A left-lateralized white matter tract associated with communication in domestic dogs.

The ability to communicate with conspecifics is an adaptive behavior important for survival and reproduction, particularly in lineages that evolved enlarged brains and complex social behavior. In humans, language is supported by a robust, left-lateralized white matter fiber tract called the arcuate fasciculus, which links Broca's and Wernicke's areas, the core neocortical language regions located in the frontal and temporal lobes, respectively. This tract is also present in chimpanzees, less substantial than in humans and either weakly leftwardly-asymmetric or not asymmetric.

Gravitropic Gene Expression Divergence Associated With Adaptation to Contrasting Environments in an Australian Wildflower.

Plants adapt to their local environment through complex interactions between genes, gene networks and hormones. Although the impact of gene expression on trait regulation and evolution has been recognised for many decades, its role in the evolution of adaptation is still a subject of intense exploration. We used a Multi-parent Advanced Generation Inter-Cross (MAGIC) population, which we derived from crossing multiple parents from two distinct coastal ecotypes of an Australia wildflower, Senecio lautus.

Genomic mosaicism reveals developmental organization of trunk neural crest-derived ganglia.

The neural crest generates numerous cell types, but conflicting results leave developmental origins unresolved. Here using somatic mosaic variants as cellular barcodes, we infer embryonic clonal dynamics of trunk neural crest, focusing on the sensory and sympathetic ganglia. From three independent adult neurotypical human donors, we identified 1,278 mosaic variants using deep whole-genome sequencing, then profiled allelic fractions in 187 anatomically dissected ganglia.

Mutagenesis Sensitivity Mapping of Human Enhancers .

Distant-acting enhancers are central to human development. However, our limited understanding of their functional sequence features prevents the interpretation of enhancer mutations in disease. Here, we determined the functional sensitivity to mutagenesis of human developmental enhancers .

[Loneliness in times of global polycrises].

Global polycrises comprise the synchronous or consecutive occurrence of various crises, with no intervening phases of stability, e.g., coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, inflation, war and climate crisis.