Articles in 2021

Angela Zhang et al. report that humanized Apolipoprotein E4 (ApoE4) knock in mice exposed to cadmium had prominent Alzheimer’s Disease-related changes in the makeup of their gut microbiota. They ultimately identify a host genetic-gut microbiome axis susceptible to environmental cadmium insult that may serve as a strong facilitator in cognitive and energy homeostasis.

With ELISA-based screening, Woo et al. identify a new small molecule, PRG-A01, which can block the misfolding/aggregation of SOD1 or TDP-43 in a human neuroblastoma cell line. Its use in a mouse model of ALS results in improvement of muscle strength, motor neuron viability and mobility, highlighting its therapeutic potential in ALS.

Vander Meer et al. investigate the mechanisms of male involvement in reproductive development in fire ant newly mated queens. The authors find that males produce tyramide compounds that, when transferred to females during mating, are converted to bioactive molecules that trigger wing loss, ovary development, and queen pheromone production.

Simone et al. analyze T cell receptor usage and gene expression profiles of CD3+CD45RA-CD25+CD127low blood and synovial fluid regulatory T cells from patients with spondyloarthritis. This work provides a valuable resource for understanding regulatory T cell heterogeneity and transcriptional adaptation in an immune-driven condition.

Braun et al. investigate the effects of PI 4-kinases and their lipid product, PI4P, in KCNQ channel function and sub-cellular localization. These results suggest a possible harmful effect of PI4K inhibition on cardiac electrophysiology and suggest the distal C-terminus of the channel is critical for PI4P regulation of the KCNQ1/KCNE1 channel.

To study how the amygdala and hippocampus encode the content of fixations when viewing faces, Cao et al. employ single-neuron recordings with simultaneous eye tracking when human participants viewed natural face stimuli. They demonstrate a link between eye movement and neural face processing to provide mechanistic insight for human face perception.

Tang et al. propose the use of a small molecule compound D6 to treat EGFRTKI resistant tumors. The authors demonstrate potent and selective inhibition of NSCLC with T790M-mediated EGFR-TKI resistance through inhibiting HSP90-mediated protein–protein interaction.

In this study, authors investigate the neurocomputational mechanisms that drive an individual’s subjective preference for information. Using fMRI and model-based analysis, they demonstrate that information value is multidimensional, accounting for the individual variability in the pursuit of informative outcomes.

de Senneville et al. demonstrate an integrated workflow combining 3D imaging, manual and machine learning-based semi-automatic segmentation, mathematics and infographics to study the spatial organization of patient-derived hepatoblastoma xenograft tissues. Their approach potentially assists investigations of this childhood liver tumour and other types of tumour tissues.

Kinoshita et al. use single molecule imaging to show that the N-terminal extension of BmVasa, a germ-specific DEAD box RNA helicase, is necessary for protein oligomerization and the dissociation of target RNA from the Siwi-piRISC complex. The authors conclude that oligomerized Vasa guides the timing of the regulation of overall dissociation efficiency.

To improve our understand of how EEG activity reflects the dynamics of human sleep, Metzner et al. use human EEG data and superstatistical analysis to demonstrate that each sleep stage has a characteristic distribution and temporal correlation function of raw EEG signals. They also show that the hyper-parameters controlling the EEG signals have characteristic, sleep-stage-dependent distributions, which can be exploited for a simple Bayesian sleep stage detection.

Grzywa et al. show that early CD71+ erythroid cells expand in the spleen of anemic mice and in humans and suppress T-cell activation. These results provide insight into the role of CECs in the immune response regulation.

Miyagishima et al. investigate the pathological mechanisms underlying mutant CTRP5 function in late-onset retinal degeneration (L-ORD). With human iPSC-derived RPE cells, they demonstrate that in L-ORD iRPE, constitutive activation of AMPK disrupts cellular metabolism/energy homoeostasis, changes apical/basal VEGF secretion, and Metformin treatment corrects these associated phenotypes.

Palmeirim and Gibson quantify the global habitat loss of jaguars and tigers due to existing and planned hydropower dams and relate these to published estimates of species densities from nearby regions. This analysis shows how dam construction intersects priority conservation areas for these apex predators.

Yohei Ishibashi and co-workers report that Parietichytrium sp. synthesizes DHA only via the elongase/desaturase pathway. They then engineered this thraustochytrid to produce EPA and n-3DPA by disrupting C20ELO and delta4 DES genes, respectively, in this biosynthetic pathway, suggesting that this may be a suitable system for the large scale production of these omega-3 fatty acids.

Wenxin Hu et al. use cryo-EM and biochemical assays to describe the functional activity and structure of the ferrichrome importer, FhuCDB in E. coli. Their results provide further insight on the mechanism of siderophore transport in bacteria.

Akira Uruno et al. report the volume of epidydimal white adipose tissue and plasma glycerophospholipid and sphingolipid levels in mice increase during spaceflight. These metabolic and physiological changes were largely driven by Nrf2 (NF-E2-related factor-2), ultimately providing a mechanistic target for altering lipid metabolism on Earth and the Great Beyond.

Caspy et al. report the structure of PSI from a temperature-sensitive photoautotrophic PSII mutant of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (TSP4), and report the distribution of conserved water molecules in the structure from cyanobacterial to higher plant PSI. They suggest that the asymmetric distribution of water molecules near the electron transfer chain modulates the electron transfer from quinones to FX.

Jonathan Daisley et al. investigated whether the social rank (pecking order) of young chicks was linked to an individual’s perception of transitive inference (e.g. A > B and B > C to infer A > C). They observed that chicks lower on the pecking order exhibited higher transitive inference performance, suggesting that social hierarchy influences cognitive abilities in animals.

Guo et al. conduct a biochemical analysis of the energy dependence of substrate transport by MsbA, an essential ABC lipid transporter in Gram-negative bacteria. The authors examine the flopping of physiologically relevant lipids by MsbA and their differing dependencies on ATP and chemical proton gradient, demonstrating that the energetics of lipid transport by MsbA is lipid dependent.