bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Introgressive Descent and Hypersexuality Drive The Evolution Of Sexual Parasitism and Morphological Reduction In a Fungal Species Complex
Authors: Fernández-Mendoza Fernando , Strasser Eva , Frolov Ivan , Vondrák Jan , Muggia Lucia , Mayrhofer Helmut , Gaya Ester , Grube Martin 
Published: January 2023

ABSTRACTTaxonomists consider species as discrete units of biological organization, which are subject to a continuous process of evolutionary change and are connected through their shared ancestry. However, the continuous nature of evolutionary change is difficult to reconcile with the discrete outcome of speciation, especially where species boundaries are permeable. A good example of this inconsistency is the lichen genusPyrenodesmia, which shows a high morphologic and genetic diversity that that defies systematization by taxonomic or phylogenetic methods. Here we show that hybridization explains the presence of discordant morphs and that European species are interconnected through cross-mating in a single reproductive network, a syngameon, despite which species remain largely distinct and distinguishable. Whole genome data reflect the important role played by genome defense mechanisms in the genomic stabilization of fungal hybrids. The recurrence of Repeat Induced Point mutations (RIP) shapes genomes with islands of suppressed recombination and loss of gene content, which in turn generates a feedback loop reinforcing the lack of reproductive isolation through the loss of heterokaryon incompatibility and a tendency towards morphological reduction.
Sensing of viral RNA in plants via a DICER-LIKE Ribonuclease
Authors: Nielsen Carsten Poul Skou , Han Lijuan , Arribas-Hernández Laura , Karelina Darya , Petersen Morten , Brodersen Peter 
Published: January 2023

ABSTRACTSensors of intracellular double-stranded RNA are central components of metazoan innate antiviral immunity, but such sensors have not been identified in plants. RNA interference (RNAi) constitutes a potent plant antiviral defense mechanism that relies on conversion of viral RNA into small interfering RNAs by two DICER-LIKE (DCL) ribonucleases, DCL4 and DCL2. Here, we show that while plant DCL4 is dedicated to RNAi, cytoplasmic dicing by DCL2 also triggers RNAi-independent defense gene expression via at least two intracellular nucleotide-binding domain/leucine-rich repeat (NLR) immune receptors. CombinedDCL4/NLRinactivation abrogates basal resistance to a positive strand RNA virus. Our results redefine the basis of plant antiviral immunity, including autoimmunity as an explanation for DCL2-dependent growth arrest indcland RNA decay mutants in several plant species.One sentence summaryThe plant immune system uses Dicer-like ribonucleases for both antiviral RNA interference and double-stranded RNA sensing.
Carbohydrate distribution via SWEET17 is critical for Arabidopsis inflorescence branching under drought
Authors: Valifard Marzieh , Khan Azkia , Le Hir Rozenn , Pommerrenig Benjamin , Neuhaus H. Ekkehard , Keller Isabel 
Published: January 2023

AbstractSugars Will Eventually be Exported Transporters (SWEETs) are the most recently discovered family of plant sugar transporters. Functioning as uniporters and thus facilitating the diffusion of sugars across cell membranes, SWEETs play an important role in various physiological processes such as abiotic stress adaptation. AtSWEET17, a vacuolar fructose facilitator, was shown to be involved in the modulation of the root system during drought. Moreover, overexpression of a homolog from apple results in increased drought tolerance of tomato plants. Therefore, SWEET17 appears to be essential for the plant’s drought response. Nevertheless, the role and function of SWEET17 in aboveground tissues under drought stress to date remains enigmatic. By combining gene expression analysis with analysis of the sugar profile of various aboveground tissues, we uncovered a putative role of SWEET17 in the carbohydrate supply, and thus cauline branch emergence and growth, particularly during periods of carbon limitation as occurs under drought stress. SWEET17 thereby being of critical importance for maintaining efficient reproduction under drought stress.HighlightThe fructose transporter SWEET17 supports shoot branching by increasing mobilization of carbohydrates from vacuoles to supply the newly forming inflorescence branch, thereby maintaining efficient reproduction under drought stress.
Streamlined Structure Determination by Cryo-Electron Tomography and Subtomogram Averaging using TomoBEAR
Authors: Balyschew Nikita , Yushkevich Artsemi , Mikirtumov Vasilii , Sanchez Ricardo M. , Sprink Thiemo , Kudryashev Misha 
Published: January 2023

ABSTRACTStructures of macromolecules in their native state provide unique unambiguous insights into their functions. Cryo-electron tomography combined with subtomogram averaging demonstrated the power to solve such structuresin situat resolutions in the range of 3 Angstrom for some macromolecules. In order to be applicable to structural determination of the majority of macromolecules observable in cells in limited amounts, processing of tomographic data has to be performed in a high-throughput manner. Here we present TomoBEAR - a modular configurable workflow engine for streamlined processing of cryo-electron tomographic data for subtomogram averaging. TomoBEAR combines commonly used cryo-EM packages and reasonable presets to provide a transparent “white box” for data management and processing. We demonstrate applications of TomoBEAR to two datasets of purified proteins and to a membrane protein RyR1 in a membrane and demonstrate the ability to produce high resolution with minimal human intervention. TomoBEAR is an open-source and extendable package, it will accelerate the adoption ofin situstructural biology by cryo-ET.
Disease-associated patterns of acetylation stabilize tau fibril formation
Authors: Li Li , Nguyen Binh , Mullapudi Vishruth , Saelices Lorena , Joachimiak Lukasz A. 
Published: January 2023

AbstractAssembly of the microtubule-associated protein into tauopathy fibril conformations dictates the pathology of a diversity of diseases. Recent cryogenic Electron Microscopy (cryo-EM) structures have uncovered distinct fibril conformations in different tauopathies but it remains unknown how these structures fold from a single protein sequence. It has been proposed that post-translational modifications may drive tau assembly but no direct mechanism for how modifications drive assembly has emerged. Leveraging established aggregation-regulating tau fragments that are normally inert, we tested the effect of chemical modification of lysines with acetyl groups on tau fragment conversion into amyloid aggregates. We identify specific patterns of acetylation that flank amyloidogenic motifs on the tau fragments that drive rapid fibril assembly. To understand how this pattern of acetylation may drive assembly, we determined a 3.9 Å cryo-EM structure of an amyloid fibril assembled from an acetylated tau fragment. The structure uncovers how lysine acetylation patterns mediate gain-of-function interactions to promote amyloid assembly. Comparison of the structure to an ex vivo tau fibril conformation from Pick’s Disease reveals regions of high structural similarity. Finally, we show that our lysine- acetylated sequences exhibit fibril assembly activity in cell-based tau aggregation assays. Our data uncover the dual role of lysine residues in limiting aggregation while their acetylation leads to stabilizing pro-aggregation interactions. Design of tau sequence with specific acetylation patterns may lead to controllable tau aggregation to direct folding of tau into distinct folds.
Exploiting allele-specific transcriptional effects of subclonal copy number alterations for genotype-phenotype mapping in cancer cell populations
Authors: Shi Hongyu , Williams Marc J. , Satas Gryte , Weiner Adam C. , McPherson Andrew , Shah Sohrab P. 
Published: January 2023

ABSTRACTSomatic copy number alterations drive aberrant gene expression in cancer cells. In tumors with high levels of chromosomal instability, subclonal copy number alterations (CNAs) are a prevalent feature which often result in heterogeneous cancer cell populations with distinct phenotypes1. However, the extent to which subclonal CNAs contribute to clone-specific phenotypes remains poorly understood, in part due to the lack of methods to quantify how CNAs influence gene expression at a subclone level. We developed TreeAlign, which computationally integrates independently sampled single-cell DNA and RNA sequencing data from the same cell population and explicitly models gene dosage effects from subclonal alterations. We show through quantitative benchmarking data and application to human cancer data with single cell DNA and RNA libraries that TreeAlign accurately encodes clone-specific transcriptional effects of subclonal CNAs, the impact of allelic imbalance on allele-specific transcription, and obviates the need to arbitrarily define genotypic clones from a phylogenetic treea priori. Combined, these advances lead to highly granular definitions of clones with distinct copy-number driven expression programs with increased resolution and accuracy over competing methods. The resulting improvement in assignment of transcriptional phenotypes to genomic clones enables clone-clone gene expression comparisons and explicit inference of genes that are mechanistically altered through CNAs, and identification of expression programs that are genomically independent. Our approach sets the stage for dissecting the relative contribution of fixed genomic alterations and dynamic epigenetic processes on gene expression programs in cancer.
In situstructures of secretins from bacterial type II secretion system reveal their membrane interactions and translocation process
Authors: Yu Zhili , Wu Yaoming , Chen Muyuan , Huo Tong , Zheng Wei , Ludtke Steven J. , Shi Xiaodong , Wang Zhao 
Published: January 2023

AbstractThe GspD secretin is the outer membrane channel of the bacterial type II secretion system (T2SS) which secrets diverse effector proteins or toxins that cause severe diseases such as diarrhea and cholera. GspD needs to translocate from the inner to the outer membrane to exert its function, and this process is an essential step for T2SS to assemble. Here, we investigate two types of secretins discovered so far inEscherichia coli, GspDαand GspDβ, respectively. By electron cryotomography subtomogram averaging, we determinein situstructures of all the key intermediate states of GspDαand GspDβin the translocation process, with resolution ranging from 9 Å to 19 Å. In our results, GspDαand GspDβpresent entirely different membrane interaction patterns and ways of going across the peptidoglycan layer. We propose two distinct models for the membrane translocation of GspDαand GspDβ, providing a comprehensive perspective on the inner to outer membrane biogenesis of T2SS secretins.
How Occam’s razor guides human decision-making
Authors: Piasini Eugenio , Liu Shuze , Chaudhari Pratik , Balasubramanian Vijay , Gold Joshua I. 
Published: January 2023

AbstractOccam’s razor is the principle that, all else being equal, simpler explanations should be preferred over more complex ones. This principle is thought to guide human decision-making, but the nature of this guidance is not known. Here we used preregistered behavioral experiments to show that people tend to prefer the simpler of two alternative explanations for uncertain data. These preferences match predictions of formal theories of model selection that penalize excessive flexibility. These penalties emerge when considering not just the best explanation but the integral over all possible, relevant explanations. We further show that these simplicity preferences persist in humans, but not in certain artificial neural networks, even when they are maladaptive. Our results imply that principled notions of statistical model selection, including integrating over possible, latent causes to avoid overfitting to noisy observations, may play a central role in human decision-making.
Are vegans generous? An exploration of the success factors of vegan crowdfunding projects
Authors: Giakoumelou Anastasia , Raimo Nicola , Petruzzella Felice , Vitolla Filippo 
Published: January 2023

PurposeCrowdfunding is a relatively new alternative method of raising capital for new ventures. In recent years, crowdfunding has also gained prominence within the food industry. On the basis of signaling theory, this study aims to analyze the success factors of vegan crowdfunding campaigns, which remains unexplored in academia.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs a logistic regression analysis on a sample of 200 vegan crowdfunding campaigns launched in Europe between 2014 and 2021 on the popular crowdfunding platform Kickstarter.FindingsThe results show that the number of images, comments and updates as well as the readability of project descriptions positively impact the success rate of vegan crowdfunding campaigns. Furthermore, the length of the project description has a negative effect, whereas the number of videos has no bearing on the success of vegan crowdfunding campaigns.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this study pioneers examining the success factors of vegan crowdfunding campaigns. This study enriches the literature in several ways. First, this study contributes to an open debate on the success factors of crowdfunding. Second, this study provides knowledge about the factors that can favor the success of vegan initiatives. Third, this study confirms the usefulness of signaling theory as a theoretical framework for understanding vegan crowdfunding.
Identifying struggling teams in online challenge-based learning
Authors: Nguyen Ha , Gijlers Hannie , Pisoni Galena 
Published: January 2023

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to determine how students perceive groupwork and identify patterns of less successful groups in online challenge-based learning.Design/methodology/approachThis study involved 29 university students working in nine teams in an online challenge-based course. The authors applied Volet's (2001) Student Appraisal of Group Assignments (SAGA) instrument to measure students' perceptions on six constructs: Cognitive Benefits, Motivation Influence, Affect, Interpersonal, Management, and Group Assessment. Questionnaires were administered at different time points (before, during, and after the project). Focus groups were conducted to gain insights into students' experiences.FindingsFindings suggest that students reporting decreasing or stalling perception scores on the Motivation Influence, Interpersonal constructs would likely not be in high-performing groups. Additionally, challenge-based learning is less suitable for time-compressed courses.Originality/valueThe study expands the understanding of students' perceptions of online challenge-based learning, at different performance levels, and difficulties in these projects. Practical implications of this study are support for teachers in identifying struggling teams, and designing and facilitating challenge-based courses.
Frontline employees' performance in the financial services industry: the significance of trust, empathy and consumer orientation
Authors: Raza Basharat , St-Onge Sylvie , Ali Muhammad 
Published: January 2023

PurposeBased upon social exchange theory, this study investigates the mediating effect of consumers' trust in banking industry frontline employees on two relationships: (1) the relation between consumers' perceptions of frontline employees' empathy and consumers' perceptions of frontline employees' performance, and (2) the relation between consumers' perception of frontline employees' customer orientation and consumers' perceptions of frontline employees' performance.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a time-lag research design to collect data through online questionnaires distributed in two waves. The sample comprises 375 respondents having experience and interaction with banking frontline employees.FindingsResults confirm the mediating effect of consumers' trust in the banking industry on the relationships between their perceptions of frontline employees' empathy and consumer orientation on the one hand and their perceptions of frontline employees' performance on the other hand.Practical implicationsResults may be helpful to policymakers and managers in the service industries, prompting them to adopt approaches and strategies designed to build strong relationships with consumers, thus increasing consumers' trust and frontline employees' performance.Originality/valueThis study confirms the relevance of social exchange theory in understanding the role of consumers' trust and perceptions of frontline employees' empathy and consumer orientation in understanding their perception of frontline employee performance in the banking industry.
Developing a wearable human activity recognition (WHAR) system for an outdoor jacket
Authors: Lee Hyunseung 
Published: January 2023

PurposeThe emergence of smart wearables using clothing as a technology platform is a significant milestone with considerable implications for industrial convergence, creating new value for fashion. This paper aimed to present a premeditated prototype to integrate a human activity recognition (HAR) system into outdoor clothing.Design/methodology/approachFor the development of wearable HAR (WHAR) clothing, this paper explored three subject areas: fashion design related to the structural feature of the clothing platform, electronics related to wearable circuits and modules design and graphic user interface design related to smartphone application development.FindingsFor WHAR functions in outdoor terrains, the coexistence of accelerometer–gyroscope sensing and distance-sensing could be practical to surpass the technological limitation of activity and posture recognition with gyro sensors highly depending on the changes of acceleration and angles.Research limitations/implicationsThrough the vital sign check and physical activity–change recognition function, this study's WHAR system allows users to check their health by themselves and avoid overwork. A quick rescue is possible manually and automatically in a dangerous situation by notifying others. Thus, it can help protect users' health and safety (life).Originality/valueThis study designed the modularization of HAR functions generally installed in indoor medical spaces. Through the approach, smart clothing–embracing WHAR systems optimized for health and safety care for outdoor environments was pursued to diversify expensive roles of clothing for technological applications.
Supply chain followership: the case of Tetra Pak’s recyclers in China
Authors: Gong Yu , Jia Fu , Brown Steve 
Published: January 2023

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore an under-researched topic of supply chain followership (SCF) in the context of recycling chains.Design/methodology/approachFollowing a multiple case study approach, the authors conducted interviews with Tetra Pak senior managers and recyclers who recycle used beverage cartons (UBCs) in China.FindingsBased on the dimensions of critical thinking and active engagement, the authors classify SCF into four types. Focal companies could evaluate their suppliers’ behaviours and followership types to initiate corresponding strategies to better manage their relationships. In addition, the authors found SCF to be a dynamic concept, which can be constantly evaluated.Originality/valueThis study is one of the earliest efforts to empirically explore the concept of SCF. The paper extends the followership concept from an individual level to an organizational level in the recycling chain context and presents a useful concept of followership for companies seeking to manage their supply chain relationships.
Early career teachers thriving in the everyday challenges of teaching: understanding the relationship between professional competence and teacher buoyancy
Authors: Tang Sylvia Yee Fan , Lo Eric Siu Chung , Yeh Fang-Yin , Cheng May May Hung 
Published: January 2023

PurposeThis study examined the relationship between early career teachers' (ECTs') perceived professional competence (PC) and teacher buoyancy (TB) and the contribution of such dynamic interaction between ECTs' perceived PC and TB to their thriving in the face of everyday teaching challenges.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted a concurrent mixed-methods research design. A total of 218 ECTs taking a postgraduate, part-time initial teacher education programme completed two quantitative measures: Professional Competence Questionnaire and Teacher Buoyancy Scale – Extended Version. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between PC and TB. Qualitative data via semi-structured interviews were collected from 14 survey respondents and were interpreted through a case study approach.FindingsThe quantitative findings showed: (1) Competence in classroom teaching predicts the personal and contextual dimensions of teacher buoyancy; and (2) Competence to work in schools predicts the personal dimension of teacher buoyancy. The qualitative findings showed two cases that exemplified how the dynamic interaction between ECTs' perceived PC and the personal and contextual dimensions of TB supported their development of teaching expertise.Originality/valueThe paper provides empirical findings on the relationship between PC and TB. It highlights ECTs' perceived Competence to work in schools as goal alignment and engagement with school policy as a crucial facilitating condition that develops ECTs' capacity to face daily challenges and engenders their thriving in terms of development of teaching expertise.