Strain diversity in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) underlies distinct clinical presentations and outcomes, but the range of drug susceptibility phenotypes among clinical isolates is poorly understood. We aimed to identify drug response patterns in phylogenetically diverse clinical isolates to combination treatment. We selected 13 strains out of 641 drug-sensitive clinical isolates that capture local and global phylogenetic diversity and included Erdman ATCC-35801 as a reference. We treated each strain with 10 single drugs, 45 drug pairs, and 20 three-way combinations in standard and cholesterol-rich media. Mtb clinical strains displayed a broad range of drug response phenotypes across the 65 drug combinations and two metabolic conditions tested, with the most effective drug pairs (based on potency and synergy) varying by strain and metabolic condition. Within our 14-strain panel, strains that were less sensitive to single drugs were also less sensitive to combination treatment, with very few exceptions. For all drug combinations tested, the variation in combination potency was driven primarily by variation among genetically related strains, rather than between strains belonging to disparate lineages. Preclinical regimen design should reflect the diversity of Mtb clinical strains; our data suggest that selecting strains based on the range of drug response phenotypes displayed, rather than by genetic diversity alone, may better account for pathogen diversity. Our findings also show that constituent drug pairs of high-order combinations can be differentially effective against Mtb adapted to different carbon sources. Selection of these pairs should likely involve multiple factors including the infecting strain, metabolic niche, and drug response metrics.

What causes species' niche and range margins to shift is not only a fundamental theoretical question, but also directly affects how we assess the resilience of natural populations in current and future environments. Yet despite the urgent need for theory that can predict evolutionary and ecological responses in times of accelerated climate change, the assumptions of current eco-evolutionary theory remain restrictive, with predictions neglecting important interactions between ecological and evolutionary forces. In this study, I provide quantitative, testable predictions on limits to adaptation in changing environments, which arise from the feedback between selection, genetic drift, and population dynamics. This eco-evolutionary feedback creates a tipping point beyond which adaptation fails as genetic drift overwhelms selection, and species' ranges contract from the margins or fragment abruptly-even under gradual environmental change. This "expansion threshold" is determined by three parameters: two quantifying the effects of spatial and temporal variability on the fitness of the population and one capturing the impact of genetic drift: the reduction of local genetic diversity across generations in finite populations. Genetic drift is strong in populations with small "neighborhood size." Increasing dispersal, such as via assisted migration, enlarges neighborhood size, counteracting the loss of genetic variation due to genetic drift. This increases adaptive potential and can facilitate evolutionary rescue in changing environments. Conversely, beyond the expansion threshold, local genetic variance becomes depleted, increasing extinction probability. The theory provides general predictions for species' range and niche dynamics beyond standard ecological niche models, highlighting the fundamental impact of eco-evolutionary interactions.

INTRODUCTION Anthropogenic climate change is reshaping where plants can live. As temperature and precipitation patterns shift, many species are moving to stay within suitable environmental conditions. Predicting how these range shifts will affect future biodiversity requires knowing both where suitable habitats will occur and whether species can reach them. The latter is challenging because dispersal abilities differ widely among species and depend on landscape structure, anthropogenic barriers, and climatic conditions. Large-scale biodiversity forecasts therefore often rely on overly simple assumptions-such as no dispersal, unlimited dispersal, or identical movement rates for all species-thus adding major uncertainty to projections and conservation planning. RATIONALE We used the largest global database of observed plant range shifts (BioShifts; 14,488 records across 6579 plant species) to build models that predict species-specific range shift velocities. Combining 6.8 million plant occurrence records, an ensemble of two top-performing habitat models, and climate projections from 10 global circulation models, we mapped current and future suitable habitats-areas with favorable climate, soil, and land use-at 8 × 8 km resolution for each species. Our analysis covers 18% of known vascular plant species under four greenhouse-gas emissions scenarios for 2081 to 2100. We then overlaid the projected future suitable habitats with species-specific range shift velocities to determine where each species is likely to persist or expand by the end of this century. From these results, we estimated global extinction risks, changes in local species richness, and temporal species turnover in community composition. RESULTS Overall, 7 to 16% of modeled plant species are projected to lose >90% of their range across emissions scenarios, placing them at high risk of extinction. Most of these losses (70 to 80%) stem from suitable habitats disappearing as a result of climate change, rather than from dispersal limitations, indicating that climate-induced habitat loss, rather than an inability to keep pace with changing climate, is the primary threat. Although range shifts are unlikely to prevent many global extinctions, they will strongly reshape local species composition. Plant movements into newly suitable habitats are expected to increase local species richness across 28% of Earth's land surface, maintain latitudinally averaged species richness in the tropics and subtropics (35°S to 35°N), and generate substantial species turnover in mid-latitudes (30° to 50° in both hemispheres). By contrast, in regions north of 50°N, warming is so rapid that most plants cannot keep pace, leading to widespread local extirpations and sharp declines in species richness. CONCLUSION Range shifts can help sustain local species richness but are unlikely to provide much relief from global extinctions. To reduce extinction risks, identifying and protecting climate change refugia to safeguard biodiversity, and expanding ex situ conservation efforts, such as global seed bank and botanic garden networks, may be more effective than facilitating migrations. At the same time, conservation strategies should anticipate changing community compositions and ecosystem functioning as new species arrive and ecosystems reorganize. In high-latitude regions where dispersal lags considerably behind the rapid warming, improving habitat connectivity, reducing human-made barriers, and where appropriate, assisting species movement could help maintain local species richness, ecosystem productivity, carbon sequestration, and ecosystem stability. [Figure: see text].

Neurotropic viruses disrupt brain homeostasis through complex interactions among infected cells, resident immune responses, and tissue architecture, yet how these processes unfold across space, time, and cell types, and how viral strain differences shape disease severity, remains poorly understood. Here, we integrate high-resolution spatial transcriptomics with infection-aware cell-type profiling to construct a spatiotemporal atlas of Zika virus (ZIKV) infection in the mouse brain. Comparing Asian and African ZIKV strains across early and late infection stages, we uncover structured, strain-dependent reorganization of immune and structural cell populations that defines discrete infection-associated tissue niches. Microglia undergo region-specific state transitions characterized by both cell-intrinsic antiviral programs and widespread bystander activation, producing tissue-wide immune amplification. In Asian strain infection, we identify disease-associated microglia (DAM) as critical mediators of infection containment: DAM accumulate in regions where viral burden stabilizes, are promoted by Apoe-Trem2 signaling from infected cells and are governed by transcription regulators that restrain inflammatory programs while preserving phagocytic and antiviral functions. In contrast, African strain infection is marked by impaired Apoe-Trem2 signaling, persistent inflammatory microglial activation, and failure of containment. Progressive infection leads to depletion of oligodendrocytes, astrocytes, and neurons, loss of local cellular diversity and disruption of tissue architecture concentrated in somatosensory and motor regions associated with myelination and synaptic programs. These architectural disruptions correlate with severe neurological phenotypes in African strain infection and are preceded by transcriptional dysregulation in infected glial cells, including sustained stress responses, inflammatory signaling, and suppression of myelination and homeostatic pathways. Together, our study establishes a spatially resolved framework linking viral strain-specific microglial states to tissue disorganization and neurological functional impairment, providing mechanistic insight into how neurotropic viruses reshape microenvironments to drive neurological disease.

Predation risk varies through space and time due to changing refuge quality, predator communities, and prey traits. Despite this, ecological research is often focused on measuring average predation risk at the community level. While this can give important information about overall trophic transfer and ecological efficiency, it ignores differences in predation risk among prey species within a community, which may be important determinants of species coexistence and local diversity. We used crustaceans associated with temperate seagrass in Northern California to explore the relationship between seasonal variation in among-species and community-level predation risk for a community of morphologically distinct prey. We measured predation risk of the four most abundant and widespread prey species at six field sites every 2-6 weeks for 1 year. At the community level, sites differed significantly in their annual variation in predation risk, and these differences were correlated with the amount of variation in the among-species predation risk. When there was greater within-year variation in predation risk among the four prey species, predation risk at the community level was more stable across the year. On the other hand, when each prey species in the community had similar levels of predation risk throughout the year, predation as a community-level process was much more seasonal and variable. Variation in predation risk also changed across a gradient of seagrass cover, a proxy for refuge quality. Sites with greater seagrass cover had less annual variation in community-level predation risk and more variation in predation risk among the four species at any given time point. In contrast, at sites with less eelgrass, all species were consumed at the same rate throughout the year, suggesting previously demonstrated differences in antipredator strategies among species are less relevant in the absence of habitat-forming species. We suggest that larger species-specific differences in predation risk throughout a year result in a more stable level of predation risk for the whole community. This may be driven by the increased refuge provided by seagrass habitat mediating different prey species' relative levels of susceptibility to predation.

Urbanization is a major driver of global ecosystem change and biodiversity loss. Ground-dwelling animals, due to their reliance on near-ground resources and sensitivity to human disturbance, serve as important indicator taxa in urban ecosystems. Understanding the responses of ground-dwelling animals to urbanization is therefore critical for the design and management of urban green spaces. In this study, we evaluated the responses of ground-dwelling animal communities to urbanization along the Chuhe River riparian zone in Nanjing, China. Using camera trap data and a set of urbanization-related variables, we examined community patterns across taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic dimensions of diversity. The results showed that: (1) no significant differences in α diversity were detected among urban, suburban, and rural sites; (2) generalized linear models indicated that different urbanization-related factors exerted significant and taxon-specific effects on diversity metrics, with building height, building density, road density, and distance to the government site being key variables; and (3) RLQ analysis revealed significant associations between urbanization and functional traits, with more urbanized areas favoring species characterized by larger body size, carnivorous diets, ground-dwelling habits, and solitary behavior. Overall, urbanization did not lead to significant changes in local diversity across categorical urbanization gradients, but influenced ground-dwelling animal communities through specific urbanization-related factors and trait-based filtering processes. These findings highlight the importance of integrating multiple diversity dimensions and trait-based perspectives into urban ecological research and planning.

This study examines the Galang Batang Special Economic Zone as a strategic instrument for accelerating downstreaming-based economic transformation in Bintan, Kepulauan Riau Province, Indonesia. The main problem addressed in this article is the extent to which Galang Batang SEZ can move Bintan’s economy beyond dependence on raw-resource extraction, tourism, and service-based activities toward a more integrated industrial structure based on bauxite processing, alumina production, investment facilitation, and export-oriented value creation. The objective of this study is to analyze the role of Galang Batang SEZ in supporting mineral downstreaming, strengthening industrial infrastructure, generating local economic linkages, and contributing to sustainable regional transformation. This research uses a qualitative descriptive-analytical method based entirely on secondary data. The data were obtained from academic literature, government documents, official reports, statistical publications, policy documents, and credible online sources related to special economic zones, downstreaming policy, regional industrialization, and Bintan’s economic development. The data were analyzed through document review and content analysis by classifying information into strategic foundations, industrial infrastructure, value creation, regional economic effects, governance challenges, and sustainability risks. The findings show that Galang Batang SEZ has strong potential to become a downstreaming hub because it combines strategic maritime location, bauxite-processing orientation, investment incentives, industrial infrastructure, port connectivity, and export market access. The SEZ also has the potential to support employment creation, local business growth, economic diversification, and regional competitiveness. However, its long-term impact depends on the ability of policymakers and industrial actors to prevent enclave industrialization, strengthen local supplier participation, improve workforce skills, ensure environmental management, and build adaptive governance.

BACKGROUNDWest Nile virus (WNV) has become established across Europe, with Hungary serving as a key transmission hub since 2004. Following reduced activity during 2020–22, the 2024 season marked a resurgence with the largest geographical distribution ever recorded in Europe.AIMTo analyse the 2024 WNV transmission season in Hungary using a One Health approach and characterise circulating strains within the European phylogeographic context using comprehensive genomic surveillance.METHODSComplete and near-complete genome sequencing was performed on 55 specimens from 38 humans, 15 birds and two Culex pipiens mosquito pools using amplicon-based next-generation sequencing. Phylogeographic analysis incorporated 637 European WNV genome sequences (2004–24) with time-scaled Bayesian phylogenetic reconstruction and continuous spatial diffusion modelling.RESULTSHungary reported 113 human WNV cases in 2024 (n = 111 autochthonous, 2 imported), a 3.7-fold increase from 2023 (incidence: 1.16 vs 0.31 per 100,000 population). Neuroinvasive disease predominated (92%, n = 104) with a 7.9% case fatality rate. All 55 sequenced strains belonged to WNV lineage 2. Phylogeographic analysis revealed Hungary's central role in European WNV dissemination since 2004, with multiple introductions and local diversification across distinct clades. Continuous spatial modelling identified Hungary as a persistent transmission hub with bidirectional viral flow to neighbouring countries, contributing to northward expansion.CONCLUSIONHungary remains a critical WNV transmission hub in Central Europe with established endemicity of multiple lineage 2 clades. The analysis highlights Hungary's role as both a recipient and major source of European WNV diversity, emphasising the need for coordinated surveillance and climate-adapted preparedness strategies.

Abstract Addressing biodiversity loss requires knowing how different living beings are spatially distributed. For hyper‐diverse groups such as spiders, biogeographic dispersal‐related processes tend to be the main factor driving diversity patterns at large spatial scales, while the relevance of ecological filtering (species sorting) may increase at lower spatial scales. To determine how spider diversity and structure are shaped at local spatial scales, we sampled spider communities using a standardized optimized protocol and assessed habitat heterogeneity across 10 Mediterranean forest plots in the Northeastern Iberian Peninsula. We compared the spiders' composition and structure among forest types and across vegetation layers using generalized linear models and linear mixed models for assessing patterns of alpha‐diversity and constrained ordination analyses for understanding beta‐diversity patterns. Across forests, habitat heterogeneity was the only significant driver for structuring alpha‐ and beta‐diversity, and the geographic and climate distance explained a low variance of the models. Pine forests were separated in the redundancy analyses from holm oak and deciduous forests because a lower vegetation cover characterized the latter. Lineal models of alpha‐diversity at the microhabitat scale only showed significant negative tendencies for the rock cover. Beta‐diversity across vegetation layers within a plot and across forests appears to be influenced primarily by habitat heterogeneity, particularly by the presence of herbaceous and low shrub cover. Our results highlight the importance of species sorting over biogeography and climatic variables in shaping spider diversity patterns at the local scale. They also indicate that a mosaic of habitat structure within and between forest types is a significant driver of spider diversity. These findings have implications for assessing spider assemblages—and likely other arthropods—suggesting that a combination of methods capturing microhabitat descriptors is crucial for effective monitoring schemes.

Certain bacteria are known for their remarkable genetic and phenotypic diversity, as well as rapid morphological diversification during evolution experiments. An example is Bacillus subtilis, which can switch motility, biofilm, or antagonistic interaction patterns. Here, we investigated how different forms of disruption at the spsM locus, including SPβ integration, insertional mutagenesis (spsM::kan), and markerless spsM deletion, influence colony morphology, motility, and the emergence of spontaneous variants in B. subtilis natural isolates. We reassessed a previously reported biofilm defect of an spsM::kan mutant and found that the phenotype stemmed from an undetected secondary mutation rather than from loss of spsM. We observed that spsM::kan mutants frequently developed spontaneous mutations in key regulators of swarming motility and biofilm development. Consistently, we show that spsM::kan significantly elevates mutation rates, explaining why unnoticed mutations can arise rapidly during strain construction and phenotyping. In contrast, a markerless ΔspsM strain did not show a detectable increase in mutation rate relative to wild type, indicating that the elevated mutation rate is not attributable to loss of SpsM function. The SPβ lysogen produced far fewer visible variant morphotypes, indicating that reversible prophage integration does not lead to the same degree of diversification observed in the spsM::kan background. Our findings show that different modes of disrupting the spsM locus can alter the likelihood of selecting recurrent regulatory mutations, highlighting how local genomic context shapes phenotypic diversification. This work highlights the interplay between prophage integration, local genome architecture, and the selective pressures that influence diversification of bacterial multicellular behaviors.IMPORTANCEProphages, defined as viruses integrated into bacterial genomes, can reshape bacterial physiology and evolution. Previous studies suggested that disruption of an integration site (spsM) by the SPβ prophage impairs biofilm formation in Bacillus subtilis. Here, we show that insertion of a kanamycin resistance cassette at the native spsM locus (spsM::kan) promotes the rapid emergence of spontaneous mutations in key regulatory genes. In contrast, a markerless ΔspsM strain does not show a detectable increase in mutation rate, indicating that elevated mutation supply is not a general consequence of spsM loss. Our results indicate that different modes of spsM disruption have distinct consequences for phenotypic diversification. These findings help clarify earlier observations and show that phenotypic diversification depends strongly on the mode of spsM disruption and the genetic background. This has broader implications for how we understand the genetic basis of microbial adaptation, the genetic manipulation, and the evolutionary roles of prophages.

Ground vegetation species richness in close-to-nature managed and protected forests after four decades of protection.

In 2023, one tomato plant showing symptoms typical of tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV; Orthotospovirus tomatomaculae), including necrotic spots on older leaves, concentric rings, stunting, and progressive wilting, was submitted from Marengo Co., Alabama (AL), to the Vector Entomology Laboratory for analysis. In 2024, three additional samples with the same symptoms were received from the Chandler Mountain area of northeast AL (St. Clair Co.). Leaf tissues from symptomatic plants collected in 2023-24 were processed for Sanger sequencing of TSWV NSm as described (Shehata et al. 2025a). NSm sequences from 2023 (four colonies sequenced from a single sample; PX634739-742) lacked resistance-breaking (RB) mutations. In contrast, 2024 NSm sequences (five colonies sequenced from three samples; PX634743-747) had V49A, C118Y, and V141I substitutions. The C118Y is associated with Sw-5b RB in tomato in Spain (Lopez et al. 2011). In 2025, growers in the same production region reported a severe outbreak of TSWV. To determine whether TSWV-RB with the C118Y mutation was circulating, and to test the Sw-5b RB phenotype under greenhouse conditions, we collected 10 samples with different TSWV-resistance backgrounds from three farms (Farms I-III). Seedlings of Sw-5b resistant cultivar ‘Mountain Merit’ and TSWV susceptible cultivar ‘Beefsteak’ were grown under greenhouse conditions, and 25 seedlings from each variety were mechanically inoculated with TSWV-infected leaf tissues from Farm III (Shehata et al. 2025b) at 17d after emergence. At 13d post-inoculation, plants from both varieties showed typical symptoms of TSWV. Infection was confirmed using Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) (AgDia, Elkhart, IN), while healthy controls were negative. Moreover, NSm was sequenced from both 2025 field samples and mechanically inoculated plants, resulting in 20 sequences (PX634748-767): 12 from field samples (eight sequenced from individual samples across three farms and four from a pooled Farm-III inoculum) and eight from mechanically inoculated plants (four colonies per variety). Consistent with 2024, C118Y and the other two mutations were present in 2025. Another mutation (I130V) appeared in 55% of 2025 sequences (n=11/20), indicating ongoing evolution of RB strains in AL. Moreover, AL’s 2024-25 sequences shared 4/6 mutations (I163V, V290I, N293S, K296Q) with Texas RB strains lacking C118Y (Chinnaiah et al. 2023), indicating both local evolution and regionally shared lineages circulating in AL. A phylogenetic tree was constructed (Shehata et al. 2025c) to assess the relatedness of AL NSm sequences to RB and peanut-derived isolates from AL and Georgia (GA). AL’s 2023 tomato isolates, which lack the C118Y and other mutations, clustered within Sub-clade 6.3 together with peanut isolates, suggesting RB variants were likely absent from tomato in AL that year. In contrast, AL’s 2024-25 tomato isolates formed six host-associated sub-clades within Sub-clade 6.7, together with single isolates from North Carolina and GA (OP832375 and KU179600), consistent with largely local diversification of RB-associated lineages. These genomic and phylogenetic data provide the first evidence of TSWV-RB strains overcoming Sw-5b-mediated resistance in tomato in AL, making AL the third southeast state in the United States to document a severe outbreak of TSWV-RB (Macedo et al., 2024). This underscores an urgent need for more durable TSWV management and resistance strategies.

Non-AUG translation initiation can generate N-terminally extended proteoforms, contributing to proteome complexity and regulatory diversity. While well characterized in mammals, its identification in plants remains limited, hindering both functional investigations and cross-species comparisons. Here, we applied a computational prediction-combined proteogenomic strategy to systematically explore non-AUG translation initiation events in the monocots maize and rice and the dicot soybean, identifying 879 transcripts potentially producing 3 938 N-terminally extended proteoforms. These events exhibited both conserved and lineage-specific mechanistic features, including stable RNA secondary structures flanking upstream translation initiation sites (uTISs), codon and sequence context preferences between monocot and dicot species, and a lack of evolutionary conservation. Plant N-terminal extensions were predicted to encode diverse targeting signals, implicating them in subcellular localization and functional diversification. Comparative analysis revealed both conserved trends and plant-specific features relative to humans. Collectively, this study provides a foundational resource and conceptual framework to advance understanding of plant non-AUG translation within a cross-kingdom evolutionary context. It also offers new opportunities to elucidate the roles of non-AUG translation in regulatory networks, proteome diversification, and adaptive biological functions across eukaryotic systems.

This study aimed to analyze the effect of jack bean flour (Canavalia ensiformis) substitution on the sensory, hedonic, physical, and chemical characteristics of crispy brownies and to determine the best formulation. The research employed a single-factor Completely Randomized Design with four substitution levels of jack bean flour: 0% (F1), 10% (F2), 20% (F3), and 30% (F4). Sensory quality was evaluated by three trained panelists, while the hedonic test involved 80 untrained panelists using a 9-point Likert scale. Physical characteristics were assessed through color analysis (L*, a*, b*), while chemical analysis included moisture and protein content using gravimetric and Kjeldahl methods. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and Kruskal–Wallis tests at a 95% confidence level (α ≤ 0.05). The results showed that substitution of jack bean flour up to 30% did not significantly affect sensory quality, hedonic preference, and color characteristics (p>0.05), with all formulations categorized as “liked.” Protein content increased with higher substitution levels, with the highest value observed in F3 (20%) at 8.680%. However, the F1 formulation (0%) showed the highest overall acceptance and was determined as the best formulation. These findings indicate that jack bean flour has potential as a wheat flour substitute to enhance protein content and support local food diversification.

This study assesses the agrobiodiversity richness, traditional knowledge, and conservation status associated with four key crops-banana, taro, pumpkin, and mustard green-in Northwest Vietnam. Using the 5-cell method, 133 farmer varieties were identified in Mai Son and Sa Pa districts. Mai Son showed the highest level of varietal diversity in banana and pumpkin, while Sa Pa had the higher richness in mustard green and taro. Ethnic groups, particularly Thai and Dao households, played a key role in maintaining this diversity. The findings reveal significant vulnerability to varietal loss, particularly for banana and taro. In contrast, pumpkin varieties in Sa Pa and mustard greens in both districts appear less vulnerable. Declining cultivation of certain farmer varieties is driven by changing preferences, market limitations, and climate variability. Results underscore the need for on-farm conservation strategies such as custodian farmer networks, biodiversity seed fairs, seed banks, improved market access, and nutritional education, to safeguard local varietal diversity and promote sustainable farming systems in the region.

Most angiosperms are animal-pollinated, and animal pollination increases fitness in many plant species. Although it is less well-studied than other factors, plant biodiversity may be maintained by pollinators and the associated seedling recruitment that occurs after fertilization. We experimentally applied three levels of pollinator visitation to all forb flowers that emerged in patches of a prairie restoration with different graminoid/forb ratio seed mixes: (1) a pollinator exclusion treatment where flowers were bagged, (2) an augmented pollination treatment where flowers were hand-pollinated, and (3) a control that was untreated. Plant diversity was estimated in the fourth growing season. Pollinator exclusion led to a 50% reduction of viable seeds in animal-pollinated species, a 27% decline in animal-pollinated species richness, and a 23% decline in plant species richness overall. Pollinator exclusion also eliminated the positive relationship between forb abundance and plant richness observed in controls and augmented pollination treatments. Overall, our results suggest that pollinator decline in human-impacted environments may be leading to a plant-pollinator extinction vortex in which reduced pollination leads to reductions in local plant diversity, subsequent declines in pollinators, and further reductions in plant diversity. This suggests that plant biodiversity at the community level can be limited by animal pollinators.

Recently, diverged species with overlapping distributional ranges have high chances of hybridizing and if hybrids are viable, genomic material can be transferred between species in a process called introgression. To characterize the patterns and consequences of introgression in species with historically low population sizes and recent steep declines resulting in genetic erosion, we analyze the Iberian and Eurasian lynx (EL) as an illustrative and relevant case study. While genome-wide introgression was already detected, here we apply a method using a deep convolutional neural network to detect specific regions of the genome with signals of introgression in three populations of these two species. Over 6% of the genome of both Iberian lynx and ELw shows introgression from the other species, compared with only 2% in the ELs. This observation, along with the results from demographic modeling, suggests that the ELw population is genetically closest to the source of EL introgression, a probably now extinct group that coexisted with the Iberian lynx in Southern Europe and Northern Iberia until recently. As predicted by theory, introgression was generally higher in populations with smaller effective sizes and in genomic regions of high recombination. However, the Iberian lynx did not show higher overall introgression than the more abundant ELw, and coding regions introgressed as frequently as intergenic regions. Local genetic diversity is boosted approximately 3-fold in genomic windows where introgression occurs, potentially including the adaptively relevant and highly diverse MHC region of the Iberian lynx.

Ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm (ATAA) is a fatal vascular disease characterized by immune dysregulation. However, the cellular composition, spatial localization, and functional diversity of immune cells in the ATAA microenvironment remain poorly understood. To construct a high-resolution immune cell atlas of human ATAA and explore the immune-mediated vascular remodelling mechanisms associated with its progression. We conduct high-throughput single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) of aortic tissues from eight ATAA patients and nine controls, including six from the GEO database. In the ATAA group, CD45+ cell subpopulations are isolated, and the scRNA-seq results are integrated with Visium high-definition spatial transcriptomics analysis to achieve near-single-cell resolution cell localization through deconvolution. Advanced cell segmentation algorithms are applied to generate a high-resolution immune cell atlas of human ATAA. A total of 187163 high-quality immune cells are identified, encompassing eight major immune cell types. Immune cells are significantly enriched in ATAA tissues compared with the controls. CellChat analysis reveals strong immune cell interactions in ATAA, which may contribute to its occurrence and progression. This study presents the first high-resolution immune cell atlas of human ATAA, offering novel insights into its immune-mediated vascular remodelling mechanism. What is currently known about this topic? ATAA is a vascular disease characterized by medial degeneration and chronic inflammation. Previous single-cell transcriptomic studies have revealed the cellular heterogeneity of the aortic wall and identified alterations in the populations of smooth muscle, fibroblasts and endothelial cells. However, the immune landscape of ATAA remains unclear. Recent single-cell and spatial analyses of aortic dissections and abdominal aortic aneurysms have revealed dynamic immune remodelling involving macrophage polarization, T-cell activation and cytokine-driven matrix degradation. Nevertheless, the spatial resolution of immune heterogeneity and cross-lineage signalling in human ATAA is poorly understood. What is the key research question? This study aimed to determine the cellular composition, spatial distribution and transcriptional reprogramming of immune cell populations in ATAA and to elucidate how the interactions among immune cells lead to inflammation and pathological remodelling of the aortic wall. What is new? Single-cell RNA sequencing combined with Visium HD spatial transcriptomics can comprehensively characterize the composition, gene expression profiles and spatial localizations of eight types of immune cells in the aortic tissues of the control and ATAA groups at the single-cell level. Targeting of the interferon, AP1, and NF-κB pathways is a novel strategy for treating ATAA. The interactions among immune cells have a synergistic effect during ATAA formation, jointly driving immune remodelling. How might this study influence clinical practice? Elucidation of the dynamic differentiation trajectories and gene expression signatures of distinct immune cell populations in normal and ATAA-affected aortas will enhance our understanding of the immunological mechanisms underlying aneurysm pathogenesis. This knowledge provides a foundation for developing targeted anti-inflammatory therapeutic strategies for ATAA.

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image target recognition aims to identify objects captured in radar imagery accurately and efficiently. This core technology is widely used in various applications, including military and civilian contexts. However, SAR image target recognition models are typically deployed on edge devices with limited computational resources and real-time processing requirements, posing significant challenges to the model size, recognition accuracy, and inference speed. Existing SAR image target recognition methods struggle to achieve outstanding performance in all these aspects simultaneously. To address these challenges, we propose EfficientSARNet, a novel efficient model designed for SAR image target recognition. Specifically, we design a light-weight multi-branch (LWMB) feature extraction module to capture local diversity features efficiently. Additionally, we introduce an efficient linear self-attention module, proximal linear self-attention (PLSA), which leverages feature positional information for re-weighting to facilitate the capture of global features. EfficientSARNet is innovatively designed by both simply and efficiently stacking PLSA and LWMB modules in various stages to capture both global and local features, achieving light-weight, high performance, and fast SAR image target recognition under limited computational resources. Extensive experiments and thorough analysis on multiple subsets of the moving and stationary target acquisition and recognition (MSTAR) dataset and the OpenSARUrban dataset demonstrate that EfficientSARNet not only surpasses state-of-the-art algorithms in recognition accuracy but also shows advantages in metrics such as Parameters, MACs, and Throughput.

Abstract The problem of species packing, i.e. how many species a local community can sustain, has long been central to ecology. One approach, pioneered by Robert May and with many later updates, used random matrix theory to link complexity and stability in model communities, showing that beyond a critical threshold of species richness, linear stability is lost. A contrasting paradigm views local diversity as a dynamic equilibrium between colonisation and extinction, as in island biogeography theory and later neutral theory, with the latter assuming strict ecological equivalence among species. Yet many real communities are open, shaped by continuous invasions of ecologically distinct alien species, and thus remain in non-equilibrium states with ongoing turnover. We develop a model of such open communities, incorporating trait-mediated competition and growth, demographic stochasticity, and continuous invasions. Using this framework, we examine stationary states where species introductions are balanced by extinctions. We also derive a statistical formula to estimate species richness from key assembly parameters and invasion rates. Our results reveal a form of functional stasis: community functional profiles remain stable despite exponential declines in compositional similarity with increasing time lags. This reflects a dynamic equilibrium in both species richness and functional composition, maintained through the continuous introduction of new species. These findings clarify the assembly rules and dynamics of open communities under persistent biological invasion.