Table Of Contents Page, PNAS Volume 121, Number 31
This Week in PNAS
Core Concepts
Commentaries
Perspective
The industrial revolution of the 19th century marked the onset of an era of machines
and robots that transformed societies. Since the beginning of the 21st century, a
new generation of robots envisions similar societal transformation. These robots are
...
Letters
This article has a reply:
Reply to Wang: Clarifying model performance and language markers of depression across races
View the original article:Key language markers of depression on social media depend on race
Brief Reports
Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common genetic cause of autism spectrum disorder
engendered by transcriptional silencing of the fragile X messenger ribonucleoprotein
1 (FMR1) gene. Given the early onset of behavioral and molecular changes, it is ...
Animal vision depends on opsins, a category of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) that
achieves light sensitivity by covalent attachment to retinal. Typically binding as
an inverse agonist, 11-cis retinal photoisomerizes to the all-trans isomer and ...
Invertebrates mainly rely on sequence-specific RNA interference (RNAi) to resist viral
infections. Increasing studies show that double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) can induce sequence-independent
protection and that Dicer-2, the key RNAi player that cleaves long ...
Physical Sciences
Applied Mathematics
The possibility to anticipate critical transitions through detecting loss of resilience
has attracted attention in many fields. Resilience indicators rely on the mathematical
concept of critical slowing down, which means that a system recovers more slowly ...
Applied Physical Sciences
This study explores the impact of electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding
on tear film stability, a crucial factor for ocular surface health. While mucosal
and meibomian layers have been extensively studied, the role of electrolytes in the
aqueous ...
Conformationally fluctuating, globally compact macromolecules such as polymeric rings,
single-chain nanoparticles, microgels, and many-arm stars display complex dynamic
behaviors due to their rich topological structure and intermolecular organization.
...
The tensor, which determines the reaction of Kramers-degenerate states to an applied
magnetic field, is of increasing importance in the current design of spin qubits.
It is affected by details of heterostructure composition, disorder, and electric fields,...
Biophysics and Computational Biology
Microbial communities such as biofilms are commonly found at interfaces. However,
it is unclear how the physical environment of interfaces may contribute to the development
and behavior of surface-associated microbial communities. Combining multimode ...
Mixed invasive ductal and lobular carcinoma (MDLC) is a rare histologic subtype of
breast cancer displaying both E-cadherin positive ductal and E-cadherin negative lobular
morphologies within the same tumor, posing challenges with regard to anticipated ...
Chemistry
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), particularly the perfluorinated ones,
are recalcitrant to biodegradation. By integrating an enrichment culture of reductive
defluorination with biocompatible electrodes for the electrochemical process, a deeper
...
The evolution of complex chemical inventory from Darwin’s nutrient-rich warm pond
necessitated rudimentary yet efficient catalytic folds. Short peptides and their self-organized
microstructures, ranging from spherical colloids to amyloidogenic aggregates ...
Iron-based hexacyanoferrate (Fe-HCF) are promising cathode materials for sodium-ion
batteries (SIBs) due to their unique open-channel structure that facilitates fast
ion transport and framework stability. However, practical implementation of SIBs has
been ...
Rigorous comparisons between single site- and nanoparticle (NP)-dispersed catalysts
featuring the same composition, in terms of activity, selectivity, and reaction mechanism,
are limited. This limitation is partly due to the tendency of single metal atoms ...
This work establishes a different paradigm on digital molecular spaces and their efficient
navigation by exploiting sigma profiles. To do so, the remarkable capability of Gaussian
processes (GPs), a type of stochastic machine learning model, to correlate ...
In this manuscript, we provide a general theory for how surface phonons couple to
molecular adsorbates. Our theory maps the extended dynamics of a surface’s atomic
vibrational motions to a generalized Langevin equation, and by doing so captures these
...
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Disentangling inputs of aeolian dust, ice-rafted debris (IRD), and eroded continental
detritus delivered by ocean currents to marine sediments provide important insights
into Earth System processes and climate. This study uses Sr-Nd-Pb isotope ratios of
...
Banded iron formations (BIFs) archive the relationship between Earth’s lithosphere,
hydrosphere, and atmosphere through time. However, constraints on the origin of Earth’s
largest ore deposits, hosted by BIFs, are limited by the absence of direct ...
New particle formation (NPF) substantially affects the global radiation balance and
climate. Iodic acid (IA) is a key marine NPF driver that recently has also been detected
inland. However, its impact on continental particle nucleation remains unclear. ...
Engineering
Nature is home to a variety of microorganisms that create materials under environmentally
friendly conditions. While this offers an attractive approach for sustainable manufacturing,
the production of materials by native microorganisms is usually slow and ...
Multistable structures have widespread applications in the design of deployable aerospace
systems, mechanical metamaterials, flexible electronics, and multimodal soft robotics
due to their capability of shape reconfiguration between multiple stable ...
Highly concentrated aqueous electrolytes (termed water-in-salt electrolytes, WiSEs)
at solid-liquid interfaces are ubiquitous in myriad applications including biological
signaling, electrosynthesis, and energy storage. This interface, known as the ...
Modern science is dependent on imaging on the nanoscale, often achieved through processes
that detect secondary electrons created by a highly focused incident charged particle
beam. Multiple types of measurement noise limit the ultimate trade-off between ...
Characterizing unknown viruses is essential for understanding viral ecology and preparing
against viral outbreaks. Recovering complete genome sequences from environmental samples
remains computationally challenging using metagenomics, especially for low-...
Physics
Nonequilibrium states in soft condensed matter require a systematic approach to characterize
and model materials, enhancing predictability and applications. Among the tools, X-ray
photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) provides exceptional temporal and ...
Social Sciences
Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ+) individuals encounter
persistent structural inequalities and discrimination that can lead to detrimental
psychological and physiological health outcomes. Amid evolving legal landscapes, little
...
Recollecting painful or traumatic experiences can be deeply troubling. Sleep may offer
an opportunity to reduce such suffering. We developed a procedure to weaken older
aversive memories by reactivating newer positive memories during sleep. Participants
...
Some mental health problems such as depression and anxiety are more common in females,
while others such as autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity (AD/H) are more common
in males. However, the neurobiological origins of these sex differences are ...
Sustainability Science
Beef production has been identified as a significant source of anthropogenic greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions in the agricultural sector. United States and Canada account for
about a quarter of the world’s beef supply. To compare the GHG emission ...
Biological Sciences
Applied Biological Sciences
Characterizing unknown viruses is essential for understanding viral ecology and preparing
against viral outbreaks. Recovering complete genome sequences from environmental samples
remains computationally challenging using metagenomics, especially for low-...
Biochemistry
The tumor suppressor von Hippel–Lindau, pVHL, is a multifaceted protein. One function
is to dock to the hypoxia-inducible transcription factor (HIF) and recruit a larger
protein complex that destabilizes HIF via ubiquitination, preventing angiogenesis
and ...
Androgen receptor (AR) is a main driver for castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).
c-Myc is an oncogene underlying prostate tumorigenesis. Here, we find that the deubiquitinase
USP11 targets both AR and c-Myc in prostate cancer (PCa). USP11 ...
Expansion of intronic GGGGCC repeats in the C9orf72 gene causes amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia. Transcription
of the expanded repeats results in the formation of RNA-containing nuclear foci and
altered RNA metabolism. In ...
Biophysics and Computational Biology
This study explores the impact of electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding
on tear film stability, a crucial factor for ocular surface health. While mucosal
and meibomian layers have been extensively studied, the role of electrolytes in the
aqueous ...
Cells exist in different phenotypes and can transition between them. A phenotype may
be characterized by many different aspects. Here, we focus on the example of whether
the cell is adhered or suspended and choose particular parameters related to the ...
Cell Biology
Colorectal cancer and Crohn’s disease patients develop pyogenic liver abscesses due
to failures of immune cells to fight off bacterial infections. Here, we show that
mice lacking iron regulatory protein 2 (Irp2), globally (Irp2−/−) or myeloid cell lineage ...
Transceptors, solute transporters that facilitate intracellular entry of molecules
and also initiate intracellular signaling events, have been primarily studied in lower-order
species. Ammonia, a cytotoxic endogenous metabolite, is converted to urea in ...
Developmental Biology
Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) develop from hemogenic endothelial cells (HECs) in
vivo during mouse embryogenesis. When cultured in vitro, cells from the embryo phenotypically
defined as pre-HSC-I and pre-HSC-II have the potential to differentiate into ...
Ecology
We show that the globally invasive, human-infectious flatworm, Haplorchis pumilio, possesses the most physically specialized soldier caste yet documented in trematodes.
Soldiers occur in colonies infecting the first intermediate host, the freshwater snail
...
Environmental Sciences
Beef production has been identified as a significant source of anthropogenic greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions in the agricultural sector. United States and Canada account for
about a quarter of the world’s beef supply. To compare the GHG emission ...
Evolution
Among vertebrates, nearly all oviparous animals are considered to have either obligate
aquatic or terrestrial oviposition, with eggs that are specialized for developing
in those environments. The terrestrial environment has considerably more oxygen but
is ...
Genetics
Mixed invasive ductal and lobular carcinoma (MDLC) is a rare histologic subtype of
breast cancer displaying both E-cadherin positive ductal and E-cadherin negative lobular
morphologies within the same tumor, posing challenges with regard to anticipated ...
In eukaryotes, repetitive DNA can become silenced de novo, either transcriptionally
or post-transcriptionally, by processes independent of strong sequence-specific cues.
The mechanistic nature of such processes remains poorly understood. We found that
in ...
We developed a generally applicable method, CRISPR/Cas9-targeted long-read sequencing
(CTLR-Seq), to resolve, haplotype-specifically, the large and complex regions in the
human genome that had been previously impenetrable to sequencing analysis, such as
...
Immunology and Inflammation
SARS-CoV-2 infection can induce multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, which
resembles superantigen-induced toxic shock syndrome. Recent work has suggested that
the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein could act as a superantigen by binding T cell ...
How different classes of the B cell antigen receptor (BCR) sense viral antigens used
in vaccination protocols is poorly understood. Here, we study antigen binding and
sensing of human Ramos B cells expressing a BCR of either the IgM or IgG1 class with
...
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) represents a challenge in oncology, with limited
treatment options for advanced-stage patients. Chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR
T) therapy targeting mesothelin (MSLN) shows promise, but challenges such as the ...
Despite the availability of life-extending treatments for B cell leukemias and lymphomas,
many of these cancers remain incurable. Thus, the development of new molecular targets
and therapeutics is needed to expand treatment options. To identify new ...
The distinct human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I expression pattern of human extravillous
trophoblasts (EVT) endows them with unique tolerogenic properties that enable successful
pregnancy. Nevertheless, how this process is elaborately regulated remains ...
Microbiology
Microbial communities such as biofilms are commonly found at interfaces. However,
it is unclear how the physical environment of interfaces may contribute to the development
and behavior of surface-associated microbial communities. Combining multimode ...
Influenza viruses pose a significant burden on global human health. Influenza has
a broad cellular tropism in the airway, but how infection of different epithelial
cell types impacts replication kinetics and burden in the airways is not fully understood.
...
Neuroscience
Some mental health problems such as depression and anxiety are more common in females,
while others such as autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity (AD/H) are more common
in males. However, the neurobiological origins of these sex differences are ...
Ribbon synapses between inner hair cells (IHCs) and type I spiral ganglion neurons
(SGNs) in the inner ear are damaged by noise trauma and with aging, causing “synaptopathy”
and hearing loss. Cocultures of neonatal denervated organs of Corti and newly ...
Cerebellar injury in preterm infants with central nervous system (CNS) hemorrhage
results in lasting neurological deficits and an increased risk of autism. The impact
of blood-induced pathways on cerebellar development remains largely unknown, so no
...
Delta receptors (GluD1 and GluD2), members of the large ionotropic glutamate receptor
(iGluR) family, play a central role in numerous neurodevelopmental and psychiatric
disorders. The amino-terminal domain (ATD) of GluD orchestrates synapse formation
and ...
The precise assembly of a functional nervous system relies on axon guidance cues.
Beyond engaging their cognate receptors and initiating signaling cascades that modulate
cytoskeletal dynamics, guidance cues also bind components of the extracellular matrix,...
The mammalian circadian clock located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) produces
robust daily rhythms including rest–wake. SCN neurons synthesize and respond to γ-aminobutyric
acid (GABA), but its role remains unresolved. We tested the hypothesis that ...
Modulation of neuronal firing rates by the spatial locations of physical objects is
a widespread phenomenon in the brain. However, little is known about how neuronal
responses to the actions of biological entities are spatially tuned and whether such
...
The axon initial segment (AIS) is a critical compartment in neurons. It converts postsynaptic
input into action potentials that subsequently trigger information transfer to target
neurons. This process relies on the presence of several voltage-gated ...
Choosing whether to exert effort to obtain rewards is fundamental to human motivated
behavior. However, the neural dynamics underlying the evaluation of reward and effort
in humans is poorly understood. Here, we report an exploratory investigation into
...
Current treatments of anxiety and depressive disorders are plagued by considerable
side effects and limited efficacies, underscoring the need for additional molecular
targets that can be leveraged to improve medications. Here, we have identified a ...
The integrated stress response (ISR), a pivotal protein homeostasis network, plays
a critical role in the formation of long-term memory (LTM). The precise mechanism
by which the ISR controls LTM is not well understood. Here, we report insights into
how ...
In intentional behavior, the final goal of an action is crucial in determining the
entire sequence of motor acts. Neurons have been described in the inferior parietal
lobule of monkeys, which besides encoding a specific motor act (e.g., grasping), have
...
Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ+) individuals encounter
persistent structural inequalities and discrimination that can lead to detrimental
psychological and physiological health outcomes. Amid evolving legal landscapes, little
...
Recollecting painful or traumatic experiences can be deeply troubling. Sleep may offer
an opportunity to reduce such suffering. We developed a procedure to weaken older
aversive memories by reactivating newer positive memories during sleep. Participants
...
The possibility to anticipate critical transitions through detecting loss of resilience
has attracted attention in many fields. Resilience indicators rely on the mathematical
concept of critical slowing down, which means that a system recovers more slowly ...
Systems Biology
The seemingly straightforward task of tying one’s shoes requires a sophisticated interplay
of joints, muscles, and neural pathways, posing a formidable challenge for researchers
studying the intricacies of coordination. A widely accepted framework for ...
Cover image: Pictured is a male Dendropsophus bifurcus treefrog in Yasuni, Ecuador. Justin Touchon et al. explored the evolution of terrestrial reproduction through field experiments and phylogenetic analysis involving 13 species of Central and South American treefrogs in the genus Dendropsophus. Six of the species demonstrated previously undocumented degrees of flexibility in laying eggs in either terrestrial or aquatic environments, depending on environmental conditions. The results suggested that behavioral flexibility in egg-laying location likely preceded the evolution of eggs physically adapted to exclusively terrestrial reproduction. See the article by Touchon et al. e2312371121. Image credit: Justin Touchon.
Stay 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