Table Of Contents Page, PNAS Volume 123, Number 7
This Week in PNAS
Core Concepts
Retrospective
James Dewey Watson who died on November 7, 2025, at the age of 97, was a towering
figure in 20th century life science. With Francis Crick, he determined the structure
of DNA, laying the foundation of modern biology; he made Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
...
Commentaries
Perspective
Conservation and environmental management are under increased scrutiny as the embeddedness
of oppressive practices has gained wider societal and scholarly attention. As conservation
and environmental practitioners and scholars grapple with foundational ...
Letters
This article has a reply:
Reply to Völker et al.: On the evidence of increased close friendships in societies
View the original article:Why more social interactions lead to more polarization in societies
Brief Report
Abdominal ultrasound has emerged as a noninvasive modality with immunomodulatory potential.
Although its anti-inflammatory effects have been demonstrated in various disease models,
the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Previous studies suggest that ...
Physical Sciences
Applied Mathematics
Forecast models are a key decision-support tool for public health authorities in managing
epidemics, feeding into early warning systems, scenario evaluations, and an empirical
basis for resource allocation. In Brazil, improving dengue forecasting became a ...
Function diversity, the range of tasks individuals perform, and specialization, the
distribution of function abundances, are fundamental to complex adaptive systems.
In the absence of overarching principles, these properties have appeared domain-specific.
...
Individuals interact and cooperate in structured systems. Many studies represent this
structure using static networks, where each link represents a permanent connection
between two nodes. However, real interactions are generally not time-invariant and
are ...
Applied Physical Sciences
The self-assembly of matter into ordered structures is ubiquitous throughout nature
and engineered systems. Programming a material’s macroscopic properties via molecular-level
structural control is a grand scientific challenge, requiring methods for ...
Plasmonic resonances in nanostructured conducting polymers provide a compelling route
to actively tunable nanophotonics and metasurfaces, owing to their ability to be dynamically
modulated through electrochemical doping. Although their lower mobility ...
Turbulence, left unforced, evolves under its own dynamics, invading surrounding quiescent
fluid as it decays. A ubiquitous and familiar phenomenon, this fundamental aspect
of turbulence has resisted the marriage of principled theory and experiment with no
...
Doping to control carrier (electron or hole) transport is foundational to modulate
the properties of semiconductors, enabling the development of homojunctions and heterojunctions
for integrated electronics. Unlike semiconductors with unipolar charge-...
Biophysics and Computational Biology
Munc13-1 is a key protein involved in priming synaptic vesicles for rapid release
at the presynaptic plasma membrane. It was previously revealed that Munc13-1 cycles
between at least two alternate conformations, an upright (open) molecular conformation
...
How thousands of microtubules (MTs) and molecular motors self-organize into spindles
remains poorly understood. By combining static, nanometer-resolution, large-scale
electron tomography reconstructions and dynamic, optical-resolution, polarized light
...
Chemistry
The self-assembly of enzyme proteins on 2D nanomaterials has enabled the construction
and functional control of viable biochemical pathways. However, enzymatic cascades,
which combine essential components of the photosynthetic and respiratory electron
...
Cross-couplings are essential reactions in modern chemical synthesis, enabling the
rapid construction of complex molecules from simple precursors. Transition metal catalysts
are prized for these transformations because their reactivity and selectivity can
...
We present a methionine-selective, nonreversible bioconjugation strategy that employs
activated allylic bromides under mild, aqueous reaction conditions compatible with
various peptides and proteins. Compared with conventional allylic bromides, our method
...
Previous experimental reports of long-range interactions in ionic liquids (ILs) stand
in contradiction with theoretical predictions and numerical simulations. To provide
insights into the literature discrepancies regarding the experimental ranges of ...
Computer Sciences
Lysine (Lys/K) residues serve as major hubs for post-translational modifications (PTMs)
owing to the chemical versatility of their ε-amino groups, giving rise to diverse
regulatory functions. Accurate and efficient identification of modified lysine ...
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Stratospheric CH4 oxidation represents both an important sink in the global CH4 budget and a major source of stratospheric water vapor and hydrogen radicals, exerting
strong influences on global climate and ozone chemistry. Yet, the magnitude of ...
Despite the economic importance of lithium, there is considerable disagreement over
the processes that concentrate it and other rare metals in pegmatite-type lithium
deposits. Two main processes have been invoked, namely extreme differentiation of
a ...
Engineering
The fundamental limitation of water oxidation in alkaline water electrolysis (AWE)
lies in the progressive depletion of dynamic active sites and rapid dissipation of
local active ion concentration, a critical thermodynamic constraint that conventional
...
In crowded environments, individuals must navigate around other occupants to reach
their destinations. Understanding and controlling traffic flows in these spaces is
relevant for coordinating robot swarms and designing infrastructure for dense ...
Babesia microti is an intraerythrocytic protozoan parasite and the main causative agent of human
babesiosis in the United States. While extensive research has focused on the prevalence
of this vector-borne pathogen in natural populations, increases of ...
Even though in vivo rodent studies have been instrumental in investigating sex-specific
differences in cardiac health, function, and pathology, they fall short in providing
a fast and flexible platform for investigating sex differences of cardiac ...
Granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) deficiency drives autoimmune
pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (aPAP), a disease characterized by impaired macrophage-mediated
clearance of pulmonary surfactants. Clinical data suggest that inhaled ...
Physics
The liquid–liquid phase separation of biomolecules is an important process for intracellular
organization. Biomolecular sequence combinatorics leads to a large variety of proteins
and nucleic acids which can interact to form a diversity of dense liquid (“...
We develop a mixed quantum-classical framework, dubbed the moving Born–Oppenheimer
approximation (MBOA), to describe the dynamics of slow degrees of freedom (DOFs) coupled
to fast ones. As in the Born–Oppenheimer approximation (BOA), the fast degrees of
...
Droplets on super-repellent materials adopt the shape of pearls, which makes them
highly mobile, owing to the conjunction of low contact line pinning with small dynamical
friction. This property is especially valuable when drops are viscous, a case where
...
Hydrogen hydrates (HH) are a unique class of materials composed of hydrogen molecules
confined within crystalline water frameworks. Among their multiple phases, the filled
ice structures, particularly the cubic C2 phase, exhibit exceptionally strong host–...
The existence of electromagnetic radiation—radio waves, microwaves, light, X-rays,
and so on—is one of the most important physical phenomena, and our ability to manipulate
them is one of the most significant technological achievement of humankind. ...
Sustainability Science
Grazing systems represent the most extensive production systems in the world and are
highly sensitive to climate change. However, their global-scale sensitivity and vulnerability
to climate impacts remain poorly understood. Here, we apply the safe ...
Social Sciences
Anthropology
More than 100 historically, archaeologically and ethnographically attested numerical
notations have been used over the past 5,000 y; however, because most of those systems
are no longer used, experimental investigation is challenging. Prior research often
...
Economic Sciences
Researchers cannot definitely interpret what the framers of the United States Constitution
intended when they wrote of the “general Welfare.” Nevertheless, researchers can conjecture
by specifying social welfare functions that aim to express the ...
Environmental Sciences
Grazing systems represent the most extensive production systems in the world and are
highly sensitive to climate change. However, their global-scale sensitivity and vulnerability
to climate impacts remain poorly understood. Here, we apply the safe ...
Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
Expectations can shape perception and potentially lead to self-fulfilling prophecies
such as placebo effects that persist or grow over time. Nonetheless, whether and how
unreinforced and unconditioned social cues (i.e., suggestions about future ...
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a key question for researchers and authorities was to
understand the psychological motivations that sustained public engagement in protective
behavior such as physical distancing and hygienic protection. While feelings of ...
Social Sciences
Function diversity, the range of tasks individuals perform, and specialization, the
distribution of function abundances, are fundamental to complex adaptive systems.
In the absence of overarching principles, these properties have appeared domain-specific.
...
Pluralistic ignorance—the systematic misperception of others’ attitudes—can entrench
suboptimal norms, yet its dynamics remain poorly understood. We develop a mathematical
model of the coevolution of actions, private attitudes, and beliefs about others,
...
First impressions often hinge on visible cues, leading people to infer the trustworthiness
of strangers from their appearance and dress. While religiosity is generally associated
with greater perceived trustworthiness, little is known about how visible ...
Carnelian beads in high-status burials of the Western Zhou period (ca. 1000–800 BCE)
have long been seen as key evidence for long-distance exchange between East Asia and
regions to the west, while their geological origins and circulation pathways have
...
Sustainability Science
The expansion of commodity agriculture into tropical forests leads to major social–ecological
impacts. Yet little is known about where and how the capitalized actors driving this
expansion interact with smallholders, particularly where smallholders live ...
Aquaculture, the single fastest growing food sector, is central to achieving key Sustainable
Development Goals (e.g., SDG 2: Zero Hunger). Linking the nutrient composition of
>2,800 aquatic species with >2 million fishmeal and farmed fish transactions in ...
Biological Sciences
Agricultural Sciences
Parasitic castration is a widespread strategy where parasites hijack host reproductive
resources, yet the key molecular mechanisms driving this phenomenon remain poorly
understood. Here, we reported that parasitization by the parasitic wasp Cotesia ...
Applied Biological Sciences
The self-assembly of enzyme proteins on 2D nanomaterials has enabled the construction
and functional control of viable biochemical pathways. However, enzymatic cascades,
which combine essential components of the photosynthetic and respiratory electron
...
Tumor-targeted delivery of oncolytic viruses (OVs) via systemic administration could
not only expand virotherapy beyond primary tumors to widespread metastases, but also
improve clinical adherence and convenience. We here engineer megakaryocytes ...
Biochemistry
The liquid–liquid phase separation of biomolecules is an important process for intracellular
organization. Biomolecular sequence combinatorics leads to a large variety of proteins
and nucleic acids which can interact to form a diversity of dense liquid (“...
Glycogen phosphorylase (GP) plays a central role in glycogen metabolism. While the
structure and regulation of mammalian GPs have been extensively studied, the corresponding
mechanisms in gut bacterial GPs remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate ...
Ribosomally synthesized and posttranslationally modified peptides (RiPPs) are a fertile
ground for uncovering new enzymatic chemistry and structural complexity. Here, we
describe minviopeptin, an unusual ADP-ribosylated triceptide accessed through ...
Biophysics and Computational Biology
Lysine (Lys/K) residues serve as major hubs for post-translational modifications (PTMs)
owing to the chemical versatility of their ε-amino groups, giving rise to diverse
regulatory functions. Accurate and efficient identification of modified lysine ...
Babesia microti is an intraerythrocytic protozoan parasite and the main causative agent of human
babesiosis in the United States. While extensive research has focused on the prevalence
of this vector-borne pathogen in natural populations, increases of ...
TMEM16A channels conduct Ca2+-activated Cl− currents that underlie essential physiological processes including epithelial secretion,
smooth muscle contraction, and sensory transduction. Channel activation requires both
intracellular Ca2+ and the signaling ...
Hydrophobins are functional amyloids conserved in filamentous fungi. They act as a
protective coat in the fibrous form, called rodlet. Rodlets further assemble to form
dense films where they are bundled and densely aligned, contributing to the ...
Cell Biology
How thousands of microtubules (MTs) and molecular motors self-organize into spindles
remains poorly understood. By combining static, nanometer-resolution, large-scale
electron tomography reconstructions and dynamic, optical-resolution, polarized light
...
Even though in vivo rodent studies have been instrumental in investigating sex-specific
differences in cardiac health, function, and pathology, they fall short in providing
a fast and flexible platform for investigating sex differences of cardiac ...
The kinase MAPKAPK2 regulates cell survival, proliferation, and death, and is upregulated
in colorectal carcinoma (CRC) where it is associated with tumor growth and progression.
However, how it regulates tumor progression in conjunction with other ...
Pancreatic beta cell generation and proliferation primarily rely on the self renewal
of preexisting beta cells, making precise quantification of beta cell proliferation
essential for understanding pancreatic homeostasis and pathogenesis. However, previous
...
Developmental Biology
In the central region of the human retina, the high-acuity foveola is notable for
its dense packing of green (M) and red (L) cones and absence of blue (S) cones. To
identify mechanisms that pattern cones in the foveola, we examined human fetal retinas
and ...
Evolution
Individuals interact and cooperate in structured systems. Many studies represent this
structure using static networks, where each link represents a permanent connection
between two nodes. However, real interactions are generally not time-invariant and
are ...
The potential role of haplodiploid sex determination in promoting the evolution of
altruism and eusociality has been the subject of intense debate for over 50 y. Different
theoretical models have suggested that haplodiploidy influences relatedness in a ...
The Asteraceae (Compositae) is the largest flowering plant family, ubiquitous in most
terrestrial communities, and morphologically diverse. A two-step, ancient whole genome
triplication (paleohexaploidization) occurred at approximately the same time as ...
Genetics
System identification approaches are commonly used in engineering to infer simple
yet predictive models of complex systems from their responses to time-dependent perturbations.
Here, we apply this strategy at the whole organism scale, establishing a ...
Some legumes encode families of NCR (Nodule-Cysteine-Rich) peptides that cause their
rhizobial partners to terminally differentiate during the development of a nitrogen-fixing
symbiosis. Sinorhizobium meliloti, whose plant hosts Medicago truncatula and ...
Immunology and Inflammation
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the prevailing cause of age-associated dementia worldwide.
Current standard of care relies on antibody-based immunotherapy. However, antibody-based
approaches carry risks for patients, and their effects on cognition are ...
Medical Sciences
Granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) deficiency drives autoimmune
pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (aPAP), a disease characterized by impaired macrophage-mediated
clearance of pulmonary surfactants. Clinical data suggest that inhaled ...
COVID-19 has been associated with high prevalences of retinal diseases in humans.
However, cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie the COVID-19-associated retinopathy
remains unknown. Here, we deployed a mouse COVID-19 model to investigate the ...
The inability of graft endothelial cells to deliver HLA-I-dependent inhibitory signals
to recipient natural killer (NK) cells (missing self, MS), drives donor-specific antibody-independent
microvascular inflammation (MVI), leading to graft failure. This ...
Microbiology
In natural environments, bacteria often encounter low concentrations of nutrient mixtures
that are continuously replenished by physical processes such as fluid flow. Studying
bacterial physiology under such conditions is experimentally challenging because ...
Alphaviruses establish persistent infections in mosquito vectors despite robust antiviral
RNA interference (RNAi) pathways, suggesting that they employ mechanisms to counteract
host immunity. We demonstrate that the nsP2 protein of Sindbis virus (SINV), ...
Wild dromedary camels in the Arabian Peninsula and Africa have harbored antibodies
against Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) for decades, predating
zoonotic spillover to humans. However, the potency, specificity, and structural ...
Ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) are secondary
metabolites produced by bacteria, plants, animals, and fungi. Canonical fungal RiPP
precursors possess a leader sequence cleaved during maturation. The first RiPPs ...
Neuroscience
Munc13-1 is a key protein involved in priming synaptic vesicles for rapid release
at the presynaptic plasma membrane. It was previously revealed that Munc13-1 cycles
between at least two alternate conformations, an upright (open) molecular conformation
...
Animals must balance behavioral goals with the energetic costs of movement. How such
trade-offs are implemented algorithmically during natural behavior, and how they adapt
to changing energetic constraints, remains poorly understood. Here we show that ...
Mosquito-disease vectors, such as Aedes aegypti, use their sense of taste before deciding whether to consume a blood meal, or fly
away. However, the molecular mechanisms controlling gustatory decisions in mosquitoes
are largely unknown. The transient ...
From shifting visual scenes to tactile deformations and fluid motion, animals interpret
patterns of sensory flow around their body to construct internal models and produce
adaptive behavior. Understanding how such transformations are encoded in the brain
...
Bergmann glia (BG) are a specialized glial population essential for cerebellar development,
yet their developmental timeline and molecular identity in the human cerebellum remain
poorly understood. Here, we combined detailed histopathological analysis ...
Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) is a rare autoimmune inflammatory disorder
of the central nervous system (CNS) that shares clinical features with multiple sclerosis
(MS) but typically manifests with more severe symptoms. The presence of ...
Cocaine use disorder is marked by deficits in dopamine signaling; however, the molecular
mechanisms driving these deficits remain unclear. The synaptic vesicle protein Synaptogyrin-3
(Syngr3) has recently garnered attention for its association with ...
Mutations in the phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) gene are linked to severe neurodevelopmental disorders. Loss of PTEN causes hyperactivation of both mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) complexes,
mTORC1 and mTORC2. Recent studies have shown that ...
Pharmacology
Growth factor receptor signaling is a critical component of tissue growth, homeostasis,
and wound healing. However, receptor desensitization limits the use of exogenous growth
factors as a restorative agent therapeutically. An example of this is the ...
Physiology
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a serious disorder, in which increased vascular
tone is one of the critical hallmarks. Since beta arrestins (bArrs) have been shown
to regulate smooth muscle tone in the airways, we investigated the function of ...
Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
Expectations can shape perception and potentially lead to self-fulfilling prophecies
such as placebo effects that persist or grow over time. Nonetheless, whether and how
unreinforced and unconditioned social cues (i.e., suggestions about future ...
More than 100 historically, archaeologically and ethnographically attested numerical
notations have been used over the past 5,000 y; however, because most of those systems
are no longer used, experimental investigation is challenging. Prior research often
...
Sustainability Science
The expansion of commodity agriculture into tropical forests leads to major social–ecological
impacts. Yet little is known about where and how the capitalized actors driving this
expansion interact with smallholders, particularly where smallholders live ...
Aquaculture, the single fastest growing food sector, is central to achieving key Sustainable
Development Goals (e.g., SDG 2: Zero Hunger). Linking the nutrient composition of
>2,800 aquatic species with >2 million fishmeal and farmed fish transactions in ...
Systems Biology
Ependymomas (EPN) are rare central nervous system tumors that account for approximately
10% of intracranial tumors in children and 4% in adults. Despite their clinical and
molecular heterogeneity, spanning supratentorial, posterior fossa, and spinal ...
Correction
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%20_%20PNAS_files/pnas_002.webp "View the PNAS Table of Contents Vol.123; No.7")
Cover image: Pictured are 3D trajectories of turbulent particles colored by speed, showing two large vortices. Takumi Matsuzawa, Minhui Zhu et al. observed the expansion and decay of a blob of turbulence created in the center of a tank of still water. The results revealed steep fronts separating turbulent and undisturbed regions, the nonlinear transport and decay of the turbulent blob, and a persistent signature of turbulence late into the decay process. According to the authors, the analysis could help provide insight into processes ranging from star formation to fusion reactors. See the article by Matsuzawa, Zhu et al. e2526858123. Image credit: Takumi Matsuzawa.
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