Riccardo Ravasio, Kabir Husain, Constantine G. Evans, Rob Phillips, Marco Ribezzi-Crivellari, Jack W. Szostak, Arvind Murugan
Kinetic proofreading is a class of error-correcting mechanisms in biology that expend energy to avoid mistakes during replication, transcription, and translation. Proofreading is typically assumed to evolve when selection for fidelity outweighs costs in energy and the speed of replication. We show that when stalling after misincorporations is accounted for, proofreading can instead speed up replication. Consistent with data on polymerase mutagenesis, our results suggest that proofreading can evolve under selection for speed alone. We generalize to multicomponent self-assembly and show that analogous error-correcting processes, such as dynamic instability, can likewise emerge purely from selection for rapid assembly. Thus, nonequilibrium error correction can evolve from selection for speed, even without direct fidelity advantages. We discuss implications for mutation-rate evolution, molecular assembly processes, and models of early life.
{"title":"Evolution of error correction through a need for speed","authors":"Riccardo Ravasio, Kabir Husain, Constantine G. Evans, Rob Phillips, Marco Ribezzi-Crivellari, Jack W. Szostak, Arvind Murugan","doi":"10.1126/science.adt1275","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adt1275","url":null,"abstract":"Kinetic proofreading is a class of error-correcting mechanisms in biology that expend energy to avoid mistakes during replication, transcription, and translation. Proofreading is typically assumed to evolve when selection for fidelity outweighs costs in energy and the speed of replication. We show that when stalling after misincorporations is accounted for, proofreading can instead speed up replication. Consistent with data on polymerase mutagenesis, our results suggest that proofreading can evolve under selection for speed alone. We generalize to multicomponent self-assembly and show that analogous error-correcting processes, such as dynamic instability, can likewise emerge purely from selection for rapid assembly. Thus, nonequilibrium error correction can evolve from selection for speed, even without direct fidelity advantages. We discuss implications for mutation-rate evolution, molecular assembly processes, and models of early life.","PeriodicalId":21678,"journal":{"name":"Science","volume":"319 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":56.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146222981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Michael S. Costello, Bryan Neumann, Mia W. Raimondi, Bonnie J. Cuthbert, Jana Holubová, Fernando Garza-Sánchez, Abdul Samad, Ladislav Bumba, Jacob A. Torres, Nickolas Holznecht, Jessica Mendoza, Ondrej Stanek, Sasiprapa Prombhul, Thomas Weimbs, Meghan A. Morrissey, Diego Acosta-Alvear, David A. Low, Peter Šebo, Celia W. Goulding, Shane Gonen, Christopher S. Hayes
Pathogenic Bordetella bacteria use protein adhesins to infect the ciliated respiratory epithelia of vertebrate hosts. In this work, we show that the filamentous hemagglutinin FhaB adhesin of Bordetella carries a C-terminal microtubule-binding domain (FhaB-CT), which is translocated into host cells to promote colonization. FhaB-CT delivery is required to occupy a niche at the base of cilia in airway epithelia, and mutant bacteria lacking this domain are defective for nasal colonization. These observations suggest that FhaB-CT is transferred into motile respiratory cilia to interact with core axonemal microtubules. We propose that Bordetella adheres initially to the tips of cilia and then deploys multiple FhaB adhesins to migrate to the base of the cilia forest, where the bacteria resist removal by the mucociliary “escalator” that normally clears the respiratory tract of microbes.
{"title":"Bacteria deliver a microtubule-binding protein into mammalian cells to promote colonization","authors":"Michael S. Costello, Bryan Neumann, Mia W. Raimondi, Bonnie J. Cuthbert, Jana Holubová, Fernando Garza-Sánchez, Abdul Samad, Ladislav Bumba, Jacob A. Torres, Nickolas Holznecht, Jessica Mendoza, Ondrej Stanek, Sasiprapa Prombhul, Thomas Weimbs, Meghan A. Morrissey, Diego Acosta-Alvear, David A. Low, Peter Šebo, Celia W. Goulding, Shane Gonen, Christopher S. Hayes","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<div >Pathogenic <i>Bordetella</i> bacteria use protein adhesins to infect the ciliated respiratory epithelia of vertebrate hosts. In this work, we show that the filamentous hemagglutinin FhaB adhesin of <i>Bordetella</i> carries a C-terminal microtubule-binding domain (FhaB-CT), which is translocated into host cells to promote colonization. FhaB-CT delivery is required to occupy a niche at the base of cilia in airway epithelia, and mutant bacteria lacking this domain are defective for nasal colonization. These observations suggest that FhaB-CT is transferred into motile respiratory cilia to interact with core axonemal microtubules. We propose that <i>Bordetella</i> adheres initially to the tips of cilia and then deploys multiple FhaB adhesins to migrate to the base of the cilia forest, where the bacteria resist removal by the mucociliary “escalator” that normally clears the respiratory tract of microbes.</div>","PeriodicalId":21678,"journal":{"name":"Science","volume":"391 6787","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":45.8,"publicationDate":"2026-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146217680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yevgeniya Nusinovich, Keith T. Smith, Yury V. Suleymanov, Di Jiang, Dorothy Hallberg, Stella M. Hurtley, Sacha Vignieri, Peter Stern, Mattia Maroso, Angela Hessler, Ekeoma Uzogara, Christiana N. Fogg, Wei Wong
{"title":"In Science Journals","authors":"Yevgeniya Nusinovich, Keith T. Smith, Yury V. Suleymanov, Di Jiang, Dorothy Hallberg, Stella M. Hurtley, Sacha Vignieri, Peter Stern, Mattia Maroso, Angela Hessler, Ekeoma Uzogara, Christiana N. Fogg, Wei Wong","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":21678,"journal":{"name":"Science","volume":"391 6787","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":45.8,"publicationDate":"2026-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146217670","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jae Gon Kim, Greg O. Cron, Minsoo Kim, Aronee Hossain, Jin Hyung Lee
Empathy measured through observational fear in rodents has been associated with increased theta oscillations in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). However, upstream circuit mechanisms modulating these oscillations and the extent of the oscillations’ role in empathy-related behaviors remain elusive. We found that in mice, ACC theta oscillations are involved in empathy-driven prosocial allogrooming. Moreover, orexinergic neurons are selectively activated in the ACC during observational fear and prosocial allogrooming, but only when the animals had prior fear experience. Real-time, gaze-dependent optogenetic inhibition of lateral hypothalamic orexinergic inputs to ACC suppressed theta power and reduced both behaviors. These findings show that hypothalamic orexinergic inputs drive ACC theta oscillations to modulate observational fear and prosocial behaviors, providing circuit-level insight into how affective empathy translates into prosocial action.
{"title":"Empathy and prosocial behavior powered by orexin-driven theta oscillations","authors":"Jae Gon Kim, Greg O. Cron, Minsoo Kim, Aronee Hossain, Jin Hyung Lee","doi":"10.1126/science.aea7140","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aea7140","url":null,"abstract":"Empathy measured through observational fear in rodents has been associated with increased theta oscillations in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). However, upstream circuit mechanisms modulating these oscillations and the extent of the oscillations’ role in empathy-related behaviors remain elusive. We found that in mice, ACC theta oscillations are involved in empathy-driven prosocial allogrooming. Moreover, orexinergic neurons are selectively activated in the ACC during observational fear and prosocial allogrooming, but only when the animals had prior fear experience. Real-time, gaze-dependent optogenetic inhibition of lateral hypothalamic orexinergic inputs to ACC suppressed theta power and reduced both behaviors. These findings show that hypothalamic orexinergic inputs drive ACC theta oscillations to modulate observational fear and prosocial behaviors, providing circuit-level insight into how affective empathy translates into prosocial action.","PeriodicalId":21678,"journal":{"name":"Science","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":56.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146222815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Vincent Q. Tran, Matthew Nemeth, Liam J. Bartie, Sita S. Chandrasekaran, Alison Fanton, Hyungseok C. Moon, Brian L. Hie, Silvana Konermann, Patrick D. Hsu
Protein engineering is limited by the inefficient search through a high-dimensional sequence space to find combinations of synergistic mutations. Traditional approaches use stepwise mutation stacking, whereas machine learning methods require extensive datasets or multiple experimental rounds and are bottlenecked by costly, length-limited gene synthesis. We present MULTI-evolve, a rapid evolution framework that systematically engineers multimutants. Our approach combines protein language models or existing functional data with epistatic modelling to predict synergistic combinations. Proposed multimutants are built through MULTI-assembly, a mutagenesis method enabling high-efficiency assembly across multikilobase sequences. Applying MULTI-evolve to three proteins achieved up to 10-fold improvements with a single round of machine learning–guided directed evolution. MULTI-evolve provides a streamlined approach for end-to-end, multimutant engineering for a broad range of protein types and functions.
{"title":"Rapid directed evolution guided by protein language models and epistatic interactions","authors":"Vincent Q. Tran, Matthew Nemeth, Liam J. Bartie, Sita S. Chandrasekaran, Alison Fanton, Hyungseok C. Moon, Brian L. Hie, Silvana Konermann, Patrick D. Hsu","doi":"10.1126/science.aea1820","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aea1820","url":null,"abstract":"Protein engineering is limited by the inefficient search through a high-dimensional sequence space to find combinations of synergistic mutations. Traditional approaches use stepwise mutation stacking, whereas machine learning methods require extensive datasets or multiple experimental rounds and are bottlenecked by costly, length-limited gene synthesis. We present MULTI-evolve, a rapid evolution framework that systematically engineers multimutants. Our approach combines protein language models or existing functional data with epistatic modelling to predict synergistic combinations. Proposed multimutants are built through MULTI-assembly, a mutagenesis method enabling high-efficiency assembly across multikilobase sequences. Applying MULTI-evolve to three proteins achieved up to 10-fold improvements with a single round of machine learning–guided directed evolution. MULTI-evolve provides a streamlined approach for end-to-end, multimutant engineering for a broad range of protein types and functions.","PeriodicalId":21678,"journal":{"name":"Science","volume":"52 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":56.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146222958","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bailey A. Francis, Latasha Ludwig, Chang He, Melanie Dobromylskyj, Christof A. Bertram, Heike Aupperle-Lellbach, Hannah Wong, Aiden P. Foster, Mark J. Arends, Alejandro Suárez-Bonnet, Simon L. Priestnall, Laetitia Tatiersky, Fernanda Castillo-Alcala, Angie Rupp, Arlene Khachadoorian, Eda Parlak, Marine Inglebert, Shevaniee Umamaheswaran, Saamin Cheema, Martin Del Castillo Velasco-Herrera, Kim Wong, Ian C. Vermes, Jamie Billington, Sven Rottenberg, Geoffrey A. Wood, David J. Adams, Louise van der Weyden
Cancer is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in domestic cats. Because the mutational landscape of domestic cat tumors remains uncharacterized, we performed targeted sequencing of 493 feline tumor–normal tissue pairs from 13 tumor types, focusing on the feline orthologs of ~1000 human cancer genes. TP53 was the most frequently mutated gene, and the most recurrent copy number alterations were loss of PTEN or FAS or gain of MYC . By identifying 31 driver genes, mutational signatures, viral sequences, and tumor-predisposing germline variants, our study provides insight into the domestic cat oncogenome. We demonstrate key similarities with the human oncogenome, confirming the cat as a valuable model for comparative studies, and identify potentially actionable mutations, aligning with a “One Medicine” approach.
{"title":"The oncogenome of the domestic cat","authors":"Bailey A. Francis, Latasha Ludwig, Chang He, Melanie Dobromylskyj, Christof A. Bertram, Heike Aupperle-Lellbach, Hannah Wong, Aiden P. Foster, Mark J. Arends, Alejandro Suárez-Bonnet, Simon L. Priestnall, Laetitia Tatiersky, Fernanda Castillo-Alcala, Angie Rupp, Arlene Khachadoorian, Eda Parlak, Marine Inglebert, Shevaniee Umamaheswaran, Saamin Cheema, Martin Del Castillo Velasco-Herrera, Kim Wong, Ian C. Vermes, Jamie Billington, Sven Rottenberg, Geoffrey A. Wood, David J. Adams, Louise van der Weyden","doi":"10.1126/science.ady6651","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ady6651","url":null,"abstract":"Cancer is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in domestic cats. Because the mutational landscape of domestic cat tumors remains uncharacterized, we performed targeted sequencing of 493 feline tumor–normal tissue pairs from 13 tumor types, focusing on the feline orthologs of ~1000 human cancer genes. <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">TP53</jats:italic> was the most frequently mutated gene, and the most recurrent copy number alterations were loss of <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">PTEN</jats:italic> or <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">FAS</jats:italic> or gain of <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">MYC</jats:italic> . By identifying 31 driver genes, mutational signatures, viral sequences, and tumor-predisposing germline variants, our study provides insight into the domestic cat oncogenome. We demonstrate key similarities with the human oncogenome, confirming the cat as a valuable model for comparative studies, and identify potentially actionable mutations, aligning with a “One Medicine” approach.","PeriodicalId":21678,"journal":{"name":"Science","volume":"49 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":56.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146222980","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
David A. Hodell, Fátima Abrantes, Carlos A. Alvarez Zarikian, Timothy D. Herbert, Mengyao Du, Simon J. Crowhurst, Maryline Mleneck-Vautravers, James E. Rolfe, Xi Chen, Hannah L. Brooks, William B. Clark, Louise F. B. Dauchy-Tric, Viviane dos Santos Rocha, José-Abel Flores, Sophia K. V. Hines, Huai-Hsuan May Huang, Hisashi Ikeda, Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr, Junichiro Kuroda, Jasmin M. Link, Jerry F. McManus, Bryce A. Mitsunaga, Lucien Nana Yobo, Celeste T. Pallone, Xiaolei Pang, Marion Y. Péral, Emília Salgueiro, Saray Sanchez, Komal Verma, Jiawang Wu, Chuang Xuan, Jimin Yu, Lauren A. Haygood, Diederik Liebrand, Vitor Magalhães, Monserrat Alonso-Garcia, Mónica Duque-Castaño, Fernanda Ferreira, Mafalda Freitas, Lívia Gebara Cordeiro, Isabelle Gil, María González-Martín, Ana Lopes, Cristina Lopes, Vasiliki Margari, Laura Martín-García, Lélia Matos, Aline Mega, Giulia Molina, Filipa Naughton, Dulce Oliveira, Andreia Rebotim, Teresa Rodrigues, André Santana, Raúl Trejos-Tamayo, Polychronis C. Tzedakis
The Quaternary Period (the last 2.58 Ma) was characterized by the waxing and waning of large ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere. Using sediment sequences from the Iberian Margin, we demonstrate that expansion of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets around 2.7 Ma was accompanied by the emergence of millennial climate variability (MCV) during glacial periods. The onset of MCV at ~2.7 Ma was heralded by isolated precursor events, followed by multiple millennial climate oscillations at ~2.5 Ma. These events coincided with deposition of ice-rafted detritus in the North Atlantic, suggesting a role for marine-terminating ice sheets. Once established, MCV became an intrinsic feature of glacial climates of the Quaternary. Our findings underscore the profound impact Northern Hemisphere glaciation had on climate variability across multiple time scales.
{"title":"Onset of millennial climate variability with the intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation","authors":"David A. Hodell, Fátima Abrantes, Carlos A. Alvarez Zarikian, Timothy D. Herbert, Mengyao Du, Simon J. Crowhurst, Maryline Mleneck-Vautravers, James E. Rolfe, Xi Chen, Hannah L. Brooks, William B. Clark, Louise F. B. Dauchy-Tric, Viviane dos Santos Rocha, José-Abel Flores, Sophia K. V. Hines, Huai-Hsuan May Huang, Hisashi Ikeda, Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr, Junichiro Kuroda, Jasmin M. Link, Jerry F. McManus, Bryce A. Mitsunaga, Lucien Nana Yobo, Celeste T. Pallone, Xiaolei Pang, Marion Y. Péral, Emília Salgueiro, Saray Sanchez, Komal Verma, Jiawang Wu, Chuang Xuan, Jimin Yu, Lauren A. Haygood, Diederik Liebrand, Vitor Magalhães, Monserrat Alonso-Garcia, Mónica Duque-Castaño, Fernanda Ferreira, Mafalda Freitas, Lívia Gebara Cordeiro, Isabelle Gil, María González-Martín, Ana Lopes, Cristina Lopes, Vasiliki Margari, Laura Martín-García, Lélia Matos, Aline Mega, Giulia Molina, Filipa Naughton, Dulce Oliveira, Andreia Rebotim, Teresa Rodrigues, André Santana, Raúl Trejos-Tamayo, Polychronis C. Tzedakis","doi":"10.1126/science.ady7970","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ady7970","url":null,"abstract":"The Quaternary Period (the last 2.58 Ma) was characterized by the waxing and waning of large ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere. Using sediment sequences from the Iberian Margin, we demonstrate that expansion of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets around 2.7 Ma was accompanied by the emergence of millennial climate variability (MCV) during glacial periods. The onset of MCV at ~2.7 Ma was heralded by isolated precursor events, followed by multiple millennial climate oscillations at ~2.5 Ma. These events coincided with deposition of ice-rafted detritus in the North Atlantic, suggesting a role for marine-terminating ice sheets. Once established, MCV became an intrinsic feature of glacial climates of the Quaternary. Our findings underscore the profound impact Northern Hemisphere glaciation had on climate variability across multiple time scales.","PeriodicalId":21678,"journal":{"name":"Science","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":56.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146222982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In an era of heightened global competition in science and technology and geopolitical tensions, United States leadership in science has been diminishing. The 2025 Nature Index found that in elite science journals, China accounted for 56% of the publications in 2024, whereas the US contributed only 10%. This is in stark contrast to 5 years earlier when the US still topped the ranking—but China’s surge was becoming apparent. The rapid change indicates that a remodeling of the US science ecosystem is warranted, including the creation of new paths to earning PhDs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, if the United States is to cultivate a much needed, highly skilled scientific workforce.
{"title":"Reimagining STEM doctoral training","authors":"Ian Banks, Prineha Narang","doi":"10.1126/science.aeg3525","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aeg3525","url":null,"abstract":"In an era of heightened global competition in science and technology and geopolitical tensions, United States leadership in science has been diminishing. The 2025 Nature Index found that in elite science journals, China accounted for 56% of the publications in 2024, whereas the US contributed only 10%. This is in stark contrast to 5 years earlier when the US still topped the ranking—but China’s surge was becoming apparent. The rapid change indicates that a remodeling of the US science ecosystem is warranted, including the creation of new paths to earning PhDs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, if the United States is to cultivate a much needed, highly skilled scientific workforce.","PeriodicalId":21678,"journal":{"name":"Science","volume":"128 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":56.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146222983","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kangkai Liang, Zihao Wang, Weike Quan, Yueqing Shi, Hao Zhou, Liya Bi, Zhiyuan Yin, Nathan Romero, Mark Young, Shaowei Li
Probing vibrations at the single-molecule level is essential for achieving bond-specific chemical control in realistic heterogeneous environments. Here, we introduce a new measurement scheme that integrates frequency-tunable infrared excitation with scanning tunneling microscopy to characterize vibration-mediated nuclear motions of single molecules. We first validated the technique by monitoring the infrared-induced rotation of the ethynyl radical and then applied it to mapping pyrrolidine’s conformational dynamics. The resulting broadband spectra captured fundamental vibrational modes together with rich overtone and combination bands inaccessible by conventional methods, which we confirmed with isotopic substitutions. Density functional theory calculations showed that delocalized modes coupled with pyrrolidine ring puckering drive the structural transition, revealing altered selection rules compared with traditional infrared spectroscopy. This new experimental platform enables molecular vibrations and transformations to be probed with atomic precision.
{"title":"Single-molecule infrared spectroscopy with scanning tunneling microscopy","authors":"Kangkai Liang, Zihao Wang, Weike Quan, Yueqing Shi, Hao Zhou, Liya Bi, Zhiyuan Yin, Nathan Romero, Mark Young, Shaowei Li","doi":"10.1126/science.adz6643","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adz6643","url":null,"abstract":"Probing vibrations at the single-molecule level is essential for achieving bond-specific chemical control in realistic heterogeneous environments. Here, we introduce a new measurement scheme that integrates frequency-tunable infrared excitation with scanning tunneling microscopy to characterize vibration-mediated nuclear motions of single molecules. We first validated the technique by monitoring the infrared-induced rotation of the ethynyl radical and then applied it to mapping pyrrolidine’s conformational dynamics. The resulting broadband spectra captured fundamental vibrational modes together with rich overtone and combination bands inaccessible by conventional methods, which we confirmed with isotopic substitutions. Density functional theory calculations showed that delocalized modes coupled with pyrrolidine ring puckering drive the structural transition, revealing altered selection rules compared with traditional infrared spectroscopy. This new experimental platform enables molecular vibrations and transformations to be probed with atomic precision.","PeriodicalId":21678,"journal":{"name":"Science","volume":"96 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":56.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146222984","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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