News & Comment

Centrosomes are the main microtubule-organizing centers in animal cells, indispensable for cell division and the building of a wide range of cilia, which include sensory and motile cilia. We are now inviting submissions related to the fascinating field of centrosomes, cilia and all of the processes that they are involved in with the aim of highlighting this work in a Special Collection.

The CRISPR-Cas toolbox allows genetic manipulation of cultured cells, plants and animals on the basis of simpler RNA-guided DNA recognition. It has provided breakthrough scientific opportunities to engineer desirable traits, cure genetic diseases and enable point-of-care diagnostics. A recent study by Joseph Bondy-Denomy and colleagues further equips this toolbox to cut larger chunks of DNA from a cell’s genome.

It doesn’t take much to disrupt our sleep. Whilst we are aware of environmental factors that can disturb our circadian rhythms, the precise mechanisms that control molecular time cues have remained elusive. Beesley and co-workers demonstrate that diseases associated with cytoplasmic crowding affect the sleep-wake cycle. They also pinpoint a precise time-limiting step in the trafficking of the pacemaker protein PERIOD.

While much of the work examining the ecological effects of marine warming events focuses on the magnitude and duration of elevated temperatures, a recent study from Amatzia Genin and colleagues investigates how the rate of onset of warming affects the mortality of reef fish in the Red Sea. These authors document fish mortality following two warming events with dramatic increases in temperature and report that piscivores and benthic grazers were disproportionately represented among the found carcasses. Many of these fish were infected with a bacterial pathogen following the warming event. This study points to the rate of warming increase as a critical parameter to be considered when assessing the ecological effects of marine warming events, including those for which the peak temperature is not anomalous.

Aberrant cell signalling has been associated with a number of diseases. Belluati and coworkers make use of dual polymer nanocompartments encapsulating different enzymes, that function in unison as in a native signalling cascade. Their functionality is integrated into native cell metabolism and physiology, using substrates already present in the extracellular medium. They succeed in amplifying a natural signalling cascade and influencing cellular homoeostasis.

Gillman and Wright propose a re-evaluation of taxonomical nomenclature to reinstate indigenous species names. These authors discuss the consideration of indigenous names for new and existing species in order to reflect the importance and precedence of indigenous knowledge in biology.

Sabre-toothed carnivores are among the most famed vertebrate fossils in the world. The sabre-tooth ecomorph has been converged upon repeatedly by distantly related species throughout mammalian evolution. Lautenschlager et al. employ a range of biomechanical analyses to investigate the functional diversity of sabre-toothed skulls. Across 66 species, broad functional diversity is recovered with implications for prey specialization and niche partitioning, despite being morphologically convergent.

João Conde began his independent career at NOVA Medical School of Universidade Nova de Lisboa in the beginning of 2020. In this short Q&A he tells us about his experience as an early career researcher, challenges he faced with science under lockdown, the advice he has for his younger self and what is the most likely science fiction vision we can achieve with nanotechnology.

The metabolism of immune cells is a rapidly developing field with therapeutic implications. In recognition of this exciting area, our journal is welcoming submissions of primary research articles, perspectives, comments, and review articles in immunometabolism with the aim to highlight these articles in a special collection.

While polygyny is common among vertebrates, polygyny with mate fidelity has not yet been demonstrated in amphibians. A recent study by Fábio de Sá and colleagues shows that single male saxicolous frogs share a breeding territory with two females and mate multiple times with them over the course of a breeding season. These authors attribute the evolution of this mating system to the intense competition for territories and mates when access to these resources is scarce.

The origins of Ornithodira (the last common ancestor of dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and their descendants) are yet to be resolved, and have the potential to inform on the diversification of some of the most intriguing ecologies and body forms to evolve in reptiles. A recent discovery of an extremely small ornithodiran archosaur by Christian Kammerer and colleagues is indicative of a miniaturisation event early in the evolution of Ornithodira. This raises questions about the evolution of characters associated with small body forms in these groups, such as flight and body surface integument.

We are inviting submissions of articles on the role of mechanobiology in health and disease with the aim of publishing high quality research devoted to advance our understanding of mechanics shaping biological function. We are also happy to present a Collection of papers already published in our journal in this exciting field.

Communications Biology is committed to improving diversity in our pages, our reviewer pool, and our editorial board. We recognize both the overt and unconscious racism in the sciences and have tasked ourselves with using our platform to amplify Black voices and the voices of all biologists of color.

Dr. César de la Fuente is a Presidential Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He leads a Machine Biology group developing computational tools to expand the antibiotic arsenal, engineer the microbiome and study and control brain function and behavior. His work has been recognized by the Langer Prize, ACS Kavli Emerging Leader in Chemistry award, ACS Infectious Diseases Young Investigator Award, STAT News, GEN, and the MIT Technology Review. We asked Dr. de la Fuente about his research and journey of the field as part of our series on early-career researchers.

We are inviting submissions of articles, perspectives, and reviews on nanomedicine, drug delivery, tumour targeting, and nanotheranostics with the aim of publishing high quality research devoted to nanotechnology for biology.

Adree Khondker and Maikel Rheinstadter discuss how bacteria escape being killed by polymyxin antibiotics. Touching on their recent Communications Biology paper, they elaborate on the mechanism by which the bacterial membrane becomes resistant and on future directions to take in order to understand this phenomenon.

Research from Helen Goodridge and Clive Svendsen’s groups published in Communications Biology showed that young bone marrow transplantation slows down cognitive decline in old mice. The authors now discuss subsequent studies examining the relationship between blood components and aging-associated cognitive impairment and rejuvenation as well as their own ongoing work.

Yamamoto and Higashido discuss the possible routes of the hormone oxytocin in the body, and highlight their recent study in Communications Biology where they showed that the RAGE receptor is a transporter for oxytocin across the blood−brain barrier.

Wagner and Raunser recently presented a deep learning based particle picking program for Cryo-EM, crYOLO. Here they discuss recent improvements to the program, a graphical user interface and share their thoughts on desired future developments.

As we celebrate our second year of publishing, we look back on some highlights from 2019 in Communications Biology and consider what it means to study biology.