Application of hydrodynamic mild shear stress to adherent Dictyostelium discoideum vegetative cells triggers active actin cytoskeleton remodeling resulting in net cell movement along the flow. The average cell speed is strongly stimulated by external calcium (Ca2+, K50%=22 microM), but the directionality of the movement is almost unaffected. This calcium concentration is ten times higher than the one promoting cell adhesion to glass surfaces (K50%=2 microM). Addition of the calcium chelator EGTA or the Ca2+-channel blocker gadolinium (Gd3+) transiently stops cell movement. Monitoring the evolution of cell-surface contact area with time reveals that calcium stimulates cell speed by increasing the amplitude of both protrusion and retraction events at the cell edge, but not the frequency. As a consequence, with saturating external calcium concentrations, cells are sensitive to very low shear forces (20 pN; sigma=0.1 Pa). Moreover, a null-mutant lacking the unique Gbeta subunit does not respond to external Ca2+ changes (K50%>1000 microM), although the directionality of the movement is comparable with that of wild-type cells. Furthermore, cells lacking the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (IP3-receptor) exhibit a markedly reduced Ca2+ sensitivity. Thus, calcium release from internal stores and calcium entry through the plasma membrane modulate cell speed in response to shear stress.
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Sci Adv
January 2025
Key Laboratory for the Physics and Chemistry of Nanodevices and Center for Carbon-Based Electronics, School of Electronics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Multi-valued logics (MVLs) offer higher information density, reduced circuit and interconnect complexity, lower power dissipation, and faster speed over conventional binary logic system. Recent advancement in MVL research, particularly with emerging low-dimensional materials, suggests that breakthroughs may be imminent if multistates transistors can be fabricated controllably for large-scale integration. Here, a concept of source-gating transistors (SGTs) is developed and realized using carbon nanotubes (CNTs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2025
Institute of Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, ETH Zürich, Zürich 8093, Switzerland.
Chemotaxis enables marine bacteria to increase encounters with phytoplankton cells by reducing their search times, provided that bacteria detect noisy chemical gradients around phytoplankton. Gradient detection depends on bacterial phenotypes and phytoplankton size: large phytoplankton produce spatially extended but shallow gradients, whereas small phytoplankton produce steeper but spatially more confined gradients. To date, it has remained unclear how phytoplankton size and bacterial swimming speed affect bacteria's gradient detection ability and search times for phytoplankton.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTheor Appl Genet
January 2025
CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia.
Zebularine-treated wheat uncovered a phenotype with characteristics of an epigenetically regulated trait, but major chromosomal aberrations, not DNA methylation changes, are the cause, making zebularine unsuitable for epigenetic breeding. Breeding to identify disease-resistant and climate-tolerant high-yielding wheats has led to yield increases over many years, but new hardy, higher yielding varieties are still needed to improve food security in the face of climate change. Traditional breeding to develop new cultivars of wheat is a lengthy process taking more than seven years from the initial cross to cultivar release.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Nano
January 2025
Department of Applied Physics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China.
Dynamic random access memory (DRAM) has been a cornerstone of modern computing, but it faces challenges as technology scales down, particularly due to the mismatch between reduced storage capacitance and increasing OFF current. The capacitorless 2T0C DRAM architecture is recognized for its potential to offer superior area efficiency and reduced refresh rate requirements by eliminating the traditional capacitor. The exploration of two-dimensional (2D) materials further enhances scaling possibilities, though the absence of dangling bonds complicates the deposition of high-quality dielectrics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Alzheimers Dis
January 2025
Department of Neurology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Background: White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are prominent neuroimaging markers of cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) linked to cognitive decline. Nevertheless, the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying WMH remain unclear.
Objective: This study aimed to assess the structural decoupling index (SDI) as a novel metric for quantifying the brain's hierarchical organization associated with WMH in cognitively normal older adults
Methods: We analyzed data from 112 cognitively normal individuals with varying WMH burdens (43 high WMH burden and 69 low WMH burden).
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