Gene expression is tightly controlled during animal development to allow the formation of specialized cell types. Our understanding of how animals evolved this exquisite regulatory control remains elusive, but evidence suggests that changes in chromatin-based mechanisms may have contributed. To investigate this possibility, here we examine chromatin-based gene regulatory features in the closest relatives of animals, choanoflagellates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOrganizational context (e.g., criminal justice, community-based, and healthcare) and job type (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Stabilization of extra-articular distal radius fractures by wrist joint bridging (WB) dynamic fixation allows for early motion of the wrist, but relies on exact positioning of the device. In fact, physiological movement appeared to be compromised with even distinctly aberrant positioning of such device. To investigate this issue in more detail, we developed an in-vitro testing apparatus suitable for assessing the forces required for flexion and extension of the wrist.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnderstanding and predicting the fate of populations in changing environments require knowledge about the mechanisms that support phenotypic plasticity and the adaptive value and evolutionary fate of genetic variation within populations. Atlantic killifish () exhibit extensive phenotypic plasticity that supports large population sizes in highly fluctuating estuarine environments. Populations have also evolved diverse local adaptations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: During gastrulation, endoderm and mesoderm are specified from a bipotential precursor (endomesoderm) that is argued to be homologous across bilaterians. Spiralians also generate mesoderm from ectodermal precursors (ectomesoderm), which arises near the blastopore. While a conserved gene regulatory network controls specification of endomesoderm in deuterostomes and ecdysozoans, little is known about genes controlling specification or behavior of either source of spiralian mesoderm or the digestive tract.
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