Published in Current Biology
Kinetochores need to be specialized to direct the distinctive pattern of chromosome segregation in meiosis. Borek et al. reveal the protein composition of kinetochores in meiosis and identify a critical assembly pathway that promotes meiotic kinetochore specialization.
Published in Current Biology
Bertolotti, Unterholzner et al. show that a time-dependent threshold of the transcription factor PHB governs the timing of middle cortex formation in the Arabidopsis root. PHB promotes CYCD6;1 expression in the endodermis cell non-autonomously by reducing gibberellin (GA) levels in the vascular tissue and, hence, stabilizing the GAs repressor GAI.
Published in Current Biology
Köstlbacher et al. illustrate how plasmids of intracellular bacteria in the phylum Chlamydiae have coevolved with their hosts over a billion years. By mobilizing chromosomal genes, plasmids contributed to host adaptation and might have mitigated the degenerative effects of Muller’s ratchet in this group of intracellular pathogens and symbionts.
Published in Current Biology
Maldonado et al. uncover oxytocin’s role in developing sensory cortices. In vivo , they show that oxytocin decreases the frequency and correlations of spontaneous activity patterns in V1 by specifically activating somatostatin+ interneurons. In S1, oxytocin increases both excitation and inhibition and does not affect spontaneous activity frequency....
Published in Current Biology
Novelty facilitates memory formation. Fredes et al. show that mossy cells in the ventral dentate gyrus detect environmental novelty. This information is conveyed to dorsal dentate granule cells and is necessary for novelty-induced contextual memory formation. Conversely, activating this pathway enhances contextual memory in a familiar environment.
Published in Current Biology
Noradrenaline (NA) is hypothesized to play a role in how humans adapt to volatility under conditions of uncertainty. Lawson et al. show that blocking NA attenuates probabilistic learning and the phasic encoding of prediction errors in a volatile environment. Furthermore, blood pressure predicts how volatile the world is estimated to be.
Published in Current Biology
The effects of serotonin (5-HT) on pupil size have not been investigated in detail. Cazettes et al. show that phasic optogenetic activation of 5-HT neurons causes pupil size changes in mice performing a foraging task. The 5-HT effects on pupil size are not specific to behavioral variables but appear to be linked to the task statistics.
Published in Current Biology
Ramos-Madrigal et al. sequence the genomes of four Pleistocene Siberian wolves, two of which have divergent cranial morphologies. These canids represent multiple extinct lineages that dwelled in Siberia >50 ka ago and at least until 14.1 ka ago and that contributed to the genetic ancestry of arctic dogs and some East Asian wolves.
Plants are able to orient their growth according to gravity, which ultimately controls both shoot and root architecture.1 Gravitropism is a dynamic process whereby gravistimulation induces the asymmetric distribution of the plant hormone auxin, leading to asymmetric growth, organ bending, and subsequent reset of auxin distribution back to the origi...
Published in Current Biology
Here, Barnett et al. sequence the nuclear genome of Homotherium latidens through a combination of shotgun and target-capture approaches. Analyses confirm Homotherium to be a highly divergent lineage from all living cat species (∼22.5 Ma) and reveal genes under selection putatively related to a cursorial and diurnal hunting behavior.
