Life sciences: genetics, neuroscience, ecology and molecular biology.
Giving mice a more stimulating environment during adolescence prevented behavioral and cognitive problems caused by early-life stress. The researchers linked the effect to restored CREB-BDNF-TrkB signaling and found reduced TrkB levels in neuron-derived exosomes from people with schizophrenia.
Researchers expected an enzyme involved in building tomato fruit cuticles to strengthen the fruit surface. Instead, engineered tomatoes had less cutin and wax, softer cuticles and greater susceptibility to a common fungus.
AI tools for predicting T-cell recognition often struggle when the peptide has not appeared in their training data. A study of structure-based classifiers found that extra training objectives can improve predictions for unfamiliar peptides, but the broader generalization problem remains.
In an onion-plant study, the insecticide clothianidin reduced germination, root growth, weight gain and photosynthetic pigments. It also increased oxidative stress, DNA and chromosome damage, and structural changes in plant tissues as exposure levels rose.
Long-term trials in Bihar, India, found that manure and crop residues improved soil properties and raised rice and wheat yields. Reduced tillage mainly benefited physical soil conditions, but zero-tillage results varied by site and could lower yields when residues were not added.
In laboratory experiments, blocking PHGDH, an enzyme involved in serine metabolism, weakened anaplastic thyroid cancer cells that had become resistant to dabrafenib. The treatment reduced colony formation and growth-related signaling, alone and in combination with dabrafenib.
Brain stimulation separated motion-discrimination accuracy from confidence in perceptual decisions. Strengthening one visual pathway affected both measures, while disrupting a parietal brain region changed confidence-related performance without altering motion discrimination.
A study of 1,218 consumers in Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom found that conventional pesticides were generally seen as riskier than gene-edited watermelons. Consumers also preferred zero-residue pesticides to organic-certified alternatives, although 22% to 27% rejected gene-edited watermelons.
In a study of 156,764 UK Biobank participants, researchers examined associations between adherence to the UK Eatwell Guide and measures of body size and body fat. Higher adherence was associated with lower adiposity measures both at the initial assessment and, in the prospective analysis, with more favorable body mass index patterns over time. The study does not show that adherence caused these differences.
Researchers developed MuSpAn, a software package for mapping how cells interact across different scales in tissue. Tests on normal mouse intestine and a mouse intestinal cancer model identified coordinated fibroblast–immune interactions and a range of fibroblast states.
A programmable DNA device punctured artificial membranes, delivered attached molecular cargo and then retracted to promote resealing. Researchers also used it to control biochemical reactions in cell-sized environments, but the study does not report tests in living organisms.
In an exploratory study of eight people, ultra-high-frequency flickering visual stimulation increased sharp-wave ripples in the hippocampus during wakefulness. The result suggests a possible noninvasive way to influence a memory-related brain rhythm, but the study did not test whether memory improved.
Intensive poultry farming has changed how Campylobacter jejuni moves among chickens and wild birds, according to an analysis of 2,747 genomes. The researchers estimate a roughly 100-fold rise in chicken-to-wild-bird transfers since 1900 and found that chicken-adapted strains often carry genes linked to antimicrobial resistance and survival in chickens.
In male mice, brief bursts of neuronal activity tracked which sensory cues predicted rewards and changed as those associations changed. Suppressing the bursts disrupted learning and task performance, providing causal evidence that they help drive associative learning.
Researchers have isolated the first cultivated virus known to infect a chrysophyte, an aquatic protist that can both photosynthesize and consume prey. Its genome contains a proteorhodopsin-like gene, a type of gene not previously reported in a virus, although predictions suggest the protein may not function as a light-driven proton pump.
