins.⁶^,⁷^,⁸ Phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) is even more prevalent than PS in the inner leaflet of mammalian cells⁹ and also becomes exposed by the action of scramblases during cell death,¹⁰^,¹¹ though little is known about the effects of PE once scrambled. Here, we report that PE can itself serve as a phagocytic ligand for macrophages by engaging CD300 family receptors. CD300a and CD300b specifically modulated the binding and uptake of PE particles, and this process involved immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif (ITAM)-containing adaptors and spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk). For bacteria, which contain PE but largely lack PS in their membranes, we report that PE engagement enabled the binding and uptake of spheroplasts and bacterial extracellular vesicles (BEVs) that were unsheathed by the cell wall. The inflammatory responses of macrophages to PE particles containing lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were also curtailed by CD300a expression. Based on these observations, we posit that the direct recognition of PE facilitates mechanisms of clearance that stand to have a broad impact on the immune response.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"4276-4284.e5"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144834425","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":"Superefficient teamwork in weaver ants.","authors":"Madelyne Stewardson, Daniele Carlesso, David Labonte, Chris R Reid","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.038","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cub.2025.07.038","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Teamwork is often assumed to enhance group performance, particularly for physical tasks. However, in both human and non-human animal teams, the effort contributed by each member may, in fact, decrease as team size grows. This counterintuitive phenomenon, known as the Ringelmann effect,¹ is generally ascribed to poor coordination or differences in motivation.²^,³ Weaver ants (Oecophylla smaragdina) display some of the most impressive feats of teamwork in the natural world,⁴^,⁵ including self-assembly into pulling teams that fold leaves into nesting chambers.⁶^,⁷ Here, we investigated whether weaver ant pulling teams suffer from the Ringelmann effect by measuring the force that weaver ant teams of varying sizes produce during nest construction. The average force contribution per individual almost doubled as team size increased, demonstrating that weaver ants not only avoid the Ringelmann effect but achieve the opposite-they are \"superefficient\" team workers.⁸^,⁹^,¹⁰ We propose that this superefficiency is facilitated by a division of labor within teams: \"active pullers\" work together to generate a pulling force that is stored in chains of \"passive resisters,\" which capitalize on the remarkable frictional strength of weaver ant attachment organs; weaver ant teams thereby act as a \"force ratchet.\" Our results highlight a novel mechanism of teamwork in a highly coordinated natural system and may inspire optimization algorithms for superefficient teams in distributed artificial systems, including swarm robotics. VIDEO ABSTRACT.</p>","PeriodicalId":11359,"journal":{"name":"Current Biology","volume":" ","pages":"4270-4275.e3"},"PeriodicalIF":7.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144845007","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}