by Richard M. Merrill The bright colors observed across the animal world are often used during mate choice. An exciting new study in PLOS Biology suggests genetic and neural mechanisms contributing to the evolution of visual mating decisions in Heliconius butterflies ..read more

by Jelle van den Ameele, Manuel Trauner, Eva Hörmanseder, Alex P. A. Donovan, Oriol Llorà-Batlle, Seth W. Cheetham, Robert Krautz, Rebecca Yakob, Anna Malkowska, John B. Gurdon, Andrea H. Brand Histone modifications play a key role in regulating gene expression and cell fate during development and disease. Current methods for cell-type-specific genome-wide profiling of histone modifications require dissociation and isolation of cells and are not compatible with all tissue types. Here we adapt Targeted DamID (TaDa) to recognize specific histone marks, by fusing chromatin-binding proteins or sin ..read more

by Nicholas W. VanKuren, Nathan P. Buerkle, Wei Lu, Erica L. Westerman, Alexandria K. Im, Darli Massardo, Laura Southcott, Stephanie E. Palmer, Marcus R. Kronforst Many studies have linked genetic variation to behavior, but few connect to the intervening neural circuits that underlie the arc from sensation to action. Here, we used a combination of genome-wide association (GWA), developmental gene expression, and photoreceptor electrophysiology to investigate the architecture of mate choice behavior in Heliconius cydno butterflies, a clade where males identify preferred mates based on wing colo ..read more

by Ruoxu Wang, Mykola Roiuk, Freya Storer, Aurelio A. Teleman, Marc Amoyel Stem cells have the unique ability among adult cells to give rise to cells of different identities. To do so, they must change gene expression in response to environmental signals. Much work has focused on how transcription is regulated to achieve these changes; however, in many cell types, transcripts and proteins correlate poorly, indicating that post-transcriptional regulation is important. To assess how translational control can influence stem cell fate, we use the Drosophila testis as a model. The testis niche secr ..read more

by Panpan Li, Manfeng Zhang, Yihua Huang The prokaryote-specific ATP-binding cassette (ABC) peptide transporters are involved in various physiological processes and plays an important role in transporting naturally occurring antibiotics across the membrane to their intracellular targets. The dipeptide transporter DppABCDF in Gram-negative bacteria is composed of five distinct subunits, yet its assembly and underlying peptide import mechanism remain elusive. Here, we report the cryo-EM structures of the DppBCDF translocator from Escherichia coli in both its apo form and in complexes bound to no ..read more

by Nicholas C. Morano, Davys H. Lopez, Hagar Meltzer, Alina P. Sergeeva, Phinikoula S. Katsamba, Kevin D. Rostam, Himanshu Pawankumar Gupta, Jordan E. Becker, Bavat Bornstein, Filip Cosmanescu, Oren Schuldiner, Barry Honig, Richard S. Mann, Lawrence Shapiro In Drosophila, two interacting adhesion protein families, Defective proboscis responses (Dprs) and Dpr interacting proteins (DIPs), coordinate the assembly of neural networks. While intercellular DIP::Dpr interactions have been well characterized, DIPs and Dprs are often co-expressed within the same cells, raising the question as to whether ..read more

by Rafael E. Venado, Jennifer Wilker, Vânia C. S. Pankievicz, Valentina Infante, April MacIntyre, Emily S. A. Wolf, Saddie Vela, Fletcher Robbins, Paulo Ivan Fernandes-Júnior, Wilfred Vermerris, Jean-Michel Ané Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is an important food, feed, and fodder crop worldwide and is gaining popularity as an energy crop due to its high potential for biomass production. Some sorghum accessions develop many aerial roots and produce an abundant carbohydrate-rich mucilage after rain. This aerial root mucilage is similar to that observed in landraces of maize (Zea mays) from southern M ..read more

by Rishi De-Kayne, Ian J. Gordon, Reinier F. Terblanche, Steve Collins, Kennedy Saitoti Omufwoko, Dino J. Martins, Simon H. Martin Supergenes can evolve when recombination-suppressing mechanisms like inversions promote co-inheritance of alleles at two or more polymorphic loci that affect a complex trait. Theory shows that such genetic architectures can be favoured under balancing selection or local adaptation in the face of gene flow, but they can also bring costs associated with reduced opportunities for recombination. These costs may in turn be offset by rare ‘gene flux’ between inverted and ..read more

by Jung M. Park, Li-Huei Tsai Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder affecting millions worldwide. There is no known cure for AD, highlighting an urgent need for new, innovative treatments. Recent studies have shed light on a promising, noninvasive approach using sensory stimulation as a potential therapy for AD. Exposing patients to light and sound pulses at a frequency of 40 hertz induces brain rhythms in the gamma frequency range that are important for healthy brain activity. Using this treatment in animal models, we are now beginning to understand the molecula ..read more

by Marnix H. Medema, Gilles P. van Wezel With the explosive increase in genome sequence data, perhaps the major challenge in natural-product-based drug discovery is the identification of gene clusters most likely to specify new chemistry and bioactivities. We discuss the challenges and state-of-the-art of antibiotic discovery based on ecological principles, genome mining and artificial intelligence ..read more