Animals have evolved two defense strategies to survive infections. Antagonistic strategies include mechanisms of immune resistance that operate to sense and kill invading pathogens. Cooperative or physiological defenses mediate host adaptation to the infected state, limiting physiological damage and disease, without killing the pathogen, and have been shown to cause asymptomatic carriage and transmission of lethal pathogens. Here we demonstrate that physiological defenses cooperate with the adaptive immune response to generate long-term asymptomatic carriage of the lethal enteric murine pathogen, Citrobacter rodentium. Asymptomatic carriage of genetically virulent C. rodentium provided immune resistance against subsequent infections. Host immune protection was dependent on systemic antibody responses and pathogen virulence behavior, rather than the recognition of specific virulent factor antigens. Finally, we demonstrate that an avirulent strain of C. rodentium commonly used in the field has background mutations in two genes that are important for LPS structure, which may complicate interpretations of previous studies in the field. Our work reveals novel insight into how asymptomatic infections can arise mechanistically with immune resistance, mediating exclusion of phenotypically virulent enteric pathogen to promote asymptomatic carriage.

Animals evolved two defense strategies to survive infections. Antagonistic strategies include immune resistance mechanisms that operate to kill invading pathogens. Cooperative or physiological defenses mediate host adaptation to the infected state, limiting physiological damage and disease, without killing the pathogen, and have been shown to cause asymptomatic carriage and transmission of lethal pathogens. Here, we demonstrate that physiological defenses cooperate with the adaptive immune response to generate long-term asymptomatic carriage of the lethal enteric murine pathogen, Citrobacter rodentium. Asymptomatic carriage of genetically virulent C. rodentium provided immune resistance against subsequent infections. Immune protection was dependent on systemic antibody responses and pathogen virulence behavior rather than the recognition of specific virulent antigens. Last, we demonstrate that an avirulent strain of C. rodentium in the field has background mutations in genes that are important for LPS structure. Our work reveals insight into how asymptomatic infections can arise mechanistically with immune resistance, mediating exclusion of phenotypically virulent enteric pathogen to promote asymptomatic carriage.

Animals evolved two defense strategies to survive infections. Antagonistic strategies include immune resistance mechanisms that operate to kill invading pathogens. Cooperative or physiological defenses mediate host adaptation to the infected state, limiting physiological damage and disease, without killing the pathogen, and have been shown to cause asymptomatic carriage and transmission of lethal pathogens. Here, we demonstrate that physiological defenses cooperate with the adaptive immune response to generate long-term asymptomatic carriage of the lethal enteric murine pathogen, Citrobacter rodentium. Asymptomatic carriage of genetically virulent C. rodentium provided immune resistance against subsequent infections. Immune protection was dependent on systemic antibody responses and pathogen virulence behavior rather than the recognition of specific virulent antigens. Last, we demonstrate that an avirulent strain of C. rodentium in the field has background mutations in genes that are important for LPS structure. Our work reveals insight into how asymptomatic infections can arise mechanistically with immune resistance, mediating exclusion of phenotypically virulent enteric pathogen to promote asymptomatic carriage.

Nematodes of the genus Steinernema and their Xenorhabdus bacterial symbionts are lethal entomopathogens that are useful in the biocontrol of insect pests, as sources of diverse natural products, and as research models for mutualism and parasitism. Xenorhabdus play a central role in all aspects of the Steinernema lifecycle, and a deeper understanding of their genomes therefore has the potential to spur advances in each of these applications. Results: Here, we report a comparative genomics analysis of Xenorhabdus griffiniae, including the symbiont of Steinernema hermaphroditum nematodes, for which genetic and genomic tools are being developed. We sequenced and assembled circularized genomes for three Xenorhabdus strains: HGB2511, ID10 and TH1. We then determined their relationships to other Xenorhabdus and delineated their species via phylogenomic analyses, concluding that HGB2511 and ID10 are Xenorhabdus griffiniae while TH1 is a novel species. These additions to the existing X. griffiniae landscape further allowed for the identification of two subspecies within the clade. Consistent with other Xenorhabdus, the analysed X. griffiniae genomes each encode a wide array of antimicrobials and virulence-related proteins. Comparative genomic analyses, including the creation of a pangenome, revealed that a large amount of the intraspecies variation in X. griffiniae is contained within the mobilome and attributable to prophage loci. In addition, CRISPR arrays, secondary metabolite potential and toxin genes all varied among strains within the X. griffiniae species. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that phage-related genes drive the genomic diversity in closely related Xenorhabdus symbionts, and that these may underlie some of the traits most associated with the lifestyle and survival of entomopathogenic nematodes and their bacteria: virulence and competition. This study establishes a broad knowledge base for further exploration of not only the relationships between X. griffiniae species and their nematode hosts but also the molecular mechanisms that underlie their entomopathogenic lifestyle.

Temperature dependent-electrical resistance of n-type Bi2Te3 was investigated under high pressure. Superconductivity was detected at 4.9 GPa with Tc-onset = 2.8 K. Resistance and T-c suggest that there are two electronic phase transitions below 10 GPa. We conjecture that the bulk insulating phase first changes to semimetal and then to metal. The evolution of the Hall coefficient is qualitatively consistent with the proposed electronic phase transition. The origin of superconductivity and topological properties are also discussed. Published by AIP Publishing.

Long-term ground LAI measurements from the global networks of sites (e.g. FLUXNET) have emerged as a promising data source to validate remotely sensed global LAI product time-series. However, the spatial scale-mismatch issue between site and satellite observations hampers the use of such invaluable ground measurements in validation practice. Here, we propose an approach (Grading and Upscaling of Ground Measurements, GUGM) that integrates a spatial representativeness grading criterion and a spatial upscaling strategy to resolve this scale-mismatch issue and maximize the utility of time-series of site-based LAI measurements. The performance of GUGM was carefully evaluated by comparing this method to both benchmark LAI and other widely used conventional approaches. The uncertainty of three global LAI products (i.e. MODIS, GLASS and GEOV1) was also assessed based on the LAI time-series validation dataset derived from GUGM. Considering all the evaluation results together, this study suggests that the proposed GUGM approach can significantly reduce the uncertainty from spatial scale mismatch and increase the size of the available validation dataset. In particular, the proposed approach outperformed other widely used approaches in these two respects. Furthermore, GUGM was successfully implemented to validate global LAI products in various ways with advantaging frequent time-series validation dataset. The validation results of the global LAI products show that GLASS has the lowest uncertainty, followed by GEOV1 and MODIS for the overall biome types. However, MODIS provides more consistent uncertainties across different years than GLASS and GEOV1. We believe that GUGM enables us to better understand the structure of LAI product uncertainties and their evolution across seasonal or annual contexts. In turn, this method can provide fundamental information for further LAI algorithm improvements and the broad application of LAI product time-series.

The electronic excitation of 3d transition metal oxide depends on the hybridization between orbitals of different ions, and is related to the materials properties. In this work, we systematically study the effect of hydrostatic pressure up to similar to 20 GPa on the crystal structure and electronic structure of Pr0.67Sr0.33MnO3 powder, using Mn K-edge X-ray absorption near edge structure and X-ray diffraction at room temperature. With the increase of pressure, the energy position of non-local screened feature moves towards feature without screening due to the enhanced transition energy; however, the intensity (probability) of non-local screened feature increases with the pressure. Further study suggests that the pressure-induced antiferromagnetic phase, affecting hybridization between neighboring Mn ions with spin sensitivity, increase the probability of non-local charge transfer and corresponding intensity of non-local screened feature. The spin-sensitivity of non-local screening may be a useful parameter for characterization of material properties. (c) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A drastically altered chemistry was recently discovered in the Fe-O-H system under deep Earth conditions, involving the formation of iron superoxide (FeO(2)Hx with x = 0 to 1), but the puzzling crystal chemistry of this system at high pressures is largely unknown. Here we present evidence that despite the high O/Fe ratio in FeO(2)Hx, iron remains in the ferrous, spin-paired and non-magnetic state at 60-133 GPa, while the presence of hydrogen has minimal effects on the valence of iron. The reduced iron is accompanied by oxidized oxygen due to oxygen-oxygen interactions. The valence of oxygen is not -2 as in all other major mantle minerals, instead it varies around -1. This result indicates that like iron, oxygen may have multiple valence states in our planet's interior. Our study suggests a possible change in the chemical paradigm of how oxygen, iron, and hydrogen behave under deep Earth conditions.

We present the survey design, implementation, and outlook for COSMOS-Web, a 255 hr treasury program conducted by the James Webb Space Telescope in its first cycle of observations. COSMOS-Web is a contiguous 0.54 deg(2) NIRCam imaging survey in four filters (F115W, F150W, F277W, and F444W) that will reach 5 & sigma; point-source depths ranging & SIM;27.5-28.2 mag. In parallel, we will obtain 0.19 deg(2) of MIRI imaging in one filter (F770W) reaching 5 & sigma; point-source depths of & SIM;25.3-26.0 mag. COSMOS-Web will build on the rich heritage of multiwavelength observations and data products available in the COSMOS field. The design of COSMOS-Web is motivated by three primary science goals: (1) to discover thousands of galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization (6 & LSIM; z & LSIM; 11) and map reionization's spatial distribution, environments, and drivers on scales sufficiently large to mitigate cosmic variance, (2) to identify hundreds of rare quiescent galaxies at z > 4 and place constraints on the formation of the universe's most-massive galaxies (M (⋆) > 10(10) M (& ODOT;)), and (3) directly measure the evolution of the stellar-mass-to-halo-mass relation using weak gravitational lensing out to z & SIM; 2.5 and measure its variance with galaxies' star formation histories and morphologies. In addition, we anticipate COSMOS-Web's legacy value to reach far beyond these scientific goals, touching many other areas of astrophysics, such as the identification of the first direct collapse black hole candidates, ultracool subdwarf stars in the Galactic halo, and possibly the identification of z > 10 pair-instability supernovae. In this paper we provide an overview of the survey's key measurements, specifications, goals, and prospects for new discovery.

Synopsis Few animal groups can claim the level of wonder that cephalopods instill in the minds of researchers and the general public. Much of cephalopod biology, however, remains unexplored: the largest invertebrate brain, difficult husbandry conditions, and complex (meta-)genomes, among many other things, have hindered progress in addressing key questions. However, recent technological advancements in sequencing, imaging, and genetic manipulation have opened new avenues for exploring the biology of these extraordinary animals. The cephalopod molecular biology community is thus experiencing a large influx of researchers, emerging from different fields, accelerating the pace of research in this clade. In the first post-pandemic event at the Cephalopod International Advisory Council (CIAC) conference in April 2022, over 40 participants from all over the world met and discussed key challenges and perspectives for current cephalopod molecular biology and evolution. Our particular focus was on the fields of comparative and regulatory genomics, gene manipulation, single-cell transcriptomics, metagenomics, and microbial interactions. This article is a result of this joint effort, summarizing the latest insights from these emerging fields, their bottlenecks, and potential solutions. The article highlights the interdisciplinary nature of the cephalopod-omics community and provides an emphasis on continuous consolidation of efforts and collaboration in this rapidly evolving field.