Browse Articles

Publisher Correction: Reply to: On the giant deformation and ferroelectricity of guanidinium nitrate

Author Correction: Operando TEM study of a working copper catalyst during ethylene oxidation

Vacancy-induced suppression of charge density wave order and its impact on magnetic order in kagome antiferromagnet FeGe

Thermal inactivation spectrum of influenza A H5N1 virus in raw milk

Author Correction: Quantifying the distinct role of plasmon enhancement mechanisms in prototypical antenna-reactor photocatalysts

Horizontal acquisition of prokaryotic hopanoid biosynthesis reorganizes membrane physiology driving lifestyle innovation in a eukaryote

Abstract Horizontal gene transfer is a source of metabolic innovation and adaptation to new environments. How new metabolic functionalities are integrated into host cell biology is largely unknown. Here, we probe this fundamental question using the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces japonicus, which has acquired a squalene-hopene cyclase Shc1 through horizontal gene transfer. We show that Shc1-dependent production of hopanoids, mimics of eukaryotic sterols, allows S. japonicus to thrive in anoxia, where sterol biosynthesis is not possible. We demonstrate that glycerophospholipid fatty acyl asymmetry, prevalent in S. japonicus, is crucial for accommodating both sterols and hopanoids in membranes and explain how Shc1 functions alongside the sterol biosynthetic pathway to support membrane properties. Reengineering experiments in the sister species S. pombe show that hopanoids entail new traits in a naïve organism, but the acquisition of a new enzyme may trigger profound reorganization of the host metabolism and physiology.

RNA G-quadruplexes control mitochondria-localized mRNA translation and energy metabolism

Abstract Cancer cells rely on mitochondria for their bioenergetic supply and macromolecule synthesis. Central to mitochondrial function is the regulation of mitochondrial protein synthesis, which primarily depends on the cytoplasmic translation of nuclear-encoded mitochondrial mRNAs whose protein products are imported into mitochondria. Despite the growing evidence that mitochondrial protein synthesis contributes to the onset and progression of cancer, and can thus offer new opportunities for cancer therapy, knowledge of the underlying molecular mechanisms remains limited. Here, we show that RNA G-quadruplexes (RG4s) regulate mitochondrial function by modulating cytoplasmic mRNA translation of nuclear-encoded mitochondrial proteins. Our data support a model whereby the RG4 folding dynamics, under the control of oncogenic signaling and modulated by small molecule ligands or RG4-binding proteins, modifies mitochondria-localized cytoplasmic protein synthesis. Ultimately, this impairs mitochondrial functions, affecting energy metabolism and consequently cancer cell proliferation.

Subglacial water amplifies Antarctic contributions to sea-level rise

Abstract Antarctica’s contribution to global sea-level rise is deeply uncertain, with subglacial water suspected to play a critical role, yet its impact remains unclear. We demonstrate that water at the base of ice sheets influences sliding behaviour and that its exclusion from models can underestimate sea-level rise projections and delay the predicted onset of tipping points. Here we use an Antarctic Ice Sheet model (Elmer/Ice) to explore how different assumptions about water pressure at the ice base affect sea-level rise projections from 2015 to 2300. Our results indicate that incorporating subglacial water can amplify ice discharge across the Antarctic Ice Sheet by up to threefold above the standard approach, potentially contributing an additional 2.2 metres to sea-level rise by 2300. Notably, a smoothly decreasing basal drag near the grounding line more than doubles grounding line flux by 2300 relative to scenarios where effective pressure is simplified into a spatially constant coefficient. Basin-specific responses vary significantly, with some scenarios advancing tipping points by up to 40 years. These findings underscore the critical need to integrate evolving subglacial hydrology into ice sheet models.

Matrix plainification leads to high thermoelectric performance in plastic Cu2Se/SnSe composites

Molecular insights into the overall architecture of human rixosome

Digital simulation of zero-temperature spontaneous symmetry breaking in a superconducting lattice processor

Author Correction: ITGB4/CD104 mediates zika virus attachment and infection

Direct photo-patterning of halide perovskites toward machine-learning-assisted erasable photonic cryptography

Abstract The patterning of perovskites is significant for optical encryption, display, and optoelectronic integrated devices. However, stringent and complex fabrication processes restrict its development and applications. Here, we propose a conceptual methodology to realize erasable patterns based on binary mix-halide perovskite films via a direct photo-patterning technique. Controllable ion migration and photochemical degradation mechanism of iodine-rich regions ensure high-fidelity photoluminescence images with different patterns, sizes, and fast self-erasure time within 5 seconds, yielding erasable photonic cryptography chip, which guarantees the efficient transmission of confidential information and avoids the secondary leakage of information. The ultrafast information encryption, decryption, and erasable processes are attributed to the modulation of the crystallographic orientation of the perovskite film, which lowers the ion migration activation energy and accelerates the ion migration rate. Neural network-assisted multi-level pattern encoding technology with high accuracy and efficiency further enriches the content of the transmitted information and increases the security of the information. This pioneering work provides a strategy and opportunity for the integration of erasable photonic patterning devices based on perovskite materials.

Mechanistic insights into the structure-based design of a CspZ-targeting Lyme disease vaccine

Abstract Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) causes Lyme disease (LD), one of the most common vector-borne diseases in the Northern Hemisphere. Here, we solve the crystal structure of a mutated Bb vaccine antigen, CspZ-YA that lacks the ability to bind to host complement factor H (FH). We generate point mutants of CspZ-YA and identify CspZ-YAI183Y and CspZ-YAC187S to trigger more robust bactericidal responses. Compared to CspZ-YA, these CspZ-YA mutants require a lower immunization frequency to protect mice from LD-associated inflammation and bacterial colonization. Antigenicity of wild-type and mutant CspZ-YA proteins are similar, as measured using sera from infected people or immunized female mice. Structural comparison of CspZ-YA with CspZ-YAI183Y and CspZ-YAC187S shows enhanced interactions of two helices adjacent to the FH-binding sites in the mutants, consistent with their elevated thermostability. In line with these findings, protective CspZ-YA monoclonal antibodies show increased binding to CspZ-YA at a physiological temperature (37 °C). In summary, this proof-of-concept study applies structural vaccinology to enhance intramolecular interactions for the long-term stability of a Bb antigen while maintaining its protective epitopes, thus promoting LD vaccine development.

Publisher Correction: Parameters for one health genomic surveillance of Escherichia coli from Australia

MRI signatures of cortical microstructure in human development align with oligodendrocyte cell-type expression

Abstract Neuroanatomical changes to the cortex during adolescence have been well documented using MRI, revealing ongoing cortical thinning and volume loss. Recent advances in MRI hardware and biophysical models of tissue informed by diffusion MRI data hold promise for identifying the cellular changes driving these morphological observations. Using ultra-strong gradient MRI, this study quantifies cortical neurite and soma microstructure in typically developing youth. Across domain-specific networks, cortical neurite signal fraction, attributed to neuronal and glial processes, increases with age. The apparent soma radius, attributed to the apparent radius of glial and neuronal cell bodies, decreases with age. Analyses of two independent post-mortem datasets reveal that genes increasing in expression through adolescence are significantly enriched in cortical oligodendrocytes and Layer 5–6 neurons. In our study, we show spatial and temporal alignment of oligodendrocyte cell-type gene expression with neurite and soma microstructural changes, suggesting that ongoing cortical myelination processes drive adolescent cortical development.

Biogel scavenging slows the sinking of organic particles to the ocean depths

Far-red fluorescent genetically encoded calcium ion indicators

Homogeneous nucleation rate of carbon dioxide hydrate formation under experimental condition from Seeding simulations

We investigate the nucleation of carbon dioxide (CO2) hydrates from carbon dioxide aqueous solutions by means of molecular dynamics simulations using the TIP4P/Ice and the TraPPE models for water and CO2, respectively. We work at 400 bar and different temperatures and CO2 concentrations. We use brute force molecular dynamics when the supersaturation or the supercooling is so high so that nucleation occurs spontaneously and Seeding otherwise. We use both methods for a particular state and found an excellent agreement when using a linear combination of q̄3 and q̄12 order parameters to identify critical clusters. With such order parameter, we get a rate of 1025 m−3 s−1 for nucleation in a CO2 saturated solution at 255 K (35 K of supercooling). By comparison with our previous work on methane hydrates, we conclude that nucleation of CO2 hydrates is several orders of magnitude faster due to a lower interfacial free energy between the crystal and the solution. By combining our nucleation studies with a recent calculation of the hydrate–solution interfacial free energy at coexistence [Algaba et al., J. Colloid Interface Sci. 623, 354–367 (2022)], we obtain a prediction of the nucleation rate temperature dependence for CO2-saturated solutions (the experimentally relevant concentration). On the one hand, we open the window for comparison with experiments for supercooling larger than 25 K. On the other hand, we conclude that homogeneous nucleation is impossible for supercooling lower than 20 K. Therefore, nucleation must be heterogeneous in typical experiments where hydrate formation is observed at low supercooling. To assess the hypothesis that nucleation occurs at the solution-CO2 interface, we run spontaneous nucleation simulations in two-phase systems and find, by comparison with single-phase simulations, that the interface does not affect hydrate nucleation, at least at the deep supercooling at which this study was carried out (40 and 45 K). Overall, our work sheds light on molecular and thermodynamic aspects of hydrate nucleation.

Size-dependent second-order-like phase transitions in Fe nanocluster melting from low-temperature structural isomerization

In this work, the melting phase transitions of Fen nanoclusters with 10 ≤ n ≤ 100 atoms are investigated using classical many-body molecular dynamics simulations. For many cluster sizes, surface melting occurs at much lower temperatures than core melting. Surface and core melting points and energetic melting points (temperatures of maximum heat capacity, Cv) are calculated for all cluster sizes. Melting properties are found to be strong functions of cluster structure. Cluster sizes with closed-shell structures always have first-order-like phase transitions. Almost one-third of cluster sizes in the analyzed range exhibit second-order-like phase transitions due to the presence of multiple structural configurations close in energy. 1-shell clusters with one to a few more atoms than a neighboring closed-shell structure have very low surface melting points and very high energetic melting points compared to their closed-shell counterparts. In clusters above 50 atoms with certain core structures, melting of the surface before the core was observed.