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Proteolytic activation of cytokines regulates immunity in diverse organisms. In animals, cysteine-dependent aspartate-specific proteases (caspases) play central roles in cytokine maturation. Although the proteolytic production of peptide cytokines is also essential for plant immunity, evidence for cysteine-dependent aspartate-specific proteases in regulating plant immunity is still limited. In this study, we found that the C-terminal proteolytic processing of a caspase-like substrate motif “CNYD” within Pathogenesis-related protein 1 (PR1) generates an immunomodulatory cytokine (CAPE9) in Arabidopsis . Salicylic acid enhances CNYD-targeted protease activity and the proteolytic release of CAPE9 from PR1 in Arabidopsis . This process involves a protease exhibiting caspase-like enzyme activity, identified as Xylem cysteine peptidase 1 (XCP1). XCP1 exhibits a calcium-modulated pH-activity profile and a comparable activity to human caspases. XCP1 is required to induce systemic immunity triggered by pathogen-associated molecular patterns. This work reveals XCP1 as a key protease for plant immunity, which produces the cytokine CAPE9 from the canonical salicylic acid signaling marker PR1 to activate systemic immunity. The protein PR1 is crucial for plant immunity but has unclear bioactivity. Here PR1 is shown to release a phytocytokine CAPE and trigger systemic acquired resistance (SAR) via a caspase-like enzyme specific for CAPE production (ESCAPE).

This essay examines the profound themes and complex narratives presented in Sui Ishida’s Tokyo Ghoul, focusing on the illegal xenotransplantation and the transformation of the protagonist, Ken Kaneki, as he undergoes ghoulification. It delves into concerns surrounding patient autonomy and the integrity of medical procedures within organ transplantation, raising thought-provoking questions about identity and the process of reconciling one’s sense of incompleteness in the context of xenograft research aimed at surpassing the transplantation. Through his transformation into a ghoul, Kaneki embodies the challenges faced by individuals undergoing organ transplantation and the profound impact it has on their sense of self, relationships and societal acceptance. The essay offers an insightful analysis of the stages of Kaneki’s ghoulification, shedding light on the interplay between medical technology, power dynamics, oppression and personal agency. It draws connections to philosophical and literary works, such as Jean-Luc Nancy’s reflections on organ transplantation and Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, to enhance the exploration of themes within Tokyo Ghoul.In this essay, a comprehensive examination of the intricate dynamics of power, control and oppression within medical technology takes place. It underscores the challenges Kaneki faces as he navigates his transformed body and grapples with societal prejudices and discrimination. The essay critically reflects on the complex interplay of power, identity and ethics within the context of Tokyo Ghoul, prompting contemplation of the multifaceted dimensions of human existence and the societal structures that shape our understanding of identity, autonomy and acceptance. Kaneki’s transformation serves as a lens through which readers can examine the nuanced complexities and challenges associated with organ transplantation, medical ethics and the social implications of difference. By exploring the multifaceted themes and intricate narratives of Tokyo Ghoul, this essay considers the profound implications of xenotransplantation and the ethical considerations that arise in medical practice.

A bstract The millicharged particle has become an attractive topic to probe physics beyond the Standard Model. In direct detection experiments, the parameter space of millicharged particles can be constrained from the atomic ionization process. In this work, we develop the relativistic impulse approximation (RIA) approach, which can duel with atomic many-body effects effectively, in the atomic ionization process induced by millicharged particles. The formulation of RIA in the atomic ionization induced by millicharged particles is derived, and the numerical calculations are obtained and compared with those from free electron approximation and equivalent photon approximation. Concretely, the atomic ionizations induced by mllicharged dark matter particles and millicharged neutrinos in high-purity germanium (HPGe) and liquid xenon (LXe) detectors are carefully studied in this work. The differential cross sections, reaction event rates in HPGe and LXe detectors, and detecting sensitivities on dark matter particle and neutrino millicharge in next-generation HPGe and LXe based experiments are estimated and calculated to give a comprehensive study. Our results suggested that the next-generation experiments would improve 2-3 orders of magnitude on dark matter particle millicharge δ χ than the current best experimental bounds in direct detection experiments. Furthermore, the next-generation experiments would also improve 2-3 times on neutrino millicharge δ ν than the current experimental bounds.

Late blight (LB) disease is a major threat to potato and tomato production. It is caused by the hemibiotrophic pathogen, Phytophthora infestans. P. infestans can destroy all of the major organs in plants of susceptible crops and result in a total loss of productivity. At the early pathogenesis stage, this hemibiotrophic oomycete pathogen causes an asymptomatic biotrophic infection in hosts, which then progresses to a necrotrophic phase at the later infection stage. In this study, to examine how the tomato proteome is regulated by P. infestans at different stages of pathogenesis, a data-independent acquisition (DIA) proteomics approach was used to trace the dynamics of the protein regulation. A comprehensive picture of the regulation of tomato proteins functioning in the immunity, signaling, defense, and metabolism pathways at different stages of P. infestans infection is revealed. Among the regulated proteins, several involved in mediating plant defense responses were found to be differentially regulated at the transcriptional or translational levels across different pathogenesis phases. This study increases understanding of the pathogenesis of P. infestans in tomato and also identifies key transcriptional and translational events possibly targeted by the pathogen during different phases of its life cycle, thus providing novel insights for developing a new strategy towards better control of LB disease in tomato.

With plasma shielding effects of the Debye–Hückel model, we investigate the relativistic photoionization processes of H, Nb40+ and Pb81+ plasmas in the H-isoelectronic series. The shielded nuclear potential of Yukawa type experienced by the electron is parameterized by Debye length D. To account for relativistic effects non-perturbatively, we solve the Dirac equation for the bound as well as continuum wavefunctions. Contributions from multipole fields are calculated for high incident photon energies, while the angular distribution and spin polarization parameters of photoelectrons are provided in the electric dipole approximation. Our results of photoionization cross sections for the H plasma agree with other available theoretical calculations. The interplay between the relativistic and plasma shielding effects on the photoionization parameters is also studied.

The millicharged particle has become an attractive topic to probe physics beyond the Standard Model. In direct detection experiments, the parameter space of millicharged particles can be constrained from the atomic ionization process. In this work, we develop the relativistic impulse approximation (RIA) approach, which can duel with atomic many-body effects effectively, in the atomic ionization process induced by millicharged particles. The formulation of RIA in the atomic ionization induced by millicharged particles is derived, and the numerical calculations are obtained and compared with those from free electron approximation and equivalent photon approximation. Concretely, the atomic ionizations induced by mllicharged dark matter particles and millicharged neutrinos in high-purity germanium (HPGe) and liquid xenon (LXe) detectors are carefully studied in this work. The differential cross sections, reaction event rates in HPGe and LXe detectors, and detecting sensitivities on dark matter particle and neutrino millicharge in next-generation HPGe and LXe based experiments are estimated and calculated to give a comprehensive study. Our results suggested that the next-generation experiments would improve 2-3 orders of magnitude on dark matter particle millicharge \\(\\delta_{\\chi}\\) than the current best experimental bounds in direct detection experiments. Furthermore, the next-generation experiments would also improve 2-3 times on neutrino millicharge \\(\\delta_{\\nu}\\) than the current experimental bounds.

Scattering of light dark matter (LDM) particles with atomic electrons is studied in the context of effective field theory. Contact and long-range interactions between dark matter and an electron are both considered. A state-of-the-art many-body method is used to evaluate the spin-independent atomic ionization cross sections of LDM-electron scattering, with an estimated error about 20%. New upper limits are derived on parameter space spanned by LDM mass and effective coupling strengths using data from the CDMSlite, XENON10, XENON100, and XENON1T experiments. Comparison with existing calculations shows the importance of atomic structure. Two aspects particularly important are relativistic effect for inner-shell ionization and final-state free electron wave function which sensitively depends on the underlying atomic approaches.

Detectors with low thresholds for electron recoil open a new window to direct searches of sub-GeV dark matter (DM) candidates. In the past decade, many strong limits on DM-electron interactions have been set, but most on the one which is spin-independent (SI) of both dark matter and electron spins. In this work, we study DM-atom scattering through a spin-dependent (SD) interaction at leading order (LO), using well-benchmarked, state-of-the-art atomic many-body calculations. Exclusion limits on the SD DM-electron cross section are derived with data taken from experiments with xenon and germanium detectors at leading sensitivities. In the DM mass range of 0.1 - 10 GeV, the best limits set by the XENON1T experiment: \\(\\sigma_e^{\\textrm{(SD)}}<10^{-41}-10^{-40}\\,\\textrm{cm}^2\\) are comparable to the ones drawn on DM-neutron and DM-proton at slightly bigger DM masses. The detector's responses to the LO SD and SI interactions are analyzed. In nonrelativistic limit, a constant ratio between them leads to an indistinguishability of the SD and SI recoil energy spectra. Relativistic calculations however show the scaling starts to break down at a few hundreds of eV, where spin-orbit effects become sizable. We discuss the prospects of disentangling the SI and SD components in DM-electron interactions via spectral shape measurements, as well as having spin-sensitive experimental signatures without SI background.

The Migdal effect in a dark-matter-nucleus scattering extends the direct search experiments to the sub-GeV mass region through electron ionization with sub-keV detection thresholds. In this paper, we derive a rigorous and model-independent \"Migdal-photoabsorption\" relation that links the sub-keV Migdal process to photoabsorption. This relation is free of theoretical uncertainties as it only requires the photoabsorption cross section as the experimental input. Validity of this relation is explicitly checked in the case of xenon with an state-of-the-arts atomic calculation that is well-benchmarked by experiments. The predictions based on this relation for xenon, argon, semiconductor silicon and germanium detectors are presented and discussed.

In the present work, we study the atomic Compton Scattering which could have great impacts on dark matter direct detection experiments. We give a quantitative analysis of the Compton scattering energy spectrum for Si and Ge atomic systems. The theoretical results on Compton scattering are calculated within the frameworks of free electron approximation (FEA) and relativistic impulse approximation (RIA). The low-energy transfer and near photoionization threshold regions are especially considered in this work. In RIA calculation, to obtain the atomic ground states, we adopt an \\emph{ab initio} calculation in the fully relativistic Dirac-Fock theory.