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PubMed2026

The genomic alchemist's arsenal: A comprehensive review of gene recruitment, regulatory rewiring, and the evolutionary arms race in snake envenomation.

Snake venom represents a striking example of evolutionary innovation, in which ancestral physiological gene networks have been co-opted into potent biochemical weapons. Advances in multi-omics, single-cell genomics, and structural bioinformatics have catalyzed a conceptual shift from descriptive toxin cataloging to a systems-level understanding of venom evolution, regulation, and function. This Review integrates genomic, cellular, and structural perspectives to delineate the molecular architecture underpinning venom diversification and target-site co-evolution. Emphasis is placed on regulatory mechanisms driving rapid expression plasticity, including super-enhancer activity, transposable element insertion, spatial heterogeneity within the venom gland, and non-coding RNA-mediated modulation. At the protein level, the review examines how hypervariable toxins engage in structural arms races with prey targets, and how multi-toxin complex formation, functional synergy, and molecular dynamics simulations inform models of lethality and resistance. A comparative framework is provided by contrasting high-potency predatory snake venoms with low-potency defensive venoms of hymenopterans such as bees and wasps, revealing how ecological selective pressures shape toxin potency, composition, and target specificity across taxa. Finally, current translational strategies are evaluated, with a focus on the relative merits of recombinant human monoclonal antibodies versus catalytic-site small-molecule inhibitors as deployable interventions for snakebite. By synthesizing evolutionary genomics, structural biology, comparative toxinology, and synthetic antivenomics, this Review outlines a predictive framework for anticipating venom evolutionary trajectories and for designing broad-spectrum, next-generation therapeutics.

Animals↗
PubMed2026

Phytolacca acinosa Roxb. induces intestinal toxicity through the histamine-MLCK-tight junction axis: Integrated evidence from proteomics, metabolomics, intestinal organoids and epithelial barrier validation.

Phytolacca acinosa Roxb. (PR) is a saponin-rich medicinal plant associated with gastrointestinal toxicity, but the mechanisms underlying PR-induced intestinal barrier injury remain unclear. In this study, raw PR extract was analytically characterized by UPLC-ZenoTOF-MS/MS, confirming triterpenoid saponins as the predominant constituents. C57BL/6 J mice were orally exposed to characterized PR extract (1.20 or 12.0 g/kg for 5 h), and Caco-2 cells and mouse intestinal organoids were used to assess epithelial toxicity and barrier disruption. Histopathology, ELISA, FITC-dextran permeability assays, immunofluorescence, CCK-8, LDH release, western blotting, DIA-based proteomics and untargeted metabolomics were integrated to define toxicological mechanisms. PR induced dose-dependent intestinal inflammation and barrier dysfunction, with the ileum as the most sensitive target. PR increased serum DAO and D-lactate and intestinal TNF-α and IL-1β, disrupted organoid morphology, enhanced epithelial permeability, and reduced ZO-1 expression. Proteomics revealed changes in inflammatory, lipid-metabolic, cytoskeletal and tight-junction pathways, including upregulation of MLCK3 and phospholipase-related proteins and downregulation of ZO-1 and ZO-2. Metabolomics identified histidine metabolism disturbance and histamine accumulation. Integrated multi-omics and pharmacological validation indicated that histamine activated the PLC/IP₃/Ca²⁺/CaM/MLCK cascade, promoting MLC phosphorylation, tight-junction disassembly and epithelial leakiness. MLCK inhibition partially restored ZO-1/ZO-2 expression and attenuated PR-induced epithelial injury. These findings identify the histamine-MLCK-tight junction axis as a key mechanism of PR-induced intestinal toxicity and support hazard identification of saponin-rich PR exposure.

Animals↗
PubMed2026

Can host genetics transform the sustainable control of tropical theileriosis? Insights from the Tick-Theileria interface.

Tropical theileriosis, caused by the tick-transmitted apicomplexan parasite Theileria annulata, remains a major constraint on cattle production across North Africa, the Mediterranean basin, the Middle East and South Asia. Current control depends on acaricides, the theilericidal drug buparvaquone and live attenuated schizont vaccines, but acaricide resistance, buparvaquone-resistance mutations and the logistical demands of vaccination are eroding the sustainability of these tools. Host genetics offers a complementary and durable alternative. Indigenous Bos indicus breeds are consistently more resistant to ticks and tolerate T. annulata infection better than exotic Bos taurus cattle, and this advantage has a measurable heritable component. Unlike previous reviews, which treat tick resistance, T. annulata immunobiology and livestock genomic selection as separate subjects, we integrate all three and assess host genetics specifically against the failure modes of current control. We review the tick, parasite and host interface, the evidence for natural resistance, and the genetic and immunological mechanisms involved, including signal-regulatory protein, bovine major histocompatibility complex class II and inflammatory pathway genes. We then assess whether genomic selection, multi-omics, machine learning and gene editing can translate these mechanisms into resistant cattle, and we weigh the biological, economic and infrastructural barriers to implementation. The evidence indicates that host genetics will not replace existing control but could reduce reliance on acaricides and chemotherapy. That contribution remains prospective rather than demonstrated: no resistance marker for T. annulata has yet been validated, prediction accuracies are moderate and transfer poorly between breeds, and no endemic production system has implemented selection for resistance.

Animals↗
PubMed2026

Maternal Tuberculosis and Infant Gut and Immune Development: Implications for Maternal-Child Health.

BACKGROUND: Maternal tuberculosis (TB) during pregnancy involves chronic infection, immune activation, and antimicrobial therapy, which may alter the maternal gut, vaginal, and breast milk microbiomes and influence neonatal immune development. METHODS: We conducted a narrative review of studies identified through PubMed and GoogleScholar addressing the maternal TB-microbiome-infant immunity axis. Where evidence from pregnant women with TB was limited, findings were extrapolated from non-pregnant TB populations, antibiotic exposure studies, and broader maternal-infant microbiome research. RESULTS: Maternal TB and its treatment may alter gut, vaginal, and breast milk microbiomes and the immune-metabolic composition of milk. These changes could influence perinatal microbial transmission, mucosal maturation, and infant immune responses, including vaccine responsiveness, BCG immunogenicity, and IGRA conversion. Treatment timing, antibiotic exposure, and maternal nutrition may modify these effects. CONCLUSION: Understanding the maternal TB-microbiome-immune axis may help optimize infant immune outcomes. Longitudinal mother-infant studies, multi-omic analyses, and mechanistic models are needed to clarify these interactions and evaluate microbiome informed strategies, including nutritional optimization, targeted probiotics/prebiotics, and antibiotic stewardship.

Infant gut colonization↗
PubMed2026

Beyond antigen matching: compatibility intelligence theory for transfusion as an emergent biological system.

BACKGROUND: Despite major advances in serologic testing, extended phenotyping, and blood group genomics, clinically similar transfusion exposures may result in markedly different immune and clinical outcomes. Existing compatibility strategies do not fully explain this biological variability. OBJECTIVES: To examine transfusion compatibility as an emergent donor-recipient biological state and propose a systems-level conceptual framework that integrates established biological determinants into a testable model for future precision transfusion medicine. METHODS: This narrative review critically synthesizes current evidence from blood group genomics, recipient immunobiology, inflammation, disease-specific biology, transfusion medicine, and computational prediction. The proposed framework distinguishes Compatibility Intelligence Theory (CIT) as a biological interpretation from Precision Transfusion Intelligence (PTI) as its potential clinician-supervised translational application. RESULTS: The review argues that transfusion compatibility is shaped by interactions among donor genetics, recipient immune biology, inflammatory physiology, disease context, transfusion history, and longitudinal adaptation rather than by antigen matching alone. CIT provides an organizational framework for integrating these determinants, whereas PTI describes a possible clinician-supervised translation. To address current feasibility, the revised framework separates variables into routinely measurable, contextually available but incompletely standardized, and research-stage domains, and proposes a staged strategy for deriving rather than assuming their quantitative weights. Any clinical implementation would require comparative validation against current serologic, phenotypic, and genotype-based practice. CONCLUSIONS: Compatibility Intelligence Theory offers a testable systems-level framework for understanding transfusion compatibility without replacing established transfusion practices. The framework is not presented as a ready-to-use score: currently measurable variables can be organized for structured risk review, whereas inflammatory, immunogenetic, and multi-omic inputs require prospective standardization and validation. If future studies demonstrate incremental predictive and patient-centered benefit, CIT-informed PTI could support an adaptive, evidence-based extension of current precision transfusion practice.

Humans↗
PubMed2026

New Evidence in Heart Failure: 2026 Update.

Heart failure (HF) remains a major cause of morbidity, mortality, impaired quality of life and healthcare expenditure worldwide. The global burden of HF continues to increase due to population aging, improved survival, and the growing prevalence of cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic comorbidities. Simultaneously, the pace of scientific progress in HF has accelerated considerably. Recent advances have refined our understanding of HF epidemiology, prognosis, and disease trajectories, including emerging concepts of HF improvement, remission, and recovery. The Second Universal Definition of HF has also updated the classification framework, moving beyond the traditional ejection fraction-based categories. HF is now broadly classified into two major phenotypes: heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Novel mechanistic insights highlight the role of inflammation, immune activation, metabolic dysfunction, mitochondrial biology, and multisystem interactions in HF progression. There has also been significant progress in the characterization and management of major comorbidities, including chronic kidney disease (CKD), diabetes, obesity, atrial fibrillation (AF), pulmonary hypertension, frailty, malnutrition, and cancer. Diagnostic innovations include novel biomarkers, multi-omics technologies, artificial intelligence-based approaches, advanced imaging techniques, congestion assessment tools, and emerging digital health solutions. Important advances have occurred in specific HF aetiologies, including cardiomyopathies, cardiac amyloidosis (CA), myocarditis, arrhythmia-induced cardiomyopathy (AiCM), and Chagas cardiomyopathy. Therapeutic developments continue to reshape HF management across the spectrum of left ventricular ejection fraction. Recent evidence has focused on optimization of guideline-directed medical therapy in HFrEF, expansion of evidence-based therapies in HFpEF, and growing roles for sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors, finerenone, incretin-based therapies, and transcatheter valve interventions. Collectively, these advances support the transition from a predominantly phenotype-based approach towards a more personalized and biologically informed model of HF care, with the potential to further improve outcomes across the entire HF spectrum.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2026

Translating Flood-Tolerance Biology into Breeding: A 5D Framework for Next-Generation Rice Varieties.

Flooding is among the most devastating abiotic stresses limiting rice productivity. Although SUB1A introgression conferred submergence tolerance in several mega-varieties, this single-gene approach is insufficient for the diverse flood types-flash floods, stagnant floods, anaerobic germination, and deepwater inundation-progressively intensifying with climate change. Here, we review the physiological mechanisms and genetic architecture underlying tolerance to each flood type, emphasizing the dual role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in signalling and damage, the management of elemental toxicities (Fe2+, Mn2+) under altered soil redox, and lessons from wetland species and lowland rice. We then examine why marker-assisted selection has failed for polygenic, multi-stress tolerance and identify persistent breeding bottlenecks. Building on this biological foundation, we outline an integrated 5D framework (Demand, Discovery, Design, Development, Deployment) that links gene-bank diversity, multi-omics discovery, predictive breeding and on-farm validation through continuous feedback. We discuss how connected breeding, the transition-from-trait-to-environment (TTE) strategy, and speed breeding can accelerate genetic gain, and we close with research priorities centred on the biology of multi-flood tolerance to develop climate-resilient rice.

5D breeding framework↗
PubMed2026

Epigenetics and In Silico Transcriptome Analysis of Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

Pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous hematologic malignancy that accounts for about 15%-20% of childhood leukemias. Despite therapeutic advances, relapses remain common, and survival for high-risk patients is below 60%. Unlike adult AML, pediatric AML displays distinct genetic mutations, including FLT3-ITD, NPM1, KMT2A rearrangements, and core-binding factors (CBF) fusions, as well as extensive epigenetic dysregulation. Aberrant DNA methylation, histone modifications, and altered non-coding RNA expressions disrupt hematopoietic differentiation and activate oncogenic transcriptional networks. Recent advances in silico transcriptomic analysis have transformed the study of pediatric AML by integrating gene expression and epigenetic data to identify molecular drivers and regulatory networks. Computational RNA-seq pipelines and pathway analyses have highlighted key epigenetic regulators, including DNMT3A, TET2, and HDACs, as potential therapeutic targets. Multi-omics approaches combining transcriptomic, methylomic, and chromatin accessibility data are increasingly used to define biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic response. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the molecular and epigenetic landscape of pediatric AML, emphasizing the power of in silico transcriptome analysis to uncover disease mechanisms, refine patient stratification, and guide the development of precision-based epigenetic therapies aimed at improving long-term outcomes in children with AML.

Humans↗
PubMed2026

Markers of microvascular instability predict severity and survival in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

INTRODUCTION: Most research on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) has focused on the interplay among fibroblasts, the immune system and epithelial cells. There is growing evidence that microvascular dysfunction also plays a role in disease progression, but large human translational studies are lacking. In this research, we aim to identify a proteomic signature of microvascular instability and assess the impact of current therapeutics on the microvasculature. METHODS: Olink proteomic data from patients with IPF were obtained from the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Patient Registry (PFF-PR) (n=914) and an independent validation cohort (n=366). Among the PFF-PR, 640 patients also have whole-blood RNA sequencing data available. A subset of 79 microvascular-associated proteins was curated, and their associations with disease severity and transplant-free survival were examined. An adaptive least absolute shrinkage and selection operator was used to generate a novel microvascular risk score. RESULTS: Higher plasma levels of five microvascular-associated proteins (SDC1, MMP10, THBS2, HGF and SERPINA5) were associated with lung function and survival in both cohorts. Whole-blood RNA sequencing of patients with microvascular risk revealed enrichment of immune-mediated processes. Patients with higher microvascular risk who were subsequently put on nintedanib in the following year had significantly better 3-year transplant-free survival compared with patients who did not receive antifibrotic intervention (HR 0.56, 95% CI 0.35 to 0.89, p=0.0142). DISCUSSION: Integrative multi-omics analyses suggest that perturbations to microvascular remodelling contribute to disease severity and progression in IPF. This analysis offers a framework for a precision medicine approach for IPF.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis↗
PubMed2026

Enhanced chromatin compaction is associated with de novo expression of a nuclear microprotein, global loss of H3 acetylation and local transcriptional changes in retinal rod photoreceptors.

We have limited understanding of how aging alters gene expression and remodels cellular architecture in post-mitotic neurons. The inverted nuclear organization of mouse rod photoreceptors provides a unique model to gain mechanistic insights into age-associated decline in neuronal function. We have generated and integrated multi-omic datasets including 3D-genome topology, histone modifications, chromatin accessibility, DNA methylation and transcriptome of rod photoreceptors from young- and aged-mice. We show that aging drives global chromatin compaction, with regional alterations enriched at active chromatin. Epigenomic and transcriptional changes broadly correlate with chromatin dynamics as validated by high resolution microscopy. We uncover a megabase-sized genomic region with multi-level alterations, including de novo transcription of Gm7239, which encodes a functional microprotein carrying histone acetyltransferase-inhibitor domain. Overexpression of Gm7239 is associated with global loss of histone H3 acetylation, highlighting a potential new axis of genomic regulation in aging. Finally, we identify multiple significant local transcriptional alterations in non-annotated regions and genes associated with age-related macular degeneration. Our studies link age-related chromatin landscape changes with gene expression that may influence rod function and vulnerability to diseases.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2026

Molecular biology and integrated strategies for activating cryptic biosynthetic gene clusters toward next-generation antibiotic discovery.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been identified as one of the 21st century's severest global public health crises. AMR led to an estimated 4.95 million deaths in 2019 and will claim 10 million lives a year by 2050 in the absence of targeted interventions. During the same period, the number of novel antibiotics discovered has decreased drastically as many researchers are rediscovering known antibiotics, non-model microorganisms are poorly understood or difficult to culture and antibiotic research and development investment has declined drastically. However, high-throughput whole genome sequencing and the subsequent application of bioinformatics in bacterial and fungal genomes have shown that a numerous of cryptic or silent biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) remain latent at ambient laboratory conditions since their genes are transcriptionally inactive. Cryptic BGCs represent a vast source of unique secondary metabolites, many of which may yield novel antibacterial, antifungal, anti-cancer and other potentially valuable natural products. This review discusses the biological relevance of cryptic BGCs, the major limiting factors that restricts their activation and novel strategies that have been employed to activate them and exploit their potential to produce novel natural products. The review focuses on biological approaches including CRISPR-Cas mediation for the activation of cryptic BGCs, promoter engineering, pathway refactoring, and heterologous expression; biochemical strategies such as Osman, OsMAC, Precursor Feeding, Chemical Elicitation, Epigenetic Regulation and Co-cultivation and technology-based strategies such as Genome mining, Microfluidic Cultivation systems, High-Throughput Screening, Metabolomics, Molecular Networking and Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning based prediction of BGCs and their metabolites. The use of multi-omics technologies combined with synthetic biology to achieve better discovery, characterization and large-scale production of novel natural products is also discussed herein. Finally, we will talk about the ecological significance and evolutionary advantage of cryptic BGCs' role in interactions between microorganisms, such as competition, communication, symbiosis and environmental adaptability, so as to provide a useful background for accelerating next-generation antibiotics.

CRISPR-Cas activation↗
PubMed2026

Tissue origins of the plasma proteomic response to glucose ingestion in humans.

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Circulating proteins act as important hormonal signals of nutrient intake. We aimed to systematically characterise the time-resolved proteomic response to glucose ingestion in humans, and to assess its robustness following prolonged complete caloric restriction. METHODS: We conducted oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTTs) in 11 healthy volunteers before and after 7 days of complete caloric restriction and measured the response of >2900 targets through high-resolution plasma protein profiling. RESULTS: We identified a signature of 44 proteins that changed significantly following glucose ingestion, which was reproducible after 7 days without food, and was strongly (20-fold) enriched for 'stomach-specific' proteins. We report that annexin A10 (ANXA10) shows the most significant post-glucose change observed, similar to the trajectories of secreted hormones. We present observational human evidence from multiple sources suggesting that ANXA10 is secreted upon sensing an increase in gastric pH, with the stomach as the major contributing tissue. Despite a profound metabolic shift after 7 days of complete caloric restriction, characterised by delayed insulin secretion and postprandial hyperglycaemia, only four proteins showed robust evidence for a differential trajectory during both OGTTs. This included plasma levels of tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase 1 (WARS), for which we found a genetic association with glucose homeostasis and coronary artery disease. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: Our exploratory study identifies the proteomic response to glucose ingestion and demonstrates its reproducibility despite major shifts in glucose homeostasis. We characterise the gastrointestinal origin of these changes, and hypothesise a hitherto under-recognised role for sensing of changes in gastric pH on the plasma proteome.

Humans↗
PubMed2026

Integrated single-cell and spatial transcriptomic analyses reveal malignant epithelial glycolytic heterogeneity and spatial niche remodeling during colorectal cancer progression.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) progression is shaped by metabolic reprogramming and complex interactions within the tumor microenvironment. However, the cellular heterogeneity, spatial organization, and clinical relevance of glycolytic activity in CRC remain incompletely understood. In this study, we integrated single-cell RNA sequencing, bulk transcriptomics, and spatial transcriptomics data to systematically characterize glycolytic heterogeneity in CRC. Glycolytic activity was quantified using five independent scoring methods, consistently showing that epithelial cells exhibited the highest glycolytic activity across the two single-cell cohorts. Stratification of CopyKAT-verified aneuploid malignant epithelial cells into high-glycolysis (HG) and low-glycolysis (LG) subgroups by glycolysis scores revealed that HG cells exhibited higher stemness scores and chromosomal copy number variations. Cell-cell communication analysis revealed that, compared with LG cells, HG cells exhibited increased interaction frequency and strength with immune and stromal populations, indicating enhanced malignant epithelial-microenvironment crosstalk. Spatial transcriptomics analyses further revealed that glycolytic activity varied across normal colorectal tissue, primary CRC, and colorectal liver metastases, accompanied by progressive remodeling of epithelial-associated spatial niches and MIF-mediated intercellular communication. Bulk transcriptomic analysis identified a glycolysis-related prognostic signature with robust predictive performance, which served as an independent prognostic factor for overall survival in CRC cohorts. Collectively, these findings indicate that glycolytic heterogeneity is a key feature of CRC malignant epithelial cells and is closely associated with tumor progression, microenvironmental remodeling, and clinical outcomes.

Humans↗
PubMed2026

Glycerophospholipid remodeling under osmotic stress in grass carp gills.

Salinity fluctuations represent a pervasive environmental challenge for freshwater fishes, yet the cellular and metabolic programs governing early osmoregulatory responses remain understudied. Here, we investigated the time-dependent gill responses of juvenile grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) subjected to an acute, sublethal salinity increase 9 parts per thousand (ppt). Histological and biochemical analyses revealed progressive gill lesions accompanied by elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity and lipid peroxidation, indicating rapid tissue injury under osmotic stress. Integrative metabolomic and transcriptomic profiling uncovered pronounced temporal reprogramming, consistently highlighting glycerophospholipid metabolism as a central axis of response. In particular, phosphatidylcholine (PC) species exhibited dynamic remodeling, coupled with transcriptional enrichment of lipid turnover, membrane transport, and innate immune pathways. Network-based integration identified a PC-centered remodeling module characterized by accelerated PC headgroup turnover, disruption of the PLA2-LPCAT2 lyso-PC reacylation cycle, and enhanced ABC transporter-associated lipid and sterol export, reflected by cholesteryl sulfate accumulation and a shifted n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid-derived oxylipin signature. Functional assays further demonstrated that PC and linoleic acid (LA) supplementation improved cell viability and alleviated oxidative stress and pro-inflammatory signaling in grass carp cells under salinity challenge. Collectively, these findings reveal phospholipid-centered membrane remodeling as an early, integrative mechanism linking osmotic stress to gill injury and immune activation in freshwater fish, providing insights into potential strategies of environmental stress adaptation.

Animals↗
PubMed2026

Distinct cell morphotypes of Aureobasidium melanogenum ZN exhibit differential functional profiles in promoting maize growth.

Black yeast-like fungi of the genus Aureobasidium exhibit morphological plasticity, but whether distinct cellular states within the same genetic background are associated with different plant growth-promoting functions remains unclear. Here, yeast-like cells (YL), swollen cells (SC), and chlamydospores (CH) of Aureobasidium melanogenum ZN were characterized. YL was associated mainly with siderophore production and laccase activity, SC with extracellular polysaccharide accumulation, and CH with phosphate mobilization and higher ammonia and IAA production. Whole-genome and comparative genomic analyses revealed a shared repertoire related to nutrient acquisition, auxin-associated metabolism, extracellular oxidation, and carbohydrate remodeling, with expansions in nutrient- and cell-surface-related gene families. Transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses showed distinct deployment of these capacities, with CH exhibiting broad reprogramming of tryptophan-associated, nitrogen, phosphate, central-carbon, and amino-acid metabolism. In maize, CH at the optimal inoculation concentration of 105 CFU·mL-1 produced the strongest growth promotion, increasing plant height, dry biomass, root length, root surface area, and root volume by 58.6%, 365.1%, 191.0%, 194.3%, and 222.4%, respectively. Consistent with this pronounced growth phenotype, maize root transcriptomics showed coordinated CH-induced responses involving root development, nutrient transport, redox regulation, and root-interface remodeling. Root-zone tracking showed greater short-term stability and persistence of CH. These findings identify cellular state as an important functional dimension of Aureobasidium-plant interactions and provide a basis for developing fungal inoculants with defined beneficial cellular states.

Zea mays↗
PubMed2026

The domestication-associated WHP10 tandem cluster of amino acid transporter genes enhances whole-plant protein accumulation in maize.

Improving protein accumulation in maize is essential for sustainable agriculture, yet the regulatory mechanisms governing the intermediate "flow" of organic nitrogen remain elusive. Here, we show that the maize stem acts as a regulatory node for nitrogen allocation. By integrating spatial transcriptomics and metabolomics with quantitative genetics, we demonstrate that a transport-oriented stem program orchestrates the high-protein phenotype of the wild maize accession Ames21814. We identified a major locus, Whole-plant High Protein 10 (WHP10), that encodes a tandemly duplicated cluster of amino acid transporter genes. WHP10 exhibits strong vascular-biased expression, driven by promoter divergence that enhances the wild allele's activity. Functional assays and genetic validation support a model in which the WHP10 cluster facilitates the transport of multiple nitrogen-rich amino acids, thereby contributing to vascular-associated amino acid transport and post-uptake organic-nitrogen partitioning. Our findings establish stem flow as a regulatory layer for protein accumulation and identify WHP10 as a high-value target for precision breeding to enhance whole-plant protein accumulation without compromising grain yield.

Zea mays↗
PubMed2026

A CqbZIP55-CqPIF3 regulatory module associated with light-responsive flavonoid biosynthesis during quinoa seedling de-etiolation.

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) is an emerging leafy vegetable and microgreen crop rich in health-promoting flavonoids, yet the regulatory mechanisms linking light perception to early metabolic adaptation remain unclear. Here, we integrated phenotypic, transcriptomic, metabolomic, and molecular analyses to investigate early de-etiolation responses in quinoa seedlings. Short-term light exposure rapidly promoted seedling establishment and induced transcriptional programs associated with photosynthesis, carbon metabolism, hormone signaling, and flavonoid biosynthetic gene expression, whereas metabolite changes were more limited, indicating temporal uncoupling between transcriptional activation and metabolic accumulation. Genome-wide bZIP analysis identified CqbZIP55 as a light-responsive regulator that directly binds and activates the CqCHS promoter. CqPIF3 also bound the CqCHS promoter and showed stronger transactivation activity than CqbZIP55 in transient reporter assays. Protein interaction and dual-luciferase assays showed that CqbZIP55 physically interacts with CqPIF3 and modulates CqPIF3-associated promoter activity. Exogenous quercetin upregulated CqbZIP55 and prolonged CqCHS expression, suggesting a candidate metabolite-associated reinforcement mechanism. Together, these findings support functional interplay between CqbZIP55 and CqPIF3 in light-responsive regulation of flavonoid biosynthetic gene expression in quinoa seedlings, while further quinoa-based perturbation and in vivo promoter-occupancy assays are required to establish their physiological role in planta. This study provides a framework for further investigation of photoprotective metabolic regulation in quinoa.

Chenopodium quinoa↗
PubMed2026

A stem-like chromatin program in small-cell lung cancer is associated with poor outcomes after chemoimmunotherapy.

Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive malignancy with substantial tumor heterogeneity and limited clinically actionable biomarkers beyond established features such as liver metastases. We profile tumor-intrinsic chromatin accessibility in a patient-derived xenograft biobank and identify three recurrent chromatin programs: neuroendocrine, marked by ASCL1/NEUROD1 activity; immunogenic, marked by IRF-associated activity; and stem-like, marked by TEAD/OCT activity. These programs are reproduced at the cohort level across bulk and single-cell transcriptomic datasets comprising more than 800 tumors, including 300 extensive-stage samples. In patients treated with chemoimmunotherapy, the stem-like program is associated with inferior survival, including a median overall survival of 7.41 months versus 15.9 and 12.6 months for immunogenic and neuroendocrine groups, respectively. This association remains significant after adjustment for liver metastases, brain metastases, and elevated lactate dehydrogenase. These findings support a high-risk stem-like SCLC chromatin program for prospective biomarker refinement and therapeutic investigation.

ATAC-seq↗