Many ways to make darker flies: Intra-and interspecific variation in Drosophila body pigmentation components

Body pigmentation is an evolutionarily diversified and ecologically relevant trait with substantial variation within and between species, and important roles in animal survival and reproduction. Insect pigmentation, in particular, provides some of the most compelling examples of adaptive evolution, including its ecological significance and genetic bases. Pigmentation includes multiple aspects of color and color pattern that may vary more or less independently, and can be under different selective pressures. We decompose Drosophila thorax and abdominal pigmentation, a valuable eco-evo- devo model, into distinct measurable traits related to color and color pattern. We investigate intra-and interspecific variation for those traits and assess its different sources. For each body part, we measured overall darkness, as well as four other pigmentation properties distinguishing between background color and color of the darker pattern elements that decorate each body part. By focusing on two standard D. melanogaster laboratory populations, we show that pigmentation components vary and covary in distinct manners depending on sex, genetic background, and temperature during development. Studying three natural populations of D. melanogaster along a latitudinal cline and five other Drosophila species, we then show t hat evolution of lighter or darker bodies can be achieved by changing distinct component traits. Our results paint a much more complex picture of body pigmentation variation than previous studies could uncover, including patterns of sexual dimorphism, thermal plasticity, and interspecific diversity. These findings underscore the value of detailed quantitative phenotyping and analysis of different sources of variation for a better understanding of phenotypic variation and diversification, and the ecological pressures and genetic mechanisms underlying them.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Advances in non-invasive biosensing measures to monitor wound healing progression

Impaired wound healing is a significant financial and medical burden. The synthesis and deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) in a new wound is a dynamic process that is constantly changing and adapting to the biochemical and biomechanical signaling from the extracellular microenvironments of the wound. This drives either a regenerative or fibrotic and scar-forming healing outcome. Disruptions in ECM deposition, structure, and composition lead to impaired healing in diseased states, such as in diabetes. Valid measures of the principal determinants of successful ECM deposition and wound healing include lack of bacterial contamination, good tissue perfusion, and reduced mechanical injury and strain. These measures are used by wound-care providers to intervene upon the healing wound to steer healing toward a more functional phenotype with improved structural integrity and healing outcomes and to prevent adverse wound developments. In this review, we discuss bioengineering advances in 1) non-invasive detection of biologic and physiologic factors of the healing wound, 2) visualizing and modeling the ECM, and 3) computational tools that efficiently evaluate the complex data acquired from the wounds based on basic science, preclinical, translational and clinical studies, that would allow us to prognosticate healing outcomes and intervene effectively. We focus on bioelectronics and biologic interfaces of the sensors and actuators for real time biosensing and actuation of the tissues. We also discuss high-resolution, advanced imaging techniques, which go beyond traditional confocal and fluorescence microscopy to visualize microscopic details of the composition of the wound matrix, linearity of collagen, and live tracking of components within the wound microenvironment. Computational modeling of the wound matrix, including partial differential equation datasets as well as machine learning models that can serve as powerful tools for physicians to guide their decision-making process are discussed