INSIDE JEB
OUTSIDE JEB
REVIEWS
- Evolution of neuropeptide signalling systems
Summary: A review of the revolutionary advances in our knowledge of the evolution of neuropeptide signalling systems that have been enabled by comparative genomics and neuropeptide receptor deorphanisation.
- The long and the short of it – a perspective on peptidergic regulation of circuits and behaviour
Summary: Neuropeptides are the largest class of neuromodulators in nervous systems. Here we review the general principles and mechanistic insights that have emerged from studies of various animal models and discuss some of the outstanding major challenges.
- New techniques, applications and perspectives in neuropeptide research
Summary: This Review discusses a range of molecular aspects of neuropeptide biology and integrates techniques, model organisms and applications, highlighting new perspectives enabled by technical advancements in neuropeptide research.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
- Reducing gravity takes the bounce out of running
Highlighted Article: During running, humans take higher leaps in normal gravity than in reduced gravity, in order to optimally balance the competing costs of stance and leg-swing work.
- Honey bee (Apis mellifera) sociability and nestmate affiliation are dependent on the social environment experienced post-eclosion
Summary: Sociability and nestmate affiliation in honey bees are influenced by social experience and exposure to the hive environment in early adult life.
- Directionality of nose-emitted echolocation calls from bats without a nose leaf (Plecotus auritus)
Summary: Nose-emitting bats without an obvious means of emitting a narrow bio-sonar beam still emit a highly directional beam, potentially by emitting sound through the mouth as well as the nostrils.
- Exposure to CO2 influences metabolism, calcification and gene expression of the thecosome pteropod Limacina retroversa
Summary: Severity and duration of CO2 exposure influence calcification and respiration differentially in Limacina retroversa, as shown by organismal and gene expression responses, while captivity interactively influences respiration and gene expression.
- Eating when ill is risky: immune defense impairs food detoxification in the caterpillar Manduca sexta
Editors' Choice: Appetite loss during illness occurs in all animals. It may be an important protection against food toxins. Mobilizing immune defense depresses the ability to detoxify food (as shown in caterpillars).
- Visual associative learning in wood ants
Summary: Ants form an associative memory of a visual cue paired with a reward through classical conditioning. This allows visual associative learning to be studied in fixed rather than free-moving ants.
- GABAA receptors activate fish feeding behaviour via two distinct functional pathways
Summary: Behavioural tests combined with cellular and molecular electrophysiology clarify molecular mechanisms that control fish feeding, revealing two partially competitive mechanisms originating from the same neural receptor.
- Conversion efficiency of α-linolenic acid to omega-3 highly unsaturated fatty acids in aerial insectivore chicks
Highlighted Article: A stable-isotope-labeled tracer reveals the mechanism for omega-3 highly unsaturated fatty acid (HUFA) limitation in a wild avian insectivore, showing that HUFAs are an ecologically essential nutrient.
- Ontogeny and morphometrics of the gills and swim bladder of air-breathing striped catfish Pangasianodon hypophthalmus
Summary: The paradox of how an active tropical fish can meet its oxygen requirements using gills with an apparently small surface area is explained.
CORRECTIONS
This issue
Other journals from The Company of Biologists
Editorial – The changing of the guard
In his Editorial, Hans Hoppeler announces that he will be stepping down as Editor-in-Chief of JEB in July 2020. He reflects on the history of JEB, why he has enjoyed his tenure as JEB’s Editor-in-Chief and the recent developments in the publishing world.
Editors’ choice – Parental stressor exposure simultaneously conveys both adaptive and maladaptive larval phenotypes through epigenetic inheritance in the zebrafish (Danio rerio)
An oil spill is never a good thing, but Naim Bautista and Warren Burggren have shown that zebrafish can pass on resistance to the damaging effects of an oil-spiked diet to their offspring.
The derivative of force with respect to time does not have a standard term in physics. In their new Commentary, David C. Lin and his colleagues propose that the term ‘yank’ should be used to denote the time derivative of force.
Runners waste energy every time their legs stop swinging, but now a team of scientists from the US and Canada have shown that a springy ankle tether can reduce runners’ energy costs by 6.4%, which is nearly the entire cost of swinging the limbs. Read the full research article here.
Journal of Experimental Biology is pleased to announce a new partnership with Publons! This allows reviewers to easily track and verify every review by choosing to add the review to their Publons profile when completing the review submission form. Publons also makes it simple for reviewers to showcase their peer review contributions in a format that can be included in job and funding applications (without breaking reviewer anonymity). Read the official announcement here!
The Company of Biologists provides grants to fund scientific meetings, workshops and conferences in the fields covered by our journals. Typically, meetings with fewer than 100 people may be granted up to £2,000, increasing up to £6,000 for about 400 people. The next deadline to apply is 28 November 2019.
preLights – preLights reaches 500 posts!
The success of preLights is down to the hard work of our preLighters. Head over to the preLights website to find out more about our most active early-career-researchers.