Climate change intensifies grassland drying, which alters soil carbon storage. Yet, how reduced soil water affects carbon transport and processing in the rhizosphere, a microbial activity hotspot, remains unclear. We traced living root-derived carbon (rhizodeposit C) into soils and microbes using 13CO2 labeling in a multi-year precipitation manipulation experiment in a Mediterranean grassland. With 50% […]
Phenotypic Variation Reveals Contrasting Ecological Strategies in Wood-Decay Fungal Ecotypes Across a Hybrid Zone
Fungi play central roles in terrestrial ecosystem functioning and are the major decomposers of dead wood in forest systems. Wood decay fungi are adapted to growth and decay under different environmental conditions, but we have limited insight into the intraspecific variability in fungal growth and decay. In Fennoscandia, there are two genetically and ecologically distinct […]
Reconstructing plant beneficial bacterial consortia by integrating dilution-to-extinction microbiome perturbation with genome-resolved synthetic ecology
Across the biosphere, microbiomes play essential roles in shaping the health of their host. One notable example of such a microbiome-associated phenotype is disease-suppressive soils, where susceptible plant hosts enrich and activate specific rhizosphere microbial consortia for protection against fungal root pathogens. However, identifying and reconstructing microbial consortia responsible for host protection remains challenging, given […]
Structural basis of drug efflux by the staphylococcal efflux pump QacA
The QacA DHA2 exporter from Staphylococcus aureus is a prototypical multidrug transporter that, like other bacterial efflux pumps, can extrude a wide range of cytotoxic compounds thus playing a crucial role in antimicrobial resistance. Here, we report crystal structures of wild-type QacA in three key conformational states: inward-open, outward-open and ethidium-bound, representing the first ligand-bound […]
Upregulating action semantics with neuromodulation and gesture observation to facilitate verb retrieval in aphasia
Although many individuals with chronic aphasia respond to language therapy, there remains a need for adjunctive interventions that can enhance treatment response. Approaches targeting multiple modalities, such as gesture cueing, and neuromodulation techniques, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation, have shown promise for supporting language recovery. The present pilot study investigated whether enhancing activation of the […]
Identifying Phelan-McDermid-Like Electrophysiological Subtypes in Autism Using EEG and Machine Learning
Background: Phelan McDermid syndrome (PMS), caused by SHANK3 haploinsufficiency, is a genetic form of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that provides a genetically defined model for studying ASD-related circuit dysfunction. SHANK3 mutations disrupt synaptic organization and cortical synchrony, leading to attenuated gamma-band auditory steady-state responses (ASSRs). We investigated whether PMS-related electrophysiological signatures could be identified using […]
From sequences to schemas: low-rank recurrent dynamics underlie abstract relational representations
A hallmark of intelligent behavior is the ability to extract abstract relational structure from temporal sequences, recognizing, for instance, that seqaab, seqccd, and seqeef all follow the same underlying pattern, regardless of the specific elements involved. This capacity, observed across species and sensory modalities, is thought to underlie the formation of cognitive schemas: compressed internal […]
Stage-dependent tau post-translational modifications map the spatiotemporal progression of Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is defined by progressive tau aggregation, yet the molecular events driving this process remain poorly understood. Post-translational modifications (PTMs) are key regulators of tau biology and potential biomarkers of disease progression. Using immunoprecipitation-mass spectrometry and absolute quantification of tau isoforms, we profiled tau PTMs in soluble and insoluble brain fractions. We studied […]
A bio-orthogonal and covalent 5 kDa small protein tag
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 […]
CA19-9 promotes liver metastasis of pancreatic cancer through E-selectin mediated extravasation
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 […]
Moisture reduces saproxylic bee, wasp, and parasitoid diversity in lying and standing deadwood
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 […]
Divergent landscapes of positive and negative selection signatures across residue-resolved human-virus protein-protein interaction interfaces
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 […]