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Genomic traces of symbiosis loss A symbiosis between certain bacteria and their plant hosts delivers fixed nitrogen to the plants. Griesmann et al. sequenced several plant genomes to analyze why nitrogen-fixing symbiosis is irregularly scattered through the evolutionary tree (see the Perspective by Nagy). Various genomes carried traces of lost pathways that could have supported nitrogen-fixing symbiosis. It seems that this symbiosis, which relies on multiple pathways and complex interorganismal signaling, is susceptible to selection and prone to being lost over evolutionary time. Science , this issue p. eaat1743 ; see also p. 125

The root nodule symbiosis of plants with nitrogen-fixing bacteria impacts global nitrogen cycles and food production but is restricted to a subset of genera within a single clade of flowering plants. To explore the genetic basis for this scattered occurrence, we sequenced the genomes of ten plant species covering the diversity of nodule morphotypes, bacterial symbionts and infection strategies. In a genome-wide comparative analysis of a total of 37 plant species, we discovered signatures of multiple independent loss-of-function events in the indispensable symbiotic regulator NODULE INCEPTION (NIN) in ten out of 13 genomes of non-nodulating species within this clade. The discovery that multiple independent losses shaped the present day distribution of nitrogen-fixing root nodule symbiosis in plants reveals a phylogenetically wider distribution in evolutionary history and a so far underestimated selection pressure against this symbiosis.

While COVID-19 becomes periodical, old individuals remain vulnerable to severe disease with high mortality. Although there have been some studies on revealing different risk factors affecting the death of COVID-19 patients, researchers rarely provide a comprehensive analysis to reveal the relationships and interactive effects of the risk factors of COVID-19 mortality, especially in the elderly. Through retrospectively including 1917 COVID-19 patients (102 were dead) admitted to Xiangya Hospital from December 2022 to March 2023, we used the association rule mining method to identify the risk factors leading causes of death among the elderly. Firstly, we used the Affinity Propagation clustering to extract key features from the dataset. Then, we applied the Apriori Algorithm to obtain 6 groups of abnormal feature combinations with significant increments in mortality rate. The results showed a relationship between the number of abnormal feature combinations and mortality rates within different groups. Patients with “C-reactive protein > 8 mg/L”, “neutrophils percentage > 75.0 %”, “lymphocytes percentage < 20%”, and “albumin < 40 g/L” have a 2 × mortality rate than the basic one. When the characteristics of “D-dimer > 0.5 mg/L” and “WBC > 9.5 × 10 9 /L” are continuously included in this foundation, the mortality rate can be increased to 3 × or 4 × . In addition, we also found that liver and kidney diseases significantly affect patient mortality, and the mortality rate can be as high as 100%. These findings can support auxiliary diagnosis and treatment to facilitate early intervention in patients, thereby reducing patient mortality.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding single stranded RNAs that play crucial roles in numerous biological processes. Vertebrate herpesviruses encode multiple viral miRNAs that modulate host and viral genes. However, the roles of viral miRNAs in lower vertebrates have not been fully determined. Here, we used high-throughput sequencing to analyse the miRNA and mRNA expression profiles of Carassius auratus gibelio in response to infection by cyprinid herpesvirus 2 (CyHV-2). RNA sequencing obtained 26,664 assembled transcripts, including 2,912 differentially expressed genes. Based on small RNA sequencing and secondary structure predictions, we identified 17 CyHV-2 encoded miRNAs, among which 14 were validated by stem-loop quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and eight were validated by northern blotting. Furthermore, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis of miRNAs-mRNA pairs revealed diverse affected immune signalling pathways, including the RIG-I-like receptor and JAK-STAT pathways. Finally, we presented four genes involved in RIG-I-like pathways, including host gene IRF3, RBMX, PIN1, viral gene ORF4, which are negatively regulated by CyHV-2 encoded miRNA miR-C4. The present study is the first to provide a comprehensive overview of viral miRNA-mRNA co-regulation, which might have a key role in controlling post-transcriptomic regulation during CyHV-2 infection.

To evaluate the diagnostic performance of the current three-step cervical cancer screening strategy in Chinese women and explore the optimized value of integrating human papillomavirus (HPV) testing, ThinPrep cytology test (TCT), and colposcopic visual inspection with acetic acid/Lugol's iodine (VIA/VILI) for improving cervical disease detection. A retrospective study was conducted on 11,405 outpatients of Shenzhen People's Hospital (2018-2023). Inclusion criteria were a history of sexual activity plus at least one of the following: high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) positivity, abnormal TCT results, or highly suspicious symptoms. Exclusions included prior hysterectomy, cervical cancer (CC) treatment history, pregnancy, or incomplete medical records. The diagnostic performance of HR-HPV testing, TCT, and colposcopic VIA/VILI results was evaluated using pathologically confirmed high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) and CC as the reference standard. The calculated metrics comprised sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and area under the curve (AUC). Among the cohort, the positive rates were 71.56% for HR-HPV, 32.57% for abnormal cytology, and 9.34% for colposcopic VIA/VILI. For detecting HSIL/CC, the NPVs of HPV testing, TCT, and colposcopic VIA/VILI were 0.976, 0.955, and 0.965, respectively. Combined use of the three modalities achieved an NPV of 0.999 for HSIL/CC. Integrating colposcopic VIA/VILI into primary screening also reduced both false-positive and false-negative results compared with single-modality strategies. In this large real-world retrospective cohort, combining HPV testing, TCT, and colposcopic VIA/VILI improves the diagnostic accuracy of high-grade cervical disease (HSIL and CC), with practical feasibility for clinical application. However, this integrated approach needs prospective multi-center validation before widespread promotion in cervical cancer screening among community populations.

Space-air-ground integrated networks (SAGINs), which have emerged as an expansion of terrestrial networks, provide flexible access, ubiquitous coverage, high-capacity backhaul, and emergency/disaster recovery for mobile users (MUs). While the massive benefits brought by SAGIN may improve the quality of service, unauthorized access to SAGIN entities is potentially dangerous. At present, conventional crypto-based authentication is facing challenges, such as the inability to provide continuous and transparent protection for MUs. In this article, we propose an AI-oriented two-phase multi-factor authentication scheme (ATMAS) by introducing intelligence to authentication. The satellite and network control center collaborate on continuous authentication, while unique spatial-temporal features, including service features and geographic features, are utilized to enhance the system security. Our further security analysis and performance evaluations show that ATMAS has proper security characteristics which can meet various security requirements. Moreover, we shed light on lightweight and efficient authentication mechanism design through a proper combination of spatial-temporal factors.

B cell activating factor (BAFF), a member of the family of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) ligands, is essential for the development of peripheral mature, long lived B lymphocytes. Previous studies were almost related to the function or mechanism of BAFF protein and there is little report about BAFF expression in thermally injured animals. Here, we developed a special ELISA kit to study the change of BAFF expression in thermally injured mouse model. It was shown that BAFF expression changed in double-phase. Peripheral BAFF level dropped rapidly after thermal injury and at 24 h of scald it was only 1/4 compared with that of the control group, 24 h later it began to rise up slowly and then returned to the normal level comparable to the control at 120 h.

B lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS), a ligand belonging to the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family, plays a critical role in regulating survival and activation of peripheral B cell populations during humeral immune responses. Among the TNF family members, BLyS is unique in that it contains an unpaired Cys residue (Cys146) at the corresponding position where some other members have about 37.5% (6/16) Ala or 37.5% (6/16) Val. Here, with eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA3.1(-), we mutated Cys146 to Ala or Val and constructed two mutant eukaryotic expression plasmids of the human soluble BLyS, pcDNA3.1BY-A and pcDNA3.1BY-V. Following repetitive subcutaneous injection of these expression plasmids in BALb/C mice, the wild-type and mutant BLyS proteins were detectable in the blood of treated animals over several weeks. In addition, the expression of these proteins induced specific IgG but not IgM responses. The implications of the results are discussed.