Biology subjects

Vogel, S.

Publications and source records attributed to Vogel, S..

6 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Sample coverage standardization ranks species richness of saproxylic beetles across European tree genera

Aims In forest ecosystems, tree species composition and diversity are fundamental drivers of biodiversity and many species are closely associated to specific tree species as hosts. Saproxylic diversity across tree species may be shaped by interactions between ecological and environmental factors, such as resource availability. However, a throughout and unbiased quantification of diversity across tree species is missing. We investigated patterns an drivers of saproxylic beetle diversity across European tree genera while accounting for differences in sampling effort. Location Europe Methods We used a large dataset, of 25 studies, comprising 500,000 deadwood-dependent beetles, representing 1041 saproxylic beetle species, sampled from 29 tree genera. We accounted for sampling effort by estimating diversity using coverage-based standardization across Hill numbers. We than used linear models to identify drivers of saproxylic beetle diversity across tree genera and assessed differences in community composition using Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS). Additionally, the most abundant beetle families were identified for a subset of 14 genera. Results Quercus supported the highest richness of infrequent, frequent, and highly frequent species, while Fagus exhibited the highest observed (unstandardized) species richness. Beetle communities were less differentiated when focusing on infrequent species, whereas tree genera were separated when focusing on frequent and highly frequent species. In addition, we found that resource availability and maximum tree height best predicted infrequent beetle diversity, whereas resource availability was the main driver of frequent species. In contrast, the same analyses for unstandardized data indicated postglacial occurrence as an important factor for infrequent species. Main conclusions Although resource availability supported the species area hypothesis, standardized data revealed higher richness on smaller trees, partly contradicting this pattern. Our results highlight the importance of accounting for sampling bias and promoting tree diversity, particularly oaks, to sustain saproxylic beetle diversity.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2026

Lipid-conjugated DNA enables on-demand delivery of lipids and proteins to synthetic cells

The bottom-up construction of synthetic cells based on giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) is a central goal in synthetic biology. Achieving targeted changes in membrane and cytoplasmic composition with temporal control remains challenging however. DNA-mediated fusion with small vesicles ([~]100 nm large unilamellar vesicles; LUVs) has been proposed as a strategy to deliver lipids and cytosolic contents in a programmable manner. However, in vitro, membrane fusion is generally found to be inefficient and poorly controllable for reasons that are poorly understood. Here, we present an approach based on lipid-conjugated DNA (LiNA) to mediate programmable fusion between LUVs and micron-sized GUVs, which we quantitatively monitor with confocal microscopy at the single-GUV level. We show that lipid and content mixing both occur with high efficiency over a wide range of LiNA concentrations, demonstrating that LiNAs indeed induce robust membrane fusion. Furthermore, we show that LiNA-mediated fusion provides a powerful tool to deliver cytosolic biomolecules, enabling control over internal activities. Our findings establish a quantitative framework for studying fusion-driven processes in synthetic cells and provide a versatile platform for the programmable delivery of lipids and cytosolic cargoes - thus advancing the development of synthetic cells that can grow and adapt through fusion-based uptake of molecular building blocks.

synthetic biology↗

bioRxiv2024

Recent neo-X and Y sex chromosomes in an ant cricket

In eukaryotes with separate sexes, sex determination often involves heteromorphic sex chromosomes which have diverged as a consequence of recombination suppression. In species with very old heteromorphic sex chromosomes, mechanisms such as dosage compensation and meiotic sex chromosome inactivation adjust for the fact that sex chromosomes occur as a single copy in the heterogametic sex. However, how such mechanisms evolve remains largely unknown because species with young sex chromosomes characterised by recent recombination suppression remain understudied. We discovered such young neo-sex chromosomes in the ant cricket Myrmecophilus myrmecophilus, which displays a neo-XY system. We generated a chromosomal-level assembly of the female genome and compared it to male genomic data and identified four evolutionary strata on the X, with varying degrees of Y chromosome degeneration. Phylogenetic studies and genomic comparisons with closely related species revealed two cases of taxonomic synonymies and that the Myrmecophilus neo-sex chromosomes likely evolved approximately 7 million years ago from an X-autosome fusion. The X strata subsequently emerged as a consequence of two localised events of recombination suppression. Ant crickets thus represent a promising new model for studying the early stages of sex chromosome degeneration and the establishment of processes such as dosage compensation or meiotic sex chromosome inactivation.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2021

Single particle combinatorial multiplexed liposome fusion mediated by DNA

Combinatorial high throughput methodologies are central for both screening and discovery in synthetic biochemistry and biomedical sciences. They are, however, often reliant on large scale analyses and thus limited by long running time and excessive materials cost. We herein present Single PARticle Combinatorial multiplexed Liposome fusion mediated by DNA (SPARCLD), for the parallelized, multi-step and non-deterministic fusion of individual zeptoliter nanocontainers. We observed directly the efficient (>93%), and leakage free stochastic fusion sequences for arrays of surface tethered target liposomes with six freely diffusing populations of cargo liposomes, each functionalized with individual lipidated ssDNA (LiNA) and fluorescent barcoded by distinct ratio of chromophores. The stochastic fusion results in distinct permutation of fusion sequences for each autonomous nanocontainer. Real-time TIRF imaging allowed the direct observation of >16000 fusions and 566 distinct fusion sequences accurately classified using machine learning. The high-density arrays of surface tethered target nanocontainers [~]42,000 containers per mm2 offers entire combinatorial multiplex screens using only picograms of material.

biophysics↗

bioRxiv2019

The semantic control network mediates the relationship between symbolic numerical order processing and arithmetic performance in children

Behavioral and neuroimaging studies have recently demonstrated that symbolic numerical order processing (i.e., deciding whether numbers are in an increasing/decreasing sequence or not) may engages different cognitive mechanisms and brain regions compared to symbolic numerical magnitude processing (e.g., deciding which of two numerals is larger). Because of this behavioral dissociation, growing interest has emerged to better understand the neurocognitive mechanisms of symbolic numerical order processing and their relationship to individual differences in arithmetic performance. In the present functional imaging work, we further investigated this link in a group of thirty children (7.2-10.25 years) from elementary school, who completed a symbolic numerical order verification (are the numbers going up? e.g., 1-2-3), a symbolic numerical magnitude comparison task (which is the larger number? e.g., 5-7), as well as an arithmetic fluency test outside the scanner. Behavioral results demonstrated the unique role of numerical order to predict childrens arithmetic skills and confirmed its mediating power to explain the association between numerical magnitude and arithmetic performance. Imaging results showed a significant association between numerical order and arithmetic in the intersection of the right inferior frontal gyrus and insula, as well as the posterior middle temporal gyrus. An age-dependent change in brain activity was found in the left intraparietal sulcus. These findings solidify the developmental importance of symbolic numerical order processing in children and provides new evidence that the semantic control network mediates the relationship with arithmetic performance. HighlightsO_LIReaction times of numerical order are a unique predictor of arithmetic (73) C_LIO_LINumerical order mediates the relationship of numerical magnitude with arithmetic (83) C_LIO_LIBrain activation of numerical order processing changes with age in the left IPS (82) C_LIO_LIThe semantic control network mediates the relationship with arithmetic (79) C_LI

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2018

Cortical Actomyosin Flows are Generated by Actomyosin Cluster Vibrations in Vitro

Cortical actomyosin flows play pivotal roles in cell motility, cell division and animal morphogenesis. According to many model systems, myosin motor induced local contractions are key for generating cortical flows. However, the original mechanism how large-scale directed flows emerge from local motor activity in an apparently isotropic cortex is unknown. We reconstituted and confined minimal actomyosin cortices to the interfaces of emulsion droplets. The presence of ATP leads to myosin-induced cortical contractions that self-organize into directed flow-like actomyosin motions. By combining our experiments with theory, we found that the large-scale directional motion of actomyosin clusters emerges from individual asymmetric cluster vibrations, caused by intrinsic non-isotropic ATP consumption, in conjunction with spherical confinement. By tracking individual actomyosin clusters, we identified fingerprints of vibrational states as the basis of directed motions. These vibrations may represent a generic key driver of directed actomyosin flows under spatial confinement in vitro and in living systems.

synthetic biology↗