Metabolism

A small selection of Open Access articles on metabolism from The Company of Biologists’ journals

METHODS & TECHNIQUES

Development of a diet-induced murine model of diabetes featuring cardinal metabolic and pathophysiological abnormalities of type 2 diabetes

Jodie L. Morris, Tahnee L. Bridson, Md Abdul Alim, Catherine M. Rush, Donna M. Rudd, Brenda L. Govan, Natkunam Ketheesan

Biology Open 2016 5: 1149-1162; doi: 10.1242/bio.016790

Summary: We describe a murine model of type 2 diabetes based on chronic consumption of an energy-dense diet. Longitudinal sampling demonstrates metabolic and pathological changes closely simulating progression to overt diabetes.

RESEARCH ARTICLES

Metabolite profile of a mouse model of Charcot–Marie–Tooth type 2D neuropathy: implications for disease mechanisms and interventions

Preeti Bais, Kirk Beebe, Kathryn H. Morelli, Meagan E. Currie, Sara N. Norberg, Alexei V. Evsikov, Kathy E. Miers, Kevin L. Seburn, Velina Guergueltcheva, Ivo Kremensky, Albena Jordanova, Carol J. Bult, Robert W. Burgess

Biology Open 2016 5: 908-920; doi: 10.1242/bio.019273
Summary: A metabolomics analysis of a mouse model of Charcot–Marie–Tooth type 2D neuropathy revealed a clear distinction between mutant and control samples, and the therapeutic potential of a subset of these changes was explored.

The effects of laboratory housing and spatial enrichment on brain size and metabolic rate in the eastern mosquitofish, Gambusia holbrooki

Mischa P. Turschwell, Craig R. White

Biology Open 2016 5: 205-210; doi: 10.1242/bio.015024

Summary: The discovery of a difference in brain size between adult mosquitofish living in the wild, in spatially enriched tanks and in bare tanks has implications for the effect of environmental enrichment on transferability of data from laboratory animals to their wild counterparts.

To boldly gulp: standard metabolic rate and boldness have context-dependent influences on risk-taking to breathe air in a catfish

David J. McKenzie, Thiago C. Belão, Shaun S. Killen, F. Tadeu Rantin

Journal of Experimental Biology 2015 218: 3762-3770; doi: 10.1242/jeb.122903Highlighted Article: Air is much richer in oxygen than water, but surfacing to gulp air can require boldness in the air-breathing catfish.

The Menkes and Wilson disease genes counteract in copper toxicosis in Labrador retrievers: a new canine model for copper-metabolism disorders

Hille Fieten, Yadvinder Gill, Alan J. Martin, Mafalda Concilli, Karen Dirksen, Frank G. van Steenbeek, Bart Spee, Ted S. G. A. M. van den Ingh, Ellen C. C. P. Martens, Paola Festa, Giancarlo Chesi, Bart van de Sluis, Roderick H. J. H. Houwen, Adrian L. Watson, Yurii S. Aulchenko, Victoria L. Hodgkinson, Sha Zhu, Michael J. Petris, Roman S. Polishchuk, Peter A. J. Leegwater, Jan Rothuizen

Disease Models & Mechanisms 2016 9: 25-38; doi: 10.1242/dmm.020263Summary: Labrador retrievers with hereditary copper toxicosis are a useful new model for copper-metabolism disorders.

SHORT COMMUNICATION

Shoaling reduces metabolic rate in a gregarious coral reef fish species

Lauren E. Nadler, Shaun S. Killen, Eva C. McClure, Philip L. Munday, Mark I. McCormick

Journal of Experimental Biology 2016 219: 2802-2805; doi: 10.1242/jeb.139493Highlighted Article: Group living reduces metabolic rate in a shoaling damselfish species, while isolation reduces body condition. Social isolation due to environmental disturbance may therefore have physiological consequences for gregarious species.