Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Chen Jiang, Ahsan Javed, Laura Kaiser, Michele M. Nava, Rui Xu, Dominique T. Brandt, Dandan Zhao, Benjamin Mayer, Javier Fernandez-Baldovinos, Luping Zhou, Carsten Hoess, Kovilen Sawmynaden, Arkadiusz Oleksy, David Matthews, Lee S. Weinstein, Heidi Hahn, Hermann-Josef Groene, Peter L. Graumann, Carien M. Niessen, Stefan Offermanns, Sara A. Wickstroem, Thomas Worzfeld
Summary: The study reveals the crucial role of B-plexins in responding to mechanical forces induced by crowding, impacting cell proliferation and tissue growth in epithelial development. Plexin-B1 and Plexin-B2 sense mechanical compression of epidermal stem cells, leading to the inactivation of YAP and suppression of cell proliferation.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Filip Husnik
Summary: A recent study identifies host-derived cell-division proteins that are directed to the cell envelope of a bacterial endosymbiont in unicellular eukaryotes, highlighting their role in symbiotic cell division.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Emily M. Carlisle, Melina Jobbins, Vanisa Pankhania, John A. Cunningham, Philip C. J. Donoghue
Summary: Experimental research on the decay of organelles in red and green algae suggests that chloroplasts are more resistant to decay than nuclei, while pyrenoids are unlikely to be preserved. This indicates potential differential organelle preservation in seed plants and prompts a reevaluation of the early eukaryotic fossil record.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Nare Ngoepe, Moritz Muschick, Mary A. Kishe, Salome Mwaiko, Yunuen Temoltzin-Loranca, Leighton King, Colin Courtney Mustaphi, Oliver Heiri, Giulia Wienhues, Hendrik Vogel, Maria Cuenca-Cambronero, Willy Tinner, Martin Grosjean, Blake Matthews, Ole Seehausen
Summary: This study presents a continuous fossil record showing how haplochromine cichlids came to dominate the fish fauna of Lake Victoria in Africa.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Nare Ngoepe, Moritz Muschick, Mary A. Kishe, Salome Mwaiko, Yunuen Temoltzin-Loranca, Leighton King, Colin Courtney Mustaphi, Oliver Heiri, Giulia Wienhues, Hendrik Vogel, Maria Cuenca-Cambronero, Willy Tinner, Martin Grosjean, Blake Matthews, Ole Seehausen
Summary: Adaptive radiations play a crucial role in generating biodiversity, but the relative importance of species' ecological versatility and arrival order in determining which lineage radiates is still unclear. Through analyzing the fossil record of cichlid fishes in Lake Victoria, it was found that their ecological versatility was key to their persistence in new habitats, suggesting that it played a major role in adaptive radiation.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Karolina Brylka, Andrew J. J. Alverson, Rebecca A. A. Pickering, Sylvain Richoz, Daniel J. J. Conley
Summary: Molecular clock estimates suggest that diatom microalgae originated around 200 million years ago, close to the earliest accepted diatom fossils. However, a comprehensive search for Jurassic diatoms from 25 sites led to the rejection of previously identified fossils. This study also casts doubt on the reliability of Lower- and Middle-Jurassic Pyxidicula fossils, suggesting they may be different types of microfossils.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Roger B. J. Benson, Richard Butler, Roger A. Close, Erin Saupe, Daniel L. Rabosky
Summary: The fossil record is the primary source of information on biodiversity over time, but interpretations of diversity patterns are debated due to spatial and temporal patchiness. Focusing on global diversity alone cannot untangle the signals of ecological drivers at different scales, necessitating a shift towards spatially explicit investigations. Research has shown stability in species richness variation among environments and potential climatic drivers of biodiversity change.
Review
Microbiology
Susannah M. Porter, Leigh Anne Riedman
Summary: The origin of modern eukaryotes is a key transition in life's history, but it remains poorly understood. Two models are presented for the evolution of modern eukaryotes - one suggesting early evolution and the other suggesting late evolution. Fossils are interpreted within these models, providing insights into eukaryote phylogeny and the evolution of eukaryotic cell biology and ecology.
ANNUAL REVIEW OF MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Indre Zliobaite, Mikael Fortelius
Summary: The completeness of the mammalian record in the Miocene is estimated to be around 4%, varying significantly across taxonomic groups. Proboscideans and perissodactyls may have close to complete fossil records, while the knowledge of species in artiodactyls, carnivores, and primates is less than 15%, with primate species being the least known. The fossil record of small mammals appears to be much less complete than that of large mammals.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hanzhang Song, Luliang Huang, Helanlin Xiang, Cheng Quan, Jianhua Jin
Summary: This study reports the discovery of Engelhardia fossil winged fruits with detailed anatomical structures from the Miocene Erzitang Formation of Guangxi, South China, suggesting that Engelhardia had reached its modern distribution during the Miocene. The unique anatomical and morphological features of the new fossils clearly distinguish them from other fossil genera and show unambiguously their attribution to the genus Engelhardia.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Marketa Kaucka, Alberto Joven Araus, Marketa Tesarova, Joshua D. Currie, Johan Bostrom, Michaela Kavkova, Julian Petersen, Zeyu Yao, Anass Bouchnita, Andreas Hellander, Tomas Zikmund, Ahmed Elewa, Phillip T. Newton, Ji-Feng Fei, Andrei S. Chagin, Kaj Fried, Elly M. Tanaka, Jozef Kaiser, Andras Simon, Igor Adameyko
Summary: The study analyzes limb development and regeneration in amphibians, and reveals that regeneration is based on cartilage expansion and ossification follows after the final size of regenerating cartilage is reached, leading to bulkier bones. The process of ossification starts from the cortical bone and proceeds inwards in both regenerative and developmental processes, showing the diversity of schemes for the synchrony of cortical and endochondral ossification among vertebrates.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Emily Carlisle, Christine M. Janis, Davide Pisani, Philip C. J. Donoghue, Daniele Silvestro
Summary: The origin of placental mammals has been a subject of debate, with molecular clock estimates suggesting an origin before the K-Pg extinction event, while the absence of definitive fossils before the boundary indicates a post-Cretaceous origin. However, a Bayesian Brownian bridge model suggests a Late Cretaceous origin for placental mammals. The findings support the hypothesis that placental mammals originated shortly before the K-Pg mass extinction.
Article
Ecology
Yuri Kimura, Lawrence J. Flynn, Louis L. Jacobs
Summary: Fossil records provide information about extinct taxa and rates of evolution across millions of years, but normally do not address details of lineage microevolution due to insufficient sampling density. This study focuses on a splitting event in the evolution of murine rodents, using multiple fossil samples to document the tempo and mode of origin of sister species. The analysis suggests that the tempo of splitting evolution in some cases may be measured in hundreds of thousands of years, followed by stasis once daughter species have morphologically differentiated.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
C. Henrik Woolley, Jeffrey R. Thompson, Yun-Hsin Wu, David J. Bottjer, Nathan D. Smith
Summary: The fossil record is often incomplete and biased, making it difficult to place fossils in an evolutionary context. This study focuses on the incompleteness bias in a large dataset of fossil squamates. Despite the bias, the most frequently occurring skeletal parts in the fossil record retain similar levels of phylogenetic signal as rarer parts. These findings indicate that the biased squamate fossil record still contains reliable phylogenetic information.
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Robert C. Glastad, Iain G. Johnston
Summary: Mitochondrial network structure can control the inheritance of mtDNA by regulating the distribution of different mtDNA types within the network. Different network structures and mtDNA arrangements can control the variances of key variables to suit different inheritance priorities.
PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Anne Chao, Yasuhiro Kubota, David Zeleny, Chun-Huo Chiu, Ching-Feng Li, Buntarou Kusumoto, Moriaki Yasuhara, Simon Thorn, Chih-Lin Wei, Mark J. Costello, Robert K. Colwell
ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH
(2020)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Moriaki Yasuhara, Chih-Lin Wei, Michal Kucera, Mark J. Costello, Derek P. Tittensor, Wolfgang Kiessling, Timothy C. Bonebrake, Clay R. Tabor, Ran Feng, Andres Baselga, Kerstin Kretschmer, Buntarou Kusumoto, Yasuhiro Kubota
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2020)
Article
Paleontology
Maya Samuels-Fair, Maria Joao Fernandes Martins, Rowan Lockwood, John P. Swaddle, Gene Hunt
Summary: This study examines trends in sexual dimorphism in ostracodes from the Late Cretaceous to the late Eocene to understand the long-term effects of the Cretaceous/Paleogene mass extinction. The results show that sexual dimorphism has a phylogenetic signal and only partially returns to pre-extinction patterns by the late Eocene. Surprisingly, species with high size and shape dimorphism remain rare into the late Eocene. These findings suggest that sexual selection may respond to demographic and environmental factors.
MARINE MICROPALEONTOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Paleontology
Moriaki Yasuhara, Hisayo Okahashi, Huai-Hsuan May Huang, Yuanyuan Hong, Hokuto Iwatani, Rachel Wai Ching Chu, Gene Hunt
Summary: This study systematically describes Quaternary deep-sea ostracodes from the equatorial Atlantic Ocean, revealing a distinctive tropical fauna component that may have originated from the Cretaceous and early Cenozoic greenhouse conditions. The results show that deep-sea ostracodes now concentrate in low latitudes.
JOURNAL OF PALEONTOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Biodiversity Conservation
Alan C. Love, Mark Grabowski, David Houle, Lee Hsiang Liow, Arthur Porto, Masahito Tsuboi, Kjetil L. Voje, Gene Hunt
Summary: This paper discusses the importance of evolvability in evolutionary biology and its application in paleontology. Despite challenges in applying tools from evolvability literature to the fossil record, the fossil record provides unique data sources that capture evolutionary patterns and assist evolutionary biologists in their research. Additionally, combining neontological and paleontological approaches is an important direction for future studies.
Editorial Material
Paleontology
Moriaki Yasuhara, Gene Hunt, Richard W. Jordan
MARINE MICROPALEONTOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Johannes De Groeve, Buntarou Kusumoto, Erik Koene, W. Daniel Kissling, Arie C. Seijmonsbergen, Bert W. Hoeksema, Moriaki Yasuhara, Sietze J. Norder, Sri Yudawati Cahyarini, Alexandra van Der Geer, Hanneke J. M. Meijer, Yasuhiro Kubota, Kenneth F. Rijsdijk
Summary: This study presents a novel geophysically corrected global historical coastline position raster, which allows for the calculation of global and regional coastline retreat rates and land loss rates. Additionally, 53 shelf sea rasters were generated to calculate shelf sea expansion rates.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Penghui Zhang, Huai-Hsuan M. Huang, Yuanyuan Hong, Skye Yunshu Tian, Jian Liu, Yong Il Lee, Jianwen Chen, Jie Liang, He Wang, Moriaki Yasuhara
Summary: This study analyzed fossil ostracods from the northwestern Pacific Ocean and found that the intensity of the East Asian winter monsoon affected the formation of Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water and the southward migration of Arctic ostracods.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Review
Ecology
Lee Hsiang Liow, Josef Uyeda, Gene Hunt
Summary: Despite efforts in building more complex models, it is still difficult to distinguish the processes that have generated biodiversity. By reaching out across disciplines and using independent data and theory, we can make new progress in macroevolutionary inference. Using paleontological insights and comparative phylogenetic approaches, less plausible models can be eliminated and our understanding can be increased through cross-disciplinary collaboration and training using common-use databases.
TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Geology
Rachel Wai Ching Chu, Moriaki Yasuhara, Karoline Myrvang Riise, Hirofumi Asahi, Huai-Hsuan May Huang, Laura J. Cotton, Yuanyuan Hong, Tine L. Rasmussen
Summary: We reconstructed the history of methane seepage activity during the late Quaternary and examined the faunal response to deglacial climatic changes by analyzing fossil ostracode fauna paired with benthic foraminiferal δ13C values. The study found that the presence of the ostracode species Rosaliella svalbardensis in sediment assemblages was closely related to the intensity of methane seepage, while changes in other taxa were more influenced by global climate changes. Therefore, Rosaliella svalbardensis has the potential to be a useful proxy for past methane release.
Article
Paleontology
Scott D. Evans, Gene Hunt, James G. Gehling, Erik A. Sperling, Mary L. Droser
Summary: This study uses Gaussian finite mixture models to assess the validity of species distinctions for Dickinsonia Sprigg, an iconic member of the Ediacara Biota with multiple species. The results suggest that the five described species of Dickinsonia can be better classified as two distinct species based on multiple approaches. Variable selection method provides the most biologically realistic clusters, indicating that the two species can be primarily differentiated based on the relative size differences of specific units. The co-occurrence of these species in the same environments and temporal distribution highlights their ecological similarities.
Article
Paleontology
Terry Markham Puckett, Gene Hunt
Summary: This contribution describes new species, genera, and a subfamily of ostracods from marine deposits in the eastern flank of the Mississippi Embayment. These new taxa display rapid evolution and have distinctive features. They are mainly found on the eastern flank of the Mississippi Embayment and the Atlantic Coastal Plain, with no observations on the western flank. The group became extinct at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary.
Article
Paleontology
Huai-Hsuan May Huang, Moriaki Yasuhara, Thomas M. Cronin, Hisayo Okahashi, Gene Hunt
Summary: Poseidonamicus is a widely studied genus that is commonly found in the deep oceans around the world. It has distinct morphological features and has contributed to various research topics, from evolutionary developmental biology to paleoenvironmental reconstruction. However, taxonomic confusion and limited taxonomic work on deep-sea faunas have led to difficulties in identifying Poseidonamicus species. This paper aims to update taxonomic information on Poseidonamicus species in the Pliocene Quaternary North Atlantic and summarize their paleobiogeographical distribution.
Article
Biology
Hideyuki Doi, Moriaki Yasuhara, Masayuki Ushio
Summary: The factors influencing deep-sea biodiversity include seafloor POC flux and temperature, with temperature being found to influence species richness over long time scales. Future climate change may affect deep-sea ecosystems through changes in deep-water circulation rather than surface productivity.