Table Of Contents Page, PNAS Volume 123, Number 3
This Week in PNAS
QnAs
Commentaries
Perspective
People around the world seek climate risk information to guide their decisions. For
instance, projections about future flood risk inform where households choose to live,
how lenders manage credit risks, and which communities receive federal funding. Yet
...
Letters
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Reply to Song et al.: Acidity-sensitive chemistry promotes sulfate formation in East Asia
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Durably reducing partisan animosity through multiple scalable treatments
This article has a reply:Brief Reports
Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) is a primitively eusocial species that sustains its colonies by dividing foraging
duties between queens and workers. Previous research emphasizes hormonal, metabolic,
and behavioral contrasts between the castes but seldom ...
Many plants that abandon sex rely on clonal propagules, but their short dispersal
distances can trap offspring near parent plants and enemies. We show that the yam
Dioscorea melanophyma—which has lost sexual reproduction—evolved black, glossy bulbils that ...
Physical Sciences
Applied Physical Sciences
Brain vasculature is a multiscale network that actively regulates cerebral blood flow
to maintain homeostasis. A systematic understanding of how this network enables robust
and precise flow control has been hindered by the lack of understanding of flow in
...
Biophysics and Computational Biology
Bacterial flagellar swarming enables dense microbial populations to migrate collectively
across surfaces, often resulting in emergent, coordinated behaviors. However, probing
the underlying energetics of swarming at the single-cluster level remains a ...
The apicomedial actomyosin network is crucial for generating mechanical forces in
cells. Oscillatory behavior of this contractile network is commonly observed before
or during significant morphogenetic events. For instance, during the development of
the ...
SH2 domains are critical mediators of cellular signaling, although the molecular mechanisms
by which they bind their phosphopeptide ligands remain incompletely understood. We
investigate the atomic mechanisms underlying both healthy regulation and ...
Sea stars use hundreds of tube feet on their oral surface to crawl, climb, and navigate
complex environments, despite lacking a central brain. While tube foot morphology
and function as muscular hydrostats are well described, the mechanisms that ...
Chemistry
Gasdermin D (GSDMD) is the principal executor of pyroptosis, a form of proinflammatory
programmed cell death misregulation of which is associated with numerous diseases.
Despite significant interest, no specific GSDMD inhibitors have been developed for
...
Assembly of liquid droplets into ordered patterns and architectures has gained great
interests in recent years in view of its tremendous prospects in achieving advanced
biological, biochemical, and biomimetic functions. Nevertheless, current assembly
...
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Cosmogenic nuclides have revolutionized our quantitative understanding of landscape
evolution via measurements of near-surface erosion, exposure, and burial. Here, we
integrate stable cosmogenic krypton in detrital zircon with U–Pb geochronology to
extend ...
Recent studies suggest that the lunar farside experienced a magma ocean evolution
similar to that of the nearside. Thus, the nearside-farside dichotomy, such as volcanism
and crustal thickness, is likely related to the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin–...
The ancient city of Pompeii, destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79, shows
technological improvements to its water supply after becoming a Roman colony. Its
inhabitants relied on wells for their water supply prior to the installation of a
...
Engineering
Gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) are promising electrolyte candidates for next-generation
Li metal batteries (LMBs). However, the reverse migration of free anions causes uneven
distribution of space charges and Li+ flux, ultimately accelerating dendrite ...
Sustainability Science
Managed grazing is the most extensive land use on Earth. The prevailing narrative
is that global rangelands, from grasslands to deserts, are being degraded by overgrazing
due to overstocking. This perception arises from scientific literature, which ...
Social Sciences
Social Sciences
The ancient city of Pompeii, destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79, shows
technological improvements to its water supply after becoming a Roman colony. Its
inhabitants relied on wells for their water supply prior to the installation of a
...
In an increasingly interconnected world, prosociality across group boundaries becomes
ever more important. Yet, a common premise in the behavioral and social sciences is
that people are prosocial mainly toward their ingroup and not outgroups. So far, ...
Previous research has documented racial disparities in gun violence news coverage
in limited and small-scale contexts. This study curates and analyzes a large-scale
dataset of news articles linked to specific incidents of gun violence to test for
...
Biological Sciences
Anthropology
Sudan lies at the crossroads of Africa and the Middle East, with rich cultural, linguistic,
and ecological diversity shaped by a complex demographic history. We present a whole-genome
sequencing (WGS) study of Sudanese populations, analyzing high-coverage ...
Biochemistry
SH2 domains are critical mediators of cellular signaling, although the molecular mechanisms
by which they bind their phosphopeptide ligands remain incompletely understood. We
investigate the atomic mechanisms underlying both healthy regulation and ...
Kv7.1 is a cardiac voltage-gated potassium channel that underlies the delayed rectifier
current (IKS) in the heart. The slow response to membrane depolarization is a hallmark feature
of this channel’s physiology, yet the mechanistic basis of how voltage ...
Mitochondria, which evolved from symbiotic bacteria, possess their own genomes (mtDNA)
and support independent transcription and translation within the organelle. Given
the essential role of mtDNA in energy production, metabolism, as well as cellular
...
Biophysics and Computational Biology
Bacterial flagellar swarming enables dense microbial populations to migrate collectively
across surfaces, often resulting in emergent, coordinated behaviors. However, probing
the underlying energetics of swarming at the single-cluster level remains a ...
Sea stars use hundreds of tube feet on their oral surface to crawl, climb, and navigate
complex environments, despite lacking a central brain. While tube foot morphology
and function as muscular hydrostats are well described, the mechanisms that ...
Protein-DNA condensates mediate transcription and regulate gene expression and DNA
replication and repair. Intermolecular bridging forces stabilizing condensates have
direct roles in these processes. Here, we use optical tweezers to measure bridging
...
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a lethal muscle disease caused by the absence
of the protein dystrophin. Dystrophin is hypothesized to work as a molecular shock
absorber that limits myofiber membrane damage when undergoing reversible unfolding
upon ...
The lysosomal cation channel TMEM175 plays a key role in luminal pH homeostasis and
lysosome function, with aberrant activity linked to Parkinson’s disease. Although
initially described as a K+-selective channel, TMEM175 exhibits substantial H+ ...
Most prokaryotes divide using filaments of the tubulin-like FtsZ protein, while some
archaea employ instead ESCRT-III-like proteins and their filaments for cell division
and cytokinesis. The alternative archaeal system comprises Cdv proteins and is ...
Cell Biology
p62/SQSTM1 generates liquid–liquid phase-separated condensates that participate in
diverse processes, including protein quality control (PQC) and autophagy. Nuclear
p62 condensates were shown to act as ubiquitin- and proteasome-mediated degradation
hubs, ...
Developmental Biology
In metazoans, epithelia perform functions of absorption, diffusion, and secretion.
The actin-based apical projections on the epithelial cells contribute to these functions
and are formed via cell-autonomous mechanisms that control cell polarity, ...
In the mammalian ovary, most oocytes remain dormant, and their dormant status plays
a central role in maintaining the reservoir population of the female germ line. The
equilibrium between the dormant and active states, the latter of which is responsible
...
Ecology
Managed grazing is the most extensive land use on Earth. The prevailing narrative
is that global rangelands, from grasslands to deserts, are being degraded by overgrazing
due to overstocking. This perception arises from scientific literature, which ...
Spatial patterns are widespread in nature, and their formation has been studied extensively.
However, the effects of spatial aggregation on the strength of species interactions
are less well understood, especially in diverse ecological communities. In a ...
Salmonellosis is a common bacterial infection that can lead to severe illness and
death in humans as well as domesticated and wild animals. In bird populations, salmonellosis
outbreaks are temporally irregular but occur simultaneously across large spatial ...
Studies have investigated the interactions between plants through competition and
resource sharing to understand the mechanisms behind the positive effects of plant
diversity on productivity. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are important info-chemicals
...
Experimental tests of the effects of host heterogeneities on parasite transmission
are rare; previous studies focus on a single host trait over one generation of transmission.
Thus, the long-term epidemiological consequences of interacting host ...
Evolution
Enzymes known as lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) are exceptionally powerful
small redox enzymes that master the controlled generation and productive use of potentially
damaging hydroxyl radicals in what is essentially a H2O2-driven ...
Juvenile hormone (JH) exerts pleiotropic effects in insects, regulating not only metamorphosis
and reproduction but also caste differentiation, morphogenesis, and diapause. How
such diverse functions evolved from the ancestral role of JH remains poorly ...
Evolutionary rescue is the process by which declining populations adapt to conditions
that would otherwise cause their extinction. Considering the spectrum of mutant phenotypes
that can arise within a declining population, there exists the interesting ...
Genetics
Accurately predicting the phenotypic consequences of genetic variation is a major
challenge for precision medicine. The problem is exacerbated by epistatic interactions,
nonadditive effects between genetic variants that produce unexpected phenotypes. Here,...
Lynch syndrome (LS) is a genetic predisposition to mainly colorectal and endometrial
cancer due to heterozygous disruptive germline mutations in the DNA mismatch-repair
(MMR) genes MSH2, MSH6, MLH1, or PMS2. Beyond clearly pathogenic mutations, germline ...
Immunology and Inflammation
Gasdermin D (GSDMD) is the principal executor of pyroptosis, a form of proinflammatory
programmed cell death misregulation of which is associated with numerous diseases.
Despite significant interest, no specific GSDMD inhibitors have been developed for
...
The NAIP–NLRC4 inflammasome senses pathogenic bacteria by recognizing the cytosolic
presence of bacterial proteins such as flagellin and type III secretion system (T3SS)
subunits. In mice, the NAIP–NLRC4 inflammasome provides robust protection against
...
Shiga toxin (Stx)–mediated hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) prevails as the leading
cause of pediatric renal failure worldwide despite decades of efforts to develop therapeutic
strategies. Stx killing of large populations of sensitive cells in the ...
Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are multipotent self-renewing cells that give rise
to all types of blood cells. Past research has identified that long-term hematopoietic
stem cells in young mice and humans produce a balanced output of lymphoid and myeloid
...
Medical Sciences
Negative feedback regulation of alcohol ingestion through the FGF21-PVH oxytocin-VTA dopamine system
Alcohol has a notable negative impact on global health. Understanding its physiological
regulation is crucial to addressing alcohol use. Here, we show that FGF21-oxytocin
neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVHOXT)-dopamine neurons ...
Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) reshape the tumor immune microenvironment and
promote tumor progression, yet the underlying mechanisms remain largely unclear. Through
integration of single-cell RNA (scRNA) sequencing datasets from esophageal squamous
...
Cigarette smoking induces epigenetic changes that can cause degenerative heterogeneity
with aging and disease. In disease such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD),
the leading worldwide cause of blindness among the elderly, retinal pigment ...
Microbiology
β-lactam antibiotics are among the most widely used treatments for bacterial infections,
yet therapeutic failure is common even when no genetic resistance is detected. Understanding
how host factors influence antibiotic efficacy is critical for improving ...
Bacterial RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) that control the translation of multiple transcripts
act largely as negative regulators. Here, we report the identification and characterization
of a positive regulator of translation (called PhaF) in the ...
Unlike commonly studied rod-shaped bacteria, mycobacteria grow from their poles, requiring
precise coordination between division and initiation of new pole growth. The mechanisms
that mediate this transition are largely unknown, but likely represent a ...
Neuroscience
Brain vasculature is a multiscale network that actively regulates cerebral blood flow
to maintain homeostasis. A systematic understanding of how this network enables robust
and precise flow control has been hindered by the lack of understanding of flow in
...
When humans return from space, their average brain position is higher within the cranial
compartment. Here, we evaluated brain regional shift magnitudes and deformations and
their behavioral correlates. We analyzed MRI data from 26 astronauts and 24 ...
Memory relies on ensembles of engram cells in the brain. While previous studies have
established the existence of these cells, the relationship between cellular and synaptic
activity remains unclear. To address this, we applied the dual-enhanced green ...
Variability ensures that complex biological systems, including the brain, are capable
of responding to changing environmental demands. While the importance of neural variability
in electrophysiological and hemodynamic aspects of brain activity is ...
Physiology
The maintenance of potassium (K+) balance is a fundamental biological process involving multiple tissues. However,
the roles of intertissue crosstalk in K+ homeostasis remain poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that the mechanosensor
Piezo1 dictates ...
Plant Biology
Improving the photosynthetic enzyme Rubisco is a key target for enhancing C3 crop productivity, but progress has been hampered by the difficulty of evaluating
engineered variants in planta without interference from the native enzyme. Here, we
report the ...
Plants trigger specific changes in gene transcription to acclimate to low-oxygen concentrations.
Plastid-localized STEAROYL-ACYL CARRIER PROTEIN ∆9-DESATURASE 6 (SAD6) converts C18:0-
into C18:1-fatty acids and belongs to the core hypoxia-responsive ...
Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
Fundamental aspects of learning are theorized to be supported by hippocampal pathways:
The monosynaptic pathway (MSP) extracts regularities, whereas the trisynaptic pathway
(TSP) rapidly encodes exceptional items. Yet, the empirical evidence for the ...
Corrections
Cover image: Pictured are genetically identical male (Left) and female (Right) common water fleas (Daphnia pulex). Yugo Takahata et al. analyzed the role of juvenile hormone—which exhibits a diverse range of functions across arthropods—in environmentally induced sex determination in the genus Daphnia. The authors found that juvenile hormone induces male development in Daphnia by activating a circadian rhythm gene that possesses a regulatory sequence not found in other arthropods. The results reveal how changes in regulatory elements can enable the evolutionary diversification of hormone function. See the article by Takahata et al. e2525480123. Image credit: Hitoshi Miyakawa.
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