Table Of Contents Page, PNAS Volume 122, Number 40
This Week in PNAS
Editorial
Opinion
Commentaries
Perspective
The prioritization of market over nonmarket values of nature is a key driver of the
global biodiversity crisis. Recognizing nature’s diverse values in decisions is a
fundamental lever for sustainability transformation. While economic valuation of nature
...
Letters
This article has a reply:
Reply to Yu et al.: Datasets, human judges, and future directions for evaluating AI–AI bias
View the original article:AI–AI bias: Large language models favor communications generated by large language models
View the original article:
Quina lithic technology indicates diverse Late Pleistocene human dynamics in East Asia
This article has a reply:Reply to Bourguignon et al.: Convergence is a plausible hypothesis for Quina technology in East Asia
Brief Report
SARS-CoV-2’s remarkable resistance to nucleotide analog antivirals such as remdesivir,
which thwarts RNA synthesis by inhibiting viral polymerase (RdRp), challenges available
therapies. We reveal that remdesivir incorporation destabilizes RdRp–RNA complex ...
Physical Sciences
Applied Mathematics
Nature offers a remarkable diversity of nanomaterials that have extraordinary functional
and structural properties. Intrinsic to nature is the impressive ability to form complex
ordered nanomaterials via self-organization. One particularly intriguing ...
Neurons process information by integrating thousands of synaptic inputs along their
dendrites. Understanding the computational principles underlying neuronal information
processing requires a reliable measure of synaptic conductance dynamics that ...
Applied Physical Sciences
Monoclonal antibodies are among the most promising therapeutic agents in modern medicine,
yet their formulation into high-concentration solutions for subcutaneous self-administration
poses a major challenge. A key obstacle is the marked increase in ...
Granular materials under loading exhibit intermittent avalanches of varying sizes
prior to full yielding, a hallmark of natural failure phenomena such as landslides
and earthquakes. While continuum models for postyield plastic flow are well established,
a ...
Reactive hydrodynamic turbulence is an inherently multiscale phenomenon, characterized
by the separation between energy-containing, viscous, and molecular length and time
scales. The separation between the viscous scale (the Kolmogorov scale) and the ...
This study investigates propeller hydrodynamics at intermediate Reynolds numbers (Re), crucial for small-scale robotic systems but still uncharted. Experiments on a propeller-driven
underwater vehicle and numerical simulations reveal thrust reversal—a ...
Science prizes purportedly reward innovation and explorations of new phenomena. Yet
in practice, prizes may inadvertently divert resources from similarly impactful but
less celebrated scholars. Despite this paradox, and even as prizes proliferate, ...
Astronomy
Dark Stars (DSs), i.e., early stars composed almost entirely of hydrogen and helium
but powered by Dark Matter (DM), could form in zero metallicity clouds located close
to the center of high redshift DM halos. In 2023, three of us identified (in a PNAS
...
Biophysics and Computational Biology
Iron-bound tetrapyrroles (hemes) are essential for the regulation of cellular functions
and bioenergetics. The processes of heme biosynthesis, transport, and degradation
are responsible for the supply of heme in mitochondria and its insertion into other
...
T cells can recognize a few molecules of cognate antigen among vastly outnumbering
noncognate ligands. The T cell receptor (TCR) differentiates antigens based on antigen–TCR
binding dwell time through a kinetic proofreading process. Historically, this has
...
Understanding complex living systems requires identifying universal phenomenological
laws that are independent of species and molecular-biological details. The Monod equation
is a cornerstone of phenomenological microbial growth laws, depicting the growth ...
Neuronal firing patterns are the consequence of precise variations in neuronal membrane
potential, which are themselves shaped by multiple ionic currents. In this study,
we use biophysical models, statistical methods, and information theory to explore
the ...
Chemistry
One of the most fascinating mysteries in the field of origins of life concerns the
driving force that led to the selection of today’s 20 universal L-alpha amino acids in biology. An essential aspect of life’s emergence involves the
formation of ...
With the learning from living protein polymerization in nature, achieving living/controlled
supramolecular assembly of biopolymers such as proteins in vitro is a longstanding
challenge for material design. Herein, we provide a thiol-regulated interfacial ...
Meningeal lymphatic vessels (MLVs) have been identified to associate with various
neurological diseases, such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), Alzheimer’s disease (AD),
Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and brain tumors. Damage to MLVs can ...
Rare earth elements (REEs) are indispensable in modern technologies, but their supply
chain faces challenges due to limited geographical availability and political difficulties.
Recycling REEs from industrial waste provides a sustainable alternative to ...
Water plays a crucial role in material development. As it is ubiquitous throughout
zeolite generation and application, host–guest interaction between zeolite and water
attracts broad interest, but mechanistic understanding remains fragmented. Here, ...
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
The Ganga River basin, critical to over 600 million people, is experiencing a severe
and unprecedented drying trend, threatening water and food security. Using streamflow
reconstructions spanning 1,300 y (700–2012 C.E.) from instrumental data, ...
Twenty-four years of satellite observations from the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant
Energy System show a northern hemisphere (NH) minus southern hemisphere (SH) trend
difference of 0.34 ± 0.23 Wm−2 dec−1 (5 to 95% CI) in absorbed solar radiation (ASR) and ...
The formation and organization of southeastern Tibetan river systems reflect feedbacks
between tectonics, climate, and landscape evolution. However, our understanding of
these interactions remains unclear. We approach this issue from the view that the
...
Engineering
Electron-conducting carbon concrete (ecˆ3) is a multifunctional cement-based composite
material that combines mechanical robustness with electrochemical energy storage.
To further expand our understanding of structure–function relationships in this ...
Physics
Hyperuniformity and giant number fluctuations represent opposite ends in a spectrum
of statistical correlations found in physical systems outside of thermal equilibrium.
Dynamic phase transitions exhibit critical points that are hyperuniform, while ...
Epithermal neutron resonance spectroscopy is a key nondestructive approach for discerning
material properties. However, the existing spallation and accelerator-based photonuclear
neutron sources employed in this spectroscopy are huge and immobile, ...
Despite extensive experimental and theoretical investigations, the fundamental electronic
origin of compressed sodium’s melting temperature reversal under pressure, characterized
by a maximum and a minimum in its melting curve, remains unclear. A recent ...
Social Sciences
Demography
There is a widespread belief, in both the scholarly literature and the popular press,
that polygyny prevents large numbers of men from marrying by skewing the sex ratio
of the marriage market. In turn, the exclusion of men from marriage is thought to
lead ...
Economic Sciences
Air pollution is one of the leading causes of morbidity and premature mortality globally.
A large literature documents the adverse impacts of ambient air pollution on human
health. In contrast, there is a lack of comparable research studying the effects ...
Environmental Sciences
As climate change makes agricultural production shocks more frequent and severe, it
is vital to understand their effect on farmer welfare, land use, and deforestation.
Theoretically, a change in agricultural productivity could increase or decrease ...
Social Sciences
Science prizes purportedly reward innovation and explorations of new phenomena. Yet
in practice, prizes may inadvertently divert resources from similarly impactful but
less celebrated scholars. Despite this paradox, and even as prizes proliferate, ...
Biological Sciences
Anthropology
There is a widespread belief, in both the scholarly literature and the popular press,
that polygyny prevents large numbers of men from marrying by skewing the sex ratio
of the marriage market. In turn, the exclusion of men from marriage is thought to
lead ...
Applied Biological Sciences
The ideal delivery of therapeutic nanoparticles (NPs) to specific sites requires evading
immune clearance and selectively binding target cells. Wrapping NPs in cell-derived
membranes has shown promise in improving targeted delivery, but the mechanisms ...
Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and p-xylene (BTEX) are key aromatic hydrocarbons widely used in fuels, polymers, and industrial
chemicals, yet their production remains heavily dependent on fossil resources, raising
environmental and public health ...
Biochemistry
One of the most fascinating mysteries in the field of origins of life concerns the
driving force that led to the selection of today’s 20 universal L-alpha amino acids in biology. An essential aspect of life’s emergence involves the
formation of ...
With the learning from living protein polymerization in nature, achieving living/controlled
supramolecular assembly of biopolymers such as proteins in vitro is a longstanding
challenge for material design. Herein, we provide a thiol-regulated interfacial ...
Iron-bound tetrapyrroles (hemes) are essential for the regulation of cellular functions
and bioenergetics. The processes of heme biosynthesis, transport, and degradation
are responsible for the supply of heme in mitochondria and its insertion into other
...
Pre-mRNA splicing is kinetically coupled to transcription as shown by the widespread
effects of transcription speed on alternative splicing (AS) outcomes. The molecular
basis for such kinetic coupling is incompletely understood, but one potential ...
Adhesion G protein–coupled receptors (aGPCRs) are key cell-adhesion molecules involved
in many cellular functions and contribute to human diseases, including cancer. aGPCRs
are characterized by large extracellular regions that could serve as readily ...
Site-specific DNA binding by proteins is critical for regulating transcriptional activity
and cell fate decision. However, identifying proteins bound to specific genomic regions
(e.g., promoter or enhancer regions) remains challenging. To address this, we ...
Biophysics and Computational Biology
Monoclonal antibodies are among the most promising therapeutic agents in modern medicine,
yet their formulation into high-concentration solutions for subcutaneous self-administration
poses a major challenge. A key obstacle is the marked increase in ...
T cells can recognize a few molecules of cognate antigen among vastly outnumbering
noncognate ligands. The T cell receptor (TCR) differentiates antigens based on antigen–TCR
binding dwell time through a kinetic proofreading process. Historically, this has
...
Understanding complex living systems requires identifying universal phenomenological
laws that are independent of species and molecular-biological details. The Monod equation
is a cornerstone of phenomenological microbial growth laws, depicting the growth ...
Biological tissues exhibit sharp phase transitions where cells collectively transition
from disordered to ordered states at critical densities. We demonstrate through bio-chemo-mechanical
modeling that this emergent behavior arises from a nonmonotonic ...
Cell Biology
Effective conservation genomics of endangered species requires realistic understanding
of the fitness consequences caused by the accumulation of deleterious mutations in
declining populations. We experimentally investigated three mutations which have been
...
The homeostatic link between the production of mitochondrial ROS (mtROS) and mitophagy
plays a significant role in how cells respond to various physiological and pathological
conditions. However, it remains unclear how cells translate oxidative stress ...
The trans-Golgi network (TGN) is a crucial sorting station in the secretory pathway, where
adaptor protein (AP) complexes ensure selective cargo packaging into transport vesicles.
However, the complete repertoire of cargoes and regulators associated with ...
Developmental Biology
Nature offers a remarkable diversity of nanomaterials that have extraordinary functional
and structural properties. Intrinsic to nature is the impressive ability to form complex
ordered nanomaterials via self-organization. One particularly intriguing ...
Ecology
Diverse factors, including environmental features and cognitive processes, can drive
animals’ movements and space use, with far-reaching implications. For example, repeated
use of individual-level travel routeways (directionally constrained but ...
Climate change is altering the timing of species’ life-cycle events (i.e., phenology),
but the rates of phenological shifts vary across taxa. These mismatches in phenological
response may disrupt interactions between interdependent species, such as plants ...
Climate can vary spatially and temporally and is becoming increasingly unpredictable
due to climate change. It can have a large impact on host–parasite interactions and
investigating this effect is vital both for understanding current parasite ...
The horizontal distribution and vertical stratification of tree crowns can affect
light interception and tree growth, thus driving forest productivity and carbon storage.
However, how canopy structure is affected by tree diversity and thus can mediate its
...
Arguably, the most fundamental question in population ecology is what drives patterns
in the abundance of populations? Small rodents exhibiting regular multiannual cycles
in abundance have long been a test bed for addressing this question. The prevailing
...
Environmental Sciences
Phage-mediated dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) intensifies health
threat in the environment. Increasing amounts of pesticides are entering the soil
ecosystem, yet their potential influence on phage-mediated ARG spread, particularly
...
Evolution
Understanding processes driving local adaptation in wild species is a key goal in
evolutionary biology, but linking genotype to phenotype to environmental drivers of
natural selection remains challenging. Even more rare are empirical examples of what
...
Modularity among traits is thought to drive morphological evolution and diversification,
with more modular species often showing greater morphological disparity and faster
evolutionary rates. However, recent studies suggest this pattern is not universal,
...
Tertiary plastids derived from diatoms in “dinotom” dinoflagellates offer a rare view
of organellogenesis in action, while the genomic and metabolic processes underlying
their conversion remain poorly understood. Here, we present a comparative ...
Genetics
Polycomb group (PcG) proteins form chromatin modifying complexes that stably repress
lineage- or context-specific genes in animals, plants, and some fungi. Polycomb Repressive
Complex 2 (PRC2) catalyzes trimethylation of lysine 27 on histone H3 (H3K27me3) ...
One of the reproductive barriers between diverging populations during formation of
a new species is the sterility of their hybrids. The Prdm9-driven hybrid male sterility of Mus musculus musculus × Mus musculus domesticus hybrids depends on the ...
The chromatin is folded into three-dimensional (3D) structures, and aberrant 3D chromatin
folding has been implicated in cancer. We performed ATAC-seq and TOP2A ChIP-seq to
assess the potential effects of various anthracycline drugs on the chromatin ...
MEPAN (Mitochondrial Enoyl CoA Reductase Protein-Associated Neurodegeneration) is an early-onset movement disorder characterized by ataxia, dysarthria,
and optic atrophy. Here, we report the creation of a mouse model of MEPAN with patient-similar
compound ...
Immunology and Inflammation
Antibody responses to the influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) stem, a major target
for broadly protective vaccine development, have been extensively characterized in
humans. However, they remain largely elusive in other natural influenza hosts, including
...
Genetic association links disordered autoimmunity 1 (DIORA1) to numerous autoimmune
rheumatic diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjögren’s disease, rheumatoid
arthritis, polymyositis, and systemic sclerosis. However, its cellular function ...
Medical Sciences
Meningeal lymphatic vessels (MLVs) have been identified to associate with various
neurological diseases, such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), Alzheimer’s disease (AD),
Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and brain tumors. Damage to MLVs can ...
Antibodies that recognize the conserved prehairpin intermediate (PHI) of class I viral
membrane-fusion proteins typically show limited neutralization and have not been considered
promising therapeutic agents. We previously developed a bispecific antibody (...
Microbiology
Endogenous pathogens can constrain virulence to ensure survival in the host. Pathogenic
state can be controlled by metabolic responses to the prevailing microenvironment;
however, the coupling and effector mechanisms are not well understood. Flux through
...
Critical to our understanding of infections and their treatment is the role the innate
immune system plays in controlling bacterial pathogens. Nevertheless, many in vivo
systems are made or modified such that they do not have an innate immune response.
...
Changes in bacterial colony morphology are common during chronic human infections
and are thought to provide a survival advantage. In the human pathogen Mycobacteroides abscessus (MAB), a unidirectional transition from a smooth (MABS) to rough (MABR) ...
Approximately 58 million people worldwide are believed to be infected with hepatitis
C virus (HCV), a major causative agent of chronic liver diseases. Hepacivirus ratti strain rn-1, which was discovered from Rattus norvegicus (Norway rat) and designated
...
Human noroviruses (HuNoVs), especially GII.4 strains, are the leading cause of acute
viral gastroenteritis worldwide, yet no approved vaccines or antivirals exist. The
pandemic GII.4 Sydney 2012 strain enters cells via membrane wounding and clathrin-...
Neuroscience
Neurons process information by integrating thousands of synaptic inputs along their
dendrites. Understanding the computational principles underlying neuronal information
processing requires a reliable measure of synaptic conductance dynamics that ...
Neuronal firing patterns are the consequence of precise variations in neuronal membrane
potential, which are themselves shaped by multiple ionic currents. In this study,
we use biophysical models, statistical methods, and information theory to explore
the ...
The hippocampus is essential for spatial and episodic memory, subserved by CA1 neurons.
Hippocampal area CA2, which processes social memory, also makes direct connections
to CA1. However, the function of these connections is unknown. To test whether CA2-...
Neuroscience has long relied on macaque studies to infer human brain function, yet
identifying functionally corresponding brain regions across species and measurement
modalities remains a fundamental challenge. This is especially true for the higher-order
...
Biliverdin reductase A (BVRA), the terminal enzyme in heme catabolism, generates the
neuroprotective and lipophilic antioxidant bilirubin. Here, we identify a nonenzymatic
role for BVRA in redox regulation. Through phylogenetic, genetic, biochemical, and
...
The vertebrate central nervous system (CNS) has two great topographic divisions—brain
and spinal cord—that together integrate the body’s internal physiology and behavioral
interactions with the environment. To clarify the architecture of intra-CNS ...
Pharmacology
Posttranslational modifications (PTMs) on histones play critical roles in cellular
processes, including gene expression and tumorigenesis. However, the regulatory mechanisms
and functional consequences of newly identified lysine acylation modifications in
...
Physiology
We previously demonstrated that the NO-stimulated soluble guanylyl cyclase (GC1),
which produces cGMP, also has the ability to transfer S-nitrosothiols (SNO) to other
proteins in a reaction involving oxidized Thioredoxin 1 (oTrx1). This transnitrosation
...
Sickle cell disease (SCD), an inherited blood disorder caused by a mutation in the
β-globin gene, is characterized by sickle erythrocytes that are prone to hemolysis,
leading to anemia and vaso-occlusion crises. In sickle erythrocytes, hemoglobin ...
Systems Biology
Trigger waves, self-regenerating fronts of biochemical activity that spread without
losing speed or amplitude, are widespread in cell signaling. Apoptosis is one example
of a process that propagates through the cytoplasm via trigger waves. Curiously, in
...
Corrections
Cover image: Pictured is a male jaguar (Panthera onca) equipped with a tracking collar. William F. Fagan et al. tracked the movements of 1,239 mammalian carnivores, including 16 canid species and 18 felid species, on six continents. On average, compared with felids, canids displayed a greater density of trackways within their range and were more likely to reuse established trackways. According to the authors, the evolutionary differences in carnivore movement patterns could aid efforts to model encounters among carnivores, prey, and humans. See the article by Fagan et al. e2401042122. Image credit: Sebastian Kennerknecht (photographer).
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