In: PLOS Genetics, 2020, vol. 16, no. 10, p. e1009102
Ryanodine receptors (RyR) are essential regulators of cellular calcium homeostasis and signaling. Vertebrate genomes contain multiple RyR gene isoforms, expressed in different tissues and executing different functions. In contrast, invertebrate genomes contain a single RyR-encoding gene and it has long been proposed that different transcripts generated by alternative splicing may diversify...
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In: Current Opinion in Physiology, 2020, vol. 14, p. 21–26
Among adult vertebrates, the zebrafish presents the rather exceptional capacity to efficiently regenerate its heart after injury. This bony fish has thus become a leading genetic model organism to elucidate the natural mechanisms of successful cardiac restoration. Given its potential biomedical significance, parallel analyses between zebrafish and mammals are aiming at the identification of...
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In: Fossil Record, 2020, vol. 23, no. 1, p. 1–13
Baenidae is a clade of paracryptodiran turtles known from the late Early Cretaceous to Eocene of North America. The proposed sister-group relationship of Baenidae to Pleurosternidae, a group of turtles known from sediments dated as early as the Late Jurassic, suggests a ghost lineage that crosses the early Early Cretaceous. We here document a new species of paracryptodiran turtle, Lakotemys...
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In: PeerJ, 2020, vol. 8, p. e8542
Background Indochelys spatulata is an extinct turtle from the Early to Middle Jurassic Kota Formation of the Pranhita–Godavari Gondwana basin, India. The holotype and previously only known specimen is a partially eroded shell that had been collected near Kota village, north of Sironcha, in Maharashtra State. Phylogenetic analyses have consistently suggested placement at the base of the...
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In: Scientific Reports, 2019, vol. 9, no. 1, p. 1–14
Sex development, a complex and indispensable process in all vertebrates, has still not been completely elucidated, although new genes involved in sex development are constantly being discovered and characterized. Chromobox Homolog 2 (CBX2) is one of these new additions and has been identified through a 46,XY girl with double heterozygous variants on CBX2.1, causing Differences of Sex...
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In: Journal of Anatomy, 2019, no. 0, p. -
The middle ear of turtles differs from other reptiles in being separated into two distinct compartments. Several ideas have been proposed as to why the middle ear is compartmentalized in turtles, most suggesting a relationship with underwater hearing. Extant turtle species span fully marine to strictly terrestrial habitats, and ecomorphological hypotheses of turtle hearing predict that this...
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In: Wound Repair and Regeneration, 2019, p. wrr.12719
The zebrafish is a vertebrate organism capable of regenerating many of its organs. Notably, it can undergo epimorphic regeneration of its fins after amputation. This process occurs through the formation of a wound epithelium and the dedifferentiation of mesenchymal and bone‐forming cells, which form a proliferative blastema. Here, we report that the entry into the regenerative process...
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In: Integrative and Comparative Biology, 2006, vol. 46, no. 6, p. 777-794
Transitions between different states of development, physiology, and life history are typically mediated by hormones. In insects, metamorphosis and reproductive maturation are regulated by an interaction between the sesquiterpenoid juvenile hormone (JH) and the steroid 20-hydroxy-ecdysone (20E). In vertebrates and some marine invertebrates, the lipophilic thyroid hormones (THs) affect...
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In: Proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the United States of America, 2018, vol. 115, no. 40, p. 10112-10117
Viruses with membranes fuse them with cellular membranes, to transfer their genomes into cells at the beginning of infection. For Influenza virus, the membrane glycoprotein involved in fusion is the hemagglutinin (HA), the 3D structure of which is known from X-ray crystallographic studies. The soluble ectodomain fragments used in these studies lacked the “membrane anchor” portion of the...
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In: Annales de Paléontologie, 2018, vol. 104, no. 2, p. 155–159
The fossil record of amphisbaenians in Europe has recently been augmented through the description of new finds across the continent. It has been suggested that the post- Miocene range of amphisbaenians followed a progressive southward constriction that ultimately lead to their extant disjunct distribution. We herein describe amphisbaenian vertebral material from the Pliocene of northern...
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