Showing papers in "Current Biology in 2011"

TL;DR: A new motion-energy encoding model is presented that largely overcomes the limitation of blood oxygen level-dependent signals measured via fMRI and demonstrates that dynamic brain activity measured under naturalistic conditions can be decoded using current fMRI technology.

TL;DR: It is found that the Drosophila brain is assembled from families of multiple LPUs and their interconnections, which provides an essential first step in the analysis of information processing within and between neurons in a complete brain.

TL;DR: By virtue of direct interactions with amino acid side-chains within polypeptide chains, metals play unique and critical roles in biology, promoting structures and chemistries that would not otherwise be available to proteins alone.

TL;DR: The results support the following causal sequence of events: (1) demethylesterification of pectin is triggered in subepidermal tissue layers, this contributes to an increase in elasticity of these layers-the first observable mechanical event in organ initiation, and (3) the process propagates to the epidermis during the outgrowth of the organ.

TL;DR: In this article, the magnitude of M1 GABA decrease induced by anodal tDCS correlated positively with motor learning and the degree of fMRI signal change within the left M1 during learning, and the responsiveness of the GABAergic system to modification may be relevant to short-term motor learning behavior and learning-related brain activity.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provided the first direct evidence for causal entrainment of brain oscillations by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) using concurrent EEG using a parietal α-oscillator, activated by attention and linked to perception.

TL;DR: Results suggest that SP7 is an effector that contributes to develop the biotrophic status of AM fungi in roots by counteracting the plant immune program.

TL;DR: The growing number of available genome sequences from the green lineage offers first glimpses at the evolution of hormone pathways, which can aid in understanding the multiple relationships observed between these pathways in angiosperms.

TL;DR: Comparative studies suggest that the functional GA-GID1-DELLA module is highly conserved among vascular plants, but not in the bryophytes, and Interestingly, differentiation of the moss Physcomitrella patens is regulated by as yet unidentified ent-kaurene-derived diterpenes, which are distinct from the common active GAs in vascular plants.

TL;DR: A new data set of 13 nuclear loci and pyrosequencing of mitochondrial genomes is analyzed that resolves the Hawaiian honeycreeper phylogeny and shows that they are a sister taxon to Eurasian rosefinches and probably came to Hawaii from Asia.

TL;DR: In mammals, the immune response encompasses the innate and adaptive responses, and, although cross-talk occurs between them, each can be carried out independently by distinct cellular and molecular mechanisms.

TL;DR: It is concluded that specific, enduring, structural brain changes in adult humans can be induced by biologically relevant behaviors engaging higher cognitive functions such as spatial memory, with significance for the “nature versus nurture” debate.

TL;DR: An in depth analysis of the evolution of components in this ABA signaling network shows that existing stress signaling components, including PP2C phosphatases and SnRK kinases, were adapted for novel roles in this plant-specific network to respond to water limitation.

TL;DR: The findings support the conclusion that the human amygdala plays a pivotal role in triggering a state of fear and that the absence of such a state precludes the experience of fear itself.

TL;DR: These findings extend previous observations that political attitudes reflect differences in self-regulatory conflict monitoring and recognition of emotional faces by showing that such attitudes are reflected in human brain structure.

TL;DR: A mutually inhibitory feedback loop between auxin and cytokinin that sets distinct boundaries of hormonal output is presented and it is an intriguing possibility that such a mechanism could transform radial patterns and allow continuous vascular connections between other newly emerging organs.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that MYCORRHIZAL iNDUCED SMALL SECRETED PROTEin 7 (MiSSP7), the most highly symbiosis-upregulated gene from the ectomycorrhizal fungus Laccaria bicolor, encodes an effector protein indispensible for the establishment of mutualism.

TL;DR: Results reveal for the first time a wavelength-specific mechanism by which a cryptochrome photoreceptor mediates light regulation of protein degradation to modulate developmental timing in Arabidopsis.

TL;DR: Novel molecular insights are provided into how plants control cell dedifferentiation in response to wounding by demonstrating that wounding upregulates the B-type ARABIDOPSIS RESPONSE REGULATOR (ARR)-mediated cytokinin response and that WIND1 acts via the ARR-dependent signaling pathway to promote cell ded indifferentiation.

TL;DR: This work surveys the status of research on some of the best known examples of insect polyphenism, in each case considering the environmental cues that trigger shifts in phenotype, the neurochemical and hormonal pathways that mediate the transformation, the molecular genetic and epigenetic mechanisms involved in initiating and maintaining the poly Phenotype, and the adaptive and life-history significance of the phenomenon.

TL;DR: It is shown that continued warming might drive potentially hundreds of species toward and beyond the edge of the Australian continent where sustained retreat is impossible, and the potential for global extinctions is profound considering the many endemic seaweeds and seaweed-dependent marine organisms in temperate Australia.

TL;DR: A critical role for mechanical force is demonstrated in adult tendon homeostasis and this mechanism could translate physical force into biochemical signals in a much broader variety of tissues or systems in the body.

TL;DR: It is shown that whereas there is little overlap in retained genes involved in nutrient production between symbionts, several essential amino acid pathways in the mealybug assemblage require a patchwork of interspersed gene products from Tremblaya, Moranella, and possibly P. citri.

TL;DR: It is speculated that EGFR ligand signaling via exosomes might contribute to diverse cancer phenomena such as field effect and priming of the metastatic niche.

TL;DR: REM sleep physiology is associated with an overnight dissipation of amygdala activity in response to previous emotional experiences, altering functional connectivity and reducing next-day subjective emotionality.

TL;DR: It is shown that resistant house mice can also originate from selection on vkorc1 polymorphisms acquired from the Algerian mouse (M. spretus) through introgressive hybridization, and positive selection produced an adaptive, divergent, and pleiotropic vKorc1 allele in the donor species, M. domesticus.

TL;DR: This work asks whether honeybees display a pessimistic cognitive bias when they are subjected to an anxiety-like state induced by vigorous shaking designed to simulate a predatory attack and shows that the bees' response to a negatively valenced event has more in common with that of vertebrates than previously thought.

TL;DR: A novel mechanism by which autophagy and the lipase LIPL-4 interdependently modulate aging in germline-deficient C. elegans by maintaining lipid homeostasis to prolong life span is offered.

TL;DR: It is found that tDCS had significant behavioral and regionally specific neural facilitation effects and Broca's area may be a suitable candidate site for tDCS in neurorehabilitation of anomic patients, whose brain damage spares this region.

TL;DR: This work shows that the characteristic cell-cycle signature of hES cells is acquired as an early event in cell reprogramming, and establishes a link that intertwines the mechanisms of cell- cycle control with the mechanisms underlying the acquisition and maintenance of ES cell identity.