High-Statistics Measurement of the Cosmic-Ray Electron Spectrum with H.E.S.S.

Owing to their rapid cooling rate and hence loss-limited propagation distance, cosmic-ray electrons and positrons (CRe) at very high energies probe local cosmic-ray accelerators and provide constraints on exotic production mechanisms such as annihilation of dark matter particles. We present a high-statistics measurement of the spectrum of CRe candidate events from 0.3 to 40 TeV with the High Energy Stereoscopic System, covering 2 orders of magnitude in energy and reaching a proton rejection power of better than 10^{4}.

The putative polyamine transporter Shp2 facilitates phosphate export in an Xpr1-independent manner and contributes to high phosphate tolerance.

Phosphate (Pi) homeostasis at the cellular level is crucial, requiring coordinated Pi uptake, storage, and export. However, the regulatory mechanisms, particularly those governing Pi export, remain elusive, despite their relevance to human diseases like primary familial brain calcification. While Xpr1, conserved across eukaryotes, is the only known Pi exporter, the existence of additional Pi exporting factors is evident; however, these factors have been poorly characterized.

L-Histidine Modulates the Catalytic Activity and Conformational Changes of the HD3 Deoxyribozyme.

: Riboswitches are functional nucleic acids that regulate biological processes by interacting with small molecules, such as metabolites, influencing gene expression. Artificial functional nucleic acids, including deoxyribozymes, have been developed through in vitro selection for various catalytic functions. In a previous study, an l-histidine-dependent deoxyribozyme was identified, exhibiting RNA cleavage activity in the presence of l-histidine resembling ribonuclease catalytic mechanisms.

Molecular, neural, and tissue circuits underlying physiological temperature responses in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Temperature is a constant environmental factor on Earth, acting as a continuous stimulus that organisms must constantly perceive to survive. Organisms possess neural systems that receive various types of environmental information, including temperature, and mechanisms for adapting to their surroundings. This paper provides insights into the neural circuits and intertissue networks involved in physiological temperature responses, specifically the mechanisms of "cold tolerance" and "temperature acclimation," based on an analysis of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as an experimental system for neural and intertissue information processing.

Comparative single-cell transcriptomic analysis reveals putative differentiation drivers and potential origin of vertebrate retina.

Despite known single-cell expression profiles in vertebrate retinas, understanding of their developmental and evolutionary expression patterns among homologous cell classes remains limited. We examined and compared approximately 240 000 retinal cells from four species and found significant similarities among homologous cell classes, indicating inherent regulatory patterns. To understand these shared patterns, we constructed gene regulatory networks for each developmental stage for three of these species.

Preparation of Golf Ball-like Polymer Particles Bearing Site-Selective Functional Groups.

Golf ball-like particles have emerged as interesting materials in the fields of therapeutics, diagnostics, chemical sensing, etc. because of their unique shapes (with concave and convex moieties) and physical properties. Despite their uniqueness, their surfaces are generally covered with single components lacking functional groups, and a well-established functionalization method for a specific area of these particles, such as their concave or convex surface, is lacking.

Elucidating the Role of Groove Hydration on Stability and Functions of Biased DNA Duplexes in Cell-Like Chemical Environments.

Hydration plays a key role in the structure-specific stabilization of biomolecules such as nucleic acids. The hydration patterns of biased DNA sequences in the genome, such as GC-repetitive and AT-repetitive regions, are unique to their duplex grooves. As these regions are crucial for maintaining genomic homeostasis and preventing diseases such as cancer and neurodegenerative disorders, the effects of hydration on their stability and functions must be quantitatively analyzed in chemical environments that resemble intracellular conditions.

Neural crest lineage in the protovertebrate model Ciona.

Neural crest cells are multipotent progenitors that produce defining features of vertebrates such as the 'new head'. Here we use the tunicate, Ciona, to explore the evolutionary origins of neural crest since this invertebrate chordate is among the closest living relatives of vertebrates. Previous studies identified two potential neural crest cell types in Ciona, sensory pigment cells and bipolar tail neurons.

NRAS DNA G-quadruplex-targeting molecules for sequence-selective enzyme inhibition.

Sequence-selective G-quadruplex ligands are valuable for controlling gene expression. Here, we established a new fluorescence displacement assay using a NRAS G-quadruplex selective fluorescent probe to identify sequence-selective DNA G-quadruplex ligands. These sequence-selective NRAS G-quadruplex ligands retained their binding affinity even in the presence of excessive human telomeric DNA G-quadruplex and regulated enzymatic activities in a sequence-selective manner.

The Pathways from Forms of Aggression and Peer Victimization to Internalizing and Externalizing Problems: A Gender-Informed Analysis.

Unlabelled: Despite ample evidence supporting the association between relational and overt aggression and social-psychological adjustment problems, little is known about how this association occurs among adolescents in non-Western cultures. The present study examined whether potentially traumatic peer experience, such as forms of peer victimization (relational and overt), influences the longitudinal association between forms of aggression (relational and overt) and social-psychological adjustment problems (internalizing and externalizing) among Japanese adolescents. Gender differences in the mediation of peer victimization were also examined.

Cold Tolerance in the Nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.

Organisms receive environmental information and respond accordingly in order to survive and proliferate. Temperature is the environmental factor of most immediate importance, as exceeding its life-supporting range renders essential biochemical reactions impossible. In this chapter, we introduce the mechanisms underlying cold tolerance and temperature acclimation in a model organism-the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, at molecular and physiological levels.

Factors Affecting Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation of RGG Peptides with DNA G-Quadruplex.

Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), mediated by G-quadruplexes (G4 s) and intrinsically disordered proteins, particularly those containing RGG domains, plays a critical role in cellular processes and diseases. However, the molecular mechanism and the role of individual amino acid residues of the protein in LLPS with G4 (G4-LLPS) are still unknown. Here, we systematically designed peptides and investigated the roles of arginine residues in G4-LLPS.

Quantitative Effects of the Loop Region on Topology, Thermodynamics, and Cation Binding of DNA G-quadruplexes.

The thermal stability of G-quadruplexes is important for their biological roles. G-quadruplexes are stable in the presence of cations such as K and Na because these cations coordinate in the G-quartet of four guanine bases. It is well known that the number of G-quartets and the configuration of the guanine bases affect the binding affinity of the cation.

Impact of eliminating retirement earnings test on labor supply and pension benefit claims.

This study explores the hypothetical elimination of Japan's retirement earnings test (ET) for public pensions, focusing on its implications for older workers' labor supply and pension-claiming behaviors. The ET currently reduces public pension benefits for individuals aged 65 and older if their earnings exceed specified thresholds, potentially discouraging employment in this demographic. Notably, the Japanese ET influences both immediate and future pension benefits, thus diminishing current payouts for working pensioners and foregoing beneficial actuarial adjustments-adjustments based on actuarial calculations that would otherwise increase future benefits to account for delayed pension claims.

The intron binding protein EMB-4 is an opposite regulator of cold and high temperature tolerance in .

Adaptation and tolerance to changes in heat and cold temperature are essential for survival and proliferation in plants and animals. However, there is no clear information regarding the common molecules between animals and plants. In this study, we found that heat, and cold tolerance of the nematode is oppositely regulated by the RNA-binding protein EMB-4, whose plant homolog contains polymorphism causing heat tolerance diversity.

Establishment of a rapid, cost-effective, and accurate method for assessing insect sperm viability.

High-quality sperm cells are crucial to reproductive success for both males and post-mating females in animals. Sperm viability, defined as the proportion of viable sperm cells, is used as a sperm quality index and this method has provided new insights into research on reproductive strategies. Sperm viability has been assessed by fluorescent staining of sperm cells.

Characterization of -spliced chimeric RNAs: insights into the mechanism of -splicing.

-splicing is a post-transcriptional processing event that joins exons from separate RNAs to produce a chimeric RNA. However, the detailed mechanism of -splicing remains poorly understood. Here, we characterize -spliced genes and provide insights into the mechanism of -splicing in the tunicate .

Inhibition of RNA Phosphodiester Backbone Cleavage in the Presence of Organic Cations of Different Sizes.

Living cells contain various types of organic cations that may interact with nucleic acids. In order to understand the nucleic acid-binding properties of organic cations of different sizes, we investigated the ability of simple organic cations to inhibit the RNA phosphodiester bond cleavage promoted by Mg, Pb, and RNA-cleaving serum proteins. Kinetic analysis using chimeric DNA-RNA oligonucleotides showed that the cleavage at ribonucleotide sites was inhibited in the presence of monovalent cations comprising alkyl chains or benzene rings.

Vacuolar degradation of plant organelles.

Plants continuously remodel and degrade their organelles due to damage from their metabolic activities and environmental stressors, as well as an integral part of their cell differentiation programs. Whereas certain organelles use local hydrolytic enzymes for limited remodeling, most of the pathways that control the partial or complete dismantling of organelles rely on vacuolar degradation. Specifically, selective autophagic pathways play a crucial role in recognizing and sorting plant organelle cargo for vacuolar clearance, especially under cellular stress conditions induced by factors like heat, drought, and damaging light.

Separation of the diastereomers of phosphorothioated siRNAs by anion-exchange chromatography under non-denaturing conditions.

In recent years, several small interfering RNA (siRNA) therapeutics have been approved, and most of them are phosphorothioate (PS)-modified for improving nuclease resistance. This chemical modification induces chirality in the phosphorus atom, leading to the formation of diastereomers. Recent studies have revealed that Sp and Rp configurations of PS modifications of siRNAs have different biological properties, such as nuclease resistance and RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) loading.

Development of a Pseudocellular System to Quantify Specific Interactions Determining the G-Quadruplex Function in Cells.

Intracellular chemical microenvironments, including ion concentrations and molecular crowding, play pivotal roles in cell behaviors, such as proliferation, differentiation, and cell death via regulation of gene expression. However, there is no method for quantitative analysis of intracellular environments due to their complexity. Here, we have developed a system for highlighting the environment inside of the cell (SHELL).

Lipid droplets in leaves contain myosin-binding proteins and enzymes associated with furan-containing fatty acid biosynthesis.

Lipid droplets (LDs) are lipid storage organelles in plant leaves and seeds. Seed LD proteins are well known, and their functions in lipid metabolism have been characterized; however, many leaf LD proteins remain to be identified. We therefore isolated LDs from leaves of the leaf LD-overaccumulating mutant () of by centrifugation or co-immunoprecipitation.