Non-Visual Light Sensing Enhances Behavioral Memory and Drives Gene Expression in .

Visible light influences a range of physiological processes, yet how animals respond to it independently of the visual system remains largely unknown. Here, we uncover a previously undescribed light-induced transcriptional pathway that modulates behavioral plasticity in , a roundworm without eyes. We demonstrate that ambient visible light or controlled-intensity visible-spectrum LED activates an effector gene in non-neuronal tissues through the bZIP transcription factors ZIP-2 and CEBP-2.

Suppressing APOE4-induced neural pathologies by targeting the VHL-HIF axis.

The ε4 variant of human apolipoprotein E () is a key genetic risk factor for neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease and elevated all-cause mortality in humans. Understanding the factors and mechanisms that can mitigate the harmful effects of has significant implications. In this study, we find that inactivating the VHL-1 (Von Hippel-Lindau) protein can suppress mortality, neural and behavioral pathologies caused by transgenic human in .

Response of soil carbon and nitrogen stocks to irrigation - A global meta-analysis.

Irrigation has profound influences on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stocks in agricultural soil. However, the global-scale irrigation effects on C and N pools in farmland soils, as well as the C: N ratio (C/N), remain unclear. This study integrates existing studies on C and N in irrigated farmland worldwide and investigates the responses of soil C and N concentrations, stocks, and the C/N to irrigation by meta-analysis.

Long-term effects of conventional cultivation on soil cation exchange capacity and base saturation in an arid desert region.

Land reclamation and subsequent management affect soil condition, which is critical for sustainable agricultural production. Soil cation exchange capacity (CEC) and base saturation (BS%) play an important role in the assessment of soil fertility and buffering capacity. However, the variation of these indicators in the evolution of oasis farmland in arid desert areas remains unclear.

Effects of Drought Stress on Leaf Functional Traits and Biomass Characteristics of .

Drought is a critical factor constraining plant growth in arid regions. However, the performance and adaptive mechanism of () under drought stress remain unclear. Hence, a three-year experiment with three drought gradients was performed in a common garden, and the leaf functional traits, biomass and biomass partitioning patterns of were investigated.

ER-GUARD: an evolutionarily conserved antioxidant defense system at ER membranes.

Oxidative protein folding in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is essential for all eukaryotic cells yet generates hydrogen peroxide (HO), a reactive oxygen species (ROS). The ER-transmembrane protein that provides reducing equivalents to ER and guards the cytosol for antioxidant defense remains unidentified. Here we combine AlphaFold2-based and functional reporter screens in to identify a previously uncharacterized and evolutionarily conserved protein ERGU-1 that fulfills these roles.

Design, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Novel Phenyl-Substituted Naphthoic Acid Ethyl Ester Derivatives as Strigolactone Receptor Inhibitor.

Strigolactones (SLs) are plant hormones that regulate several key agronomic traits, including shoot branching, leaf senescence, and stress tolerance. The artificial regulation of SL biosynthesis and signaling has been considered as a potent strategy in regulating plant architecture and combatting the infection of parasitic weeds to help improve crop yield. DL1b is a previously reported SL receptor inhibitor molecule that significantly promotes shoot branching.

Design, Synthesis, and Bioactivities of N-Heterocyclic Ureas as Strigolactone Response Antagonists against Parasitic-Weed Seed Germination.

The pernicious parasitism exhibited by root parasitic weeds such as and poses substantial peril to agricultural productivity and global food security. This deleterious phenomenon hinges upon the targeted induction of the signaling molecule strigolactones (SLs). Consequently, the identification of prospective SL antagonists holds significant promise in the realm of mitigating the infection of these pernicious weeds.

Suppressing APOE4-induced mortality and cellular damage by targeting VHL.

Mortality rate increases with age and can accelerate upon extrinsic or intrinsic damage to individuals. Identifying factors and mechanisms that curb population mortality rate has wide-ranging implications. Here, we show that targeting the VHL-1 (Von Hippel-Lindau) protein suppresses mortality caused by distinct factors, including elevated reactive oxygen species, temperature, and , the genetic variant that confers high risks of neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's diseases and all-cause mortality in humans.

LPD-3 as a megaprotein brake for aging and insulin-mTOR signaling in C. elegans.

Insulin-mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling drives anabolic growth during organismal development; its late-life dysregulation contributes to aging and limits lifespans. Age-related regulatory mechanisms and functional consequences of insulin-mTOR remain incompletely understood. Here, we identify LPD-3 as a megaprotein that orchestrates the tempo of insulin-mTOR signaling during C.

Pollinator peaking earlier than flowering is more detrimental to plant fecundity.

Climate change has caused asynchronous phenological shifts between most plants and their pollinators, resulting in an earlier or later appearance of peak flowering relative to peak pollinator abundance. The fitness impact of these two mismatch patterns may not be simply equivalent, but the information has so far been limited. To explore how differently plant fitness responds to the distinct mismatch patterns, we conducted a seed-setting comparative study at the individual level in an alpine grassland community in the Qilian Mountains of China.

Early-life stress triggers long-lasting organismal resilience and longevity via tetraspanin.

Early-life stress experiences can produce lasting impacts on organismal adaptation and fitness. How transient stress elicits memory-like physiological effects is largely unknown. Here, we show that early-life thermal stress strongly up-regulates , a gene encoding the conserved transmembrane tetraspanin in .

Acquired stress resilience through bacteria-to-nematode interdomain horizontal gene transfer.

Natural selection drives the acquisition of organismal resilience traits to protect against adverse environments. Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is an important evolutionary mechanism for the acquisition of novel traits, including metazoan acquisitions in immunity, metabolic, and reproduction function via interdomain HGT (iHGT) from bacteria. Here, we report that the nematode gene rml-3 has been acquired by iHGT from bacteria and that it enables exoskeleton resilience and protection against environmental toxins in Caenorhabditis elegans.

New perspectives on microbiome and nutrient sequestration in soil aggregates during long-term grazing exclusion.

Grazing exclusion alters grassland soil aggregation, microbiome composition, and biogeochemical processes. However, the long-term effects of grazing exclusion on the microbial communities and nutrient dynamics within soil aggregates remain unclear. We conducted a 36-year exclusion experiment to investigate how grazing exclusion affects the soil microbial community and the associated soil functions within soil aggregates in a semiarid grassland.

Fluorescent reporter of Parkin: Regulators of its abundance and role in autophagy-lysosomal dynamics.

Parkin, which when mutated leads to early-onset Parkinson's disease, acts as an E3 ubiquitin ligase. How Parkin is regulated for selective protein and organelle targeting is not well understood. Here, we used protein interactor and genetic screens in ( to identify new regulators of Parkin abundance and showed their impact on autophagy-lysosomal dynamics and alpha-Synuclein processing.

Enhancing the interfacial thermal conductance of Si/PVDF by strengthening atomic couplings.

Thermal transport across inorganic/organic interfaces attracts interest from both academia and industry due to their wide applications in flexible electronics, . Here, the interfacial thermal conductance of inorganic/organic interfaces consisting of silicon and polyvinylidene fluoride is systematically investigated using molecular dynamics simulations. Interestingly, it is demonstrated that a modified silicon surface with hydroxyl groups can drastically enhance the conductance by 698%.

Natural product P57 induces hypothermia through targeting pyridoxal kinase.

Induction of hypothermia during hibernation/torpor enables certain mammals to survive under extreme environmental conditions. However, pharmacological induction of hypothermia in most mammals remains a huge challenge. Here we show that a natural product P57 promptly induces hypothermia and decreases energy expenditure in mice.

Nonmonotonic dependence of thermal conductivity on surface roughness: A multiparticle Lorentz gas model.

Utilizing surface roughness to manipulate thermal transport has aided important developments in thermoelectrics and heat dissipation in microelectronics. In this paper, through a multiparticle Lorentz gas model, it is found that thermal conductivity oscillates with the increase of surface roughness, and the oscillating thermal conductivity gradually disappears with the increase of nonlinearity. The transmittance analyses reveal that the oscillating thermal conductivity is caused by localized particles due to boundary effects.

Early-life stress triggers long-lasting organismal resilience and longevity via tetraspanin.

Early-life stress experiences can produce lasting impacts on organismal adaptation and fitness. How transient stress elicits memory-like physiological effects is largely unknown. Here we show that early-life thermal stress strongly up-regulates , a gene encoding the conserved transmembrane tetraspanin in .

Bridge-Like Lipid Transfer Proteins (BLTPs) in : From Genetics to Structures and Functions.

In eukaryotic cells, lipid transfer can occur at membrane contact sites (MCS) to facilitate the exchange of various lipids between two adjacent cellular organelle membranes. Lipid transfer proteins (LTPs), including shuttle LTP or bridge-like LTP (BLTP), transport lipids at MCS and are critical for diverse cellular processes, including lipid metabolism, membrane trafficking, and cell signaling. BLTPs (BLTP1-5, including the ATG2 and VPS13 family proteins) contain lipid-accommodating hydrophobic repeating β-groove (RBG) domains that allow the bulk transfer of lipids through MCS.