Royal Society Open Science最新文献

{"title":"The effect of experimental warming on reproductive performance and parental care in the burying beetle <i>Nicrophorus nepalensis</i>.","authors":"Tanzil Gaffar Malik, Benjamin J M Jarrett, Syuan-Jyun Sun","doi":"10.1098/rsos.240653","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsos.240653","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Rising temperatures can adversely affect parental care and reproductive performance across a range of taxa. However, the warming impact is contingent upon understanding how temperature affects the spectrum of parental behaviours and their interplay. Here, we assessed how temperature affects parental care and reproductive success in the burying beetle, <i>Nicrophorus nepalensis</i>, which exhibits complex parental care behaviours. We exposed breeding pairs of <i>N. nepalensis</i>, to three temperature regimes (18°C, 20°C and 22°C) and assessed changes in parental care, and the subsequent development and growth of their offspring. Our findings show that 22°C disrupts carcass nest building by the parents and results in smaller clutches. Moreover, no eggs successfully hatched in the 22°C treatment. A milder increase to 20°C did not affect the hatching rate but resulted in smaller broods and lighter offspring, even when considering brood size, suggesting a change in post-hatching care quality. Our research suggests that warming may weakly affect parental care but has strong detrimental effects on offspring performance. These findings highlight the necessity of investigating the effect of ambient temperature across a diversity of traits and behaviours and across a range of life-history stages to fully assess species vulnerability in the face of future climate change.</p>","PeriodicalId":21525,"journal":{"name":"Royal Society Open Science","volume":"11 10","pages":"240653"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11461049/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142392991","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"An experimental and computational investigation of the cyclopentene-containing peptide-derived compounds: focus on pseudo-cyclic motifs via intramolecular interactions.","authors":"Joanna Bojarska, Martin Breza, Paweł Borowiecki, Izabela D Madura, Krzysztof Kaczmarek, Zyta M Ziora, Wojciech M Wolf","doi":"10.1098/rsos.240962","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsos.240962","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Conformational flexibility is one of the main disadvantages of peptide-based compounds. We focus on their molecular 'chameleonicity' related to forming pseudo-cyclic motifs via modulation of weak intramolecular interactions. It is an appealing strategy for controlling equilibrium between the polar open and the nonpolar closed conformations. Within this context, we report here the crystal structure of the (<i>R</i>)-(2-<i>tert</i>-butoxycarbonyl)amino-1-oxo-3-phenyl)propyl)-1-cyclopentene (<b>1</b>), synthesis of which in high yield was achieved by a facile multi-step protocol. Our Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) overview for the peptide-based crystals revealed the exclusivity of this compound from the viewpoint of the unusual pseudo-bicyclic system via C-H^…O and C-O^…π interactions, in which cyclopentene shields the amide bond. Notably, cyclopentene as a bioisostere of proline is an appealing scaffold in medicinal chemistry. An extensive combined experimental and computational study provided more profound insight into the supramolecular landscape of <b>1</b> with respect to similar derivatives deposited in the CSD, including the tendency of cyclopentene for the generation of pseudo-cyclic motifs through weak H-bonding and π-based intramolecular interactions. These weak interactions have been examined by either the quantum theory of 'atoms-in-molecules' (QTAIM) or complex Hirshfeld surface methodology, including enrichment ratios, molecular electrostatic potential surfaces and energy frameworks. In all analysed crystals, all types of H-bonded motifs involving cyclopentene are formed at all levels of supramolecular architecture. A library of cyclopentene-based H-bonding synthons is provided. A molecular docking study depicted vital interactions of cyclopentene with key amino acid residues inside the active sites of two prominent protein kinases, uncovering the therapeutic potential of <b>1</b> against breast cancer. To a large extent, dispersion forces have significance in stabilizing the supramolecular structure of both ligand and bio-complex ligand-protein. Finally, the satisfactory <i>in silico</i> bio-pharmacokinetic profile of <b>1</b> related to drug-likeness and blood-brain barrier permeation was also revealed.</p>","PeriodicalId":21525,"journal":{"name":"Royal Society Open Science","volume":"11 10","pages":"40962"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11462612/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142392982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"Comparing self-other distinction across motor, cognitive and affective domains.","authors":"Ekaterina Pronizius, Henryk Bukowski, Claus Lamm","doi":"10.1098/rsos.240662","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsos.240662","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The self-other distinction (SOD) is a process by which humans disentangle self from other-related mental representations. This online study investigated two unresolved questions: (i) whether partially the same processes underpin SOD for motor, cognitive and affective representations, and (ii) whether SOD overlaps with domain-general cognitive control processes. Participants (<i>N</i> = 243) performed three SOD tasks (motor: automatic imitation inhibition (AIT); cognitive: visual perspective-taking (VPT); affective: emotional egocentricity bias (av-EEB) tasks) and two cognitive control tasks (Stroop and stop-signal reaction time (SSRT) tasks). Correlation analyses showed no associations among the motor, cognitive and affective SOD indexes. Similarly, distinct SOD clusters emerged in the hierarchical clustering dendrogram, indicating clear separations among SODs. However, the results of multidimensional scaling suggested a tendency towards two clusters, as evidenced by the proximity of AIT and VPT indexes in relation to EEB indexes. AIT spatial laterality and Stroop domain-general cognitive control confounded AIT and VPT indexes, albeit slightly differently depending on the analysis method used. SSRT showed neither associations with SODs nor with other domain-general indexes. These findings underscore the complexity of SOD processes and have notable implications for basic and applied research, e.g. in the domain of clinical disorders affected by deficiencies in SOD.</p>","PeriodicalId":21525,"journal":{"name":"Royal Society Open Science","volume":"11 10","pages":"240662"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11461050/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142392984","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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 principal components of electoral regimes: separating autocracies from pseudo-democracies.","authors":"Karoline Wiesner, Samuel Bien, Matthew C Wilson","doi":"10.1098/rsos.240262","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsos.240262","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A critical issue for society today is the emergence and decline of democracy worldwide. It is unclear, however, how democratic features, such as elections and civil liberties, influence this change. Democracy indices, which are the standard tool to study this question, are based on the <i>a priori</i> assumption that improvement in any individual feature strengthens democracy overall. We show that this assumption does not always hold. We use the V-Dem dataset for a quantitative study of electoral regimes worldwide during the twentieth century. We find a so-far overlooked trade-off between election capability and civil liberties. In particular, we identify a threshold in the democratization process at which the correlation between election capability and civil liberties flips from negative to positive. Below this threshold, we can thus clearly separate two kinds of non-democratic regimes: autocracies that govern through tightly controlled elections and regimes in which citizens are free but under less certainty-a distinction that existing democracy indices cannot make.</p>","PeriodicalId":21525,"journal":{"name":"Royal Society Open Science","volume":"11 10","pages":"240262"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11461770/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142392993","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"Elephants develop wrinkles through both form and function.","authors":"Andrew K Schulz, Lena V Kaufmann, Noemie Reveyaz, Cindy Ritter, Thomas Hildebrandt, Michael Brecht","doi":"10.1098/rsos.240851","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsos.240851","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The trunks of elephants have prominent wrinkles from their base to the very tip. But neither the obvious differences in wrinkles between elephant species nor their development have been studied before. In this work, we characterize the lifelong development of trunk wrinkles in Asian and African elephants. Asian elephants have more dorsal major, meaning deep and wide, trunk wrinkles (approx. 126 ± 25 s.d.) than African elephants (approx. 83 ± 13 s.d.). Both species have more dorsal than ventral major trunk wrinkles and a closer wrinkle spacing distally than proximally. In Asian elephants, wrinkle density is high in the 'trunk wrapping zone'. Wrinkle numbers on the left and right sides of the distal trunk differed as a function of trunk lateralization, with frequent bending in one direction causing wrinkle formation. Micro-computed tomography (microCT) imaging and microscopy of newborn elephants' trunks revealed a constant thickness of the putative epidermis, whereas the putative dermis shrinks in the wrinkle troughs. During fetal development, wrinkle numbers double every 20 days in an early exponential phase. Later wrinkles are added slowly, but at a faster rate in Asian than African elephants. We discuss the relationship of species differences in trunk wrinkle distribution and number with behavioural, environmental and biomechanical factors.</p>","PeriodicalId":21525,"journal":{"name":"Royal Society Open Science","volume":"11 10","pages":"240851"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11461087/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142392986","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"A systematic review and guide for using multi-response statistical models in co-infection research.","authors":"Francisca Powell-Romero, Konstans Wells, Nicholas J Clark","doi":"10.1098/rsos.231589","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsos.231589","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The simultaneous infection of organisms with two or more co-occurring pathogens, otherwise known as co-infections, concomitant infections or multiple infections, plays a significant role in the dynamics and consequences of infectious diseases in both humans and animals. To understand co-infections, ecologists and epidemiologists rely on models capable of accommodating multiple response variables. However, given the diversity of available approaches, choosing a model that is suitable for drawing meaningful conclusions from observational data is not a straightforward task. To provide clearer guidance for statistical model use in co-infection research, we conducted a systematic review to (i) understand the breadth of study goals and host-pathogen systems being pursued with multi-response models and (ii) determine the degree of crossover of knowledge among disciplines. In total, we identified 69 peer-reviewed primary studies that jointly measured infection patterns with two or more pathogens of humans or animals in natural environments. We found stark divisions in research objectives and methods among different disciplines, suggesting that cross-disciplinary insights into co-infection patterns and processes for different human and animal contexts are currently limited. Citation network analysis also revealed limited knowledge exchange between ecology and epidemiology. These findings collectively highlight the need for greater interdisciplinary collaboration for improving disease management.</p>","PeriodicalId":21525,"journal":{"name":"Royal Society Open Science","volume":"11 10","pages":"231589"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11451405/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142381609","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"FlightTrackAI: a robust convolutional neural network-based tool for tracking the flight behaviour of <i>Aedes aegypti</i> mosquitoes.","authors":"Nouman Javed, Adam J López-Denman, Prasad N Paradkar, Asim Bhatti","doi":"10.1098/rsos.240923","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsos.240923","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Monitoring the flight behaviour of mosquitoes is crucial for assessing their fitness levels and understanding their potential role in disease transmission. Existing methods for tracking mosquito flight behaviour are challenging to implement in laboratory environments, and they also struggle with identity tracking, particularly during occlusions. Here, we introduce FlightTrackAI, a robust convolutional neural network (CNN)-based tool for automatic mosquito flight tracking. FlightTrackAI employs CNN, a multi-object tracking algorithm, and interpolation to track flight behaviour. It automatically processes each video in the input folder without supervision and generates tracked videos with mosquito positions across the frames and trajectory graphs before and after interpolation. FlightTrackAI does not require a sophisticated setup to capture videos; it can perform excellently with videos recorded using standard laboratory cages. FlightTrackAI also offers filtering capabilities to eliminate short-lived objects such as reflections. Validation of FlightTrackAI demonstrated its excellent performance with an average accuracy of 99.9%. The percentage of correctly assigned identities after occlusions exceeded 91%. The data produced by FlightTrackAI can facilitate analysis of various flight-related behaviours, including flight distance and volume coverage during flights. This advancement can help to enhance our understanding of mosquito ecology and behaviour, thereby informing targeted strategies for vector control.</p>","PeriodicalId":21525,"journal":{"name":"Royal Society Open Science","volume":"11 10","pages":"240923"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11444788/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142366426","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"Formalizing the law of diminishing returns in metabolic networks using an electrical analogy.","authors":"Marianyela Petrizzelli, Charlotte Coton, Dominique de Vienne","doi":"10.1098/rsos.240165","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsos.240165","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The way biological systems respond to changes in parameter values caused by mutations is a key issue in evolution and quantitative genetics, as it affects fundamental aspects such as adaptation, selective neutrality, robustness, optimality, evolutionary equilibria, etc. We address this question using the enzyme-flux relationship in a metabolic network as a model of the genotype-phenotype relationship. The lack of a suitable mathematical tool from biochemical theory to investigate this relationship led us to use an analogy between electrical circuits and metabolic networks with uni-uni reactions. We show that a behaviour of diminishing returns, which is commonly observed at various phenotypic levels, is inevitable, irrespective of the complexity of the system. We also present a possible generalization to metabolic networks with both uni-uni and bi-bi reactions.</p>","PeriodicalId":21525,"journal":{"name":"Royal Society Open Science","volume":"11 10","pages":"240165"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11444769/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142366428","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"Replication marketplaces would help science to become more self-correcting.","authors":"Joachim Hüffmeier, Clara Kühner","doi":"10.1098/rsos.240850","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsos.240850","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Independent replications are very rare in the behavioural and social sciences. This is problematic because they can help to detect 'false positives' in published research and, in turn, contribute to scientific self-correction. The lack of replication studies is, among other factors, due to a rather passive editorial approach concerning replications by many journals, which does not encourage and may sometimes even actively discourage submission of replications. In this Perspective article, we advocate for a more proactive editorial approach concerning replications and suggest introducing journal-based <i>replication marketplaces</i> as a new publication track. We argue that such replication marketplaces could solve the long-standing problem of lacking independent replications. To establish these marketplaces, a designated part of a journal's editorial board identifies the most relevant new findings reported within the journal's pages and publicly offers them for replication. This public offering could be combined with small grants for authors to support these replications. Authors then compete for the first accepted registered report to conduct the related replications and can thus be sure that their replication will be published independent of the later findings. Replication marketplaces would not only increase the prevalence of independent replications but also help science to become more self-correcting.</p>","PeriodicalId":21525,"journal":{"name":"Royal Society Open Science","volume":"11 10","pages":"240850"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11444786/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142366434","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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":"Searching for potential acetylcholinesterase inhibitors: a combined approach of multi-step similarity search, machine learning and molecular dynamics simulations.","authors":"Quynh Mai Thai, Minh Quan Pham, Phuong-Thao Tran, Trung Hai Nguyen, Son Tung Ngo","doi":"10.1098/rsos.240546","DOIUrl":"10.1098/rsos.240546","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Targeting acetylcholinesterase is one of the most important strategies for developing therapeutics against Alzheimer's disease. In this work, we have employed a new approach that combines machine learning models, a multi-step similarity search of the PubChem library and molecular dynamics simulations to investigate potential inhibitors for acetylcholinesterase. Our search strategy has been shown to significantly enrich the set of compounds with strong predicted binding affinity to acetylcholinesterase. Both machine learning prediction and binding free energy calculation, based on linear interaction energy, suggest that the compound CID54414454 would bind strongly to acetylcholinesterase and hence is a promising inhibitor.</p>","PeriodicalId":21525,"journal":{"name":"Royal Society Open Science","volume":"11 10","pages":"240546"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11444763/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142366436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"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}