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Biological Reviews, Ahead of Print. (Source: Biological Reviews)
Source: Biological Reviews - February 8, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Linking the fine ‐scale social environment to mating decisions: a future direction for the study of extra‐pair paternity
We present several hypotheses that describe how characteristics of the social environment in which individuals are embedded might influence the levels of EPP in a socially monogamous population. We use a multi‐level social approach (Hinde, 1976) to achieve a detailed description of the social structure and social dynamics of individuals in a group. We propose that the pair‐bond, the direct (local) social environment and the indirect (extended) social environment, can contribute in different ways to the variation observed in the patterns of EPP, at both the individual and the population level. A strength of this approac...
Source: Biological Reviews - February 1, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Adriana A. Maldonado ‐Chaparro, Pierre‐Olivier Montiglio, Wolfgang Forstmeier, Bart Kempenaers, Damien R. Farine Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Function and underlying mechanisms of seasonal colour moulting in mammals and birds: what keeps them changing in a warming world?
ABSTRACT
Animals that occupy temperate and polar regions have specialized traits that help them survive in harsh, highly seasonal environments. One particularly important adaptation is seasonal coat colour (SCC) moulting. Over 20 species of birds and mammals distributed across the northern hemisphere undergo complete, biannual colour change from brown in the summer to completely white in the winter. But as climate change decreases duration of snow cover, seasonally winter white species (including the snowshoe hare Lepus americanus, Arctic fox Vulpes lagopus and willow ptarmigan Lagopus lagopus) become highly contrasted aga...
Source: Biological Reviews - February 1, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Marketa Zimova, Klaus Hackl änder, Jeffrey M. Good, José Melo‐Ferreira, Paulo Célio Alves, L. Scott Mills Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Degradation for better survival? Role of ubiquitination in epithelial morphogenesis
ABSTRACT
As a prevalent post‐translational modification, ubiquitination is essential for many developmental processes. Once covalently attached to the small and conserved polypeptide ubiquitin (Ub), a substrate protein can be directed to perform specific biological functions via its Ub‐modified form. Three sequential catalytic reactions contribute to this process, among which E3 ligases serve to identify target substrates and promote the activated Ub to conjugate to substrate proteins. Ubiquitination has great plasticity, with diverse numbers, topologies and modifications of Ub chains conjugated at different substrate ...
Source: Biological Reviews - February 1, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Xiaoxiang Cheng, Jun Zheng, Gang Li, Verena G öbel, Hongjie Zhang Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
The stepwise development of the lamprey visual system and its evolutionary implications
ABSTRACT
Lampreys, which represent the oldest group of living vertebrates (cyclostomes), show unique eye development. The lamprey larva has only eyespot‐like immature eyes beneath a non‐transparent skin, whereas after metamorphosis, the adult has well‐developed image‐forming camera eyes. To establish a functional visual system, well‐organised visual centres as well as motor components (e.g. trunk muscles for locomotion) and interactions between them are needed. Here we review the available knowledge concerning the structure, function and development of the different parts of the lamprey visual system. The lamprey...
Source: Biological Reviews - February 1, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Daichi G. Suzuki, Sten Grillner Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Colony formation in the cyanobacterium Microcystis
ABSTRACT
Morphological evolution from a unicellular to multicellular state provides greater opportunities for organisms to attain larger and more complex living forms. As the most common freshwater cyanobacterial genus, Microcystis is a unicellular microorganism, with high phenotypic plasticity, which forms colonies and blooms in lakes and reservoirs worldwide. We conducted a systematic review of field studies from the 1990s to 2017 where Microcystis was dominant. Microcystis was detected as the dominant genus in waterbodies from temperate to subtropical and tropical zones. Unicellular Microcystis spp. can be induced to fo...
Source: Biological Reviews - February 1, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Man Xiao, Ming Li, Colin S. Reynolds Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Integrins promote axonal regeneration after injury of the nervous system
ABSTRACT
Integrins are cell surface receptors that form the link between extracellular matrix molecules of the cell environment and internal cell signalling and the cytoskeleton. They are involved in several processes, e.g. adhesion and migration during development and repair. This review focuses on the role of integrins in axonal regeneration. Integrins participate in spontaneous axonal regeneration in the peripheral nervous system through binding to various ligands that either inhibit or enhance their activation and signalling. Integrin biology is more complex in the central nervous system. Integrins receptors are transp...
Source: Biological Reviews - February 1, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Bart Nieuwenhuis, Barbara Haenzi, Melissa R. Andrews, Joost Verhaagen, James W. Fawcett Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Behavioural mating displays depend on mitochondrial function: a potential mechanism for linking behaviour to individual condition
ABSTRACT
Males of many animal species court females using complex behavioural displays that are challenging to produce, and some of these displays have been shown to be associated with aspects of male quality. However, the mechanisms by which behavioural displays are linked to individual condition remain uncertain. Herein, we illustrate fundamental mechanistic connections between mitochondrial function and neurogenesis, energy production, and a variety of pathways that underlie the ability of an individual to perform complex behaviours. We consider the biomedical evidence for how mitochondrial activity shapes neurogenesis ...
Source: Biological Reviews - February 1, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Rebecca E. Koch, Geoffrey E. Hill Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Amyloids of multiple species: are they helpful in survival?
ABSTRACT
Amyloids are primarily known for their roles in neurodegenerative disorders, as well as in systemic diseases like diabetes. Evolutionary forces tend to maintain a healthy set of heritable characteristics, while eliminating toxic or unfavourable elements; but amyloids seem to represent an exception to this fundamental concept. In addition to their presence in mammals, amyloids also persist in the proteome of many lower organisms that may be linked with possible roles in survival, which are still unexplored. Herein, we address some unanswered questions regarding amyloids: are these well‐structured proteinaceous ag...
Source: Biological Reviews - February 1, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Arun Upadhyay, Amit Mishra Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
The role of mate ‐choice copying in speciation and hybridization
ABSTRACT
Mate‐choice copying, a social, non‐genetic mechanism of mate choice, occurs when an individual (typically a female) copies the mate choice of other individuals via a process of social learning. Over the past 20 years, mate‐choice copying has consistently been shown to affect mate choice in several species, by altering the genetically based expression of mating preferences. This behaviour has been claimed by several authors to have a significant role in evolution. Because it can cause or increase skews in male mating success, it seems to have the potential to induce a rapid change of the directionality and r...
Source: Biological Reviews - February 1, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Susana A. M. Varela, Margarida Matos, Ingo Schlupp Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Epigenetics and the maintenance of developmental plasticity: extending the signalling theory framework
ABSTRACT
Developmental plasticity, a phenomenon of importance in both evolutionary biology and human studies of the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD), enables organisms to respond to their environment based on previous experience without changes to the underlying nucleotide sequence. Although such phenotypic responses should theoretically improve an organism's fitness and performance in its future environment, this is not always the case. Herein, we first discuss epigenetics as an adaptive mechanism of developmental plasticity and use signaling theory to provide an evolutionary context for DOHaD phenomena...
Source: Biological Reviews - January 22, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Zachary M. Laubach, Wei Perng, Dana C. Dolinoy, Christopher D. Faulk, Kay E. Holekamp, Thomas Getty Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Epigenetics and the maintenance of developmental plasticity: extending the signalling theory framework
Biological Reviews, EarlyView. (Source: Biological Reviews)
Source: Biological Reviews - January 21, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
Phytoplankton defence mechanisms: traits and trade ‐offs
Biological Reviews, EarlyView. (Source: Biological Reviews)
Source: Biological Reviews - January 21, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
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Biological Reviews, Ahead of Print. (Source: Biological Reviews)
Source: Biological Reviews - January 21, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: research
