Karen E. Sears

Validating wing biopsies for blood-borne pathogen characterization in bats

This study evaluates the reliability of using wing biopsies to detect blood-borne pathogens in bats, finding lower detection rates compared to blood but still viable for initial pathogen discovery.

Gene co-expression networks reveal differential developmental modularity in Mammalian limbs

The paper uses gene co-expression networks to analyze limb development in mice, bats, and opossums, finding increased modularity in bat forelimb development.

Postnatal Development of the Gray Short Tailed Opossum (Monodelphis domestica): Implications for Metatherian Decline at the K/Pg Boundary

This study examines the postnatal development of the pouchless gray short-tailed opossum, revealing insights into the evolutionary life history strategies of marsupials and their survival during the K/Pg extinction.

Conservation, alteration, and redistribution of mammalian striatal interneurons

The paper analyzes the conservation and evolution of striatal interneurons across mammals, finding that TAC3 interneurons are conserved and that neuronal types evolve through redistribution and refinement.

Getting a head start: Craniofacial heterochrony in marsupials involves dynamic changes to cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying neural crest migration

This study investigates the cellular and molecular mechanisms of neural crest migration in marsupials, revealing unique heterochronic patterns compared to other vertebrates.

Different orthology inference algorithms generate similar predicted orthogroups among Brassicaceae species

This study compares orthology inference algorithms across Brassicaceae species, finding similar predicted orthogroups despite genomic complexity.

Marsupial limb patterning redefines the necessity of lateral plate mesoderm subdivision for limb formation

This study shows that marsupial limb development bypasses lateral plate mesoderm subdivision, challenging previous models of tetrapod limb formation.

Expanding the Evo-Devo Toolkit: Generation of 3D mammary tissue from diverse mammals

This study generates 3D mammary organoids from eight eutherian mammals and a marsupial, revealing species-specific roles of ROCK in branching morphogenesis.

Castration delays epigenetic aging and feminises DNA methylation at androgen-regulated loci

This study develops an epigenetic clock for sheep and finds that castration slows aging and feminizes DNA methylation at androgen-regulated loci.

Targeted sequence capture outperforms RNA-Seq and degenerate-primer PCR cloning for sequencing the largest mammalian multi-gene family

The paper compares sequencing methods for recovering olfactory receptor genes in vampire bats, finding targeted sequence capture outperforms RNA-Seq and Sanger sequencing.

Evidence for multifactorial processes underlying phenotypic variation in bat visual opsins

The paper examines the genetic basis of visual opsin variation in bats, finding that loss of S-opsin occurs through disruptions at different stages of protein synthesis and is linked to ecological factors.