Article
Cell Biology
Ting Song, Na He, Ziqian Hao, Yunfan Yang
Summary: This study found that the gene ENKD1 is highly expressed in DLBCL and is associated with the growth and progression of the disease. Inhibiting ENKD1 induces apoptosis, suppresses cell proliferation, and blocks cell cycle progression in the G2/M phase of DLBCL cells. Furthermore, ENKD1 expression is positively correlated with the expression levels of several cellular homeostatic regulators, including the gene Sperm-associated antigen 5, which encodes an important mitotic regulator. These findings suggest that ENKD1 plays a critical role in regulating cellular homeostasis and may be a potential target for DLBCL treatment.
JOURNAL OF CELLULAR PHYSIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Christina Riehl, Zachariah Fox Smart
Summary: The study reveals that climate variation may influence selection on breeding group size, with the strength and direction of selection on group size changing across different years.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Juan Benito, Pei-Chen Kuo, Klara E. Widrig, John W. M. Jagt, Daniel J. Field
Summary: The bony palate helps distinguish between the two deepest clades of extant birds: Neognathae and Palaeognathae. The discovery of the new Late Cretaceous ornithurine Janavis finalidens provides evidence supporting the presence of an anatomically neognathous palate in some Mesozoic non-crown ornithurines, suggesting that pterygoids similar to those of extant Galloanserae may be ancestral for crown birds. This challenges previous assumptions about the ancestral palate of crown birds and calls for a reevaluation of the purported galloanseran affinities of early Cenozoic groups.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Patrik Byholm, Martin Beal, Natalie Isaksson, Ulrik Lotberg, Susanne Akesson
Summary: This study analyzed tracking data from Caspian Terns and found that the survival and learning of migration routes in juveniles depend on following a parent. The results suggest that parental care plays a crucial role in the migration process of these birds.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Review
Biology
Susan D. D. Healy, Maria Cristina Tello-Ramos, Marie Hebert
Summary: Successful reproduction in birds relies on 'good' nest building. The diversity of nests among the 10,000 bird species suggests that nest design depends on microhabitat, life history, and behavior. Understanding the driving factors behind nest diversity is a research priority, aided by museum collections and field and laboratory data. Phylogenetic analyses and datasets of nest traits are shedding light on nest evolution, but there are still unanswered functional questions. The next major challenge is to analyze the developmental and mechanistic aspects of nest building itself, rather than just nest morphology.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jesus Marugan-Lobon, Luis M. Chiappe
Summary: Paleontological evidence suggests that young individuals of the Confuciusornis bird species experienced a precocious burst of beak growth, possibly to meet the high energy demands during their initial growth stage. This pattern of facial growth is similar to young crocodilians. However, unlike crocodilians, beak growth in Confuciusornis birds continues steadily. The long-term facial growth of older individuals may have led to ontogenetic niche shifts and dietary segregation among different size classes within populations, promoting population cohesiveness.
Review
Cell Biology
Guadalupe Alvarez-Hernan, Jose Antonio de Mera-Rodriguez, Yolanda Ganan, Jorge Solana-Fajardo, Gervasio Martin-Partido, Joaquin Rodriguez-Leon, Javier Francisco-Morcillo
Summary: Neurodegenerative diseases caused by degeneration of specific retinal neurons affect the visual system, with regenerative response after injury being inefficient in the precocial avian retina but intense in the retina of altricial birds. Further research is needed to assess the potential of proliferating cells in the adult retina of altricial birds as an attractive model for studying neurogenesis and neural regeneration in vertebrates.
NEURAL REGENERATION RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Min Wang, Jingmai K. O'Connor, Tao Zhao, Yanhong Pan, Xiaoting Zheng, Xiaoli Wang, Zhonghe Zhou
Summary: Enantiornithes, the most successful group of Mesozoic birds, may have evolved their extravagant tail plumage through sexual selection, resembling those in neornithines. The contrasting tail morphotypes between Enantiornithes and early Ornithuromorpha suggest unique pressures from sexual and natural selections. Early avialans repeatedly evolved extravagant structures, showcasing the importance of sexual selection in shaping feathered dinosaurs' plumage early in their evolutionary history.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Christopher T. Griffin, Joao F. Botelho, Michael Hanson, Matteo Fabbri, Daniel Smith-Paredes, Ryan M. Carney, Mark A. Norell, Shiro Egawa, Stephen M. Gatesy, Timothy B. Rowe, Ruth M. Elsey, Sterling J. Nesbitt, Bhart-Anjan S. Bhullar
Summary: The development of the avian pelvis is similar to the transition from non-avian dinosaurs to birds, indicating the retention of ancestral states during evolutionary transitions. Research has found that avian embryos possess many features of ancestral dinosaurs, providing evidence for phenotypic covariance within the pelvis in Archosauria.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Christopher T. Griffin, Joao F. Botelho, Michael Hanson, Matteo Fabbri, Daniel Smith-Paredes, Ryan M. Carney, Mark A. Norell, Shiro Egawa, Stephen M. Gatesy, Timothy B. Rowe, Ruth M. Elsey, Sterling J. Nesbitt, Bhart-Anjan S. Bhullar
Summary: This study used embryological imaging techniques to examine the morphogenesis of avian pelvic tissues, revealing that many ancestral dinosaurian features are transiently present in the early development of birds and eventually transform into the typical avian form. The research quantitatively demonstrates that avian pelvic ontogeny parallels the transition from non-avian dinosaurs to birds, suggesting a previously unrecognized mechanism for terminal addition and the retention of ancestral states in development during evolutionary transitions.
Review
Ophthalmology
David Williams
Summary: The avian visual system is highly important for birds in various behaviors and the presence of photoreceptors in different parts of their body make them a suitable model for studying eye-brain interactions. This review specifically focuses on the pigeon, as it has a fully mapped brain and sequenced genome, and also because of its exceptional navigation ability to return to the same roosting site over long distances. Despite the term "bird brained" being used to belittle avian species, birds possess remarkable vision and eagle-eyedness to their advantage.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Paul D. Waters, Hardip R. Patel, Aurora Ruiz-Herrera, Lucia Alvarez-Gonzalez, Nicholas C. Lister, Oleg Simakov, Tariq Ezaz, Parwinder Kaur, Celine Frere, Frank Gruetzner, Arthur Georges, Jennifer A. Marshall Graves
Summary: The study found that microchromosomes, as elements of an ancient animal genome, are highly conserved in birds and share synteny with certain small chromosomes in the chordate amphioxus. Turtles and squamates have independently lost microchromosomes through fusion events, resulting in different fusion patterns in different lineages. Microchromosomes are spatially separated into a central compartment in cells, showing higher interaction between microchromosomes compared to macrochromosomes.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Review
Biology
Elleard F. W. Heffern, Holly Huelskamp, Sonya Bahar, R. Fredrik Inglis
Summary: Phase transitions are a crucial concept in physics with recent successful applications in understanding various phenomena in biological systems. This includes explaining collective behavior in animals and neuronal firing. Particularly in the area of population collapse and extinction, phase transition theory can provide insights into extinction events like population decline due to climate change or microbial responses to stressors such as antibiotic treatment.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Paul Dufour, Christophe de Franceschi, Paul Doniol-Valcroze, Frederic Jiguet, Maya Gueguen, Julien Renaud, Sebastien Lavergne, Pierre-Andre Crochet
Summary: The study reveals that the Richard's Pipits in southwestern Europe are true migrants originating from the western edge of their known breeding range, making a remarkable 6,000 km journey from Central Asia across Eurasia. Climatic niche modeling using citizen-science bird data suggests an increase in winter niche suitability in southwestern Europe, potentially leading to increased winter survival and successful return journey of autumn vagrants. This illustrates the underestimated role of vagrancy in the emergence of new migratory routes and adaptation to global change in migratory birds, marking one of the few documented contemporary changes in migration route and the first longitudinal shift in a long-distance migratory bird.
Article
Biology
Min Wang, Thomas A. Stidham, Jingmai K. O'Connor, Zhonghe Zhou
Summary: Cranial kinesis, the independent movements and flexibility of different parts of the skull, is an evolutionary innovation found in some squamates and crown birds. It plays a major role in the phenotypic and ecological diversity of birds. However, the understanding of the evolutionary development of cranial kinesis in early avialans is hindered by sparse fossil records. A detailed reconstruction of the skull of the Early Cretaceous enantiornithine Yuanchuavis kompsosoura provides insights into the mosaic assembly of features required for modern cranial kinesis in birds.