Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Articles in this Issue
DNA-utilization loci enable exogenous DNA metabolism in gut Bacteroidales
The human gut microbiome plays a central role in nutrient metabolism, yet the fate of exogenous nucleic acids within this ecosystem remains poorly understood. Here, we show that multiple Bacteroidales...
The glass-ceiling convective regime and the origin and diversity of coronae on Venus
Venus and Earth are rocky planets of roughly the same size and bulk density, yet their surface volcanic and tectonic features appear substantially different. On Venus, the coexistence of large volcani...
SUMO conjugation to promoter-proximal sequence elements–associated proteins impacts on snRNA transcription
The noncoding small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs) associate with a large set of proteins to form small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particles (snRNPs). While the function of snRNAs is well characterized, the reg...
How palytoxin transforms the Na <sup>+</sup> ,K <sup>+</sup> pump into a cation channel
Palytoxin (PTX), a potent marine toxin, has long been known to transform Na + ,K + -ATPase (NKA), an indispensable ion p...
Heterogeneity in the coordination of delta cells with beta cells is driven by both paracrine signals and low-density Cx36 gap junctions
Insulin potently decreases blood glucose; thus, tight control is required to prevent excessive insulin release and hypoglycemia. Central to this inhibition is somatostatin released from delta cells th...
PI31 expression is neuroprotective in a mouse model of early-onset parkinsonism
Neurodegenerative diseases present one of the most significant global health challenges. These disorders are defined by the accumulation of abnormal protein aggregates that impair synaptic function an...
Structurally diverse viral inhibitors converge on a shared mechanism to stall the antigen transporter TAP
In the host–pathogen arms race, herpesviruses and poxviruses encode proteins that sabotage the transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP), thereby suppressing MHC-I antigen presentation and...
Φ value analysis underscores strong functional and structural compactness of the GABA <sub>A</sub> receptor
γ-aminobutyric acid type A receptor (GABA A R) is a pentameric ligand-gated ion channel that plays a crucial role in inhibition in the adult brain. Structural a...
Functional unfolding of the integrin αX transmembrane helix
In biological membranes, proteins face a fundamentally different environment than in water. To avoid untenable lipid contacts with polar backbone atoms, they use the continuous hydrogen bonding achiev...
A universal wind–wave–bubble formulation for air–sea gas exchange and its impact on oxygen fluxes
Bubble-mediated gas exchange associated with wave breaking is a critical pathway for ocean–atmosphere exchange of low solubility gases such as oxygen. Yet, ocean and climate models, as well as observa...
Designing for cooperative grain boundary segregation in multicomponent alloys
Tailoring the nanoscale distribution of chemical species at grain boundaries is a powerful method to dramatically influence the properties of polycrystalline materials. However, classical approaches t...
Life without sex: Large-scale study links sexlessness to physical, cognitive, and personality traits, socioecological factors, and DNA
Romantic (typically sexual) relationships are important to personal, physical, mental, social, and economic well-being, and to human evolution. Yet little is known about factors contributing to long-t...
SLC39A8-mediated zinc dyshomeostasis potentiates kidney disease
While numerous genetic risk loci are linked to kidney disease, a unifying therapeutic target for diverse renal pathologies remains elusive. Here, through large-cohort polymorphic locus screening, we i...
Amplification of particle collision through contact electrification in isotropic turbulence
Recent discovery of “extreme clustering” of inertial particles in isotropic turbulent flow suggests a hidden mechanism of particle–particle interaction at sub-Kolmogorov separations unexplained by hyd...
Sizing the largest ocean waves using the SWOT mission
Winds generate waves over the oceans with a wide range of properties. The largest wave heights and periods are important parameters in the design of marine structures. Extreme waves also play an outsi...
Probing the connection between chirality and spin through time-resolved EPR spectroscopy
Optimal transitions between nonequilibrium steady states
The optimal control of finite-time processes on the microscale is of significant theoretical and practical interest, particularly for the energy-efficient operation of nanomachines. While previous stu...
Circadian-informed modeling predicts regional variation in obesity and stroke outcomes under different permanent US time policies
Seasonal changes in time policy, such as switching between Standard Time (SDT) and Daylight Saving Time (DST), have been adopted by many countries, including the United States. While transitioning bet...
An uphill struggle for tropical forest trees
A widespread family of molecular chaperones promotes the intracellular stability of type VIIb secretion system–exported toxins
To survive in highly competitive environments, bacteria use specialized secretion systems to deliver antibacterial toxins into neighboring cells, thereby inhibiting their growth. In many Gram-positive...
Circular RNA lipid nanoparticle vaccine against SARS-CoV-2
With the advent and widespread use of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), RNA vaccines have emerged as an exciting class of vaccine offe...
Improving the efficacy of anti-SSEA4 antibody in pancreatic cancer immunotherapy with glyco-optimization and immune checkpoint blockade
Pancreatic cancer remains one of the most lethal malignancies with limited therapeutic options. Among the alternative targets explored for pancreatic cancer, the glycolipid stage-specific embryonic an...
High-resolution tephrochronology resolves stratigraphic complexities in archaeologically significant Nariokotome tuffs, Turkana Basin
The Turkana Basin is a renowned paleoanthropological region in Kenya and Ethiopia and is famous for discoveries of numerous hominin fossils and their associated cultural technologies. The Plio-Pleisto...
Intention judgments are not a reliable measure of intuitive preferences
Engineering a serum response factor superactivator of smooth muscle gene expression with a condensate-forming domain
Differentiation of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) is driven by the activation of a set of genes controlled by serum response factor (SRF), a ubiquitous transcription factor with limited intrinsic transcri...