Nature Communications最新文献

Mean-field microkinetic models derived from quantum-mechanical energetics are widely used to predict catalytic rates. However, they often treat different facets as independent and neglect surface crowding and diffusion of intermediates between site types, effects that matter on nanoparticles and are expensive to capture with stochastic simulations. Here we show that an extended mean-field framework can treat a catalyst nanoparticle as a single interacting system by coupling multiple site types through surface diffusion while accounting for surface crowding. Benchmarks for the platinum-catalyzed water-gas shift reaction on single-crystal surfaces, nanoparticles and platinum-ruthenium alloys reproduce reaction rates, preferred active sites, pathways and activation energies from kinetic Monte Carlo at a cost comparable to conventional mean-field models. The results also challenge the common assumption that sufficiently large particles can be represented as independent collections of single-crystal facets, even near 100 micrometers. The framework enables efficient microkinetic simulations and high-throughput catalyst screening under working conditions.

Synthetic cells emulate fundamental biological behaviors, like growth, metabolism, and mobility, but have lacked genotype-driven selection, which is essential for Darwinian evolution. Here, we introduce libraries of short DNA sequences as genotypes into fuel-dependent peptide-RNA-based coacervate droplets, serving as synthetic cells. By sequencing, we identify sequences that partition in the droplets, revealing strong preferences for guanine-rich and adenine-rich motifs. These sequences affect the synthetic cell phenotype-adenine-rich sequences shorten droplet lifetimes through hybridization. In contrast, guanine-rich sequences kinetically trap droplets via peptide interactions, altering dissolution rates and morphology. This study demonstrates how genotype affects phenotype in synthetic cells, establishing essential design principles for achieving Darwinian evolution in minimal protocellular systems.

The spatiotemporal interplay of long-lasting post-orogenic deformations make continental collision zones among Earth's most enigmatic systems. Here, we employ three-dimensional thermomechanical modeling to decode mantle dynamics of the Arabian-Eurasian collision-an archetype of post-subduction tectonics. Our key findings reveal that plumelet-plate interactions drive deformation both within and at the margins of convergent plates, forming modern kinematics, surface tectonics, and plate boundary configurations. We document previously unrecognized segmentation of the subducted Neotethyan slabs (Bitlis and Zagros) accompanied by upper-plate tearing, which fundamentally modifies the seismotectonic stress accumulation along the Arabian-Turkish-Iranian boundary. The convective support from the plumelet beneath the former Tethyan magmatic arc drives drip-like lithospheric removal under the southern Georgian highland, providing a regional-scale example of arc-to-intraplate deformation transformation. Our results offer a unified framework for understanding how upper mantle processes control surface deformation in post-subduction systems dominated by plumelet dynamics.

Flexible large-area monolithic organic solar cells suffer from electrical loss during up-scaling due to the limited conductivity of transparent electrodes. In this work, highly conductive silver grid fingers are integrated onto a roll-to-roll gravure-printed silver nanowire electrode via roll-to-roll screen printing, significantly reducing the composite sheet resistance from 15 to 1.5 Ω sq^-1. A numerical model is established to optimize grid width and spacing, achieving an equivalent sheet resistance of 1 ~ 2 Ω sq^-1 for higher-resistance electrodes. A self-masking strategy is developed to prevent shunting caused by uneven grid surfaces. As a result, monolithic flexible organic solar cells with areas of 4 and 16 cm² achieve power conversion efficiencies of 15.20% and 14.24%, respectively, demonstrating minimal efficiency loss with increased area. Additionally, the devices exhibit excellent mechanical flexibility and shelf stability, enabled by a robust photoresist passivation layer.

Phase-separated biomolecular condensates are functional elements in cells, contribute to protocell formation in prebiotic systems, and represent a distinct class of soft matter. Controlling condensate mechanochemistry is critical for function and material properties. Although photochemical processes are widespread in nature and can be harnessed in engineering, it remains unclear how condensate formation affects photochemistry, and conversely how photochemistry alters condensate dynamics. Using scanning probe microscopy combined with UV-controlled photochemistry and optical imaging, we develop assays to probe mechanical transitions and fusion dynamics in condensate droplets, revealing that UV-induced thymine dimerization alters condensate nucleation and coalescence. Depending on the frequency and topological arrangement of thymine dimers, particularly the balance between inter- and intrachain crosslinks, UV can drive transitions from liquid-like to solid-like states or induce aggregates. UV also promotes arrested fusion and stable compartmentalization of droplets, resilient to environmental changes and with implications for prebiotic chemistry and bio-inspired engineering.

Adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) RNA editing, catalyzed by adenosine deaminases acting on RNA (ADARs), is a widespread modification in metazoans. Cumulative evidence has revealed the altered A-to-I editing profiles in cancers, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Here, we discover the well-known histone lysine methyltransferase enhancer of zeste homologue 2 (EZH2) as an unexplored ADAR interactor and editing regulator in prostate cancer (PCa). Through competing with interleukin enhancer binding factor 2 (ILF2) for ADAR1 binding, EZH2 reshapes the substrate selectivity of ADAR1 and thus exhibits a bidirectional role in editing regulation. Moreover, EZH2 depletion induces the translational repression of transportin-1 (TRN1), which further results in the accumulation of cytoplasmic ADAR1p110 isoform to protect many oncogenic transcripts from degradation. Consistently, depletion of ADAR1 dramatically enhances the sensitivity of cancer cells and tumors to EZH2 selective degraders. Collectively, our study sheds new light on a link between two layers of epigenetic regulations at histone modification and RNA editing levels, demonstrates a previously uncharacterized role of EZH2 in RNA editing and mRNA stability independently of its lysine methyltransferase activity, and reveals the significance of EZH2-ADAR1 cascade in governing RNA editing and mRNA stability, which may provide additional perspectives for the advancement of EZH2-targeting cancer therapies.