Articles
Volume 10 (2012) - December 2012
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Research article
Masato Yoshizawa, Yoshiyuki Yamamoto, Kelly E O'Quin, William R Jeffery BMC Biology 2012, 10:108 (27 December 2012) The evolutionary loss of eyes is a process repeated in different cavefish populations, and both neutral and adaptive explanations have been put forward. A study of genetic linkage in an Astyanax population suggests that an antagonostic relationship between eye development and sensors for detecting vibration - an important behaviour in the dark cave environment - is responsible.
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Research article
Christine E Schnitzler, Kevin Pang, Meghan L Powers, Adam M Reitzel, Joseph F Ryan, David Simmons, Takashi Tada, Morgan Park, Jyoti Gupta, Shelise Y Brooks, Robert W Blakesley, Shozo Yokoyama, Steven HD Haddock, Mark Q Martindale, Andreas D Baxevanis BMC Biology 2012, 10:107 (21 December 2012) The comb jelly Mnemiopsis leidyi has at least ten distinct genes encoding enzymes that catalyse bioluminescence. Their evolutionary origin traces back to the earliest animals, and in Mnemiopsis they are co-expressed with light-absorbing opsin in light-detecting cells. |
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Question and Answer
Q&A: Extinctions and the impact of Robert M May BMC Biology 2012, 10:106 (20 December 2012) Robert May explores in Q&A format the reasons for the acceleration of extinctions due to the activities of a single species (ours), and asks why it matters. |
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Commentary
No strings attached: new insights into epithelial morphogenesis Lance A Davidson BMC Biology 2012, 10:105 (20 December 2012) What regulates epithelial cell bending during early development? Lance Davidson comments on a paper from Zhirong Bao and colleagues where cell ingression in worm gastrulation is driven by dynamic cytoskeletal changes and cortical flow, challenging previous “purse-string” constriction models. |
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Opinion
Cilia, calcium and the basis of left-right asymmetry Dominic P Norris BMC Biology 2012, 10:102 (19 December 2012) What determines left-right asymmetry in the early embryo? Dominic Norris reviews recent insights into mechanisms, including the role of cilia, a leftward flow of liquid in the embryo and asymmetric activation gene activation. |
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Research article
Sex-specific effects of a parasite evolving in a female-biased host population David Duneau, Pepijn Luijckx, Ludwig F Ruder, Dieter Ebert BMC Biology 2012, 10:104 (18 December 2012) A bacterial parasite of Daphnia magna castrates its hosts, apparently as an adaptation to the sex-bias in Daphnia populations towards females. Castration causes the female to grow larger, making it a better host for this parasite. |
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Research article
Lens regeneration in axolotl: new evidence of developmental plasticity Rinako Suetsugu-Maki, Nobuyasu Maki, Kenta Nakamura, Saulius Sumanas, Jie Zhu, Katia Del Rio-Tsonis, Panagiotis A Tsonis BMC Biology 2012, 10:103 (17 December 2012) Can the lens in axolotl regenerate? Challenging previous views that this was not possible, Panagiotis Tsonis and colleagues show the lens can regenerate in neonates but only for a fixed developmental time period. |
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Forum
Wallace F Marshall, Kevin D Young, Matthew Swaffer, Elizabeth Wood, Paul Nurse, Akatsuki Kimura, Joseph Frankel, John Wallingford, Virginia Walbot, Xian Qu, Adrienne HK Roeder BMC Biology 2012, 10:101 (14 December 2012) In a Forum article in the Cell geometry series, ten experts in ten different systems explain why it matters what size a cell is, and offer ten different answers on how it is controlled – probably all of them right. |
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Research article
Veronika Ostermaier, Ferdinand Schanz, Oliver Köster, Rainer Kurmayer BMC Biology 2012, 10:100 (7 December 2012) Knowledge of algal ecology is important for management of toxic blooms, and a 29-year study shows that toxic genotypes of cyanobacteria dominate blooms in Lake Zurich, contrary to evidence for advantages to nontoxic genotypes in shallower lakes. |
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Commentary
HIV takes double hit before entry Rogier W Sanders BMC Biology 2012, 10:99 (7 December 2012) Commenting on a paper in Retrovirology, Rogier Sanders discusses the promise of a new inhibitor of HIV-1. Designed to have dual activity, it delivers a one-two punch to the viral envelope glycoprotein, crippling free virus and preventing viral entry into host cells. |
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Commentary
Segmental structure in banded mongoose calls W Fitch BMC Biology 2012, 10:98 (3 December 2012) Tecumseh Fitch explains animal communication through analogy to the elements of human speech, and how new results from mongooses represent a novel way of encoding meaning.
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Research article
David AWAM Jansen, Michael A Cant, Marta B Manser BMC Biology 2012, 10:97 (3 December 2012) Banded mongooses encode two different pieces of information in a single "syllable", showing a finer-scaled segmentation of meaning than has previously been observed in animal calls.
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