Biology subjects

Mora, K.

Publications and source records attributed to Mora, K..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Global Convergence of Plant Functional Trait Composition in the Anthropocene

Since the onset of European colonial expansion, humans have accelerated species migration across continents, reshaping plant functional composition and associated ecosystem processes. Plant functional traits-such as leaf area, plant height, or rooting depth-are structured along major axes of variation, including size and leaf economics, that reflect ecological strategies. While human-mediated changes in this trait space have been documented regionally or for specific taxa, there exists no global, grid cell-level quantification of past shifts across major axes of trait variation. Here, we link global citizen science plant occurrence data with data on 37 above- and below-ground traits, and information on native and introduced status for each occurrence. Using dimension-reduction on grid cell-level trait means and introduced species status as a proxy for anthropogenic change, we identify three major axes of functional variation: the size, leaf economics, and life-span axes. By comparing past (native-only) and present-day trait distributions in 3D trait space and geographically, we find prominent region-specific shifts along all three axes. Overall, functional composition converges toward (mostly) smaller, more acquisitive, and shorter-lived assemblages, with region-specific differences in which axis shifts are most pronounced. These results provide the first global estimate of how human-mediated plant introductions have altered ecosystem functional composition in the past centuries, highlighting the spatial patterns and trait dimensions most affected by anthropogenic pressures.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

Above- and below-ground trait coordination across 90 angiosperm and gymnosperm tree species

Quantifying the variation in plant traits reveals the trade-offs involved in plant ecological strategies and is fundamental to understanding underlying plant fitness mechanisms. Thus, the ecological success of plant species in a certain habitat may depend on the coordinated performance of both leaves and roots. However, despite the growing interest in trait variation, it is still uncertain i) to what extent the leaf economics spectrum (LES) and root economics space (RES) hold across locally coexisting tree species and ii) whether leaf and fine-root traits are correlated. In a research arboretum, we simultaneously measured eight key traits in leaves and fine-roots on 270 individuals belonging to 90 tree species, encompassing both angiosperm and gymnosperm species. We find varied plant resource strategies associated with leaves and fine-roots for angiosperms and gymnosperms. We observe a clear LES for gymnosperms and a clear RES for angiosperms. Our results support the existence of a correlation between analogous leaf and fine-root traits across all species. However, varying trait coordination across clades indicates varying resource acquisition strategies above- and belowground, highlighting the need to consider large-scale phylogenetic relatedness to better understand plant fitness.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2021

FMRP regulates mRNAs encoding distinct functions in the cell body and dendrites of CA1 pyramidal neurons

Neurons are believed to rely on dendritic localization and translation of mRNAs in order to generate activity-dependent changes in the synaptic plasticity. Here, we develop a strategy combining compartment-specific CLIP and TRAP in conditionally tagged mice to precisely define the ribosome-bound dendritic transcriptome of CA1 pyramidal neurons. This revealed transcripts that have differentially localized alternative 3UTR and splicing isoforms. FMRP targets are overrepresented among dendritic mRNAs, and compartment-specific FMRP-CLIP defined 383 dendritic FMRP targets, and also allowed for segregation of whole-cell FMRP targets into functional modules that are locally regulated by FMRP. In the absence of FMRP, dendritic FMRP targets show increased ribosome association, consistent with reported roles for FMRP in translational repression. Together, the data support a model in which distinct patterns of FMRP localization allow it to differentially regulate the expression of nuclear proteins and synaptic proteins within different compartments of a single neuronal cell type.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Sequential development of embryoblast memory entities in human cancer tissues, architectural metamorphosis from spiral cleavage to micro - macroscopic structures

Hidden collective organization of cancer cells can partially or completely return to embryoid genotype-phenotype with the plasticity to transform their morphology on cell embryoblast-like memory entities by expression of dormant genes that arise from embryogenesis. After hundreds of driver mutations, cancer cells gain new abilities or attributes and recapitulate early stages of embryogenesis. Our findings document how malignant tissues reactivated ancestral storage memory and elaborate inside tumor glands spiral- pyramidal-fractal chiral crystals (Tc) as geometric attractors proteins and biomimicry the primitive cellular blastocyst embryoblast fluid-filled cavity. The resultant evolutionary embryoblast-like entity has higher survivability and spatial cephalic-caudal growth organization with pluripotentiality that carry the correct DNA instructions to repair, and regenerate. The isolation and manipulation of these order structures can guide and control the regenerative pathway mechanism in human tumors as follows: modify and reprogram the phenotype of the tumor where these entities are generated, establish a reverse primordial microscopic mold to use the swirlonic collective behavior of cellular building blocks to regenerate injured tissues, convert cancer cells to a normal phenotype through regeneration using the organizational level and scale properties of reverse genetic guidance, global control of mitotic activity and morphogenetic movements avoiding their spread and metastasis, determining a better life prognosis for patients who incubate these entities in their tumors compared to those who do not express them. An emergent self-repair order structure, biological template to develop targeted therapeutic alternatives not only in cancer but also in treatment of autoimmune, viral diseases, and in regenerative medicine and rejuvenation.

pathology↗