Andreas Fischer, Regine Gries, Camila A Roman-Torres, Anand Devireddy, Gerhard Gries
{"title":"Glandular quinoline-derivates protect crustacean woodlice from spider predation.","authors":"Andreas Fischer, Regine Gries, Camila A Roman-Torres, Anand Devireddy, Gerhard Gries","doi":"10.1098/rsif.2025.0260","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsif.2025.0260","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In evolutionary time, aquatic crustaceans colonized land and faced new terrestrial predators such as spiders and ants. We tested the hypothesis that the crustacean terrestrial woodlouse <i>Porcellio scaber</i> produces defensive metabolites that provide protection against terrestrial predators. When attacked by a predator, <i>P. scaber</i> expels proteinaceous secretions from its tegumental glands. Analyses of gland secretion extracts by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed four metabolites: methyl 8-hydroxy-quinoline-2-carboxylate, methyl 8-hydroxy-4-methoxy-quinoline-2-carboxylate, methyl 8-(sulfooxy)quinoline-2-carboxylate and methyl 4-methoxy-8-(sulfooxy)quinoline-2-carboxylate, the latter three being natural products not previously known. In behavioural experiments, <i>Steatoda grossa</i> spiders readily preyed on <i>Tenebrio molitor</i> beetles but avoided chemically well-defended <i>P. scaber</i>. When beetles were rendered chemically well-defended by topical applications of either <i>P. scaber</i> gland secretion extract or synthetic metabolites identified in these extracts, spiders rejected the beetles as prey. Our data support the hypothesis that <i>P. scaber</i> produces defensive metabolites against terrestrial predators. We show that the crustacean <i>P. scaber</i>, like many insects, is chemically defended against predators.</p>","PeriodicalId":17488,"journal":{"name":"Journal of The Royal Society Interface","volume":"22 229","pages":"20250260"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12324876/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144789480","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 Tanver Hossain, Dakota Piorkowski, Andrew Lowe, Wonsik Eom, Abhishek Shetty, Sameh H Tawfick, Douglas S Fudge, Randy H Ewoldt
{"title":"Physics of unravelling and micromechanics of hagfish threads.","authors":"Mohammad Tanver Hossain, Dakota Piorkowski, Andrew Lowe, Wonsik Eom, Abhishek Shetty, Sameh H Tawfick, Douglas S Fudge, Randy H Ewoldt","doi":"10.1098/rsif.2025.0503","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2025.0503","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Hagfish slime is a unique biological material composed of mucus and protein threads that rapidly deploy into a cohesive network when deployed in seawater. The forces involved in thread deployment and interactions among mucus and threads are key to understanding how hagfish slime rapidly assembles into a cohesive, functional network. Despite extensive interest in its biophysical properties, the mechanical forces governing thread deployment and interaction remain poorly quantified. Here, we present the first direct <i>in situ</i> measurements of the micromechanical forces involved in hagfish slime formation, including mucus mechanical properties, skein peeling force, thread-mucus adhesion and thread-thread cohesion. Using a custom glass-rod force sensing system, we show that thread deployment initiates when peeling forces exceed a threshold of approximately 6.8 nN. To understand the flow strength required for unravelling, we used a rheo-optic setup to impose controlled shear flow, enabling us to directly observe unravelling dynamics and determine the critical shear rate for unravelling of the skeins, which we then interpreted using an updated peeling-based force balance model. Our results reveal that thread-mucus adhesion dominates over thread-thread cohesion and that deployed threads contribute minimally to bulk shear rheology at constant flow rate. These findings clarify the physics underlying the rapid, flow-triggered assembly of hagfish slime and inform future designs of synthetic deployable fibre-gel systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":17488,"journal":{"name":"Journal of The Royal Society Interface","volume":"22 229","pages":"20250503"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12380483/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144959230","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}
Daniel Higgins, Joshua Looker, Robert Sunnucks, Jonathan Carruthers, Thomas Finnie, Matt J Keeling, Edward M Hill
{"title":"Introducing a framework for within-host dynamics and mutations modelling of H5N1 influenza infection in humans.","authors":"Daniel Higgins, Joshua Looker, Robert Sunnucks, Jonathan Carruthers, Thomas Finnie, Matt J Keeling, Edward M Hill","doi":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0910","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0910","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Avian influenza A(H5N1) poses a public health risk due to its pandemic potential should the virus mutate to become human-to-human transmissible. To date, reported influenza A(H5N1) human cases have typically occurred in the lower respiratory tract with a high case fatality rate. There is prior evidence of some influenza A(H5N1) strains being a small number of amino acid mutations away from achieving droplet transmissibility, possibly allowing them to be spread between humans. We present a mechanistic within-host influenza A(H5N1) infection model, novel for its explicit consideration of the biological differences between the upper and lower respiratory tracts. We then estimate a distribution of viral lifespans and effective replication rates in human H5N1 influenza cases. By combining our within-host model with a viral mutation model, we determine the probability of an infected individual generating a droplet transmissible strain of influenza A(H5N1) through mutation. For three mutations, we found a peak probability of approximately [Formula: see text] that a human case of H5N1 influenza produces at least one virion during the infectious period. Our findings provide insights into the risk of differing infectious pathways of influenza A(H5N1) (namely avian-human versus avian-mammal-human routes), demonstrating the three-mutation pathway being a cause of concern in human cases.</p>","PeriodicalId":17488,"journal":{"name":"Journal of The Royal Society Interface","volume":"22 228","pages":"20240910"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12212982/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144540672","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}
Liliana C M Salvador, Frederic Bartumeus, Simon A Levin, William S Ryu
{"title":"Correction: 'Mechanistic analysis of the search behaviour of <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i>' (2014), by Salvador <i>et al.</i>","authors":"Liliana C M Salvador, Frederic Bartumeus, Simon A Levin, William S Ryu","doi":"10.1098/rsif.2025.0557","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsif.2025.0557","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":17488,"journal":{"name":"Journal of The Royal Society Interface","volume":"22 228","pages":"20250557"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12312556/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144690653","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}
Luke Heirene, Helen Byrne, Armin Sepp, Eamonn Gaffney, James Yates
{"title":"Understanding antibody-target antigen interactions and the avidity effect using mathematical modelling.","authors":"Luke Heirene, Helen Byrne, Armin Sepp, Eamonn Gaffney, James Yates","doi":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0710","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsif.2024.0710","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Immunotherapies are designed to exploit the immune system to target pathologies such as cancer. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are an important class of immunotherapies that induce anti-tumour effects. Fundamental to the success of mAbs in cancer treatments are their interactions with target antigens. For example, binding multiple antigens, increasing binding affinity, termed the avidity effect, has been shown to impact treatment outcomes. However, there has been limited theoretical analysis addressing the impacts of antibody-antigen interactions on avidity, potency and efficacy. Hence, our aim is to use a mathematical model to develop insight on these impacts. We analyse an ordinary differential equation model of bivalent, monospecific IgG antibodies binding to membrane antigens and show that the ratio of antibody to antigen number impacts quantities that contribute to mAb potency and efficacy, such as antigen occupancy, and whether an antibody can bind both its antigen-binding arms. A global parameter sensitivity analysis shows that antigen occupancy and the ratio of bound antibody to total antigen number are sensitive to the antibody-antigen binding rates only for high antibody concentrations. We also identify parameter ranges in which the avidity effect is predicted to be large. These results could be used in the preclinical development of mAb therapies by predicting conditions that enhance mAb potency, efficacy and the avidity effect.</p>","PeriodicalId":17488,"journal":{"name":"Journal of The Royal Society Interface","volume":"22 228","pages":"20240710"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12308350/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144591592","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}
Yassmin Lakhal, Javier Redolat, Estíbaliz Sánchez-González, Paul J Constantino, Michael A Berthaume, Óscar Borrero-López, Elena Pinilla-Cienfuegos
{"title":"Novel experimental methods to investigate the effects of plant phytoliths on tooth enamel wear.","authors":"Yassmin Lakhal, Javier Redolat, Estíbaliz Sánchez-González, Paul J Constantino, Michael A Berthaume, Óscar Borrero-López, Elena Pinilla-Cienfuegos","doi":"10.1098/rsif.2025.0175","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsif.2025.0175","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Dental enamel is one of the strongest biomaterials found in nature, making its mechanical failure of significant interest to the biomaterials and dental communities. Recent studies on the mechanisms of enamel wear have yielded conflicting results, highlighting the need for more realistic experimental approaches. Here, we introduce a novel experimental methodology based on nanotechnology techniques and micromechanical/materials testing to simulate and characterize, for the first time, <i>in vitro</i> microwear caused by the sliding of artificial models of soft leaves containing phytolith particles against human dental enamel. While embedded phytoliths undergo mechanical degradation upon cyclic contacts, they increase the extent of pre-existing wear in enamel and decrease its mineral content. Surprisingly, the primary wear mechanism of enamel is 'quasi-plastic' (i.e. permanent) deformation enabled by failure of weak interphases, dominated at the microstructural scale. Mechanisms responsible for material removal in enamel at different length scales are identified and discussed. This research offers new insights into enamel failure that can further reveal information about an animal's biology, behaviour, biomechanics and ecology, offering an interdisciplinary approach to the interface between the physical and life sciences.</p>","PeriodicalId":17488,"journal":{"name":"Journal of The Royal Society Interface","volume":"22 228","pages":"20250175"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12212993/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144540673","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}
Cibin T Jose, Ankit Joshi, Shri H Viswanathan, Sincere K Nash, Kambiz Sadeghi, Stavros A Kavouras, Konrad Rykaczewski
{"title":"A micro-to-macroscale and multi-method investigation of human sweating dynamics.","authors":"Cibin T Jose, Ankit Joshi, Shri H Viswanathan, Sincere K Nash, Kambiz Sadeghi, Stavros A Kavouras, Konrad Rykaczewski","doi":"10.1098/rsif.2025.0407","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsif.2025.0407","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sweat secretion and evaporation from the skin dictate the human ability to thermoregulate and thermal comfort in hot environments and impact skin interactions with cosmetics, textiles and wearable electronics/sensors. However, sweating has mostly been investigated using macroscopic physiological methods, leaving micro-to-macroscale sweating dynamics unexplored. We explore these processes by using a coupled micro-imaging and transport measurement approach used in engineering studies of phase change processes. Specifically, we used a comprehensive set of 'macroscale' physiological measurements (ventilated capsule sweat rate (SR), galvanic skin conductance and dielectric epidermis hydration) complemented by three microscale imaging techniques (visible light, midwave infrared and optical coherence tomography imaging). Inspired by industrial jet cooling devices, we also explore an 'air jet' (versus cylindrical) capsule for measuring SR. To enable near-simultaneous application of these methods, we studied forehead sweating dynamics of six supine subjects undergoing passive heating, cooling and secondary heating. The relative dynamics of the physiological measurements agree with prior observations and can be explained using imaged microscale sweating dynamics. This comprehensive study provides new insights into the biophysical dynamics of sweating onset and following cyclic porewise, transition and filmwise sweating modes and highlights the roles of stratum corneum hydration, salt deposits and microscale hair.</p>","PeriodicalId":17488,"journal":{"name":"Journal of The Royal Society Interface","volume":"22 228","pages":"20250407"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12312559/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144690652","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":"The speed of vaccination rollout and the risk of pathogen adaptation.","authors":"Sylvain Gandon, Amaury Lambert, Marina Voinson, Troy Day, Todd L Parsons","doi":"10.1098/rsif.2025.0060","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsif.2025.0060","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Vaccination is expected to reduce disease prevalence and to halt the spread of epidemics. Pathogen adaptation, however, may erode the efficacy of vaccination and limit our ability to control disease spread. Here, we examine the influence of the rate of vaccination of the host population on the overall risk of pathogen adaptation to vaccination. We extend the framework of evolutionary epidemiology theory to account for demographic stochasticity in the different steps leading to the adaptation to vaccination: (i) the introduction of a vaccine-escape variant by mutation from an endemic wild-type pathogen, (ii) the invasion of this vaccine-escape variant in spite of the risk of early extinction, (iii) the spread and fixation of the vaccine-escape variant in the pathogen population. We introduce a novel and versatile hybrid analytical-numerical method that allows fast computation of the probabilities associated with these steps. Using it, we show that increasing the rate of vaccination can reduce both the number of cases and the likelihood of pathogen adaptation. Our work clarifies the influence of vaccination policies-a major ecological perturbation of the environment of a pathogen-on different steps of pathogen adaptation. The model provides a useful theoretical framework to account for the interplay between epidemiology, selection and genetic drift and to anticipate the effects of public-health interventions on pathogen evolution.</p>","PeriodicalId":17488,"journal":{"name":"Journal of The Royal Society Interface","volume":"22 228","pages":"20250060"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12308340/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144591590","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":"Strategic competition in informal risk-sharing mechanisms versus collective index insurance.","authors":"Lichen Wang, Shijia Hua, Yuyuan Liu, Zhengyuan Lu, Liang Zhang, Linjie Liu, Attila Szolnoki","doi":"10.1098/rsif.2025.0163","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsif.2025.0163","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The frequent occurrence of natural disasters has posed significant challenges to society, necessitating the urgent development of effective risk management strategies. From the early informal community-based risk-sharing mechanisms to modern formal index insurance products, risk management tools have continuously evolved. Although index insurance provides an effective risk transfer mechanism in theory, it still faces the problems of basis risk and pricing in practice. At the same time, in the presence of informal community risk-sharing mechanisms, the competitiveness of index insurance deserves further investigation. Here, we propose a three-strategy evolutionary game model, which simultaneously examines the competitive relationship between formal index insurance purchasing ([Formula: see text]), informal risk-sharing strategies ([Formula: see text]) and complete non-insurance ([Formula: see text]). Furthermore, we introduce a method for calculating insurance company profits to aid in the optimal pricing of index insurance products. We find that basis risk and risk loss ratio have significant impacts on insurance adoption rate. Under scenarios with low basis risk and high loss ratios, index insurance is more popular; meanwhile, when the loss ratio is moderate, an informal risk-sharing strategy is the preferred option. Conversely, when the loss ratio is low, individuals tend to forego any insurance. Furthermore, accurately assessing the degree of risk aversion and determining the appropriate ratio of risk sharing are crucial for predicting the future market sales of index insurance.</p>","PeriodicalId":17488,"journal":{"name":"Journal of The Royal Society Interface","volume":"22 228","pages":"20250163"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12303096/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144642871","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":"Quantifying and exploring state-dependent ecological interactions from time series data using Gaussian process regression.","authors":"Taiju Yukihira, Yutaka Osada, Michio Kondoh","doi":"10.1098/rsif.2025.0154","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsif.2025.0154","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ecological interactions in natural communities are often highly nonlinear; that is, interaction strengths can fluctuate temporally depending on community states. An effective and reliable tool to infer state-dependent interactions from empirical data is crucial to ecological studies. Here, we propose a novel non-parametric inference method based on Gaussian process regression to quantify interaction strengths from nonlinear time series data. We introduce the method by extending the Gaussian process empirical dynamic modelling (GP-EDM) approach in ecology. To confirm its applicability, we investigated the performance of the proposed method, using both synthetic and real-time series data. The results highlight that the proposed method possesses several distinct features. First, throughout performance comparison with existing methods (S-map and regularized S-map), the proposed method achieves higher inference accuracy for noisy time series data. Second, the proposed method analytically accounts for the dependence of interaction strengths on community states. This enables us to locally evaluate state-dependent changes in interaction strengths by exploring hypothetical community states. Moreover, because the posterior function is derived analytically, the proposed method can easily evaluate the inference uncertainty (e.g. credible interval), resulting in more reliable inference outcomes. The proposed method provides a basis for addressing state dependence in analyses of species interactions.</p>","PeriodicalId":17488,"journal":{"name":"Journal of The Royal Society Interface","volume":"22 228","pages":"20250154"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12308230/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144591589","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}