Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articleThe diversity and function of sourdough starter microbiomeseLife 10:e61644.Copy to clipboardHumans have relied on sourdough starter microbial communities to make leavened bread for thousands of years, but only a small fraction of global sourdough biodiversity has been characterized. Working with a community-scientist network of bread bakers, we determined the microbial diversity of 500 sourdough starters from four continents. In sharp contrast with widespread assumptions, we found little evidence for biogeographic patterns in starter...…Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articleThe diversity and function of sourdough starter microbiomeseLife 10:e61644.Copy to clipboardHumans have relied on sourdough starter microbial communities to make leavened bread for thousands of years, but only a small fraction of global sourdough biodiversity has been characterized. Working with a community-scientist network of bread bakers, we determined the microbial diversity of 500 sourdough starters from four continents. In sharp contrast with widespread assumptions, we found little evidence for biogeographic patterns in starter...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…

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 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…

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 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…

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 articleMYC regulates ribosome biogenesis and mitochondrial gene expression programs through its interaction with host cell factor–1eLife 10:e60191.Copy to clipboardThe oncoprotein transcription factor MYC is a major driver of malignancy and a highly validated but challenging target for the development of anticancer therapies. Novel strategies to inhibit MYC may come from understanding the co-factors it uses to drive pro-tumorigenic gene expression programs, providing their role in MYC activity is understood. Here we interrogate how one MYC...…Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articleMYC regulates ribosome biogenesis and mitochondrial gene expression programs through its interaction with host cell factor–1eLife 10:e60191.Copy to clipboardThe oncoprotein transcription factor MYC is a major driver of malignancy and a highly validated but challenging target for the development of anticancer therapies. Novel strategies to inhibit MYC may come from understanding the co-factors it uses to drive pro-tumorigenic gene expression programs, providing their role in MYC activity is understood. Here we interrogate how one MYC...WW…

Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articleResearch: A new era for research into agingeLife 10:e65286.Copy to clipboardEvery major cause of death and disability in the developed world shares a greatest risk factor, and it is probably not what most people would think. Smoking, obesity, a sedentary lifestyle and drinking too much alcohol all contribute to disease: however, their contributions are small in comparison to the physiological changes that result from aging. Whether biological aging causes the many functional declines that occur with age, or just permits them, is perhaps...…Share this articleDoiCopy to clipboardCite this articleResearch: A new era for research into agingeLife 10:e65286.Copy to clipboardEvery major cause of death and disability in the developed world shares a greatest risk factor, and it is probably not what most people would think. Smoking, obesity, a sedentary lifestyle and drinking too much alcohol all contribute to disease: however, their contributions are small in comparison to the physiological changes that result from aging. Whether biological aging causes the many functional declines that occur with age, or just permits them, is perhaps...WW…