@article{14479, abstract = {In animals, parasitic infections impose significant fitness costs.1,2,3,4,5,6 Infected animals can alter their feeding behavior to resist infection,7,8,9,10,11,12 but parasites can manipulate animal foraging behavior to their own benefits.13,14,15,16 How nutrition influences host-parasite interactions is not well understood, as studies have mainly focused on the host and less on the parasite.9,12,17,18,19,20,21,22,23 We used the nutritional geometry framework24 to investigate the role of amino acids (AA) and carbohydrates (C) in a host-parasite system: the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile, and the entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhizium brunneum. First, using 18 diets varying in AA:C composition, we established that the fungus performed best on the high-amino-acid diet 1:4. Second, we found that the fungus reached this optimal diet when given various diet pairings, revealing its ability to cope with nutritional challenges. Third, we showed that the optimal fungal diet reduced the lifespan of healthy ants when compared with a high-carbohydrate diet but had no effect on infected ants. Fourth, we revealed that infected ant colonies, given a choice between the optimal fungal diet and a high-carbohydrate diet, chose the optimal fungal diet, whereas healthy colonies avoided it. Lastly, by disentangling fungal infection from host immune response, we demonstrated that infected ants foraged on the optimal fungal diet in response to immune activation and not as a result of parasite manipulation. Therefore, we revealed that infected ant colonies chose a diet that is costly for survival in the long term but beneficial in the short term—a form of collective self-medication.}, author = {Csata, Eniko and Perez-Escudero, Alfonso and Laury, Emmanuel and Leitner, Hanna and Latil, Gerard and Heinze, Juerge and Simpson, Stephen and Cremer, Sylvia and Dussutour, Audrey}, issn = {1879-0445}, journal = {Current Biology}, number = {4}, pages = {902--909.e6}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{Fungal infection alters collective nutritional intake of ant colonies}}, doi = {10.1016/j.cub.2024.01.017}, volume = {34}, year = {2024}, } @article{15045, abstract = {Coupling of orbital motion to a spin degree of freedom gives rise to various transport phenomena in quantum systems that are beyond the standard paradigms of classical physics. Here, we discuss features of spin-orbit dynamics that can be visualized using a classical model with two coupled angular degrees of freedom. Specifically, we demonstrate classical ‘spin’ filtering through our model and show that the interplay between angular degrees of freedom and dissipation can lead to asymmetric ‘spin’ transport.}, author = {Varshney, Atul and Ghazaryan, Areg and Volosniev, Artem}, issn = {1432-5411}, journal = {Few-Body Systems}, keywords = {Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Classical ‘spin’ filtering with two degrees of freedom and dissipation}}, doi = {10.1007/s00601-024-01880-x}, volume = {65}, year = {2024}, } @article{15053, abstract = {Atom-based quantum simulators have had many successes in tackling challenging quantum many-body problems, owing to the precise and dynamical control that they provide over the systems' parameters. They are, however, often optimized to address a specific type of problem. Here, we present the design and implementation of a 6Li-based quantum gas platform that provides wide-ranging capabilities and is able to address a variety of quantum many-body problems. Our two-chamber architecture relies on a robust combination of gray molasses and optical transport from a laser-cooling chamber to a glass cell with excellent optical access. There, we first create unitary Fermi superfluids in a three-dimensional axially symmetric harmonic trap and characterize them using in situ thermometry, reaching temperatures below 20 nK. This allows us to enter the deep superfluid regime with samples of extreme diluteness, where the interparticle spacing is sufficiently large for direct single-atom imaging. Second, we generate optical lattice potentials with triangular and honeycomb geometry in which we study diffraction of molecular Bose-Einstein condensates, and show how going beyond the Kapitza-Dirac regime allows us to unambiguously distinguish between the two geometries. With the ability to probe quantum many-body physics in both discrete and continuous space, and its suitability for bulk and single-atom imaging, our setup represents an important step towards achieving a wide-scope quantum simulator.}, author = {Jin, Shuwei and Dai, Kunlun and Verstraten, Joris and Dixmerias, Maxime and Al Hyder, Ragheed and Salomon, Christophe and Peaudecerf, Bruno and de Jongh, Tim and Yefsah, Tarik}, issn = {2643-1564}, journal = {Physical Review Research}, keywords = {General Physics and Astronomy}, number = {1}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, title = {{Multipurpose platform for analog quantum simulation}}, doi = {10.1103/physrevresearch.6.013158}, volume = {6}, year = {2024}, } @article{15048, abstract = {Embryogenesis results from the coordinated activities of different signaling pathways controlling cell fate specification and morphogenesis. In vertebrate gastrulation, both Nodal and BMP signaling play key roles in germ layer specification and morphogenesis, yet their interplay to coordinate embryo patterning with morphogenesis is still insufficiently understood. Here, we took a reductionist approach using zebrafish embryonic explants to study the coordination of Nodal and BMP signaling for embryo patterning and morphogenesis. We show that Nodal signaling triggers explant elongation by inducing mesendodermal progenitors but also suppressing BMP signaling activity at the site of mesendoderm induction. Consistent with this, ectopic BMP signaling in the mesendoderm blocks cell alignment and oriented mesendoderm intercalations, key processes during explant elongation. Translating these ex vivo observations to the intact embryo showed that, similar to explants, Nodal signaling suppresses the effect of BMP signaling on cell intercalations in the dorsal domain, thus allowing robust embryonic axis elongation. These findings suggest a dual function of Nodal signaling in embryonic axis elongation by both inducing mesendoderm and suppressing BMP effects in the dorsal portion of the mesendoderm.}, author = {Schauer, Alexandra and Pranjic-Ferscha, Kornelija and Hauschild, Robert and Heisenberg, Carl-Philipp J}, issn = {1477-9129}, journal = {Development}, number = {4}, pages = {1--18}, publisher = {The Company of Biologists}, title = {{Robust axis elongation by Nodal-dependent restriction of BMP signaling}}, doi = {10.1242/dev.202316}, volume = {151}, year = {2024}, } @misc{14926, author = {Hauschild, Robert}, publisher = {ISTA}, title = {{Matlab script for analysis of clone dispersal}}, doi = {10.15479/AT:ISTA:14926}, year = {2024}, }