Browse Articles

Surface immune signaling unlocks NLR activation through mRNA alternative splicing

Plants activate pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) and effector-triggered immunity (ETI) to combat pathogens. However, how these systems coordinate immune activation while preventing autoimmunity remains poorly understood. In this study, we uncovered a regulatory mechanism in which surface immune signaling unlocks nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) immune receptor activation through mRNA splicing. We identified an N-terminal prodomain in the potato late blight resistance protein Rpi-vnt1.1 that inhibits resistosome formation, preventing potential autoactivation of this NLR. Upon pathogen perception, PTI signaling induced alternative splicing of Rpi-vnt1.1 mRNA, removing this inhibitory element. This primed Rpi-vnt1.1 for activation by the Phytophthora infestans effector AVRvnt1, enabling resistosome assembly and immune signaling. The widespread conservation of N-terminal extensions in coiled coil–type NLRs points to a common regulatory mechanism in preventing potential autoactivation while preserving pathogen sensitivity.

Design and development of a 1-bit dual-mode metasurface for sub-6 GHz wireless communication systems

Johns Hopkins University and the American research enterprise

The nation’s research universities have traced an indelible path through the American story

Longitudinal characterization of tumor vascular adaptation using superfine magnetic resonance angiography

Telomere-to-telomere assembly using HERRO-corrected Nanopore Simplex reads

A sub–10-millisecond neural dynamical system based on phase-change memristors

High-fidelity geometry for physical-world modeling demands real-time, dense, and differentiable deformation fields on manifolds. Neural dynamical systems (NDSs) using adaptive stepsize integration with embedded neural networks excel at these tasks but still suffer latency on the order of hundreds of milliseconds. In this work, we report a sub–10-millisecond NDS hardware leveraging the precisely controlled conductance drift of phase-change memristors and their multilevel compute-in-memory capabilities. We fabricated a 40-nanometer NDS chip for the challenging surface reconstruction tasks. Compared with state-of-the-art NDS hardware, our NDS design achieves a latency of 2.12 milliseconds (below 10 milliseconds) for single-iteration NDS computations with an error tolerance of 10 −7 and delivers 3.82× to 36.27× faster speed while consuming 11.75× to 24.73× less power. The end-to-end NDS latency through hardware measurements and simulations outperformed graphics processing unit A100 by 50.38× to 478.18×.

Cleaner production pathways optimize tomato yield and quality in urban rooftop systems

Hierarchical sensory processing in zebrafish thalamocortical-like circuits

Thalamocortical projections shape the functional regionalization and parallel sensory computations across the mammalian cortex. However, the principles of thalamocortical computations in non-mammalian vertebrates remain underexplored. Here we investigated how the zebrafish pallium, a homolog of the vertebrate cortex, receives and processes sensory information, and how its architecture compares to thalamocortical circuits in other vertebrates. We revealed that the preglomerular complex (PG), a thalamocortical-like pathway, is the primary source of visual and vibrational information to the zebrafish pallium. PG and its pallial projections exhibit sensory-specific and topographically organized responses. In contrast, pallial neurons display topographically organized hierarchies, ranging from sensory-specific to multimodal and coincidence-detecting nonlinear responses. Our results suggest that hierarchies of sensory transformations across topographically organized thalamocortical-like circuits reflect a convergent principle across vertebrates.

Association between polycystic kidney disease and valve disease: a nationwide population-based nested case-control study

The mechanics of liver regeneration

A mechanosensitive ion channel regulates liver cell proliferation after injury

Correction: Prediction of heat stress response in dairy cows using milk mid-infrared spectra

ILC2s regulate a fibroblast progenitor niche in the pancreas

Local fibroblast development and densities influence organ health and disease, although it remains unclear how tissue fibroblast topography is controlled in situ. Here, we defined Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) as key regulators of fibroblast homeostasis in the pancreas. ILC2s colocalized with fibroblasts expressing the genes Pi16 + Dpp4 + Ly6c + in an interstitial niche of the exocrine pancreas, which encapsulates the organ parenchyma. ILC2s specifically regulated the expansion of Pi16 + Dpp4 + Ly6c + fibroblasts, which have progenitor capacity, while restraining differentiated intraparenchymal Col15a1 + fibroblasts during inflammation. These circuits reinforced fibroblast numbers after injury and set an inflammatory threshold. The ILC2 and Pi16 + Dpp4 + Ly6c + fibroblast progenitor niche expanded around tumors and controlled cancer-associated fibroblast ontogeny and density. Hence, ILC2-fibroblast dialogue represents a regulatory node that locally orchestrates tissue homeostasis and pathology.

Optimization of acid–clay re-refining of waste lubricating oil using response surface methodology

End “reusable” waste dumping in Africa

Deep operational normality modeling: an unsupervised framework with potential applicability to supply chain resilience

How an ancient continental breakup ultimately helped spawn the vast Antarctic Ice Sheet

Mantle waves and tectonic stretching lofted polar mountains into a deep freeze

Chen mouse scale for early-stage motor assessment in mouse thoracic spinal cord contusion models

TranscriptFormer: A generative cell atlas across 1.5 billion years of evolution

Single-cell transcriptomics is revolutionizing our understanding of cellular diversity, yet comparing transcriptional programs across the tree of life remains challenging. We developed TranscriptFormer, a family of generative foundation models trained on up to 112 million cells spanning 1.53 billion years of evolution across 12 species. We demonstrate state-of-the-art performance on cell type classification, even for species separated by over 685 million years of evolution, and zero-shot disease state identification in human cells. Developmental trajectories, phylogenetic relationships, and cellular hierarchies emerge naturally in TranscriptFormer’s representations without any explicit training on these annotations. This work establishes a powerful framework for quantitative single-cell analysis and comparative cellular biology, thus demonstrating that universal principles of cellular organization can be learned and predicted across the tree of life.

Molecular epidemiology and risk factors associated with Babesia bigemina infection in cattle

Manipulation of protein translation and stem cell self-renewal by CRISPR activation of rRNA transcription

Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) transcription rates vary during development, and their dysregulation is linked to diseases such as cancer and ribosomopathies. Owing to their high abundance and genomic redundancy, the functional significance of rRNA-levels remains unclear. Here, we developed TAPIR (Targeted Activation of Protein Translation), a CRISPR-based approach to elevate rRNA-levels by inducing 47S rDNA transcription. TAPIR increased nucleolar size and enhanced protein synthesis, even in rapidly proliferating cells. In neural stem cells, elevated translation promoted self-renewal and proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, TAPIR enabled the modeling and partial rescue of associated disease phenotypes. Our findings revealed that rRNA-levels directly regulate translational output and that protein synthesis capacity can act as a key determinant of mammalian stem cell behavior.