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Article
| Open Access
Morphological evolution of bird wings follows a mechanical sensitivity gradient determined by the aerodynamics of flapping flight
Morphological trait evolution is partly driven by biomechanical function, but a general framework for this relationship is lacking. Here, the authors test two possible frameworks and find that mechanical sensitivity provides the best prediction of morphological evolution in bird wings
- Jonathan A. Rader
- & Tyson L. Hedrick
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Article
| Open Access
Micro-scale functional modules in the human temporal lobe
The sensory cortices of many mammals consist of modules in the form of cortical columns. By analyzing functional connectivity and neural responses to visual stimuli, the authors show that this organization may extend to the human temporal lobe.
- Julio I. Chapeton
- , John H. Wittig Jr
- & Kareem A. Zaghloul
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Article
| Open Access
Bacterial cellulose spheroids as building blocks for 3D and patterned living materials and for regeneration
Bacterial cellulose is a promising cheap-to-produce programmable engineered living material. Here the authors present a method for production of spheroids for use as engineerable building blocks able to sense and respond to chemical inputs.
- Joaquin Caro-Astorga
- , Kenneth T. Walker
- & Tom Ellis
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Article
| Open Access
Evolution of the locomotor skeleton in Anolis lizards reflects the interplay between ecological opportunity and phylogenetic inertia
Both ecological opportunity and phenotypic modularity have been suggested to facilitate adaptive radiations. Feiner et al. show that Anolis lizards evolved a new modularity structure in their island adaptive radiation, but that this modularity did not produce the same extreme diversification when Anolis returned to the mainland.
- Nathalie Feiner
- , Illiam S. C. Jackson
- & Tobias Uller
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Article
| Open Access
An endoribonuclease-based feedforward controller for decoupling resource-limited genetic modules in mammalian cells
Accurately predicting the behaviour of a genetic circuit remains difficult due to the lack of modularity. Here the authors quantify the effects of resource loading in mammalian systems and develop an endoribonuclease-based feedfoward controller to adapt gene expression to the effects of resource loading.
- Ross D. Jones
- , Yili Qian
- & Domitilla Del Vecchio
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Article
| Open Access
Mapping the perturbome network of cellular perturbations
Our understanding of the mechanisms of drug interactions remains limited. Here the authors introduce a framework to study how complex cellular perturbations induced by different drugs affect each other in morphological feature space.
- Michael Caldera
- , Felix Müller
- & Jörg Menche
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Article
| Open Access
Decoding topologically associating domains with ultra-low resolution Hi-C data by graph structural entropy
Accurate detection of TADs requires ultra-deep sequencing and sophisticated normalisation procedures, which limits the analysis of Hi-C data. Here the authors develop a normalisation-free method to decode the domains of chromosomes (deDoc) that utilizes structural entropy to predict TADs with ultra-low sequencing data.
- Angsheng Li
- , Xianchen Yin
- & Zhihua Zhang
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Article
| Open Access
The topological requirements for robust perfect adaptation in networks of any size
Robust perfect adaptation (RPA), the ability of a system to return to its pre-stimulus state in the presence of a new signal, enables organisms to respond to further changes in stimuli. Here, the authors identify the modular structure of the full set of network topologies that can confer RPA on complex networks.
- Robyn P. Araujo
- & Lance A. Liotta
Competition and evolutionary selection among core regulatory motifs in gene expression control