Biomimetic Human Disease Model of SARS-CoV-2-Induced Lung Injury and Immune Responses on Organ Chip System.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The models that can accurately resemble human-relevant responses to viral infection are lacking. Here, a biomimetic human disease model on chip that allows to recapitulate lung injury and immune responses induced by SARS-CoV-2 in vitro at organ level is created.

The post hoc measurement as a safe and reliable method to age and size plethodontid salamanders.

The worldwide biodiversity crisis with the resulting need to increase species protection has led researchers to pursue and select survey methods that guarantee the best quality of data and produce the least negative effects on wild animals. Plethodontids are the most diverse family of salamanders; all species are very sensitive to human handling and noninvasive, but accurate, measurement methods are needed to reduce researchers' impact. Here, we tested the reliability of a noninvasive post hoc method in estimating the snout-vent length (SVL) from photographs showing salamanders' dorsal view.

Is Involved in Corneal Stroma Development by Regulating Neural Crest Migration.

Previously, we identified RAD21 from a peripheral sclerocornea pedigree. Injection of this variant mRNA into embryos disrupted the organization of corneal stroma fibrils. To understand the mechanisms of RAD21-mediated corneal stroma defects, gene expression and chromosome conformation analysis were performed using cells from family members affected by peripheral sclerocornea.

Elevation patterns and critical environmental drivers of the taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of small mammals in a karst mountain area.

Understanding how biodiversity components are related under different environmental factors is a fundamental challenge for ecology studies, yet there is little knowledge of this interplay among the biotas, especially small mammals, in karst mountain areas. Here, we examine the elevation patterns of the taxonomic diversity (TD), phylogenetic diversity (PD), and functional diversity (FD) of small mammals in a karst mountain area, the Wuling Mountains, Southwest China, and compare these patterns between taxa (Rodentia and Eulipotyphla) and scales (broad- and narrow-range species). We also disentangle the impacts of the human influence index, net primary productivity (NPP), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), annual precipitation (AP), and annual mean temperature (AMT) on these three facets of biodiversity by using structural equation modeling.

Predicting the Outbreak Risks and Inflection Points of COVID-19 Pandemic with Classic Ecological Theories.

Predicting the outbreak risks and/or the inflection (turning or tipping) points of COVID-19 can be rather challenging. Here, it is addressed by modeling and simulation approaches guided by classic ecological theories and by treating the COVID-19 pandemic as a metapopulation dynamics problem. Three classic ecological theories are harnessed, including TPL (Taylor's power-law) and Ma's population aggregation critical density (PACD) for spatiotemporal aggregation/stability scaling, approximating virus metapopulation dynamics with Hubbell's neutral theory, and Ma's diversity-time relationship adapted for the infection-time relationship.

"Into and Out of" the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Himalayas: Centers of origin and diversification across five clades of Eurasian montane and alpine passerine birds.

Encompassing some of the major hotspots of biodiversity on Earth, large mountain systems have long held the attention of evolutionary biologists. The region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) is considered a biogeographic source for multiple colonization events into adjacent areas including the northern Palearctic. The faunal exchange between the QTP and adjacent regions could thus represent a one-way street ("out of" the QTP).

Native drivers of fish life history traits are lost during the invasion process.

Rapid adaptation to global change can counter vulnerability of species to population declines and extinction. Theoretically, under such circumstances both genetic variation and phenotypic plasticity can maintain population fitness, but empirical support for this is currently limited. Here, we aim to characterize the role of environmental and genetic diversity, and their prior evolutionary history (via haplogroup profiles) in shaping patterns of life history traits during biological invasion.

Corrigendum: PSORI-CM02 Formula Increases CD4+ Foxp3+ Regulatory T Cell Frequency and Ameliorates Imiquimod-Induced Psoriasis in Mice.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2017.

Do Chinese cavefish show intraspecific variability in morphological traits?

Cavefishes represent one of the most bizarre and intriguing life forms inhabiting groundwater environments. One-third of the known cavefishes worldwide is endemic to China, and almost half of those belongs to a single genus, (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae). Analyzing the morphometrics of three species, we aimed to assess whether variability among conspecific populations exists.

SGCE Promotes Breast Cancer Stem Cells by Stabilizing EGFR.

Breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) are responsible for resistance to chemotherapy, high degree of metastasis, and poor prognosis, especially in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). The CD24CD44 and high aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) cell subpopulation (CD24CD44 ALDH1) exhibit very high tumor initiating capacity. In the current study, the upregulated genes are analyzed in both CD24CD44 and ALDH1 cell populations at single-cell resolution, and a highly expressed membrane protein, SGCE, is identified in both BCSC populations.

TAS2R20 variants confer dietary adaptation to high-quercitrin bamboo leaves in Qinling giant pandas.

Sensitivity to bitter tastes provides animals with an important means of interacting with their environment and thus, influences their dietary preferences. Genetic variants encoding functionally distinct receptor types contribute to variation in bitter taste sensitivity. Our previous study showed that two nonsynonymous sites, A52V and Q296H, in the gene are directionally selected in giant pandas from the Qinling Mountains, which are speculated to be the causative base-pair changes of Qinling pandas for the higher preference for bamboo leaves in comparison with other pandas.

Small mammal species richness and turnover along elevational gradient in Yulong Mountain, Yunnan, Southwest China.

Understanding the species diversity patterns along elevational gradients is critical for biodiversity conservation in mountainous regions. We examined the elevational patterns of species richness and turnover, and evaluated the effects of spatial and environmental factors on nonvolant small mammals (hereafter "small mammal") predicted a priori by alternative hypotheses (mid-domain effect [MDE], species-area relationship [SAR], energy, environmental stability, and habitat complexity]) proposed to explain the variation of diversity. We designed a standardized sampling scheme to trap small mammals at ten elevational bands across the entire elevational gradient on Yulong Mountain, southwest China.

Slx5p-Slx8p Promotes Accurate Chromosome Segregation by Mediating the Degradation of Synaptonemal Complex Components during Meiosis.

Meiosis increases genetic diversity, yet the genome complement needs to be stable to ensure offspring viability. Both small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) and ubiquitin have been reported to participate in meiotic regulation, yet functions of the SUMO-ubiquitination crosstalk in meiosis remain unclear. Here, it is reported that a SUMO-targeted ubiquitin ligase, Slx8p, promotes accurate chromosome segregation during meiosis, since the deletion of leads to increased aneuploidy due to a defect in synaptonemal complex (SC) component degradation.

Shared response to changes in drainage basin: Phylogeography of the Yunnan small narrow-mouthed frog, (Anura: Microhylidae).

Aim: With the late Cenozoic uplift of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), drainage of the southeastern edge of the QTP changed significantly. However, the impact of this dramatic change on the geographical distribution and genetic diversity of endemic organisms is still poorly understood. Here, we examined the geographical patterns of genetic variation in the Yunnan small narrow-mouthed frog, (Microhylidae), and two alternative hypotheses were tested: That is, the geographical distribution of genetic variation was determined by either the contemporary drainage basin or historical drainage basins.

Climatic and vegetational drivers of insect beta diversity at the continental scale.

Aim: We construct a framework for mapping pattern and drivers of insect diversity at the continental scale and use it to test whether and which environmental gradients drive insect beta diversity.

Location: Global; North and Central America; Western Europe.

Time Period: 21st century.

How and Why Men and Women Differ in Their Microbiomes: Medical Ecology and Network Analyses of the Microgenderome.

Microgenderome or sexual dimorphism in microbiome refers to the bidirectional interactions between microbiotas, sex hormones, and immune systems, and it is highly relevant to disease susceptibility. A critical step in exploring microgenderome is to dissect the sex differences in key community ecology properties, which has not been systematically analyzed. This study aims at filling the gap by reanalyzing the Human Microbiome Project datasets with two objectives: (i) dissecting the sex differences in community diversity and their intersubject scaling, species composition, core/periphery species, and high-salience skeletons (species interactions); (ii) offering mechanistic interpretations for (i).

Synaptotagmin 1 regulates cortical granule exocytosis during mouse oocyte activation.

Synaptotagmin 1 (Syt1) is an abundant and important presynaptic vesicle protein that binds Ca2+ for the regulation of synaptic vesicle exocytosis. Our previous study reported its localization and function on spindle assembly in mouse oocyte meiotic maturation. The present study was designed to investigate the function of Syt1 during mouse oocyte activation and subsequent cortical granule exocytosis (CGE) using confocal microscopy, morpholinol-based knockdown and time-lapse live cell imaging.

Transcriptome profiling of maternal stress-induced wing dimorphism in pea aphids.

Unlabelled: Wing dimorphism, that is, wingless and winged forms, can be induced by maternal stress signals and is an adaptive response of aphids to environmental changes. Here, we investigated the ecological and molecular effects of three kinds of stress, namely crowding, predation, and aphid alarm pheromone, on wing dimorphism. These three stressors induced high proportion of up to 60% of winged morphs in offspring.

The evolution of climate tolerance in conifer-feeding aphids in relation to their host's climatic niche.

Climate adaptation has major consequences in the evolution and ecology of all living organisms. Though phytophagous insects are an important component of Earth's biodiversity, there are few studies investigating the evolution of their climatic preferences. This lack of research is probably because their evolutionary ecology is thought to be primarily driven by their interactions with their host plants.

A High-Quality Assembly of the Nine-Spined Stickleback (Pungitius pungitius) Genome.

The Gasterosteidae fish family hosts several species that are important models for eco-evolutionary, genetic, and genomic research. In particular, a wealth of genetic and genomic data has been generated for the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), the "ecology's supermodel," whereas the genomic resources for the nine-spined stickleback (Pungitius pungitius) have remained relatively scarce. Here, we report a high-quality chromosome-level genome assembly of P.

Effect of coupled reduced irrigation and nitrogen fertilizer on soil mite community composition in a wheat field.

Groundwater and nitrogen fertilizer overuse severely threatens crop productions; thus, current ecological agriculture requires low irrigation and nitrogen fertilizer inputs. The effects of combined reduced irrigation and nitrogen fertilizer addition on soil organism (e.g.

Historical museum collections clarify the evolutionary history of cryptic species radiation in the world's largest amphibians.

Inaccurate taxonomic assessment of threatened populations can hinder conservation prioritization and management, with human-mediated population movements obscuring biogeographic patterns and confounding reconstructions of evolutionary history. Giant salamanders were formerly distributed widely across China, and are interpreted as a single species, . Previous phylogenetic studies have identified distinct Chinese giant salamander lineages but were unable to associate these consistently with different landscapes, probably because population structure has been modified by human-mediated translocations for recent commercial farming.

Factors determining species richness patterns of breeding birds along an elevational gradient in the Horn of Africa region.

Aim: To document the species richness patterns of breeding birds along elevational gradients and explore its drivers in the Horn of Africa region.

Location: Horn of Africa region.

Taxon: Breeding birds.

Maternal genomic variability of the wild boar () reveals the uniqueness of East-Caucasian and Central Italian populations.

The phylogeography of the European wild boar was mainly determined by postglacial recolonization patterns from Mediterranean refugia after the last ice age. Here we present the first analysis of SNP polymorphism within the complete mtDNA genome of West Russian ( = 8), European ( = 64), and North African ( = 5) wild boar. Our analyses provided evidence of unique lineages in the East-Caucasian (Dagestan) region and in Central Italy.