Spatiotemporal patterns of phenology may be affected by mosaics of environmental and genetic variation. Environmental drivers may have temporally lagged impacts, but patterns and mechanisms remain poorly known. We combine multiple genomic, remotely sensed, and physically modeled datasets to determine the spatiotemporal patterns and drivers of canopy phenology in quaking aspen, a widespread clonal dioecious tree species with diploid and triploid cytotypes. We show that over 391km2 of southwestern Colorado: greenup date, greendown date, and growing season length vary by weeks and differ across sexes, cytotypes, and genotypes; phenology has high phenotypic plasticity and heritabilities of 31-61% (interquartile range); and snowmelt date, soil moisture, and air temperature predict phenology, at temporal lags of up to 3yr. Our study shows that lagged environmental effects are needed to explain phenological variation and that the effect of cytotype on phenology is obscured by its correlation with topography. Phenological patterns are consistent with responses to multiyear accumulation of carbon deficit or hydraulic damage.

We present the first high-resolution chemical abundances of seven stars in the recently discovered high-energy stream Typhon. Typhon stars have apocentres r greater than or similar to 100 kpc, making this the first detailed chemical picture of the Milky Way's very distant stellar halo. Though the sample size is limited, we find that Typhon's chemical abundances are more like a dwarf galaxy than a globular cluster, showing a metallicity dispersion and no presence of multiple stellar populations. Typhon stars display enhanced alpha-element abundances and increasing r-process abundances with increasing metallicity. The high-alpha abundances suggest a short star formation duration for Typhon, but this is at odds with expectations for the distant Milky Way halo and the presence of delayed r-process enrichment. If the progenitor of Typhon is indeed a new dwarf galaxy, possible scenarios explaining this apparent contradiction include a dynamical interaction that increases Typhon's orbital energy, a burst of enhanced late-time star formation that raises [alpha/Fe], and/or group pre-processing by another dwarf galaxy before infall into the Milky Way. Alternatively, Typhon could be the high-energy tail of a more massive disrupted dwarf galaxy that lost energy through dynamical friction. We cannot clearly identify a known low-energy progenitor of Typhon in the Milky Way, but 70 per cent of high-apocentre stars in cosmological simulations are from high-energy tails of large dwarf galaxies. Typhon's surprising combination of kinematics and chemistry thus underscores the need to fully characterize the dynamical history and detailed abundances of known substructures before identifying the origin of new substructures.

Proteins are workhorses in the cell; they form stable and more often dynamic, transient protein-protein interactions, assemblies, and networks and have an intimate interplay with DNA and RNA. These network interactions underlie fundamental biological processes and play essential roles in cellular function. The proximity-dependent biotinylation labeling approach combined with mass spectrometry (PL-MS) has recently emerged as a powerful technique to dissect the complex cellular network at the molecular level. In PL-MS, by fusing a genetically encoded proximity-labeling (PL) enzyme to a protein or a localization signal peptide, the enzyme is targeted to a protein complex of interest or to an organelle, allowing labeling of proximity proteins within a zoom radius. These biotinylated proteins can then be captured by streptavidin beads and identified and quantified by mass spectrometry. Recently engineered PL enzymes such as TurboID have a much-improved enzymatic activity, enabling spatiotemporal mapping with a dramatically increased signal-to-noise ratio. PL-MS has revolutionized the way we perform proteomics by overcoming several hurdles imposed by traditional technology, such as biochemical fractionation and affinity purification mass spectrometry. In this review, we focus on biotin ligase-based PL-MS applications that have been, or are likely to be, adopted by the plant field. We discuss the experimental designs and review the different choices for engineered biotin ligases, enrichment, and quantification strategies. Lastly, we review the validation and discuss future perspectives.

BackgroundAchieving climate targets will require a rapid transition to clean energy. However, renewable energy (RE) firms face financial, policy, and economic barriers to mobilizing sufficient investment in low-carbon technologies, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Here, we analyze the challenges and successes of financing the energy transition in Nigeria and Brazil using three empirically grounded levers: financing environments, channels, and instruments.ResultsWhile Brazil has leveraged innovative policy instruments to mobilize large-scale investment in RE, policy uncertainty and weak financing mechanisms have hindered RE investments in Nigeria. Specifically, Brazil's energy transition has been driven by catalytic finance from the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES). In contrast, bilateral agencies and multilateral development banks (MDBs) have been the largest financiers of renewables in Nigeria. Policy instruments and public-private partnerships need to be redesigned to attract finance and scale market opportunities for RE project developers in Nigeria.ConclusionsWe conclude that robust policy frameworks, a dynamic public bank, strategic deployment of blended finance, and diversification of financing instruments would be essential to accelerate RE investment in Nigeria. Considering the crucial role of donors and MDBs in Nigeria, we propose a multi-stakeholder model to consolidate climate finance and facilitate the country's energy transition.

Calls to phase out fossil fuels and shift to renewable energy-based solutions dominate the global discussion on low-carbon energy transition. However, the nature of this transition may vary across different countries on account of opportunities for innovative solutions that balance socio-economic and environmental sustainability goals. This piece argues that natural gas (NG) still has a vital role in the near to long-term future energy mix. This position implies that the objective of quickly phasing out NG needs reassessing. We further argue that there remains an opportunity for NG to be a key enabler of a "just" future net-zero emission energy system by mid-century, especially with the political-economic realities of certain countries and new technological innovations around NG utilisation. In this case, we argue that an essential element of "justice" could mean that nations at various levels of economic development adopt different approaches to the energy transition. Thus, decarbonisation efforts must consider socio-economic realities and the different contexts of technology application. The proposed uniform reduced energy demand and the blocking of public financing to NG projects lack the nuance of a sustainable solution, especially related to Sub-Saharan Africa. Accordingly, our analysis suggests that the one-size-fits-all approach to climate action in the context of natural gas commercialisation needs a rethink and countries should be allowed to define low-carbon pathways considering their local circumstances.

Hundreds of gigawatts of renewable technologies, such as wind and solar, need to be installed to reach a zero-carbon electricity system that meets current and future energy needs. Locations of new installations are typically chosen based on wind and solar availability to maximize facilities' capacity factors. Here, we show that this is not always true in least-cost models, and optimal siting depends also on the flexibility of the electricity system. To show this, we use a macro-scale energy model to evaluate capacities and dispatch in least-cost electricity systems with distributed wind and solar generation supported by battery storage. If battery storage were free and widely available, chosen locations for wind and solar installations would inevitably be in regions with the highest wind and solar capacity factors. However, as the battery storage cost increases and thus storage capacity decreases, chosen locations have lower capacity factors and the electricity system is more reliant on wind generation. In the case of a system without energy storage, only wind generation would in fact meet certain periods of electricity demand. This study suggests that current optimal wind and solar siting may no longer be the least-cost solution as the storage cost decreases.

Inspired by the synthesis of XB3C3 (X = Sr, La) compounds in the bipartite sodalite clathrate structure, density functional theory (DFT) calculations are performed on members of this family containing up to two different metal atoms. A DFTchemical pressure analysis on systems with X = Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba reveals that the size of the metal cation, which can be tuned to stabilize the B-C framework, is key for their ambient-pressure dynamic stability. High-throughput density functional theory calculations on 105 Pm (3) over bar symmetry XYB6C6 binary-guest compounds (where X, Y are electropositive metal atoms) find 22 that are dynamically stable at 1 atm, expanding the number of potentially synthesizable phases by 19 (18 metals and 1 insulator). The density of states at the Fermi level and superconducting critical temperature, T-c, can be tuned by changing the average oxidation state of the metal atoms, with T-c being highest for an average valence of +1.5. KPbB6C6, with an ambient-pressure Eliashberg T-c of 88 K, is predicted to possess the highest Tc among the studied Pm (3) over barn XB3C3 or Pm (3) over bar XYB6C6 phases, and calculations suggest it may be synthesized using high-pressure high-temperature techniques and then quenched to ambient conditions.

The phase diagram of the Mg-C system has been constructed up to 20 GPa and similar to 4000 K based on complementary Thermo-Calc simulations and experimental data obtained in both ex situ and in situ experiments using X-ray diffraction with synchrotron radiation. Three high-pressure magnesium carbides, namely, beta-Mg2C3, its high-temperature form gamma-Mg2C3, and antifluorite Mg2C, have p-T domains of thermodynamic stability. At the same time, the carbides accessible by ambient-pressure synthesis, alpha-Mg2C3 and MgC2, are either metastable or unstable, depending on the temperature, at least up to 20 GPa. Experimental observations show that at ambient conditions, all carbides are metastable and remain unchanged at least for years.

In mammalian cell nuclei, the nuclear lamina (NL) underlies the nuclear envelope (NE) to maintain nuclear structure. The nuclear lamins, the major structural components of the NL, are involved in the protection against NE rupture induced by mechanical stress. However, the specific role of the lamins in repair of NE ruptures has not been fully determined. Our analyses using immunofluorescence and live-cell imaging revealed that the nucleoplasmic pool of lamin C rapidly accumulated at sites of NE rupture induced by laser microirradiation in mouse embryonic fibroblasts. The accumulation of lamin C at the rupture sites required both the immunoglobulin-like fold domain that binds to barrier-to-autointegration factor (BAF) and a nuclear localization signal. The accumulation of nuclear BAF and cytoplasmic cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) at the rupture sites was in part dependent on lamin A/C. These results suggest that nucleoplasmic lamin C, BAF, and cGAS concertedly accumulate at sites of NE rupture for rapid repair.