Glycans are known to be fundamental for many cellular and physiological functions. Congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) currently encompassing over 160 subtypes, are characterized by glycan synthesis and/or processing defects. Despite the increasing number of CDG patients, therapeutic options remain very limited as our knowledge on glycan synthesis is fragmented.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCopper pollution can alter biological and trophic functions. Organisms can utilise different tolerance strategies, including accumulation mechanisms (intracellular vacuoles, external chelation, etc.) to maintain themselves in copper-polluted environments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhilos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
July 2024
Context-dependent dispersal allows organisms to seek and settle in habitats improving their fitness. Despite the importance of species interactions in determining fitness, a quantitative synthesis of how they affect dispersal is lacking. We present a meta-analysis asking (i) whether the interaction experienced and/or perceived by a focal species (detrimental interaction with predators, competitors, parasites or beneficial interaction with resources, hosts, mutualists) affects its dispersal; and (ii) how the species' ecological and biological background affects the direction and strength of this interaction-dependent dispersal.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhilos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
July 2024
Dispersal is a well-recognized driver of ecological and evolutionary dynamics, and simultaneously an evolving trait. Dispersal evolution has traditionally been studied in single-species metapopulations so that it remains unclear how dispersal evolves in metacommunities and metafoodwebs, which are characterized by a multitude of species interactions. Since most natural systems are both species-rich and spatially structured, this knowledge gap should be bridged.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhilos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
July 2024