Table Of Contents Page, PNAS Volume 122, Number 6
This Week in PNAS
QnAs
Profile
Commentaries
Perspective
Amid global challenges like climate change, extinctions, and disease epidemics, science
and society require nuanced, international solutions that are grounded in robust,
interdisciplinary perspectives and datasets that span deep time. Natural history ...
Brief Reports
Numerous uniquely human phenomena, from teaching to our most complex forms of cooperation,
depend on our ability to tailor our communication to the knowledge and ignorance states
of our social partners. Despite four decades of research into the “theory of ...
Atmospheric freezing of water droplets suspended in air followed by cloud formation
and precipitation represent fundamental steps of the terrestrial water cycle. These
aqueous droplets exhibit distinct freezing mechanisms and thermodynamic requirements
...
Physical Sciences
Applied Mathematics
Rational inattention models characterize optimal decision-making in data-rich environments.
In such environments, it can be costly to look carefully at all of the information.
Some information is much more salient for the decision at hand and merits ...
Applied Physical Sciences
We introduce an unsupervised classification framework that leverages a multiscale
wavelet representation of time-series and apply it to stock price jumps. In line with
previous work, we recover the fact that time-asymmetry of volatility is the major
...
The Cassini missions have identified the tiger stripes on Enceladus as the source
of both thermal emission and plume jets. The hot spots in the tiger stripes are highly
localized, and the plumes suggest active hydrothermal processes within the subglacial
...
Classical spin liquids (CSLs) are intriguing states of matter that do not exhibit
long-range magnetic order and are characterized by an extensive ground-state degeneracy.
Adding quantum fluctuations, which induce dynamics between these different classical
...
Free-electron radiation, such as Cherenkov radiation and transition radiation, can
generate light at arbitrary frequencies and is fundamental to diverse applications,
ranging from electron microscopy, spectroscopy, lasers, to particle detectors. Generally,...
We modify the traditional linear-elastic field of an edge dislocation. The modifications
stem from symmetry and energy requirements imposed in terms of embedded (deformed)
coordinates. These requirements are satisfied if a line force is added to the ...
Biophysics and Computational Biology
A bilateral body plan is predominant throughout the animal kingdom. Bilaterality of
amniote embryos becomes recognizable as midline morphogenesis begins at gastrulation,
bisecting an embryonic field into the left and right sides, and left–right (LR) ...
Many proteins have slow folding times in vitro that are physiologically untenable.
To combat this challenge, ATP-dependent chaperonins are thought to possess the unique
ability to catalyze protein folding. Performing quantitative model selection using
...
Chemistry
Anion–π interactions are crucial in various biological processes, such as enzyme catalysis
and ion transport. Despite their significance, the exploitation of anion–π interactions
in synthetic polymer systems remains underexplored. This study investigates ...
The growing demand for portable sensors for point-of-care (POC) and onsite health
monitoring has led to significant interest in developing suitable power sources. In
this study, we developed a microfluidic chip-integrated reverse electrodialysis (μRED)
...
A pentadentate [N5] ligand (N2Py2Pz) based on the classic N4Py (N,N-bis(2-pyridylmethyl)-N-bis(2-pyridyl)methylamine) framework has been synthesized by replacing the two pyridylmethyl
arms with corresponding (N-methyl)pyrazolylmethyl units to form [N-bis(...
Lipid peroxidation is a complex biochemical process associated with oxidative stress,
and its products play crucial roles in cellular signaling and the pathophysiology
of many diseases. Among the diverse array of lipid peroxidation (LPO) products, ...
The polyketide synthases (PKSs) in microbes and the cytoplasmic fatty acid synthases
in humans (FASs) are related enzymes that have been well studied. As a result, there
is a paradigm explaining in general terms how FASs repeatedly use a set of enzymatic
...
Engineering
The wave attenuation properties of seagrasses are key to accurately predict how effective
these plants are at protecting coasts from erosion and floods. While recent studies
have significantly advanced the understanding of seagrass wave attenuation in ...
Volatile multicomponent liquid films show rich dynamics, due to the complex interplay
of gradients in temperature and in solute concentrations. Here, we study the evaporation
dynamics of a tricomponent liquid film, consisting of water, ethanol, and trans-...
Airborne insects generate a leading edge vortex when they flap their wings. This coherent
vortex is a low-pressure region that enhances the lift of flapping wings compared
to fixed wings. Insect wings are thin membranes strengthened by a system of veins
...
Environmental Sciences
Climate warming is increasing ocean stratification, which in turn should decrease
the nutrient flux to the upper ocean. This may slow marine primary productivity, causing
cascading effects throughout food webs. However, observing changes in upper ocean
...
Physics
In light of breakthroughs in superconductivity under high pressure, and considering
that record critical temperatures (Tcs) across various systems have been achieved under high pressure, the primary challenge
for higher Tc should no longer solely be to ...
Statistics
For many countries in the Global South traditional poverty estimates are available
only infrequently and at coarse spatial resolutions, if at all. This limits decision-makers’
and analysts’ ability to target humanitarian and development interventions and ...
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Large language models (LLMs) such as GPT-4 sometimes appear to be creative, solving
novel tasks often with a few demonstrations in the prompt. These tasks require the
models to generalize on distributions different from those from training data—which
is ...
Social Sciences
Anthropology
We examine spatiotemporal trends in the pre-European-contact Indigenous population
of North America using radiocarbon (14C) dates of the past 2000 y. At a continental scale, the Indigenous population of
the past ~14,000 y peaked at ~1150 CE and then ...
Economic Sciences
For many countries in the Global South traditional poverty estimates are available
only infrequently and at coarse spatial resolutions, if at all. This limits decision-makers’
and analysts’ ability to target humanitarian and development interventions and ...
View related content:
We introduce an unsupervised classification framework that leverages a multiscale
wavelet representation of time-series and apply it to stock price jumps. In line with
previous work, we recover the fact that time-asymmetry of volatility is the major
...
Rational inattention models characterize optimal decision-making in data-rich environments.
In such environments, it can be costly to look carefully at all of the information.
Some information is much more salient for the decision at hand and merits ...
We examine teachers’ perceptions toward top-performing students and their role model
influence on others in an online survey-based experiment. We randomly expose teachers
to profiles of top-performing students and inquire whether they consider the ...
Intergenerational transmission of inequality is a central question in the social sciences.
We use one trait, beauty, to infer how much parents’ physical characteristics transmit
inequality across generations. Analyses of a large-scale longitudinal dataset ...
Environmental Sciences
Air pollution from coal electricity generation is a major driver of poor air quality
in India and its effects on human health have been extensively studied. Despite considerable
evidence that the same pollution also reduces crop productivity, we lack ...
Political Sciences
Researchers in the social sciences are interested in the consequences of institutions,
increasingly on a global scale. Institutions that may be negotiated between states
can have consequences at a microlevel, as local populations adjust their expectations
...
Social Sciences
The large labor markets of big cities offer greater possibilities for workers to gain
skills and experience through successively better employment opportunities. This “experience
effect” contributes to the higher average wages that are found in big cities ...
Sustainability Science
Air pollution from coal electricity generation is a major driver of poor air quality
in India and its effects on human health have been extensively studied. Despite considerable
evidence that the same pollution also reduces crop productivity, we lack ...
Research investments in crop improvements, including by national and international
agricultural research centers, have made significant contributions to raising yields
of staple food crops in developing countries. Although mostly intended to improve
food ...
Biological Sciences
Agricultural Sciences
The two-line hybrid rice system, a cutting-edge hybrid rice breeding technology, has
greatly boosted global food security. In thermo-sensitive genic male sterile (TGMS)
lines, the critical sterility-inducing temperature (CSIT; the temperature at which
...
Biofilms are three-dimensional structures containing one or more bacterial species
embedded in extracellular polymeric substances. Although most biofilms are stationary,
Flavobacterium johnsoniae forms a motile spherical biofilm called a zorb, which is ...
Biochemistry
Many proteins have slow folding times in vitro that are physiologically untenable.
To combat this challenge, ATP-dependent chaperonins are thought to possess the unique
ability to catalyze protein folding. Performing quantitative model selection using
...
Lipid peroxidation is a complex biochemical process associated with oxidative stress,
and its products play crucial roles in cellular signaling and the pathophysiology
of many diseases. Among the diverse array of lipid peroxidation (LPO) products, ...
The polyketide synthases (PKSs) in microbes and the cytoplasmic fatty acid synthases
in humans (FASs) are related enzymes that have been well studied. As a result, there
is a paradigm explaining in general terms how FASs repeatedly use a set of enzymatic
...
Regulation of Ras GTPases by GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs) is essential for their
normal signaling. Nine of the ten GAPs for Ras contain a C2 domain immediately proximal
to their canonical GAP domain, and in RasGAP (p120GAP, p120RasGAP; RASA1) ...
HflX is a highly conserved ribosome-associated GTPase implicated in rescuing stalled
ribosomes and mediating antibiotic resistance in several bacteria, including macrolide-lincosamide
antibiotic resistance in mycobacteria. Mycobacterial HflXs carry a ...
Biophysics and Computational Biology
Human γD-crystallin, a monomeric protein abundant in the eye lens nucleus, must remain
stably folded for an individual’s entire lifetime to avoid aggregation and protein
deposition-associated cataract formation. γD-crystallin contains two homologous ...
Peptides can bind to specific sites on larger proteins and thereby function as inhibitors
and regulatory elements. Peptide fragments of larger proteins are particularly attractive
for achieving these functions due to their inherent potential to form ...
Cell Biology
Focal adhesions (FAs) are large intracellular macromolecular assemblies that play
a critical role in cell polarization and migration. Talin serves as a direct connection
between integrin receptor and actomyosin cytoskeleton within FAs. Talin contains ...
Microtubule inner proteins (MIPs) are microtubule-associated proteins that bind to
tubulin from the luminal side. MIPs can be found in axonemes to stabilize flagellar
beat or within cytoplasmic microtubules. Plasmodium spp. are the causative agents of ...
Inhibiting the androgen receptor (AR) is effective for treatment of advanced prostate
cancers because of their AR-dependent luminal epithelial cell identity. Tumors progress
during therapy to castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) by restoring AR ...
Mec1-mediated Atg9 phosphorylation regulates the PAS recruitment of Atg9 vesicles upon energy stress
Mec1 plays an essential role in both the DNA damage response and glucose starvation–induced
autophagy. We recently reported that Mec1 regulates glucose starvation–induced autophagy
through its direct binding to Atg13. However, the role of Mec1’s kinase ...
Extrinsic induction of apoptosis and tumor suppression via the p53–Reprimo–Hippo–YAP/TAZ–p73 pathway
Tumor progression is suppressed by inherent cellular mechanisms such as apoptosis.
The p53 tumor suppressor gene is the most commonly mutated gene in human cancer and plays
a pivotal role in tumor suppression. RPRM is a target gene of p53 known to be ...
Cytotoxic attack particles released by CTLs and NK cells include diverse phospholipid
membrane and glycoprotein encapsulated entities that contribute to target cell killing.
Supramolecular attack particles (SMAPs) are one type of particle characterized by
...
Developmental Biology
A bilateral body plan is predominant throughout the animal kingdom. Bilaterality of
amniote embryos becomes recognizable as midline morphogenesis begins at gastrulation,
bisecting an embryonic field into the left and right sides, and left–right (LR) ...
Ecology
Climate warming is increasing ocean stratification, which in turn should decrease
the nutrient flux to the upper ocean. This may slow marine primary productivity, causing
cascading effects throughout food webs. However, observing changes in upper ocean
...
Ocean giants shape the structure and functioning of marine food webs via trophic top–down
controls, landscapes of fear, vertical and horizontal redistribution of nutrients,
energy, and matter. Yet, they face threats from overfishing, pollution, habitat ...
Large herbivores are in decline in much of the world, including sub-Saharan Africa,
and true apex carnivores like the lion (Panthera leo) decline in parallel with their prey. As a consequence, competitively subordinate
carnivores like the African wild dog ...
Environmental Sciences
The global extinction crisis is intensifying rapidly, driven by habitat loss, overexploitation,
climate change, invasive species, and disease. This unprecedented loss of species
not only threatens ecological integrity but also undermines ecosystem ...
Genetics
Misregulation of the activity of GCN2, the kinase that phosphorylates and inactivates
translation initiation factor eIF2α, has been implicated in several health disorders,
underscoring the need to determine the mechanisms controlling GCN2 activation. ...
The Caenorhabditis elegans bZIP transcription factor ZIP-2 is activated by toxins or mutations that inhibit
translational elongation. The zip-2 DNA-binding protein is encoded in a downstream main open reading frame (mORF), but
under normal translation ...
Immunology and Inflammation
Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are unconventional T cells that mediate
rapid antimicrobial immune responses to antigens derived from microbial riboflavin
pathway metabolites presented by the evolutionarily conserved MR1 molecules. MAIT
cells ...
Spatial patterns of cells and other biological elements drive physiologic and pathologic
processes within tissues. While many imaging and transcriptomic methods document tissue
organization, discerning these patterns is challenging, especially when they ...
Medical Sciences
L-thyroxine (L-T4) monotherapy is the standard treatment for hypothyroidism, administered
daily to normalize TSH levels. Once absorbed, T4 is converted to T3 to alleviate most
symptoms. However, this treatment abnormally elevates plasma T4 levels in over ...
Microbiology
Disinfectants are essential tools for controlling infectious diseases and maintaining
sterile conditions in many medical and food-industry settings. Recent work revealed
that a deficiency in the carbohydrate phosphotransferase system (PTS) confers pan-...
View related content:
Alpine lakes, characterized by isolation, low temperatures, oligotrophic conditions,
and intense ultraviolet radiation, remain a poorly explored ecosystem for RNA viruses.
Here, we present the first comprehensive metatranscriptomic study of RNA viruses in
...
The rapid evolution of the viral genome has led to the continual generation of new
variants of SARS-CoV-2. Developing antibody drugs with broad-spectrum and high efficiency
is a long-term task. It is promising but challenging to develop therapeutic ...
Bacteria form groups composed of cells and a secreted polymeric matrix that controls
their spatial organization. These groups—termed biofilms—can act as refuges from environmental
disturbances and from biotic threats, including phages. Despite the ...
Carbon dioxide is a signaling cue critical for fungal pathogenesis. Ptc2, a type 2C
protein phosphatase (PP2C), serves as a conserved CO2 sensor in fungi. By combining phosphoproteomic and biochemical assays, we identified
Hsp90 as a direct target of Ptc2 ...
Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, remains a significant global health threat, affecting an estimated 10.6 million
people in 2022. The emergence of multidrug resistant and extensively drug resistant
strains necessitates the ...
Neuroscience
Meditation is an accessible mental practice associated with emotional regulation and
well-being. Loving-kindness meditation (LKM), a specific subtype of meditative practice,
involves focusing one’s attention on thoughts of well-being for oneself and ...
Perception and action are inherently entangled: our world view is shaped by how we
explore our environment through complex and variable self-motion. Even when fixating
stable stimuli, our eyes undergo small, involuntary movements. Fixational eye movements
...
Arousal refers to changes in brain-body state underpinning motivated behavior but
lacks a proper definition and taxonomy. Neuroscience and psychology textbooks offer
surprisingly different views on what arousal is, from a global brain-wide modulation
of ...
Our understanding of how vision functions as primates actively navigate the real-world
is remarkably sparse. As most data have been limited to chaired and typically head-restrained
animals, the synergistic interactions of different motor actions/plans ...
Understanding how time perception adapts to cognitive demands remains a significant
challenge. In some contexts, the brain encodes time categorically (as “long” or “short”),
while in others, it encodes precise time intervals on a continuous scale. ...
Plant Biology
Ginkgolides are secondary metabolites unique to Ginkgo biloba with the potential to prevent and treat cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
Although the biosynthetic pathways of ginkgolides have been partly uncovered, the
mechanism regulating their ...
The transition from vegetative to reproductive growth, or floral transition, is a
tightly regulated, energy-demanding process. In Arabidopsis, the interplay of light perception and circadian rhythms detects changes in photoperiod
length, accelerating ...
In seed plants, the canonical role of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC)
is to serve as the precursor in the biosynthesis of the phytohormone ethylene, and
indeed, ACC treatment is often used as a proxy for ethylene treatment. Increasing
evidence ...
Soil salinity presents a dual challenge for plants, involving both osmotic and ionic
stress. In response, plants deploy distinct yet interconnected mechanisms to cope
with these facets of salinity stress. In this investigation, we observed a substantial
...
Hemizygous genes, which are present on only one of the two homologous chromosomes
of diploid organisms, have been mainly studied in the context of sex chromosomes and
sex-linked genes. However, these genes can also occur on the autosomes of diploid
plants ...
Plant cytokinesis requires coordination between the actin cytoskeleton, microtubules,
and membranes to guide division plane formation and cell plate expansion; how these
regulatory factors are coordinated remains unknown. The actin cytoskeleton assembly
...
The seed is a landmark plant adaptation where the embryo is sheltered by a protective
seed coat to facilitate dispersion. In Arabidopsis, the seed coat, derived from ovular integuments, plays a critical role in maintaining
dormancy, ensuring germination ...
Population Biology
While the release of sterile males has been highly successful in suppressing some
pest populations, it is impractical for many species due to the males disappearing
after a single generation, necessitating large, repeated releases to maintain sufficient
...
Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
The effects of apolipoprotein E (APOE) and Klotho genes, both implicated in aging, on human cognition as a function of sex and age
are yet to be definitively established. Here, we showed in the largest cohort studied
to date (N = 320,861) that APOE ...
Sustainability Science
The global extinction crisis is intensifying rapidly, driven by habitat loss, overexploitation,
climate change, invasive species, and disease. This unprecedented loss of species
not only threatens ecological integrity but also undermines ecosystem ...
Corrections
SI Correction
View the original article:
Cover image: Pictured are striped dolphins cruising in the Mediterranean Sea. Charlotte Lambert et al. examined the abundance, diets, and energy requirements of marine megafauna in the Mediterranean Sea. Around 4.1 million individuals comprising fishes, mammals, reptiles, and birds consume 1.6 million tons of prey each summer, primarily pelagic cephalopods. Cetaceans and tunas are the primary consumers. According to the authors, the western Mediterranean Sea, a critical feeding area for megafauna, merits conservation protection to safeguard marine ecosystems. See the article by Lambert et al. e2412845122. Image credit: Laurine Gounot (MIRACETI).
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