{"title":"Local postural changes elicit extensive and diverse skin stretch around joints, on the trunk and the face.","authors":"Mia Rupani, Luke D Cleland, Hannes P Saal","doi":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0794","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0794","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Skin stretch, induced by bodily movements, offers a potential source of information about the conformation of the body that can be transmitted to the brain via stretch-sensitive mechanoreceptive neurons. While previous studies have primarily focused on skin stretch directly at joints, here we investigate the extent and complexity of natural skin stretch across various body regions, including the face and trunk. We used a quad-camera set-up to image large ink-based speckle patterns stamped on participants' skin and calculated the resulting stretch patterns on a millimetre scale during a range of natural poses. We observed that skin stretch associated with joint movement extends far beyond the joint itself, with knee flexion inducing stretch on the upper thigh. Large and uniform stretch patterns were found across the trunk, covering considerable portions of the skin. The face exhibited highly complex and non-uniform stretch patterns, potentially contributing to our capacity to control fine facial movements in the absence of traditional proprioceptors. Importantly, all regions demonstrated skin stretch in excess of mechanoreceptive thresholds, suggesting that behaviourally relevant skin stretch can occur anywhere on the body. These signals might provide the brain with valuable information about body state and conformation, potentially supplementing or even surpassing the capabilities of traditional proprioception.</p>","PeriodicalId":17488,"journal":{"name":"Journal of The Royal Society Interface","volume":"22 223","pages":"20240794"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11835493/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143449218","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Model-guided gene circuit design for engineering genetically stable cell populations in diverse applications.","authors":"Kirill Sechkar, Harrison Steel","doi":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0602","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0602","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Maintaining engineered cell populations' genetic stability is a key challenge in synthetic biology. Synthetic genetic constructs compete with a host cell's native genes for expression resources, burdening the cell and impairing its growth. This creates a selective pressure favouring mutations which alleviate this growth defect by removing synthetic gene expression. Non-functional mutants thus spread in cell populations, eventually making them lose engineered functions. Past work has attempted to limit mutation spread by coupling synthetic gene expression to survival. However, these approaches are highly context-dependent and must be tailor-made for each particular synthetic gene circuit to be retained. By contrast, we develop and analyse a biomolecular controller which depresses mutant cell growth independently of the mutated synthetic gene's identity. Modelling shows how our design can be deployed alongside various synthetic circuits without any re-engineering of its genetic components, outperforming extant gene-specific mutation spread mitigation strategies. Our controller's performance is evaluated using a novel simulation approach which leverages resource-aware cell modelling to directly link a circuit's design parameters to its population-level behaviour. Our design's adaptability promises to mitigate mutation spread in an expanded range of applications, while our analyses provide a blueprint for using resource-aware cell models in circuit design.</p>","PeriodicalId":17488,"journal":{"name":"Journal of The Royal Society Interface","volume":"22 223","pages":"20240602"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11813585/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143399389","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bernd F Steklis, Kaden L Rupert, Todd A Blackledge
{"title":"Water has different effects on adhesive strength during placement versus loading of spider silk attachment discs.","authors":"Bernd F Steklis, Kaden L Rupert, Todd A Blackledge","doi":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0650","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0650","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Spiders use piriform silk attachment discs to adhere threads during web construction and to secure safety lines. Water could degrade attachment disc adhesion by either interfering with placement of the discs or later reducing adhesion during loading. We tested the effect of water on the adhesion of attachment discs for the spider <i>Latrodectus hesperus</i>, which spins webs in mostly dry environments. We compared adhesion for discs spun on wet versus dry glass that were subsequently loaded in either wet or dry conditions. Attachment discs placed on wet glass showed similar adhesion to discs placed on dry glass. However, water significantly decreased both peak force of adhesion and work of adhesion when loading occurred under wet conditions, regardless of initial placement conditions. Furthermore, failure mode shifted from rupture of draglines in dry loading conditions to adhesive failure of discs in wet loading conditions. Our results show the importance of considering both the conditions in which biological structures are produced and those in which the structures perform as potentially independent factors for performance. Our results also suggest that adhesion in wet conditions can challenge some spiders, potentially leading to specialization of attachment discs for riparian or aquatic species.</p>","PeriodicalId":17488,"journal":{"name":"Journal of The Royal Society Interface","volume":"22 223","pages":"20240650"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11813564/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143399527","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mohammad Shojaeifard, Matteo Ferraresso, Alessandro Lucantonio, Mattia Bacca
{"title":"Machine learning-based optimal design of fibrillar adhesives.","authors":"Mohammad Shojaeifard, Matteo Ferraresso, Alessandro Lucantonio, Mattia Bacca","doi":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0636","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0636","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Fibrillar adhesion, observed in animals like beetles, spiders and geckos, relies on nanoscopic or microscopic fibrils to enhance surface adhesion via 'contact splitting'. This concept has inspired engineering applications across robotics, transportation and medicine. Recent studies suggest that functional grading of fibril properties can improve adhesion, but this is a complex design challenge that has only been explored in simplified geometries. While machine learning (ML) has gained traction in adhesive design, no previous attempts have targeted fibril-array scale optimization. In this study, we propose an ML-based tool that optimizes the distribution of fibril compliance to maximize adhesive strength. Our tool, featuring two neural networks (NNs), recovers previous design results for simple geometries and introduces novel solutions for complex configurations. The predictor NN estimates adhesive strength based on random compliance distributions, while the designer NN optimizes compliance distribution to achieve maximum strength using gradient-based optimization. This method significantly reduces test error and accelerates the optimization process, offering a high-performance solution for designing fibrillar adhesives and micro-architected materials aimed at fracture resistance by achieving equal load sharing.</p>","PeriodicalId":17488,"journal":{"name":"Journal of The Royal Society Interface","volume":"22 223","pages":"20240636"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11858785/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143501845","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Franz Kuchling, Isha Singh, Mridushi Daga, Susan Zec, Alexandra Kunen, Michael Levin
{"title":"Uncertainty minimization and pattern recognition in <i>Volvox carteri</i> and <i>V. aureus</i>.","authors":"Franz Kuchling, Isha Singh, Mridushi Daga, Susan Zec, Alexandra Kunen, Michael Levin","doi":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0645","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0645","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The field of diverse intelligence explores the capacity of systems without complex brains to dynamically engage with changing environments, seeking fundamental principles of cognition and their evolutionary origins. However, there are many knowledge gaps around a general behavioural directive connecting aneural to neural organisms. This study tests predictions of the computational framework of active inference based on the free energy principle in neuroscience, applied to aneural biological processes. We demonstrate pattern recognition in the green algae <i>Volvox</i> using phototactic experiments with varied light pulse patterns, measuring their phototactic bias as a readout for their preferential ability to detect and adapt to one pattern over another. Results show <i>Volvox</i> adapt more readily to regular patterns than irregular ones and even exhibit memory properties, exhibiting a crucial component of basal intelligence. Pharmacological and electric shock-based interventions and photoadaptation simulations reveal how randomized stimuli interfere with normal photoadaptation through a structured dynamic interplay of colony rotation and calcium-mediated photoreceptor-to-flagellar information transfer, consistent with uncertainty minimization. The detection of functional uncertainty minimization in an aneural organism expands concepts like uncertainty minimization beyond neurons and provides insights and novel intervention tools applicable to other living systems, similar to early learning validations in simpler neural organisms.</p>","PeriodicalId":17488,"journal":{"name":"Journal of The Royal Society Interface","volume":"22 223","pages":"20240645"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11858792/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143501986","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Competition effects regulating the composition of the microRNA pool.","authors":"Sofia B Raak, Jonathan G Hanley, Cian O'Donnell","doi":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0870","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0870","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>MicroRNAS (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNAs that can repress mRNA translation to regulate protein synthesis. During their maturation, multiple types of pre-miRNAs compete for a shared pool of the enzyme Dicer. It is unknown how this competition for a shared resource influences the relative expression of mature miRNAs. We study this process in a computational model of pre-miRNA maturation, fitted to <i>in vitro Drosophila</i> S2 cell data. We find that those pre-miRNAs that efficiently interact with Dicer outcompete other pre-miRNAs, when Dicer is scarce. To test our model predictions, we re-analysed previously published <i>ex vivo</i> mouse striatum data with reduced <i>Dicer1</i> expression. We calculated a proxy measure for pre-miRNA affinity to TRBP (a protein that loads pre-miRNAs to Dicer). This measures well-predicted mature miRNA levels in the data, validating our assumptions. We used this as a basis to test the the model's predictions through further analysis of the data. We found that pre-miRNAs with strong TRBP association are over-represented in competition conditions, consistent with the modelling. Finally using further simulations, we discovered that pre-miRNAs with low maturation rates can affect the mature miRNA pool via competition among pre-miRNAs. Overall, this work presents evidence of pre-miRNA competition regulating the composition of mature miRNAs.</p>","PeriodicalId":17488,"journal":{"name":"Journal of The Royal Society Interface","volume":"22 223","pages":"20240870"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11835486/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143449141","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Simon K Camponuri, Jennifer R Head, Philip A Collender, Amanda K Weaver, Alexandra K Heaney, Kate A Colvin, Abinash Bhattachan, Gail Sondermeyer-Cooksey, Duc J Vugia, Seema Jain, Justin V Remais
{"title":"Prolonged coccidioidomycosis transmission seasons in a warming California: a Markov state transition model of shifting disease dynamics.","authors":"Simon K Camponuri, Jennifer R Head, Philip A Collender, Amanda K Weaver, Alexandra K Heaney, Kate A Colvin, Abinash Bhattachan, Gail Sondermeyer-Cooksey, Duc J Vugia, Seema Jain, Justin V Remais","doi":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0821","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0821","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Coccidioidomycosis, an emerging fungal disease in the southwestern United States, exhibits pronounced seasonal transmission, yet the influence of current and future climate on the timing and duration of transmission seasons remains poorly understood. We developed a distributed-lag Markov state transition model to estimate the effects of temperature and precipitation on the timing of transmission season onset and end, analysing reported coccidioidomycosis cases (<i>n</i> = 72 125) in California from 2000 to 2023. Using G-computation substitution estimators, we examined how hypothetical changes in seasonal meteorology impact transmission season timing. Transitions from cooler, wetter conditions to hotter, drier conditions were found to significantly accelerate season onset. Dry conditions (10th percentile of precipitation) in the spring shifted season onset an average of 2.8 weeks (95% CI: 0.43-3.58) earlier compared with wet conditions (90th percentile of precipitation). Conversely, transitions back to cooler, wetter conditions hastened season end, with dry autumn conditions extending the season by an average of 0.69 weeks (95% CI: 0.37-1.41) compared with wet conditions. When dry conditions occurred in the spring and autumn, the transmission season extended by 3.70 weeks (95% CI: 1.23-4.22). With prolonged dry seasons expected in California with climate change, our findings suggest this shift will extend the period of elevated coccidioidomycosis risk.</p>","PeriodicalId":17488,"journal":{"name":"Journal of The Royal Society Interface","volume":"22 223","pages":"20240821"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11858782/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143501850","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xiaozhou Fan, Alberto Bortoni, Siyang Hao, Sharon Swartz, Kenneth Breuer
{"title":"Upstroke wing clapping in bats and bat-inspired robots offers efficient lift generation.","authors":"Xiaozhou Fan, Alberto Bortoni, Siyang Hao, Sharon Swartz, Kenneth Breuer","doi":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0590","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0590","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Wing articulation is critical for the efficient flight of bird- and bat-sized animals. Inspired by the flight of <i>Cynopterus brachyotis</i>, the lesser short-nosed fruit bat, we built a two-degree-of-freedom flapping wing platform with variable wing folding capability. In the late upstroke, the wings 'clap' and produce an air jet that significantly increases lift production, with a positive peak matched to that produced in the downstroke. Though ventral clapping has been observed in avian flight, the potential aerodynamic benefit of this behaviour is yet to be rigorously assessed. We used multiple approaches-quasi-steady modelling, direct force/power measurement and particle image velocimetry (PIV) experiments in a wind tunnel-to understand critical aspects of lift and power variation in relation to wing folding magnitude over Strouhal numbers at <i>St</i> = 0.2-0.4. While lift increases monotonically with folding amplitude in that range, power economy (ratio of lift/power) is more nuanced. At <i>St</i> = 0.2-0.3, it increases with wing folding amplitude monotonically. At <i>St</i> = 0.3-0.4, it features two maxima-one at medium folding amplitude (approx. 30°) and the other at maximum folding. These findings illuminate two strategies available to flapping wing animals and robots-symmetry-breaking lift augmentation and appendage-based jet propulsion.</p>","PeriodicalId":17488,"journal":{"name":"Journal of The Royal Society Interface","volume":"22 223","pages":"20240590"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11837331/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143449234","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reciprocating thermochemical mediator of pre-biotic polymer decomposition on mineral surfaces.","authors":"Rowena Ball, John Brindley","doi":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0492","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0492","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A continuing frustration for origin of life scientists is that abiotic and, by extension, pre-biotic attempts to develop self-sustaining, evolving molecular systems tend to produce more dead-end substances than macromolecular products with the necessary potential for biostructure and function - the so-called 'tar problem'. Nevertheless primordial life somehow emerged despite that presumed handicap. A resolution of this problem is important in emergence-of-life science because it would provide valuable guidance in choosing subsequent paths of investigation, such as identifying pre-biotic patterns on Mars. To study the problem we set up a simple non-equilibrium flow dynamical model for the coupled temperature and mass dynamics of the decomposition of a polymeric carbohydrate adsorbed on a mineral surface, with incident stochastic thermal fluctuations. Results show that the model system behaves as a reciprocating thermochemical oscillator. The output fluctuation distribution is bimodal, with a right-weighted component that guarantees a bias towards detachment and desorption of monomeric species such as ribose, even while tar is formed concomitantly. This fluctuating thermochemical reciprocator may ensure that non-performing polymers can be fractionated into a refractory carbon reservoir and active monomers which may be reincorporated into better-performing polymers with less vulnerability towards adsorptive tarring.</p>","PeriodicalId":17488,"journal":{"name":"Journal of The Royal Society Interface","volume":"22 223","pages":"20240492"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11796468/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143189510","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Da In Lee, Anjalika Nande, Thayer L Anderson, Michael Z Levy, Alison L Hill
{"title":"Vaccine failure mode determines population-level impact of vaccination campaigns during epidemics.","authors":"Da In Lee, Anjalika Nande, Thayer L Anderson, Michael Z Levy, Alison L Hill","doi":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0689","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0689","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Vaccines are a crucial tool for controlling infectious diseases, yet rarely offer perfect protection. 'Vaccine efficacy' describes a population-level effect measured in clinical trials, but mathematical models used to evaluate the impact of vaccination campaigns require specifying how vaccines fail at the individual level, which is often impossible to measure. Does 90% efficacy imply perfect protection in 90% of people and no protection in 10% ('all-or-nothing') or that the per-exposure risk is reduced by 90% in all vaccinated individuals ('leaky') or somewhere in between? Here, we systematically investigate the role of vaccine failure mode in controlling ongoing epidemics. We find that the difference in population-level impact between all-or-nothing and leaky vaccines can be substantial when <i>R</i><sub>0</sub> is higher, vaccines efficacy is intermediate, and vaccines slow but cannot curtail an outbreak. Comparing COVID-19 pandemic phases, we show times when model predictions would have been most sensitive to assumptions about vaccine failure mode. When determining the optimal risk group to prioritize for limited vaccines, we find that modelling a leaky vaccine as all-or-nothing (or vice versa) can change the recommended target group. Overall, we conclude that models of vaccination campaigns should include uncertainty about vaccine failure mode in their design and interpretation.</p>","PeriodicalId":17488,"journal":{"name":"Journal of The Royal Society Interface","volume":"22 223","pages":"20240689"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11835492/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143449238","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}