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The impact of trust in AI on digital innovation examining the moderation of intellectual capital and task characteristics
Extracellular electron transfer in cable bacteria enables growth rates comparable to aerobic respiration
Using Rose Bengal photosensitizer for controlling Aphis gossypii and reducing transmission of zucchini yellow mosaic virus on squash plants
Abstract The cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii , exhibits the highest transmission rate of zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV). This study aimed to evaluate the lethal effect of Rose Bengal photosensitizer (RBPS) on aphids and transmission of ZYMV on squash plants. Five concentrations of 0.1, 1, 10, 100, and 1000 ppm were used on adults of a virus-free aphid. Results confirmed that the highest mortality (100%) occurred after 72h of treatment with a concentration of 1000 ppm, where LC 50 was 1.66 and 0.0807 ppm after 24h and 72h, respectively under sunlight exposure. The reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of the virus isolate confirmed the presence of ZYMV. A sequence analysis was carried out and given a GenBank accession number PZ289840.1. Transmission studies showed that after pre-acquisition treatment by RBPS, the ability of aphids to pick up the virus was reduced to 23.3% with a 74.3% transmission reduction. In the pre-inoculation treatment, RBPS reduced the efficiency of A. gossypii in the virus transmission to 40.0% with a reduction of 55.6%. Using RBPS before both virus acquisition and inoculation gave the lowest transmission rate (13.3%) and highest reduction (86.7%). This method will be promising for controlling virus spread by aphids under the field conditions.
Inferring stochastic dynamics by biophysical Neural ODE using single-cell transcriptomics
Comparing DNA metabarcoding with light microscopy to identify eukaryotic phytoplankton in the Baltic Sea, Kattegat and Skagerrak
Abstract Marine phytoplankton monitoring has long relied on microscopy, but DNA metabarcoding has recently emerged as a complementary approach. This study assessed the applicability of DNA metabarcoding of the 18S ribosomal RNA gene in marine monitoring and compared its results with conventional microscopy. We analyzed data from 232 surface water samples from 17 monitoring stations in the Baltic Sea, Kattegat, and Skagerrak. Metabarcoding detected more orders, genera, and species than microscopy, with a 43% overlap in the most common genera identified by both methods. Despite attempts to normalize sequence reads to spike-in DNA or DNA concentrations, the correlations between abundances derived from the two methods were weak, though varied considerably between taxonomic groups and geographical areas. Correlations were consistently stronger when using carbon and biovolume concentrations than cell abundances. Our results highlight the potential of metabarcoding to expand biodiversity assessments and advance our understanding of microbial biodiversity in marine ecosystems. As a complement to microscopy, it can enhance existing monitoring efforts. Future improvements in reference database completeness, adoption of long-read sequencing technologies, and better characterization of gene copy number variability per cell are needed to further extend the applicability of metabarcoding for quantitative analyses.
Design topological materials by reinforcement fine-tuned generative model
Non-destructive histomorphological identification of Late Pleistocene burned bone fragments using synchrotron radiation X-ray CT at SPring-8
Abstract Fukui Cave, located in the southwestern Japanese Archipelago, is a cave site containing cultural layers dating from the Late Pleistocene to the early Holocene. This study aimed to identify the animal taxa of burned bone fragments excavated from Layer IV of the cave, dated to approximately 16,000 years ago, using a non-destructive histomorphological approach. Because faunal remains are extremely scarce at Palaeolithic sites in the Japanese Archipelago, these specimens provide important evidence for understanding the relationship between humans and animals during the Late Pleistocene. However, all excavated bones were burned (calcined) fragments less than 1 cm in length, making macroscopic taxonomic identification difficult. To address this, synchrotron radiation X-ray computed tomography (voxel size: 2.74 μm) was performed at SPring-8 to analyze the internal bone microstructure. As a result, secondary osteons were identified in three of the seven burned fragments, and plexiform bone in one. The cross-sectional areas of osteons and Haversian canals were measured and compared statistically with reference data from various mammalian taxa, taking into account possible shrinkage due to burning. The results indicated that these fragments all fall within the range of medium-sized artiodactyls, such as deer or wild boar. In contrast, derivation from large mammals such as Naumann’s elephant or Yabe’s giant deer, which were extinct in the Late Pleistocene, can be excluded. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of non-destructive histomorphological identification using high-resolution CT for burned bone fragments and provide new insights into animal exploitation by Late Pleistocene humans in the Japanese Archipelago.
Scattering and induced false vacuum decay in the two-dimensional quantum Ising model
MANet: a multimodal attention convolutional neural network for brain tumor classification
Topological stress regulates replication fork dynamics in unperturbed S phase
Layer-specific feature preference in a trained AlexNet model revealed by stylized image analysis
Two structurally mobile regions control the conformation and function of metamorphic meiotic HORMAD proteins
Abstract Metamorphic HORMA domain proteins (HORMADs) nucleate protein complex formation by refolding their mobile safety belt region to bind short closure motifs on interactors. Meiotic HORMADs (mHORMADs) bind proteinaceous axial elements to orchestrate complex chromosomal events that underpin fertility, including pairing and recombination between homologous chromosomes. However, the mechanisms supporting the diverse roles of mHORMADs remain unclear. Here, we show that mHORMADs have a second structurally mobile region, the β5-αC loop, which controls mHORMAD conformation and function. Molecular dynamics and in vivo approaches show that functional specialisation of C. elegans paralogs HTP-1 and HTP-2 depends on the interplay between their β5-αC loop and safety belt. The β5-αC loop can interact with the same HORMA core surface as the safety belt and mutations that hinder this interaction prevent HTP-1 binding to closure motifs in vitro and axis loading of HTP-1 and its paralog HTP-3 in vivo. Structural predictions of mHORMADs from yeast, plants, and mammals suggest that the β5-αC loop HORMA core interaction is a conserved feature of mHORMADs. Our study reveals that mHORMADs have expanded the bimodal folding landscape first identified in Mad2, paving the way to elucidate how non-canonical HORMAD conformations control meiotic chromosome function to ensure fertility.
Disparate social structures are underpinned by distinct social rules across a primate radiation
Over six decades of research on wild baboons and their close relatives (collectively, the African papionins) have uncovered substantial variation in their behavior and social systems. While most papionins form discrete social groups (single-level societies), a few others form small social units that are nested within larger supergroups (multi-level societies). These two systems are generally thought to be qualitatively distinct, but data from wild populations increasingly suggest that there may be areas of overlap. To quantify this potential gradient in social structure, a more systematic, comparative analysis is needed. Here, we constructed a database of behavioral and demographic records spanning 135 group-years, 28 social groups, 13 long-term field studies, and 11 species to quantify variation in grooming network structure and identify the individual and dyadic properties (e.g., kinship and social status effects) that underlie this variation. Consistent with accumulating field observations, the single-level species could be divided into two categories: cohesive and cliquish . Cohesive single-level networks were dense, kin-biased, and moderately rank-structured, while cliquish single-level networks were more differentiated, slightly more kin-biased, and strongly rank-structured. As expected, multi-level networks were very modular and shaped by females’ ties to specific dominant males but varied in their kin biases. Taken together, these data suggest that in the African papionins i) kin and rank biases are widespread but vary in their strength; ii) male-centered subgroups are exclusive to multi-level systems; and iii) increases in network modularity can emerge in response to heightened nepotism and male-centered clustering.
High glucose levels sensitize neuron-like cells to damage induced by oxidative and neurotoxic agents
Role of Earth system processes in the relationship between climate change and cumulative carbon emissions
Abstract Estimates of carbon emissions budgets to limit global warming to 1.5 °C or 2 °C rely on the near-linear relationship between global temperature change and total CO 2 emitted, known as the Transient Climate Response to cumulative CO 2 Emissions (TCRE). The TCRE is determined from Earth System Models (ESMs) and is therefore sensitive to the physical and biogeochemical processes represented within them. Here we use an ESM (UKESM) to explore the sensitivity of TCRE to six Earth system processes in isolation. Four processes increase TCRE: fire-vegetation interactions by 14.6%; nitrogen limitation of vegetation by 9.7%; diffuse radiation effects on vegetation by 8.5%; and interactive emissions of methane from wetlands by 5.1%. Conversely, two processes marginally reduce TCRE: allowing the vegetation distribution to adapt to changing climate and CO 2 lowers TCRE by 1.5%, and climate impacts from the emission of biogenic volatile organic compounds reduce it by 1.4%. We demonstrate the extent to which each process changes TCRE via its influence on the climate and on the global carbon cycle, and discuss underlying mechanisms. Our results highlight the substantial process-dependence of model-derived estimates of TCRE, with implications for remaining carbon budgets to future warming targets calculated from them.
Cleaning reshapes bacterial communities in public toilets through disturbance and random reassembly
3D triply periodic minimal surface gyroid hydrogel scaffolds for soft tissue engineering
Abstract Engineering functional soft tissue constructs remains difficult because scaffolds must meet the mechanical, physicochemical, and biological requirements simultaneously. Here, we present a cell-laden hydrogel gyroid scaffold designed to support vascularisation, long-term multicellular culture, and implantation for the development of 3D tissue constructs. The scaffold is structurally optimised to balance nutrient transport and mechanical stability, and is fabricated with high fidelity by mitigating cell-induced light scattering. The gyroid architecture supports the formation of dense microvascular networks throughout the 3D construct, and its curved Gaussian curvature promotes endothelial self-assembly. The scaffold also enables high-density co-culture of HepG2 cells and HUVECs without active perfusion, resulting in a vascularised 3D liver tumour model with enhanced tissue-specific function. Upon subcutaneous implantation in mice, the constructs show enhanced neovascularisation and facilitate tumour formation. These findings identify the gyroid scaffold as a biologically favourable architecture for generating bulk vascularised constructs, with potential applications in disease modelling, drug screening and regenerative medicine.
Tree-ring width and δ18O-derived hydroclimatic reconstructions allow a distinction between soil and atmospheric drought in the Mountain Forests of Northeastern Iran
Abstract Iran’s long history of climate-related crises, primarily driven by droughts, has been intensified by ongoing climate change, placing forest ecosystems under increasing hydroclimatic stress. In recent decades, prolonged droughts combined with elevated atmospheric moisture deficits have reduced ecosystem resilience and increased vulnerability to degradation. To better understand long-term drought dynamics and their ecological impacts, we developed two 200-year chronologies (1821–2020) of tree-ring width (TRW) and stable oxygen isotope variations (δ 1 ⁸O) from Juniperus polycarpos in the Hezar Masjed Mountains, northeastern Iran. The δ 1 ⁸O record served as a proxy for atmospheric moisture conditions and was used to reconstruct growing-season (March–September) vapor pressure deficit (VPD). When combined with TRW in a multiple regression framework, this dual-parameter approach enabled reconstruction of the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI07), representing cumulative growing-season hydroclimatic conditions related to soil moisture availability. This allows the differentiation of atmospheric and soil drought impacts on tree growth over two centuries. By classifying drought years into VPD-only, SPEI-only, and combined drought events, we found that drought conditions associated with reduced soil moisture availability (SPEI) exerted the strongest constraint on radial growth. Tree growth declined most strongly during severe SPEI droughts, followed by severe combined drought (COMB-D) years, whereas atmospheric drought alone (VPD-D) had a weaker and more transient effect. Growth typically recovered within two years following drought events. Analysis of long-term drought classifications (1821–2020) revealed a shift towards more intense droughts in recent decades, particularly in the frequency of severe VPD and combined drought years. Our findings highlight that tree growth in semi-arid mountain ecosystems is primarily limited by soil moisture availability, with atmospheric drought acting as an additional stressor when coinciding with soil moisture deficits. This study demonstrates the value of combining multiple tree-ring proxies to disentangle drought mechanisms and improve understanding of forest responses to climate change.
Redesign of TALE proteins for DNA-templated assembly of protein fibers
Abstract Many viral proteins self-assemble into capsid structures, often using their genetic material as a template for assembly. To date, de novo designed capsid-like proteins do not require genetic material as a template for assembly, which can be both an advantage and a disadvantage depending on the use case. Templates are indispensable, for example, in the assembly of linear structures with well-defined lengths. As a first step towards fully de novo designed templated assembly, here we redesign proteins from the Transcription activator-like effector (TALE) family of transcriptional regulators to polymerize on double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) templates. Starting from natural TALE protein sequences, we create idealized repeat proteins with sequence-independent DNA binding properties that self-assemble to form linear protein-DNA complexes with template-controlled lengths. We use high-resolution atomic force microscopy (AFM) and cryo electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to characterize the three-dimensional structures of the DNA-protein hybrid complexes. In these structures, a protein filament helically wraps around the dsDNA similar to natural TALE proteins. As an example application of these materials, we show the system can be used for repetitive peptide antigen display at precisely controlled repeat distances, and that such immunogens elicit robust antigen-specific antibodies in mice.