Unlike all other mammals studied to date, the age-specific risk of mortality for naked mole-rats did not increase over decades of life, identifying this species as a non-aging mammal.
Rachel A Johnston, Philippe Vullioud ... Jenny Tung
In cooperatively breeding Damaraland mole-rats, transitioning to 'queen' results in extensive gene regulatory and morphological remodeling, but also costs to skeletal integrity that scale with reproductive investment.
Henrike Indrischek, Juliane Hammer ... Michael Hiller
Specific evolutionary gene loss signatures indicated an eye-related function for the uncharacterized SERPINE3 gene, which was experimentally confirmed by zebrafish gene knockouts, showing how comparative genomics can provide insights into the function of uncharacterized genes.
Raghavendran Partha, Bharesh K Chauhan ... Nathan L Clark
Repeated evolution of eye regression in subterranean mammals helps identify genes and regulatory elements involved in visual perception and development of the eye, and predicts candidate sequences with a potential role in ocular disorders.
Gerbils exhibit stable, family-specific vocal dialects over weeks, suggesting vocal communication may play a key role in representing kinship in natural social groups.
