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Spontaneous long-range calcium waves in developing butterfly wings

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Developmental Biology, March 2015
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • One of the highest-scoring outputs from this source (#7 of 369)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (92nd percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (85th percentile)

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1 news outlet
blogs
2 blogs
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5 X users

Citations

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34 Dimensions

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31 Mendeley
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Title
Spontaneous long-range calcium waves in developing butterfly wings
Published in
BMC Developmental Biology, March 2015
DOI 10.1186/s12861-015-0067-8
Pubmed ID
Authors

Yoshikazu Ohno, Joji M Otaki

Abstract

Butterfly wing color patterns emerge as the result of a regular arrangement of scales produced by epithelial scale cells at the pupal stage. These color patterns and scale arrangements are coordinated throughout the wing. However, the mechanism by which the development of scale cells is controlled across the entire wing remains elusive. In the present study, we used pupal wings of the blue pansy butterfly, Junonia orithya, which has distinct eyespots, to examine the possible involvement of Ca(2+) waves in wing development. Here, we demonstrate that the developing pupal wing tissue of the blue pansy butterfly displayed spontaneous low-frequency Ca(2+) waves in vivo that propagated slowly over long distances. Some waves appeared to be released from the immediate peripheries of the prospective eyespot and discal spot, though it was often difficult to identify the specific origins of these waves. Physical damage, which is known to induce ectopic eyespots, led to the radiation of Ca(2+) waves from the immediate periphery of the damaged site. Thapsigargin, which is a specific inhibitor of Ca(2+)-ATPases in the endoplasmic reticulum, induced an acute increase in cytoplasmic Ca(2+) levels and halted the spontaneous Ca(2+) waves. Additionally, thapsigargin-treated wings showed incomplete scale development as well as other scale and color pattern abnormalities. We identified a novel form of Ca(2+) waves, spontaneous low-frequency slow waves, which travel over exceptionally long distances. Our results suggest that spontaneous Ca(2+) waves play a critical role in the coordinated development of scale arrangements and possibly in color pattern formation in butterflies.

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X Demographics

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 31 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 1 3%
Unknown 30 97%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 6 19%
Student > Doctoral Student 5 16%
Student > Ph. D. Student 4 13%
Student > Master 4 13%
Student > Postgraduate 2 6%
Other 6 19%
Unknown 4 13%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 12 39%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 5 16%
Physics and Astronomy 2 6%
Engineering 2 6%
Mathematics 1 3%
Other 5 16%
Unknown 4 13%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 23. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 01 September 2020.
All research outputs
#1,416,452
of 22,799,071 outputs
Outputs from BMC Developmental Biology
#7
of 369 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#19,842
of 263,386 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Developmental Biology
#1
of 7 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,799,071 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 93rd percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 369 research outputs from this source. They receive a mean Attention Score of 4.3. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 263,386 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 92% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 7 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has scored higher than all of them