Biology OpenPub Date : 2025-06-15Epub Date: 2025-06-30DOI: 10.1242/bio.062072
Jasmine Pierre, Brett M Wilson, Amanda S Williard
{"title":"Osmoregulation in the estuarine diamond-backed terrapin across a broad range of naturally occurring salinities.","authors":"Jasmine Pierre, Brett M Wilson, Amanda S Williard","doi":"10.1242/bio.062072","DOIUrl":"10.1242/bio.062072","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Diamond-backed terrapins are exposed to a broad range of salinities within their estuarine habitats, ranging from brackish water to full-strength seawater. The diamond-backed terrapin's ability to live exclusively in highly dynamic estuarine habitats has motivated experiments to explore the species' osmotic strategy; however, most of these experiments have taken place under laboratory conditions. The purpose of this project was to investigate the osmotic status of free-ranging diamond-backed terrapins during the active season in coastal southeastern North Carolina, USA. We collected blood samples from diamond-backed terrapins captured in salinities ranging from 9-39 psu and used linear models to assess the responses of blood osmolality, organic osmolytes, inorganic ions, and blood proteins to environmental and morphological variables. Results indicate that organic osmolytes play an important role in maintenance of body fluid homeostasis during exposure to high salinity. We found that salinity and body size have significant effects on blood variables which may reflect plasticity in osmotic strategy depending on demographic characteristics. We consider our results in the context of the energetic costs of maintaining osmotic homeostasis and the implications for diamond-backed terrapin resilience when exposed to altered salinity profiles due to changes in coastal land use and rising sea levels.</p>","PeriodicalId":9216,"journal":{"name":"Biology Open","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12264734/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144246531","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Generation and characterization of a DYNLT1-knockout mouse model reveals electrophysiological alterations and potential mechanistic contributors to atrial fibrillation.","authors":"Ting Chen, Ziyan Wang, Xinpeng You, Wenxing Guo, Yijin Chua, Qi Jiang, Yanhong Gao","doi":"10.1242/bio.061895","DOIUrl":"10.1242/bio.061895","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common arrhythmia that increases the risk of stroke and heart failure and is associated with high morbidity and mortality. However, its molecular pathogenesis remains incompletely understood. In this study, we generated a DYNLT1 knockout (KO) mouse model using CRISPR/Cas9 technology. Through electrocardiography, echocardiography, and histological analysis, we found that DYNLT1 deletion induced spontaneous AF. The KO mice exhibited not only surface electrophysiological remodeling and atrial structural changes but also increased atrial cardiomyocyte apoptosis, downregulation of gap junction proteins, and elevated inflammatory markers at the molecular level. Furthermore, using mass spectrometry, immunofluorescence, and other molecular techniques, we observed that DYNLT1 deletion reduced the distribution of its interacting protein TMCO1 in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of atrial cardiomyocytes, leading to ER calcium overload and potentially triggering the onset of AF. This study establishes a novel animal model for AF research, advances our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying AF, and provides a theoretical basis for the development of targeted molecular therapies.</p>","PeriodicalId":9216,"journal":{"name":"Biology Open","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12208403/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144207736","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biology OpenPub Date : 2025-06-15Epub Date: 2025-06-20DOI: 10.1242/bio.061931
Patricia Ann Kramer, Adam D Sylvester
{"title":"Hip stabilization in an australopithecine-like hip: the influence of shape on muscle activation.","authors":"Patricia Ann Kramer, Adam D Sylvester","doi":"10.1242/bio.061931","DOIUrl":"10.1242/bio.061931","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Hip stabilization through muscular activation of the gluteals is a key feature of hominin walking, but the role of pelvic shape on muscular activation remains uncertain. Coupled with this is the uncertainty regarding whether the kinematics and kinetics of modern humans are appropriate in extinct hominins. We apply modern human kinematics and kinetics to musculoskeletal models with modern human-like and australopithecine-like hips. We test the prediction that the hip functional complex that includes biacetabular breadth, femoral neck length, and iliac blade flare, produces hip abductor muscle activations that are similar in the modern human- and australopithecine-like forms. Using previously developed musculoskeletal models, we calculated muscle forces using inverse dynamics analyses and a muscle redundancy algorithm for ten individuals who walked at their normal velocity. We found that the shape of the australopithecine-like pelvis produces absolutely higher muscle activations in gluteus medius and gluteus minimus, but lower muscle activations across a long period of stance in gluteus maximus compared to the modern human-like pelvis when kinematics and size are held constant. These results suggest that, while the australopithecine-like pelvis is compatible with human walking patterns, influences on pelvic shape other than accommodating muscle and joint reaction forces during walking are present.</p>","PeriodicalId":9216,"journal":{"name":"Biology Open","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12208404/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144233235","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biology OpenPub Date : 2025-06-15Epub Date: 2025-06-20DOI: 10.1242/bio.061792
Brian D Grossman, Jack D Sanford, Yuyi Zhu, Cynthia B Zeller, John E Weldon
{"title":"Intracellular trafficking of furin enhances cellular intoxication by recombinant immunotoxins based on Pseudomonas exotoxin A.","authors":"Brian D Grossman, Jack D Sanford, Yuyi Zhu, Cynthia B Zeller, John E Weldon","doi":"10.1242/bio.061792","DOIUrl":"10.1242/bio.061792","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Furin is a mammalian serine protease with important roles in cellular homeostasis and disease. It cleaves and activates numerous endogenous and exogenous substrates, including the SARS-CoV-2 viral spike protein and protein toxins such as diphtheria toxin and Pseudomonas exotoxin A (PE). Recombinant immunotoxins (RITs) are toxin conjugates used as cancer therapeutics that connect tumor-directed antibodies with toxins for targeted cell killing. RITs based on PE have shown success in treating a variety of cancers, but often suffer from safety and efficacy concerns when used clinically. We have explored furin as a potential limiting factor in the intoxication pathway of PE-based RITs. Although the furin has widely recognized importance in RIT intoxication, its role is incompletely understood. Circumstantial evidence suggests that furin may act as a transporter for RITs in addition to its role of activation by cleavage. Here, we describe the creation of a CRISPR-engineered furin-deficient HEK293 cell line, ΔFur293. Using ΔFur293 and derivatives that express mutant forms of furin, we confirm the importance of furin in the PE RIT intoxication pathway and show that furin trafficking has a significant impact on RIT efficacy. Our data support the hypothesis that furin acts as a transporter during RIT intoxication and suggest furin as a target for modification to improve the effectiveness of RITs.</p>","PeriodicalId":9216,"journal":{"name":"Biology Open","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12208400/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144246530","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biology OpenPub Date : 2025-06-15Epub Date: 2025-06-13DOI: 10.1242/bio.062024
Hans Ulrik Riisgård, Poul S Larsen
{"title":"Filtration and respiration of filter-feeding marine invertebrates are linked through allometric power-law functions.","authors":"Hans Ulrik Riisgård, Poul S Larsen","doi":"10.1242/bio.062024","DOIUrl":"10.1242/bio.062024","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Filter feeding in marine invertebrates is a secondary adaptation where the filtration rate (F) that provides the food energy to cover the respiration (R) increases with increasing body dry weight (W), and therefore it may be suggested that the exponents in the equations F=a1Wb1 and R=a2Wb2 have, during evolution, become near equal, b1≈b2, ensuring that the F/R-ratio=a1/a2 is nearly constant. Based on published data, we verify the hypothesis of equal allometric power-law exponents and test to what degree the F/R-ratio may be used to characterize various adaptations to filter feeding. The available b-values for very different taxonomic groups of filter feeders (bivalves, ascidians, crustaceans, polychaetes, jellyfish) covering 8 decades support in most cases the hypothesis of b1≈b2. For obligate phytoplankton filter feeders where b1≈b2 the F/R-ratio was used to estimate the critical phytoplankton biomass below which the animal would starve. However, if the food-particle retention efficiency is not constant during an animal's ontogeny the F/R-ratio may change according to the size range of particles being captured at the specific stage of development.</p>","PeriodicalId":9216,"journal":{"name":"Biology Open","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12182862/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144109753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biology OpenPub Date : 2025-06-15Epub Date: 2025-06-06DOI: 10.1242/bio.061867
Claudia A Collier, Aelita Salikhova, Sufiyan Sabir, Shreya A Raghavan
{"title":"Persistent enteric neuroinflammation chronically impairs colonic motility in a pyridostigmine bromide-induced mouse model of Gulf War illness.","authors":"Claudia A Collier, Aelita Salikhova, Sufiyan Sabir, Shreya A Raghavan","doi":"10.1242/bio.061867","DOIUrl":"10.1242/bio.061867","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Neuroplasticity in the adult colon enables the enteric nervous system (ENS) to adaptively remodel in response to acute inflammation, preserving motility. However, chronic inflammation may drive maladaptive neuroplasticity, resulting in gastrointestinal dysmotility, a hallmark of functional gastrointestinal disorders, including Gulf War illness (GWI). GWI affects ∼30% of Gulf War veterans and has been linked to oral toxic exposures during combat, such as pyridostigmine bromide (PB). To explore mechanisms of persistent dysmotility, we developed a PB exposure model relevant to GWI. In the colon, we observed structural and functional ENS changes, including an imbalance in excitatory and inhibitory motor neurons and altered motility patterns. These were accompanied by a sustained influx of pro-inflammatory macrophages and elevated cytokine levels, indicating persistent low-grade enteric neuroinflammation. Inflammatory macrophages were found near enteric neural stem cells (ENSCs), impairing their regenerative potential. Transcriptomic analyses corroborated the presence of chronic neuroinflammation and dysregulated repair pathways. Together, our findings suggest that persistent enteric neuroinflammation and impaired neurogenesis contribute to long-term colonic dysmotility in GWI. This model offers new insights into chronic ENS dysfunction and may guide therapeutic strategies for GWI and related disorders.</p>","PeriodicalId":9216,"journal":{"name":"Biology Open","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12171577/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143980752","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biology OpenPub Date : 2025-06-15Epub Date: 2025-07-02DOI: 10.1242/bio.062121
Daniel A Gorelick
{"title":"Biology Open 2024 - a year in review.","authors":"Daniel A Gorelick","doi":"10.1242/bio.062121","DOIUrl":"10.1242/bio.062121","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":9216,"journal":{"name":"Biology Open","volume":"14 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12264732/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144538951","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biology OpenPub Date : 2025-06-15Epub Date: 2025-06-06DOI: 10.1242/bio.060080
Fábio Colonheze, Marilia Martins Cavariani, Bruno Cesar Schimming, Talita de Mello Santos, Luiz Gustavo de Almeida Chuffa, Raquel Fantin Domeniconi
{"title":"Maternal protein restriction affects the differentiation of cells in the epididymal epithelium lining of 44-day-old rats.","authors":"Fábio Colonheze, Marilia Martins Cavariani, Bruno Cesar Schimming, Talita de Mello Santos, Luiz Gustavo de Almeida Chuffa, Raquel Fantin Domeniconi","doi":"10.1242/bio.060080","DOIUrl":"10.1242/bio.060080","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Maternal protein restriction delays the differentiation of epididymal mesenchymal cells in newborn rats. However, it is unclear whether this delay persists until the full differentiation of the epididymal epithelium at 44 days postnatal. Thus, this study aimed to assess the impact of maternal protein reduction on 44-day-old rats' epididymal epithelium differentiation, following up on the observed delay in newborn animals. Pregnant rats were randomly divided into groups receiving normal-protein (NP: 17% protein) or low-protein (LP: 6% protein) diets during gestation and lactation. On postnatal day (PDN) 44, male offspring were euthanized, and the epididymis (NP n=10, LP n=10) was processed according to immunohistochemical techniques for the detection of aquaporin 9 (AQP9), KI-67, TP63, and ATPase. LP rats showed a decrease in the intensity of the AQP9 reaction, an increase in cellular proliferation in the initial segment and corpus of the epididymis, an increase in basal cells in the caput and corpus epididymis, and an increase in ATPase-positive clear cells in the cauda region. These findings demonstrate that maternal protein restriction impacts cell differentiation in the epididymal epithelium of 44-day-old rats, persisting even with a normal-protein diet after weaning.</p>","PeriodicalId":9216,"journal":{"name":"Biology Open","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12171574/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139696985","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biology OpenPub Date : 2025-06-15Epub Date: 2025-06-06DOI: 10.1242/bio.061777
Amena Ali Alsakran, Bethany Gibson, Hoi Ying Wong, Caitlin Heaton, Rebekah Boreham, Rashid Minhas, Jonathan Ball, Tetsuhiro Kudoh
{"title":"Ethanol downregulates gastrula gene expression and cell movement, causing symptoms of foetal alcohol spectrum disorders.","authors":"Amena Ali Alsakran, Bethany Gibson, Hoi Ying Wong, Caitlin Heaton, Rebekah Boreham, Rashid Minhas, Jonathan Ball, Tetsuhiro Kudoh","doi":"10.1242/bio.061777","DOIUrl":"10.1242/bio.061777","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) occur in embryos when they are exposed to maternally supplied alcohol. To study the mechanisms of FASDs, the zebrafish embryo can serve as an excellent model as ethanol-exposed zebrafish embryos exhibit common symptoms of human FASDs including microcephaly, incomplete neural plate closure, eye defects, craniofacial disorders and many other defects. Here, we investigated the embryo development at gastrula stage where three germ layers develop with specific gene expressions and undergo dynamic cell movement including extension, convergence and epiboly, establishing the platform to form the head and body axis in later development. Gastrula cell movement analyses using fluorescent transgenic zebrafish embryos revealed that ethanol induced dose-dependent delay of extension, convergence and epiboly cell movement and associated gene expression in all three germ layers. Our results suggest multiple targets of ethanol including gene expression and cell movement, which, consequently, delay key gene expression and cell localisation, causing irreversible developmental defects in the head and body axis formation.</p>","PeriodicalId":9216,"journal":{"name":"Biology Open","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12171575/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143959163","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Establishment of an intragastric surgical model using C57BL/6 mice to study the vaccine efficacy of OMV-based immunogens against Helicobacter pylori.","authors":"Sanjib Das, Prolay Halder, Soumalya Banerjee, Asish Kumar Mukhopadhyay, Shanta Dutta, Hemanta Koley","doi":"10.1242/bio.060282","DOIUrl":"10.1242/bio.060282","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Chronic gastritis is one of the major symptoms of gastro-duodenal disorders typically induced by Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). To date, no suitable model is available to study pathophysiology and therapeutic measures accurately. Here, we present a successful surgical infection model of H. pylori-induced gastritis in C57BL/6 mice that resembles features of human infection. The proposed model does not require any preparatory treatment other than surgical intervention. C57BL/6 mice were injected with wild-type SS1 (Sydney strain 1, reference strain) directly into the stomach. Seven days post infection, infected animals showed alterations in cytokine responses along with inflammatory cell infiltration in the lamina propria, depicting a prominent inflammatory response due to infection. To understand the immunogenicity and protective efficacy, the mice were immunized with outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) isolated from an indigenous strain with putative virulence factors of H. pylori [A61C (1), cag+/vacA s1m1]. In contrast to the non-immunized cohort, the OMV-immunized cohort showed a gradual increase in serum immunoglobulin(s) levels on the 35th day after the first immunization. This conferred protective immunity against subsequent challenge with the reference strain (SS1). Direct inoculation of H. pylori into the stomach influenced infection in a short time and, more importantly, in a dose-dependent manner, indicating the usefulness of the developed model for pathophysiology, therapeutic and prophylactic studies.</p>","PeriodicalId":9216,"journal":{"name":"Biology Open","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12233065/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140850723","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}