Table Of Contents Page, PNAS Volume 121, Number 51
This Week in PNAS
Commentaries
Letters
Brief Report
Hepatitis E virus (HEV; family Hepeviridae) infections cause >40,000 human deaths annually. Zoonotic infections predominantly
originate from ungulates and occasionally from rats, highlighting the zoonotic potential
of rodent-associated hepeviruses. We ...
Physical Sciences
Applied Physical Sciences
Delivering medical agents to diseased tissues has been challenging, leading researchers
to study the in vivo transport process in the body for improving delivery. Many imaging
techniques exist for mapping the distribution of medical agent-carrying ...
We study the structure and dynamics of the interface separating a passive fluid from
a microtubule-based active fluid. Turbulent-like active flows power giant interfacial
fluctuations, which exhibit pronounced asymmetry between regions of positive and ...
Physical neural networks (PNN) using physical materials and devices to mimic synapses
and neurons offer an energy-efficient way to implement artificial neural networks.
Yet, training PNN is difficult and heavily relies on external computing resources.
An ...
Phenomenological rules that govern the collective behavior of complex physical systems
are powerful tools because they can make concrete predictions about their universality
class based on generic considerations, such as symmetries, conservation laws, and
...
Inspired by the way that digital artists zoom out of the canvas to assess the visual
impact of their works, we introduce a conceptually simple yet effective metric for
quantifying the clarity of digital images. This metric contrasts original images with
...
Astronomy
Small bodies are capable of delivering essential prerequisites for the development
of life, such as volatiles and organics, to the terrestrial planets. For example,
empirical evidence suggests that water was delivered to the Earth by hydrated ...
Biophysics and Computational Biology
The oscillator of the cyanobacterial circadian clock relies on the ability of the
KaiB protein to switch reversibly between a stable ground-state fold (gsKaiB) and
an unstable fold-switched fold (fsKaiB). Rare fold-switching events by KaiB provide
a ...
Chemistry
The interface issue poses a limitation on the fast charging of solid-state batteries
(SSBs), with the high-impedance non-Faraday electric field serving as a pivotal factor.
However, the mechanism of fast-charging capability degradation triggered by the ...
The formation of excited dimer states, so called excimers, is an important phenomenon
in many organic molecular semiconductor solid state aggregates. In contrast to Frenkel
exciton–polarons, an excimer is long-lived and energetically low-lying due to ...
Exploration of novel chiral pharmaceutical candidates is motivation to immersive efforts
among synthetic chemists. Achieving skeletal construction and chiral diversity in
a highly efficient manner is a momentous goal in the chemical society. Unfortunately,...
The cyclopentadiene (C5H6) molecule has emerged as a molecular building block of nonplanar polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs) and carbonaceous nanostructures such as corannulene (C20H10), nanobowls (C40H10), and fullerenes (C60) in deep space. ...
The curious chemistry observed in microdroplets has captivated chemists in recent
years and has led to an investigation into their ability to drive seemingly impossible
chemistries. One particularly interesting capability of these microdroplets is their
...
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) play a major role in the chemistry of combustion,
pyrolysis, and the interstellar medium. Production (or activation) of radical PAHs
and propagation of their resulting reactions require efficient dehydrogenation, ...
High pressure can create extreme conditions that enable the formation of novel materials
and the discovery of new phenomena. However, the ability to preserve the desirable
characteristics of materials obtained under high pressure has remained an elusive
...
Mn2+ coordinated by orthophosphate (Pi), metabolites, or peptides acts as a superoxide
dismutase (SOD), and these Mn antioxidant complexes are universally accumulated in
extremely radiation-resistant cell types across the tree of life. This behavior ...
Proteins play a central role in most biological processes within the cell, and deciphering
how they interact is key to understand their function. Cross-linking coupled with
mass spectrometry is an essential tool for elucidating protein–protein ...
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
The observation of mass-independent sulfur isotope fractionations (S-MIF) in Archean–Paleoproterozoic
rocks has been instrumental in constraining oxygen levels on early Earth. The S-MIF
effect, experimentally demonstrated to result from photochemical ...
Biomass-burning organic aerosol(s) (BBOA) are rich in brown carbon, which significantly
absorbs solar irradiation and potentially accelerates global warming. Despite its
importance, the multiphase photochemistry of BBOA after light absorption remains ...
Dynamic compression of iron to Earth-core conditions is one of the few ways to gather
important elastic and transport properties needed to uncover key mechanisms surrounding
the geodynamo effect. Herein, a machine-learned ab initio derived molecular-spin ...
Engineering
Le Chatelier in 1887 and Powers in 1947 demonstrated that the volume of nanoscale
C-S-H (calcium silicate hydrate) particles formed during hydration is smaller than
the combined volume of the reactants—the anhydrous Portland cement and water. Hydration
...
Neuromuscular diseases pose significant health and economic challenges, necessitating
innovative monitoring technologies for personalizable treatment. Existing devices
detect muscular motions either indirectly from mechanoacoustic signatures on skin
...
Social Sciences
Anthropology
Identifying communal rituals in the Paleolithic is of scientific importance, as it
reflects the expression of collective identity and the maintenance of group cohesion.
This study provides evidence indicating the practice of deep cave collective rituals
...
Social Sciences
Institutions allow cooperation to persist when reciprocity and reputation provide
insufficient incentives. Yet how they do so remains unclear, especially given that
institutions are themselves a form of cooperation. To solve this puzzle, we develop
a ...
US courts regularly assess fines, fees, and costs against criminal defendants. Court-related
debt can cause continuing court involvement and incarceration, not because of new
crimes, but because of unpaid financial obligations. We conducted an experiment ...
Biological Sciences
Anthropology
Identifying communal rituals in the Paleolithic is of scientific importance, as it
reflects the expression of collective identity and the maintenance of group cohesion.
This study provides evidence indicating the practice of deep cave collective rituals
...
The origins of rice domestication and the beginnings of alcoholic fermentation in
China are intriguing research topics, with the Shangshan culture in the Lower Yangzi
River region being a focal point of archaeological investigations. This study employs
a ...
Applied Biological Sciences
Neuromuscular diseases pose significant health and economic challenges, necessitating
innovative monitoring technologies for personalizable treatment. Existing devices
detect muscular motions either indirectly from mechanoacoustic signatures on skin
...
Cutting-edge photonic devices frequently rely on microparticle components to focus
and manipulate light. Conventional methods used to produce these microparticle components
frequently offer limited control of their structural properties or require low-...
Biochemistry
Mn2+ coordinated by orthophosphate (Pi), metabolites, or peptides acts as a superoxide
dismutase (SOD), and these Mn antioxidant complexes are universally accumulated in
extremely radiation-resistant cell types across the tree of life. This behavior ...
Prostaglandin D2 receptor 2 (DP2) is an important anti-inflammatory and antiallergic
drug target. While inactive DP2 structures are known, its activation mechanisms and
biased signaling remain unclear. Here, we report cryo-EM structures of an apo DP2–Gi
...
Insects employ terpenoids for communication both within and between species. While
terpene synthases derived from isoprenyl diphosphate synthase have been shown to catalyze
terpenoid biosynthesis in some insects, canonical terpene synthases (TPS) commonly
...
Biophysics and Computational Biology
Proteins play a central role in most biological processes within the cell, and deciphering
how they interact is key to understand their function. Cross-linking coupled with
mass spectrometry is an essential tool for elucidating protein–protein ...
The oscillator of the cyanobacterial circadian clock relies on the ability of the
KaiB protein to switch reversibly between a stable ground-state fold (gsKaiB) and
an unstable fold-switched fold (fsKaiB). Rare fold-switching events by KaiB provide
a ...
Bacillus anthracis is a spore-forming gram-positive bacterium responsible for anthrax, an infectious
disease with a high mortality rate and a target of concern due to bioterrorism and
long-term site contamination. The entire surface of vegetative cells in ...
TMEM16A is a calcium-activated chloride channel with significant role in epithelial
fluid secretion, sensory transduction, and smooth muscle contraction. Several TMEM16A
inhibitors have been identified; however, their binding sites and inhibitory ...
The dynamic balance between formation and disaggregation of amyloid fibrils is associated
with many neurodegenerative diseases. Multiple chaperones interact with and disaggregate
amyloid fibrils, which impacts amyloid propagation and cellular phenotypes. ...
KCNQ1 potassium channels play a pivotal role in the physiology and pathophysiology
of several human excitable and epithelial tissues. The latest cryo-electron microscopy
(cryo-EM) structures provide unique insights into channel function and pharmacology,
...
Pannexin 1 (Panx1) constitutes a large pore channel responsible for the release of
adenosine triphosphate (ATP) from apoptotic cells. Strong evidence indicates that
caspase-mediated cleavage of the C-terminus promotes the opening of the Panx1 channel
by ...
Cell Biology
Increasing evidence suggests that tumor cells exhibit extreme plasticity in migration
modes in order to adapt to microenvironments. However, the underlying mechanism for
governing the migration mode switching is still unclear. Here, we revealed that ...
Developmental Biology
In Drosophila melanogaster, successful development relies on the precise coordination of both spatial and temporal
regulatory axes. The temporal axis governs stage-specific identity and developmental
transitions through a number of genes, collectively ...
During tissue regeneration, lineage-related cells can switch their fate to replace
missing cells. This cell plasticity is particularly prominent in more regenerative
vertebrates such as zebrafish, yet the molecular basis by which cells transdifferentiate
...
Ecology
Structurally intact native forests free from major human pressures are vitally important
habitats for the persistence of forest biodiversity. However, the extent of such high-integrity
forest habitats remaining for biodiversity is unknown. Here, we ...
Climate change has emerged as a key threat to biodiversity, leading to broad-scale
shifts in distributions of marine and terrestrial species as they attempt to track
thermally suitable habitat. By contrast, our understanding of climate responses of
...
Multiple hypotheses have been put forth to understand why defense chemistry in individual
plants is so diverse. A major challenge has been teasing apart the importance of concentration
vs. composition of defense compounds and resolving the mechanisms of ...
Environmental Sciences
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are widely used in industrial
and household products, raising serious concerns due to their environmental persistence
and mobility. Epidemiological studies have reported potential carcinogenic risks of
...
Evolution
Institutions allow cooperation to persist when reciprocity and reputation provide
insufficient incentives. Yet how they do so remains unclear, especially given that
institutions are themselves a form of cooperation. To solve this puzzle, we develop
a ...
Genetics
Despite 96 million years of evolution separating humans and rodents, 11 closely related
reproductive tract-specific genes in humans—SPINT3, WFDC6, EPPIN, WFDC8, WFDC9, WFDC10A, WFDC11, WFDC10B, WFDC13, SPINT4, and WFDC3—and the 13 reproductive tract-...
Immunology and Inflammation
Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a life-threatening syndrome fueled by
uncontrolled mononuclear phagocyte activity, yet the innate immune mechanisms driving
HLH pathogenesis remain elusive. Germline gain-of-function (GOF) mutations in CARD11,
a ...
Medical Sciences
Here, we show that vitamin E succinate (VES) acts as a degrader for the m6A RNA demethylase fat mass and obesity-associated protein (FTO), thus suppressing
tumor growth and resistance to immunotherapy. FTO is ubiquitinated by its E3 ligase
DTX2, followed ...
Microbiology
The resistance-nodulation-cell division (RND) superfamily of multidrug efflux systems
are important players in mediating antibiotic resistance in gram-negative pathogens.
Campylobacter jejuni, a major enteric pathogen, utilizes an RND-type transporter ...
Patescibacteria, also known as the Candidate Phyla Radiation, are a diverse clade
of largely uncultivated, small bacteria that comprise a significant proportion of
all bacterial diversity. The few members that have been cultivated exhibit a fascinating
...
DNA repair systems are essential to maintain genome integrity and stability. Some
obligate endosymbionts that experience long-term symbiosis with the insect hosts,
however, have lost their key components for DNA repair. It is largely unexplored how
the ...
Neuroscience
Body perception plays a fundamental role in social cognition. Yet, the neural mechanisms
underlying this process in humans remain elusive given the spatiotemporal constraints
of functional imaging. Here, we present intracortical recordings of single- and ...
Inflammation is associated with localized acidosis, however, attributing physiological
and pathological roles to proton-sensitive receptors is challenging due to their diversity
and widespread expression. Here, agonists of the proton-sensing GPCR, GPR65, ...
Many anatomical and physiological features of cortical circuits, ranging from the
biophysical properties of synapses to the connectivity patterns among different neuron
types, exhibit consistent variation along the hierarchical axis from sensory to ...
Retinal rods and cones underlie scotopic and photopic vision, respectively. Their
pigments exhibit spontaneous isomerizations (quantal noise) in darkness due to intrinsic
thermal energy. This quantal noise, albeit exceedingly low in rods, dictates the ...
The routing of blood flow throughout the brain vasculature is precisely controlled
by mechanisms that serve to maintain a fine balance between local neuronal demands
and vascular supply of nutrients. We recently identified two capillary endothelial
cell (...
Physiology
Nearly every cell of the body contains a circadian clock mechanism that is synchronized
with the light-entrained clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). Desynchrony between
the SCN and the external environment leads to metabolic dysfunction in shift ...
Plant Biology
Plants need to adapt to fluctuating atmospheric humidity and respond to both high
and low humidity. Despite our substantial understanding of plant responses to low
humidity, molecular mechanisms underlying the high humidity (HH) response are much
less ...
The classical acid growth theory suggests that auxin stimulates cell expansion by
triggering apoplast acidification via plasma membrane (PM)-localized H+-ATPase. Here, we reconstructed the origin and evolutionary history of auxin-mediated
acid growth. ...
Population Biology
Plasmodium vivax parasites can lie dormant in the liver as hypnozoites, activating weeks to months
after sporozoite inoculation to cause relapsing malarial illness. It is not known
what biological processes govern hypnozoite activation. We use ...
Cover image: Pictured is a tropical rainforest in Borneo. Rajeev Pillay et al. quantified the total amount of tropical rainforest cover as well as the amount of high-integrity rainforest cover, defined as structurally intact and minimally disturbed native forest, within the geographic ranges of 16,396 terrestrial vertebrate species worldwide. Although forest cover encompassed up to 90% of species’ ranges, only 25% of the cover was high-integrity rainforest. According to the authors, preserving tropical biodiversity likely requires enhanced efforts to protect the remaining high-integrity rainforests. See the article by Pillay et al. e2413325121. Image credit: Liana Joseph (photographer).
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