Ant plants from a remote Pacific island reveal new insights into an important ecological question: how unrelated and antagonistic partners can form long-term mutualistic relationships with the same host.

The low body temperatures observed during hibernation are associated with lower metabolism. The conventional view in biology has been that body temperature is simply a consequence of metabolic activity, and that as metabolism lowers, body temperature decreases in parallel. Researchers recently discovered that low body temperature directly regulates glucose metabolism in hypothermic mice, challenging the theory of metabolic regulation of body temperature during hibernation and torpor, a less intense form of hibernation.

Chinese researchers identified histone demethylase LSD1 as a critical guardian of ovarian reserve. When deleted in mouse oocytes, LSD1 deficiency disrupted mitochondrial homeostasis and triggered ferroptosis, causing massive loss of dormant primordial follicles. This discovery explains how dormant follicles ("second wave") are maintained differently from active follicles ("first wave") and provides a foundation for treating premature ovarian insufficiency.

Do you think you know which species are most vulnerable in an ecosystem? A novel analytical method developed by Italian physicists at the Complexity Science Hub (CSH) suggests there's more to discover. In their recent study, they found out how species like lizards and rabbits in South Florida's cypress wetlands are among their ecosystem's most at-risk species, pointing to vulnerabilities that aren't always obvious.

This study reveals the step-wise establishment of nuclear speckle-associated domains (SPADs) during mouse embryogenesis. Using optimized CUT&Tag, researchers found paternal SPADs dominate pre-ZGA stages, coordinating sequential gene expression and 3D genome reorganization. SPADs form two classes (primary and ZGA-dependent secondary), regulated by factors like Nipbl and Gata6, linking chromatin dynamics to developmental programming.

This study reported that pasteurized Akkermansia muciniphila (pAKK) promotes the differentiation of intestinal microfold cells (M cells) and increases the expression of the GP2 receptor via the TLR2-MyD88-NF-κB pathway, thereby enhancing the ability of Salmonella Typhimurium (STm) to invade Peyer's patches and leading to aggravated infection in mice. However, pAKK had no significant effect on the extracellular pathogen Citrobacter rodentium (Cr). Experiments showed that pre-treatment with pAKK significantly increased the expression of M cell markers and the number of gut lymphoid tissues, with effects depending on TLR2 signal activation mediated by the Amuc_1100 protein, independent of the canonical RANKL pathway. This study cautions that the application of probiotics should take pathogen specificity into account, as pAKK may increase the risk of infection by pathogens that rely on M cell invasion.