Using human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived kidney organoids, researchers from Science Tokyo uncovered how abnormal Hippo signaling drives fibrosis in nephronophthisis, a genetic kidney disorder caused by NPHP1 deficiency. Confirming their discovery, the team demonstrated that inhibiting the Hippo signaling pathway effectively suppresses fibrosis in kidney tissue. The study highlights the potential of organoid-based disease models for elucidating disease mechanisms while offering a new therapeutic target for nephronophthisis.

Droughts are having a major impact on Europe’s forests — and climate change could make them even more frequent. But diversity helps: a new study led by the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and Leipzig University shows that forests are more resistant to drought when trees employ different strategies for using water. The decisive factor is not only how many species are present, but how differently they absorb, store, and use water.

Common ancestor eels lost the aquaporin gene encoding proteins with broad solute permeability. Researchers from Institute of Science Tokyo have now found that recent gene duplication events in the European eel (Anguilla species) have restored aquaporin proteins with broad solute permeability. The genes aqp10.2b2 and aqp10.2b3 represent a fascinating example of birth-and-death evolution, in which genes undergo loss of function, duplication, mutation, and functional diversification.