Birth temperature followed by a visual critical period determines cooperative group membership.

Cooperative behavior often arises when a common exploitable resource is generated. Cooperation can provide equitable distribution and protection from raiding of a common resource such as processed food. Under crowded conditions in liquid food, Drosophila larvae adopt synchronized feeding behavior which provides a fitness benefit. A key for this synchronized feeding behavior is the visually guided alignment of a 1-2 s locomotion stride between adjacent larvae in a feeding cluster. The locomotion stride is thought to be set by embryonic incubation temperature. This raises a question as to whether sib larvae will only cluster efficiently if they hatch at the same temperature. To test this, larvae were first collected and incubated in outdoor conditions. Morning hatched lower temperature larvae move slower than their afternoon higher temperature sibs. Both temperature types synchronize but tend to exclude the other type of larvae from their clusters. In addition, fitness, as measured by adult wing size, is highest when larvae cluster with their own temperature type. Thus, the temperature at which an egg is laid sets a type of behavioral stamp or password which locks in membership for later cooperative feeding.

Investigation of CEP290 genotype-phenotype correlations in a patient with retinitis pigmentosa, infertility, end-stage renal disease, and a novel mutation.

Background: Mutations in CEP290 cause autosomal recessive conditions with a wide range of severity and the lack of strong genotype-phenotype data makes it difficult to provide accurate prognostic data to patients and families.Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted on a patient with a clinical diagnosis of Senior-Loken Syndrome, molecularly confirmed biallelic nonsense mutations in CEP290,and a recent finding of infertility secondary to non-motile sperm.Results: Here we present the case of a patient with a long-standing diagnosis of Senior-Loken syndrome due to findings of early-onset retinitis pigmentosa and renal disease. This is a patient who has been followed by ophthalmology and genetics for over 20 years and so provides valuable information on the natural history of CEP290-related ciliopathies. Additionally, we consider how this patient's biallelic nonsense variants in CEP290 affect phenotype severity through nonsense-mediated alternative splicing and how understanding this process could lead to future therapeutic options.Conclusions: CEP290 mutations are associated with a variety of overlapping clinical phenotypes, some of which will become better understood as more patients with these conditions survive to reproductive age. Similarly, increased understanding of the molecular mechanisms that underlie differences in phenotype may provide avenues to consider in future therapies.