COURTESY OF BRIAN NEDVEDA set of Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolacea genes associated with the transition of the marine tubeworm Hydroides elegans from a free-swimming larva to its sedentary state encodes components of structures that resemble the contractile tails of bacterial viruses, or phage. These tail-like structures help the animal make the switch, researchers showed in Science this week.
“This is a benchmark paper in biology,” said Margaret McFall-Ngai, a professor of medical microbiology and immunology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who was not involved in the work. “For many, many decades people have been . . . trying to figure out how and why marine larvae settle where they do in the environment.”
STEFAN SØLBERGResearchers this week reported on traces of ancient melanosomes found in the skins of three fossilized marine reptiles. In a paper published in Nature, the team suggested that the approach they took could enable the reconstruction of color across a range of extinct taxa.
“The method is pretty fast and minimally destructive,” said Jakob Vinther from Bristol University, who was not involved in the study.
COURTESY OF RAMAN DASIn a Science paper published this week, researchers described the newly identified process of apical abscission, in which nascent neurons are partially dismantled and detached during early vertebrate development. From there, the neuronal pieces navigate to their new homes in the nervous system.
