Article describes an enzyme catalyzing the direct 3-hydroxylation of 4-coumarate to caffeate in lignin biosynthesis as a bifunctional peroxidase that oxidizes both ascorbate and 4-coumarate at comparable rates.

Article presents a rigorous and systematic study of the band alignment of semiconductors in aqueous solutions by contrasting a range of hybrid explicit/implicit models against explicit atomistic simulations based on density-functional theory.

Article reporting the change in the transient absorption characteristics of monolayer MoS2 and the modified PL emission characteristics in a monolayer MoS2–GaN (0001) heterostructure due to the coupling of carriers with the phonon modes and the energy exchange at the interface. The results demonstrate the relevance of interface coupling between the semiconductors for the development of optical and electronic applications.

Article introducing the quasiharmonic approximation three-phonon method to calculate the thermodynamic properties of both nonmetallic and metallic compounds. This study demonstrates that QHA3P is an ideal framework for the high-throughput prediction of finite-temperature material properties, combining the accuracy of QHA with the computational efficiency of SC-QHA.

Article describes experiment where a coupled resonant acoustic waveguide (CRAW) in a phononic crystal (PnC) was engineered to manipulate the propagation of ultrasonic waves within a conventional phononic bandgap for wavelength division multiplexing.

Article describes study in which mRNA expression of iGluR was quantified in two sensory neuron clusters of two cohorts of Aplysia californica (Aplysia) at both sexual maturity (~8 months) and advanced age (~12 months) in order to examine if changes in ionotropic L-Glu receptor (iGluR) transcription underlie reduced physiology8

In this article, freshwater macroinvertebrate diversity associated with lakes and ponds along the altitudinal gradient of a Magellanic sub-Antarctic watershed are assessed. A monotonic decline in species richness was observed with increasing elevation, with simpler and more even community composition at higher altitude. This pattern differs from the mid-peak trend found in streams of the same watershed. Functional feeding group structure also diminished with increasing elevation.

This article presents a new type of bimodal contrast agent that is based on the self-quenching of indocyanine green (ICG) encapsulated in a biocompatible and biodegradable polymer shell.

Article exploring PAD4 functions in plant defense by expressing the N-terminal PAD4 lipase-like domain (PAD4ᴸᴸᴰ) without its C-terminal EDS1-PAD4 (EP) domain. The authors show that transgenic expression of PAD4ᴸᴸᴰ in Arabidopsis is sufficient for limiting GPA infestation but not for conferring basal and effector-triggered pathogen immunity. This suggests that the C-terminal PAD4 EP domain is necessary for EDS1-dependent immune functions but is dispensable for aphid resistance. Moreover, PAD4ᴸᴸᴰ is not sufficient to interact with EDS1, indicating the PAD4-EP domain is required for stable heterodimerization. These data provide molecular evidence that PAD4 has domain-specific functions.

This article presents a computer simulation of single-species non-neutral plasma confinement using an artificially structured boundary. The results support the prospect of developing plasma space-charge based confinement, with an unmagnetized plasma of one species of charged particles confined by an electric field produced by an edge-confined plasma of a second species of charged particles.

Article demonstrating in situ deposition of BN by sequential BCl₃/NH₃ reactions at 600 K on two different oxidized boron substrates: (a) B₂O₃ deposited using BCl₃/H₂O ALD on Si at 300 K (“B₂O₃/Si”) and (b) a boron-silicon oxide formed by sequential BCl₃/O₂ reactions at 650 K on SiO₂ followed by annealing to 1000 K (“B-Si-oxide”). The data presented demonstrates that ultrathin BN films deposited by BCl₃/NH₃ ALD are promising candidates for passivation of boron oxide used in shallow doping applications.

Article studying atomic layer deposition. In situ direct, epitaxial growth of multilayers of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) and graphene without physical transfer is of significant interest for the scalable production of graphene/h-BN heterostructures for device applications. Deposition on magnetic substrates is of particular interest for spin tunneling applications. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and low energy electron diffraction demonstrate epitaxial atomic-layer deposition (ALD) of multilayer h-BN(0001) on Ni(111) and subsequent deposition of azimuthally-aligned multilayer graphene on h-BN(0001)/Ni(111) by chemical vapor deposition. Boron nitride ALD was accomplished with alternating cycles of BCl₃/NH₃ at a 600 K substrate temperature, and subsequent annealing in ultrahigh vacuum. Subsequent deposition of graphene was achieved by chemical vapor deposition using ethylene (CH₂CH₂) at 1000 K.

This article is a review cataloging and contextualizing all of the plant genes currently known to be required for SNF in two model legume species, Medicago truncatula and Lotus japonicus, and two crop species, Glycine max (soybean) and Phaseolus vulgaris (common bean). The authors also briefly consider the future of SNF genetics in the era of pan-genomics and genome editing.

Article describes a study exploring the possibility of fueling a magnetically confined plasma using particle sources located inside of the plasma.

Article comparing the metabolism of embryos from two different maize lines, Alex and LH59, to test the hypothesis that directly changing their carbon metabolism may be the key to increasing oil content in maize kernels without affecting yield.

This article tests if lignin content can be further reduced by combining genetic mutations in C1 metabolism and the lignin biosynthetic pathway by generating and functionally characterizing fpgs1ccoaomt1 double mutants. The observations demonstrate that additional reduction in lignin content and improved sugar release can be achieved by simultaneous downregulation of a gene in the C1 (FPGS1) and lignin biosynthetic (CCOAOMT) pathways.

Article describes study in which fpgs1ccoaomt1 double mutants were generated and functionally characterized in order to test if lignin content can be further reduced by combining genetic mutations in C1 metabolism and the lignin biosynthetic pathway.

Features commentary on the previously published article "What if Cocrystallization Fails for Neutral Molecules? Screening Offered Eutectics as Alternate Pharmaceutical Materials: Leflunomide-A Case Study”

Article describes experiment where CCSD(T) methods in conjunction with correlation consistent basis sets were used to predict the pKa for the deprotonation of methane in a 3d metal ion adduct, [M···CH4]+ (M = Sc–Cu), in dimethyl sulfoxide solvent, which is modeled by the SMD continuum solvent model.

This article describes a proposed antihydrogen gravity experiment that could be conducted at the CERN Antiproton Decelerator facility to determine the directionality of the acceleration of antihydrogen in earth’s gravitational field.

Article proposes the “coordination corrected enthalpies” method (CCE), based on the number of nearest neighbor cation–anion bonds, and also capable of correcting relative stability of polymorphs.

Correction to the previously published article "Multiple levers for overcoming the recalcitrance of lignocellulosic biomass".

Article presenting cc-pV(n+d)Z correlation consistent basis sets of double- through quintuple-ζ quality for the atoms Al-Ar that have been modified for use with density functional theory (DFT). These basis set modifications include truncation of high-angular momentum basis functions, recontraction of the s- and p-functions, and reoptimization of basis function exponents with generalized gradient approximation and hybrid-DFT functionals. The effects of basis set truncation, recontraction, and reoptimization are shown to improve convergence behavior in atomic energies as well as dissociation energies and enthalpies of formation.

This is a correction of a previously released article. A mistake was found in Figure 2 of the published work. The names of the cell types, “mesophyll cell” and “bundle sheath” were erroneously interchanged.