Confined epidermal cells mimic in vivo migration and reveal volume-speed relationship
By: Ellie Labuz (Theriot Lab)

Functional Evolution of a Meristem Identity Gene
By: Hannah McConnell (Di Stilio Lab)

In bacteria, plasmids can move horizontally between cells of the same and different species through the process of conjugation. When a plasmid imposes a fitness cost on its bacterial host, a sufficiently high level of conjugation is required to maintain the extrachromosomal element in the population (effectively as a molecular parasite). For costly plasmids with low conjugation rates, their long-term persistence presents a paradox. Prime examples of this paradoxical persistence concern plasmids that house antibiotic resistance genes, which can be costly in the absence of antibiotics.

An animal’s skin provides a durable barrier to environmental insults, but also serves as a substrate for somatosensory neurons and a first point of contact with the sensory world. Indeed, many types of cutaneous receptors form specialized terminal structures within the skin that contribute to somatosensation, and recent studies have begun to define primary sensory functions for skin cells.