1. Drought is a major abiotic stressor that can restructure trophic interactions by limiting herbivore success and disrupting chemical signaling between plants and natural enemies. In tritrophic systems, plant volatiles guide natural enemy foraging and reproductive investment, often scaling with herbivore density; however, it is unclear whether drought alters this relationship and weakens top-down control. […]
TREM2 deficiency causes region-specific brain effects in a mouse model of cerebral amyloid angiopathy
Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), a major vascular contributor to cognitive decline, is present in 85-95% of Alzheimer disease (AD) patients. Despite its high prevalence, the mechanisms by which CAA contributes to neurodegeneration remain poorly understood. Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2), an innate immune receptor expressed exclusively by microglia, regulates activation, phagocytosis, and […]
Adaptation to free-living drives loss of beneficial endosymbiosis through metabolic trade-offs
Symbioses are widespread (1) and underpin the function of diverse ecosystems (2-6), but their evolutionary stability is challenging to explain (7,8). Fitness trade-offs between con-trasting intracellular and extracellular niches could act to stabilise endosymbioses because adaptation to either niche is predicted to reduce fitness in the alternate niche, thus reinforcing symbiosis (8,9). Here, we experimentally […]
Adaptation to free-living drives loss of beneficial endosymbiosis through metabolic trade-offs
Symbioses are widespread (1) and underpin the function of diverse ecosystems (2-6), but their evolutionary stability is challenging to explain (7,8). Fitness trade-offs between con-trasting intracellular and extracellular niches could act to stabilise endosymbioses because adaptation to either niche is predicted to reduce fitness in the alternate niche, thus reinforcing symbiosis (8,9). Here, we experimentally […]
Gradient-specified optimization based on muscle surface mesh and moment arm as an effect-oriented approach of automated musculotendon path modeling
There is more to musculotendon path modeling than aligning a cable to reflect the geometric features of a muscle-tendon unit. From the perspective of simulation accuracy, the key is to replicate the length- and moment arm-joint angle relations of the target muscle. In this study, we propose an effect-oriented approach of automated path modeling, via […]
Hippocampal representations differentiate reactive and anticipatory responses during foraging under threat
Adaptive behavior under threat requires balancing reward pursuit against the risk of harm. During approach-avoidance conflict, animals often pause at decision points, but whether these pauses reflect a unified process or distinct decision states remains unclear. Here, we replicate and extend findings from Calvin et al.1 by analyzing hippocampal activity in rats performing a predator-based […]
Frontal Brain Injury Reduces Sensitivity to Reward-Predictive Cues and Remodels the Nucleus Accumbens
Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are more than mere lesions and generate a persistent secondary pathology. This, combined with functional reorganization of circuits post-injury, may explain the increased risk for psychiatric disorders in patients with TBI. In the current studies, we demonstrate that frontal TBI changed the Pavlovian behavioral response to reinforcer-predicting cues and reduced the […]
TREM2 deficiency causes region-specific brain effects in a mouse model of cerebral amyloid angiopathy
Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), a major vascular contributor to cognitive decline, is present in 85-95% of Alzheimer disease (AD) patients. Despite its high prevalence, the mechanisms by which CAA contributes to neurodegeneration remain poorly understood. Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2), an innate immune receptor expressed exclusively by microglia, regulates activation, phagocytosis, and […]
Astrocytes mediate the pro-cognitive value of α7nAChRs and of α7nAChR-targeting therapeutics
The 7nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (7nAChR) has driven extensive research over the past three decades for its pro-cognitive potential. It is the leading druggable target for the cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia and has motivated major pharmaceutical and clinical efforts to ameliorate similar impairments in other neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Yet, a systematic […]
A collicular-hypothalamic pathway for social visual awareness
Awareness of other individuals is a foundational element of social behavior. Here we examined how specific neural systems detect and signal the visual presence of conspecifics related to social arousal and motivation. We found that visual exposure to videos of other mice can activate hypothalamic oxytocin neurons and promote onset of pup retrieval behavior in […]
Chemical Genetic Screen Identifies PSD3 as a Direct Substrate of NUAK1 that Regulates Dendritic Spine Maturation
Novel (nua) Kinase 1 (NUAK1) encodes a serine-threonine protein kinase, mutations in which are associated with neurodevelopmental disorder. Direct phosphorylation targets of NUAK1 have been elusive hindering mechanistic understanding of its role in brain development. Here, we characterize autism-associated NUAK1 variants and shows their differential impact on catalytic activity and subcellular distribution. Next, we employed […]
Systemic injection of metabotropic glutamate 2/3 receptor antagonist LY341495 disrupts reward-related behaviors in mice.
Metabotropic glutamate 2/3 receptors (mGluR2/3) have been implicated in depression, anxiety, learning, and memory. However, their causal role in reward-related behaviors remains unclear. Here, we examined the effects of intraperitoneal administration of LY341495, a selective mGluR2/3 antagonist, on reward-related behaviors in mice. In a head-fixed temporal conditioning task, mice received a 10% sucrose solution every […]