Writing in Biology

When they are not spending their time on trees the species can be found hidden away in empty hollow logs or under bushes during the long winter months. During the winter they do not exert a lot of energy and live off of the brown fat that is stored in their bodies. During the warmer seasons they eat anything that they can find including lizards, insects, leaves, and other plants. They climb trees to get access to different leaves and insects but also roams the grounds in search of food. Their life in trees is mainly for them to be hidden away from any predators that lurk around. That is why the species is most often seen climbing trees and hanging onto branches. Although the species can be seen as a solitary one after they hit sexual maturity, once a family is formed they tend to stick together as social creatures and protect one another. Usually huddling together in dens or logs during the cold winter months to keep warm. Most of their life outside of the den is spent eating or looking for food and caring for their offspring.

The species is able to ward off predators such as bears and other attackers thanks to two glands on the side of their anus. The odor that is secreted is a mixture of chemicals that warns the predators to back off. They are able to emit the scent before they reach maturity at only a month old. This species only lives up to five years and reach sexual maturity at the age of one for females and one and a half for males. Females reproduce once a year and typically give birth to 1 to 5 babies in late Spring. The offspring stays close to the mother until they are one year old due to the fact that they are born without their eyes open. This means they are very dependent on their mothers during the early stages of life. The father is the one to usually go out and hunt while the offspring stay latched onto the nipples of the females hidden away in a small pouch that protects them from the outside environment found in the underbelly of the female.

Although most animals in temperate forests survive the winter months by migrating or hibernating this species does neither, like its relative the Mephitis mephitis. They remain inactive during the winter months and survive by using the fat that is stored within their bodies, they leave their dens during the summer and in the winter only when temperatures is above freezing. The Mephitis scandere has brown pelage that covers its body the perfect color to help it camouflage in its environment. They have a thin white stripe on their forehead that goes down to its snout and the thin white line also runs along its dorsum. They have a prehensile tail that allows them to grip onto tree branches, they use their tails to stay hanging on branches while they eat, to avoid any predators that may be lurking around. The tail is thinner and resembles those of monkeys and is usually curled at the tip. The hands of the Mephitis scandere resembles those of primates meaning they are able to move their fingers a lot more freely then the majority of animals. This allows them to easily climb up and down the trees as well as to easily search for food.

The Warburg Effect is a metabolic shift in which even in aerobic conditions, cancer cells use anaerobic respiration, thereby spending a lot more energy due to inefficiency of this pathway compared to oxidative phosphorylation.  Ginsenoside 20(S)-Rg3 is a chemical derived from the ginseng plant.  It has been shown to inhibit the Warburg Effect in ovarian cancer via two mechanisms.  The first mechanism was shown by Li et al. in 2014.  Ginsenoside 20(S)-Rg3 was shown to block STAT3.  STAT3 normally upregulates expression of hexokinase 2, but now that no longer happens.  This shift inhibits the Warburg effect.  The second mechanism was shown by Zhou et al. in 2018.   They showed that Ginsenoside 20(S)-Rg3 was a suppressor of miR-532-3p and lessened levels of DNMT3A.  These two things inhibit the Warburg Effect. 

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are believed to be the main drivers of metastasis, chemoresistance, and relapse of pancreatic adenocarcinoma due to their plasticity and cooperation with the tumor microenvironment (Sancho et al. 2016). Due to these diverse functions, complete eradication of CSCs poses a challenge. CSCs are also able to undergo metabolic reprogramming depending on stressors in the tumor microenvironment, and current literature suggests that it is the metabolic plasticity of CSCs themselves that allows for survival in different environmental stressors, leading to further metastasis (Peiris-Pagès et al. 2016). Pancreatic cancer stem cells (PaCSCs) in particular are highly dependent on mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) to survive. This serves as their preferred mechanism for energy production (Sancho et al. 2015). Another hallmark of CSC survival and proliferation is the notion of self-renewal, most commonly driven in PaCSCs through the Notch, Wnt/β-catenin, and Hedgehog signaling pathways (Wong et al. 2019). Therefore, the researchers plan to target PaCSCs through OXPHOS as well as self-renewal signaling in order to most effectively eradicate this metastatic driver.

The midnight cat’s diet consists mainly of various species of tree frogs, particularly the Amazon milk frog (Trachycephalus resinifictrix), which it climbs up trees to find, sometimes climbing as high up as the canopy. Because its preferred prey lives in trees near slow-moving permanent water sources (“Mission Golden-Eyed Tree Frog”, n.d), the midnight cat has developed several adaptations to suit its semi-arboreal lifestyle. Mycospondylus has ball and socket joints on both its scapula and its pelvis, with extra muscle attachments on both of these bones that allow increased rotational motion. This motion is supported by a highly muscled back and powerful hind limbs, as well as extremely elastic ligaments that can stretch to allow Mycospondylus rotate its limbs outwards to climb even the widest trees. It does this by wrapping its limbs around the trunk of the tree and using its powerful hind limbs and its very large and strong claws to “scoot” itself up the tree. Tropical trees tend to have bark that is thin and not very textured (“Amazon Forest Ecology”, n.d), so in addition to its strong claws Mycospondylus also has paw pads that are laterally ridged to provide traction to help the midnight cat climb up even the smoothest and slipperiest of trees. It also has elongated phalanges in both its fore and hind feet with no webbing between them, allowing it to splay its paws out quite far—extremely useful for climbing wider trees. As in most felines, its claws are fully retractable and so its elongated foot structure has the additional advantage of having space to accommodate the large claws when they are pulled into the paw.

Named for the “moon” on its forehead, and its blue-black coloration, Mycospondylus mesanyctus—the Mushroom-Spined Midnight cat—is commonly known as the “Midnight Cat”, the “Witch-Cat”, or the “Cat of the Witching Hour”. Mycospondylus mesanyctus is a tiny carnivorous mammal that belongs to the family Felidae. Standing at a height of between 15 and 20cm, with a length of 25-30cm (excluding its tails) and weighing about 1.5 kg, it is one of the world’s smallest wild cats. Although it has similar facial features to the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), and although for the most part is has all the “typical” feline attributes, the midnight cat is most certainly a creature that is unique in its own right. A digitigrade quadruped with longer paws than most other felines, its body is a blue-black color with a pure black face. It has four thin, almost prehensile, tails that frame its main tail, and mushroom-like growths that line the top of its body from its head to the base of its tails. Its ears and eyes are large, which give Mycospondylus excellent vision and hearing respectively, and, most curious of all, it has hairless circle in the center of its forehead: this is its “moon”, a patch of specialized, bioluminescent skin cells that the midnight cat uses to lure in its prey.

The Amazon rainforest is stratified, and made up of primarily evergreen and semi-evergreen deciduous tree species. These are massive in both height and roots, and full of adaptations that allow them to survive in the wet, low-nutrient rainforest soil. Most rainforest life is congregated in the canopy, a dense ceiling of closely spaced branches and trees 25-30 m off the ground is constantly abuzz with activity. Above the canopy are the few emergent trees that can reach up to 60 m, while below in the sub-canopy are the trees that grow towards the light openings in the canopy. Even further down, in the understory, are the small trees and shrubs that are adapted to low-light conditions, and the bottom layer is the forest floor,  full of tree trunks, fungi, and low-growing vegetation.

    Cheetaur babies are called cubs. Cheetaurs have small litter sizes. The maximum number of babies at a time is two in a litter because of body size of the cub. They reach sexual maturity between one and two years for both males and females. Like other African cats, the females tend to stay with their cubs until they are big enough to fend for themselves while males may live in small groups together. A cub reaches adult size about a year after they are born and can hunt for themselves. Based on its genus, scientist believe the expected lifespan of the cheetaur is about ten years.    

    Other adaptations that they have include having curved ears and facial marking. Their curved ears can rotate slightly to pick up sounds from almost a mile away. The have facial marking like other cheetahs for eye protection from the direct sunlight at the equator (Cheetah Fact, 2018). Since they live in hot, dry areas they have to live around a water source and they will follow prey that do the same. To stay cool, cheetaurs will conserve their energy and will rest for most of the day like other African cats. They will go at great lengths to feed and to escape large lions but other wise like to find shaded areas to rest. 

    Scientists are currently trying hypothesize how exactly a cheetaur would evolve. Some theories include that the cheetah, with their small gene pool and inbreeding, may have introduced mutant genes for toe numbers and leg length. Some of the traits were advantageous for catching fast prey with large stamina and stayed in the gene pool until there was a speciation event where cheetah and cheetaur were almost reproductively isolated from one another. Those with those traits may have thrived and then continued to breed and continue through the years creating the species we know today as Acinonyx equuasis. 

    Like other cheetahs, they live in the grasslands around Africa. The cheetaur is specifically found in Central and Southern Africa. Central Africa grasslands do not receive extreme rainfall but get enough to support tall grasses. The soil is nutrient rich for plants, making them plentiful and a source for adequate nutrition for the grazers (Nunez). With plenty of vegetation, the cheetaur has access to a range of prey animals.  As carnivores, they feed on the deer like animals of the area, for example zebra and antelope. One of its favorite meals is the Steenbok, a smaller species of antelope in Southern and Eastern Africa (Theys). It has horns that can stab a predator, but they are small enough to not cause too much damage to the cheetaur. 

    The cheetaur is a moderately social animal. They do not herd together, as they are already a noticeable predator, but instead will hunt in packs of two or three to bring down larger prey. Since they are larger, the cheetaur can be easily seen by their prey. Hunting in a small group helps to deal with the lack of surprise they can inflict. Their horse like attitbutes allow them to reach speeds of 80 kilometers per hour (50 miles per hour) and can maintain that speed for almost 5 kilometers if needed. Their larger size also make them harder targets for lions that sometimes prey on small cheetahs.