Landscape of human antibody recognition of the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain

Potent neutralizing monoclonal antibodies are one of the few agents currently available to treat COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) that carry multiple mutations in the viral spike protein can exhibit neutralization resistance, potentially affecting the effectiveness of some antibody-based therapeutics. Here, the generation of a diverse panel of 91 human, neutralizing monoclonal antibodies provides an in-depth structural and phenotypic definition of receptor binding domain (RBD) antigenic sites on the viral spike. These RBD antibodies ameliorate SARS-CoV-2 infection in mice and hamster models in a dose-dependent manner and in proportion to in vitro, neutralizing potency. Assessing the effect of mutations in the spike protein on antibody recognition and neutralization highlights both potent single antibodies and stereotypic classes of antibodies that are unaffected by currently circulating VOCs, such as B.1.351 and P.1. These neutralizing monoclonal antibodies and others that bind analogous epitopes represent potentially useful future anti-SARS-CoV-2 therapeutics

Microscopic and IR spectroscopic comparison of the underwater adhesives produced by germlings of the brown seaweed species Durvillaea antarctica and Hormosira banksii

Adhesives from marine organisms are often the source of inspiration for the development of glues able to create durable bonds in wet environments. In this work we investigated the adhesive secretions produced by germlings of two large seaweed species from the South Pacific, Durvillaea antarctica, also named “the strongest kelp in the word”, and its close relative Hormosira banksii. The comparative analysis was based on optical and scanning electron microscopy imaging as well as FTIR spectroscopy and principal component analysis (PCA). For both species, the egg surface presents peripheral vesicles which are released soon after fertilization to discharge a primary adhesive. This is characterized by peaks representative of carbohydrate molecules. A secondary protein-based adhesive is then secreted in the early developmental stages of the germlings. EDX, FTIR and PCA indicate that D. antarctica secretions also contain sulphated moieties, and become cross-linked with time, both conferring strong adhesive and cohesive properties. On the other hand, H. banksii secretions are complemented by the putative adhesive phlorotannins, and are characterized by a simple mechanism in which all constituents are released with the same rate and with no apparent cross-linking. It is also noted that the release of adhesive materials appears to be faster and more copious in D. antarctica than in H. banksii. Overall, this study highlights that both quantity and quality of the adhesives matter in explaining the superior attachment ability of D. antarctica

Thermal referral: evidence for a thermoceptive uniformity illusion without touch

When warm thermal stimulators are placed on the ring and index fingers of one hand, and a neutral-temperature stimulator on the middle finger, all three fingers feel warm. This illusion is known as thermal referral (TR). On one interpretation, the heterogenous thermal signals are overridden by homogenous tactile signals. This cross-modal thermo-tactile interaction could reflect a process of object recognition, based on the prior that many objects are thermally homogenous. Interestingly, the illusion was reported to disappear when the middle digit was lifted off the thermal stimulator, suggesting that tactile stimulation is necessary. However, no study has investigated whether purely thermal stimulation might induce TR, without any tactile object to which temperature can be attributed. We used radiant thermal stimulation to deliver purely thermal stimuli, which either were or were not accompanied by simultaneous touch. We found identical TR effects in both the original thermo-tactile condition, and in a purely thermoceptive condition where no tactile object was present. Control experiments ruled out explanations based on poor spatial discrimination of warm signals. Our purely thermoceptive results suggest that TR could reflect low-level organization of the thermoceptive pathway, rather than a cognitive intermodal modulation based on tactile object perception

Plant growth enhancement by elevated CO2 eliminated by joint water and nitrogen limitation

http://www.nature.com/ngeo/Rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations can fertilize plant growth. The resulting increased plant uptake of CO2 could, in turn, slow increases in atmospheric CO2 levels and associated climate warming. CO2 fertilization e ects may be enhanced when water availability is low, because elevated CO2 also leads to improved plant water-use e ciency. However, CO2 fertilization e ects may be weaker when plant growth is limited by nutrient availability. How variation in soil nutrients and water may act together to influence CO2 fertilization is unresolved. Here we report plant biomass levels from a five-year, open-air experiment in a perennial grassland under two contrasting levels of atmospheric CO2, soil nitrogen and summer rainfall, respectively. We find that the presence of a CO2 fertilization e ect depends on the amount of available nitrogen and water. Specifically, elevated CO2 levels led to an increase in plant biomass of more than 33% when summer rainfall, nitrogen supply, or both were at the higher levels (ambient for rainfall and elevated for soil nitrogen). But elevated CO2 concentrations did not increase plant biomass when both rainfall and nitrogen were at their lower level. We conclude that given widespread, simultaneous limitation by water and nutrients, large stimulation of biomass by rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations may not be ubiquitous

Search for supersymmetry in events with opposite-sign dileptons and missing transverse energy using an artificial neural network

In this paper, a search for supersymmetry (SUSY) is presented in events with two opposite-sign isolated leptons in the final state, accompanied by hadronic jets and missing transverse energy. An artificial neural network is employed to discriminate possible SUSY signals from a standard model background. The analysis uses a data sample collected with the CMS detector during the 2011 LHC run, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4: 98 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at the center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. Compared to other CMS analyses, this one uses relaxed criteria on missing transverse energy (E-T > 40 GeV) and total hadronic transverse energy (HT > 120 GeV), thus probing different regions of parameter space. Agreement is found between standard model expectation and observations, yielding limits in the context of the constrained minimal supersymmetric standard model and on a set of simplified models. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.87.07200

Search for new physics in events with same-sign dileptons and b jets in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV

A search for new physics is performed using events with isolated same-sign leptons and at least two bottom-quark jets in the final state. Results are based on a sample of proton-proton collisions collected at a center-of-mass energy of 8TeV with the CMS detector and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 10.5 fb(-1). No excess above the standard model background is observed. Upper limits are set on the number of events from non-standard-model sources and are used to constrain a number of new physics models. Information on acceptance and efficiencies is also provided so that the results can be used to confront an even broader class of new physics models

Search for a Higgs boson decaying into a b-quark pair and produced in association with b quarks in proton-proton collisions at 7 TeV

A search for a neutral Higgs boson decaying to a pair of b quarks, and produced in association with at least one additional b quark, is presented. Multijet final states with three jets identified as originating from b quarks, at least one of which may include a non-isolated muon, are studied. The data used in this analysis correspond to an integrated luminosity of 2.7-4.8 fb(-1), collected by the CMS experiment in proton-proton collisions at the LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. This search is particularly sensitive to Higgs bosons in scenarios of the Minimal Supersymmetric Model (MSSM) with large values of tan beta. No excess over the predicted background from standard model processes is observed. Stringent upper limits on cross section times branching fraction are derived and interpreted as bounds in the MSSM tan beta and m(A) parameter-space. Observed 95% confidence level upper limits reach as low as tang beta approximate to 18 for M-A approximate to 100 GeV

Search for narrow resonances and quantum black holes in inclusive and b-tagged dijet mass spectra from pp collisions at root s=7 TeV

A search for narrow resonances and quantum black holes is performed in inclusive and b-tagged dijet mass spectra measured with the CMS detector at the LHC. The data set corresponds to 5 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity collected in pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV. No narrow resonances or quantum black holes are observed. Model-independent upper limits at the 95% confidence level are obtained on the product of the cross section, branching fraction into dijets, and acceptance for three scenarios: decay into quark-quark, quark-gluon, and gluon-gluon pairs. Specific lower limits are set on the mass of string resonances (4.31 TeV), excited quarks (3.32 TeV), axigluons and colorons (3.36 TeV), scalar color-octet resonances (2.07 TeV), E-6 diquarks (3.75 TeV), and on the masses of W' (1.92 TeV) and Z' (1.47 TeV) bosons. The limits on the minimum mass of quantum black holes range from 4 to 5.3 TeV. In addition, b-quark tagging is applied to the two leading jets and upper limits are set on the production of narrow dijet resonances in a model-independent fashion as a function of the branching fraction to b-jet pairs