M. Elias

Engineering Quorum Quenching Acylases with Improved Kinetic and Biochemical Properties

This paper engineers two AHL acylases, PvdQ and MacQ, to improve their stability, activity, and substrate specificity for quorum quenching applications.

Bending the course of evolution: how mutualistic interactions affect macroevolutionary dynamics of diversification in mimetic butterflies.

This study examines how mutualistic Mullerian mimicry influences macroevolutionary diversification patterns in Ithomiini butterflies, finding that color pattern age drives species richness but not phylogenetic diversity.

Freshwater "microcroissants" shed light on a novel higher-level clade within Trebouxiophyceae and reveal the genus Chlorolobion as a trebouxiophyte

The paper identifies a new family of Trebouxiophyceae, describes two new genera, and reclassifies Chlorolobion as a trebouxiophyte.

Reduced palatability, fast flight, and tails: Decoding the defence arsenal of Eudaminae skipper butterflies in a Neotropical locality

The paper tests palatability, flight speed, and habitat preference in Eudaminae skipper butterflies to understand their defensive strategies.

Parallel on-chip micropipettes enabling quantitative multiplexed characterization of vesicle mechanics and cell aggregates rheology

This paper introduces a high-throughput method for quantitatively measuring mechanical properties of biological samples using parallel micropipettes.

Encyclopaedia of family A DNA polymerases localized in organelles: Contribution of genes from bacteria including the proto-mitochondrion.

This study identifies and classifies 134 family A DNA polymerase sequences from diverse eukaryotes, revealing their evolutionary origins and suggesting the last eukaryotic common ancestor had two mitochondrial DNAPs.

Clearwing butterflies challenge the thermal melanism hypothesis

The paper challenges the thermal melanism hypothesis by showing that transparent wings in Ithomiini butterflies are less efficient at absorbing light and heat, and that transparency increases with altitude, contrary to the hypothesis prediction.

Changes in Active Site Loop Conformation Relate to the Transition toward a Novel Enzymatic Activity

The paper redesigns the active site of lactonase SsoPox to enhance phosphotriester catalytic activity, revealing that loop conformation changes are critical for activity shifts.

A-ring-fused pyrazoles of dihydrotestosterone targeting prostate cancer cells via the downregulation of the androgen receptor

This paper synthesizes and evaluates A-ring-fused pyrazoles derived from dihydrotestosterone as AR antagonists with antiproliferative activity in prostate cancer cells.

Field testing of an enzymatic quorum quencher coating additive to reduce biocorrosion of steel

This study evaluates a lactonase enzyme coating to reduce biocorrosion of steel in marine environments, finding it significantly lowers corrosion tubercles and surface area compared to a biocide control.

Genomics of Preaxostyla Flagellates Illuminates the Path Towards the Loss of Mitochondria

This paper reports genome and transcriptome analyses of two Preaxostyla species, confirming the complete loss of mitochondria in multiple oxymonad species and suggesting amitochondriality is common in the group.

A cryptic plastid and a novel mitochondrial plasmid in Leucomyxa plasmidifera gen. et sp. nov. (Ochrophyta) push the frontiers of organellar biology

This paper describes a new protist species with a cryptic plastid and a novel mitochondrial plasmid, revealing unique organellar features in non-photosynthetic ochrophytes.

Evidence for complex interplay between quorum sensing and antibiotic resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

This paper evaluates how disrupting quorum sensing signals in Pseudomonas aeruginosa affects antibiotic resistance, finding complex and non-uniform effects across 222 compounds.

Phylogenomics Illuminates the Evolutionary History of Wild Silkmoths in Space and Time (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae)

This study reconstructs the evolutionary history of wild silkmoths using phylogenomic data, revealing a Neotropical origin and two Old World colonization events, along with taxonomic rearrangements.

A new lineage of non-photosynthetic green algae with extreme organellar genomes

This paper describes a new lineage of non-photosynthetic green algae with exceptionally large and repeat-rich organellar genomes, providing insights into organellar genome evolution.

Uncovering the effects of Müllerian mimicry on the evolution of conspicuousness in colour patterns

This study models how Müllerian mimicry influences the evolution of conspicuousness in defended prey species, showing that less conspicuous patterns are generally favored unless they impair mimicry.

Phylogenetic profiling and cellular analyses of ARL16 reveal roles in traffic of IFT140 and INPP5E

This study identifies ARL16's role in Golgi-to-cilium trafficking by showing its deletion causes accumulation of IFT140 and INPP5E at the Golgi in MEFs.

Stay clear and dry! How microstructure diversity can offset the hydrophobicity costs of transparency in clearwing Lepidoptera

The paper investigates how wing microstructure in clearwing Lepidoptera compensates for reduced hydrophobicity in transparent patches, finding trade-offs between hydrophobicity and optical transparency.

Punctual ecological changes rather than global factors drive species diversification and the evolution of wing phenotypes in Morpho butterflies.

Analysis of diverse eukaryotes suggests the existence of an ancestral 1 mitochondrial apparatus derived from the bacterial type II secretion system

The paper identifies homologues of bacterial T2SS components in mitochondria of diverse eukaryotes, suggesting an ancestral mitochondrial apparatus derived from the bacterial type II secretion system.

The limits of evolutionary convergence in sympatry: reproductive interference and historical constraints leading to local diversity in warning traits

The paper develops a mathematical model to show that reproductive interference and historical constraints limit the convergence of warning traits in sympatric species, leading to imperfect mimicry or divergence.

Deep neural network and field experiments reveal how transparent wing windows reduce detectability in butterflies

The paper tests how transparent wing zones affect moth detectability by birds and DNNs, finding border-touching transparency reduces detectability but size has no effect, with DNNs showing mixed results.

A eukaryote-wide perspective on the diversity and evolution of the ARF GTPase protein family

This study reconstructs the evolution of the ARF GTPase family across 114 eukaryotic species, identifying 16 ARF family members in the last eukaryotic common ancestor and revealing new paralogs and membrane association diversity.

Mimicry drives convergence in structural and light transmission features of transparent wings in Lepidoptera

This study shows that transparency in mimetic Lepidoptera is convergent among co-mimics, with micro- and nanostructures contributing to light transmission properties.

The cryptic plastid of Euglena longa defines a new type of non-photosynthetic plastid organelles

This paper identifies a unique non-photosynthetic plastid in Euglena longa with novel metabolic functions, including tocopherol and phylloquinone synthesis and a modified Calvin-Benson pathway.

Ambient light and mimicry as drivers of wing transparency in Lepidoptera

The paper investigates how habitat openness, activity rhythm, and mimicry syndrome influence wing transparency in Lepidoptera, finding that diurnal species and those in open habitats exhibit higher light transmittance.

Hard to catch: Experimental evidence supports evasive mimicry

The paper tests if evasive mimicry, where prey's difficulty of capture leads to warning color convergence, is as effective as distastefulness in deterring predators.

Transparency in butterflies and moths: structural diversity, optical properties and ecological relevance

This study examines transparency in 123 Lepidoptera species, revealing its structural basis, optical properties, and ecological relevance in thermoregulation and vision.

The latitudinal diversity gradient in brush-footed butterflies (Nymphalidae): conserved ancestral tropical niche but different continental histories.

This study evaluates hypotheses for the latitudinal diversity gradient in Nymphalidae butterflies, finding that low extinction rates and historical dispersal patterns, rather than speciation rates, explain diversity patterns.

A comparative 'omics approach to candidate pathogenicity factor discovery in the brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri

This study uses -omics approaches to identify candidate pathogenicity factors in Naegleria fowleri by comparing it to its non-pathogenic relative Naegleria gruberi.