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The Very Early Evolution of Biological Complexity
No full textAll extant life is descended from a common ancestor, which, despite being very ancient, appears to have been a complex cellular organism. A new study by Moody et al. shows that this ancestor was not only a complex cell, but also lived within a microbial ecology likely inhabited by other complex cells
The Night is Still Young: A Cross-Disciplinary Forum on Queer Nightlife Studies
No full textSince 2020, a wave of academic and trade books has brought unprecedented attention to queer nightlife. Whereas this special issue of TSQ advances queer nightlife as a site for continued study in sociology, this forum opens a conversation between ten leading scholars who have often carried out their work in distinct social science and humanities fields, including sociology, geography, ethnomusicology, performance studies, religion, and media studies. In a spirit of academic generosity, they become interlocutors who exchange stories, analytical frameworks, and investments with the goal that they might learn from each other; they bond over shared nightlife and research experiences, including ethnographic methods and attention to affect. This forum poses questions and insights that will enrich how future scholarship can build toward more rigorous, capacious, and imaginative queer methods - within and beyond sociology
β3-Tryptophans by Iron-Catalyzed Enantioselective Amination of 3-Indolepropionic Acids
No full textA straightforward and general strategy for the catalytic asymmetric synthesis of beta(3)-tryptophans by carboxylic-acid-directed intermolecular C-H amination has been developed. The iron-catalyzed C-H amination of 3-indolepropionic acids with BocNHOMs (Boc, tert-butyloxycarbonyl; OMs, methylsulfonate) in the presence of the base piperidine provides N-Boc-protected beta(3)-tryptophans in a single step with high enantiomeric excess (ee) of up to \u3e99%. Mechanistic experiments and density functional theory calculations support a mechanism through carboxylate-directed iron-mediated C(sp(3))-H nitrene insertion. The method incorporates two key sustainability criteria: the use of iron as an abundant, non-toxic, and environmentally benign metal, along with the achievement of streamlined enantioselective C-H functionalization
Does “Lean Against the Wind” monetary policy improve welfare in a commodity exporter?
No full textEmerging Market Economies struggle to balance monetary policy with capital flow management and commodity price volatility. Our study employs a New-Keynesian model, using Russian data from 2001 to 2019, to examine ‘Lean Against the Wind’ (LAW) monetary policies. We show that under Lean Against the Wind (LAW) policies, households with borrowed funds experience improved welfare, while households that save are adversely affected. While LAW increases output and inflation volatility, it also presents mixed financial stability outcomes—lowering debt volatility but heightening that for household delinquencies. These findings highlight the complex effects of LAW in economies subject to varied shocks
Activity-Based Protein Profiling of RHBDL4 Reveals Proteolysis of the Enzyme and a Distinct Inhibitor Profile
No full textRhomboid proteases have fascinated scientists by virtue of their membrane-embedded active sites and proposed involvement in physiological and disease pathways. The human rhomboid protease RHBDL4 has generated particular interest due to its role in endoplasmic reticulum-associated protein degradation and upregulation in several cancers; however, chemical tools for studying this enzyme are currently lacking. Here, we describe the development of an activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) assay for RHBDL4. We have employed this assay to determine that human RHBDL4 undergoes proteolytic processing in cells to produce multiple active proteoforms with truncated C-termini. We have also used this assay to identify chemical scaffolds capable of inhibiting RHBDL4 activity and have observed distinct inhibitor preferences between RHBDL4 and a second human rhomboid protease PARL. Our work demonstrates the power of ABPP technology to characterize active forms of enzymes that might otherwise elude detection and the potential to achieve selective inhibition among the human rhomboid proteases
The link between ancient whole-genome duplications and cold adaptations in the Caryophyllaceae
No full textPremise: The Caryophyllaceae (the carnation family) have undergone multiple transitions into colder climates and convergence on cushion plant adaptation, indicating that they may provide a natural system for cold adaptation research. Previous research has suggested that putative ancient whole-genome duplications (WGDs) are correlated with niche shifts into colder climates across the Caryophyllales. Here, we explored the genomic changes potentially involved in one of these discovered shifts in the Caryophyllaceae.
Methods: We constructed a data set combining 26 newly generated transcriptomes with 45 published transcriptomes, including 11 cushion plant species across seven genera. With this data set, we inferred a dated phylogeny for the Caryophyllaceae and mapped ancient WGDs and gene duplications onto the phylogeny. We also examined functional groups enriched for gene duplications related to the climatic shift.
Results: The ASTRAL topology was mostly congruent with the current consensus of relationships within the family. We inferred 15 putative ancient WGDs in the family, including eight that have not been previously published. The oldest ancient WGD (ca. 64.4-56.7 million years ago), WGD1, was found to be associated with a shift into colder climates by previous research. Gene regions associated with ubiquitination were overrepresented in gene duplications retained after WGD1 and those convergently retained by cushion plants in Colobanthus and Eremogone, along with other functional annotations.
Conclusions: Gene family expansions induced by ancient WGDs may have contributed to the shifts to cold climatic niches in the Caryophyllaceae. Transcriptomic data are crucial resources that help unravel heterogeneity in deep-time evolutionary patterns in plants
Reaching the Limit Case: Disassembling Form and Language to Reprepresent Deep Memories of Holocaust Traumas In Works by Gerhard Richter and Zbigniew Libera
No full textThis thesis applies Jill Bennett’s theory of “the limit case” and Charlotte Delbo’s and Lawrence L. Langer’s concepts of “deep memories” and “common memories” to Gerhard Richter’s Onkel Rudi, Tante Marianne and Birkenau series, as well as Zbigniew Libera’s Lego Concentration Camp. This application buttresses the exploration of avant-garde art’s capacity to represent Holocaust traumas which touch the limit case of comprehension. At the limit case, incomprehensible traumas can only be understood viscerally, and not cognitively. This paper argues that only through demolition of form, language, and linear narratives, can deep memories of Holocaust traumas be represented in a manner which illuminates deeper caverns of truth. These truths being embodied traumas which cannot be relegated to the past, subdued, or aestheticized. Richter’s Onkel Rudi and Tante Marianne represent the simultaneous trauma and complicity which exist in his one German family. In his Birkenau series, Richter artistically abstracts oil copies of the Sonderkommando photos, to represent the brutally violent images which he previously found to be unpaintable. Contrary to these works, which still uphold a world view which values esh, Libera reduces the horrors of Auschwitz to the plastic of Legos. He mirrors the rigid sadism of the guards and gas chambers of Auschwitz, to honestly represent the torture which was inicted upon the inmates. Understanding these artworks through Bennett’s and Delbo’s theories reveals that no cognitive paradigms of redemptive narratives, or linguistic understandings, can capture embodied Holocaust traumas