INTRODUCTION: Dosage compensation is the essential mechanism by which X-linked gene expression is regulated between the sexes. Recent studies on Anopheles mosquitoes suggest that SOA/007, a homolog of the Drosophila Tramtrack protein, drives this process. However, further questions about the role of SOA/007 in mosquito dosage compensation remain unanswered. Another protein may be more central to this mechanism.

METHODS: We employed a multi-pronged approach to uncover evidence for a role of another protein in Anopheles dosage compensation. Protein database searches, homology comparisons, literature searches, and analyses of existing histone modification datasets were used to infer a potential role for CBP in this process.

RESULTS: Drosophila Tramtrack blocks inappropriate assembly of the dosage compensation complex at non-dosage compensated sites on Drosophila male X chromosomes. There is no evidence of enhanced H4K16ac at dosage-compensated mosquito genes. Working with the NuRD complex, Tramtrack may recruit CBP-dependent H3.3 incorporation and H3K56ac-driven activation from polycomb repression while exiting development on the mosquito male X chromosome. We provide a literature- and histone modification data-based argument in support of this conclusion.

CONCLUSIONS/DISCUSSION: Further studies are needed to better understand the mechanisms of dosage compensation in mosquitoes. Enhanced application of molecular biology techniques will be the key to gathering the necessary data. Dosage compensation provides further opportunities to identify targets useful for mosquito-borne disease prevention strategies.

Introduction: North African wadis, though rare and often temporary, play a vital ecological and socio-economic role in arid to semi-arid regions. These fragile ecosystems face multiple natural and anthropogenic pressures, including prolonged droughts, irregular flows, water overexploitation, pollution, and habitat degradation. This study aims to analyze the structure and dynamics of the Functional Feeding Groups (FFGs) of benthic insects to assess the ecological quality of four wadis located in the Aurès region (eastern Algeria) and to determine whether the functional patterns observed are comparable to those reported in streams from temperate and tropical regions.

Methods: Seasonal sampling was conducted from 2021 to 2022 across 48 stations.

Results: In total,19,431 benthic insects belonging to 7 orders, 37 families, and 59 taxa, classified into 7 FFGs, were detected. In the unimpacted wadis, the benthic assemblages were characterized by the presence of several IBMWP-sensitive families, including Ephemeroptera (Baetidae, Caenidae), Trichoptera (Hydropsychidae, Sericostomatidae), and Coleoptera, which correspond functionally to shredders, filtering collectors, scrapers, and predators. These taxa are typically associated with good ecological status and stable habitat conditions in IBMWP-based assessments.

In contrast, impacted wadis were largely dominated by pollution-tolerant Diptera, particularly Chironomidae and Dixidae, which are classified as low-score taxa in the IBMWP system and correspond functionally to gathering collectors. The marked reduction or absence of sensitive IBMWP taxa in these sites is fully consistent with the functional diversity observed in temperate and tropical regions. FFG ratio analyses revealed clear differences between impacted and unimpacted wadis, highlighting variations in autotrophy/heterotrophy balance, habitat stability, and trophic structure.

Conclusion: Overall, the Functional Feeding Group (FFG) indices observed in the study area were found to be comparable to those reported from temperate and tropical regions. These indices proved effective in distinguishing ecological conditions and can serve as reliable tools for the biomonitoring and management of wadis exposed to arid climatic constraints.

Climate change is one of the major threats facing our planet in the coming years, and its detrimental impacts on biodiversity are being documented. Numerous threatened species have already experienced population and species-level extinctions as a result of these effects. Detailed information regarding the distribution patterns, habitats, suitable space, and responsible variables that limit and shift the distribution of these threatened species is necessary for effective and targeted conservation planning and forecasting, particularly in situations where they face multiple conservation challenges. Species Distribution Models (SDMs) are frequently used to measure the correlation between the occurrence of such species and spatial variables, enabling the extrapolation of this relationship to new areas or time periods. Twelve bioclimatic and seven environmental variables from 100 occurrence points of 37 threatened reptiles of Bangladesh are used to train the Bioclim model under current climatic conditions. The model is then projected into the 2080 climatic scenario to illustrate how collective and individual species are expected to respond to future climate change under various assumptions. Out of the 37 species of threatened reptiles, 10 species (Batagur baska, Chelonia mydas, Lepidochelys olivacea, Dermochelys coriacea, Dopasia gracilis, Lygosoma punctata, Rhabdophis himalayanus, Boiga siamensis, Crocodylus porosus, and Heosemys depressa) are predicted to lose 100% of their suitable climatic space by the year 2080. Elevation and bio-ecological subregions play pivotal roles in shaping and constraining the distribution of these reptiles due to their impact on habitat suitability and climatic conditions. Proactive conservation strategies, such as the establishment and expansion of protected areas within their climatically appropriate space, should be taken into consideration in order to preserve these imperiled species.

The Algerian wetlands play a vital role in upholding biodiversity and ensuring ecological balance. They face many anthropogenic environmental pressures, such as pollution, habitat degradation, and climate change. These pressures negatively affect many duck species, even making some vulnerable. This continued degradation highlights the need to identify the various threats affecting aquatic birds while looking at potential adaptive responses—behavioral changes, shifts in reproductive strategies, and/or diet. We conducted reproductive monitoring along with collecting and analyzing diet data from several duck species and presented these results to get a better understanding of aquatic bird ecology and adaptations to anthropogenic pressures.

Aquatic birds encounter countless threats from both natural (e.g., parasitism, predation, extreme events) and anthropogenic (e.g., poaching) sources. These pressures are compounded by the presence of invasive species (e.g., mosquitofish, carp) that can alter the submerged vegetation community and reduce food sources such as macroinvertebrate populations that are important to these birds for food. To withstand these pressures, aquatic birds have been observed behaviorally adapting their characteristics through nesting in elevated and/or dense vegetative sites to reduce predator detection and utilizing specific diets (e.g., waterfowl feeding primarily on seeds from submerged vegetation). These adaptations reflect resilience to disturbance, but their continued existence is intimately linked to habitat quality and the maintenance/restoration of aquatic habitats. If we are unsuccessful in managing these systems, their future is uncertain. There is an immediate need for conservation actions, including the protection of wetlands, establishment of invasive species controls, enforcement against poaching, and raising local awareness and stewardship. A comprehensive and sustainable approach is required to protect these systems and the biodiversity they support.

Climate change, the defining challenge of this century, is profoundly reshaping ecosystems, intensifying biodiversity loss, and driving range shifts and species extinctions. Bangladesh, with its subtropical monsoon climate and rich biodiversity, supports numerous amphibian species, of which 20.41% are currently threatened. Amphibians are particularly vulnerable due to their ectothermic physiology, complex life cycles, permeable skin, and unprotected eggs, making them highly sensitive to temperature fluctuations, habitat alteration, pesticide exposure, and overexploitation. However, few studies have simultaneously examined climate and anthropogenic pressures on these species.

This study assessed the potential impacts of climate change on ten threatened amphibian species by developing Species Distribution Models (SDMs) that incorporated climatic, land-use, pesticide, and wildlife trade data. Using 100 georeferenced occurrence records and 26 environmental predictors (19 bioclimatic and 7 ecological), I modelled current and projected (2080) suitable habitats in R with the bioclim() function.

The models predict a drastic contraction of suitable habitats by 2080, placing nine species at imminent risk of local extinction, with only one species (Kaloula taprobanica) retaining 18.67% of its current range. Presently, 50% of the species occur in the Eastern Hills and Hill Tracts, while other regions host 1–2 species in fragmented patches. Spatial analysis of 49 terrestrial protected areas (9,699 km²) revealed that most suitable habitats lie outside protected boundaries; only K. taprobanica maintains significant overlap (1,833 km²). Land-use change analysis showed a reduction in forest cover to 13% by 2019, coupled with cropland and settlement expansion. Pesticide use rose from 0.21 kg/ha (1990s) to 1.1 kg/ha (2020s), posing additional chemical threats. Amphibian trade collapsed post-1990, revealing major monitoring gaps.

These findings underscore the urgent need for proactive conservation—expanding protected areas into future refugia and enforcing stricter regulations on pesticide use, land conversion, and wildlife trade—to safeguard Bangladesh’s amphibian biodiversity under changing climates.

Bacteria are widely distributed in indoor environments, yet their growth behavior and ecological differentiation remain insufficiently understood. As a pilot study, how nutritional richness influences the colony growth dynamics of indoor culturable bacteria was quantitatively analyzed. Whether microbial growth characteristics can serve as ecological indicators for classifying indoor environments was also explored. Samples were collected from a variety of indoor object surfaces representing different types and functional areas, and cultured on agar media with a variety of concentrations of LB to simulate nutrient gradients. The growth of culturable bacteria was quantitatively evaluated using multiple parameters, followed by clustering analyses based on nutrient-response profiles and growth dynamics. Distinct grouping patterns of bacterial growth behavior were observed, suggesting that variations in environmental conditions, surface materials, and possibly human-associated factors shape microbial growth strategies across indoor surfaces. Although the overall trends were stable across nutrient levels, the differentiation among clusters implied varying adaptive capacities of bacterial populations under nutrient limitation or enrichment. These findings highlight that microbial growth dynamics can reflect underlying ecological and physicochemical conditions of the indoor environment. This study provides a preliminary but quantitative framework for linking microbial growth to environmental characteristics. It indicates that bacterial proliferation potential may serve as an indicator for assessing indoor ecological states, surface susceptibility to contamination, and overall microbial resilience within human-occupied environments.

The South American canid genus Lycalopex comprises six species morphologically similar but inhabiting diverse environments. Although their diets have been studied locally, a comprehensive synthesis is lacking. We conducted a systematic literature review (Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar) to compile published trophic data, resulting in 83 studies. Lycalopex culpaeus was the most studied species, and Chile had the highest research output; however, rarefaction analyses confirmed this distribution reflects a significant sampling bias among species and countries. Mammals, particularly rodents, were the primary prey across the genus. We found notable trophic niche variation: L. culpaeus and L. gymnocercus displayed the greatest trophic breadth (generalists), whereas L. griseus was more specialized. A stronger tendency towards carnivory was observed in L. fulvipes, and towards herbivory in L. sechurae. Crucially, these latter two species were the least studied, with minimal sampling effort (<600 hours across only two sites), suggesting their current dietary profiles may be unrepresentative. This work provides the first integrative analysis of Lycalopex trophic ecology. Our findings not only reveal key dietary patterns but, more importantly, highlight critical taxonomic and geographic research biases, offering a data-driven framework to prioritize future studies on the understudied L. fulvipes and L. sechurae to inform their conservation.

The pervasive plastic pollution in marine and freshwater ecosystems has led to increasingly unpredictable interactions between aquatic organisms and microplastics (particles < 5 mm), including varying instances of plastic ingestion. The incorporation of microplastics into aquatic food chains poses significant risks to health and survival of the hydrobionts, as well as potential threats to biodiversity. The ingestion of microplastics by fish can occur inadvertently or deliberately, whether plastic particles are recognized or not as food objects. In natural aquatic environments, microplastics are often colonized by biofilms consisting of complex microbial communities, including protozoa, algae, and fungi. We hypothesized that the biofilm present on microplastics influences the possibility of their consumption by fish, enhancing the attractiveness of these particles as food objects and providing a gustatory trap. Thus, we assessed the feeding behavior of juvenile African catfish Clarias gariepinus and climbing perch Anabas testudineus in the presence of two types of plastic particles: expanded polystyrene (EPS) and extruded polystyrene (XPS). Both fish species are omnivorous and feed at the water surface. We used positively buoyant microplastics sized from 3.0 to 4.5 mm, which were exposed for 30 days under natural conditions to allow biofilm formation. Our findings indicated that climbing perch actively reacted to biofilm-covered plastic objects by biting and chewing them, but never ingested them. In contrast, catfish frequently ingested both types of plastic pellets, although they rejected the XPS pellets after prolonged periods of up to 12 hours. Based on these observations, we identified four patterns of feeding behavior in fish related to microplastic particles: refusal, testing and rejection, ingestion and rejection, and consumption. The first three behaviors are likely effective mechanisms for avoiding plastic consumption. Our results shed light on the species-specific behavioral traits that enable some fish to ignore visible plastic particles and successfully avoid consumption.

Microplastic (MP) contamination in the human body is an emerging concern in biomedical science, particularly due to recent evidence indicating their translocation into systemic circulation and placental tissue. This literature review evaluates current research on the presence of MPs in human blood and placenta, highlighting the clinical implications and the efficacy of two advanced spectroscopic techniques, Raman spectroscopy and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) imaging, for in situ detection. Research published between 2015 and 2024 was systematically reviewed using MEDLINE and ScienceDirect, focusing on observational human studies that employed spectroscopic MP detection. The search strategy incorporated keywords such as “microplastic translocation,” “human blood,” “placenta,” “Raman spectroscopy,” “FTIR imaging,” and “fetal-maternal health.” Microplastics were detected in 88.9% of analyzed blood samples, with polystyrene, polypropylene, and polyethylene being the predominant polymers. Placental tissues showed a median of 12 MP particles per 10 grams, mainly localized in the chorionic villi and maternal decidua. Raman spectroscopy demonstrated superior sensitivity for detecting smaller MPs, especially nonpolar polymers in digested samples, while FTIR was more effective for larger particles in whole tissue sections. Clinically, MP presence was associated with elevated inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein and interleukin-6, prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time, and increased fetal liver enzymes, suggesting systemic inflammation, immune modulation, hepatocellular stress, and potential impairment of placental function. The findings underscore the biomedical urgency of understanding MP exposure pathways and their effects on fetal–maternal health. To advance diagnostic precision and maternal–fetal care, it is recommended that future biomedical research integrates standardized MP detection protocols into clinical toxicology workflows and explores targeted molecular biomarkers for early identification and risk stratification of MP-induced placental dysfunction.

Simulium ochraceum is recognized as the primary vector of human onchocerciasis in southern Mexico. It can also transmit other pathogens, including Mansonella ozzardii and vesicular stomatitis virus; however, its role in the transmission of bacteria remains unknown. Metagenomic approaches have enabled significant advances in the study of vector bacteriomes, with considerable impact on public health. These studies have identified symbiotic bacteria associated with reduced vector competence, as well as others with potential applications in biological control. However, the bacteriome of S.ochraceum remains uncharacterized.

Therefore, this study examines the bacteriome of S.ochraceum from former onchocerciasis-endemic areas in Mexico, using a 16S rRNA metagenomics analysis. Adult female black flies were collected via humanlanding catches in November 2024 and morphologically identified using taxonomic keys. A pool of 50 individuals were used for genomic DNA extraction with the DNeasy Blood and Tissue Kit. Amplicons of the V4-V4 region were sequenced using the Illumina MiSeq platform. Bioinformatic analysis was conducted using EzBioCloud and CZ ID, which included the estimation and analysis of diversity, and estimation of bacteria associated with human and animal pathogens. The bacteriome was dominated by Pseudomonadota, with abundances of Bacillota, Bateroidota, and Actinomycetota. The identification of diverse bacterial taxa revealed the presence of potential human and animal pathogens, including members of the genera Escherichia, Streptococcus, Acinetobacter, and Rickettsia. Additionally, unclassified bacteria were detected, as well as microorganisms associated with environmental, plant-related, and insect-symbiotic niches. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the bacteriome of S. ochraceum on a global scale. The microbial diversity suggests a complex ecosystem with potential implications for public health, vector ecology, and environmental microbial dynamics.