protein folding

Silk fibroin-loaded Fe-curcumin nanoparticles on antimicrobial peptide-functionalized TiO2 nanotube surfaces: Microenvironment-modulated synergy for antibacterial and osteogenic enhancement.

This study constructed a pH-responsive P-TN/SF@Fe-Cur composite coating that demonstrated significant anti-infective, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, pro-angiogenic, and pro-osteogenic effects in rat subcutaneous infection and femoral defect models.

The HydroGym reinforcement learning platform for fluid dynamics.

Effective control of fluid flows is critical across transportation, energy and medicine, where it can increase lift, reduce drag, enhance mixing and attenuate noise1-3. Yet fluids are notoriously difficult to control because they involve high-dimensional, nonlinear and multiscale dynamics that resist conventional approaches4-6. Reinforcement learning has driven remarkable progress in fields such as protein folding and complex games, which have shared benchmarks and standardized environments7-10. Fluid dynamics has lacked such infrastructure, so each controller is typically tuned to a single geometry and operating condition, making progress difficult to accumulate, transfer and compare11-13. Here we introduce HydroGym, a solver-independent reinforcement learning platform providing more than 60 validated, openly available flow control environments spanning from canonical laminar flows to complex turbulent flows, with systematic progression in the Reynolds number up to Re = 4 × 105, and Mach number variations in two and three dimensions. Across these environments, agents repeatedly discover robust control principles, including boundary layer manipulation, disruption of acoustic feedback and reorganization of turbulent wakes. Critically, we demonstrate a proof of concept for zero-shot transfer, in which agents that are trained exclusively in inexpensive surrogate environments are deployed to challenging real-world scenarios such as a three-dimensional wing section. We achieve a 38% reduction in local skin friction while reducing exploration costs by four orders of magnitude compared with direct on-wing optimization. As this transfer exploits shared near-wall physics, the breadth of generalization remains open, suggesting a new pathway for research toward policy generalization across computationally prohibitive simulation environments. By offering a common, extensible foundation for reproducible research, HydroGym moves flow control from isolated case studies toward a cohesive community effort.

Modality-chain reasoning enables multimodal protein modelling and design

ProteinReasoner is developed, a multimodal generative protein foundation model that sequentially connects amino acid sequence, evolutionary constraints and three-dimensional structure within a shared autoregressive architecture and suggests a general route towards reasoning across interdependent representations in other scientific domains.

Performance analysis of microalgae-based eco-extracts as new biostimulants for sustainable improvement of wheat crop.

Due to its importance and wide adoption, wheat cultivation is promptly required to shift towards sustainable practices, reducing the dependency on chemical components. Among bio-based solutions aimed at securing the sustainability of wheat cultivation, biostimulants offer a versatile platform of eco-friendly tools assuring sustainability and profitability. Microalgae present a concrete example of a biostimulant source due to their richness in metabolites and high value products. Therefore, this study evaluated the biostimulant potential of eleven eco-extracts prepared from soil-isolated microalgae strains. Eco-extracts applied via soil drench at low dose (0.1 g/L) were investigated for their biostimulant effects on wheat growth, physiology, yield, and quality under controlled conditions. Results demonstrated significant ameliorations in treated plants as compared to the control, with no phytoinhibitory effects. Remarkable enhancements were notable in growth parameters such as shoot and root lengths (+40-70%), physiological traits such as total chlorophyll and stomatal conductance (+7-52%), yield components in the example of grain number per spike and thousand grain weight (+17-103%), and grain quality namely protein and polyphenol content (+2-fold to 4-fold). Similarly, phosphorus accumulation and uptake were significantly improved, while soil physicochemical status was ameliorated, indicating enhanced fertility. Multivariate analysis and composite index ranking marked Chlorella sp. GA18, Chlorella sp. GA65, Scenedesmus sp. GA69, and Chlorococcum sp. GA63 as eco-extracts with consistent performances across all plant traits. These findings highlighted the promising potential of integrating microalgae-based eco-friendly extracts in sustainable wheat cultivation.

Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress in Chronic Pain

Current evidence linking mitochondrial dysfunction, ER stress, and ER-mitochondrial crosstalk to the pathogenesis of chronic pain is summarized and their potentials as therapeutic targets are discussed.

The KRASG12C Inhibitor Divarasib Stabilizes RBM39 and Antagonizes Aryl-Sulfonamide Degraders

Using stability-based proteomics, this study shows how protein folding stability-based profiling can expand the actionable target landscape of small molecules beyond canonical covalent interactions, uncovering noncovalent off-targets that may underlie response heterogeneity and treatment-associated toxicity.

UFL1, expressed in fast-twitch fibers, correlates with lipid metabolism in bovine muscles.

Although UFMylation is implicated in skeletal muscle development, the role of its E3 ligase, ubiquitin-fold modifier 1 ligase 1 (UFL1), in bovine muscle and myofiber type determination is unclear. We profiled UFL1 expression in four muscles (biceps femoris (BF), longissimus dorsi (LD), trapezius (TR), psoas major (PM)) from 18-month-old Simmental and Angus bulls via histology, RT-qPCR, western blotting, and immunofluorescence. UFL1 mRNA and protein were significantly higher in fast-twitch muscles (LD, BF) than in slow-twitch PM. UFL1 localized to sarcolemma and sarcoplasmic reticulum, co-localized with MYHC-Fast in LD, and correlated positively with MYHC-Fast. Oxidative PM showed higher SDH/MDH activities, lower LDH activity, and greater lipid deposition than glycolytic LD. UFL1 correlated negatively with PLIN2. LD exhibited lower ACC1, FASN, PPARα, and CPT1A levels than PM. Collectively, UFL1 is specifically expressed in fast-twitch fibers, associates with lipid metabolic reprogramming, suggesting a role in muscle development and meat quality. This study identifies UFL1 as a novel candidate regulator of myofiber type determination in beef cattle.

Effects of single and double deletion of Vibrio anguillarum histone-like protein HU subunits on biofilm formation and pathogenicity in flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus).

Intrinsic-extrinsic protein complexes as biomimetic interfacial barriers in artificial oil body systems: 1H NMR-guided mechanistic insights into oxidation resistance.

Oil bodies (OBs) are native lipid storage organelles in plant seeds that form highly stable natural emulsification systems stabilized by intrinsic proteins (IPs). However, the poor water solubility of IPs limits their practical application in food systems. Herein, a stable two-protein complex was constructed by the simultaneous folding and co-assembly of IPs with extrinsic proteins (EPs). The co-assembly significantly improved the dispersibility of IPs and reduced their particle size, yielding a nanocomposite with a hydrophobic core that formed an OB-inspired interfacial barrier partially mimicking the interfacial composition and protective function of natural OBs, thereby enabling the formation of stable artificial oil body (AOB) emulsions under mechanical force. Structural analyses revealed that EP addition modulated the secondary and tertiary structures of the protein complex in a concentration-dependent manner, inducing partial unfolding and structural rearrangement, while stabilization was primarily governed by hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions. Turbiscan Stability Index and microstructural analyses demonstrated that the composite rapidly adsorbed at the oil-water interface, forming a dense and robust interfacial film that effectively suppressed droplet aggregation through steric hindrance and electrostatic repulsion, thereby enhancing emulsion stability. Notably, 1H NMR results showed that the interfacial barrier formed by IPs and EPs at a 1:1 ratio markedly reduced lipid oxidation by inhibiting both primary and secondary oxidation pathways at the interface. Overall, this study establishes a facile biomimetic strategy for constructing interfacial barrier-based anti-oxidation system with promising applications in food emulsions.

DTT-Induced Transcriptome Profiling Reveals Divergent ER Proteostasis and Stress-Adaptation Programs in CHO-S/HB8 and CHO-4BGD/DUL Producer Clones

The producers occupy distinct ER-proteostasis states, and DUL mounts a broader, but not uniformly stronger, canonical UPR response to reductive ER stress.

Integrated multi-omics analysis of metabolomics and proteomics uncovers dysregulated amino acid metabolism in HCC metastasis

Widespread disturbances in amino acid metabolism were identified via untargeted metabolomics in HCC patients with metastasis, closely governing inflammation-related metabolic remodeling and oxidative stress responses.

Chlorogenic acid attenuates malondialdehyde levels and regulates major ferroptosis-related genes in testes of acrylamide-exposed rats

It is indicated that chlorogenic acid influences testicular oxidative status and ferroptosis-related gene responses under acrylamide exposure, supporting its potential relevance as a dietary component for acrylamide-associated reproductive oxidative stress.