Diet of Andean Leaf-Eared Mice () Living at Extreme Elevations on Atacama Volcanoes: Insights From Metagenomics, DNA Metabarcoding, and Stable Isotopes.

On the flanks of > 6000 m Andean volcanoes that tower over the Atacama Desert, leaf-eared mice () live at extreme elevations that surpass known vegetation limits. The diet of these mice in these barren, hyperarid environments has been the subject of much speculation. According to the arthropod fallout hypothesis, sustenance is provided by windblown insects that accumulate in snowdrifts ("aolian deposits").

Local adaptation, plasticity, and evolved resistance to hypoxic cold stress in high-altitude deer mice.

A fundamental question in evolutionary biology concerns the relative contributions of phenotypic plasticity vs. local adaptation (genotypic specialization) in enabling wide-ranging species to inhabit diverse environmental conditions. Here, we conduct a long-term hypoxia acclimation experiment to assess the relative roles of local adaptation and plasticity in enabling highland and lowland deer mice () to sustain aerobic thermogenesis at progressively increasing elevations.

Species limits and hybridization in Andean leaf-eared mice ().

Leaf-eared mice (genus ) are among the most widespread and abundant small mammals in the Andean Altiplano, but species boundaries and distributional limits are often poorly delineated due to sparse survey data from remote mountains and high-elevation deserts. Here we report a combined analysis of mitochondrial DNA variation and whole-genome sequence (WGS) variation in mice to delimit species boundaries, to assess the timescale of diversification of the group, and to examine evidence for interspecific hybridization. Estimates of divergence dates suggest that most diversification of occurred during the past 3 million years.

A new silicon phthalocyanine dye induces pyroptosis in prostate cancer cells during photoimmunotherapy.

Photoimmunotherapy (PIT) combines the specificity of antibodies with the cytotoxicity of light activatable photosensitizers (PS) and is a promising new cancer therapy. We designed and synthesized, in a highly convergent manner, the silicon phthalocyanine dye WB692-CB2, which is novel for being the first light-activatable PS that can be directly conjugated via a maleimide linker to cysteines. In the present study we conjugated WB692-CB2 to a humanized antibody with engineered cysteines in the heavy chains that specifically targets the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA).

Diet of Andean leaf-eared mice () living at extreme elevations on Atacama volcanoes: insights from metagenomics, DNA metabarcoding, and stable isotopes.

On the flanks of >6000 m Andean volcanoes that tower over the Atacama Desert, leaf-eared mice () live at extreme elevations that surpass known vegetation limits. What the mice eat in these barren, hyperarid environments has been the subject of much speculation. According to the arthropod fallout hypothesis, sustenance is provided by windblown insects that accumulate in snowdrifts ('aolian deposits').