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Mitochondria have a central role in cellular functions, aging, and in certain diseases. They possess their own genome, a vestige of their bacterial ancestor. Over the course of evolution, most of the genes of ...
DNA-protein cross-links (DPCs) are one of the most deleterious DNA lesions, originating from various sources, including enzymatic activity. For instance, topoisomerases, which play a fundamental role in DNA me...
The Western mosquitofish, Gambusia affinis, is a model for sex chromosome organization and evolution of female heterogamety. We previously identified a G. affinis female-specific marker, orthologous to the aminom...
The original article was published in BMC Biology 2023 21:83
Finding the optimal balance between survival and reproduction is a central puzzle in life-history theory. The terminal investment hypothesis predicts that when individuals encounter a survival threat that comp...
Anthocyanins, a class of specialized metabolites that are ubiquitous among plant species, have attracted a great deal of attention from plant biologists due to their chemical diversity. They confer purple, pin...
Hybrids are chimeric organisms with highly plastic heterozygous genomes that may confer unique traits enabling the adaptation to new environments. However, most evolutionary theory frameworks predict that the ...
Gene duplication events are critical for the evolution of new gene functions. Aristaless is a major regulator of distinct developmental processes. It is most known for its role during appendage development acr...
Aging in postmitotic tissues is associated with clonal expansion of somatic mitochondrial deletions, the origin of which is not well understood. Such deletions are often flanked by direct nucleotide repeats, b...
Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is an evolutionary mechanism of adaptive importance, which has been deeply studied in wine S. cerevisiae strains, where those acquired genes conferred improved traits related to bot...
Through the evolution of novel wing structures, bats (Order Chiroptera) became the only mammalian group to achieve powered flight. This achievement preceded the massive adaptive radiation of bats into diverse ...
Highly diverse butterfly wing patterns have emerged as a powerful system for understanding the genetic basis of phenotypic variation. While the genetic basis of this pattern variation is being clarified, the p...
Diplonemid flagellates are among the most abundant and species-rich of known marine microeukaryotes, colonizing all habitats, depths, and geographic regions of the world ocean. However, little is known about t...
Tumors are complex tissues containing collections of phenotypically diverse malignant and nonmalignant cells. We know little of the mechanisms that govern heterogeneity of tumor cells nor of the role heterogen...
Aedes aegypti, the main arboviral mosquito vector, is attracted to human dwellings and makes use of human-generated breeding sites. Past research has shown that bacterial communities associated with such sites un...
Mossy cells comprise a large fraction of excitatory neurons in the hippocampal dentate gyrus, and their loss is one of the major hallmarks of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). The vulnerability of mossy cells in T...
Natronobacterium gregoryi Argonaute (NgAgo) was found to reduce mRNA without generating detectable DNA double-strand breaks in a couple of endogenous genes in zebrafish, suggesting its potential as a tool for gen...
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a large class of mammalian RNAs. Several protein products translated by circRNAs have been reported to be involved in the development of various tissues and systems; however, their...
RNA 5-methyluridine (m5U) modifications are obtained by methylation at the C5 position of uridine catalyzed by pyrimidine methylation transferase, which is related to the development of human diseases. Accurate i...
TP53 is a master tumor suppressor gene, mutated in approximately half of all human cancers. Given the many regulatory roles of the corresponding p53 protein, it is possible to infer loss of p53 activity – which m...
Rice grain size (GS) is an essential agronomic trait. Though several genes and miRNA modules influencing GS are known and seed development transcriptomes analyzed, a comprehensive compendium connecting all pos...
Argonaute proteins play a central role in RNA silencing by forming protein-small RNA complexes responsible for the silencing process. While most Argonaute proteins have a short N-terminal region, Argonaute2 in Dr...
Anti-inflammatory therapy is an effective strategy in the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Studies found that inflammatory responses in vivo were strongly associated with defects in the mucosal barrier func...
Among six extant tiger subspecies, the South China tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis) once was widely distributed but is now the rarest one and extinct in the wild. All living South China tigers are descendants of...
Sperm is formed through spermiogenesis, a highly complex process involving chromatin condensation that results in cessation of transcription. mRNAs required for spermiogenesis are transcribed at earlier stages...
Endoreplication is involved in the development and function of many organs, the pathologic process of several diseases. However, the metabolic underpinnings and regulation of endoreplication have yet to be wel...
Two widely cultivated annual buckwheat crops, Fagopyrum esculentum and F. tataricum, differ from each other in both rutin concentration and reproductive system. However, the underlying genetic mechanisms remain p...
Neonicotinoid insecticides are applied worldwide for the control of agricultural insect pests. The evolution of neonicotinoid resistance has led to the failure of pest control in the field. The enhanced detoxi...
The last taxonomic account of Olea recognises six subspecies within Olea europaea L., including the Mediterranean olive tree (subsp. europaea) and five other subspecies (laperrinei, guanchica, maroccana, cerasifo...
The non-neuronal retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) functions in intimate association with retinal photoreceptors, performing a multitude of tasks critical for maintaining retinal homeostasis and collaborating w...
Breathing is a singularly robust behavior, yet this motor pattern is continuously modulated at slow and fast timescales to maintain blood-gas homeostasis, while intercalating orofacial behaviors. This function...
The Correction to this article has been published in BMC Biology 2023 21:108
Spiders comprise a hyperdiverse lineage of predators with venom systems, yet the origin of functionally novel spider venom glands remains unclear. Previous studies have hypothesized that spider venom glands or...
Within the genus Escherichia, several monophyletic clades other than the traditionally defined species have been identified. Of these, cryptic clade I (C-I) appears to represent a subspecies of E. coli, but due t...
Gene duplication is thought to be a central process in evolution to gain new functions. The factors that dictate gene retention following duplication as well paralog gene divergence in sequence, expression and...
Baleen whales are a clade of gigantic and highly specialized marine mammals. Their genomes have been used to investigate their complex evolutionary history and to decipher the molecular mechanisms that allowed...
Predation pressure and herbivory exert cascading effects on coral reef health and stability. However, the extent of these cascading effects can vary considerably across space and time. This variability is like...
Escherichia coli is an opportunistic pathogen which colonizes various host species. However, to what extent genetic lineages of E. coli are adapted or restricted to specific hosts and the genomic determinants of ...
Phylogenetic analyses of closely related species of mosquitoes are important for better understanding the evolution of traits contributing to transmission of vector-borne diseases. Six out of 41 dominant malar...
Angiogenesis plays important roles in physiological and pathologic conditions, but the mechanisms underlying this complex process often remain to be elucidated. In recent years, liquid–liquid phase separation ...
Among the major challenges in next-generation sequencing experiments are exploratory data analysis, interpreting trends, identifying potential targets/candidates, and visualizing the results clearly and intuit...
E3 ubiquitin ligases play critical roles in regulating cellular signaling pathways by inducing ubiquitylation of key components. RNF111/Arkadia is a RING E3 ubiquitin ligase that activates TGF-β signaling by i...
Bdelloid rotifers are micro-invertebrates distributed worldwide, from temperate latitudes to the most extreme areas of the planet like Antarctica or the Atacama Desert. They have colonized any habitat where li...
Collaborative efforts to directly replicate empirical studies in the medical and social sciences have revealed alarmingly low rates of replicability, a phenomenon dubbed the ‘replication crisis’. Poor replicab...
Chronic stress can produce a severe negative impact on health not only in the exposed individuals but also in their offspring. Indeed, chronic stress may be contributing to the current worldwide scenario of in...
Pain is the primary reason people seek medical care, with chronic pain affecting ~ 20% of people in the USA. However, many existing analgesics are ineffective in treating chronic pain, while others (e.g., opio...
The Publisher Correction to this article has been published in BMC Biology 2023 21:131
The accumulation of fatty acids in plants covers a wide range of functions in plant physiology and thereby affects adaptations and characteristics of species. As the famous woody oilseed crop, Acer truncatum accu...
Channel catfish and blue catfish are the most important aquacultured species in the USA. The species do not readily intermate naturally but F1 hybrids can be produced through artificial spawning. F1 hybrids produ...
Guanine crystals are organic biogenic crystals found in many organisms. Due to their exceptionally high refractive index, they contribute to structural color and are responsible for the reflective effect in th...
The protozoan malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum has a complex life cycle during which it needs to differentiate into multiple morphologically distinct life forms. A key process for transmission of the diseas...
An animal’s metabolic rate, or energetic expenditure, both impacts and is impacted by interactions with its environment. However, techniques for obtaining measurements of metabolic rate are invasive, logistica...
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