DNA-damage orchestrates self-renewal and differentiation via reciprocal p53 family and Hippo/Wnt/TGF-β pathway activation in embryonic stem cells.

The mechanism by which DNA-damage affects self-renewal and pluripotency remains unclear. DNA damage and repair mechanisms have been largely elucidated in mutated cancer cells or simple eukaryotes, making valid interpretations on early development difficult. Here we show the impact of ionizing irradiation on the maintenance and early differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs).

Unreprogrammed H3K9me3 prevents minor zygotic genome activation and lineage commitment in SCNT embryos.

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) can be used to reprogram differentiated somatic cells to a totipotent state but has poor efficiency in supporting full-term development. H3K9me3 is considered to be an epigenetic barrier to zygotic genomic activation in 2-cell SCNT embryos. However, the mechanism underlying the failure of H3K9me3 reprogramming during SCNT embryo development remains elusive.

Association of vaccination, international travel, public health and social measures with lineage dynamics of SARS-CoV-2.

Continually emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern that can evade immune defenses are driving recurrent epidemic waves of COVID-19 globally. However, the impact of measures to contain the virus and their effect on lineage diversity dynamics are poorly understood. Here, we jointly analyzed international travel, public health and social measures (PHSM), COVID-19 vaccine rollout, SARS-CoV-2 lineage diversity, and the case growth rate (GR) from March 2020 to September 2022 across 63 countries.

Price Estimation of Coal Seam and Its Application in the Optimization of the Mining Sequence: A Case Study.

Coal price may vary significantly within a given coal seam, and the accurate characterization of coal price plays an important role in the rational development and utilization of coal resources. A geostatistics-block-based method is proposed to obtain the spatial correlation of borehole survey data and map the heterogenous distribution of coal seam thickness and coal quality (including calorific value, volatile content, ash content, and sulfur content). A block model of thermal coal price is next established considering the spatial distribution of coal quality parameters.

Synthesis of Multifluoromethylated γ-Sultines by a Photoinduced Radical Addition-Polar Cyclization.

Despite the significance of sultines in synthesis, medicine, and materials science, the chemistry of sultines has remained unexplored due to their inaccessibility. Herein, we demonstrate the development of a photoredox-catalyzed multifluoromethyl radical addition/SO incorporation/polar cyclization cascade approach to multifluoromethylated γ-sultines. The reactions proceed by single electron transfer induced multifluoromethyl radical addition to an alkene followed by SO incorporation, and single-electron reduction for polar 5-exo-tet cyclization.

Stage-specific H3K9me3 occupancy ensures retrotransposon silencing in human pre-implantation embryos.

H3K9me3, as a hallmark of heterochromatin, is important for cell-fate specification. However, it remains unknown how H3K9me3 is reprogrammed during human early embryo development. Here, we profiled genome-wide H3K9me3 in human oocytes and early embryos and discovered stage-specific H3K9me3 deposition on long terminal repeats (LTRs) at the 8-cell and blastocyst stages.

Aberrant nucleosome organization in mouse SCNT embryos revealed by ULI-MNase-seq.

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) can reprogram terminally differentiated somatic cells into totipotent embryos, but with multiple defects. The nucleosome positioning, as an important epigenetic regulator for gene expression, is largely unexplored during SCNT embryonic development. Here, we mapped genome-wide nucleosome profiles in mouse SCNT embryos using ultra-low-input MNase-seq (ULI-MNase-seq).

Dynamic nucleosome organization after fertilization reveals regulatory factors for mouse zygotic genome activation.

Chromatin remodeling is essential for epigenome reprogramming after fertilization. However, the underlying mechanisms of chromatin remodeling remain to be explored. Here, we investigated the dynamic changes in nucleosome occupancy and positioning in pronucleus-stage zygotes using ultra low-input MNase-seq.

Nonlinear effect of air pollution on adult pneumonia hospital visits in the coastal city of Qingdao, China: A time-series analysis.

Many studies have illustrated adverse effects of short-term exposure to air pollution on human health, which usually assumes a linear exposure-response (E-R) function in the delineation of health effects due to air pollution. However, nonlinearity may exist in the association between air pollutant concentrations and health outcomes such as adult pneumonia hospital visits, and there is a research gap in understanding the nonlinearity. Here, we utilized both the distributed lag model (DLM) and nonlinear model (DLNM) to compare the linear and nonlinear impacts of air pollution on adult pneumonia hospital visits in the coastal city of Qingdao, China.

Nuclear mA reader YTHDC1 regulates the scaffold function of LINE1 RNA in mouse ESCs and early embryos.

N-methyladenosine (mA) on chromosome-associated regulatory RNAs (carRNAs), including repeat RNAs, plays important roles in tuning the chromatin state and transcription, but the intrinsic mechanism remains unclear. Here, we report that YTHDC1 plays indispensable roles in the self-renewal and differentiation potency of mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs), which highly depends on the mA-binding ability. Ythdc1 is required for sufficient rRNA synthesis and repression of the 2-cell (2C) transcriptional program in ESCs, which recapitulates the transcriptome regulation by the LINE1 scaffold.

Chromatin architecture reorganization in murine somatic cell nuclear transfer embryos.

The oocyte cytoplasm can reprogram the somatic cell nucleus into a totipotent state, but with low efficiency. The spatiotemporal chromatin organization of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos remains elusive. Here, we examine higher order chromatin structures of mouse SCNT embryos using a low-input Hi-C method.