Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (1863-1945), who is regarded as one of the founders of modern biogeochemistry, has stated in “Scientific Thought as a Planetary Phenomenon” (1991:120) that “the biosphere appears in biogeochemistry as a peculiar envelope of the Earth clearly distinct from the other envelopes of our planet”. One of the distinctive features of living matter is the tendency to occur in...

Daqing is situated in one of the severely cold regions of China. The living environment in this region is extremely poor because of the harsh climate and the backward economy. The external wall is an important component of the external envelope of buildings, and it greatly contributes to the indoor thermal environment. By taking the external wall as the research object, this study summarizes th...

Underlying the nuclear envelope (NE) of most eukaryotic cells is the nuclear lamina, a meshwork consisting largely of coiled-coil nuclear intermediate filament proteins that play a critical role in nuclear organization and gene expression, and are vital for the structural stability of the NE/nucleus. By confocal microscopy and micromanipulation of the NE in living cells and isolated nuclei, we ...

Nuclear ionic channels (NICs) represent ubiquitous structures of living cells, although little is known about their functional properties and encoding genes. To characterize NICs, liver nuclear membrane vesicles were reconstituted into either planar lipid bilayers or proteoliposomes. Reconstitution of nuclear envelope (NE) vesicles into planar lipid bilayer proceeded with low efficiency. NE ves...

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection remains a major health issue worldwide. In developed countries, antiretroviral therapy has extended its reach from treatment of people living with HIV-1 to post-exposure prophylaxis, treatment as prevention, and, more recently, pre-exposure prophylaxis. These healthcare strategies offer the epidemiological tools to curve the epidemic in rich...

The evolution of the nucleus, the defining feature of eukaryotic cells, was long shrouded in speculation and mystery. There is now strong evidence that nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) and nuclear membranes coevolved with the endomembrane system, and that the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA) had fully functional NPCs. Recent studies have identified many components of the nuclear envelope in ...

Organelle movement is essential for proper function of living cells. In plants, these movements generally depend on actin filaments, but the underlying mechanism is unknown. Here, in Arabidopsis, we identify associations of short actin filaments along the chloroplast periphery on the plasma membrane side associated with chloroplast photorelocation and anchoring to the plasma membrane. We have t...

Arboviral diseases caused by flaviviruses, such as dengue, are a continuing threat and major concern worldwide, with over three billion people estimated to be living the risk of dengue virus (DENV) infections. There thus far no antiviral drugs available for treatment, limited or vaccines available. Curcumin seven synthetic analogues were evaluated their activity against serotype 2, yellow fever...

*Correspondence to: Clifford P. Brangwynne; Email: [email protected] Anomalies in the three-dimensional shape of the nucleus are associated with a number of genetic diseases. These shape distortions include lobulated structures, with localized bulges referred to as nuclear blebs. Blebbing can result from mutations in genes encoding lamin intermediate filaments that form the lamin cortex, a...