Catálogo de publicaciones - revistas

<jats:title>Abiotic formation of organic molecules</jats:title> <jats:p> Mars rovers have found complex organic molecules in the ancient rocks exposed on the planet’s surface and methane in the modern atmosphere. It is unclear what processes produced these organics, with proposals including both biotic and abiotic sources. Steele <jats:italic>et al</jats:italic> . analyzed the nanoscale mineralogy of the Mars meteorite ALH 84001 and found evidence of organic synthesis driven by serpentinization and carbonation reactions that occurred during the aqueous alteration of basalt rock by hydrothermal fluids. The results demonstrate that abiotic production of organic molecules operated on Mars 4 billion years ago. —KTS </jats:p>

<jats:title>mRNA migration through plasmodesmata</jats:title> <jats:p> In plants, certain transcription factors are produced in one cell but transported, sometimes as messenger RNA (mRNA), through plasmodesmata, channels between neighboring plant cells, where they act. This system helps to manage stem cell development. Kitagawa <jats:italic>et al</jats:italic> . now identify part of the machinery that manages this cell-to-cell transport. Transport of the mRNA encoding the KNOTTED1 homeobox transcription factor depends on Ribosomal RNA-Processing Protein 44 (AtRRP44A), which is a subunit of the RNA exosome. —PJH </jats:p>

<jats:title>Immune imprinting</jats:title> <jats:p> For severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), immune responses to heterologous variants are influenced by a person’s infection history. Healthcare workers (HCWs) may be exposed to several doses and types of antigens, either by natural infection or by vaccination. Reynolds <jats:italic>et al</jats:italic> . studied a cohort of UK HCWs followed since March 2020. The immunological profiles of these people depended on how often the subject had encountered antigen and which variant was involved. Vaccine responses after infection were found to be less effective if the infection involved heterologous spike from a variant virus. Unfortunately, the N501Y spike mutation, found in many variants, seems to induce the regulatory T cell transcription factor FOXP3, indicating that the virus could subvert effective T cell function. Changes to antibody binding between variants also means that serology data using the Wuhan Hu-1 S1 receptor-binding domain sequence may not be a reliable measure of protection. —CA </jats:p>

<jats:title>Teasing out the topological order</jats:title> <jats:p> Quantum Hall states, which form in two-dimensional electron gases at low temperatures and in the presence of strong magnetic fields, have long been known to have nontrivial topological properties. Among the most intriguing is the state that arises at the Landau level filling factor of 5/2. Theoretical calculations suggest several possibilities for the 5/2 ground state and associated topological order but distinguishing among them experimentally is tricky. Dutta <jats:italic>et al</jats:italic> . developed a method for doing so by interfacing a region in the 5/2 state with a region at an integer filling, and the measurements provided support for the particle-hole Pfaffian order. The technique can be used for the investigation of other exotic states in the quantum Hall setting. —JS </jats:p>

<jats:title>Magnetic effects of lanthanide bonding</jats:title> <jats:p> Lanthanide coordination compounds have attracted attention for their persistent magnetic properties near liquid nitrogen temperature, well above alternative molecular magnets. Gould <jats:italic>et al</jats:italic> . report that introducing metal-metal bonding can enhance coercivity. Reduction of iodide-bridged terbium or dysprosium dimers resulted in a single electron bond between the metals, which enforced alignment of the other valence electrons. The resultant coercive fields exceeded 14 tesla below 50 and 60 kelvin for the terbium and dysprosium compounds, respectively. —JSY </jats:p>

<jats:title>Terapascal iron-melting temperature</jats:title> <jats:p> The pressure and temperature conditions at which iron melts are important for terrestrial planets because they determine the size of the liquid metal core, an important factor for understanding the potential for generating a radiation-shielding magnetic field. Kraus <jats:italic>et al</jats:italic> . used laser-driven shock to determine the iron-melt curve up to a pressure of 1000 gigapascals (see the Perspective by Zhang and Lin). This value is about three times that of the Earth’s inner core boundary. The authors found that the liquid metal core lasted the longest for Earth-like planets four to six times larger in mass than the Earth. —BG </jats:p>

<jats:title>Following a crossover</jats:title> <jats:p> Superfluidity in fermionic systems occurs through the pairing of fermions into bosons, which can undergo condensation. Depending on the strength of the interactions between fermions, the pairs range from large and overlapping to tightly bound. The crossover between these two limits has been explored in ultracold Fermi gases. Liu <jats:italic>et al</jats:italic> . observed the crossover in an electronic system consisting of two layers of graphene separated by an insulating barrier and placed in a magnetic field. In this two-dimensional system, the pairs were excitons formed from an electron in one layer and a hole in the other. The researchers used magnetic field and layer separation to tune the interactions and detected the signatures of superfluidity through transport measurements. —JS </jats:p>

<jats:title>Seed dispersal in decline</jats:title> <jats:p> Most plant species depend on animals to disperse their seeds, but this vital function is threatened by the declines in animal populations, limiting the potential for plants to adapt to climate change by shifting their ranges. Using data from more than 400 networks of seed dispersal interactions, Fricke <jats:italic>et al</jats:italic> . quantified the changes in seed disposal function brought about globally by defaunation. Their analyses indicate that past defaunation has severely reduced long-distance seed dispersal, cutting by more than half the number of seeds dispersed far enough to track climate change. In addition, their approach enables the prediction of seed dispersal interactions using species traits and an estimation of how these interactions translate into ecosystem functioning, thus informing ecological forecasting and the consequences of animal declines. —AMS </jats:p>

<jats:title>Sniffing out atherosclerosis</jats:title> <jats:p> Olfactory receptors are best known for their presence in the nose and their role in detecting smells, but they are also present in other tissues and perform additional biological functions. For example, vascular macrophages involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis express multiple subtypes of olfactory receptors. Orecchioni <jats:italic>et al</jats:italic> . focused on olfactory receptor 2, a receptor for the compound octanal, and identified its contribution to atherosclerosis pathogenesis and the formation of atherosclerotic plaques (see the Perspective by Rayner and Rasheed). The authors show that most of the octanal was not directly derived from the diet, but rather was generated as a by-product of lipid peroxidation, suggesting a potential pathway for intervention. —YN </jats:p>

<jats:title>Ancient origin of cell death</jats:title> <jats:p> Gasdermins are cell death proteins in mammals that form membrane pores in response to pathogen infection. Johnson <jats:italic>et al</jats:italic> . report that diverse bacteria encode structural and functional homologs of mammalian gasdermins. Like their mammalian counterparts, bacterial gasdermins are activated by caspase-like proteases, oligomerize into large membrane pores, and defend against pathogen—in this case, bacteriophage—infection. Proteolytic activation occurs through the release of a short inhibitory peptide, and many bacterial gasdermins are lipidated to facilitate membrane pore formation. Pyroptotic cell death, a central component of mammalian innate immunity, thus has a shared origin with an ancient antibacteriophage defense system. —SMH </jats:p>