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Priestia megaterium cells are primed for surviving lethal doses of antibiotics and chemical stress
No full textThis article was originally published in Communications Biology. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07639-2.
© The Author(s) 2025.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.Antibiotic resistant infections kill millions worldwide yearly. However, a key factor in recurrent infections is antibiotic persisters. Persisters are not inherently antibiotic-resistant but can withstand antibiotic exposure by entering a non-dividing state. This tolerance often results in prolonged antibiotic usage, increasing the likelihood of developing resistant strains. Here, we show the existence of “primed cells” in the Gram-positive bacterium Priestia megaterium, formerly known as Bacillus megaterium. These cells are pre-adapted to become persisters prior to lethal antibiotic stress. Remarkably, this prepared state is passed down through multiple generations via epigenetic memory, enhancing survival against antibiotics and other chemical stress. Previously, two distinct types of persisters were proposed: Type I and Type II, formed during stationary and log phases, respectively. However, our findings reveal that primed cells contribute to an increase in persisters during transition and stationary phases, with no evidence supporting distinct phenotypes between Type I and Type II persisters.We extend our gratitude to Hazera Khatun Koly for sharing her Cip MIC strip-test results with P. megaterium. This work is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) award numbers 1922542, 2240028, and 1849206; United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch project grant number SD00H763-22, accession no. 7002192. It was also supported by the National Institute of Health-National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIH-NIGMS) grant R35GM148351
Terrestrial Organic Matter Contributes to CO2 Production From Siberian Shelf Sediments
No full textThis article was originally published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JG008226.
© 2025. The Author(s).
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Arctic climate warming is causing permafrost thaw and erosion, which may lead to enhanced inputs of terrestrial organic matter into Arctic Ocean shelf sediments. Degradation of terrestrial organic matter in sediments might contribute to carbon dioxide production and bottom water acidification. Yet, the degradability of organic matter in shallow Arctic Ocean sediments, as well as the contribution of terrestrial input, is poorly quantified. Here, potential organic matter degradation rates were investigated for 16 surface sediments from the Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, and the western East Siberian Sea and compared with physicochemical sediment properties including molecular biomarkers, stable and radioactive carbon isotopes, and grain size. Aerobic oxygen and carbon dioxide fluxes, measured in laboratory incubations of sediment slurry, showed high spatial variability and correlated significantly with organic carbon content as well as with the amount and degradation state of terrestrial organic matter. The dependency on terrestrial organic matter declined with increasing distance from land, indicating that the presence of terrestrial organic matter is likely a constraining factor for organic matter degradation in shallow shelf seas. However, sediment oxygen consumption rates, measured in incubations of intact sediment cores, also exhibited substantial spatial variability but were not related to organic carbon content or terrestrial influence. Oxygen consumption of intact sediments may be more strongly influenced by in situ redox conditions. Together with previous observations, our findings support that terrestrial organic matter is easily degradable in shelf sea sediments and might substantially contribute to aerobic carbon dioxide production and oxygen consumption.
Plain Language Summary
The Arctic climate is warming rapidly, which is leading to thawing of frozen deposits on land. These deposits contain large amounts of terrestrial organic matter that is being eroded and deposited into shallow ocean sediments. The breakdown of terrestrial organic matter in sediments might contribute to carbon dioxide release into the ocean water. There is insufficient knowledge on how fast this breakdown is happening and which parameters influence it. We investigated organic matter breakdown rates for sediment samples taken from shallow Siberian seas and compared them with sediment properties. Oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide release were measured in laboratory experiments and showed high variability between different samples. The release was related to the amount of terrestrial organic matter and its state of decomposition. This relationship decreased strongly for sediments further away from land. During a second incubation experiment, using intact sediment cores, oxygen consumption rates were measured and also showed high variability between samples. Oxygen consumption rates were not related to organic matter content. These findings support previous observations that terrestrial organic matter breaks down rapidly in shallow Arctic Ocean sediments and might also substantially contribute to the release of carbon dioxide and consumption of oxygen from the seawater.
Key Points
- Carbon dioxide fluxes from sediment slurry incubations showed high variability and were dependent on the input of terrestrial organic matter
- Pronounced variability in oxygen consumption of intact sediment cores could not be explained by the input of terrestrial organic matterWe thank the scientific team and the crew of the ISSS-2020 expedition, as well as Draupnir Einarsson (Stockholm University) for developing the core incubation setup. The work was funded by the Swedish Research Council VR (Grants 2018-05489 and 2021-01750 to B.W., 2021–06670 to J.M., and 2017-01601 to Ö.G.), the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (Formas) (Grant 2018-01547 to B.W.), the Carl Trygger Foundation (Grant CTS 20: 470 to B.W.) and the European Research Council (ERC-AdG CC-Top, Grant 695331 to Ö.G.). The field work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (Grant 21-77-30001 to I.S.), with additional support from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (Grant “Priority-2030”, SakhGU and by Grant FEFF-2024-0004, SakhGU). The ship charter of the R/V Akademik Mstislav Keldysh was funded by Grant 121021500057-4 (POI), and by Grant “Priority-2030” (TGU) from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation
Drawdown of soil phosphorus by crop removal: A meta-analysis of 56 fields with interrupted fertilization
No full textThis article was originally published in Agricultural & Environmental Letters. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/ael2.70007.
© 2025 The Author(s). Agricultural & Environmental Letters published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.Phosphorus (P) is an essential nutrient applied as fertilizer in agricultural fields. However, excessive fertilization leads to P build up in soils, increasing its potential to cause environmental pollution. The objective of this study was to evaluate the average P drawdown rate of 56 sites with drawdown management presented in 14 publications. Soil test P (STP) results were converted to Mehlich-3 equivalent and resampling analysis was used to compare the annual drawdown rate in fields grouped by four initial STP classes. The STP was reduced by 4.3%–8.2% per year, depending on the initial STP class. It took from 8.4 to 15.9 years to reduce the STP by half. The resulting equations from this meta-analysis can be used by landowners to estimate the time needed for STP drawdown by cropping without additional P to achieve the desired STP concentration.
Core Ideas
- Cropping without phosphorus (P) fertilization is one of the few options to reduce soil test P (STP).
- A meta-analysis of the annual P drawdown rate was performed using 56 sites presented in 14 publications.
- Fields were grouped into four initial STP classes based on Mehlich-3 STP equivalent.
- The STP was reduced from 4.3% to 8.2% per year in fields with high and low initial STP.
- The time needed to reduce the STP by half varied from 8.4 to 15.9 years depending on the initial STP.
Graphical Abstract available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/ael2.70007
Abbreviations
ICP
inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy
IPNI
International Plant Nutrition Institute
STP
soil test phosphorus
STPi
initial soil test phosphoru
YAP/TAZ-associated cell signaling – at the crossroads of cancer and neurodevelopmental disorders
No full textThis article was originally published in Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology by Frontiers Media. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2025.1522705.
© 2025 Ajongbolo and Langhans. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.YAP/TAZ (Yes-associated protein/paralog transcriptional co-activator with PDZ-binding domain) are transcriptional cofactors that are the key and major downstream effectors of the Hippo signaling pathway. Both are known to play a crucial role in defining cellular outcomes, including cell differentiation, cell proliferation, and apoptosis. Aside from the canonical Hippo signaling cascade with the key components MST1/2 (mammalian STE20-like kinase 1/2), SAV1 (Salvador homologue 1), MOB1A/B (Mps one binder kinase activator 1A/B) and LATS1/2 (large tumor suppressor kinase 1/2) upstream of YAP/TAZ, YAP/TAZ activation is also influenced by numerous other signaling pathways. Such non-canonical regulation of YAP/TAZ includes well-known growth factor signaling pathways such as the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)/ErbB family, Notch, and Wnt signaling as well as cell-cell adhesion, cell-matrix interactions and mechanical cues from a cell’s microenvironment. This puts YAP/TAZ at the center of a complex signaling network capable of regulating developmental processes and tissue regeneration. On the other hand, dysregulation of YAP/TAZ signaling has been implicated in numerous diseases including various cancers and neurodevelopmental disorders. Indeed, in recent years, parallels between cancer development and neurodevelopmental disorders have become apparent with YAP/TAZ signaling being one of these pathways. This review discusses the role of YAP/TAZ in brain development, cancer and neurodevelopmental disorders with a special focus on the interconnection in the role of YAP/TAZ in these different conditions.The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Support was provided by National Institutes of Health grant R01 CA263216 and the Nemours Foundation. This study was further supported by a supplement to a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) award from the National Institute of General Medical Science of the National Institutes of Health under grant number P30GM145765
A Holistic Examination of How Professional Learning and Curriculum Relate to Ambitious and Culturally Relevant Instruction and Student Engagement
No full textThis article was originally published in AERA Open. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584241310429.
© The Author(s) 2025. https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero. Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions.
Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).To shape professional learning (PL) and curriculum interventions for successfully transforming instruction, we need to better understand how multiple aspects of the system work. Applying structural equation modeling with a sample of 437 teachers in 153 middle and high schools in 11 districts serving 50% or more Black or Latinx students, we found that teachers are significantly more likely to use ambitious and culturally responsive (CR) instruction in the classroom and that student engagement increases when PL and curriculum adoption are (1) targeted toward ambitious and CR instruction, (2) provide clear, specific directions to teachers, (3) are aligned with each other, (4) are supported by teachers, and (5) are accompanied by incentives. PL worked through fostering stronger beliefs in and confidence using CR instruction. The curriculum and PL had both independent and interactive effects on bolstering the use of ambitious and CR instruction.This work was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (ID INV-000745)
Deciphering the Neural Effects of Emotional, Motivational, and Cognitive Challenges on Inhibitory Control Processes
No full textThis article was originally published in Human Brain Mapping. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.70137.
© 2025 The Author(s). Human Brain Mapping published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.Converging lines of research indicate that inhibitory control is likely to be compromised in contexts that place competing demands on emotional, motivational, and cognitive systems, potentially leading to damaging impulsive behavior. The objective of this study was to identify the neural impact of three challenging contexts that typically compromise self-regulation and weaken impulse control. Participants included 66 healthy adults (M/SDage = 29.82/10.21 years old, 63.6% female) who were free of psychiatric disorders and psychotropic medication use. Participants completed a set of novel Go/NoGo (GNG) paradigms in the scanner, which manipulated contextual factors to induce (i) aversive emotions, (ii) appetitive drive, or (iii) concurrent working memory load. Voxelwise analysis of neural activation during each of these tasks was compared to that of a neutral GNG task. Findings revealed differential inhibition-related activation in the aversive emotions and appetitive drive GNG tasks relative to the neutral task in frontal, parietal and temporal cortices, suggesting emotional and motivational contexts may suppress activation of these cortical regions during inhibitory control. In contrast, the GNG task with a concurrent working memory load showed widespread increased activation across the cortex compared to the neutral task, indicative of enhanced recruitment of executive control regions. Results suggest the neural circuitry recruited for inhibitory control varies depending on the concomitant emotional, motivational, and cognitive demands of a given context. This battery of GNG tasks can be used by researchers interested in studying unique patterns of neural activation associated with inhibitory control across three clinically relevant contexts that challenge self-regulation and confer risk for impulsive behavior.
Summary
- Examining the impact of context on the neural mechanisms supporting inhibitory control is critical for furthering the field's understanding of self-regulation.
- This study assessed the utility of three new fMRI Go/NoGo tasks for examining how emotional, motivational, and cognitive contexts influence the neural circuits involved in inhibitory control.
- Results revealed differential recruitment of inhibitory control-related brain regions depending on contextual demands, underscoring the utility of examining inhibitory control across challenging contexts using these novel Go/NoGo fMRI tasks.This work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (1R01MH116228 awarded to NS; 1F31MH120936 awarded to NB; F31MH135695-01A1 awarded to AS) and National Institute of General Medical Sciences (2P20GM103653 awarded to NS). It was also supported by an Institutional Development Award (IDeA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (P30GM145765)
Development and Evaluation of Yarns Made from Mechanically Recycled Textiles
No full textThis article was originally published in Textiles. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/textiles5040056
Copyright: © 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Mechanical textile recycling presents a sustainable alternative to linear “take–make–waste” models in the fashion industry. This study intended to develop yarns using textile-tofiber mechanically recycled fibers. ReSpool mechanically recycled wool, cotton, polyester,
silk, and rayon fibers from pre-consumer and post-consumer textiles were acquired and blended with new fibers at varying ratios (100% ReSpool fibers, 85% ReSpool fibers, and 65% ReSpool fibers) to make batts, which were spun into yarns. The yarns’ size (Tex),
strength (breaking force and tenacity), elongation, and moisture regain were evaluated.ReSpool recycled fibers from both pre-consumer and post-consumer textiles can be used to produce yarns that have appropriate strength for weaving and knitting. It was possible to
produce yarns from 100% ReSpool recycled wool, polyester, and silk fibers, but ReSpool recycled cotton and rayon fibers must be blended with new fibers to produce yarns. There was no significant difference among the percentage of ReSpool recycled polyester and
cotton fibers in the yarns on the strength and elongation of the yarn. It is recommended to use the higher percentage of ReSpool recycled fibers in yarn development to maximize recycled material utilization
The utilization of boron-rich clusters as aids to detect reactive oxygen and nitrogen species through non-fluorescent modalities
No full textMessina, Marco S.Reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) are small, highly reactive, and transient oxygen/nitrogen containing compounds that play important roles in redox signaling processes to maintain cellular homeostasis. Typically, these finnicky species are detected through activity-based sensors (ABS) which produce a fluorescent response after being selectively uncaged by the target analyte. However, these fluorescent scaffolds are limited by their large absorption and emission profiles. Therefore, to expand our ability to detect these species, our lab aims to develop and characterize this new class of activity-based sensors to detect these species via non-fluorescent imaging modalities utilizing boron-rich clusters. These boron-rich clusters have unique, tunable properties that are advantageous for alternative based imaging strategies such as time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) or Raman spectroscopy. Utilizing these non-fluorescent scaffolds, we hope to expand the toolbox ROS/RNS targeting scaffolds to further understand their behavior within biological systems. ☐ In Chapter 1, I will discuss progress made towards the synthesis and photophysical characterization of this novel class of ABS scaffolds. A strategy to attach a boron-rich cluster to a known fluorescent scaffold was developed. These new dye derivatives were then characterized through UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy to observe how the addition of the cluster impacted the dye’s photophysical properties. Additionally, multiple formylations of these unique dyes were attempted and screened for optimal conditions. An alternative synthetic route is proposed to bypass obstacles and limitations within the current pathway. ☐ In Chapter 2, I will discuss preliminary studies which demonstrate the viability of these boron-rich cluster compounds for alternative imaging strategies in biological systems. A protocol to reliably prepare cells for ToF-SIMS analysis was developed. Using this method, a cell sample was imaged via ToF-SIMS for the first time at the University of Delaware. Building off these preliminary experiments, cells were incubated with a dye conjugated to a boron-rich cluster then analyzed via fluorescence microscopy and ToF-SIMS. Shortcomings of the current strategy are discussed alongside potential solutions to troubleshoot complications encountered in follow-up experiments.University of Delaware, Department of Chemistry and BiochemistryM.S