Organ Shape Research Articles

Contrasting the form and strength of pre- and postcopulatory sexual selection in a flatworm.

Sexual traits may be selected during multiple consecutive episodes of selection, occurring before, during, or after copulation. The overall strength and form of selection acting on traits may thus be determined by how selection (co-)varies along different episodes. However, it is challenging to measure pre- and postcopulatory phenotypic traits alongside variation in fitness components at each different episode. Here, we used a transgenic line of the transparent flatworm Macrostomum lignano expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) in all cell types, including sperm cells, enabling in vivo sperm tracking. We assessed the mating success, sperm-transfer efficiency, and sperm fertilizing efficiency of GFP(+) focal worms in which we measured 13 morphological traits. We found linear selection on sperm production rate arising from pre- and postcopulatory components and on copulatory organ shape arising from sperm fertilizing efficiency. We further found nonlinear (mostly concave) selection on combinations of copulatory organ and sperm morphology traits arising mostly from sperm-transfer efficiency and sperm fertilizing efficiency. Our study provides a fine-scale quantification of sexual selection, showing that both the form and strength of selection can change across fitness components. Quantifying how sexual selection builds up along episodes of selection allows us to better understand the evolution of sexually selected traits.

MINIMAL INVASIVE FOR MAXIMAL RECOVERY IN DENTAL TRAUMA : A CASE REPORT

Introduction: Dentoalveolar fractures can be treated in a simple non-surgical procedure by repositioning the fractured fragments and immobilizing them. One of the factors affecting the success of dentoalveolar fracture treatment is the choice of material and immobilization technique. Case: A 16-year-old girl came to the Emergency Department with complaints of bleeding from the mouth due to a traffic accident 5 hours ago. Her lip hit the handlebar of a motorcycle. There was no history of fainting, vomiting, and bleeding from the ears and nose. Extraoral examination revealed an asymmetrical face. Edema and laceration on the upper lip. Intraoral examination revealed gingival laceration of teeth 12-22 and avulsion of teeth 12,22. Panoramic x-ray revealed supra position of teeth 11, 21 and avulsion of teeth 12, 22. Case Management: Wound debridement, indirect root canal treatment of teeth 12, 22, repositioning of teeth 12-22, fixation with wire and composite splinting, selective grinding, antibiotics, and analgesics were performed. Post-operative instructions included maintaining oral hygiene, a soft diet, and a return for splinting control. Discussion: The goal of dentoalveolar trauma treatment is to restore the normal function and shape of the masticatory organs. The treatment in this case uses flexible splinting because it has ability to resemble the physiological mobility condition of the teeth which can help the healing of the periodontal ligament. The treatment results showed soft and hard tissue healing after one month of treatment. Conclusion: Successful treatment of dentoalveolar fractures will be achieved if performed promptly and if accurate immobilization and accurate tools are used. Simple tools and techniques make flexible splinting a good treatment for simple dentoalveolar fractures.

PERKEMBANGAN MASA BAYI

Abstract. The baby's social emotional development must be a parent's main goal, because if social emotional development does not go well it will affect and hinder other developments such as psychomotor, emotional and other baby development. This research uses a method called critical review, which involves careful examination and evaluation of various sources of information, such as scientific journals, articles, and other media. The main goal of this approach is to improve readers' comprehension and interpretation skills in the field of early childhood development. Infancy is a time of rapid growth and change, infancy is a time of reduced dependency. The developmental tasks of infancy throughout the life span are, learning to eat solid food, learning to walk, learning to talk, learning to control the elimination of body waste, learning sexual differences and procedures, preparing to read, and learning to distinguish right from wrong, and starting to develop conscience. The development of patterns in the changes experienced by individuals since they were still in the womb over a certain life span, namely, weight, height, physical proportions, bones, muscles and fat, body shape, teeth, nervous system, and development of the sense organs. The psychological function of infancy is the period of formation of fundamental psychological patterns for eating, sleeping, and toileting, although the formation of these habits may not be complete by the end of infancy.

Genome-wide identification and spatiotemporal expression analysis of cadherin superfamily members in echinoderms

BackgroundCadherins are calcium-dependent transmembrane cell–cell adhesion proteins that are essential for metazoan development. They consist of three subfamilies: classical cadherins, which bind catenin, protocadherins, which contain 6–7 calcium-binding repeat domains, and atypical cadherins. Their functions include forming adherens junctions, establishing planar cell polarity (PCP), and regulating cell shape, proliferation, and migration. Because they are basal deuterostomes, echinoderms provide important insights into bilaterian evolution, but their only well-characterized cadherin is G-cadherin, a classical cadherin that is expressed by many embryonic epithelia. We aimed to better characterize echinoderm cadherins by conducting phylogenetic analyses and examining the spatiotemporal expression patterns of cadherin-encoding genes during Strongylocentrotus purpuratus development.ResultsOur phylogenetic analyses conducted on two echinoid, three asteroid, and one crinoid species identified ten echinoderm cadherins, including one deuterostome-specific ortholog, cadherin-23, and an echinoderm-specific atypical cadherin that possibly arose in an echinoid-asteroid ancestor. Catenin-binding domains in dachsous-2 orthologs were found to be a deuterostome-specific innovation that was selectively lost in mouse, while those in Fat4 orthologs appeared to be Ambulacraria-specific and were selectively lost in non-crinoid echinoderms. The identified suite of echinoderm cadherins lacks vertebrate-specific innovations but contains two proteins that are present in protostomes and absent from mouse. The spatiotemporal expression patterns of four embryonically expressed cadherins (fat atypical cadherins 1 and 4, dachsous-2, and protocadherin-9) were dynamic and mirrored the expression pattern of Frizzled 5/8, a non-canonical Wnt PCP pathway receptor protein essential for archenteron morphogenesis.ConclusionsThe echinoderm cadherin toolkit is more similar to that of an ancient bilaterian predating protostomes and deuterostomes than it is to the suite of cadherins found in extant vertebrates. However, it also appears that deuterostomes underwent several cadherin-related innovations. Based on their similar spatiotemporal expression patterns and orthologous relationships to PCP-related and tumor-suppressing proteins, we hypothesize that sea urchin cadherins may play a role in regulating the shape and growth of embryonic epithelia and organs. Future experiments will examine cadherin expression in non-echinoid echinoderms and explore the functions of cadherins during echinoderm development.

TubULAR: tracking in toto deformations of dynamic tissues via constrained maps.

A common motif in biology is the arrangement of cells into tubes, which further transform into complex shapes. Traditionally, analysis of dynamic tissues has relied on inspecting static snapshots, live imaging of cross-sections or tracking isolated cells in three dimensions. However, capturing the interplay between in-plane and out-of-plane behaviors requires following the full surface as it deforms and integrating cell-scale motions into collective, tissue-scale deformations. Here, we present an analysis framework that builds in toto maps of tissue deformations by following tissue parcels in a static material frame of reference. Our approach then relates in-plane and out-of-plane behaviors and decomposes complex deformation maps into elementary contributions. The tube-like surface Lagrangian analysis resource (TubULAR) provides an open-source implementation accessible either as a standalone toolkit or as an extension of the ImSAnE package used in the developmental biology community. We demonstrate our approach by analyzing shape change in the embryonic Drosophila midgut and beating zebrafish heart. The method naturally generalizes to in vitro and synthetic systems and provides ready access to the mechanical mechanisms relating genetic patterning to organ shape change.

Evaluating Sonographers' Awareness of Artifacts in Renal Ultrasound Scans.

A routine ultrasound scan is used to assess a variety of renal pathological cases. Sonographers face a variety of challenges that may affect their interpretation. Understanding normal organ shapes, human anatomy, physical concepts, and artifacts is required for accurate diagnosis. Sonographers must understand how artifacts appear in ultrasound images in order to reduce errors and improve diagnosis. The purpose of this study is to assess sonographers' awareness and knowledge of artifacts in renal ultrasound scans. Participants in this cross-sectional study were asked to complete a survey containing different types of common artifacts in renal system ultrasound scans. An online questionnaire survey was used to collect the data. The questionnaire targeted radiologists, radiologic technologists, and intern students in Madinah hospitals in the ultrasound department. The total number of participants was 99, with 9.1% being radiologists, 31.3% being radiology technologists, 6.1% being senior specialists, and 53.5% being intern students. There was a significant difference in the participants' knowledge of ultrasound artifacts in the renal system with the total selection of the right artifact in senior specialists at 73% and intern students 45%. There was a direct relationship between age and years of experience in distinguishing artifacts in the renal system scan. A category of participants with the highest age and experience got 92% of the correct selection of artifacts. The study concluded that intern students and radiology technologists have limited knowledge of ultrasound scan artifacts, whereas senior specialists and radiologists have a high level of awareness of the artifacts.

SCRIB controls apical contractility during epithelial differentiation.

Although mutations in the SCRIB gene lead to multiple morphological organ defects in vertebrates, the molecular pathway linking SCRIB to organ shape anomalies remains elusive. Here, we study the impact of SCRIB-targeted gene mutations during the formation of the gut epithelium in an organ-on-chip model. We show that SCRIB KO gut-like epithelia are flatter with reduced exposed surface area. Cell differentiation on filters further shows that SCRIB plays a critical role in the control of apical cell shape, as well as in the basoapical polarization of myosin light chain localization and activity. Finally, we show that SCRIB serves as a molecular scaffold for SHROOM2/4 and ROCK1 and identify an evolutionary conserved SHROOM binding site in the SCRIB carboxy-terminal that is required for SCRIB function in the control of apical cell shape. Our results demonstrate that SCRIB plays a key role in epithelial morphogenesis by controlling the epithelial apical contractility during cell differentiation.

Abdominal organ segmentation via deep diffeomorphic mesh deformations

Abdominal organ segmentation from CT and MRI is an essential prerequisite for surgical planning and computer-aided navigation systems. It is challenging due to the high variability in the shape, size, and position of abdominal organs. Three-dimensional numeric representations of abdominal shapes with point-wise correspondence to a template are further important for quantitative and statistical analyses thereof. Recently, template-based surface extraction methods have shown promising advances for direct mesh reconstruction from volumetric scans. However, the generalization of these deep learning-based approaches to different organs and datasets, a crucial property for deployment in clinical environments, has not yet been assessed. We close this gap and employ template-based mesh reconstruction methods for joint liver, kidney, pancreas, and spleen segmentation. Our experiments on manually annotated CT and MRI data reveal limited generalization capabilities of previous methods to organs of different geometry and weak performance on small datasets. We alleviate these issues with a novel deep diffeomorphic mesh-deformation architecture and an improved training scheme. The resulting method, UNetFlow, generalizes well to all four organs and can be easily fine-tuned on new data. Moreover, we propose a simple registration-based post-processing that aligns voxel and mesh outputs to boost segmentation accuracy.

Form and contour: breeding and genetics of organ shape from wild relatives to modern vegetable crops.

Shape is a primary determinant of consumer preference for many horticultural crops and it is also associated with many aspects of marketing, harvest mechanics, and postharvest handling. Perceptions of quality and preference often map to specific shapes of fruits, tubers, leaves, flowers, roots, and other plant organs. As a result, humans have greatly expanded the palette of shapes available for horticultural crops, in many cases creating a series of market classes where particular shapes predominate. Crop wild relatives possess organs shaped by natural selection, while domesticated species possess organs shaped by human desires. Selection for visually-pleasing shapes in vegetable crops resulted from a number of opportunistic factors, including modification of supernumerary cambia, allelic variation at loci that control fundamental processes such as cell division, cell elongation, transposon-mediated variation, and partitioning of photosynthate. Genes that control cell division patterning may be universal shape regulators in horticultural crops, influencing the form of fruits, tubers, and grains in disparate species. Crop wild relatives are often considered less relevant for modern breeding efforts when it comes to characteristics such as shape, however this view may be unnecessarily limiting. Useful allelic variation in wild species may not have been examined or exploited with respect to shape modifications, and newly emergent information on key genes and proteins may provide additional opportunities to regulate the form and contour of vegetable crops.

Genome-wide identification, characterization, and expression analysis of the Ovate family protein in Oryza sativa under biotic and abiotic stresses

The Ovate Family Proteins (OFPs) are plant-specific transcription factors with a conserved OVATE domain. The OFPs regulate organ shape in Arabidopsis and many crops, including rice, tomato, and melon. However, little is known regarding the OFPs' potential role in regulating plant immune response to biotic/abiotic stresses. Herein, we reported the identification, bioinformatic, and Insilco analysis of OFPs in rice (Oryza sativa L). Thirty-one OsOFP genes were identified from the rice genome database and further divided into six subgroups based on their sequence similarities. Gene expression analysis in developmental stages indicated that some members of the OsOFP gene family displayed tissue-specific patterns. Enrichment of hormonal-related cis-acting elements and varied expression under phytohormones further validated their participation in hormone-mediated plant growth. The microarray expression analysis showed their possible involvement against salinity, drought, brown planthopper (BPH)_striped rice stemborer (SSB) (OsOFP25), and rice leaf folder (RLF) (OsOFP26) infestations. The higher expression of OsOFP25 in the OsWRKY65-OE line implies their key role in reproductive biology. These results provide a systematic analysis of the OsOFPs and lay a foundation for the functional characterization of this gene family.

Smooth Elongation ofPavement Cells Induced by RIC1 Overexpression Leads to Marginal Protrusions ofthe Cotyledon inArabidopsis thaliana.

The interdigitated pavement cell shape is suggested to be mechanically rational at both the cellular and tissue levels, but the biological significance of the cell shape is not fully understood. In this study, we explored the potential importance of the jigsaw puzzle-like cell shape for cotyledon morphogenesis in Arabidopsis. We used a transgenic line overexpressing a Rho-like GTPase-interacting protein, ROP-INTERACTIVE CRIB MOTIF-CONTAINING PROTEIN 1 (RIC1), which causes simple elongation of pavement cells. Computer-assisted microscopic analyses, including virtual reality observation, revealed that RIC1 overexpression resulted in abnormal cotyledon shapes with marginal protrusions, suggesting that the abnormal organ shape might be explained by changes in the pavement cell shape. Microscopic, biochemical and mechanical observations indicated that the pavement cell deformation might be due to reduction in the cell wall cellulose content with alteration of cortical microtubule organization. To examine our hypothesis that simple elongation of pavement cells leads to an abnormal shape with marginal protrusion of the cotyledon, we developed a mathematical model that examines the impact of planar cell growth geometry on the morphogenesis of the organ that is an assemblage of the cells. Computer simulations supported experimental observations that elongated pavement cells resulted in an irregular cotyledon shape, suggesting that marginal protrusions were due to local growth variation possibly caused by stochastic bias in the direction of cell elongation cannot be explained only by polarity-based cell elongation, but that an organ-level regulatory mechanism is required.

Chondroitin sulfate is required for follicle epithelial integrity and organ shape maintenance in Drosophila.

Heparan sulfate (HS) and chondroitin sulfate (CS) are evolutionarily conserved glycosaminoglycans that are found in most animal species, including the genetically tractable model organism Drosophila. In contrast to extensive in vivo studies elucidating co-receptor functions of Drosophila HS proteoglycans (PGs), only a limited number of studies have been conducted for those of CSPGs. To investigate the global function of CS in development, we generated mutants for Chondroitin sulfate synthase (Chsy), which encodes the Drosophila homolog of mammalian chondroitin synthase 1, a crucial CS biosynthetic enzyme. Our characterizations of the Chsy mutants indicated that a fraction survive to adult stage, which allowed us to analyze the morphology of the adult organs. In the ovary, Chsy mutants exhibited altered stiffness of the basement membrane and muscle dysfunction, leading to a gradual degradation of the gross organ structure as mutant animals aged. Our observations show that normal CS function is required for the maintenance of the structural integrity of the ECM and gross organ architecture.

Внешность человека через призму зооморфной метафоры в русском и китайском языках

The study aims to identify the universal and culture-specific parameters of imagery underlying Russian and Chinese zoomorphic metaphors that are involved in the creation of typical ideas about human appearance. The paper considers the lexical representation of the metaphorical understanding of human appearance through animalistic images in a comparative aspect. Within the framework of the basic metaphorical model “Animal appearance – human appearance”, the following frames were identified and analysed: “General assessment of appearance”, “Physique and height”, “Shape of body parts and organs”, “Physical condition” and “Age”. The study is novel in that it is the first to describe and systematise a segment of zoomorphic metaphorics formed on the basis of the source domain “External characteristics of an animal” using the material of the Russian and Chinese languages. As a result of the study, it has been found that the process of development of metaphorical meanings in the zoomorphisms characterising human appearance in the languages under consideration is generally based on similar prototypical ideas about the anthropomorphic properties of an animal. At the same time, an emotional and evaluative rethinking of their meanings occurs under the influence of national consciousness stereotypes, which results in the same zoonyms receiving unequal metaphorical development and evaluative interpretation within the framework of the linguistic cultures under consideration.

Intelligent contour extraction approach for accurate segmentation of medical ultrasound images.

Introduction: Accurate contour extraction in ultrasound images is of great interest for image-guided organ interventions and disease diagnosis. Nevertheless, it remains a problematic issue owing to the missing or ambiguous outline between organs (i.e., prostate and kidney) and surrounding tissues, the appearance of shadow artifacts, and the large variability in the shape of organs. Methods: To address these issues, we devised a method that includes four stages. In the first stage, the data sequence is acquired using an improved adaptive selection principal curve method, in which a limited number of radiologist defined data points are adopted as the prior. The second stage then uses an enhanced quantum evolution network to help acquire the optimal neural network. The third stage involves increasing the precision of the experimental outcomes after training the neural network, while using the data sequence as the input. In the final stage, the contour is smoothed using an explicable mathematical formula explained by the model parameters of the neural network. Results: Our experiments showed that our approach outperformed other current methods, including hybrid and Transformer-based deep-learning methods, achieving an average Dice similarity coefficient, Jaccard similarity coefficient, and accuracy of 95.7 ± 2.4%, 94.6 ± 2.6%, and 95.3 ± 2.6%, respectively. Discussion: This work develops an intelligent contour extraction approach on ultrasound images. Our approach obtained more satisfactory outcome compared with recent state-of-the-art approaches . The knowledge of precise boundaries of the organ is significant for the conservation of risk structures. Our developed approach has the potential to enhance disease diagnosis and therapeutic outcomes.

Two new species of Sminthurididae (Hexapoda, Collembola, Symphypleona) from Brazil with notes on Denisiella Folsom & Mills and Sphaeridia Linnaniemi.

Two new species of Sminthurididae, Sphaeridiapiauiensis Medeiros & Bellini, sp. nov. and Denisiellapiracurucaensis Silva, Medeiros & Bellini, sp. nov. from Piaui state, Brazil, are herein described and illustrated. Sphaeridiapiauiensissp. nov. resembles species of the irmleri group, like S.irmleri Bretfeld & Gauer, S.fibulifera Bretfeld & Gauer, and S.peruensis Bretfeld & Schulz, by its complex male ventral tube without asymmetrical structures or medial process. However, it differs from them by the combination of the male tibiotarsus III with a leaf-shaped IIpe chaeta and a regular IIIpi chaeta, ventral tube with 1+1 chaetae, and the absence cuticular hooks on the furca. Denisiellapiracurucaensissp. nov. resembles its congeners without the nasal organ, especially D.colombiana Ospina & Palacios-Vargas, by the presence of spiniform chaetae at least on the second antennal segment of the females, four serrated spines on tibiotarsus III, and the ventral dens chaetotaxy, but D.piracurucaensissp. nov. differs from the latter especially by the presence of 8+8 eyes and the shape of the male proximal tibiotarsal organ. To describe both species all Neotropical Sphaeridia and all described Denisiella species were surveyed, presenting notes on both genera, comparative tables, and keys for these taxa.

Increased gene expression variability hinders the formation of regional mechanical conflicts leading to reduced organ shape robustness

To relate gene networks and organ shape, one needs to address two wicked problems: i) Gene expression is often variable locally, and shape is reproducible globally; ii) gene expression can have cascading effects on tissue mechanics, with possibly counterintuitive consequences for the final organ shape. Here, we address such wicked problems, taking advantage of simpler plant organ development where shape only emerges from cell division and elongation. We confirm that mutation in VERNALIZATION INDEPENDENCE 3 (VIP3), a subunit of the conserved polymerase-associated factor 1 complex (Paf1C), increases gene expression variability in Arabidopsis. Then, we focused on the Arabidopsis sepal, which exhibits a reproducible shape and stereotypical regional growth patterns. In vip3 sepals, we measured higher growth heterogeneity between adjacent cells. This even culminated in the presence of negatively growing cells in specific growth conditions. Interestingly, such increased local noise interfered with the stereotypical regional pattern of growth. We previously showed that regional differential growth at the wild-type sepal tip triggers a mechanical conflict, to which cells resist by reinforcing their walls, leading to growth arrest. In vip3, the disturbed regional growth pattern delayed organ growth arrest and increased final organ shape variability. Altogether, we propose that gene expression variability is managed by Paf1C to ensure organ robustness by building up mechanical conflicts at the regional scale, instead of the local scale.

Spatial consistency of cell growth direction during organ morphogenesis requires CELLULOSE SYNTHASE INTERACTIVE1

Extracellular matrices contain fibril-like polymers often organized in parallel arrays. Although their role in morphogenesis has been long recognized, it remains unclear how the subcellular control of fibril synthesis translates into organ shape. We address this question using the Arabidopsis sepal as a model organ. In plants, cell growth is restrained by the cell wall (extracellular matrix). Cellulose microfibrils are the main load-bearing wall component, thought to channel growth perpendicularly to their main orientation. Given the key function of CELLULOSE SYNTHASE INTERACTIVE1 (CSI1) in guidance of cellulose synthesis, we investigate the role of CSI1 in sepal morphogenesis. We observe that sepals from csi1 mutants are shorter, although their newest cellulose microfibrils are more aligned compared to wild-type. Surprisingly, cell growth anisotropy is similar in csi1 and wild-type plants. We resolve this apparent paradox by showing that CSI1 is required for spatial consistency of growth direction across the sepal.

Activity recovery for differently shaped objects in quantitative SPECT

Objective. The aim was to theoretically and experimentally investigate recovery in SPECT images with objects of different shapes. Furthermore, the accuracy of volume estimation by thresholding was studied for those shapes. Approach. Nine spheres, nine oblate spheroids, and nine prolate spheroids phantom inserts were used, of which the six smaller spheres were part of the NEMA IEC body phantom and the rest of the inserts were 3D-printed. The inserts were filled with 99mTc and 177Lu. When filled with 99mTc, SPECT images were acquired in a Siemens Symbia Intevo Bold gamma camera and when filled with 177Lu in a General Electric NM/CT 870 DR gamma camera. The signal rate per activity (SRPA) was determined for all inserts and represented as a function of the volume-to-surface ratio and of the volume-equivalent radius using VOIs defined according to the sphere dimensions and VOIs defined using thresholding. Experimental values were compared with theoretical curves obtained analytically (spheres) or numerically (spheroids), starting from the convolution of a source distribution with a point-spread function. Validation of the activity estimation strategy was performed using four 3D-printed ellipsoids. Lastly, the threshold values necessary to determine the volume of each insert were obtained. Main results. Results showed that SRPA values for the oblate spheroids diverted from the other inserts, when SRPA were represented as a function of the volume-equivalent radius. However, SRPA values for all inserts followed a similar behaviour when represented as a function of the volume-to-surface ratio. Results for ellipsoids were in agreement with those results. For the three types of inserts the volume could be accurately estimated using a threshold method for volumes larger than 25 ml. Significance. Determination of SRPA independently of lesion or organ shape should decrease uncertainties in estimated activities and thereby, in the long term, be beneficial to patient care.

Auxin biosynthesis gene FveYUC4 is critical for leaf and flower morphogenesis in woodland strawberry.

Auxin plays an essential role in plant growth and development, particularly in fruit development. The YUCCA (YUC) genes encode flavin monooxygenases that catalyze a rate-limiting step in auxin biosynthesis. Mutations that disrupt YUC gene function provide useful tools for dissecting general and specific functions of auxin during plant development. In woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca), two ethyl methanesulfonate mutants, Y422 and Y1011, have been identified that exhibit severe defects in leaves and flowers. In particular, the width of the leaf blade is greatly reduced, and each leaflet in the mutants has fewer and deeper serrations. In addition, the number and shape of the floral organs are altered, resulting in smaller fruits. Mapping by sequencing revealed that both mutations reside in the FveYUC4 gene, and were therefore renamed as yuc4-1 and yuc4-2. Consistent with a role for FveYUC4 in auxin synthesis, free auxin and its metabolites are significantly reduced in the yuc4 leaves and flowers. This role of FveYUC4 in leaf and flower development is supported by its high and specific expression in young leaves and flower buds using GUS reporters. Furthermore, germline transformation of pYUC4::YUC4, which resulted in elevated expression of FveYUC4 in yuc4 mutants, not only rescued the leaf and flower defects but also produced parthenocarpic fruits. Taken together, our data demonstrate that FveYUC4 is essential for leaf and flower morphogenesis in woodland strawberry by providing auxin hormone at the proper time and in the right tissues.

On a remarkable sexual dimorphic trait on scales and fins of the old world Cyprinodontiformes (Actinopterygii: Aphaniidae)

AbstractSecondary sexual dimorphism is an interesting and stupendous subject of research study due to the fact that it is a result of sexual selection, mostly attributed to either female mate choice or male–male competition. This study aims to investigate the microscopic characterization of scales and fin rays in several aphaniids (Cyprinodontiformes: Aphaniidae) to find out the possibility of using these structures as secondary sexual dimorphism traits and discuss their taxonomic and evolutionary significance. Herein, the results reveal that (i) male individuals of aphaniid species of the genera Aphanius, Aphaniops and Paraphanius present contact organs in the forms of ctenus‐like structure (in posterior margin of the scales) and spicule‐like structure (in anal fin rays) that show sexual dimorphism of scales and fins; (ii) number, position, size and shape of contact organs provide taxonomic signal to distinguish members of the genus Aphaniops from two other genera; (iii) females of Aphaniops ginaonis also represent contact organs in scales but fewer than males and (iv) as the sexual dimorphism results from different sexual selection pressures acting on males and females, it provides evolutionary signals.