Emotional Body-Word Conflict Evokes Enhanced N450 and Slow Potential

<div><p>Emotional conflict refers to the influence of task irrelevant affective stimuli on current task set. Previously used emotional face-word tasks have produced certain electrophysiological phenomena, such as an enhanced N450 and slow potential; however, it remains unknown whether these effects emerge in other tasks. The present study used an emotional body-word conflict task to investigate the neural dynamics of emotional conflict as reflected by response time, accuracy, and event-related potentials, which were recorded with the aim of replicating the previously observed N450 and slow potential effect. Results indicated increased response time and decreased accuracy in the incongruent condition relative to the congruent condition, indicating a robust interference effect. Furthermore, the incongruent condition evoked pronounced N450 amplitudes and a more positive slow potential, which might be associated with conflict-monitoring and conflict resolution. The present findings extend our understanding of emotional conflict to the body-word domain.</p> </div

Top shows the topography distribution for incongruent (top upper) and congruent (top lower) compound stimuli between 400 and 600 ms from top view.

<p>Bottom shows scalp topography distribution of incongruent and congruent body-word at 500 ms and difference in their distribution.</p

The Exotically Stoichiometric Compounds and Superconductivity of Lithium–Copper Systems under High Pressure

Pressure, as a useful tool, can push elements to new oxidation states by altering the stoichiometry of compounds, leading to materials with exotic physical and chemical properties. Herein, structure searches for Li–Cu systems were carried out under pressure. Three Li-rich Li–Cu compounds with exotic stoichiometries (i.e., Li4Cu, Li5Cu, and Li6Cu) are predicted at high pressure. Remarkably, the Li6Cu consists of a Cu-centered face-sharing icosahedron. Further simulations reveal that the captured electrons from Li atoms prompt Cu atoms to achieve high negative oxidation states beyond −1 and to act as a 4p group element. Moreover, our results unravel the superconductivity of the Li-rich Li–Cu system and the R3̅ phase of Li6Cu with Tc of ∼15 K at 50 GPa. The present results can greatly improve the understanding of the exotic electronic behavior of Li–Cu systems under high pressure

Retraining and Optimizing DNA-Hydrolyzing Deoxyribozymes for Robust Single- and Multiple-Turnover Activities

Recently, we reported two classes of Zn²⁺-dependent DNA-hydrolyzing deoxyribozymes. The class I deoxyribozymes can adopt a secondary structure of either hairpin or stem-loop-stem. The corresponding most active representatives, I-R1 and I-R3, exhibit single-turnover <i>k</i>_obs values of ∼0.059 and ∼1.0 min^–1 at 37 °C, respectively. Further analysis revealed that I-R3 could perform slow multiple-turnover catalysis with a <i>k</i>_cat of ∼0.017 min^–1 at 37 °C. In this study, we sought to retrain and optimize the class I deoxyribozymes for robust single- and multiple-turnover cleavage activities. Refined consensus sequences were derived based on the data of <i>in vitro</i> reselection from the degenerate DNA pools. By examining individual candidates, we obtained the I-R1 mutants I-R1a-c with improved single-turnover <i>k</i>_obs values of 0.68–0.76 min^–1 at 37 °C, over 10 times faster than I-R1. Meanwhile, we further demonstrated that I-R1a–c and I-R3 are thermophilic. As temperature went higher beyond 45 °C, I-R3 cleaved faster with the <i>k</i>_obs value reaching its maximum of ∼3.5 min^–1 at 54 °C. Using a series of the <i>k</i>_obs values of I-R3 from 37 to 54 °C, we calculated the apparent activation energy <i>E</i>_a to be ∼15 ± 3 kcal/mol for the DNA-catalyzed hydrolysis of DNA phosphodiester bond. In addition, we were able to design a simple yet efficient thermal-cycling protocol to boost the effective <i>k</i>_cat of I-R3 from 0.017 to 0.50 min^–1, which corresponds to an ∼30-fold improvement of the multiple-turnover activity. The data and findings provide insights on the enzymatic robustness of DNA-catalyzed DNA hydrolysis and offer general strategies to study various DNA enzymes

Examples of the four different categories body-word compound stimuli used in the experiment.

<p>Congruent and incongruent stimuli consisted of exactly the same material. The bodies of the two congruent stimulus conditions were swapped to create a mismatch and emotion expressed by the body and the word.</p

Group average ERP of SP for congruent and incongruent compound stimuli at indicated electrode sites.

<p>Group average ERP of SP for congruent and incongruent compound stimuli at indicated electrode sites.</p

DataSheet_2_The analysis of lysine succinylation modification reveals the mechanism of oxybenzone damaging of pakchoi (Brassica rapa L. ssp. chinensis).docx

Oxybenzone (OBZ), one of a broad spectrum of ultraviolet (UV) absorbents, has been proven to be harmful to both plants and animals, while omics analysis of big data at the molecular level is still lacking. Lysine succinylation (Ksuc) is an important posttranslational modification of proteins that plays a crucial role in regulating the metabolic network in organisms under stress. Here, we report the changes in intracellular Ksuc modification in plants under OBZ stress. A total of 1276 succinylated sites on 507 proteins were identified. Among these sites, 181 modified proteins were hypersulfinylated/succinylated in OBZ-stressed pakchoi leaves. Differentially succinylated proteins (DSPs) are distributed mainly in the chloroplast, cytoplasm, and mitochondria and are distributed mainly in primary metabolic pathways, such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging, stress resistance, energy generation and transfer, photosynthetic carbon fixation, glycolysis, and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. Comprehensive analysis shows that Ksuc mainly changes the carbon flow distribution, enhances the activity of the antioxidant system, affects the biosynthesis of amino acids, and increases the modification of histones. The results of this study first showed the profiling of the Kusc map under OBZ treatment and proposed the adaptive mechanism of pakchoi in response to pollutants and other abiotic stresses at the posttranslational level, which revealed the importance of Ksuc in the regulation of various life activities and provides a reference dataset for future research on molecular function.</p

DataSheet_1_The analysis of lysine succinylation modification reveals the mechanism of oxybenzone damaging of pakchoi (Brassica rapa L. ssp. chinensis).xlsx

Oxybenzone (OBZ), one of a broad spectrum of ultraviolet (UV) absorbents, has been proven to be harmful to both plants and animals, while omics analysis of big data at the molecular level is still lacking. Lysine succinylation (Ksuc) is an important posttranslational modification of proteins that plays a crucial role in regulating the metabolic network in organisms under stress. Here, we report the changes in intracellular Ksuc modification in plants under OBZ stress. A total of 1276 succinylated sites on 507 proteins were identified. Among these sites, 181 modified proteins were hypersulfinylated/succinylated in OBZ-stressed pakchoi leaves. Differentially succinylated proteins (DSPs) are distributed mainly in the chloroplast, cytoplasm, and mitochondria and are distributed mainly in primary metabolic pathways, such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging, stress resistance, energy generation and transfer, photosynthetic carbon fixation, glycolysis, and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. Comprehensive analysis shows that Ksuc mainly changes the carbon flow distribution, enhances the activity of the antioxidant system, affects the biosynthesis of amino acids, and increases the modification of histones. The results of this study first showed the profiling of the Kusc map under OBZ treatment and proposed the adaptive mechanism of pakchoi in response to pollutants and other abiotic stresses at the posttranslational level, which revealed the importance of Ksuc in the regulation of various life activities and provides a reference dataset for future research on molecular function.</p

Table_1_An efficient in vitro organogenesis protocol for the endangered relic tree species Bretschneidera sinensis and genetic fidelity assessment using DNA markers.xlsx

Bretschneidera sinensis is a monotypic species of rare and tertiary relic trees mainly distributed in China. B. sinensis is a potentially valuable horticultural plant, which has significant ornamental and research value, and is a crucial tool for the study of phylogeography. The artificial cultivation of B. sinensis is of great scientific value and practical significance. In this study, we developed a direct organogenesis process of B. sinensis using mature zygotic embryos as initial materials. The highest sterile germination induction (54.5%) from the mature zygotic embryo was obtained in a Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium with 2.0 mg·L−1 6-benzylaminopurine (6-BA) and 0.2 mg·L−1 α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA). The highest percentage of shoot regeneration (90.37%) was attained using 1.0 mg·L−1 6-BA and 0.01 mg·L−1 NAA in the MS medium. The Woody Plant Medium (WPM) had the greatest adventitious shoot elongation rate of 93.33%. The most optimized rooting rate was 88.89% in a half-strength MS medium containing 2.0 mg·L−1 indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and 1.0 mg·L−1 NAA. The genetic fidelity of in vitro regenerated plantlets was assessed using inter-simple sequence repeats and random amplified polymorphic DNA molecular markers, confirming the genetic uniformity and stability of regenerated B. sinensis plantlets. Our research presents an effective in vitro propagation system for B. sinensis, laying the groundwork for its germplasm conservation and large-scale production while maintaining high genetic integrity.</p

Controlling Octagon-to-Square Wetting Interface Transition of Evaporating Sessile Droplet through Surfactant on Microtextured Surface

Producing and maintaining specific liquid patterns during evaporation holds great potential for techniques of printing and coating. Here we report the control over the evolution of surfactant solution droplets on the micropyramid substrates during evaporation. The polygonal droplet shape is achieved during the drying rather than solely at the beginning. As the initial surfactant concentration is 0.04 mM, the droplet maintains its initial octagonal shape throughout the lifetime. Interestingly, the initial octagonal shape transforms into a square during the evaporation as the initial surfactant concentration reaches 0.8 mM. These findings can shed light on wetting pattern control for complex solutions required in various applications