Precise and minimally perturbative protein labelling remains a key challenge for studying biomolecular function in living systems. Here, a minimal way to specifically label proteins based on SNAP-tag and intein-mediated protein splicing reaction is introduced. Termed CLUSTER (for Chemical Label-Unfold-Splice Technology Enables Recombination), this chimeric platform supports efficient labelling across diverse targets in living cells […]

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) frequently metastasizes to the liver, which drives patient mortality. CA19-9 is elevated in most PDAC tumors and is widely used as a clinical biomarker. Elevated serum levels are associated with poor outcomes. However, whether CA19-9 functionally contributes to metastatic progression has not been fully defined, in part because mice lack endogenous […]

1. Saproxylic community assembly is structured both by deadwood and forest habitat gradients, as well as biotic interactions such as competition, predation, and parasitism. However, covariation between abiotic and biotic conditions in natural systems have limited our ability to disentangle these mechanisms. Furthermore, focus towards beetles and fungi in temperate or boreal forests has led […]

Virus-targeted host proteins evolve under dual selective pressures. Negative selection preserves within-host interactions, while positive selection promotes adaptive changes to evade viral engagement. Viral and endogenous within-host partners can compete for binding, bringing distinct pressures together on the same interaction interface. Yet, the spatial organization of distinct selective pressures across virus-targeted host proteins, and how […]

Pests and pathogens reduce yields of major food crops by 15% globally. Interventions such as pesticides can mitigate yield loss, but pests can evolve resistance to pesticides over short timescales. Pest damage to crops may also be determined by (co)evolutionary selection on pests by crops themselves and vice versa, yet it is unclear whether the […]

Polyphosphate (polyP) is a conserved inorganic polymer traditionally viewed as a stress-induced phosphate and energy reserve. In cyanobacteria, however, polyP granules are constitutively present and frequently observed in proximity to carboxysomes, the bacterial microcompartments that mediate CO2 fixation. Here we show that polyP functions as a spatially organized regulator of the photosynthetic cytoplasm in Synechococcus […]

Formation of biological condensates through phase separation has emerged as a means of discrete subcellular organization permitting regulatory precision across diverse processes. We recently found that the conserved mitotic spindle positioning complex of Mushroom body defect (Mud) and Partner of Inscuteable (Pins) phase separates into condensates with dynamic, liquid-like properties. While the Mud/Pins complex functions […]

Eusociality is accompanied by puzzling lifespan phenotypes that challenge classic theories of aging. In eusocial species, breeders age more slowly than non-breeders while sharing the same genomes. A notable exception is the naked mole-rat, in which all castes show negligible actuarial senescence. We explain both patterns with a single epidemiological model. Chronic parasites that reduce […]

Cells use post-translational modifications (PTMs) to reconfigure biomolecular condensates across length scales, space, and time. While charged PTMs are well-known electrostatic switches, how ubiquitous neutral PTMs shape condensate plasticity and hierarchy remains unclear. Here, we establish a set of design principles for using site-specific lipidation, a class of neutral hydrophobic PTMs, to rationally control properties […]

The field of ancient metagenomics provides insights into past microbiomes, but with a growing dataset size, methods that rely on reference databases have limited scope. Here, we introduce DIANA, a multi-task neural network that predicts key metadata categories from unitig abundances. Trained on 2,597 run accessions (1.72~Tbp of assembled unitig sequences), DIANA accurately identifies sample […]

There is strong evidence that synaptic plasticity is a critical cellular mechanism underlying learning and memory. Although the forms of synaptic plasticity used by different circuits and cell types vary, a widespread presumption is that the male and female brain has evolved to use the same form of plasticity within the same circuits during performance […]

The disparity between the production and demand of recombinant proteins (r-proteins) has significantly hindered their commercial viability. Leveraging genomic resources offers substantial promise in enhancing our comprehension of metabolic and regulatory networks, thus facilitating the development of highly productive protein cell factories. However, the considerable gap between high-throughput strategies for monitoring r-protein secretion and genome […]