Critical Loci Research Articles

Integrated eQTL mapping approach reveals genomic regions regulating candidate genes of the E8-r3 locus in soybean.

Deciphering the gene regulatory networks of critical quantitative trait loci associated with early maturity provides information for breeders to unlock soybean's (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) northern potential and expand its cultivation range. The E8-r3 locus is a genomic region regulating the number of days to maturity under constant short-day photoperiodic conditions in two early-maturing soybean populations (QS15524F2:F3 and QS15544RIL) belonging to maturity groups MG00 and MG000. In this study, we developed a combinatorial expression quantitative trait loci mapping approach using three algorithms (ICIM, IM, and GCIM) to identify the regions that regulate three candidate genes of the E8-r3 locus (Glyma.04G167900/GmLHCA4a, Glyma.04G166300/GmPRR1a, and Glyma.04G159300/GmMDE04). Using this approach, a total of 2,218 trans (2,061 genes)/7 cis (7 genes) and 4,073 trans (2,842 genes)/3,083 cis (2,418 genes) interactions were mapped in the QS15524F2:F3 and QS15544RIL populations, respectively. From these interactions, we successfully identified two hotspots (F2_GM15:49,385,092-49,442,237 and F2_GM18:1,434,182-1,935,386) and three minor regions (RIL_GM04:17,227,512-20,251,662, RIL_GM04:31,408,946-31,525,671 and RIL_GM13:37,289,785-38,620,690) regulating the candidate genes of E8-r3 and several of their homologs. Based on co-expression network and single nucleotide variant analyses, we identified ALTERED PHLOEM DEVELOPMENT (Glyma.15G263700) and DOMAIN-CONTAINING PROTEIN 21 (Glyma.18G025600) as the best candidates for the F2_GM15:49,385,092-49,442,237 and F2_GM18:1,434,182-1,935,386 hotspots. These findings demonstrate that a few key regions are involved in the regulation of the E8-r3 candidates GmLHCA4a, GmPRR1a, and GmMDE04.

Dominant myosin storage myopathy mutations disrupt striated muscles in Drosophila and the myosin tail-tail interactome of human cardiac thick filaments.

Myosin storage myopathy (MSM) is a rare skeletal muscle disorder caused by mutations in the slow muscle/β-cardiac myosin heavy chain (MHC) gene. MSM missense mutations frequently disrupt the tail's stabilizing heptad repeat motif. Disease hallmarks include subsarcolemmal hyaline-like β-MHC aggregates, muscle weakness and, occasionally, cardiomyopathy. We generated transgenic, heterozygous Drosophila to examine the dominant physiological and structural effects of the L1793P, R1845W, and E1883K MHC MSM mutations on diverse muscles. The MHC variants reduced lifespan and flight and jump abilities. Moreover, confocal and electron microscopy revealed that they provoked indirect flight muscle breaks and myofibrillar disarray/degeneration with filamentous inclusions. Incorporation of GFP-myosin enabled in situ determination of thick filament lengths, which were significantly reduced in all mutants. Semi-automated heartbeat analysis uncovered aberrant cardiac function, which worsened with age. Thus, our fly models phenocopied traits observed among MSM patients. We additionally mapped the mutations onto a recently-determined, 6Å resolution, cryo-EM structure of the human cardiac thick filament. The R1845W mutation replaces a basic arginine with a polar-neutral, bulkier tryptophan, while E1883K reverses charge at critical filament loci. Both would be expected to disrupt the core and the outer shell of the backbone structure. Replacing L1793 with a proline, a potent breaker of alpha-helices, could disturb the coiled-coil of the myosin rod and alter the tail-tail interactome. Hence, all mutations likely destabilize and weaken the filament backbone. This may trigger disease in humans, while potentially analogous perturbations are likely to yield the observed thick filament and muscle disruption in our fly models.

The governance of peri-urban green infrastructures in the perspective of sustainable development. A Comparison in Europe

The paper analyses the governance models of six peri-urban green infrastructures (GIs) in Europe to reflect on GIs as critical loci to operationalize the sometimes naïve and rhetorical aim of sustainable development. In the study, the case of “Corona Verde”, the green belt around the City of Turin (Italy), is compared with other peri-urban GIs to discuss the potential of territorial governance for the construction of objective-led deliberative arenas as promoted by the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As a result, the hypothesis that peri-urban GIs are the most appropriate territorial systems to organise and manage a viable system of sustainability objectives is discussed and reframed. Although limited in scope and data, original traits of this study are the development of a territorial benchmarking comparing governance models rather than territories and the operationalisation of the governance for sustainability in terms of a continuous negotiation between the socio-ecological actors of a given territorial system.

Problems and related results in algebraic vision and multiview geometry

This article is a survey of results in algebraic vision and multiview geometry. The starting point is the study of projective algebraic varieties which are critical for scene reconstruction. Initially studied for reconstructing static scenes in three-dimensional spaces, these critical loci are later investigated for dynamic and segmented scenes in higher-dimensional projective spaces. The formal analysis of the ideals of critical loci employs Grassmann tensors, introduced as crucial tools for determining these ideals and aiding the reconstruction process away from critical loci. A long-term goal of the authors with other co-authors involves two main aspects: firstly studying properties of Grassmann tensors, as rank, multi-rank and core, along with the varieties that parameterize these tensors; concurrently conducting an analysis of families of critical loci in various scenarios.

The epigenetic regulators EP300/CREBBP represent promising therapeutic targets in MLL-rearranged acute myeloid leukemia

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL) gene rearrangements (MLL-r) is an aggressive subtype of blood cancer with dismal prognosis, underscoring the urgent need for novel therapeutic strategies. E1A-binding protein (EP300) and CREB-binding protein (CREBBP) function as essential transcriptional coactivators and acetyltransferases, governing leukemogenesis through diverse mechanisms. Targeting EP300/CREBBP holds great promise for treating leukemia with some certain cytogenetic abnormalities. Here, we demonstrated that EP300 and CREBBP are core epigenetic regulators in the pathogenesis of MLL-r AML through assaying the transposase-accessible chromatin with high-throughput sequencing (ATAC-seq). Knocking-out EP300/CREBBP and inhibitor (A-485) treatment depressed the MLL-r cells proliferation, while the MLL wild-type cells remained uninfluenced. We found that the CDK4/RB/E2F axis was downregulated specifically in MLL-r AML cell after A-485 treatment by RNA-seq, western blot and cut-tag analyses. EP300/CREBBP inhibitor selectively exerted potent anti-leukemia activity through blocking the MLL-r-BET complex binding to H3K27Ac modification on critical genes loci, distinct from global histone acetylation. Collectively, our study identified EP300/CREBBP as a critical epigenetic driver of MLL-r leukemia and validated their therapeutic potential through targeting inhibition, offering a promising avenue for improving clinical outcomes in this aggressive leukemia.

Development of polyresistance in microorganisms during antibiotic therapy in a multidisciplinary hospital during a pandemic COVID-19

Background. Irrational and excessive use of antimicrobials drugs (AMD) creates conditions for the development of a global crisis of health systems around the world associated with antibiotic resistance.
 Aim. To conduct a retrospective study of the impact of the use of AMD on the change in the microbiological landscape and the sensitivity of microorganisms in the conditions of pandemic of the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in 2020–2021 in intensive care departments (ICD) of a multidisciplinary hospital.
 Materials and methods. In the course of the work, strains of microorganisms isolated from patients and from the surfaces of the hospital environment and changes in their sensitivity to significant groups of AMD in ICD for somatic and infectious patients with COVID-19 were compared. The sensitivity of the isolates was evaluated in accordance with the criteria of requirements of European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing – EUCAST, version 10.0, 2020.
 Results. A total of 1,394 isolates were studied, including 1,379 clinical and 15 isolates from the surfaces of the hospital environment. It was found that in all ICD in 2020–2021, gram-negative microorganisms prevailed in infectious loci in 70% of cases or more. In 2021, in the ICD in infectious patients with COVID-19, the persistent dominance of the Acinetobacter baumannii microorganism was revealed with an increase in the number of poly- and pan-resistant strains – 48.7%. While in the ICD for somatic patients Klebsiella Pneumoniae prevailed among gram-negative microorganisms – 37.5% in 2020 and 43.7% in 2021. It has been shown that in one department or in adjacent departments of the same medical institution, various nosocomial microorganisms with an unequal set of resistance genes and sensitivity to AMD may appear over time.
 Conclusion. The necessity of conducting constant microbiological monitoring and a passport of the medical department with mandatory registration of not only isolated strains of microorganisms, but also resistance genes in order to optimize the appointment of timely adequate empirical antimicrobial therapy is substantiated. The period of the latter should be as short as possible, and confirmed by convincing clinical signs of bacterial infection, and subsequently by the isolation of nosocomial flora from the biomaterial of critical loci from patients.

To Put Afoot a New Black Woman: On Hortense Spillers and the Possibilities of Gender

Abstract This essay maps Hortense Spillers's figurations of the black woman across three essays published in the 1980s—“Interstices,” “An Order of Constancy,” and “Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe”—to illustrate the myriad ways in which Spillers imagines black women as vital symbolic and material forces in the (re)production of New World spaces. Situating the US 1980s as a critical geo- and sociopolitical context for Black feminist, specifically Spillersian, knowledge production, this essay puts afoot a new Spillers, demonstrating how her critical value is not exclusively tied to her interventions into symbolic and material formations of Man but rather might also be measured through her theoretical efforts on behalf of, and insights into, diverse and polymorphous communities of (Black) feminists and women. By close-reading Spillers's visionary considerations of the perils and possibilities of gender, and with attention to critical innovations in Black (trans)feminist and queer studies, this essay (re)claims the Black woman—and, by extension, Black women—as the critical and material loci of Black feminisms.

A Study of the Resistance of Hu Sheep Lambs to Escherichia coli F17 Based on Whole Genome Sequencing.

This study aims to analyze the whole genome sequencing of E. coli F17 in antagonistic and susceptible Hu sheep lambs. The objective is to investigate the critical mutation loci in sheep and understand the genetic mechanism of sheep resistance to E. coli F17 at the genome level. Antagonist and susceptible venous blood samples were collected from Hu sheep lambs for whole genome sequencing and whole genome association analysis. A total of 466 genes with significant SNPs (p < 1.0 × 10-3) were found. GO and KEGG enrichment analysis and protein interaction network analysis were performed on these genes, and preliminary investigations showed that SNPs on CTNNB1, CDH8, APOD, HCLS1, Tet2, MTSS1 and YAP1 genes may be associated with the antagonism and susceptibility of Hu sheep lambs to E. coli F17. There are still some shortcomings that have not been explored via in vivo and in vitro functional experiments of the candidate genes, which will be our next research work. This study provides genetic loci and candidate genes for resistance of Hu sheep lambs to E. coli F17 infection, and provides a genetic basis for breeding disease-resistant sheep.

Genomic regions involved in the control of 1,000-kernel weight in wild relative-derived populations of durum wheat

Terminal drought is one of the most common and devastating climatic stress factors affecting durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) production worldwide. The wild relatives of this crop are deemed a vast potential source of useful alleles to adapt to this stress. A nested association mapping (NAM) panel was generated using as a recurrent parent the Moroccan variety ‘Nachit’ derived from Triticum dicoccoides and known for its large grain size. This was recombined to three top-performing lines derived from T. dicoccoides, T. araraticum, and Aegilops speltoides, for a total of 426 inbred progenies. This NAM was evaluated across eight environments (Syria, Lebanon, and Morocco) experiencing different degrees of terminal moisture stress over two crop seasons. Our results showed that drought stress caused on average 41% loss in yield and that 1,000-kernel weight (TKW) was the most important trait for adaptation to it. Genotyping with the 25K TraitGenetics array resulted in a consensus map of 1,678 polymorphic SNPs, spanning 1,723 cM aligned to the reference ‘Svevo’ genome assembly. Kinship distinguished the progenies in three clades matching the parent of origin. A total of 18 stable quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were identified as controlling various traits but independent from flowering time. The most significant genomic regions were named Q.ICD.NAM-04, Q.ICD.NAM-14, and Q.ICD.NAM-16. Allelic investigation in a second germplasm panel confirmed that carrying the positive allele at all three loci produced an average TKW advantage of 25.6% when field-tested under drought conditions. The underlying SNPs were converted to Kompetitive Allele-Specific PCR (KASP) markers and successfully validated in a third germplasm set, where they explained up to 19% of phenotypic variation for TKW under moisture stress. These findings confirm the identification of critical loci for drought adaptation derived from wild relatives that can now be readily exploited via molecular breeding.

Critical points calculation of CO2-based binary mixture working fluids: evaluation of PC-SAFT equation of state

Critical point is basic and important thermophysical property of CO2 mixtures, which determines the parameter design of power cycle and the optimization of its operating conditions. In this work, the perturbed-chain statistical associating fluid theory (PC-SAFT) equation of state is used to calculate the critical point of CO2 mixture working fluids of the power cycle. To tackle the challenge of the original PC-SAFT in quantitatively representing of critical point of pure substance, the deviation between calculation results and experimental data was reduced by using the refitted pure-component parameters, so as to realize the effective increase of accuracy and representation the critical loci of the CO2 mixtures. By comparing with the classical cubic equation of state (Peng-Robinson and Soave-Redlich-Kwong), the results of PC-SAFT are effectively improved with relative deviation close to that of the cubic equation of state. The results show that the refitting of pure-component parameters can effectively help the accurate calculation of the critical point of CO2 mixtures, especially for the mixture containing hydrofluoroolefins with more complex molecular structure. This work provides an important reference for predicting the critical point of other potential CO2 mixtures.

Green Hyperbolic Complexes on Lorentzian Manifolds

We develop a homological generalization of Green hyperbolic operators, called Green hyperbolic complexes, which cover many examples of derived critical loci for gauge-theoretic quadratic action functionals in Lorentzian signature. We define Green hyperbolic complexes through a generalization of retarded and advanced Green’s operators, called retarded and advanced Green’s homotopies, which are shown to be unique up to a contractible space of choices. We prove homological generalizations of the most relevant features of Green hyperbolic operators, namely that (1) the retarded-minus-advanced cochain map is a quasi-isomorphism, (2) a differential pairing (generalizing the usual fiber-wise metric) on a Green hyperbolic complex leads to covariant and fixed-time Poisson structures and (3) the retarded-minus-advanced cochain map is compatible with these Poisson structures up to homotopy.

Dynamics of Chebyshev endomorphisms on some affine algebraic varieties

The Chebyshev polynomials Td in one variable are typical chaotic maps on C. Chebyshev endomorphisms PAnd: Cn→Cn are also chaotic. We consider the action of the dihedral group Dn+1 on Cn. The endomorphism PAnd maps any Dn+1-orbit of z∈Cn to a Dn+1-orbit of PAnd(z). The endomorphism PAnd induces a mapping on Cn∕Dn+1. Using invariant theory, we embed Cn∕Dn+1 as an affine subvariety X in Cm. Then we have morphisms gd on X. We study the cases n=2 and 3. In these cases, the morphisms gd are defined over Z. We find a class of affine subvarieties V of X which are invariant under gd. These varieties are concerned with branch loci or critical loci. The class contains C2, a cuspidal cubic, a parabola, a quadric hypersurface in C4, an affine algebraic surface in C4 which is birationally equivalent to an affine quadric cone in C3, and others. For each affine variety V in the class, there exists a polynomial parameterization PV satisfying gd|V(PV(y1,…,yk))=PV(Td(y1),…,Td(yk)), where Td(z) is a Chebyshev polynomial in one variable. Then we determine the set of bounded orbits of gd|V in each invariant set V and give relations between them.

The Geopolitics of Knowledge Production in Applied English Language Studies: Transknowledging and a Two-Eyed Critical Southern Decoloniality

This paper mapped out and explored the geopolitics of knowledge production in applied English language studies (AELS). It did so by employing a double judgmental sampling and by investigating four composite factors in volume 42 of the journal Applied Linguistics (AL), which comprised six issues and forty-three articles, as published in 2021. These composite factors were nationalities and institutional affiliations of the editor, the associate editors, the editorial board, and the international advisory board; nationalities and institutional affiliations of publishing or contributing authors; the foci of the published articles; and the theoretical framings and epistemic orientations of the published articles. The paper maintains that these composite factors serve as important axes of epistemic production practices and as critical loci of knowledge circulation for AELS in this journal. AL has occupied the first quartile (Q1) in communication, and in linguistics and language since 1999 as ranked by both Scopus and Resurchify. As such, it is a top-tier journal in the field of AELS or of applied linguistics. Based on its analysis, one of the arguments the paper makes is that individually and collectively these composite factors function, simultaneously, as a gate-keeping mechanism for knowledge production and as a validation, legitimation, and arbitration mechanism for knowledge production in AL. The paper has also established that there is an invisibilization of the Global South authors in these six issues of AL. This factor, the paper contends, is attributable to the geopoliticizing of knowledge production in these AL’s issues. Lastly and importantly, the paper advocates transknowledging and a two-eyed critical Southern decoloniality for AELS, and draws a link between this two-pronged theoretical framing and transepistemic language education.

232-LB: Transcriptional Regulation of Adipocyte Insulin and Inflammatory Signaling by Early B-Cell Factor-1 (Ebf1)

Overnutrition is causally associated with many chronic diseases, including insulin resistance and diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and cancer. Chronic activation of the innate immune system may lie at the heart of a majority of T2DM cases; the bulk of the evidence suggests that a litany of inflammatory cytokines and toxic lipid species released from irritated adipocytes contribute significantly to disrupted insulin signaling in metabolic tissues and may eventually lead to frank type 2 diabetes. However, the molecular mechanisms that initiate these inflammatory events in adipocytes remain unknown, particularly at the transcriptional level. Our previous work showed that the transcription factor Ebf1 regulates insulin signaling and promotes inflammation in adipocytes; however, the precise molecular mechanisms through which Ebf1 regulates the expression of inflammatory loci remain unknown (as evidence had suggested Ebf1 regulates these genes indirectly). We have recently discovered that Ebf1 can physically interact with multiple subunits of the well-known inflammatory transcription factor NF-κB, and many of the critical inflammatory loci showing impaired expression in Ebf1-deficient 3T3-L1 adipocytes also happen to be well-established NF-κB target genes. This striking result likely explains our paradoxical observations that EBF1 directly (and positively) regulates several core insulin signaling genes (Pik3r1, Akt, etc.) but also promotes insulin resistance in adipocytes—apparently without directly occupying inflammatory loci. We are currently working on physically and functionally characterizing these interactions and propose a model to explain the previously-mentioned paradox. If our hypothesis is correct, we anticipate that the eventual development of pharmaceutical agents designed to interfere with EBF1-NF-κB protein-protein interactions may represent a viable treatment for overnutrition-associated diabetes. Disclosure A. Gutierrez: None. Y. Martinez: None. K. Ibarra: None. Z. Bailey: None. M. Griffin: None. Funding National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Computing roadmaps in unbounded smooth real algebraic sets I: Connectivity results

Answering connectivity queries in real algebraic sets is a fundamental problem in effective real algebraic geometry that finds many applications in e.g. robotics where motion planning issues are topical. This computational problem is tackled through the computation of so-called roadmaps which are real algebraic subsets of the set V under study, of dimension at most one, and which have a connected intersection with all semi-algebraically connected components of V. Algorithms for computing roadmaps rely on statements establishing connectivity properties of some well-chosen subsets of V, assuming that V is bounded.In this paper, we extend such connectivity statements by dropping the boundedness assumption on V. This exploits properties of so-called generalized polar varieties, which are critical loci of V for some well-chosen polynomial maps.

Major genetic locus with pleiotropismdetermined seed-related traits in cultivated and wild soybeans.

Here, a novel pleiotropic QTL qSS14 simultaneously regulating four seed size traits and two consistently detected QTLs qSW17 and qSLW02 were identified across multiple years. Seed-related traits were the key agronomic traits that have been artificially selected during the domestication of wild soybean. Identifying the genetic loci and genes that regulate seed size could clarify the genetic variations in seed-related traits and provide novel insights into high-yield soybean breeding. In this study, we used a high-density genetic map constructed by F10 RIL populations from a cross between Glycine max and Glycine soja to detect additive QTLs for seven seed-related traits over the last three years. As a result, we identified one novel pleiotropic QTL, qSS14, that simultaneously controlled four seed size traits (100-seed weight, seed length, seed width, and seed thickness) and two consistently detected QTLs, qSW17, and qSLW02, in multiple years of phenotypic data. Furthermore, we predicted two, two and three candidate genes within these three critical loci based on the parental resequencing data and gene function annotations. And the relative expression of four candidate genes GLYMA_14G155100, GLYMA_17G061000, GLYMA_02G273100, and GLYMA_02G273300 showed significant differences among parents and the extreme materials through qRT-PCR analysis. These findings could facilitate the determination of beneficial genes in wild soybean and contribute to our understanding of the soybean domestication process.

NS1 Protein N-Linked Glycosylation Site Affects the Virulence and Pathogenesis of Dengue Virus.

Live attenuated vaccine is one of the most effective vaccines against flavivirus. Recently, site-directed mutation of the flavivirus genome using reverse genetics techniques has been used for the rapid development of attenuated vaccines. However, this technique relies on basic research of critical virulence loci of the virus. To screen the attenuated sites in dengue virus, a total of eleven dengue virus type four mutant strains with deletion of N-glycosylation sites in the NS1 protein were designed and constructed. Ten of them (except for the N207-del mutant strain) were successfully rescued. Out of the ten strains, one mutant strain (N130del+207-209QQA) was found to have significantly reduced virulence through neurovirulence assay in suckling mice, but was genetically unstable. Further purification using the plaque purification assay yielded a genetically stable attenuated strain #11-puri9 with mutations of K129T, N130K, N207Q, and T209A in the NS1 protein and E99D in the NS2A protein. Identifying the virulence loci by constructing revertant mutant and chimeric viruses revealed that five amino acid adaptive mutations in the dengue virus type four non-structural proteins NS1 and NS2A dramatically affected its neurovirulence and could be used in constructing attenuated dengue chimeric viruses. Our study is the first to obtain an attenuated dengue virus strain through the deletion of amino acid residues at the N-glycosylation site, providing a theoretical basis for understanding the pathogenesis of the dengue virus and developing its live attenuated vaccines.

Critical, supercritical and phase-transition properties of binary 1-propanol + n-heptane mixtures

PρTx relationship of four binary 1-propanol + n-heptane mixtures was measured using high-temperature and high-pressure constant-volume piezometer technique in the critical, supercritical, and in the immediate vicinity of the liquid–gas phase transition curve. The experimental temperature and pressure ranges were from (373 to 623) K and up to 60 MPa. The liquid–gas critical loci behavior in the (Tc-x), (Pc-x), (ρc-x), and (Pc-Tc) projections, were studied based on the measured PρTx data. The values of the Krichevskii parameter for the (1-propanol + n-heptane) mixture were calculated using the measured critical curves data. Pure- and mixture-like behavior of the weakly (Cvx) and strongly (KTx and CPx) divergent properties has been studied based on measured critical curve data. The measured mixture molar volumes and pure components data were used to calculate the excess molar volumes. The values of the second virial coefficient of the mixture were calculated based on the measured PVTx data.

Post-critically finite maps on ℙⁿ for 𝕟≥2 are sparse

Let f : P n → P n f:{\mathbb P}^n\to {\mathbb P}^n be a morphism of degree d ≥ 2 d\ge 2 . The map f f is said to be post-critically finite (PCF) if there exist integers k ≥ 1 k\ge 1 and ℓ ≥ 0 \ell \ge 0 such that the critical locus Crit f \operatorname {Crit}_f satisfies f k + ℓ ( Crit f ) ⊆ f ℓ ( Crit f ) f^{k+\ell }(\operatorname {Crit}_f)\subseteq {f^\ell (\operatorname {Crit}_f)} . The smallest such ℓ \ell is called the tail-length. We prove that for d ≥ 3 d\ge 3 and n ≥ 2 n\ge 2 , the set of PCF maps f f with tail-length at most 2 2 is not Zariski dense in the the parameter space of all such maps. In particular, maps with periodic critical loci, i.e., with ℓ = 0 \ell =0 , are not Zariski dense.

Effect of particle size and particle size distribution on critical state loci of granular soils

The critical state soil mechanics captures a wide range of stress–strain behaviour in an understandable context. It provides a conceptual framework for predicting soil behaviour and that is why the critical state is a central part of most advanced constitutive models. This study aims at quantifying the effects of both particle size, and particle size distribution on the critical state loci. Two soils, a natural soil and a tailings, were selected and CSLs were identified for twelve uniform and well graded particle size distributions. Mineralogy and particle shapes were rigorously quantified to ensure other factors are not influencing the results. Particle size has a small influence on the CSL in the sand to gravel range, but silts can have a significantly different CSL. In both natural soil and tailings, particle size distribution appears to have a significant influence on the CSL in e − log p′space and little influence in q − p′ space. Well graded soils have lower CSLs compared to uniform ones, that are generally parallel to the CSLs of their dominant constituent, with the exception of convex distributions where progressively finer particles in larger proportions can form structures noticeably less compressible than any of their constituents.