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The article "Investigating the Functional and Architectural Diversity of Leaf Venation Networks" explores the diverse leaf venation network architectures in plants and the potential trade-offs among various leaf functions. A team of students led by Dr. Matos collected samples from the University of California Botanical Garden to study 31 functional and architectural leaf venation traits across 122 species. The dataset generated is being used to identify trade-offs in venation architecture-function and understand the evolutionary processes behind the diversity of networks. [Extracted from the article]

Summary: Variation in leaf venation network architecture may reflect trade‐offs among multiple functions including efficiency, resilience, support, cost, and resistance to drought and herbivory. However, our knowledge about architecture‐function trade‐offs is mostly based on studies examining a small number of functional axes, so we still lack a more integrative picture of multidimensional trade‐offs.Here, we measured architecture and functional traits on 122 ferns and angiosperms species to describe how trade‐offs vary across phylogenetic groups and vein spatial scales (small, medium, and large vein width) and determine whether architecture traits at each scale have independent or integrated effects on each function.We found that generalized architecture‐function trade‐offs are weak. Architecture strongly predicts leaf support and damage resistance axes but weakly predicts efficiency and resilience axes. Architecture traits at different spatial scales contribute to different functional axes, allowing plants to independently modulate different functions by varying network properties at each scale.This independence of vein architecture traits within and across spatial scales may enable evolution of multiple alternative leaf network designs with similar functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Xylem conduits have lignified walls to resist crushing pressures. The thicker the double‐wall (T) relative to its diameter (D), the greater the implosion safety. Having safer conduits may incur higher costs and reduced flow, while having less resistant xylem may lead to catastrophic collapse under drought. Although recent studies have shown that conduit implosion commonly occurs in leaves, little is known about how leaf xylem scales T vs D to trade off safety, flow efficiency, mechanical support, and cost.We measured T and D in > 7000 conduits of 122 species to investigate how T vs D scaling varies across clades, habitats, growth forms, leaf, and vein sizes.As conduits become wider, their double‐cell walls become proportionally thinner, resulting in a negative allometry between T and D. That is, narrower conduits, which are usually subjected to more negative pressures, are proportionally safer than wider ones. Higher implosion safety (i.e. higher T/D ratios) was found in asterids, arid habitats, shrubs, small leaves, and minor veins.Despite the strong allometry, implosion safety does not clearly trade off with other measured leaf functions, suggesting that implosion safety at whole‐leaf level cannot be easily predicted solely by individual conduits' anatomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dataset contains leaf venation architecture and functional traits for a phylogenetically diverse set of 122 plant species (including ferns, basal angiosperms, monocots, basal eudicots, asterids, and rosids) collected from the living collections of the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley (37.87° N, 122.23° W; CA, USA) from February to September 2021. The sampled species originated from all continents, except Antarctica, and are distributed in different growth forms (aquatic, herb, climbing, tree, shrub). The functional dataset comprises 31 traits (mechanical, hydraulic, anatomical, physiological, economical, and chemical) and describes six main leaf functional axes (hydraulic conductance, resistance and resilience to damages caused by drought and herbivory, mechanical support, and construction cost). It also describes how architecture features vary across venation networks. Our trait dataset is suitable for (1) functional and architectural characterization of plant species; (2) identification of venation architecture‐function trade‐offs; (3) investigation of evolutionary trends in leaf venation networks; and (4) mechanistic modeling of leaf function. Data are made available under the Open Data Commons Attribution License. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Astrocytic receptors influence cognitive function and can promote behavioral deficits in disease. These effects may vary based on variables such as biological sex, but it is not known if the effects of astrocytic receptors are dependent on sex. We leveraged in vivo gene editing and chemogenetics to examine the roles of astrocytic receptors in spatial memory and other processes. We show that reductions in metabotropic glutamate receptor 3 (mGluR3), the main astrocytic glutamate receptor in adults, impair memory in females but enhance memory in males. Similarly, increases in astrocytic mGluR3 levels have sex-dependent effects and enhance memory in females. mGluR3 manipulations also alter spatial search strategies during recall in a sex-specific manner. In addition, acute chemogenetic stimulation of G i/o -coupled or G s -coupled receptors in hippocampal astrocytes induces bidirectional and sex-dimorphic effects on memory. Thus, astrocytes are sex-dependent modulators of cognitive function and may promote sex differences in aging and disease. [Display omitted] • Changes in astrocytic mGluR3 levels induce sex-dependent effects on spatial memory • Astrocytic mGluR3 modulates search behavior at recall in a sex-specific manner • Astrocytic G i/o and G s receptors have opposing, sex-dimorphic effects on memory Meadows et al. identify sex-dependent effects of glial receptors on neurocognitive function. Changes in mGluR3 levels or activation of G i/o -coupled or G s -coupled receptors in adult hippocampal astrocytes had divergent effects on memory across sexes. These results suggest that astrocytic receptors promote sex differences in behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), or e-cigarettes, are emerging tobacco products that produce aerosols by heating eliquids, which most often consist of propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin along with various flavoring compounds, bypassing the combustion that occurs in the use of traditional tobacco cigarettes. These products have seen a drastic increase in popularity in recent years both as smoking cessation devices as well as among younger generations, due in large part to the widespread perception among consumers that e-cigs are significantly less harmful to health than traditional tobacco cigarettes. Due to the novelty of ENDS as well as their rapidly increasing use, research into biomarkers of e-cig exposure and toxicity have lagged behind their popularity, leaving important questions about their potential toxicity unanswered. Research into potential biomarkers of acute and chronic e-cig use, and e-cigarette- or vaping-associated lung injury is necessary for informing both clinical and regulatory decision-making. We aim to provide an updated review of recent research into potential circulating, genomic, transcriptomic, and epigenetic biomarkers of exposure to and toxicity of e-cigs. We additionally highlight research areas that warrant additional study to gain a better understanding of health risks associated with ENDS use, as well as to provide validation of existing data and methods for measuring and analyzing e-cig-associated biomarkers in human and animal biofluids, tissues, and cells. This review also highlights ongoing efforts within the WNY Center for Research on Flavored Tobacco for research into novel biomarkers in extracellular vesicles that may be associated with short- and long-term ENDS use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nicotine inhalation via electronic cigarettes (e‐cigs) is an emerging concern. However, little is known about the acute toxicity in the lungs following inhalation of nicotine‐containing e‐cig aerosols. We hypothesized that acute exposure to aerosolized nicotine causes lung toxicity by eliciting inflammatory and dysregulated repair responses. Adult C57BL/6J mice were exposed 2 hours daily for 3 days to e‐cig aerosols containing propylene glycol (PG) with or without nicotine. Acute exposure to nicotine‐containing e‐cig aerosols induced inflammatory cell influx (neutrophils and CD8a+ T lymphocytes), and release of pro‐inflammatory cytokines in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in a sex‐dependent manner. Inhalation of e‐cig aerosol containing PG alone significantly augmented the lung levels of various homeostasis/repair mediators (PPARγ, ADRP, ACTA2, CTNNB1, LEF1, β‐catenin, E‐cadherin, and MMP2) in a sex‐dependent manner when compared to air controls. These findings were accompanied by an increase in protein abundance and altered gene expression of lipogenic markers (PPARγ, ADRP) and myogenic markers (fibronectin, α‐smooth muscle actin and β‐catenin), suggesting a dysregulated repair response in mouse lungs. Furthermore, exposure to nicotine‐containing e‐cig aerosols or PG alone differentially affected the release of pro‐inflammatory cytokines in healthy and COPD human 3D EpiAirway tissues. Overall, acute exposure to nicotine‐containing e‐cig aerosols was sufficient to elicit a pro‐inflammatory response and altered mRNA and protein levels of myogenic, lipogenic, and extracellular matrix markers in mouse lung in a sex‐dependent manner. Thus, acute exposure to inhaled nicotine via e‐cig leads to dysregulated repair and inflammatory responses, which may lead to airway remodeling in the lungs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archival tissues represent a rich resource for clinical genomic studies, particularly when coupled with comprehensive medical records. Use of these in next generation sequencing (NGS) is a priority. Nine formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) DNA extraction methods were evaluated using twelve FFPE samples of varying tissue types. Quality assessment included total yield, percent dsDNA, fragment analysis and multiplex PCR. After assessment, three tissue types from four FFPE DNA methods were selected for NGS downstream evaluation, targeted and whole exome sequencing. In addition, two low input library protocols were evaluated for WES. Analysis revealed average coverage across the target regions for WES was ~20-30X for all four FFPE DNA extraction methods. For the targeted panels, the highest molecular tag coverage was obtained with the Kingfisher FFPE extraction method. The genotype concordance was 99% for the commonly called variant positions between all four extraction methods with the targeted PCR NGS panel and 96% with WES. Assessing quality of extracted DNA aids in selecting the optimal NGS approach, and the choice of both DNA extraction and library preparation approaches can impact the performance of archival tissue in NGS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]