Jena Bioscience (Germany)

In this contribution, we aim at assessing the detectability of atmospheric water vapor uptake by dry soils at a variety of spatial scales and methodologies, from the ecosystem scale via eddy covariance, through larger scales via earth system models, and gridded products. Water vapor fluxes in the soil and at the soil-atmosphere interface are driven by vapor concentration gradients. Until today, it is mostly assumed that the soil pore air is roughly at 100% relative humidity (RH), resulting in vapor fluxes that are almost always towards the atmosphere. However, the vapor state in soil pore air is linked to the soil water (matric) potential. As the water potential becomes more negative, the equilibrium RH within the soil decreases substantially. Under these conditions, the soil behaves like a ‘thirsty material’: when the atmospheric vapor pressure exceeds that of the soil pores, vapor is adsorbed onto the solid soil particle surfaces, and the net vapor flux is directed towards the soil. Using subdaily measurement data from a globally distributed network of eddy covariance stations, we show an emergent functional relationship between volumetric water content (VWC), RH, and latent heat (λE) flux direction at the ecosystem scale. Vapor fluxes towards the soil under dry conditions can be explained by the soil's sorptive forces inducing very low water potentials. Based on eddy covariance data, we find that soil vapor adsorption most frequently occurred in arid and semi-arid regions, particularly in ecosystems with sparse vegetation such as savannas and dry shrublands. On average, soil vapor adsorption occurs for 4 ± 1.1 hours per night, and may last up to 7 hours and on more than 150 nights per year in some drylands.Furthermore, we demonstrate that the relationship between VWC, RH, and the vapor flux direction is evident in a wide range of in situ measurements in drylands, including lysimeter and humidity profile data. However, this relationship is absent in site-level runs of gridded observation-based data products and land surface models.We demonstrate for the first time that the effect of adsorptive forces can be detected at the ecosystem scale, several meters above the ground. Our findings at the operating scale of flux towers can be used to evaluate and improve model representation of land-atmosphere exchange in dry conditions. Additionally, the results highlight the influence of sorptive forces on sub-daily soil-atmosphere interactions, particularly in sparsely vegetated drylands.

With climate extremes’ rising frequency and intensity, robust analytical tools are crucial to predict their impacts on terrestrial ecosystems. Machine learning techniques show promise but require well-structured, high-quality, and curated analysis-ready datasets. Earth observation datasets comprehensively monitor ecosystem dynamics and responses to climatic extremes, yet the data complexity can challenge the effectiveness of machine learning models. Despite recent progress in deep learning to ecosystem monitoring, there is a need for datasets specifically designed to analyse compound heatwave and drought extreme impact. Here, we introduce the DeepExtremeCubes database, tailored to map around these extremes, focusing on persistent natural vegetation. It comprises over 40,000 globally sampled small data cubes (i.e. minicubes), with a spatial coverage of 2.5 by 2.5 km. Each minicube includes (i) Sentinel-2 L2A images, (ii) ERA5-Land variables and generated extreme event cube covering 2016 to 2022, and (iii) ancillary land cover and topography maps. The paper aims to (1) streamline data accessibility, structuring, pre-processing, and enhance scientific reproducibility, and (2) facilitate biosphere dynamics forecasting in response to compound extremes.

The balance between hydrophilic and hydrophobic components plays an important role in polymeric delivery of nucleic acids. Besides using hydrophobic moieties in the polymer design, fluorination is a promising method to increase the hydrophobicity of polymers. To systematically investigate this effect, N-(2-(1H-indol-3-yl)ethyl)methacrylamide and three fluorinated analogues have been synthesized and copolymerized with 3-guanidinopropyl methacrylamide and 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylamide via an aqueous reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (aRAFT) polymerization. A library of eight terpolymers with 5 to 23 mol% of an indole analogue and molar mass about 20 kg mol-1 showed comparably strong DNA binding starting at N/P 2 and formed polyplexes with hydrodynamic diameters around 100 nm. Additionally, no negative impact on biocompatibility was observed. Heparin release studies showed increased DNA binding strength with higher amounts of hydrophobic moieties, while fluorination exhibited similar effects as increasing the indole content. This was also important for pDNA transfection efficiency, where an optimum for DNA binding strength was unveiled. The rapid release and the excessive binding of DNA were identified as factors that negatively impacted transfection efficiency, both influenced by the amount of indole moieties and fluorination. On the other hand, the right degree of hydrophobicity was able to increase the transfection efficiency of the modified polymer by more than threefold. These findings highlight the role of hydrophobic moieties in nucleic acid delivery and provide valuable insights for future polymer design, suggesting that the strategic incorporation of fluorinated monomers can effectively fine-tune DNA interactions.

Although scientists are generally motivated to adopt sustainable practices in their research, a lack of education is often limiting. Here, I aim to fill this gap by illustrating how to substantially reduce single-use plastic waste in scientific protocols. This article will outline the translation of the three fundamental principles of reduction, reuse, and miniaturization into experimental practice. The transfection of neurons in sterile conditions will be provided as a concrete example to discuss opportunities for change. Simply by reducing, miniaturizing, and reusing, a decrease in plastic waste of approximately 65% was achieved for exchangeable items. This article demonstrates the feasibility of adopting sustainable practices without compromising workflows or data quality.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0278460.].

The human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a negative-sense, single-stranded RNA virus. It is the major cause of severe acute lower respiratory tract infection in infants, the elderly population, and immunocompromised individuals. There is still no approved vaccine or antiviral treatment against RSV disease, but new monoclonal prophylactic antibodies are yet to be commercialized, and clinical trials are in progress. Hence, urgent efforts are needed to develop efficient therapeutic treatments. RSV RNA synthesis comprises viral transcription and replication that are catalyzed by the large protein (L) in coordination with the phosphoprotein polymerase cofactor (P), the nucleoprotein (N), and the M2-1 transcription factor. The replication/transcription is orchestrated by the L protein, which contains three conserved enzymatic domains: the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), the polyribonucleotidyl transferase (PRNTase or capping), and the methyltransferase (MTase) domain. These activities are essential for the RSV replicative cycle and are thus considered as attractive targets for the development of therapeutic agents. In this review, we summarize recent findings about RSV L domains structure that highlight how the enzymatic activities of RSV L domains are interconnected, discuss the most relevant and recent antivirals developments that target the replication/transcription complex, and conclude with a perspective on identified knowledge gaps that enable new research directions.