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Dahlgaard Bjerring posted an update 2 days, 10 hours ago
Strategic interactions arise in all domains of life. This form of competition often plays out in dynamically changing environments. The strategies employed in a population may alter the state of the environment, which may in turn feedback to change the incentive structure of strategic interactions. Feedbacks between strategies and the environment are common in social-ecological systems, evolutionary-ecological systems, and even psychological-economic systems. Here we develop a framework of ‘eco-evolutionary game theory’ that enables the study of strategic and environmental dynamics with feedbacks. We consider environments governed either by intrinsic growth, decay, or tipping points. We show how the joint dynamics of strategies and the environment depend on the incentives for individuals to lead or follow behavioral changes, and on the relative speed of environmental versus strategic change. Our analysis unites dynamical phenomena that occur in settings as diverse as human decision-making, plant nutrient acquisition, and resource harvesting. We discuss implications in fields ranging from ecology to economics.Predicting the outcome of immunotherapy treatment in melanoma patients is challenging. Alterations in genes involved in antigen presentation and the interferon gamma (IFNγ) pathway play an important role in the immune response to tumors. We describe here that the overexpression of PSMB8 and PSMB9, two major components of the immunoproteasome, is predictive of better survival and improved response to immune-checkpoint inhibitors of melanoma patients. We study the mechanism underlying this connection by analyzing the antigenic peptide repertoire of cells that overexpress these subunits using HLA peptidomics. We find a higher response of patient-matched tumor infiltrating lymphocytes against antigens diferentially presented after immunoproteasome overexpression. Importantly, we find that PSMB8 and PSMB9 expression levels are much stronger predictors of melanoma patients’ immune response to checkpoint inhibitors than the tumors’ mutational burden. These results suggest that PSMB8 and PSMB9 expression levels can serve as important biomarkers for stratifying melanoma patients for immune-checkpoint treatment.The origin of the apparent negative charge at hydrophobic-water interfaces has fueled debates in the physical chemistry community for decades. The most common interpretation given to explain this observation is that negatively charged hydroxide ions (OH-) bind strongly to the interfaces. Using first principles calculations of extended air-water and oil-water interfaces, we unravel a mechanism that does not require the presence of OH-. learn more Small amounts of charge transfer along hydrogen bonds and asymmetries in the hydrogen bond network due to topological defects can lead to the accumulation of negative surface charge at both interfaces. For water near oil, some spillage of electron density into the oil phase is also observed. The computed surface charge densities at both interfaces is approximately [Formula see text] in agreement with electrophoretic experiments. We also show, using an energy decomposition analysis, that the electronic origin of this phenomena is rooted in a collective polarization/charge transfer effect.The generation of a chemical system capable of replication and evolution is a key objective of synthetic biology. This could be achieved by in vitro reconstitution of a minimal self-sustaining central dogma consisting of DNA replication, transcription and translation. Here, we present an in vitro translation system, which enables self-encoded replication and expression of large DNA genomes under well-defined, cell-free conditions. In particular, we demonstrate self-replication of a multipartite genome of more than 116 kb encompassing the full set of Escherichia coli translation factors, all three ribosomal RNAs, an energy regeneration system, as well as RNA and DNA polymerases. Parallel to DNA replication, our system enables synthesis of at least 30 encoded translation factors, half of which are expressed in amounts equal to or greater than their respective input levels. Our optimized cell-free expression platform could provide a chassis for the generation of a partially self-replicating in vitro translation system.Solid substrates often induce non-uniform strain and doping in graphene monolayer, therefore altering the intrinsic properties of graphene, reducing its charge carrier mobilities and, consequently, the overall electrical performance. Here, we exploit confocal Raman spectroscopy to study graphene directly free-floating on the surface of water, and show that liquid supports relief the preexisting strain, have negligible doping effect and restore the uniformity of the properties throughout the graphene sheet. Such an effect originates from the structural adaptability and flexibility, lesser contamination and weaker intermolecular bonding of liquids compared to solid supports, independently of the chemical nature of the liquid. Moreover, we demonstrate that water provides a platform to study and distinguish chemical defects from substrate-induced defects, in the particular case of hydrogenated graphene. Liquid supports, thus, are advantageous over solid supports for a range of applications, particularly for monitoring changes in the graphene structure upon chemical modification.The Baeyer-Villiger reaction is used extensively in organic chemistry. Sila- and bora-variants have also been documented widely, with these processes underpinning, for example, the Fleming-Tamao oxidation and hydroborative alkene hydration, respectively. By contrast, the development of thia-Baeyer-Villiger reactions involving sulfoxides has long been considered unlikely because competitive oxidation to the sulfone occurs exclusively. Here, we disclose a photoinduced thia-Baeyer-Villiger-type oxidations; specifically, we find that exposure of dibenzothiophene (DBT) derivatives to an iron porphyrin catalyst under Ultraviolet irradiation in the presence of t-BuOOH generates sulfinic esters in up to 87% yield. The produced sulfinic esters are transformed to a variety of biphenyl substrates including biphenyl sulfoxides, sulfones and sulfonamides in 1-2 steps. These results provide a mild process for the selective functionalization of sulfur compounds, and offer a biomimetic approach to convert DBT into 2-hydroxybiphenyl under controllable stepwise pathway.