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opencc-by-4.0Jul 2022View details →

OMA1-mediated integrated stress response protects against ferroptosis in mitochondrial cardiomyopathy

Cardiomyopathy and heart failure are common manifestations in mitochondrial disease caused by deficiencies in the oxidative phosphorylation system of mitochondria (OXPHOS). Here, we demonstrate that the cardiac-specific loss of the assembly factor Cox10 of the cytochrome c oxidase causes mitochondrial cardiomyopathy in mice, which is associated with OXPHOS deficiency, lysosomal defects and an aberrant mitochondrial morphology. Activation of the mitochondrial peptidase Oma1 in Cox10-/- mice results in mitochondrial fragmentation and induction of the integrated stress response (ISR) along the Oma1-Dele1-Atf4 signalling axis. Ablation of Oma1 or Dele1 in Cox10-/- mice aggravates cardiomyopathy. ISR inhibition impairs the cardiac glutathione metabolism, limits the selenium-dependent accumulation of the glutathione peroxidase Gpx4 and increases lipid peroxidation in the heart, ultimately culminating in ferroptosis. Our results demonstrate a protective role of the Oma1-Dele1-mediated ISR in mitochondrial cardiomyopathy and link ferroptosis to OXPHOS deficiency and mitochondrial disease.

opencc-zeroJul 2022View details →

Avian species richness and abundance shows stronger response to bison grazing intensity than to ecosystem productivity

Temperate grassland ecosystems are one of the most threatened ecosystems worldwide, and their loss endangers the grassland songbirds that rely upon them. This guild of birds has shown long-term declines in North America. At the same time, American bison (Bison bison) are becoming more common through reintroductions, and they may make significant modifications to grassland songbird habitat. To support conservation for this guild, we sought to understand the importance of bison grazing and ecosystem productivity to the species richness, occupancy, and abundance of this avian community. We conducted dependent double-observer bird counts, measured bison grazing intensity with patty counts, and used remote-sensed Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data to measure ecosystem productivity. Our work took place in the National Bison Range near Moiese, Montana and in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. We found that species richness was positively correlated with patty counts, and had a weak negative correlation with NDVI. Occupancy probability for six of seven grassland songbird species was positively correlated with patty counts, and for six of seven species was negatively correlated with NDVI. Abundance of vesper sparrow (Pooecetes graminueus) and western meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta) were positively correlated with patty counts, although for western meadowlark, this trend became less positive with increasing patty counts. Our work suggests that managers may want to encourage a broad range of bison grazing intensities to ensure that vegetative conditions related to bison grazing are present for all species.

opencc-by-4.0Apr 2022View details →

Latvia: Behaviours and attitudes in response to the Covid-19 pandemics

Web-based survey which was conducted in Latvia in 2020. The survey assesses the sociodemographic effects of the COVID-19 outbreak in Latvia. This survey is titled “Behaviours and attitudes in response to the Covid-19 pandemics”.

Gene expression underlying parenting and being parented shows limited plasticity in response to different ambient temperatures

Flexible interactions between parents and offspring are essential for buffering families against variable, unpredictable, and challenging environmental conditions. In the subsocial carrion beetle, Nicrophorus orbicollis, mid-summer temperatures impose steep fitness costs on parents and offspring but do not elicit behavioral plasticity in parents. Here, we ask if plasticity of gene expression underpins this behavioral stability or facilitates independent compensation by larvae. To test this, we characterized gene expression of parents and offspring before and during active parenting under benign (20°C) and stressful (24°C) temperatures to identify genes of parents and offspring associated with thermal response, parenting/being parented, and gene expression plasticity associated with behavioral stability of parental care. The main effects of thermal and social condition each shaped patterns of gene expression in females, males, and larvae. In addition, we implicated 79 genes in females as 'buffering' parental behavior across environments. The majority of these underwent significant changes in expression in actively parenting mothers at the benign temperature, but not at the stressful temperature. Our results suggest that neither genetic programs for parenting nor their effects on offspring gene expression are fundamentally different under stressful conditions, and that behavioral stability is associated primarily with the maintenance of existing genetic programs rather than replacement or supplementation. Thus, while selection for compensatory gene expression could expand the range of thermal conditions parents will tolerate, without expanding the toolkit of genes involved selection is unlikely to lead to adaptive changes of function.

opencc-zeroDec 2021View details →

Effect of water availability on volatile-mediated communication between potato plants in response to insect herbivory

Airborne plant communication is a widespread phenomenon in which volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from damaged plants boost herbivore resistance in neighbouring, undamaged plants. Although this form of plant signalling has been reported in more than 30 plant species, there is still a considerable knowledge gap on how abiotic factors (e.g., water availability) alter its outcomes. We performed a greenhouse experiment to test for communication between potato plants (Solanum tuberosum) in response to herbivory by the generalist insect Spodoptera exigua and whether communication was affected by water availability. We paired emitter and receiver potato plants, with half of the emitters damaged by S. exigua larvae and half serving as undamaged controls. Both emitter and receiver plants were subjected to one of two water availability treatments: high (i.e., well-watered) vs. low (i.e., reduced watering) availability, thus effectively teasing apart water availability effects on the emission and reception components of signalling. After four days of herbivore feeding, we collected emitter VOCs and receivers were subjected to feeding by S. exigua to test for effects of signalling on induced resistance. Herbivory by S. exigua led to increased VOCs emissions as well as changes in VOCs composition in emitter plants. Furthermore, emitters subjected to low water availability exhibited a weaker induction of VOCs in response to herbivory relative to well-watered emitters. Results from the feeding bioassay indicated that receivers exposed to VOCs from herbivore-induced emitters showed lower S. exigua damage (i.e. higher induced resistance) compared to receivers exposed to undamaged emitters. However, we did not observe a significant effect of water availability in either emitters or receivers on plant communication. Overall, our study contributes to the understanding of how the abiotic context affects plant communication by providing evidence of water availability effects on the induction of VOCs that may act as airborne signals between plants. The observed changes in induced VOCs had no visible consequences for plant communication. These findings thus suggest that the induction of key compounds mediating communication was not compromised by our experimental conditions.

Do alternative resources dampen functional responses of native but not alien gammarids?

While aquatic invasive predators are among the most impactful trophic groups, we lack understanding of whether alternative food resources mediate adverse predatory effects and stabilise native prey communities. Here, we use comparative functional responses to examine the influence of alternative food resources (Fucus sp.) on predator-prey interaction strengths from three gammarid crustaceans, with one native (Gammarus locusta) and two existing and emerging invasive (Gammarus tigrinus, Pontogammarus maeoticus, respectively) species, towards larval chironomid prey. All gammarids exhibited Type II functional responses, irrespective of the presence of alternative seaweed disks. Fucus sp. disks significantly reduced predation rates overall, however, significant reductions in maximum feeding rates (i.e. functional response magnitudes) were only evident in the native species and not for the two invaders. Our results thus may suggest that alternative resources dampen the predatory interaction strength of native but not invasive alien species, concerning these three study organisms. This potentially exacerbates impacts of invasive predators relative to natives in diverse communities. Studies should increasingly consider alternative resources when quantifying ecological impacts of current and future invasive alien species compared to natives.

opencc-by-4.0Aug 2022View details →

Multi-instrument observations of the ionospheric response to the 26 December 2019 solar eclipse over Indian and Southeast Asian longitudes

Here, the impact of the 26 December 2019 solar eclipse on the equatorial and low latitude ionosphere has been investigated using ground and space-based observations over Indian and Southeast Asian longitudes. The high-resolution Ionosonde observations at Tirunelveli, GPS TEC observations from a chain of GPS receivers along and across the eclipse path, TIMED-SABER, and Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) satellites were utilized to investigate the eclipse-induced variations in electron density and thermospheric cooling. We noticed a tremendous increase and decrease in the base height of the F-layer, resembling the nighttime Pre-Reversal Enhancement (PRE). Near the eclipse maximum, a strong blanketing sporadic E layer was observed at Tirunelveli with a top frequency of ~18 MHz for 1 hour and 26 minutes. Satellite traces (STs) and ‘U’ shaped ionograms were noticed for the first time over Tirunelveli during eclipse maximum and end phases. The ‘STs’ and ‘U’ shaped traces indicate the presence of short-period gravity waves or TID type of wave perturbations over the Indian region. A maximum of ~5-7 TECU (30-40%) decrease in TEC is observed on the eclipse day for iisc, hyde, and tiru stations. Periodogram analyses of TEC data showed the presence of wavelike structures with periodicities of 18-24 minutes for different stations. Simultaneous observations from the ICON satellite showed an increase and decrease in hmF2 and NmF2 which matches well with the ionosonde observations from Tirunelveli. The temperature profiles from TIMED-SABER and ICON satellites showed a reduction and enhancement in the lower and upper E regions respectively.

openother-openAug 2022View details →

Data and code from: Great tits differ in glucocorticoid plasticity in response to spring temperature

No description provided. This repository contains R-codes used for a project on glucocorticoid plasticity using data from a free-living great tit population. Specifically, the repository contains R-codes used in the following study: Hau M, Deimel C, Moiron M (2022) Great tits differ in glucocorticoid plasticity in response to spring temperature.BioRxiv (doi: 10.1101/2022.04.21.489013) Link to paper: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.21.489013v1">https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.21.489013v1</a> For any further information, please get in touch with at least one (preferably both) of the following researchers: Dr. Maria Moiron, email: <a href="mailto:mariamoironc@gmail.com">mariamoironc@gmail.com</a> Prof. Dr. Michaela Hau, email: <a href="mailto:mhau@orn.mpg.de">mhau@orn.mpg.de</a> Code: All R code is available in the main folder and scripts are numbered in order of use from 001 to 004. Scripts titles should be self-explanatory, but each script contains a "Description of script and Instructions" section with further information.

Data for: Sensory biases in response to novel complex acoustic signals in male and female gray treefrogs, Hyla chrysoscelis

The sensory bias hypothesis proposes that female preferences for male sexual signaling traits evolved in contexts other than mating. Individuals of both sexes may experience similar selection pressures in these contexts, thus males may have similar biases to females for variation in signal traits. We tested this prediction in the gray treefrog, Hyla chrysoscelis, in which males produce simple advertisement calls, but females are more attracted to certain novel complex stimuli. We recorded males' responses to playbacks of both simple advertisement calls and complex calls consisting of the advertisement call with an acoustic appendage (filtered noise, or heterospecific call pulses) either leading or following the call. We tested females' preferences for the same stimuli in phonotaxis tests. We found evidence for a sensory bias in both sexes: males gave more aggressive calls in response to complex stimuli and females sometimes preferred complex over simple calls. These biases were not universal and depended on both temporal order and appendage characteristics, but how these effects manifested differed between the sexes. Ultimately, our approach of studying biases of both sexes in response to novel mating signals will shed light on the origin of mating preferences, and the mechanisms by which sensory biases operate.

opencc-by-4.0Aug 2022View details →

Combined U-series and in situ U-Pb dating of fault-related carbonates for reconstructing a long-term history of fault activity in response to SE Tibetan Plateau brittle deformation

Table S1. Analytical conditions for LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating Table S2. Analytical conditions for LA-ICP-MS elemental mapping Table S3. In situ calcite LA-ICAPMS U-Pb dating data

A general swimming response in exhausted obligate swimming fish

Marine organisms normally swim at elevated speeds relative to cruising speeds only during strenuous activity, such as predation or escape. We measured swimming speeds of 29 ram ventilating sharks from 10 species and of three Atlantic bluefin tunas immediately after exhaustive exercise (fighting a capture by hook-and-line), and unexpectedly found all individuals exhibited a uniform mechanical response, with swimming speed initially 2 times higher than the cruising speeds reached approximately 6 hours later. We hypothesised that elevated swimming behaviour is a means to increase energetic demand and drive the removal of lactate accumulated during capture via oxidation. To explore this hypothesis, we estimated the mechanical work that must have been spent by an animal to elevate its swim speed, and then showed that the amount of lactate that could have been oxidized to fuel it comprises a significant portion of the amount of lactate normally observed in fishes after exhaustive exercise. An estimate for the full energetic cost of the catch-and-release event ensued.

opencc-zeroSep 2022View details →

Data from: A causal role of anterior prefrontal-putamen circuit for response inhibition revealed by transcranial ultrasound stimulation in humans

Stopping an inappropriate response requires the involvement of the prefrontal-subthalamic hyperdirect pathway. However, how the prefrontal-striatal indirect pathway contributes to stopping is poorly understood. In this study, transcranial ultrasound stimulation is used to perform interventions in a task-related region in the striatum. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reveals activation in the right anterior part of the putamen during response inhibition, and ultrasound stimulation to the anterior putamen, as well as the subthalamic nucleus, results in significant impairments in stopping performance. Diffusion imaging further reveals prominent structural connections between the anterior putamen and the right anterior part of the inferior frontal cortex (IFC), and ultrasound stimulation to the anterior IFC also shows significant impaired stopping performance. These results demonstrate that the right anterior putamen and right anterior IFC causally contribute to stopping and suggest that the anterior IFC-anterior putamen circuit in the indirect pathway serves as an essential route for stopping.

opencc-zeroSep 2022View details →

A chromosome-level genome assembly of the highly heterozygous sea urchin Echinometra sp. EZ reveals adaptation in the regulatory regions of stress response genes

Echinometra is the most widespread genus of sea urchin and has been the focus of a wide range of studies in ecology, speciation, and reproduction. However, available genetic data for this genus are generally limited to a few select loci. Here, we present a chromosome-level genome assembly based on 10x Genomics, PacBio, and Hi-C sequencing for Echinometra sp. EZ from the Persian/Arabian Gulf. The genome is assembled into 210 scaffolds totaling 817.8 Mb with an N50 of 39.5 Mb. From this assembly we determined that the E. sp. EZ genome consists of 2n = 42 chromosomes. BUSCO analysis showed that 95.3% of BUSCO genes were complete. ab initio and transcript-informed gene modeling and annotation identified 29,405 genes, including a conserved Hox cluster. E. sp. EZ can be found in high-temperature and high-salinity environments, and we therefore compared gene families and transcription factors associated with environmental stress response ("defensome") with other echinoid species with similar high-quality genomic resources. While the number of defensome genes was broadly similar for all species, we identified strong signatures of positive selection in non-coding elements near genes involved in environmental response pathways as well as losses of transcriptions factors important for environmental response. These data provide key insights into the biology of E. sp. EZ as well as the diversification of Echinometra more widely and will serve as a useful tool for the community to explore questions in this taxonomic group and beyond.

Gait behavioral and neuromuscular characterization in response to increasing working memory load while walking under optic flow perturbations in young adults

The precise role of cognitive control on optic flow processing during locomotion has rarely been investigated. Therefore, this study aimed to determine whether coping with unreliable visual inputs during walking requires attentional resources. Twenty-four healthy young adults walked on an instrumented treadmill in a virtual environment under two optic flow conditions: normal (NOF) and perturbed (POF, continuous mediolateral pseudo-random oscillations). Each condition was performed under single-task and dual-task conditions of increasing difficulty (1-, 2-, 3-back). In all conditions, subjective mental workload was estimated (raw NASA-TLX). For kinematic variables, mean, standard deviation, statistical persistence and step-to-step error correction were computed from gait time series in mediolateral and anteroposterior directions. For EMG variables of soleus and gluteus medius, the full width at half maximum and the variance ratio were calculated. Performance on N-back tasks was assessed using mean reaction time and d-prime. Cognitive performance was not affected by simultaneous walking in any optic flow condition. Gait variability was altered under POF compared to NOF, so that young adults sought to counteract those perturbations by adopting an effortful gait control strategy, independently of concurrent working memory (WM) load. Increasing WM load led changes first at the neuromuscular level, then at the behavioral level, with a prioritization of gait control in the mediolateral direction. Interestingly, dual-tasking lowered the effects of POF but in the anteroposterior direction only. These findings and their theoretical implications provide valuable insight into the complex interaction effects of cognitive and visual constraints on gait control during treadmill walking.

opencc-zeroSep 2022View details →

Responses of predatory fish to lures

The evolution of bright "warning" colours in nontoxic animals often is attributed to mimicry of toxic species, but empirical tests of that hypothesis are elusive. Populations of a harmless sea snake species (Emydocephalus annulatus) in New Caledonia exhibit colour polymorphism, with around 20% of individuals banded rather than melanic. Stability in that proportion over 20 years has been attributed to Batesian mimicry of deadly snake species by banded morphs of the harmless taxon. This hypothesis requires that banded colours reduce a snake's vulnerability to predation. We tested that idea by pulling flexible snake-shaped models through the water and recording responses by predatory fish. Black and banded lures attracted similar numbers of following fish, but attacks were directed almost exclusively to black lures. Our methods overcome several ambiguities associated with experimental studies on mimicry in terrestrial snakes, and support the hypothesis that banded colour patterns reduce a non-venomous marine snake's vulnerability to predation.

Model output of: Excitation of an MJO event in response to a transient sea surface warming in Super-Parameterized CAM

Recent studies have suggested that the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) could be generated in the atmospheric adjustment to equatorial heating anomalies in models properly resolving moist convection. Here we use Super-Parameterized CAM to simulate atmospheric response to transient sea surface warming in the equatorial Indian Ocean, which leads to the excitation of an MJO event, robust across different ensemble members, in addition to the much-expected equatorial Rossby and Kelvin waves. A moist static energy (MSE) budget analysis suggests that longwave and surface turbulent latent heat flux anomalies are predominantly responsible for the MJO excitation; however, these terms oppose its eastward propagation. In contrast, advection of MSE generally weakens the MJO amplitude, but contributes to its eastward propagation. These results highlight the role of the MJO in the moist atmospheric adjustment to equatorial heating, with implications for the MJO mechanisms and prediction.

Response of distribution patterns of two closely related species in Taxus genus to climate change since last inter-glacial

Climate change affects species' spatio-temporal distribution deeply. However, how climate affects the spatio-temporal distribution pattern of related species on the large scale remains largely unclear. Here, we selected two closely related species in the Taxus genus, Taxus chinensis and Taxus mairei, to explore their distribution pattern. Four environmental variables were employed to simulate the distribution patterns using the optimized Maxent model. The results showed that the highly suitable area of T. chinensis and T. mairei in the current period was 1.616 × 105 km2 and 3.093 × 105 km2, respectively. The distribution area of T. chinensis was smaller than that of T. mairei in different periods. Comparison of different periods shows that the distribution area of the two species was almost in stasis from LIG to the future periods. Temperature and precipitation were the main climate factors that determined the potential distribution of the two species. The centroids of T. chinensis and T. mairei were in Sichuan and Hunan provinces in current period, respectively. In the future, the centroid migration direction of the two species would shift towards the northeast. Our results revealed that the average elevation distribution of T. chinensis was higher than that of T. mairei. This study sheds new insights into the habitat preference and limiting environmental factors of the two related species and provides a valuable reference for the conservation of these two threatened species.

Genetic response to human‐induced habitat changes in the marine environment: A century of evolution of European sprat in Landvikvannet, Norway

Habitat changes represent one of the five most pervasive threats to biodiversity. However, anthropogenic activities also have the capacity to create novel niche spaces to which species respond differently. In 1880, one such habitat alterations occurred in Landvikvannet, a freshwater lake on the Norwegian coast of Skagerrak, which became brackish after being artificially connected to the sea. This lake is now home to the European sprat, a pelagic marine fish that managed to develop a self-recruiting population in barely few decades. Landvikvannet sprat proved to be genetically isolated from the three main populations described for this species; i.e. Norwegian fjords, Baltic Sea, and the combination of North Sea, Kattegat and Skagerrak. This distinctness was depicted by an accuracy self-assignment of 89% and a highly significant FST between the lake sprat and each of the remaining samples (average of ≈0.105). The correlation between genetic and environmental variation indicated that salinity could be an important environmental driver of selection (3.3% of the 91 SNPs showed strong associations). Likewise, Isolation by Environment was detected for salinity, although not for temperature, in samples not adhering to an Isolation by Distance pattern. Neighbour-joining tree analysis suggested that the source of the lake sprat is in the Norwegian fjords, rather than in the Baltic Sea despite a similar salinity profile. Strongly drifted allele frequencies and lower genetic diversity in Landvikvannet compared with the Norwegian fjords concur with a founder effect potentially associated with local adaptation to low salinity. Genetic differentiation (FST) between marine and brackish sprat is larger in the comparison Norway- Landvikvannet than in Norway-Baltic, which suggests that the observed divergence was achieved in Landvikvannet in some 65 generations, i.e., 132 years, rather than gradually over thousands of years (the age of the Baltic Sea), thus highlighting the pace at which human-driven evolution can happen.

Ultra-short response-guided Hepatitis C treatment with sofosbuvir and daclatasvir: the SEARCH study HCV sequence data

Background WHO has called for research into predictive factors for selecting persons who could be successfully treated with shorter durations of antiviral therapy for Hepatitis C. We evaluated early virological response as a means of shortening treatment and explored host, viral and pharmacokinetic contributors to treatment outcome. Methods Duration of sofosbuvir and daclatasvir (SOF/DCV) was determined according to day 2 (D2) virologic response for HCV genotype (gt) 1- or 6-infected adults in Vietnam with mild liver disease. Participants received 4 or 8 weeks of treatment according to whether D2 HCV RNA was above or below 500 IU/ml (standard duration is 12 weeks). Primary endpoint was sustained virological response (SVR12). Those failing therapy were retreated with 12 weeks SOF/DCV. Host IFNL4 genotype and viral sequencing was performed at baseline, with repeat viral sequencing if virological rebound was observed. Levels of SOF, its inactive metabolite GS-331007 and DCV were measured on day 0 and 28. Findings Of 52 adults enrolled, 34 received 4 weeks SOF/DCV, 17 got 8 weeks and one withdrew. SVR12 was achieved in 21/34 (62%) treated for 4 weeks, and 17/17 (100%) treated for 8 weeks. Overall, 38/51 (75%) were cured with first-line treatment (mean duration of 37 days). Despite a high prevalence of putative NS5A-inhibitor resistance-associated substitutions (RAS), all first-line treatment failures were cured after retreatment (13/13). We found no evidence treatment failure was associated with host IFNL4 genotype, viral subtype, baseline RAS or DCV levels. SOF metabolite levels were higher in those failing 4-week therapy. Interpretation Shortened SOF/DCV therapy with retreatment if needed, reduces DAA use while maintaining high cure rates. D2 virologic response alone does not adequately predict SVR12 with 4 weeks of treatment.

Yellow creek abundance data for stream fish response to drought

Climate change projections in the western United States suggest that snowpack levels and winter precipitation will decline, but mean annual precipitation levels will remain unchanged. Mountain streams that once saw a constant source of water from snowpack will begin to see large seasonal variation in flow. Increased stream intermittency will create significant conservation risks for fish species; however, few studies have examined the abundance responses of fish in high elevation streams to the shift from perennial to intermittent flow. To determine the effects of stream intermittency on fish abundance in a montane stream, we quantified changes in abundance for five species over a five-year period that exhibited extreme variation in streamflow. Responses varied by species and life stage, suggesting that the shift from perennial to intermittent flow will cause significant declines in abundance for some species. Northern leatherside chub, may experience large decreases in their range as the availability of perennial streams decreases. The study of drought effects on fish abundance will be crucial to the conservation of biodiversity in montane regions of the world.