Climate-driven variation in the phenology of juvenile Ixodes pacificus on lizard hosts.

Background: Ectothermic arthropods, like ticks, are sensitive indicators of environmental changes, and their seasonality plays a critical role in tick-borne disease dynamics in a warming world. Juvenile tick phenology, which influences pathogen transmission, may vary across climates, with longer tick seasons in cooler climates potentially amplifying transmission. However, assessing juvenile tick phenology is challenging in climates where desiccation pressures reduce the time ticks spend seeking blood meals.

Strontium isoscape of sub-Saharan Africa allows tracing origins of victims of the transatlantic slave trade.

Strontium isotope (Sr/Sr) analysis with reference to strontium isotope landscapes (Sr isoscapes) allows reconstructing mobility and migration in archaeology, ecology, and forensics. However, despite the vast potential of research involving Sr/Sr analysis particularly in Africa, Sr isoscapes remain unavailable for the largest parts of the continent. Here, we measure the Sr/Sr ratios in 778 environmental samples from 24 African countries and combine this data with published data to model a bioavailable Sr isoscape for sub-Saharan Africa using random forest regression.

Absorption photometry of patterned deposits on IMPROVE PTFE filters.

The IMPROVE program (Interagency Monitoring of PROtected Visual Environments) tracks long-term trends in the composition and optics of regional haze aerosols in the United States. The absorptance of red (633-nm) light is monitored by filter photometry of 24 h-integrated samples of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5).

MAD1 upregulation sensitizes to inflammation-mediated tumor formation.

Mitotic Arrest Deficient 1 (gene name MAD1L1), an essential component of the mitotic spindle assembly checkpoint, is frequently overexpressed in colon cancer, which correlates with poor disease-free survival. MAD1 upregulation induces two phenotypes associated with tumor promotion in tissue culture cells-low rates of chromosomal instability (CIN) and destabilization of the tumor suppressor p53. Using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, we generated a novel mouse model by inserting a doxycycline (dox)-inducible promoter and HA tag into the endogenous mouse Mad1l1 gene, enabling inducible expression of HA-MAD1 following exposure to dox in the presence of the reverse tet transactivator (rtTA).

Local adaptation to climate facilitates a global invasion.

Local adaptation may facilitate range expansion during invasions, but the mechanisms promoting destructive invasions remain unclear. Cheatgrass (), native to Eurasia and Africa, has invaded globally, with particularly severe impacts in western North America. We sequenced 307 genotypes and conducted controlled experiments.