Credit: Kelsey Byers
Butterflies have evolved to produce a strongly scented chemical in their genitals that they leave behind after sex to deter other males from pursuing their women - scientists have found.
Researchers discovered that a chemical made in the sex glands of the males of one species of tropical butterfly is identical to a chemical produced by flowers to attract butterflies.
The study published in
PLOS Biology today (19 January 2021) identified a gene for the first time that shows butterflies and flowers independently evolved to make the same chemical for different purposes.
Scientists led by Professor Chris Jiggins, St John s College, University of Cambridge, mapped production of the scented chemical compound to the genome of a species of butterfly, called Heliconius melponene, and discovered a new gene.
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Retinal cells derived from a cadaver human eye survived when transplanted into the eyes of primate models, an important advance in the development of cell therapy to treat blindness, according to a study published on January 14 in
Stem Cell Reports.
The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), a layer of pigmented cells in the retina, functions as a barrier and regulator in the eye to maintain normal vision. RPE dysfunction can lead to eye disorders including macular degeneration and can cause blindness, which affects about 200 million people worldwide.
To restore this population of cells, the researchers extracted retinal stem cells from donated cadaver adult eyes, which can enable donor compatibility matching and can serve as a recurring source of human RPE. The team then assessed the safety and feasibility of implanting adult retinal stem cells into non-human primates.
Cell-spanning whirlpools in the immature egg cells of animals such as mice, zebrafish and fruit flies quickly mix the cells innards, but scientists didn t know how these flows form. Using mathematical modeling, researchers have found an answer. The gyres result from the collective behavior of rodlike molecular tubes called microtubules that extend inward from the cells membranes, the researchers report.
Credit: Georg Bullinger
The fascinating compound eyes of insects consist of hundreds of individual eyes known as facets . In the course of evolution, an enormous variety of eye sizes and shapes has emerged, often representing adaptations to different environmental conditions. Scientists, led by an Emmy Noether research group at the University of Göttingen, together with scientists from the Andalusian Centre for Developmental Biology (CABD) in Seville, have now shown that these differences can be caused by very different changes in the genome of fruit flies. The study was published in the journal
Molecular Biology and Evolution.
Anyone who has seen hoverflies manoeuvring through the air and, quick as a flash, changing direction, has probably witnessed a mating attempt in which the male, with breath-taking accuracy, pursues a fast-moving female. To carry out this specialised visual task, the huge compound eyes of hoverflies consist of up to 6,000 individual facets. There are spec
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LAWRENCE Parents around the world have long told us that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Soon, basketball coaches may join them.
Researchers at the University of Kansas have published a study showing that eating breakfast can improve a basketball player s shooting performance, sometimes by significant margins. The study, along with one showing that lower body strength and power can predict professional basketball potential, is part of a larger body of work to better understand the science of what makes an elite athlete.
Breakfast and better basketball shooting
Dimitrije Cabarkapa left his native Novi Sad, Serbia, to play basketball at James Madison University. Never a fan of 6 a.m. workouts, he was discussing whether the provided breakfast helped performance with his teammates. While he felt it was important, others argued it either didn t make a difference or made their games worse. When he came to KU to seek his doctorate in exercise physiology, he d