Bacterial genome dynamics are vital for understanding the mechanisms underlying microbial adaptation, growth, and their broader impact on host phenotype. Structural variants (SVs), genomic alterations of 10 base pairs or more, play a pivotal role in driving evolutionary processes and maintaining genomic heterogeneity within bacterial populations. While SV detection in isolate genomes is relatively straightforward, metagenomes present broader challenges due to absence of clear reference genomes and presence of mixed strains. In response, our proposed method rhea, forgoes reference genomes and metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) by encompassing a single metagenome coassembly graph constructed from all samples in a series. The log fold change in graph coverage between subsequent samples is then calculated to call SVs that are thriving or declining throughout the series. We show rhea to outperform existing methods for SV and horizontal gene transfer (HGT) detection in two simulated mock metagenomes, which is particularly noticeable as the simulated reads diverge from reference genomes and an increase in strain diversity is incorporated. We additionally demonstrate use cases for rhea on series metagenomic data of environmental and fermented food microbiomes to detect specific sequence alterations between subsequent time and temperature samples, suggesting host advantage. Our innovative approach leverages raw read patterns rather than references or MAGs to include all sequencing reads in analysis, and thus provide versatility in studying SVs across diverse and poorly characterized microbial communities for more comprehensive insights into microbial genome dynamics.

Macroecological scaling patterns, such as between prey and predator biomass, are fundamental to our understanding of the rules of biological organization and ecosystem functioning. Although these scaling patterns are ubiquitous, how they arise is poorly understood. To explain these patterns, we used an eco-evolutionary predator-prey model parameterized using data for phytoplankton and zooplankton. We show that allometric scaling relationships at lower levels of biological organization, such as body-size scaling of nutrient uptake and predation, give rise to scaling relationships at the food web and ecosystem levels. Our predicted macroecological scaling exponents agree well with observed values across ecosystems. Our findings explicitly connect scaling relationships at different levels of biological organization to ecological and evolutionary mechanisms, yielding testable hypotheses for how observed macroecological patterns emerge.

We confirm TOI-4201 b as a transiting Jovian-mass planet orbiting an early M dwarf discovered by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. Using ground-based photometry and precise radial velocities from NEID and the Planet Finder Spectrograph, we measure a planet mass of 2.59(-0.06)(+0.07)M(J), making this one of the most massive planets transiting an M dwarf. The planet is similar to 0.4% of the mass of its 0.63 M-circle dot host and may have a heavy-element mass comparable to the total dust mass contained in a typical class II disk. TOI-4201 b stretches our understanding of core accretion during the protoplanetary phase and the disk mass budget, necessitating giant planet formation to take place either much earlier in the disk lifetime or perhaps through alternative mechanisms like gravitational instability.

The Maaz formation consists of the first lithologies in Jezero crater analyzed by the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. This formation, investigated from Sols (Martian days) 1 to 201 and from Sols 343 to 382, overlies the Seitah formation (previously described as an olivine-rich cumulate) and was initially suggested to represent an igneous crater floor unit based on orbital analyses. Using SuperCam data, we conducted a detailed textural, chemical, and mineralogical analyses of the Maaz formation and the Content member of the Seitah formation. We conclude that the Maaz formation and the Content member are igneous and consist of different lava flows and/or possibly pyroclastic flows with complex textures, including vesicular and non-vesicular rocks with different grain sizes. The Maaz formation rocks exhibit some of the lowest Mg# (=molar 100 x MgO/MgO + FeO) of all Martian igneous rocks analyzed so far (including meteorites and surface rocks) and show similar basaltic to basaltic-andesitic compositions. Their mineralogy is dominated by Fe-rich augite to possibly ferrosilite and plagioclase, and minor phases such as Fe-Ti oxides and Si-rich phases. They show a broad diversity of both compositions and textures when compared to Martian meteorites and other surface rocks. The different Maaz and Content lava or pyroclastic flows all originate from the same parental magma and/or the same magmatic system, but are not petrogenetically linked to the Seitah formation. The study of returned Maaz samples in Earth-based laboratories will help constrain the formation of these rocks, calibrate Martian crater counting, and overall, improve our understanding of magmatism on Mars.

Stars that formed with an initial mass of over 50 M-circle dot are very rare today, but they are thought to be more common in the early Universe. The fates of those early, metal-poor, massive stars are highly uncertain. Most are expected to directly collapse to black holes, while some may explode as a result of rotationally powered engines or the pair-creation instability. We present the chemical abundances of J0931+0038, a nearby low-mass star identified in early follow-up of the SDSS-V Milky Way Mapper, which preserves the signature of unusual nucleosynthesis from a massive star in the early Universe. J0931+0038 has a relatively high metallicity ([Fe/H] = -1.76 +/- 0.13) but an extreme odd-even abundance pattern, with some of the lowest known abundance ratios of [N/Fe], [Na/Fe], [K/Fe], [Sc/Fe], and [Ba/Fe]. The implication is that a majority of its metals originated in a single extremely metal-poor nucleosynthetic source. An extensive search through nucleosynthesis predictions finds a clear preference for progenitors with initial mass >50 M-circle dot, making J0931+0038 one of the first observational constraints on nucleosynthesis in this mass range. However, the full abundance pattern is not matched by any models in the literature. J0931+0038 thus presents a challenge for the next generation of nucleosynthesis models and motivates the study of high-mass progenitor stars impacted by convection, rotation, jets, and/or binary companions. Though rare, more examples of unusual early nucleosynthesis in metal-poor stars should be found in upcoming large spectroscopic surveys.

Turbulent motions in the circumgalactic medium play a critical role in regulating the evolution of galaxies, yet their detailed characterization remains elusive. Using two-dimensional velocity maps constructed from spatially extended [O ii] and [O iii] emission, Chen et al. measured the velocity structure functions (VSFs) of four quasar nebulae at z approximate to 0.5-1.1. One of these exhibits a spectacular Kolmogorov relation. Here, we carry out an ensemble study using an expanded sample incorporating four new nebulae from three additional quasi-stellar object (QSO) fields. The VSFs measured for all eight nebulae are best explained by subsonic turbulence revealed by the line-emitting gas, which in turn strongly suggests that the cool gas (T similar to 10(4) K) is dynamically coupled to the hot ambient medium. Previous work demonstrates that the largest nebulae in our sample reside in group environments with clear signs of tidal interactions, suggesting that environmental effects are vital in seeding and enhancing the turbulence within the gaseous halos, ultimately promoting the formation of the extended nebulae. No discernible differences are observed in the VSF properties between radio-loud and radio-quiet QSO fields. We estimate the turbulent heating rate per unit volume, Q(turb), in the QSO nebulae to be similar to 10(-26)-10(-22) erg cm(-3) s(-1) for the cool phase and similar to 10(-28)-10(-25) erg cm(-3) s(-1) for the hot phase. This range aligns with measurements in the intracluster medium and star-forming molecular clouds but is similar to 10(3) times higher than the Q(turb) observed inside cool gas clumps on scales less than or similar to 1 kpc using absorption-line techniques. We discuss the prospect of bridging the gap between emission and absorption studies by pushing the emission-based VSF measurements to below approximate to 10 kpc.

The existence of black holes (BHs) with masses in the range between stellar remnants and supermassive BHs has only recently become unambiguously established. GW190521, a gravitational wave signal detected by the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration, provides the first direct evidence for the existence of such intermediate-mass BHs (IMBHs). This event sparked and continues to fuel discussion on the possible formation channels for such massive BHs. As the detection revealed, IMBHs can form via binary mergers of BHs in the "upper mass gap" (approximate to 40-120 M-circle dot). Alternatively, IMBHs may form via the collapse of a very massive star formed through stellar collisions and mergers in dense star clusters. In this study, we explore the formation of IMBHs with masses between 120 and 500 M-circle dot in young, massive star clusters using state-of-the-art Cluster Monte Carlo models. We examine the evolution of IMBHs throughout their dynamical lifetimes, ending with their ejection from the parent cluster due to gravitational radiation recoil from BH mergers, or dynamical recoil kicks from few-body scattering encounters. We find that all of the IMBHs in our models are ejected from the host cluster within the first similar to 500 Myr, indicating a low retention probability of IMBHs in this mass range for globular clusters today. We estimate the peak IMBH merger rate to be R approximate to 2Gpc(-3)yr(-1) z approximate to 2.

Formation of supermassive black holes (BHs) remains a theoretical challenge. In many models, especially beginning from stellar relic 'seeds,' this requires sustained super-Eddington accretion. While studies have shown BHs can violate the Eddington limit on accretion disc scales given sufficient 'fuelling' from larger scales, what remains unclear is whether or not BHs can actually capture sufficient gas from their surrounding interstellar medium (ISM). We explore this in a suite of multiphysics high-resolution simulations of BH growth in magnetized, star-forming dense gas complexes including dynamical stellar feedback from radiation, stellar mass-loss, and supernovae, exploring populations of seeds with masses similar to 1-10(4) M-circle dot. In this initial study, we neglect feedback from the BHs: so this sets a strong upper limit to the accretion rates seeds can sustain. We show that stellar feedback plays a key role. Complexes with gravitational pressure/surface density below similar to 10(3) M-circle dot pc(-2) are disrupted with low star formation efficiencies so provide poor environments for BH growth. But in denser cloud complexes, early stellar feedback does not rapidly destroy the clouds but does generate strong shocks and dense clumps, allowing similar to 1 per cent of randomly initialized seeds to encounter a dense clump with low relative velocity and produce runaway, hyper-Eddington accretion (growing by orders of magnitude). Remarkably, mass growth under these conditions is almost independent of initial BH mass, allowing rapid intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) formation even for stellar-mass seeds. This defines a necessary (but perhaps not sufficient) set of criteria for runaway BH growth: we provide analytic estimates for the probability of runaway growth under different ISM conditions.