Enhancing anti-cancer capacity: Novel class I/II HDAC inhibitors modulate EMT, cell cycle, and apoptosis pathways.

Cancer has been a leading cause of death over the last few decades in western countries as well as in Taiwan. However, traditional therapies are limited by the adverse effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and tumor recurrence may occur. Therefore, it is critical to develop novel therapeutic drugs.

Giant sea anemones.

Kashimoto et al. introduce the giant sea anemones, which form mutualistic relationships with anemonefish.

Asymmetric Segregation of Maternal mRNAs and Germline-related Determinants in Cephalochordate Embryos: Implications for the Evolution of Early Patterning Events in Chordates.

How animal embryos determine their early cell fates is an important question in developmental biology. In various model animals, asymmetrically localized maternal transcripts play important roles in axial patterning and cell fate specification. Cephalochordates (amphioxus), which have three living genera (Asymmetron, Epigonichthys, and Branchiostoma), are an early branching chordate lineage and thus occupy a key phylogenetic position for understanding the evolution of chordate developmental mechanisms.

Anemonefish are better taxonomists than humans.

The symbiosis between giant sea anemones, algae of the family Symbiodiniaceae, and anemonefish is an iconic example of a mutualistic trio. Molecular analyses have shown that giant sea anemones hosting anemonefish belong to three clades: Entacmaea, Stichodactyla, and Heteractis (Figure 1A). Associations among 28 species of anemonefish and 10 species of giant sea anemone hosts are complex.

The ecological function of thyroid hormones.

Thyroid hormones (TH) are central hormonal regulators, orchestrating gene expression and complex biological processes vital for growth and reproduction in variable environments by triggering specific developmental processes in response to external cues. TH serve distinct roles in different species: inducing metamorphosis in amphibians or teleost fishes, governing metabolic processes in mammals, and acting as effectors of seasonality. These multifaceted roles raise questions about the underlying mechanisms of TH action.

Counting Nemo: anemonefish Amphiprion ocellaris identify species by number of white bars.

The brilliant colors of coral reef fish have received much research attention. This is well exemplified by anemonefish, which have distinct white bar patterns and inhabit host anemones and defend them as a territory. The 28 described species have between 0 and 3 white bars present, which has been suggested to be important for species recognition.

Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers and the ascidian hypothesis.

In 1830, Cuvier and Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire confronted each other in a famous debate on the unity of the animal kingdom, which permeated the zoology of the 19th century. From that time, a growing number of naturalists attempted to understand the large-scale relationships among animals. And among all the questions, that of the origin of vertebrates was one of the most controversial.

Broadly neutralizing human antibodies against Omicron subvariants of SARS-CoV-2.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose a significant worldwide threat to human health, as emerging SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants exhibit resistance to therapeutic antibodies and the ability to evade vaccination-induced antibodies. Here, we aimed to identify human antibodies (hAbs) from convalescent patients that are potent and broadly neutralizing toward Omicron sublineages.

Methods: Using a single B-cell cloning approach, we isolated BA.

The hidden depths of zebrafish skin.

Single-cell transcriptome analysis of zebrafish cells clarifies the signalling pathways controlling skin formation and reveals that some cells produce proteins required for human teeth to acquire their enamel.

Broadly neutralizing antibodies against Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2 derived from mRNA-lipid nanoparticle-immunized mice.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to threaten human health worldwide as new variants of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerge. Currently, the predominant circulating strains around the world are Omicron variants, which can evade many therapeutic antibodies. Thus, the development of new broadly neutralizing antibodies remains an urgent need.

Colour patterns influence symbiosis and competition in the anemonefish-host anemone symbiosis system.

Colour patterns in fish are often used as an important medium for communication. Anemonefish, characterized by specific patterns of white bars, inhabit host anemones and defend the area around an anemone as their territory. The host anemone is used not only by the anemonefish, but also by other fish species that use anemones as temporary shelters.

2,6-Difluorobenzamide derivatives as store-operated calcium channel (SOC) inhibitors.

The Ca entry from store-operated Ca channel (SOC) is involved in regulating colorectal cancer progression, such as cell migration. SOC activation is due to STIM1 translocation and interaction with Orai1 upon Ca depletion in the ER. Numerous SOC inhibitors, like 2-APB, have been developed and demonstrated their inhibition effects in the preclinical stage.

Transcriptomes of Giant Sea Anemones from Okinawa as a Tool for Understanding Their Phylogeny and Symbiotic Relationships with Anemonefish.

The relationship between anemonefish and sea anemones is one of the most emblematic examples of mutualistic symbiosis in coral reefs. Although this is a textbook example, the major aspects of this symbiosis are still not fully understood in mechanistic terms. Moreover, since studies of this relationship have usually been focused on anemonefish, much less is known about giant sea anemones, their similarities, their phylogenetic relationships, and their differences at the molecular level.

Small molecules as products of evolution.

The functional evolution of ancient proteins has recently been reconstructed using molecular phylogeny, and the activity of the deduced molecules can be tested. Unfortunately, the world of small molecules escapes such 'resurrection' studies, which rely on ancestral sequence reconstruction. These studies implicitly assume that only the proteins evolve, whereas the small molecules are presumed to be identical now and in the past.

Variation on a theme: pigmentation variants and mutants of anemonefish.

Pigmentation patterning systems are of great interest to understand how changes in developmental mechanisms can lead to a wide variety of patterns. These patterns are often conspicuous, but their origins remain elusive for many marine fish species. Dismantling a biological system allows a better understanding of the required components and the deciphering of how such complex systems are established and function.

Thyroid hormones regulate the formation and environmental plasticity of white bars in clownfishes.

Determining how plasticity of developmental traits responds to environmental conditions is a challenge that must combine evolutionary sciences, ecology, and developmental biology. During metamorphosis, fish alter their morphology and color pattern according to environmental cues. We observed that juvenile clownfish () modulate the developmental timing of their adult white bar formation during metamorphosis depending on the sea anemone species in which they are recruited.

Zebrafish Pax1a and Pax1b are required for pharyngeal pouch morphogenesis and ceratobranchial cartilage development.

Pharyngeal arches are derived from all three germ layers and molecular interactions among the tissue types are required for proper development of subsequent pharyngeal cartilages; however, the mechanisms underlying this process are not fully described. Here we report that in zebrafish, Pax1a and Pax1b have overlapping and essential functions in pharyngeal pouch morphogenesis and subsequent ceratobranchial cartilage development. Both pax1a and pax1b are co-expressed in pharyngeal pouches, and time-lapse imaging of a novel Tg(pax1b:eGFP) enhancer trap line further revealed the sequential segmental development of pharyngeal pouches.

Zebrafish Klf4 maintains the ionocyte progenitor population by regulating epidermal stem cell proliferation and lateral inhibition.

In the skin and gill epidermis of fish, ionocytes develop alongside keratinocytes and maintain body fluid ionic homeostasis that is essential for adaptation to environmental fluctuations. It is known that ionocyte progenitors in zebrafish embryos are specified from p63+ epidermal stem cells through a patterning process involving DeltaC (Dlc)-Notch-mediated lateral inhibition, which selects scattered dlc+ cells into the ionocyte progenitor fate. However, mechanisms by which the ionocyte progenitor population is modulated remain unclear.