@article{20080, abstract = {Introduction: Acid-growth theory has been postulated in the 70s to explain the rapid elongation of plant cells in response to the hormone auxin. More recently, it has been demonstrated that activation of the proton ATPs pump (H+-ATPs) promoting acidification of the apoplast is the principal mechanism by which auxin and other hormones such as brassinosteroids (BR) induce cell elongation. Despite these advances, the impact of this acidification on the mechanical properties of the cell wall remained largely unexplored. Methods: Here, we use elongation assays of Arabidopsis thaliana hypocotyls and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) to correlate hormone-induced tissue elongation and local changes in cell wall mechanical properties. Furthermore, employing transgenic lines over-expressing Pectin Methyl Esterase (PME), along with calcium chelators, we investigate the effect of pectin modification in hormone-driven cell elongation. Results: We demonstrate that acidification of apoplast is necessary and sufficient to induce cell elongation through promoting cell wall softening. Moreover, we show that enhanced PME activity can induce both cell wall softening or stiffening in extracellular calcium dependent-manner and that tight control of PME activity is required for proper hypocotyl elongation. Discussion: Our results confirm a dual role of PME in plant cell elongation. However, further investigation is needed to assess the status of pectin following short- or long-term PME treatments in order to determine if pectin methyl-esterification might promote its degradation as well as the role of PME inhibitors upon PME induction.}, author = {Gallemi, Marçal and Montesinos López, Juan C and Zarevski, Nikola and Pribyl, Jan and Skládal, Petr and Hannezo, Edouard B and Benková, Eva}, issn = {1664-462X}, journal = {Frontiers in Plant Science}, publisher = {Frontiers Media}, title = {{Dual role of pectin methyl esterase activity in the regulation of plant cell wall biophysical properties}}, doi = {10.3389/fpls.2025.1612366}, volume = {16}, year = {2025}, } @article{20082, abstract = {Efficient immune responses rely on the capacity of leukocytes to traverse diverse and complex tissues. To meet such changing environmental conditions, leukocytes usually adopt an ameboid configuration, using their forward-positioned nucleus as a probe to identify and follow the path of least resistance among pre-existing pores. We show that, in dense environments where even the largest pores preclude free passage, leukocytes position their nucleus behind the centrosome and organelles. The local compression imposed on the cell body by its surroundings triggers assembly of a central F-actin pool, located between cell front and nucleus. Central actin pushes outward to transiently dilate a path for organelles and nucleus. Pools of central and front actin are tightly coupled and experimental depletion of the central pool enhances actin accumulation and protrusion formation at the cell front. Although this shifted balance speeds up cells in permissive environments, migration in restrictive environments is impaired, as the unleashed leading edge dissociates from the trapped cell body. Our findings establish an actin regulatory loop that balances path dilation with advancement of the leading edge to maintain cellular coherence.}, author = {Dos Reis Rodrigues, Patricia and Avellaneda Sarrió, Mario and Canigova, Nikola and Gärtner, Florian R and Vaahtomeri, Kari and Riedl, Michael and De Vries, Ingrid and Merrin, Jack and Hauschild, Robert and Fukui, Yoshinori and Juanes Garcia, Alba and Sixt, Michael K}, issn = {1529-2916}, journal = {Nature Immunology}, pages = {1258–1266}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Migrating immune cells globally coordinate protrusive forces}}, doi = {10.1038/s41590-025-02211-w}, volume = {26}, year = {2025}, } @article{20098, abstract = {Climate change is causing wildfires to become more frequent and intense. While predicting burned areas using bioclimatic and anthropogenic factors is an active research area, few studies have examined what drives the economic damages of wildfires. Our study aims to fill this gap by analyzing key factors influencing global economic wildfire damages and projecting future damages under three shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs). We apply regression analyses to identify significant predictors of economic wildfire damages at country levels and use the fitted model to project future damages under SSP126, SSP245, and SSP370. Results show that the human vulnerability index (HVI), reflecting socioeconomic conditions, is the strongest predictor of historical wildfire damages, followed by water vapor pressure deficit during the fire season and population density around forested areas. We found high population density to be associated with lower damages. These findings contrast with studies of burned areas, where climate factors are more dominant. Our model projects that by 2070, average global economic wildfire damages will be three times higher under SSP370 than SSP126. Our model also shows that following SSP126 not only reduces wildfire damages but also lessens the inequalities in damage distribution across countries. This pathway’s dual focus on equitable socioeconomic progress and climate action potentially enhances a country’s resilience that helps mitigate wildfire damages. Our analyses also indicate that strong socioeconomic development can offset wildfire damages associated with climate hazards, although this is less certain under SSP370. SSP126’s integrated approach improves both socioeconomic conditions and limits global warming, providing substantial benefits to less developed countries while still reducing damages in developed nations, despite their already low HVI scores. Our work complements existing research on burned areas and underscores the importance of sustainable development and international collaboration in reducing the economic damages of wildfires.}, author = {Hwong, Yi-Ling and Byers, Edward and Werning, Michaela and Quilcaille, Yann}, issn = {2752-5295}, journal = {Environmental Research: Climate}, number = {3}, publisher = {IOP Publishing}, title = {{Sustainable development key to limiting climate change-driven wildfire damages}}, doi = {10.1088/2752-5295/adec11}, volume = {4}, year = {2025}, } @article{20100, abstract = {A key step in protein structure prediction involves the detection of co-evolving pairs of residues, a signal for spatial proximity. This information is gleaned from multiple sequence alignment and underscores Alphafold’s structure prediction for almost every known protein. A simple means to create proteins beyond those found in nature, is by unnaturally fusing together two known proteins or protein parts. Here we demonstrate that structured peptides are predicted with significantly reduced accuracy when added to the terminal ends of scaffold proteins. Appending the multiple sequence alignment for the individual peptide tags to that of the scaffold protein often restores prediction accuracy. This work suggests that this windowed multiple sequence alignment approach can be a useful tool for predicting the structure of fused, chimeric proteins.}, author = {Vedula, Sanketh and Bronstein, Alexander and Marx, Ailie}, issn = {2001-0370}, journal = {Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal}, pages = {3292--3298}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{Improving prediction accuracy in chimeric proteins with windowed multiple sequence alignment}}, doi = {10.1016/j.csbj.2025.07.039}, volume = {27}, year = {2025}, } @article{20102, abstract = {Speciation is rarely observable directly. A way forward is to compare pairs of ecotypes that evolved in parallel in similar contexts but have reached different degrees of reproductive isolation. Such comparisons are possible in the marine snail Littorina saxatilis by contrasting barriers to gene flow between parallel ecotypes in Spain and Sweden. In both countries, divergent ecotypes have evolved to withstand either crab predation or wave action. Here, we explore transects spanning contact zones between the Crab and the Wave ecotypes using low-coverage whole-genome sequencing, morphological and behavioural traits. Despite parallel phenotypic divergence, distinct patterns of differentiation between the ecotypes emerged: a continuous cline in Sweden indicating a weak barrier to gene flow, but two highly genetically and phenotypically divergent, and partly spatially overlapping clusters in Spain suggesting a much stronger barrier to gene flow. The absence of Spanish early-generation hybrids supported strong isolation, but a low level of gene flow is evident from molecular data. In both countries, highly differentiated loci were located in both shared and country-specific chromosomal inversions but were also present in collinear regions. Despite being considered the same species and showing similar levels of phenotypic divergence, the Spanish ecotypes are much closer to full reproductive isolation than the Swedish ones. Barriers to gene flow of very different strengths between ecotypes within the same species might be explained by dissimilarities in the spatial arrangement of habitats, the selection gradients or the ages of the systems.}, author = {Raffini, Francesca and De Jode, Aurélien and Johannesson, Kerstin and Faria, Rui and Zagrodzka, Zuzanna B. and Westram, Anja M and Galindo, Juan and Rolán-Alvarez, Emilio and Butlin, Roger K.}, issn = {1365-294X}, journal = {Molecular Ecology}, number = {21}, publisher = {Wiley}, title = {{Phenotypic divergence and genomic architecture between parallel ecotypes at two different points on the speciation continuum in a marine snail}}, doi = {10.1111/mec.70025}, volume = {34}, year = {2025}, } @misc{20103, abstract = {Official implementation, windowed MSAs, and the predictions as reported in the manuscript titled "Improving Prediction Accuracy in Chimeric Proteins with Windowed Multiple Sequence Alignment". (2025-06-27)}, author = {Vedula, Sanketh and Bronstein, Alexander and Marx, Ailie}, publisher = {Harvard Dataverse}, title = {{Replication Data for: "Improving Prediction Accuracy in Chimeric Proteins with Windowed Multiple Sequence Alignment"}}, doi = {10.7910/DVN/DYEBVM}, year = {2025}, } @misc{20107, abstract = {This repository contains the data and scripts required to reproduce the results of the manuscript "Sustainable Development Key to Limiting Climate Change-Driven Wildfire Damages" submitted to the Environmental Research Climate Journal (ERCL). }, author = {Hwong, Yi-Ling and Byers, Edward and Werning, Michaela and Quilcaille, Yann}, publisher = {Zenodo}, title = {{Data - Sustainable Development Key to Limiting Climate Change-Driven Wildfire Damages}}, doi = {10.5281/ZENODO.13988679}, year = {2025}, } @phdthesis{20149, abstract = {Immune responses depend on the coordinated and efficient migration of leukocytes. These cells, which are embedded and tightly confined within tissues, must navigate and traverse diverse and complex three-dimensional environments. Leukocytes adapt their locomotory behavior to the mechanical, geometrical, and biochemical characteristics of their surroundings. In low-density environments, where the pore size of the interstitial matrix allows free passage, these cells position the nucleus directly behind the lamellipodium, the protrusive actin structure that forms the leading front of the cell. In this configuration, they use the nucleus as a gauge to identify the path of least resistance. Here, we show that in high-density environments, where the pore size precludes free passage of the cell body, leukocytes reposition the microtubule-organizing center (MTOC) and associated organelles in front of the nucleus. In this configuration, they use actin structures protruding orthogonally to the direction of migration in order to open a path for the cell body. We identify two distinct actin populations that serve this purpose at different subcellular localizations. At the leading edge, local indentation of the plasma membrane leads to recruitment of the Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASp), which, via Arp2/3, results in the formation of individual actin foci. At the cell body, actin polymerization is triggered by DOCK8, a Cdc42 exchange factor, resulting in the formation of a central actin pool. We demonstrate that the central and peripheral actin pools are functionally communicating and that depletion of the central actin pool leads to increased actin accumulation at the cell front, resulting in excessive extension of the leading edge.}, author = {Dos Reis Rodrigues, Patricia}, issn = {2663-337X}, pages = {114}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{Coordination of protrusive forces in immune cell migration }}, doi = {10.15479/AT-ISTA-20149}, year = {2025}, } @article{20155, abstract = {We study time averages for the norm of solutions to kinetic Fokker–Planck equations associated with general Hamiltonians. We provide fully explicit and constructive decay estimates for systems subject to a confining potential, allowing fat-tail, subexponential and (super-)exponential local equilibria, which also include the classic Maxwellian case. The key step in our estimates is a modified Poincaré inequality, obtained via a Lions–Poincaré inequality and an averaging lemma.}, author = {Brigati, Giovanni and Stoltz, Gabriel}, issn = {1095-7154}, journal = {SIAM Journal on Mathematical Analysis}, number = {4}, pages = {3587--3622}, publisher = {Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics}, title = {{How to construct explicit decay rates for kinetic Fokker–Planck equations?}}, doi = {10.1137/24M1700351}, volume = {57}, year = {2025}, } @article{20182, abstract = {Sex chromosomes have evolved many times throughout the tree of life, and understanding what has shaped their unusual morphological, sequence, and regulatory features has been a long-standing goal. Most early insights into insect sex chromosome biology came from a few model species, such as the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, which limited broad-scale evolutionary inferences. More recently, extensive comparative genomics studies have uncovered several unexpected patterns, which we highlight in this review. First, we describe the conservation of the ancestral X chromosome over 450 million years but also its recurrent turnover (i.e. its reversal to an autosome when a new X chromosome arose) in at least one order. We then summarize classical and more recent findings on how insects modulate the expression of X-linked genes following the degradation of the Y chromosome and how the diverse mechanisms of dosage compensation identified may elucidate important principles of sex chromosome regulatory evolution.}, author = {Toups, Melissa A and Vicoso, Beatriz}, issn = {2214-5753}, journal = {Current Opinion in Insect Science}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{Insect sex chromosome evolution: Conservation, turnover, and mechanisms of dosage compensation}}, doi = {10.1016/j.cois.2025.101411}, volume = {72}, year = {2025}, } @article{20183, abstract = {The unequal segregation of organelles has been proposed to be an intrinsic mechanism that contributes to cell fate divergence during asymmetric cell division; however, in vivo evidence is sparse. Using super-resolution microscopy, we analysed the segregation of organelles during the division of the neuroblast QL.p in C. elegans larvae. QL.p divides to generate a daughter that survives, QL.pa, and a daughter that dies, QL.pp. We found that mitochondria segregate unequally by density and morphology and that this is dependent on mitochondrial dynamics. Furthermore, we found that mitochondrial density in QL.pp correlates with the time it takes QL.pp to die. We propose that low mitochondrial density in QL.pp promotes the cell death fate and ensures that QL.pp dies in a highly reproducible and timely manner. Our results provide in vivo evidence that the unequal segregation of mitochondria can contribute to cell fate divergence during asymmetric cell division in a developing animal.}, author = {Segos, Ioannis and Van Eeckhoven, Jens and Berger, Simon and Mishra, Nikhil and Lambie, Eric J. and Conradt, Barbara}, issn = {2041-1723}, journal = {Nature Communications}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Unequal segregation of mitochondria during asymmetric cell division contributes to cell fate divergence in sister cells in vivo}}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-025-62484-5}, volume = {16}, year = {2025}, } @article{20184, abstract = {Specialized DNA polymerases facilitate various cellular processes. Despite extensive research, the mutagenic effects of these error-prone enzymes on genomes are not fully understood. Here we show that Pol IV promotes genomic instability in Pseudomonas aeruginosa by misincorporating oxidized guanine nucleotides. This activity led to a distinctive mutational signature, characterized by A-to-C transversions occurring preferentially at AT sites flanked by a 5’G and/or 3’C. Furthermore, Pol IV preferentially targeted pathogenicity genes located at specific chromosomal locations near the replication termination region and rRNA-encoding operons. Half of the mutation events catalyzed by Pol IV impaired gene function. This can be attributed to the bias of Pol IV for mutating codons with its preferred sequence contexts, leading to substitutions to unreactive alanine and glycine residues. Remarkably, mutation signatures identified for Pol IV were found in clinical isolate genomes of P. aeruginosa, providing compelling evidence for its role in genetic diversification during pathogen adaptation.}, author = {Castell, Sofía D. and Fernandez, Consuelo M. and Tumas, Ignacio N. and Margara, Lucía M. and Miserendino, Maria C and Ceschin, Danilo G. and Pezza, Roberto J. and Monti, Mariela R.}, issn = {2399-3642}, journal = {Communications Biology}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{The low-fidelity DNA Pol IV accelerates evolution of pathogenicity genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa}}, doi = {10.1038/s42003-025-08589-5}, volume = {8}, year = {2025}, } @article{20185, abstract = {We show a local rigidity result for the integrability of symplectic billiards. We prove that any domain which is close to an ellipse, and for which the symplectic billiard map is rationally integrable must be an ellipse as well. This is in spirit of the result of [2] for Birkhoff billiards.}, author = {Tsodikovich, Daniel}, issn = {1050-6926}, journal = {Journal of Geometric Analysis}, number = {10}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Local rigidity for symplectic billiards}}, doi = {10.1007/s12220-025-02148-4}, volume = {35}, year = {2025}, } @article{20186, abstract = {Enforcement of information-flow policies has been extensively studied by language-based approaches over the past few decades. In this paper, we propose an alternative, novel, general, and effective approach using enforcement of hyperproperties– a powerful formalism for expressing and reasoning about a wide range of information-flow security policies. We study black- vs. gray- vs. white-box enforcement of hyperproperties expressed by nondeterministic finite-word hyperautomata (NFH), where the enforcer has null, some, or complete information about the implementation of the system under scrutiny. Given an NFH, in order to generate a runtime enforcer, we reduce the problem to controller synthesis for hyperproperties and subsequently to the satisfiability problem for quantified Boolean formulas (QBFs). The resulting enforcers are transferable with low-overhead. We conduct a rich set of case studies, including information-flow control for JavaScript code, as well as synthesizing obfuscators for control plants.}, author = {Hsu, Tzu Han and Oliveira Da Costa, Ana A and Wintenberg, Andrew and Bartocci, Ezio and Bonakdarpour, Borzoo}, issn = {1432-0525}, journal = {Acta Informatica}, number = {3}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Gray-box runtime enforcement of hyperproperties}}, doi = {10.1007/s00236-025-00502-1}, volume = {62}, year = {2025}, } @article{20188, abstract = {Collective cell migration is coordinated by the front-to-rear intercellular propagation of EGFR-Ras-ERK pathway activation. However, the molecular mechanisms integrating front-to-rear information into this intercellular signaling cascade, particularly the determinants of cellular front-side specification, remain elusive. We visualized the activity of EGFR, Ras, Rac1 and Rab5A (hereafter Rab5) by using FRET biosensors and chemogenetic tools. Whereas EGFR activation was uniformly observed within cells, Ras activation was biased to the front side within cells. The polarized Ras activation depended on Merlin and Rac1, which also showed front-biased activation. Furthermore, Rab5, a crucial regulator of cell migration, demonstrated similar front-biased activation and was found to function downstream of Ras while being necessary for Rac1 activation. Thus, the positive feedback loop consisting of Ras, Rab5 and Rac1 is activated primarily at the front of collectively migrating cells. These findings offer new spatio-temporal insight into processing front–rear information during collective cell migration.}, author = {Jikko, Yuya and Deguchi, Eriko and Matsuda, Kimiya and Hino, Naoya and Tsukiji, Shinya and Matsuda, Michiyuki and Terai, Kenta}, issn = {1477-9137}, journal = {Journal of Cell Science}, number = {15}, publisher = {The Company of Biologists}, title = {{Front-biased activation of the Ras-Rab5-Rac1 loop coordinates collective cell migration}}, doi = {10.1242/jcs.263779}, volume = {138}, year = {2025}, } @inproceedings{20189, abstract = {Certification was made mandatory for the first time in the latest hardware model checking competition. In this case study, we investigate the trade-offs of requiring certificates for both passing and failing properties in the competition. Our evaluation shows that participating model checkers were able to produce compact, correct certificates that could be verified with minimal overhead. Furthermore, the certifying winner of the competition outperforms the previous non-certifying state-of-the-art model checker, demonstrating that certification can be adopted without compromising model checking efficiency.}, author = {Froleyks, Nils and Yu, Zhengqi and Preiner, Mathias and Biere, Armin and Heljanko, Keijo}, booktitle = {37th International Conference on Computer Aided Verification}, isbn = {9783031986673}, issn = {1611-3349}, location = {Zagreb, Croatia}, pages = {281--295}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Introducing certificates to the hardware model checking competition}}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-98668-0_14}, volume = {15931}, year = {2025}, } @article{20192, abstract = {We study the physical origin and spectroscopic impact of extreme nebular emission in high-redshift galaxies. The nebular continuum, which can appear during an extreme starburst, is of particular importance as it tends to redden UV slopes and has a significant contribution to the UV luminosities of galaxies. Furthermore, its shape can be used to infer the gas density and temperature of the interstellar medium. First, we provide a theoretical background, showing how different stellar populations (SPS models, initial mass functions (IMFs), and stellar temperatures) and nebular conditions impact observed galaxy spectra. We demonstrate that, for systems with strong nebular continuum emission, 1) UV fluxes can increase by up to 0.7~mag (or more in the case of hot/massive stars) above the stellar continuum, which may help reconcile the surprising abundance of bright high-redshift galaxies and the elevated UV luminosity density at z>10, 2) at high gas densities, UV slopes can redden from \beta<-2.5 to \beta\sim-1, 3) observational measurements of \xi_{\rm ion} are gross underestimates, and 4) UV downturns from two-photon emission can masquerade as damped Ly\alpha systems. Second, we present a dataset of 58 galaxies observed with NIRSpec on JWST at 2.510 galaxies, finding that UV slopes and UV downturns are in some cases redder or steeper than expected from SPS models, which may hint at more exotic (e.g. hotter/more massive stars or AGN) ionizing sources.}, author = {Katz, Harley and Cameron, Alex J. and Saxena, Aayush and Barrufet, Laia and Choustikov, Nicholas and Cleri, Nikko J. and De Graaff, Anna and Ellis, Richard S. and Fosbury, Robert A.E. and Heintz, Kasper E. and Maseda, Michael and Matthee, Jorryt J and Mcconachie, Ian and Oesch, Pascal A.}, issn = {2565-6120}, journal = {The Open Journal of Astrophysics}, publisher = {Maynooth Academic Publishing}, title = {{21 Balmer Jump Street: The nebular continuum at high redshift and implications for the bright galaxy problem, UV continuum slopes, and early stellar populations}}, doi = {10.33232/001c.142570}, volume = {8}, year = {2025}, } @article{20193, abstract = {Understanding the rapid formation of supermassive black holes in the early Universe requires insights into stellar mass growth in host galaxies. Here we present NIRSpec rest-frame optical spectra and NIRCam imaging from JWST of two galaxies at z > 6, both hosting moderate-luminosity quasars. These galaxies exhibit Balmer absorption lines, like low-redshift post-starburst galaxies. Our analyses of the medium-resolution spectra and multiband photometry show that the bulk of the stellar mass (log(M*/M☉) ≥ 10.6) formed in starburst episodes at redshift 9 and 7. One of the galaxies shows a clear Balmer break and lacks spatially resolved Hα emission. It falls well below the star-formation main sequence at z = 6, indicating quiescence. The other is transitioning to quiescence; together, these massive galaxies are among the most distant post-starburst systems known. The blueshifted wings of the quasar [O iii] emission lines indicate quasar-driven outflow, which possibly influences star formation. Direct stellar velocity dispersion measurements reveal that one galaxy follows the local black hole mass versus σ* relation whereas the other is overmassive. The existence of massive post-starburst galaxies hosting billion-solar-mass black holes in short-lived quasar phases indicates that supermassive black holes and host galaxies played a principal role in each other’s rapid early formation.}, author = {Onoue, Masafusa and Ding, Xuheng and Silverman, John D. and Matsuoka, Yoshiki and Izumi, Takuma and Strauss, Michael A. and Ward, Charlotte and Phillips, Camryn L. and Ito, Kei and Andika, Irham T. and Aoki, Kentaro and Arita, Junya and Baba, Shunsuke and Bieri, Rebekka and Bosman, Sarah E.I. and Eilers, Anna Christina and Fujimoto, Seiji and Habouzit, Melanie and Haiman, Zoltán and Imanishi, Masatoshi and Inayoshi, Kohei and Iwasawa, Kazushi and Jahnke, Knud and Kashikawa, Nobunari and Kawaguchi, Toshihiro and Kohno, Kotaro and Lee, Chien Hsiu and Li, Junyao and Lupi, Alessandro and Lyu, Jianwei and Nagao, Tohru and Overzier, Roderik and Schindler, Jan Torge and Schramm, Malte and Scoggins, Matthew T. and Shimasaku, Kazuhiro and Toba, Yoshiki and Trakhtenbrot, Benny and Trebitsch, Maxime and Treu, Tommaso and Umehata, Hideki and Venemans, Bram and Vestergaard, Marianne and Volonteri, Marta and Walter, Fabian and Wang, Feige and Yang, Jinyi and Zhang, Haowen}, issn = {2397-3366}, journal = {Nature Astronomy}, pages = {1541--1552}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{A post-starburst pathway for the formation of massive galaxies and black holes at z > 6}}, doi = {10.1038/s41550-025-02628-1}, volume = {9}, year = {2025}, } @article{20217, abstract = {We present Virgil, a Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) extremely red object detected with the F1000W filter as part of the MIRI Deep Imaging Survey observations of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Virgil is an Lyα emitter (LAE) at zspec = 6.6312 ± 0.0019 (from the Very Large Telescope/MUSE) with a rest-frame UV-to-optical spectral energy distribution (SED) typical of LAEs at similar redshifts. However, MIRI observations reveal an unexpected extremely red color at rest-frame near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths, F444W − F1000W = 2.33 ± 0.06. Such a steep rise in the NIR, completely missed without MIRI imaging, is poorly reproduced by models including only stellar populations and hints toward the presence of an active galactic nucleus, although alternative explanations such as extreme dust obscuration and strong nebular continuum and emission lines contribution due to young stellar ages cannot be completely ruled out. According to the shape of its overall SED, Virgil belongs to the recently discovered population of little red dots but displays an extended rest-frame UV-optical wavelength morphology following a 2DSérsic profile with an average index of n = 0.93+0.85_0.31 and re = 0.49+0.05_0.11 pkpc. Only at MIRI wavelengths, Virgil is unresolved due to the coarser point-spread function. This discovery demonstrates the crucial importance of deep MIRI surveys to reveal the true nature and properties of high-z galaxies that otherwise would be misinterpreted and raises the question of how common Virgil-like objects could be in the early Universe.}, author = {Iani, Edoardo and Rinaldi, Pierluigi and Caputi, Karina I. and Annunziatella, Marianna and Langeroodi, Danial and Melinder, Jens and Pérez-González, Pablo G. and Álvarez-Márquez, Javier and Boogaard, Leindert A. and Bosman, Sarah E.I. and Costantin, Luca and Moutard, Thibaud and Colina, Luis and Östlin, Göran and Greve, Thomas R. and Wright, Gillian and Alonso-Herrero, Almudena and Bik, Arjan and Gillman, Steven and Crespo Gómez, Alejandro and Hjorth, Jens and Kendrew, Sarah and Labiano, Alvaro and Pye, John P. and Tikkanen, Tuomo V. and Walter, Fabian and Güdel, Manuel and Henning, Thomas and Van Der Werf, Paul P.}, issn = {1538-4357}, journal = {The Astrophysical Journal}, number = {2}, publisher = {IOP Publishing}, title = {{MIDIS: MIRI uncovers Virgil, the first Little Red Dot with clear detection of its host galaxy at z ≃ 6.6}}, doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ade5a6}, volume = {989}, year = {2025}, } @article{20220, abstract = {Stress granules (SG) are biomolecular condensates that represent an adaptive response of cells to various stresses, including heat. However, the cell type–specific function and relevance of SG formation, especially during reproductive development, are largely not understood. Here, we show that the meiotic A-type cyclin TARDY ASYNCHRONOUS MEIOSIS (TAM) is recruited to SGs in male meiocytes of Arabidopsis after exposure to heat. We find that the amino terminus of TAM is necessary and sufficient for the localization of proteins to meiotic SGs. Swapping the amino terminus of TAM with the one of its sister protein CYCA1;1 resulted in a separation-of-function allele of TAM, which prevents the partitioning of TAM to SGs while restoring a wild-type phenotype in a tam mutant background under nonheat stress conditions. Notably, plants expressing this TAM version prematurely terminate meiosis under heat resulting in unreduced gametes. Thus, the formation of TAM-containing SGs is necessary for genome stability under heat stress.}, author = {De Jaeger-Braet, Joke G and Hartmann, Merle and Böttger, Lev and Yang, Chao and Hamada, Takahiro and Hoth, Stefan and Feng, Xiaoqi and Weingartner, Magdalena and Schnittger, Arp}, issn = {2375-2548}, journal = {Science Advances}, number = {32}, pages = {eadr5694}, publisher = {AAAS}, title = {{The recruitment of the A-type cyclin TAM to stress granules is crucial for meiotic fidelity under heat}}, doi = {10.1126/sciadv.adr5694}, volume = {11}, year = {2025}, }