Counterillumination reduces bites by Great White sharks.

In the open ocean, achieving camouflage is complicated by the fact that the downwelling light is generally much brighter than the upwelling light, which means that any object, even if its ventral surface is white due to countershading, will appear as a dark silhouette when viewed from below. To overcome this, many marine species employ counterillumination, whereby light is emitted from photophores on their ventral surface to replace the downwelling light blocked by their body. However, only a single behavioral study has tested the efficacy of counterillumination as an anti-predation strategy.

Tactile mechanisms and afferents underlying the rat pup transport response.

Juvenile rodents and other altricial mammals react with calming, immobility, and postural modifications to parental pickup, a set of behaviors referred to as the transport response. Here, we investigate sensory mechanisms underlying the rat transport response. Grasping rat pups in anterior neck positions evokes strong immobility and folding up of feet, whereas more posterior grasping has lesser effects on immobility and foot position.

Unveiling Encrypted Antimicrobial Peptides from Cephalopods' Salivary Glands: A Proteolysis-Driven Virtual Approach.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have potential against antimicrobial resistance and serve as templates for novel therapeutic agents. While most AMP databases focus on terrestrial eukaryotes, marine cephalopods represent a promising yet underexplored source. This study reveals the putative reservoir of AMPs encrypted within the proteomes of cephalopod salivary glands via in silico proteolysis.

Genetic and functional basis of the reduction effect in bacteriophage ΦX174.

The ΦX174 reduction effect describes a plasmid-based inhibitory phenomenon that mimics the superinfection inhibition found in wild phage populations. In this effect, when a portion of the ΦX174 genome - the 3' end of the pilot protein gene (H), the 5' end of the replication gene (A), and the H-A intergenic region - is present on a plasmid in the host cell, almost complete protection from phage infection occurs. Here we demonstrate that only the phage pilot protein H portion of the plasmid is sufficient for the observed inhibition, that protein synthesis is necessary for inhibition to occur, that inserting the entire H gene in the plasmid may also impart a blocking effect, and that partial to complete recovery from this inhibition is possible with minimal viral evolution.

Generation of a Vibrio-based platform for efficient conversion of raffinose through Adaptive Laboratory Evolution on a solid medium.

Raffinose, a trisaccharide abundantly found in soybeans, is a potential alternative carbon source for biorefineries. Nevertheless, residual intermediate di- or monosaccharides and low catabolic efficiency limit raffinose use through conventional microbial hosts. This study presents a Vibrio-based platform to convert raffinose efficiently.

Analysis of inner membrane lateral sorting at the presequence translocase.

The translocase of the mitochondrial inner membrane (TIM23) complex mediates the import and membrane insertion of presequence-carrying mitochondrial proteins. It is experimentally challenging to determine whether the segment of the polypeptide is imported to the matrix or inserted into the inner membrane. Utilizing the unique topogenesis of Mgm1p, a versatile experimental approach to study the TIM23-mediated membrane insertion is developed and described in this chapter.

Orthopteran Neo-Sex Chromosomes Reveal Dynamics of Recombination Suppression and Evolution of Supergenes.

The early evolution of sex chromosomes has remained obscure for more than a century. The Vandiemenella viatica species group of morabine grasshoppers is highly suited for studying the early stages of sex chromosome divergence and degeneration of the Y chromosome. This stems from the fact that neo-XY sex chromosomes have independently evolved multiple times by X-autosome fusions with different autosomes.

SERRATE drives phase separation behaviours to regulate m6A modification and miRNA biogenesis.

The methyltransferase complex (MTC) deposits N6-adenosine (mA) onto RNA, whereas the microprocessor produces microRNA. Whether and how these two distinct complexes cross-regulate each other has been poorly studied. Here we report that the MTC subunit B tends to form insoluble condensates with poor activity, with its level monitored by the 20S proteasome.

Occurrence and diversity of Campylobacter species in diarrheic children and their exposure environments in Ethiopia.

Campylobacter is a major zoonotic foodborne pathogen that poses a significant public health threat, particularly among children and immunocompromised individuals. However, data on the occurrence and sources of Campylobacter infection remain scarce in Ethiopia. This study assessed the occurrence, diversity, and relationships between Campylobacter from diarrheic children and potential exposure sources using whole-genome sequencing.

Tethered heme domains in a triheme cytochrome allow for increased electron transport distances.

Decades of research describe myriad redox enzymes that contain cofactors arranged in tightly packed chains facilitating rapid and controlled intra-protein electron transfer. Many such enzymes participate in extracellular electron transfer (EET), a process which allows microorganisms to conserve energy in anoxic environments by exploiting mineral oxides and other extracellular substrates as terminal electron acceptors. In this work, we describe the properties of the triheme cytochrome PgcA from Geobacter sulfurreducens.

The important role of ferroptosis in inflammatory bowel disease.

Ferroptosis is a type of regulated cell death that occurs due to the iron-dependent accumulation of lethal reactive oxygen species (ROS) from lipids. Ferroptosis is characterized by distinct morphological, biochemical, and genetic features that differentiate it from other regulated cell death (RCD) types, which include apoptosis, various necrosis types, and autophagy. Recent reports show that ferritin formation is correlated to many disorders, such as acute injury, infarction, inflammation, and cancer.

Deep-sea ecosystems of the Indian Ocean >1000 m.

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceans, accounting for ~20 % of the global marine realm. It is geomorphologically complex, hosting a wide variety of ecosystems across basins, trenches, seamounts, ridges, and fracture zones. While modern exploration has contributed significantly to our knowledge of its coastal ecosystems, deeper waters (>1000 m) remain relatively unknown despite accounting for over 90 % of its total area.

ADAM10 modulates the efficacy of T-cell-mediated therapy in solid tumors.

T-cell-mediated therapeutic strategies are the most potent effectors of cancer immunotherapy. However, an essential barrier to this therapy in solid tumors is disrupting the anti-cancer immune response, cancer-immunity cycle, T-cell priming, trafficking and T-cell cytotoxic capacity. Thus, reinforcing the anti-cancer immune response is needed to improve the effectiveness of T-cell-mediated therapy.

GH1-13 enhances drought tolerance in rice by reducing the accumulation of reactive oxygen species.

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria colonize the rhizosphere through dynamic and intricate interactions with plants, thereby providing various benefits and contributing to plant growth. Moreover, increasing evidence suggests that plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria affect plant tolerance to abiotic stress, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the effect of strain GH1-13 on drought stress tolerance in rice.

Microbial Metagenomes Across a Complete Phytoplankton Bloom Cycle: High-Resolution Sampling Every 4 Hours Over 22 Days.

In May and June of 2021, marine microbial samples were collected for DNA sequencing in East Sound, WA, USA every 4 hours for 22 days. This high temporal resolution sampling effort captured the last 3 days of a sp. bloom, the initiation and complete bloom cycle of (8 days), and the following bacterial bloom (2 days).