Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articlePoint of View: Bioengineering horizon scan 2020eLife 9:e54489.Copy to clipboardHorizon scanning is intended to identify the opportunities and threats associated with technological, regulatory and social change. In 2017 some of the present authors conducted a horizon scan for bioengineering (Wintle et al., 2017). Here we report the results of a new horizon scan that is based on inputs from a larger and more international group of 38 participants. The final list of 20 issues includes topics spanning from the political (the regulation of...…Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articlePoint of View: Bioengineering horizon scan 2020eLife 9:e54489.Copy to clipboardHorizon scanning is intended to identify the opportunities and threats associated with technological, regulatory and social change. In 2017 some of the present authors conducted a horizon scan for bioengineering (Wintle et al., 2017). Here we report the results of a new horizon scan that is based on inputs from a larger and more international group of 38 participants. The final list of 20 issues includes topics spanning from the political (the regulation of...WW…

Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articleQuantification of the pace of biological aging in humans through a blood test, the DunedinPoAm DNA methylation algorithmeLife 9:e54870.Copy to clipboardBiological aging is the gradual, progressive decline in system integrity that occurs with advancing chronological age, causing morbidity and disability. Measurements of the pace of aging are needed as surrogate endpoints in trials of therapies designed to prevent disease by slowing biological aging. We report a blood-DNA-methylation measure that is sensitive to variation in pace of...…Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articleQuantification of the pace of biological aging in humans through a blood test, the DunedinPoAm DNA methylation algorithmeLife 9:e54870.Copy to clipboardBiological aging is the gradual, progressive decline in system integrity that occurs with advancing chronological age, causing morbidity and disability. Measurements of the pace of aging are needed as surrogate endpoints in trials of therapies designed to prevent disease by slowing biological aging. We report a blood-DNA-methylation measure that is sensitive to variation in pace of...WW…

Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articleMicroRNAs mediate precise control of spinal interneuron populations to exert delicate sensory-to-motor outputseLife 10:e63768.Copy to clipboardAlthough the function of microRNAs (miRNAs) during embryonic development has been intensively studied in recent years, their postnatal physiological functions remain largely unexplored due to inherent difficulties with the presence of redundant paralogs of the same seed. Thus, it is particularly challenging to uncover miRNA functions at neural circuit level since animal behaviors would need to be...…Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articleMicroRNAs mediate precise control of spinal interneuron populations to exert delicate sensory-to-motor outputseLife 10:e63768.Copy to clipboardAlthough the function of microRNAs (miRNAs) during embryonic development has been intensively studied in recent years, their postnatal physiological functions remain largely unexplored due to inherent difficulties with the presence of redundant paralogs of the same seed. Thus, it is particularly challenging to uncover miRNA functions at neural circuit level since animal behaviors would need to be...WW…

Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articleIntegron activity accelerates the evolution of antibiotic resistanceeLife 10:e62474.Copy to clipboardMobile integrons are widespread genetic platforms that allow bacteria to modulate the expression of antibiotic resistance cassettes by shuffling their position from a common promoter. Antibiotic stress induces the expression of an integrase that excises and integrates cassettes, and this unique recombination and expression system is thought to allow bacteria to ‘evolve on demand’ in response to antibiotic pressure. To test this...…Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articleIntegron activity accelerates the evolution of antibiotic resistanceeLife 10:e62474.Copy to clipboardMobile integrons are widespread genetic platforms that allow bacteria to modulate the expression of antibiotic resistance cassettes by shuffling their position from a common promoter. Antibiotic stress induces the expression of an integrase that excises and integrates cassettes, and this unique recombination and expression system is thought to allow bacteria to ‘evolve on demand’ in response to antibiotic pressure. To test this...WW…

Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articleAncient DNA reveals the lost domestication history of South American camelids in Northern Chile and across the AndeseLife 10:e63390.Copy to clipboardThe study of South American camelids and their domestication is a highly debated topic in zooarchaeology. Identifying the domestic species (alpaca and llama) in archaeological sites based solely on morphological data is challenging due to their similarity with respect to their wild ancestors. Using genetic methods also presents challenges due to the hybridization history of the domestic...…Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articleAncient DNA reveals the lost domestication history of South American camelids in Northern Chile and across the AndeseLife 10:e63390.Copy to clipboardThe study of South American camelids and their domestication is a highly debated topic in zooarchaeology. Identifying the domestic species (alpaca and llama) in archaeological sites based solely on morphological data is challenging due to their similarity with respect to their wild ancestors. Using genetic methods also presents challenges due to the hybridization history of the domestic...WW…

Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articleEvolution of the complex transcription network controlling biofilm formation in Candida specieseLife 10:e64682.Copy to clipboardWe examine how a complex transcription network composed of seven ‘master’ regulators and hundreds of target genes evolved over a span of approximately 70 million years. The network controls biofilm formation in several Candida species, a group of fungi that are present in humans both as constituents of the microbiota and as opportunistic pathogens. Using a variety of approaches, we observed two major types of...…Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articleEvolution of the complex transcription network controlling biofilm formation in Candida specieseLife 10:e64682.Copy to clipboardWe examine how a complex transcription network composed of seven ‘master’ regulators and hundreds of target genes evolved over a span of approximately 70 million years. The network controls biofilm formation in several Candida species, a group of fungi that are present in humans both as constituents of the microbiota and as opportunistic pathogens. Using a variety of approaches, we observed two major types of...WW…

Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articleGross ways to live long: Parasitic worms as an anti-inflammaging therapy?eLife 10:e65180.Copy to clipboardEvolutionary medicine argues that disease can arise because modern conditions do not match those in which we evolved. For example, a decline in exposure to commensal microbes and gastrointestinal helminths in developed countries has been linked to increased prevalence of allergic and autoimmune inflammatory disorders (the hygiene hypothesis). Accordingly, probiotic therapies that restore ‘old friend’ microbes and helminths have been...…Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articleGross ways to live long: Parasitic worms as an anti-inflammaging therapy?eLife 10:e65180.Copy to clipboardEvolutionary medicine argues that disease can arise because modern conditions do not match those in which we evolved. For example, a decline in exposure to commensal microbes and gastrointestinal helminths in developed countries has been linked to increased prevalence of allergic and autoimmune inflammatory disorders (the hygiene hypothesis). Accordingly, probiotic therapies that restore ‘old friend’ microbes and helminths have been...WW…

Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articleComputer code comprehension shares neural resources with formal logical inference in the fronto-parietal networkeLife 9:e59340.Copy to clipboardDespite the importance of programming to modern society, the cognitive and neural bases of code comprehension are largely unknown. Programming languages might ‘recycle’ neurocognitive mechanisms originally developed for natural languages. Alternatively, comprehension of code could depend on fronto-parietal networks shared with other culturally-invented symbol systems, such as formal logic and...…Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articleComputer code comprehension shares neural resources with formal logical inference in the fronto-parietal networkeLife 9:e59340.Copy to clipboardDespite the importance of programming to modern society, the cognitive and neural bases of code comprehension are largely unknown. Programming languages might ‘recycle’ neurocognitive mechanisms originally developed for natural languages. Alternatively, comprehension of code could depend on fronto-parietal networks shared with other culturally-invented symbol systems, such as formal logic and...WW…

Scientists have identified a potential new treatment approach for Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS), a progressive genetic disorder that causes rapid and premature aging in children.The findings in mice, published today in eLife, show that blocking a protein called ICMT can improve the condition of affected cells without reducing cell division and growth. ICMT is involved in modifying the structure of progerin, the mutant protein that causes HGPS.These results suggest that ICMT could be a useful drug target to treat HGPS, especially as cell division and growth are important for...…Scientists have identified a potential new treatment approach for Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS), a progressive genetic disorder that causes rapid and premature aging in children.The findings in mice, published today in eLife, show that blocking a protein called ICMT can improve the condition of affected cells without reducing cell division and growth. ICMT is involved in modifying the structure of progerin, the mutant protein that causes HGPS.These results suggest that ICMT could be a useful drug target to treat HGPS, especially as cell division and growth are important for...WW…

Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articleIsoform-specific roles for AKT in affective behavior, spatial memory, and extinction related to psychiatric disorderseLife 9:e56630.Copy to clipboardAKT is implicated in neurological disorders. AKT has three isoforms, AKT1/AKT2/AKT3, with brain cell type-specific expression that may differentially influence behavior. Therefore, we examined single Akt isoform, conditional brain-specific Akt1, and double Akt1/3 mutant mice in behaviors relevant to neuropsychiatric disorders. Because sex is a determinant of these disorders but poorly...…Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articleIsoform-specific roles for AKT in affective behavior, spatial memory, and extinction related to psychiatric disorderseLife 9:e56630.Copy to clipboardAKT is implicated in neurological disorders. AKT has three isoforms, AKT1/AKT2/AKT3, with brain cell type-specific expression that may differentially influence behavior. Therefore, we examined single Akt isoform, conditional brain-specific Akt1, and double Akt1/3 mutant mice in behaviors relevant to neuropsychiatric disorders. Because sex is a determinant of these disorders but poorly...WW…