In situ captured antibacterial action of membrane-incising peptide lamellae

Developing unique mechanisms of action are essential to combat the growing issue of antimicrobial resistance. Supramolecular assemblies combining the improved biostability of non-natural compounds with the complex membrane-attacking mechanisms of natural peptides are promising alternatives to conventional antibiotics. However, for such compounds the direct visual insight on antibacterial action is still lacking. Here we employ a design strategy focusing on an inducible assembly mechanism and utilized electron microscopy (EM) to follow the formation of supramolecular structures of lysine-rich heterochiral β3-peptides, termed lamellin-2K and lamellin-3K, triggered by bacterial cell surface lipopolysaccharides. Combined molecular dynamics simulations, EM and bacterial assays confirmed that the phosphate-induced conformational change on these lamellins led to the formation of striped lamellae capable of incising the cell envelope of Gram-negative bacteria thereby exerting antibacterial activity. Our findings also provide a mechanistic link for membrane-targeting agents depicting the antibiotic mechanism derived from the in-situ formation of active supramolecules.

Inverse relationship between species competitiveness and intraspecific trait variability may enable species coexistence in experimental seedling communities

Theory suggests that intraspecific trait variability may promote species coexistence when competitively inferior species have higher intraspecific trait variability than their superior competitors. Here, we provide empirical evidence for this phenomenon in tree seedlings. We evaluated intraspecific variability and plastic response of ten traits in 6750 seedlings of ten species in a three-year greenhouse experiment. While we observed no relationship between intraspecific trait variability and species competitiveness in competition-free homogeneous environments, an inverse relationship emerged under interspecific competition and in spatially heterogeneous environments. We showed that this relationship is driven by the plastic response of the competitively inferior species: Compared to their competitively superior counterparts, they exhibited a greater increase in trait variability, particularly in fine-root traits, in response to competition, environmental heterogeneity and their combination. Our findings contribute to understanding how interspecific competition and intraspecific trait variability together structure plant communities.

Cytokine profiling and transcriptomics in mononuclear cells define immune variants in Meniere Disease

Meniere Disease (MD) is a chronic inner ear disorder characterized by vertigo attacks, sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus, and aural fullness. Extensive evidence supporting the inflammatory etiology of MD has been found, therefore, by using transcriptome analysis, we aim to describe the inflammatory variants of MD. We performed Bulk RNAseq on 45 patients with definite MD and 15 healthy controls. MD patients were classified according to their basal levels of IL-1β into 2 groups: high and low. Differentially expression analysis was performed using the ExpHunter Suite, and cell type proportion was evaluated using the estimation algorithms xCell, ABIS, and CIBERSORTx. MD patients showed 15 differentially expressed genes (DEG) compared to controls. The top DEGs include IGHG1 (p = 1.64  ×  10-6) and IGLV3-21 (p = 6.28  ×  10-3), supporting a role in the adaptative immune response. Cytokine profiling defines a subgroup of patients with high levels of IL-1β with up-regulation of IL6 (p = 7.65  ×  10-8) and INHBA (p = 3.39  ×  10-7) genes. Transcriptomic data from peripheral blood mononuclear cells support a proinflammatory subgroup of MD patients with high levels of IL6 and an increase in naïve B-cells, and memory CD8+ T cells.

Macroevolutionary dynamics of gene family gain and loss along multicellular eukaryotic lineages

The gain and loss of genes fluctuate over evolutionary time in major eukaryotic clades. However, the full profile of these macroevolutionary trajectories is still missing. To give a more inclusive view on the changes in genome complexity across the tree of life, here we recovered the evolutionary dynamics of gene family gain and loss ranging from the ancestor of cellular organisms to 352 eukaryotic species. We show that in all considered lineages the gene family content follows a common evolutionary pattern, where the number of gene families reaches the highest value at a major evolutionary and ecological transition, and then gradually decreases towards extant organisms. This supports theoretical predictions and suggests that the genome complexity is often decoupled from commonly perceived organismal complexity. We conclude that simplification by gene family loss is a dominant force in Phanerozoic genomes of various lineages, probably underpinned by intense ecological specializations and functional outsourcing.

Squeezing formaldehyde into C60 fullerene

The cavity inside fullerene C60 provides a highly symmetric and inert environment for housing atoms and small molecules. Here we report the encapsulation of formaldehyde inside C60 by molecular surgery, yielding the supermolecular complex CH2O@C60, despite the 4.4 Å van der Waals length of CH2O exceeding the 3.7 Å internal diameter of C60. The presence of CH2O significantly reduces the cage HOMO-LUMO gap. Nuclear spin-spin couplings are observed between the fullerene host and the formaldehyde guest. The rapid spin-lattice relaxation of the formaldehyde 13C nuclei is attributed to a dominant spin-rotation mechanism. Despite being squeezed so tightly, the encapsulated formaldehyde molecules rotate freely about their long axes even at cryogenic temperatures, allowing observation of the ortho-to-para spin isomer conversion by infrared spectroscopy. The particle in a box nature of the system is demonstrated by the observation of two quantised translational modes in the cryogenic THz spectra.

In-section Click-iT detection and super-resolution CLEM analysis of nucleolar ultrastructure and replication in plants

Correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM) is an important tool for the localisation of target molecule(s) and their spatial correlation with the ultrastructural map of subcellular features at the nanometre scale. Adoption of these advanced imaging methods has been limited in plant biology, due to challenges with plant tissue permeability, fluorescence labelling efficiency, indexing of features of interest throughout the complex 3D volume and their re-localization on micrographs of ultrathin cross-sections. Here, we demonstrate an imaging approach based on tissue processing and embedding into methacrylate resin followed by imaging of sections by both, single-molecule localization microscopy and transmission electron microscopy using consecutive CLEM and same-section CLEM correlative workflow. Importantly, we demonstrate that the use of a particular type of embedding resin is not only compatible with single-molecule localization microscopy but shows improvements in the fluorophore blinking behavior relative to the whole-mount approaches. Here, we use a commercially available Click-iT ethynyl-deoxyuridine cell proliferation kit to visualize the DNA replication sites of wild-type Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings, as well as fasciata1 and nucleolin1 plants and apply our in-section CLEM imaging workflow for the analysis of S-phase progression and nucleolar organization in mutant plants with aberrant nucleolar phenotypes.

Beyond the marrow: insights from comprehensive next-generation sequencing of extramedullary multiple myeloma tumors

Extramedullary multiple myeloma (EMM) is an aggressive form of multiple myeloma (MM). This study represents the most comprehensive next-generation sequencing analysis of EMM tumors (N = 14) to date, uncovering key molecular features and describing the tumor microenvironment. We observed the co-occurrence of 1q21 gain/amplification and MAPK pathway mutations in 79% of EMM samples, suggesting that these are crucial mutational events in EMM development. We also demonstrated that patients with mutated KRAS and 1q21 gain/amplification at the time of diagnosis have a significantly higher risk of EMM development (HR = 2.4, p = 0.011) using data from a large CoMMpass dataset. We identified downregulation of CXCR4 and enhanced cell proliferation, along with reduced expression of therapeutic targets (CD38, SLAMF7, GPRC5D, FCRH5), potentially explaining diminished efficacy of immunotherapy. Conversely, we identified significantly upregulated EZH2 and CD70 as potential future therapeutic options. For the first time, we report on the tumor microenvironment of EMM, revealing CD8+ T cells and NK cells as predominant immune effector cells using single-cell sequencing. Finally, this is the first longitudinal study in EMM revealing the molecular changes from the time of diagnosis to EMM relapse.

Tetralol derivative NNC-55-0396 targets hypoxic cells in the glioblastoma microenvironment: an organ-on-chip approach

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a highly malignant brain tumour characterised by limited treatment options and poor prognosis. The tumour microenvironment, particularly the central hypoxic region of the tumour, is known to play a pivotal role in GBM progression. Cells within this region adapt to hypoxia by stabilising transcription factor HIF1-α, which promotes cell proliferation, dedifferentiation and chemoresistance. In this study we sought to examine the effects of NNC-55-0396, a tetralol compound which overactivates the unfolded protein response inducing apoptosis, using the organ-on-chip technology. We identified an increased sensitivity of the hypoxic core of the chip to NNC, which correlates with decreasing levels of HIF1-α in vitro. Moreover, NNC blocks the macroautophagic process that is unleashed by hypoxia as revealed by increased levels of autophagosomal constituent LC3-II and autophagy chaperone p62/SQSTM1. The specific effects of NNC in the hypoxic microenvironment unveil additional anti-cancer abilities of this compound and further support investigations on its use in combined therapies against GBM.

Digital interventions to promote psychological resilience: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Societies are exposed to major challenges at an increasing pace. This underscores the need for preventive measures such as resilience promotion that should be available in time and without access barriers. Our systematic review summarizes evidence on digital resilience interventions, which have the potential to meet these demands. We searched five databases for randomized-controlled trials in non-clinical adult populations. Primary outcomes were mental distress, positive mental health, and resilience factors. Multilevel meta-analyses were performed to compare intervention and control groups at post-intervention and follow-up assessments. We identified 101 studies comprising 20,010 participants. Meta-analyses showed small favorable effects on mental distress, SMD = -0.24, 95% CI [-0.31, -0.18], positive mental health, SMD = 0.27, 95% CI [0.13, 0.40], and resilience factors, SMD = 0.31, 95% CI [0.21, 0.41]. Among middle-aged samples, older age was associated with more beneficial effects at follow-up, and effects were smaller for active control groups. Effects were comparable to those of face-to-face interventions and underline the potential of digital resilience interventions to prepare for future challenges.

A type 1 immunity-restricted promoter of the IL-33 receptor gene directs antiviral T-cell responses

The pleiotropic alarmin interleukin-33 (IL-33) drives type 1, type 2 and regulatory T-cell responses via its receptor ST2. Subset-specific differences in ST2 expression intensity and dynamics suggest that transcriptional regulation is key in orchestrating the context-dependent activity of IL-33-ST2 signaling in T-cell immunity. Here, we identify a previously unrecognized alternative promoter in mice and humans that is located far upstream of the curated ST2-coding gene and drives ST2 expression in type 1 immunity. Mice lacking this promoter exhibit a selective loss of ST2 expression in type 1- but not type 2-biased T cells, resulting in impaired expansion of cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) and T-helper 1 cells upon viral infection. T-cell-intrinsic IL-33 signaling via type 1 promoter-driven ST2 is critical to generate a clonally diverse population of antiviral short-lived effector CTLs. Thus, lineage-specific alternative promoter usage directs alarmin responsiveness in T-cell subsets and offers opportunities for immune cell-specific targeting of the IL-33-ST2 axis in infections and inflammatory diseases.

Women's neuroplasticity during gestation, childbirth and postpartum

Pregnancy is a unique neuroplastic period in adult life. This longitudinal study tracked brain cortical changes during the peripartum period and explored how the type of childbirth affects these changes. We collected neuroanatomic, obstetric and neuropsychological data from 110 first-time mothers during late pregnancy and early postpartum, as well as from 34 nulliparous women evaluated at similar time points. During late pregnancy, mothers showed lower cortical volume than controls across all functional networks. These cortical differences attenuated in the early postpartum session. Default mode and frontoparietal networks showed below-expected volume increases during peripartum, suggesting that their reductions may persist longer. Results also pointed to different cortical trajectories in mothers who delivered by scheduled C-section. The main findings were replicated in an independent sample of 29 mothers and 24 nulliparous women. These data suggest a dynamic trajectory of cortical decreases during pregnancy that attenuates in the postpartum period, at a different rate depending on the brain network and childbirth type.

Nuclear and mitochondrial genetic variants associated with mitochondrial DNA copy number

Mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNA-CN) is a biomarker for mitochondrial dysfunction associated with several diseases. Previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been performed to unravel underlying mechanisms of mtDNA-CN regulation. However, the identified gene regions explain only a small fraction of mtDNA-CN variability. Most of this data has been estimated from microarrays based on various pipelines. In the present study we aimed to (1) identify genetic loci for qPCR-measured mtDNA-CN from three studies (16,130 participants) using GWAS, (2) identify potential systematic differences between our qPCR derived mtDNA-CN measurements compared to the published microarray intensity-based estimates, and (3) disentangle the nuclear from mitochondrial regulation of the mtDNA-CN phenotype. We identified two genome-wide significant autosomal loci associated with qPCR-measured mtDNA-CN: at HBS1L (rs4895440, p = 3.39 × 10-13) and GSDMA (rs56030650, p = 4.85 × 10-08) genes. Moreover, 113/115 of the previously published SNPs identified by microarray-based analyses were significantly equivalent with our findings. In our study, the mitochondrial genome itself contributed only marginally to mtDNA-CN regulation as we only detected a single rare mitochondrial variant associated with mtDNA-CN. Furthermore, we incorporated mitochondrial haplogroups into our analyses to explore their potential impact on mtDNA-CN. However, our findings indicate that they do not exert any significant influence on our results.

T1DiabetesGranada: a longitudinal multi-modal dataset of type 1 diabetes mellitus

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) patients face daily difficulties in keeping their blood glucose levels within appropriate ranges. Several techniques and devices, such as flash glucose meters, have been developed to help T1D patients improve their quality of life. Most recently, the data collected via these devices is being used to train advanced artificial intelligence models to characterize the evolution of the disease and support its management. Data scarcity is the main challenge for generating these models, as most works use private or artificially generated datasets. For this reason, this work presents T1DiabetesGranada, an open under specific permission longitudinal dataset that not only provides continuous glucose levels, but also patient demographic and clinical information. The dataset includes 257 780 days of measurements spanning four years from 736 T1D patients from the province of Granada, Spain. This dataset advances beyond the state of the art as one the longest and largest open datasets of continuous glucose measurements, thus boosting the development of new artificial intelligence models for glucose level characterization and prediction.

Sustainable manufacturing through application of reconfigurable and intelligent systems in production processes: a system perspective

Sustainable production aims at creating products from processes that minimize environmental impact, energy consumption and natural resources. Customers and markets are ever more leaning towards digital, custom, and flexible solutions with lower environmental impact. Hence, Industry 4.0 (I4.0) solutions are increasingly including social and environmental sustainability aspects. We focus on the realization of an infrastructure integrating industrially relevant application modules by combining system reconfigurability and artificial intelligence, towards sustainable production. To meet the final goal of sustainable production, we address four challenges considering flexibility and sustainability in production in a holistic way: (1) developing infrastructural and methodological tools to support companies to explore the potential of I4.0 towards sustainable production; (2) managing the configurability and customization possibilities of products; (3) effectively handling the flexibility provided by a production system with rapid reconfiguration capabilities; (4) integrating hardware and software flexibility by using reconfigurable robotics and machine learning methods. By developing and connecting different application modules, we obtain a physical demonstrator which represents on the one hand an exemplary scenario of reconfigurable and flexible production system; on the other, it enables new research activities and insights with a see, touch & feel approach for industrial and research realities.

Mitoribosomal synthetic lethality overcomes multidrug resistance in MYC-driven neuroblastoma

Mitochondria are central for cancer responses to therapy-induced stress signals. Refractory tumors often show attenuated sensitivity to apoptotic signaling, yet clinically relevant molecular actors to target mitochondria-mediated resistance remain elusive. Here, we show that MYC-driven neuroblastoma cells rely on intact mitochondrial ribosome (mitoribosome) processivity and undergo cell death following pharmacological inhibition of mitochondrial translation, regardless of their multidrug/mitochondrial resistance and stem-like phenotypes. Mechanistically, inhibiting mitoribosomes induced the mitochondrial stress-activated integrated stress response (ISR), leading to downregulation of c-MYC/N-MYC proteins prior to neuroblastoma cell death, which could be both rescued by the ISR inhibitor ISRIB. The ISR blocks global protein synthesis and shifted the c-MYC/N-MYC turnover toward proteasomal degradation. Comparing models of various neuroectodermal tumors and normal fibroblasts revealed overexpression of MYC proteins phosphorylated at the degradation-promoting site T58 as a factor that predetermines vulnerability of MYC-driven neuroblastoma to mitoribosome inhibition. Reducing N-MYC levels in a neuroblastoma model with tunable MYCN expression mitigated cell death induction upon inhibition of mitochondrial translation and functionally validated the propensity of neuroblastoma cells for MYC-dependent cell death in response to the mitochondrial ISR. Notably, neuroblastoma cells failed to develop significant resistance to the mitoribosomal inhibitor doxycycline over a long-term repeated (pulsed) selection. Collectively, we identify mitochondrial translation machinery as a novel synthetic lethality target for multidrug-resistant MYC-driven tumors.

The ECM and tissue architecture are major determinants of early invasion mediated by E-cadherin dysfunction

Germline mutations of E-cadherin cause Hereditary Diffuse Gastric Cancer (HDGC), a highly invasive cancer syndrome characterised by the occurrence of diffuse-type gastric carcinoma and lobular breast cancer. In this disease, E-cadherin-defective cells are detected invading the adjacent stroma since very early stages. Although E-cadherin loss is well established as a triggering event, other determinants of the invasive process persist largely unknown. Herein, we develop an experimental strategy that comprises in vitro extrusion assays using E-cadherin mutants associated to HDGC, as well as mathematical models epitomising epithelial dynamics and its interaction with the extracellular matrix (ECM). In vitro, we verify that E-cadherin dysfunctional cells detach from the epithelial monolayer and extrude basally into the ECM. Through phase-field modelling we demonstrate that, aside from loss of cell-cell adhesion, increased ECM attachment further raises basal extrusion efficiency. Importantly, by combining phase-field and vertex model simulations, we show that the cylindrical structure of gastric glands strongly promotes the cell's invasive ability. Moreover, we validate our findings using a dissipative particle dynamics simulation of epithelial extrusion. Overall, we provide the first evidence that cancer cell invasion is the outcome of defective cell-cell linkages, abnormal interplay with the ECM, and a favourable 3D tissue structure.

Unveiling the double-peak structure of quantum oscillations in the specific heat

Quantum oscillation phenomenon is an essential tool to understand the electronic structure of quantum matter. Here we report a systematic study of quantum oscillations in the electronic specific heat Cel in natural graphite. We show that the crossing of a single spin Landau level and the Fermi energy give rise to a double-peak structure, in striking contrast to the single peak expected from Lifshitz-Kosevich theory. Intriguingly, the double-peak structure is predicted by the kernel term for Cel/T in the free electron theory. The Cel/T represents a spectroscopic tuning fork of width 4.8kBT which can be tuned at will to resonance. Using a coincidence method, the double-peak structure can be used to accurately determine the Landé g-factors of quantum materials. More generally, the tuning fork can be used to reveal any peak in fermionic density of states tuned by magnetic field, such as Lifshitz transition in heavy-fermion compounds.

Sustained CREB phosphorylation by lipid-peptide liquid crystalline nanoassemblies

Cyclic-AMP-response element-binding protein (CREB) is a leucine zipper class transcription factor that is activated through phosphorylation. Ample CREB phosphorylation is required for neurotrophin expression, which is of key importance for preventing and regenerating neurological disorders, including the sequelae of long COVID syndrome. Here we created lipid-peptide nanoassemblies with different liquid crystalline structural organizations (cubosomes, hexosomes, and vesicles) as innovative nanomedicine delivery systems of bioactive PUFA-plasmalogens (vinyl ether phospholipids with polyunsaturated fatty acid chains) and a neurotrophic pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP). Considering that plasmalogen deficiency is a potentially causative factor for neurodegeneration, we examined the impact of nanoassemblies type and incubation time in an in vitro Parkinson's disease (PD) model as critical parameters for the induction of CREB phosphorylation. The determined kinetic changes in CREB, AKT, and ERK-protein phosphorylation reveal that non-lamellar PUFA-plasmalogen-loaded liquid crystalline lipid nanoparticles significantly prolong CREB activation in the neurodegeneration model, an effect unattainable with free drugs, and this effect can be further enhanced by the cell-penetrating peptide PACAP. Understanding the sustained CREB activation response to neurotrophic nanoassemblies might lead to more efficient use of nanomedicines in neuroregeneration.

MAP kinase ERK5 modulates cancer cell sensitivity to extrinsic apoptosis induced by death-receptor agonists

Death receptor ligand TRAIL is a promising cancer therapy due to its ability to selectively trigger extrinsic apoptosis in cancer cells. However, TRAIL-based therapies in humans have shown limitations, mainly due inherent or acquired resistance of tumor cells. To address this issue, current efforts are focussed on dissecting the intracellular signaling pathways involved in resistance to TRAIL, to identify strategies that sensitize cancer cells to TRAIL-induced cytotoxicity. In this work, we describe the oncogenic MEK5-ERK5 pathway as a critical regulator of cancer cell resistance to the apoptosis induced by death receptor ligands. Using 2D and 3D cell cultures and transcriptomic analyses, we show that ERK5 controls the proteostasis of TP53INP2, a protein necessary for full activation of caspase-8 in response to TNFα, FasL or TRAIL. Mechanistically, ERK5 phosphorylates and induces ubiquitylation and proteasomal degradation of TP53INP2, resulting in cancer cell resistance to TRAIL. Concordantly, ERK5 inhibition or genetic deletion, by stabilizing TP53INP2, sensitizes cancer cells to the apoptosis induced by recombinant TRAIL and TRAIL/FasL expressed by Natural Killer cells. The MEK5-ERK5 pathway regulates cancer cell proliferation and survival, and ERK5 inhibitors have shown anticancer activity in preclinical models of solid tumors. Using endometrial cancer patient-derived xenograft organoids, we propose ERK5 inhibition as an effective strategy to sensitize cancer cells to TRAIL-based therapies.

Interrelations of resilience factors and their incremental impact for mental health: insights from network modeling using a prospective study across seven timepoints

Resilience can be viewed as trajectory of stable good mental health or the quick recovery of mental health during or after stressor exposure. Resilience factors (RFs) are psychological resources that buffer the potentially negative effects of stress on mental health. A problem of resilience research is the large number of conceptually overlapping RFs complicating their understanding. The current study sheds light on the interrelations of RFs in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic as a use case for major disruptions. The non-preregistered prospective study assessed a sample of 1275 German-speaking people from February 2020 to March 2021 at seven timepoints. We measured coping, hardiness, control beliefs, optimism, self-efficacy, sense of coherence (SOC), sense of mastery, social support and dispositional resilience as RFs in February 2020, and mental health (i.e., psychopathological symptoms, COVID-19-related rumination, stress-related growth) at all timepoints. Analyses used partial correlation network models and latent growth mixture modeling (LGMM). Pre-pandemic RFs were strongly interrelated, with SOC being the most central node. The strongest associations emerged between coping using emotional support and social support, SOC and sense of mastery, and dispositional resilience and self-efficacy. SOC and active coping were negatively linked. When we examined RFs as predictors of mental health trajectories, SOC was the strongest predictor of psychopathological symptoms and rumination, while trajectories of stress-related growth were predicted by optimism. Subsequent network analyses, including individual intercepts and slopes from LGMM, showed that RFs had small to moderate associations with intercepts but were unrelated to slopes. Our findings provide evidence for SOC playing an important role in mental distress and suggest further examining SOC's incremental validity. However, our results also propose that RFs might be more important for stable levels of mental health than for adaptation processes over time. The differential associations for negative and positive outcomes support the use of multidimensional outcomes in resilience research.

Multivariate analyses of immune markers reveal increases in plasma EN-RAGE in first-episode psychosis patients

Immune cells and cytokines are largely recognized as significant factors in the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric disorders. The possible role of other blood cells such as leukocytes in events of acute psychosis is in contrast only emerging. To study blood-born markers in acute psychosis we here evaluated plasma proteins in drug-naive first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients and healthy controls using a multiplex proximity extension assay technique. We analyzed a panel of 92 immune markers and plasma samples from 60 FEP patients and 50 controls and evaluated the changes obtained using multivariate statistical methods followed by protein pathway analyses. Data showed that 11 proteins are significantly different between FEP patients and healthy controls We observed increases in pro-inflammatory proteins such as interleukin-6, oncostatin-M, and transforming growth factor-alpha in FEP patients compared with controls. Likewise, the extracellular newly identified RAGE-binding protein (EN-RAGE) that regulates the expression of various cytokines was also elevated in the plasma of FEP patients. The results indicate that neutrophil-derived EN-RAGE could play an important role during the early phase of acute psychosis by stimulating cytokines and the immune response targeting thereby likely also the brain vasculature.

Prediction of prime editing insertion efficiencies using sequence features and DNA repair determinants

Most short sequences can be precisely written into a selected genomic target using prime editing; however, it remains unclear what factors govern insertion. We design a library of 3,604 sequences of various lengths and measure the frequency of their insertion into four genomic sites in three human cell lines, using different prime editor systems in varying DNA repair contexts. We find that length, nucleotide composition and secondary structure of the insertion sequence all affect insertion rates. We also discover that the 3' flap nucleases TREX1 and TREX2 suppress the insertion of longer sequences. Combining the sequence and repair features into a machine learning model, we can predict relative frequency of insertions into a site with R = 0.70. Finally, we demonstrate how our accurate prediction and user-friendly software help choose codon variants of common fusion tags that insert at high efficiency, and provide a catalog of empirically determined insertion rates for over a hundred useful sequences.

Light modulates task-dependent thalamo-cortical connectivity during an auditory attentional task

Exposure to blue wavelength light stimulates alertness and performance by modulating a widespread set of task-dependent cortical and subcortical areas. How light affects the crosstalk between brain areas to trigger this stimulating effect is not established. Here we record the brain activity of 19 healthy young participants (24.05±2.63; 12 women) while they complete an auditory attentional task in darkness or under an active (blue-enriched) or a control (orange) light, in an ultra-high-field 7 Tesla MRI scanner. We test if light modulates the effective connectivity between an area of the posterior associative thalamus, encompassing the pulvinar, and the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), key areas in the regulation of attention. We find that only the blue-enriched light strengthens the connection from the posterior thalamus to the IPS. To the best of our knowledge, our results provide the first empirical data supporting that blue wavelength light affects ongoing non-visual cognitive activity by modulating task-dependent information flow from subcortical to cortical areas.

Growth-rate dependency of ribosome abundance and translation elongation rate in Corynebacterium glutamicum differs from that in Escherichia coli

Bacterial growth rate (µ) depends on the protein synthesis capacity of the cell and thus on the number of active ribosomes and their translation elongation rate. The relationship between these fundamental growth parameters have only been described for few bacterial species, in particular Escherichia coli. Here, we analyse the growth-rate dependency of ribosome abundance and translation elongation rate for Corynebacterium glutamicum, a gram-positive model species differing from E. coli by a lower growth temperature optimum and a lower maximal growth rate. We show that, unlike in E. coli, there is little change in ribosome abundance for µ <0.4 h-1 in C. glutamicum and the fraction of active ribosomes is kept above 70% while the translation elongation rate declines 5-fold. Mathematical modelling indicates that the decrease in the translation elongation rate can be explained by a depletion of translation precursors.

Antibiotic hyper-resistance in a class I aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase with altered active site signature motif

Antibiotics target key biological processes that include protein synthesis. Bacteria respond by developing resistance, which increases rapidly due to antibiotics overuse. Mupirocin, a clinically used natural antibiotic, inhibits isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase (IleRS), an enzyme that links isoleucine to its tRNAIle for protein synthesis. Two IleRSs, mupirocin-sensitive IleRS1 and resistant IleRS2, coexist in bacteria. The latter may also be found in resistant Staphylococcus aureus clinical isolates. Here, we describe the structural basis of mupirocin resistance and unravel a mechanism of hyper-resistance evolved by some IleRS2 proteins. We surprisingly find that an up to 103-fold increase in resistance originates from alteration of the HIGH motif, a signature motif of the class I aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases to which IleRSs belong. The structural analysis demonstrates how an altered HIGH motif could be adopted in IleRS2 but not IleRS1, providing insight into an elegant mechanism for coevolution of the key catalytic motif and associated antibiotic resistance.

Lessons learned during the process of reporting individual genomic results to participants of a population-based biobank

The return of individual genomic results (ROR) to research participants is still in its early phase, and insight on how individuals respond to ROR is scarce. Studies contributing to the evidence base for best practices are crucial before these can be established. Here, we describe a ROR procedure conducted at a population-based biobank, followed by surveying the responses of almost 3000 participants to a range of results, and discuss lessons learned from the process, with the aim of facilitating large-scale expansion. Overall, participants perceived the information that they received with counseling as valuable, even when the reporting of high risks initially caused worry. The face-to-face delivery of results limited the number of participants who received results. Although the participants highly valued this type of communication, additional means of communication need to be considered to improve the feasibility of large-scale ROR. The feedback collected sheds light on the value judgements of the participants and on potential responses to the receipt of genetic risk information. Biobanks in other countries are planning or conducting similar projects, and the sharing of lessons learned may provide valuable insight and aid such endeavors.

Transport properties and doping evolution of the Fermi surface in cuprates

Measured transport properties of three representative cuprates are reproduced within the paradigm of two electron subsystems, itinerant and localized. The localized subsystem evolves continuously from the Cu 3d[Formula: see text] hole at half-filling and corresponds to the (pseudo)gapped parts of the Fermi surface. The itinerant subsystem is observed as a pure Fermi liquid (FL) with material-independent universal mobility across the doping/temperature phase diagram. The localized subsystem affects the itinerant one in our transport calculations solely by truncating the textbook FL integrals to the observed (doping- and temperature-dependent) Fermi arcs. With this extremely simple picture, we obtain the measured evolution of the resistivity and Hall coefficients in all three cases considered, including LSCO which undergoes a Lifshitz transition in the relevant doping range, a complication which turns out to be superficial. Our results imply that prior to evoking polaronic, quantum critical point, quantum dissipation, or even more exotic scenarios for the evolution of transport properties in cuprates, Fermi-surface properties must be addressed in realistic detail.

spinDrop: a droplet microfluidic platform to maximise single-cell sequencing information content

Droplet microfluidic methods have massively increased the throughput of single-cell sequencing campaigns. The benefit of scale-up is, however, accompanied by increased background noise when processing challenging samples and the overall RNA capture efficiency is lower. These drawbacks stem from the lack of strategies to enrich for high-quality material or specific cell types at the moment of cell encapsulation and the absence of implementable multi-step enzymatic processes that increase capture. Here we alleviate both bottlenecks using fluorescence-activated droplet sorting to enrich for droplets that contain single viable cells, intact nuclei, fixed cells or target cell types and use reagent addition to droplets by picoinjection to perform multi-step lysis and reverse transcription. Our methodology increases gene detection rates fivefold, while reducing background noise by up to half. We harness these properties to deliver a high-quality molecular atlas of mouse brain development, despite starting with highly damaged input material, and provide an atlas of nascent RNA transcription during mouse organogenesis. Our method is broadly applicable to other droplet-based workflows to deliver sensitive and accurate single-cell profiling at a reduced cost.

Cryo-EM structure of a plant photosystem II supercomplex with light-harvesting protein Lhcb8 and α-tocopherol

The heart of oxygenic photosynthesis is the water-splitting photosystem II (PSII), which forms supercomplexes with a variable amount of peripheral trimeric light-harvesting complexes (LHCII). Our knowledge of the structure of green plant PSII supercomplex is based on findings obtained from several representatives of green algae and flowering plants; however, data from a non-flowering plant are currently missing. Here we report a cryo-electron microscopy structure of PSII supercomplex from spruce, a representative of non-flowering land plants, at 2.8 Å resolution. Compared with flowering plants, PSII supercomplex in spruce contains an additional Ycf12 subunit, Lhcb4 protein is replaced by Lhcb8, and trimeric LHCII is present as a homotrimer of Lhcb1. Unexpectedly, we have found α-tocopherol (α-Toc)/α-tocopherolquinone (α-TQ) at the boundary between the LHCII trimer and the inner antenna CP43. The molecule of α-Toc/α-TQ is located close to chlorophyll a614 of one of the Lhcb1 proteins and its chromanol/quinone head is exposed to the thylakoid lumen. The position of α-Toc in PSII supercomplex makes it an ideal candidate for the sensor of excessive light, as α-Toc can be oxidized to α-TQ by high-light-induced singlet oxygen at low lumenal pH. The molecule of α-TQ appears to shift slightly into the PSII supercomplex, which could trigger important structure-functional modifications in PSII supercomplex. Inspection of the previously reported cryo-electron microscopy maps of PSII supercomplexes indicates that α-Toc/α-TQ can be present at the same site also in PSII supercomplexes from flowering plants, but its identification in the previous studies has been hindered by insufficient resolution.

Spectral kissing and its dynamical consequences in the squeeze-driven Kerr oscillator

Transmon qubits are the predominant element in circuit-based quantum information processing, such as existing quantum computers, due to their controllability and ease of engineering implementation. But more than qubits, transmons are multilevel nonlinear oscillators that can be used to investigate fundamental physics questions. Here, they are explored as simulators of excited state quantum phase transitions (ESQPTs), which are generalizations of quantum phase transitions to excited states. We show that the spectral kissing (coalescence of pairs of energy levels) experimentally observed in the effective Hamiltonian of a driven SNAIL-transmon is an ESQPT precursor. We explore the dynamical consequences of the ESQPT, which include the exponential growth of out-of-time-ordered correlators, followed by periodic revivals, and the slow evolution of the survival probability due to localization. These signatures of ESQPT are within reach for current superconducting circuits platforms and are of interest to experiments with cold atoms and ion traps.

Herbarium specimen sequencing allows precise dating of Xanthomonas citri pv. citri diversification history

Herbarium collections are an important source of dated, identified and preserved DNA, whose use in comparative genomics and phylogeography can shed light on the emergence and evolutionary history of plant pathogens. Here, we reconstruct 13 historical genomes of the bacterial crop pathogen Xanthomonas citri pv. citri (Xci) from infected Citrus herbarium specimens. Following authentication based on ancient DNA damage patterns, we compare them with a large set of modern genomes to estimate their phylogenetic relationships, pathogenicity-associated gene content and several evolutionary parameters. Our results indicate that Xci originated in Southern Asia ~11,500 years ago (perhaps in relation to Neolithic climate change and the development of agriculture) and diversified during the beginning of the 13th century, after Citrus diversification and before spreading to the rest of the world (probably via human-driven expansion of citriculture through early East-West trade and colonization).

Tumor-derived GDF-15 blocks LFA-1 dependent T cell recruitment and suppresses responses to anti-PD-1 treatment

Immune checkpoint blockade therapy is beneficial and even curative for some cancer patients. However, the majority don't respond to immune therapy. Across different tumor types, pre-existing T cell infiltrates predict response to checkpoint-based immunotherapy. Based on in vitro pharmacological studies, mouse models and analyses of human melanoma patients, we show that the cytokine GDF-15 impairs LFA-1/β2-integrin-mediated adhesion of T cells to activated endothelial cells, which is a pre-requisite of T cell extravasation. In melanoma patients, GDF-15 serum levels strongly correlate with failure of PD-1-based immune checkpoint blockade therapy. Neutralization of GDF-15 improves both T cell trafficking and therapy efficiency in murine tumor models. Thus GDF-15, beside its known role in cancer-related anorexia and cachexia, emerges as a regulator of T cell extravasation into the tumor microenvironment, which provides an even stronger rationale for therapeutic anti-GDF-15 antibody development.

The use of prescription drugs and health care services during the 6-month post-COVID-19 period

COVID-19 and other acute respiratory viruses can have a long-term impact on health. We aimed to assess the common features and differences in the post-acute phase of COVID-19 compared with other non-chronic respiratory infections (RESP) using population-based electronic health data. We applied the self-controlled case series method where prescription drugs and health care utilisation were used as indicators of health outcomes during the six-month-long post-acute period. The incidence rate ratios of COVID-19 and RESP groups were compared. The analysis included 146 314 individuals. Out of 5452 drugs analysed, 14 had increased administration after COVID-19 with drugs for cardiovascular diseases (trimetazidine, metoprolol, rosuvastatin) and psychotropic drugs (alprazolam, zolpidem, melatonin) being most prevalent. The health impact of COVID-19 was more apparent among females and individuals with non-severe COVID-19. The increased risk of exacerbating pre-existing conditions was observed for the COVID-19 group. COVID-19 vaccination did not have effect on drug prescriptions but lowered the health care utilisation during post-acute period. Compared with RESP, COVID-19 increased the use of outpatient services during the post-infection period. The long-term negative impact of COVID-19 on life quality must be acknowledged, and supportive health care and public health services provided.

Cytochrome c lysine acetylation regulates cellular respiration and cell death in ischemic skeletal muscle

Skeletal muscle is more resilient to ischemia-reperfusion injury than other organs. Tissue specific post-translational modifications of cytochrome c (Cytc) are involved in ischemia-reperfusion injury by regulating mitochondrial respiration and apoptosis. Here, we describe an acetylation site of Cytc, lysine 39 (K39), which was mapped in ischemic porcine skeletal muscle and removed by sirtuin5 in vitro. Using purified protein and cellular double knockout models, we show that K39 acetylation and acetylmimetic K39Q replacement increases cytochrome c oxidase (COX) activity and ROS scavenging while inhibiting apoptosis via decreased binding to Apaf-1, caspase cleavage and activity, and cardiolipin peroxidase activity. These results are discussed with X-ray crystallography structures of K39 acetylated (1.50 Å) and acetylmimetic K39Q Cytc (1.36 Å) and NMR dynamics. We propose that K39 acetylation is an adaptive response that controls electron transport chain flux, allowing skeletal muscle to meet heightened energy demand while simultaneously providing the tissue with robust resilience to ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Sub-picosecond collapse of molecular polaritons to pure molecular transition in plasmonic photoswitch-nanoantennas

Molecular polaritons are hybrid light-matter states that emerge when a molecular transition strongly interacts with photons in a resonator. At optical frequencies, this interaction unlocks a way to explore and control new chemical phenomena at the nanoscale. Achieving such control at ultrafast timescales, however, is an outstanding challenge, as it requires a deep understanding of the dynamics of the collectively coupled molecular excitation and the light modes. Here, we investigate the dynamics of collective polariton states, realized by coupling molecular photoswitches to optically anisotropic plasmonic nanoantennas. Pump-probe experiments reveal an ultrafast collapse of polaritons to pure molecular transition triggered by femtosecond-pulse excitation at room temperature. Through a synergistic combination of experiments and quantum mechanical modelling, we show that the response of the system is governed by intramolecular dynamics, occurring one order of magnitude faster with respect to the uncoupled excited molecule relaxation to the ground state.

Rio1 downregulates centromeric RNA levels to promote the timely assembly of structurally fit kinetochores

Kinetochores assemble on centromeres via histone H3 variant CENP-A and low levels of centromere transcripts (cenRNAs). The latter are ensured by the downregulation of RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) activity, and cenRNA turnover by the nuclear exosome. Using S. cerevisiae, we now add protein kinase Rio1 to this scheme. Yeast cenRNAs are produced either as short (median lengths of 231 nt) or long (4458 nt) transcripts, in a 1:1 ratio. Rio1 limits their production by reducing RNAPII accessibility and promotes cenRNA degradation by the 5'-3'exoribonuclease Rat1. Rio1 similarly curtails the concentrations of noncoding pericenRNAs. These exist as short transcripts (225 nt) at levels that are minimally two orders of magnitude higher than the cenRNAs. In yeast depleted of Rio1, cen- and pericenRNAs accumulate, CEN nucleosomes and kinetochores misform, causing chromosome instability. The latter phenotypes are also observed with human cells lacking orthologue RioK1, suggesting that CEN regulation by Rio1/RioK1 is evolutionary conserved.

Grafting Rhodobacter sphaeroides with red algae Rubisco to accelerate catalysis and plant growth

Improving the carboxylation properties of Rubisco has primarily arisen from unforeseen amino acid substitutions remote from the catalytic site. The unpredictability has frustrated rational design efforts to enhance plant Rubisco towards the prized growth-enhancing carboxylation properties of red algae Griffithsia monilis GmRubisco. To address this, we determined the crystal structure of GmRubisco to 1.7 Å. Three structurally divergent domains were identified relative to the red-type bacterial Rhodobacter sphaeroides RsRubisco that, unlike GmRubisco, are expressed in Escherichia coli and plants. Kinetic comparison of 11 RsRubisco chimaeras revealed that incorporating C329A and A332V substitutions from GmRubisco Loop 6 (corresponding to plant residues 328 and 331) into RsRubisco increased the carboxylation rate (kcatc) by 60%, the carboxylation efficiency in air by 22% and the CO2/O2 specificity (Sc/o) by 7%. Plastome transformation of this RsRubisco Loop 6 mutant into tobacco enhanced photosynthesis and growth up to twofold over tobacco producing wild-type RsRubisco. Our findings demonstrate the utility of RsRubisco for the identification and in planta testing of amino acid grafts from algal Rubisco that can enhance the enzyme's carboxylase potential.

The Cell Tracking Challenge: 10 years of objective benchmarking

The Cell Tracking Challenge is an ongoing benchmarking initiative that has become a reference in cell segmentation and tracking algorithm development. Here, we present a significant number of improvements introduced in the challenge since our 2017 report. These include the creation of a new segmentation-only benchmark, the enrichment of the dataset repository with new datasets that increase its diversity and complexity, and the creation of a silver standard reference corpus based on the most competitive results, which will be of particular interest for data-hungry deep learning-based strategies. Furthermore, we present the up-to-date cell segmentation and tracking leaderboards, an in-depth analysis of the relationship between the performance of the state-of-the-art methods and the properties of the datasets and annotations, and two novel, insightful studies about the generalizability and the reusability of top-performing methods. These studies provide critical practical conclusions for both developers and users of traditional and machine learning-based cell segmentation and tracking algorithms.

Nationwide health, socio-economic and genetic predictors of COVID-19 vaccination status in Finland

Understanding factors associated with COVID-19 vaccination can highlight issues in public health systems. Using machine learning, we considered the effects of 2,890 health, socio-economic and demographic factors in the entire Finnish population aged 30-80 and genome-wide information from 273,765 individuals. The strongest predictors of vaccination status were labour income and medication purchase history. Mental health conditions and having unvaccinated first-degree relatives were associated with reduced vaccination. A prediction model combining all predictors achieved good discrimination (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.801; 95% confidence interval, 0.799-0.803). The 1% of individuals with the highest predicted risk of not vaccinating had an observed vaccination rate of 18.8%, compared with 90.3% in the study population. We identified eight genetic loci associated with vaccination uptake and derived a polygenic score, which was a weak predictor in an independent subset. Our results suggest that individuals at higher risk of suffering the worst consequences of COVID-19 are also less likely to vaccinate.

Comparative analysis of transferrin and IgG N-glycosylation in two human populations

Human plasma transferrin (Tf) N-glycosylation has been mostly studied as a marker for congenital disorders of glycosylation, alcohol abuse, and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, inter-individual variability of Tf N-glycosylation is not known, mainly due to technical limitations of Tf isolation in large-scale studies. Here, we present a highly specific robust high-throughput approach for Tf purification from human blood plasma and detailed characterization of Tf N-glycosylation on the level of released glycans by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography based on hydrophilic interactions and fluorescence detection (HILIC-UHPLC-FLD), exoglycosidase sequencing, and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). We perform a large-scale comparative study of Tf and immunoglobulin G (IgG) N-glycosylation analysis in two human populations and demonstrate that Tf N-glycosylation is associated with age and sex, along with multiple biochemical and physiological traits. Observed association patterns differ compared to the IgG N-glycome corroborating tissue-specific N-glycosylation and specific N-glycans' role in their distinct physiological functions.

In vivo white matter microstructure in adolescents with early-onset psychosis: a multi-site mega-analysis

Emerging evidence suggests brain white matter alterations in adolescents with early-onset psychosis (EOP; age of onset <18 years). However, as neuroimaging methods vary and sample sizes are modest, results remain inconclusive. Using harmonized data processing protocols and a mega-analytic approach, we compared white matter microstructure in EOP and healthy controls using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Our sample included 321 adolescents with EOP (median age = 16.6 years, interquartile range (IQR) = 2.14, 46.4% females) and 265 adolescent healthy controls (median age = 16.2 years, IQR = 2.43, 57.7% females) pooled from nine sites. All sites extracted mean fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), radial diffusivity (RD), and axial diffusivity (AD) for 25 white matter regions of interest per participant. ComBat harmonization was performed for all DTI measures to adjust for scanner differences. Multiple linear regression models were fitted to investigate case-control differences and associations with clinical variables in regional DTI measures. We found widespread lower FA in EOP compared to healthy controls, with the largest effect sizes in the superior longitudinal fasciculus (Cohen's d = 0.37), posterior corona radiata (d = 0.32), and superior fronto-occipital fasciculus (d = 0.31). We also found widespread higher RD and more localized higher MD and AD. We detected significant effects of diagnostic subgroup, sex, and duration of illness, but not medication status. Using the largest EOP DTI sample to date, our findings suggest a profile of widespread white matter microstructure alterations in adolescents with EOP, most prominently in male individuals with early-onset schizophrenia and individuals with a shorter duration of illness.

Rare variant analyses across multiethnic cohorts identify novel genes for refractive error

Refractive error, measured here as mean spherical equivalent (SER), is a complex eye condition caused by both genetic and environmental factors. Individuals with strong positive or negative values of SER require spectacles or other approaches for vision correction. Common genetic risk factors have been identified by genome-wide association studies (GWAS), but a great part of the refractive error heritability is still missing. Some of this heritability may be explained by rare variants (minor allele frequency [MAF] ≤ 0.01.). We performed multiple gene-based association tests of mean Spherical Equivalent with rare variants in exome array data from the Consortium for Refractive Error and Myopia (CREAM). The dataset consisted of over 27,000 total subjects from five cohorts of Indo-European and Eastern Asian ethnicity. We identified 129 unique genes associated with refractive error, many of which were replicated in multiple cohorts. Our best novel candidates included the retina expressed PDCD6IP, the circadian rhythm gene PER3, and P4HTM, which affects eye morphology. Future work will include functional studies and validation. Identification of genes contributing to refractive error and future understanding of their function may lead to better treatment and prevention of refractive errors, which themselves are important risk factors for various blinding conditions.

Mn5+-activated Ca6Ba(PO4)4O near-infrared phosphor and its application in luminescence thermometry

The near-infrared luminescence of Ca₆Ba(PO₄)₄O:Mn⁵⁺ is demonstrated and explained. When excited into the broad and strong absorption band that spans the 500-1000 nm spectral range, this phosphor provides an ultranarrow (FWHM = 5 nm) emission centered at 1140 nm that originates from a spin-forbidden ¹E → ³A₂ transition with a 37.5% internal quantum efficiency and an excited-state lifetime of about 350 μs. We derived the crystal field and Racah parameters and calculated the appropriate Tanabe-Sugano diagram for this phosphor. We found that ¹E emission quenches due to the thermally-assisted cross-over with the ³T₂ state and that the relatively high Debye temperature of 783 K of Ca₆Ba(PO₄)₄O facilitates efficient emission. Since Ca₆Ba(PO₄)₄O also provides efficient yellow emission of the Eu²⁺ dopant, we calculated and explained its electronic band structure, the partial and total density of states, effective Mulliken charges of all ions, elastic constants, Debye temperature, and vibrational spectra. Finally, we demonstrated the application of phosphor in a luminescence intensity ratio thermometry and obtained a relative sensitivity of 1.92%K^-1 and a temperature resolution of 0.2 K in the range of physiological temperatures.

Anaerobic carboxydotrophy in sulfur-respiring haloarchaea from hypersaline lakes

Anaerobic carboxydotrophy is a widespread catabolic trait in bacteria, with two dominant pathways: hydrogenogenic and acetogenic. The marginal mode by direct oxidation to CO₂ using an external e-acceptor has only a few examples. Use of sulfidic sediments from two types of hypersaline lakes in anaerobic enrichments with CO as an e-donor and elemental sulfur as an e-acceptor led to isolation of two pure cultures of anaerobic carboxydotrophs belonging to two genera of sulfur-reducing haloarchaea: Halanaeroarchaeum sp. HSR-CO from salt lakes and Halalkaliarchaeum sp. AArc-CO from soda lakes. Anaerobic growth of extremely halophilic archaea with CO was obligatory depended on the presence of elemental sulfur as the electron acceptor and yeast extract as the carbon source. CO served as a direct electron donor and H₂ was not generated from CO when cells were incubated with or without sulfur. The genomes of the isolates encode a catalytic Ni,Fe-CODH subunit CooS (distantly related to bacterial homologs) and its Ni-incorporating chaperone CooC (related to methanogenic homologs) within a single genomic locus. Similar loci were also present in a genome of the type species of Halalkaliarchaeum closely related to AArc-CO, and the ability for anaerobic sulfur-dependent carboxydotrophy was confirmed for three different strains of this genus. Moreover, similar proteins are encoded in three of the four genomes of recently described carbohydrate-utilizing sulfur-reducing haloarchaea belonging to the genus Halapricum and in two yet undescribed haloarchaeal species. Overall, this work demonstrated for the first time the potential for anaerobic sulfur-dependent carboxydotrophy in extremely halophilic archaea.

Mechanical forces couple bone matrix mineralization with inhibition of angiogenesis to limit adolescent bone growth

Bone growth requires a specialised, highly angiogenic blood vessel subtype, so-called type H vessels, which pave the way for osteoblasts surrounding these vessels. At the end of adolescence, type H vessels differentiate into quiescent type L endothelium lacking the capacity to promote bone growth. Until now, the signals that switch off type H vessel identity and thus limit adolescent bone growth have remained ill defined. Here we show that mechanical forces, associated with increased body weight at the end of adolescence, trigger the mechanoreceptor PIEZO1 and thereby mediate enhanced production of the kinase FAM20C in osteoblasts. FAM20C, the major kinase of the secreted phosphoproteome, phosphorylates dentin matrix protein 1, previously identified as a key factor in bone mineralization. Thereupon, dentin matrix protein 1 is secreted from osteoblasts in a burst-like manner. Extracellular dentin matrix protein 1 inhibits vascular endothelial growth factor signalling by preventing phosphorylation of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2. Hence, secreted dentin matrix protein 1 transforms type H vessels into type L to limit bone growth activity and enhance bone mineralization. The discovered mechanism may suggest new options for the treatment of diseases characterised by aberrant activity of bone and vessels such as osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and osteosarcoma.

Fast and selective reduction of nitroarenes under visible light with an earth-abundant plasmonic photocatalyst

Reduction of nitroaromatics to the corresponding amines is a key process in the fine and bulk chemicals industry to produce polymers, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and dyes. However, their effective and selective reduction requires high temperatures and pressurized hydrogen and involves noble metal-based catalysts. Here we report on an earth-abundant, plasmonic nano-photocatalyst, with an excellent reaction rate towards the selective hydrogenation of nitroaromatics. With solar light as the only energy input, the chalcopyrite catalyst operates through the combined action of hot holes and photothermal effects. Ultrafast laser transient absorption and light-induced electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopies have unveiled the energy matching of the hot holes in the valence band of the catalyst with the frontier orbitals of the hydrogen and electron donor, via a transient coordination intermediate. Consequently, the reusable and sustainable copper-iron-sulfide (CuFeS₂) catalyst delivers previously unattainable turnover frequencies, even in large-scale reactions, while the cost-normalized production rate stands an order of magnitude above the state of the art.

Acousto-optically driven lensless single-shot ultrafast optical imaging

Driven by many applications in a wide span of scientific fields, a myriad of advanced ultrafast imaging techniques have emerged in the last decade, featuring record-high imaging speeds above a trillion-frame-per-second with long sequence depths. Although bringing remarkable insights into various ultrafast phenomena, their application out of a laboratory environment is however limited in most cases, either by the cost, complexity of the operation or by heavy data processing. We then report a versatile single-shot imaging technique combining sequentially timed all-optical mapping photography (STAMP) with acousto-optics programmable dispersive filtering (AOPDF) and digital in-line holography (DIH). On the one hand, a high degree of simplicity is reached through the AOPDF, which enables full control over the acquisition parameters via an electrically driven phase and amplitude spectro-temporal tailoring of the imaging pulses. Here, contrary to most single-shot techniques, the frame rate, exposure time, and frame intensities can be independently adjusted in a wide range of pulse durations and chirp values without resorting to complex shaping stages, making the system remarkably agile and user-friendly. On the other hand, the use of DIH, which does not require any reference beam, allows to achieve an even higher technical simplicity by allowing its lensless operation but also for reconstructing the object on a wide depth of field, contrary to classical techniques that only provide images in a single plane. The imaging speed of the system as well as its flexibility are demonstrated by visualizing ultrashort events on both the picosecond and nanosecond timescales. The virtues and limitations as well as the potential improvements of this on-demand ultrafast imaging method are critically discussed.