Table Of Contents Page, PNAS Volume 122, Number 15
This Week in PNAS
Opinion
Commentaries
Perspective
Interest in the biological actions of alcohols, ethanol in particular, dates back
to the earliest historical texts. Alcohol research is now a highly active field with
roots in physiology, pharmacology, toxicology, and neuroscience. But at what point
did ...
Letters
This article has a reply:
View the original article:
Frequent winners explain apparent skewness preferences in experience-based decisions
Brief Report
Monoclonal antibody IE-3 prevents mouse fertilization by binding ZP2, a major component
of the oocyte-specific zona pellucida (ZP). We show that an IE-3-derived single-chain
variable fragment (scFV) is sufficient for blocking fertilization in vitro and ...
Physical Sciences
Applied Mathematics
Differentially private gradient descent (DP-GD) is a popular algorithm to train deep
learning models with provable guarantees on the privacy of the training data. In the
last decade, the problem of understanding its performance cost with respect to ...
Applied Physical Sciences
When soft matter is driven out of equilibrium its constituents interact via effective
interactions that escape Newton’s action–reaction principle. Prominent examples include
the hydrodynamic interactions between colloidal particles driven in viscous ...
Social institutions are systems of shared norms and rules that regulate people’s behaviors,
often emerging without external enforcement. They provide criteria to distinguish
cooperation from defection and establish rules to sustain cooperation, shaped ...
Biophysics and Computational Biology
Wetting of liquid droplets on passive surfaces is ubiquitous in our daily lives, and
the governing physical laws are well understood. When surfaces become active, however,
the governing laws of wetting remain elusive. Here, we propose chemically active ...
Collective migration of epithelial tissues is a critical feature of developmental
morphogenesis and tissue homeostasis. Coherent motion of cell collectives requires
large-scale coordination of motion and force generation and is influenced by mechanical
...
NARROW LEAF 1 (NAL1), originally identified for its role in shaping leaf morphology, plant architecture,
and various agronomic traits in rice, has remained enigmatic in terms of the molecular
mechanisms governing its multifaceted functions. In this study, ...
Chemistry
The microenvironment around catalytic sites plays crucial roles in enzymatic catalysis
while its precise control in heterogeneous catalysts remains challenging. Herein,
the coordinatively unsaturated metal nodes of Hf-based metal-organic framework ...
In order to reduce the risk of high-threat pathogens, a photocatalytic antibacterial
method with a reputation for high efficiency and sustainability has attracted widespread
attention. Recently, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as desirable ...
Solvents within gels enhance the mobility of polymer chain segments while concurrently
diminishing interchain interactions, thereby facilitating the ductility of glassy
polymers at the cost of their mechanical strength. Here, we develop a solvent ...
Unraveling the relationship between structural information and the dynamic properties
of supercooled liquids is one of the great challenges of physics. Dynamic heterogeneity,
characterized by the propensity of particles, is often used as a proxy for ...
The solid–electrolyte interphase (SEI) formed on a battery electrode has been a central
area of research for decades. This structurally complex layer profoundly impacts the
electrochemical deposition morphology and stability of metal anodes. Departing ...
Cellular structure maintenance and function regulation critically depend on the composition
and spatial distribution of numerous membrane proteins. However, current methods face
limitations in spatial coverage and data scalability, hindering the ...
Biomolecular condensates are currently recognized to play a key role in organizing
cellular space and in orchestrating biochemical processes. Despite an increasing interest
in characterizing their internal organization at the molecular scale, not much is
...
Plant cell walls are composed of skeletal cellulose and a filling matrix of hemicelluloses
and lignin. Cellulose has slender crystallite units referred to as microfibrils or
elementary fibrils, and these crystallites form a dense network skeleton in the ...
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Stromatoporoid sponges were important reef-builders during the middle Paleozoic, yet
their early history and integration into reef ecosystems remain poorly understood.
Here, we report Lophiostroma leizunia Jeon sp. nov., the oldest known stromatoporoid ...
Seismic fault slip and rupture propagation often occur at crustal depths in the presence
of hot and pressurized aqueous fluids (i.e., hydrothermal conditions). Previous experiments
investigated fault frictional properties under hydrothermal conditions, ...
Precise and reliable climate projections are required for climate adaptation and mitigation,
but Earth system models still exhibit great uncertainties. Several approaches have
been developed to reduce the spread of climate projections and feedbacks, yet ...
Engineering
Engineering small autonomous agents capable of operating in the microscale environment
remains a key challenge, with current systems still evolving. Our study explores the
fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, a classic model system in biology and a species ...
The concept of a geometric phase has sparked a revolution in photonics. Conventional
space-variant polarization manipulation in optical systems only results in broadband
geometric phases. Recently emerged nonlocal metasurfaces show an ability to compress
...
Modern brain–computer interfaces (BCI), utilizing electroencephalograms for bidirectional
human–machine communication, face significant limitations from movement-vulnerable
rigid sensors, inconsistent skin–electrode impedance, and bulky electronics, ...
Photovoltaic technology has emerged as a key candidate for powering underwater devices.
However, traditional solar cells face limitations in real marine environments. Flexible
solar cells offer new possibilities for underwater energy harvesting. This ...
Mathematics
The pure mapping class group of an oriented surface acts on the character variety
of the surface. We investigate the closure of its orbits under either Zariski or analytic
topologies. We show that a generic infinite orbit is dense in an open subset of the
...
Hodge theory is pivotal in studying algebraic varieties’ intricate geometry and topology:
it provides essential insights into their structure. The Hodge decomposition theorem
establishes a profound link between the geometry of varieties and their ...
Physics
In supersymmetric Yang–Mills theories tension-degenerate domain walls are typical.
Adding matter fields in fundamental representation, we arrive at supersymmetric quantum
chromodynamics (SQCD) supporting similar walls. We demonstrate that the degenerate
...
Magnetic anisotropy plays a crucial role in determining the critical behavior and
phase transitions in two-dimensional magnetic systems. It is also required for the
design of thin-film spintronic devices. Despite its significance, sensing extremely
weak ...
By explicit microscopic construction involving a mapping to a quantum vertex model
subject to the “ice rule,” we show that an electronically “trivial” band insulator
with suitable vibrational (phonon) degrees of freedom can host a “resonating valence-bond”...
Social Sciences
Anthropology
While Indigenous Knowledge (IK) contains a wealth of information on the behavior and
habitat use of species, it is rarely included in the species–habitat models frequently
used by Western species management authorities. As decisions from these authorities
...
Demography
Researchers are key contributors to innovation. Their migration results in talent
circulation and recombination of ideas. Due to data shortage, little is known about
subnational mobility of scientists and the interrelationships between their internal
and ...
Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
Claims about lexical elaboration (e.g. Mongolian has many horse-related terms) are
widespread in the scholarly and popular literature. Here, we show that computational
analyses of bilingual dictionaries can be used to test claims about lexical elaboration
...
White matter develops over the course of childhood in an experience-dependent manner.
However, its role in the relationship between the early environment and later cognition
is unclear, in part due to focus on changes in specific gray matter regions. This
...
Theoretically derived scaling laws capture the nonlinear relationships between rapidly
expanding brain volume and cortical gyrification across mammalian species and in adult
humans. However, the preservation of these laws has not been comprehensively ...
Humans and other animals are adept at learning to perform cognitively demanding behavioral
tasks. Neurophysiological recordings in nonhuman primates during such tasks find that
the requisite cognitive variables are encoded strongly in core oculomotor ...
Social Sciences
Advanced Placement (AP) provides college-level courses to over 1 million US secondary
students annually. Black, Hispanic, and female students have historically been underrepresented
in AP Computer Science (CS). A new, broadly focused course—AP CS ...
Biological Sciences
Anthropology
Transitions from foraging to food-production represent a worldwide turning point in
recent human history. In the Middle Nile Valley this cultural shift occurred between
the sixth and beginning of the fifth millennium BCE. Significant craniodental ...
Biochemistry
Cellular structure maintenance and function regulation critically depend on the composition
and spatial distribution of numerous membrane proteins. However, current methods face
limitations in spatial coverage and data scalability, hindering the ...
The study of bacterial metabolism holds immense significance for improving human health
and advancing agricultural practices. The prospective applications of genomically
encoded bacterial metabolism present a compelling opportunity, particularly in the
...
Most members of the dynamin superfamily of large guanosine triphophatases (GTPases)
have an ability to remodel membranes in response to guanosine triphosphate (GTP) hydrolysis.
Ring Finger Protein 112 (RNF112) (ZNF179/neurolastin) is a recently identified ...
The integrated stress response (ISR) is a central signaling network that enables eukaryotic
cells to respond to a variety of different environmental stresses. Such stresses cause
ribosome collisions that lead to activation of the kinase Gcn2, resulting in ...
Biophysics and Computational Biology
Biomolecular condensates are currently recognized to play a key role in organizing
cellular space and in orchestrating biochemical processes. Despite an increasing interest
in characterizing their internal organization at the molecular scale, not much is
...
Collective migration of epithelial tissues is a critical feature of developmental
morphogenesis and tissue homeostasis. Coherent motion of cell collectives requires
large-scale coordination of motion and force generation and is influenced by mechanical
...
The G protein–coupled cysteinyl leukotriene receptor CysLT2R plays intricate roles
in the physiology and pathogenesis of inflammation-related processes. It has garnered
increasing attention as a potential therapeutic target for atopic asthma, brain injury,...
Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn), a commensal in the human oral cavity, is overrepresented in the colon microbiota
of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and is linked to tumor chemoresistance, metastasis,
and a poor therapeutic prognosis. Fn produces numerous ...
Conformational signatures induced by ubiquitin modification in the amyloid-forming tau repeat domain
Posttranslational modifications can critically affect conformational changes of amyloid-forming
proteins. Ubiquitination of the microtubule-associated tau protein, an intrinsically
disordered biomolecule, has been proposed to influence the formation of ...
Roquin exhibits opposing effects on RNA stem-loop stability through its two ROQ domain binding sites
The interaction of mRNA and regulatory proteins is critical for posttranscriptional
control. For proper function, these interactions, as well as the involved protein
and RNA structures, are highly dynamic, and thus, mechanistic insights from structural
...
Cell Biology
Runx2 is a master regulator of bone formation, and its dysfunction causes cleidocranial
dysplasia (CCD) in humans. When iPS cells were generated from patients with CCD and
Runx2-deficient iPS cells were generated using gene-editing techniques, abnormal ...
The tubulin tail is a key element for microtubule (MT) functionality, but the functional
redundancy of tubulin genes complicates the genetic determination of their physiological
functions. Here, we removed the C-terminal tail of five alpha- and four beta-...
Metastasis is an inefficient process requiring cancer cells to adapt metabolically
for survival and colonization in new environments. The contributions of tumor metabolic
reprogramming to lymph node (LN) metastasis and its underlying mechanisms remain ...
The inhibitor of DNA binding protein ID3 has been associated with the progression
of colorectal cancer (CRC). Despite its significance, its specific role in the immune
evasion strategies utilized by CRC remains unclear. RNA-seq analysis revealed that
ID3 ...
Developmental Biology
In Drosophila ovaries, germ cells differentiate through several stages of cyst development before
entering meiosis. This early differentiation program depends on both the stepwise
deployment of specific regulatory mechanisms and on maintenance of germline ...
The main form of intracellular protein glycosylation (O-GlcNAc) is reversible and
has been mapped on thousands of cytoplasmic and nuclear proteins, including RNA polymerase
II, transcription factors, and chromatin modifiers. The O-GlcNAc modification is ...
Neural stem cells (NSCs) can self-renew and undergo differentiation via asymmetric
division. Dysregulation in the balance between self-renewal and differentiation can
lead to tumor formation or neurodevelopmental disorders. However, the regulation of
...
DNA methylation regulates fruit ripening in tomato, and disruption of the DNA demethylase
DEMETER-LIKE 2 (DML2) results in genome-wide DNA hypermethylation and impaired ripening.
We report here that the transcription factors Ripening Inhibitor (RIN) and ...
Ecology
While Indigenous Knowledge (IK) contains a wealth of information on the behavior and
habitat use of species, it is rarely included in the species–habitat models frequently
used by Western species management authorities. As decisions from these authorities
...
Ecosystems are experiencing changing global patterns of mean annual precipitation
(MAP) and enrichment with multiple nutrients that potentially colimit plant biomass
production. In grasslands, mean aboveground plant biomass is closely related to MAP,
but ...
Environmental Sciences
The massive geographic expansion of terrestrial plant crops, livestock, and marine
aquacultured species during the 19th and 20th centuries provided local economic benefits,
stabilized food demands, and altered local ecosystems. The invasion history of ...
Evolution
Stromatoporoid sponges were important reef-builders during the middle Paleozoic, yet
their early history and integration into reef ecosystems remain poorly understood.
Here, we report Lophiostroma leizunia Jeon sp. nov., the oldest known stromatoporoid ...
Social institutions are systems of shared norms and rules that regulate people’s behaviors,
often emerging without external enforcement. They provide criteria to distinguish
cooperation from defection and establish rules to sustain cooperation, shaped ...
Zinc-finger antiviral protein (ZAP) is thought to drive the suppression of CpG dinucleotides
in many viruses to mimic the composition of their host genomes. However, in vivo evidence
is sparse. Here, we investigated the reasons for unusually high CpG ...
The evolutionary adaptation of an organism to a stressful environment often comes
at the cost of reduced fitness. For example, resistance to antimicrobial drugs frequently
reduces growth rate in the drug-free environment. This cost can be compensated ...
The trypanosomatid flagellates possess in their single mitochondrion a highly complex
kinetoplast (k)DNA, which is composed of interlocked circular molecules of two types.
Dozens of maxicircles represent a classical mitochondrial genome, and thousands of
...
Genetics
Loss of the tumor suppressor gene (TSG) Adenomatous Polyposis Coli (APC) is a hallmark event in colorectal cancers. Since it is not possible to directly
target a TSG, no treatment options are available for these patients. Here, we identify
SRP19 and the ...
Immunology and Inflammation
Influenza remains a significant public health threat. Both monoclonal antibodies and
small-molecule inhibitors can target the influenza surface glycoproteins hemagglutinin
(HA) or neuraminidase (NA) for prevention and treatment of influenza. Here, we ...
Caspase-8 signaling has proapoptotic, antinecroptotic, and proinflammatory signaling
roles dependent on interaction with the adapter molecule FADD, oligomerization, and
autocleavage. Previously, a Caspase-8 binding partner cFLIPL (FLIP, encoded by Cflar) ...
Medical Sciences
Pregnancy loss is a major problem in clinical medicine with devastating consequences
for families. Next generation sequencing has improved our ability to identify underlying
molecular causes, though over half of all cases lack a clear etiology. Here, we ...
Increased differentiation or activity of osteoclasts is the key pathogenic factor
of postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMOP). N4‐acetylcytidine (ac4C) modification, catalyzed
by Nat10, is a novel posttranscriptional mRNA modification related to many diseases.
...
The Atg8-family proteins, including LC3B (microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain
3 beta), are pivotal for key steps in the autophagy process. Proper regulation of
LC3B homeostasis is essential for its function. Although LC3B is modulated by various
...
The hepatocyte Ashwell–Morell receptor (AMR) is the prototypical mammalian lectin
and the first cell receptor isolated. This recycling endocytic receptor of the plasma
membrane determines the concentrations of hundreds of circulating glycoproteins in
the ...
Microbiology
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) currently causes about one million infections and 240,000
deaths worldwide each year. To reach the goal set by the World Health Organization
of global HCV elimination by 2030, it is critical to develop a prophylactic vaccine.
...
Active regulation of gene expression, orchestrated by complex interactions of activators
and repressors at promoters, controls the fate of organisms. In contrast, basal expression
at uninduced promoters is considered to be a dynamically inert mode of ...
Natural transformation (NT) represents one of the major modes of horizontal gene transfer
in bacterial species. During NT, cells can take up free DNA from the environment and
integrate it into their genome by homologous recombination. While NT has been ...
Neuroscience
Engineering small autonomous agents capable of operating in the microscale environment
remains a key challenge, with current systems still evolving. Our study explores the
fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, a classic model system in biology and a species ...
White matter develops over the course of childhood in an experience-dependent manner.
However, its role in the relationship between the early environment and later cognition
is unclear, in part due to focus on changes in specific gray matter regions. This
...
Theoretically derived scaling laws capture the nonlinear relationships between rapidly
expanding brain volume and cortical gyrification across mammalian species and in adult
humans. However, the preservation of these laws has not been comprehensively ...
Humans and other animals are adept at learning to perform cognitively demanding behavioral
tasks. Neurophysiological recordings in nonhuman primates during such tasks find that
the requisite cognitive variables are encoded strongly in core oculomotor ...
Various strategies targeting spinal locomotor circuitry have been associated with
functional improvements after spinal cord injury (SCI). However, the neuronal populations
mediating beneficial effects remain largely unknown. Using a combination therapy in
...
Wound healing after spinal cord injury involves highly coordinated interactions among
multiple cell types, which are poorly understood. Astrocytes play a central role in
creating a border against the non-neural lesion core. To do so, astrocytes undergo
...
Microglia, the largest population of brain immune cells, play an essential role in
regulating neuroinflammation by removing foreign materials and debris and in cognition
by pruning synapses. Since liver X receptor β (LXRβ) has been identified as a ...
Plant Biology
NARROW LEAF 1 (NAL1), originally identified for its role in shaping leaf morphology, plant architecture,
and various agronomic traits in rice, has remained enigmatic in terms of the molecular
mechanisms governing its multifaceted functions. In this study, ...
Plant cell walls are composed of skeletal cellulose and a filling matrix of hemicelluloses
and lignin. Cellulose has slender crystallite units referred to as microfibrils or
elementary fibrils, and these crystallites form a dense network skeleton in the ...
Stomata, which are essential for the exchange of CO2 and water vapor between plant leaves and the atmosphere, are regulated by a variety
of environmental and internal factors. In this study, we identified and characterized
two genes, Guard Cell Turgor ...
Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
Our experience of the world is inherently subjective, shaped by individual history,
knowledge, and perspective. Art offers a framework within which this subjectivity
is practiced and promoted, inviting viewers to engage in interpretation. According
to art ...
Corrections
SI Correction
Cover image: Pictured is a mustached monkey (Cercopithecus cephus) at ZooParc de Beauval, France. Rayhane Nchioua et al. investigated the origins of unusually high cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) dinucleotide levels in simian immunodeficiency viruses found in mustached monkeys and mona monkeys (Cercopithecus mona). The authors identified a splice site mutation in these monkeys that promotes the expression of a less active isoform of the zinc-finger antiviral protein (ZAP), along with additional changes that reduce ZAP’s antiviral activity. These findings demonstrate how host ZAP activity influences CpG suppression in both viral and, possibly, host genomes. See the article by Nchioua et al. e2419489122. Image credit: ZooParc de Beauval.
Sign up for PNAS alerts.
Get alerts for new articles, or get an alert when an article is cited.
Manage alertsStay connected
Advertisement
Recent Issues
Submit to PNAS
Submit to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and have your research discovered by millions of researchers in the biological, physical, and social sciences.
Submit your manuscript