Article is a study with the goal of optimizing and validating the use of a colorimetric plate-based respiratory burst and fluorometric plate-based phagocytic cell activity assays for use with kidney cells from the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas), an emerging immunotoxicity model.

This article communicates the results of a study conducted on red-winged blackbirds where brain phospholipid composition during development was measured and diet was manipulated. The dietary study confirmed that nestling brains are sensitive to fatty acid supply. The findings of this article suggest that Red-winged blackbirds may be able to advance cognitive development relative to other altricial species owing to their aquatic maternal diet.

This article is a commentary on coordinated use of methyl marks to remodel both the epigenome and the (epi)cytoskeleton, which opens the possibility for integrated regulation (referred to as ‘epiregulation’) of other higher-level functions, such as muscle contraction or learning and memory, and could even have evolutionary implications.

Article describing the anatomy of the trunk muscles, their properties that determine muscle performance (mass, length and physiological cross-sectional area [PCSA]) and investigating their scaling in juvenile Alligator mississippiensis spanning an order of magnitude in body mass (359 g–5.5 kg). Findings support existing anecdotal evidence that crocodilians shift their breathing mechanics as they increase in size.

Article expressing two closely related plant FAD3 genes in yeast cells and found that their enzymes produced significantly different amounts of omega-3 fatty acids and that these differences correlated to differences in rates of protein turnover. The findings indicate that Fad3 protein abundance is regulated by a combination of cis-acting degradation signals and the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway and that modulation of Fad3 protein amounts in response to temperature may represent one mechanism of homeoviscous adaptation in plants.

In this article, freshwater macroinvertebrate diversity associated with lakes and ponds along the altitudinal gradient of a Magellanic sub-Antarctic watershed are assessed. A monotonic decline in species richness was observed with increasing elevation, with simpler and more even community composition at higher altitude. This pattern differs from the mid-peak trend found in streams of the same watershed. Functional feeding group structure also diminished with increasing elevation.

Article describes how, in efforts to prevent extinction, resource managers are often tasked with increasing genetic diversity in a population of concern to prevent inbreeding depression or improve adaptive potential in a changing environment. The authors used whole-genome resequencing to generate over two million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from multiple individuals of all peregrine falcon subspecies.

Article comparing priority areas for wildlife species using different methods and data types. The authors used resource selection function (RSF) models to predict high priority areas and compared this to priority areas developed using two alternative methods: (1) modified conservation buffer, and (2) utilization distribution (UD) models.

This article discusses the isolation of five novel phages, which were used to established the cluster BF, using Streptomyces griseus subsp. griseus strain ATcC 10137 as the host.

Article presents comparative biomass, metabolomic, and transcriptomic analyses between a high oil accession (HO) and low oil accession (LO) of pennycress to assess potential factors required to optimize oil content.

This article assesses the validity of three different heart models applied to digital images of complete cardiac cycles in larval mahi-mahi and red drum.

This article investigates the association between CYP2D6 genotype and the risk of antidepressant discontinuation, dosage modification, and the occurrence of maternal CYP2D6, Antidepressants, Depression during pregnancy.

This article characterizes the developmental transcriptome of mahi-mahi by means of high throughput sequencing at three critical developmental stages.

Article analyzing transposon insertion mutants resulting in independent loss of function of five enzymes of the monolignol pathway, as well as one double mutant, in the model legume Medicago truncatula, to address whether a common mechanism linking lignin modification with perturbations in plant growth and development exists.

This article discusses the further tailoring of the seed oil profile to reduce the omega-6 content, and an evaluation of the performance of such GM plants under field conditions in terms of agronomic performance and the lipidomic profile of seed oil.

This article describes the isolation and genomic characterization of 46 phages from environmental samples at various geographic locations in the U.S. infecting a single Arthrobacter sp. strain.

Article experimentally quantifies the metabolic cost of transport in Mediterranean spur-thighed tortoises walking on a treadmill while also quantifying the kinematics of their movement. Results found that tortoises move more efficiently than predicted and presents the first data demonstrating a curvilinear cost of transport over their speed range. The authors conclude that tortoises have an optimum speed at which they move to minimise their metabolic cost of locomotion.

This article explores the connection between thyroid hormones (THs) and immune systems in fish. This article is noteworthy as disruption of the thyroid system during development, which can occur in response to chemicals present in the environment, may have lasting effects on immune function in adulthood for fish.

Article identifying novel epigenetic regulators for tfpia and exploiting this information to discover a drug that enhances tfpia mRNA levels and prolongation of TTO. This discovery provides the basis for testing whether UNC6852 could be used as an antithrombotic drug.

Article discovering a mechanism for how sphingolipids mediate phosphoinositide homeostasis at the TGN in plant cells. The data presented identifies a mode of action of sphingolipids in lipid interplay at the TGN during protein sorting.

Article presents novel insights into the molecular nature of the SH genes, thereby opening new avenues for coffee rust resistance molecular breeding.

Article presents a study where whole transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) and differential expression analysis were used to identify early (1–3 hr) transcriptional changes induced by the exogenous treatment of NAE 18:2 and NAE 18:3 in cotyledons, roots, and seedlings.

Article measuring lipid levels with mass spectrometry to confirm the previously observed changes in Arabidopsis thaliana leaf lipids under three heat stress regimens. Additionally, in response to heat, increased oxidation of the fatty acyl chains of leaf galactolipids, sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerols, and phosphatidylglycerols, and incorporation of oxidized acyl chains into acylated monogalactosyldiacylglycerols are shown. The authors also observed increased levels of digalactosylmonoacylglycerols and monogalactosylmonoacylglycerols. The hypothesis that a defect in sterol glycosylation would adversely affect regrowth of plants after a severe heat stress regimen was tested, but differences between wild-type and sterol glycosylation-defective plants were not detected.

Article demonstrating that part of the function of two SEIPIN isoforms in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), AtSEIPIN2 and AtSEIPIN3, may depend on their interaction with the vesicle-associated membrane protein (VAMP)–associated protein (VAP) family member AtVAP27-1. The authors used a combination of biochemical, cell biology, and genetics approaches to show that AtVAP27-1 interacts with the N termini of AtSEIPIN2 and AtSEIPIN3 and likely supports the normal formation of LDs. This insight indicates that the ER membrane tethering machinery in plant cells could play a role with select SEIPIN isoforms in LD biogenesis at the ER, and additional experimental evidence in Saccharomyces cerevisiae supports the possibility that this interaction may be important in other eukaryotic systems.