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1. The maize PLASTID TERMINAL OXIDASE ( PTOX ) locus controls the carotenoid content of kernels

   https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.16618  

   Nie, Yongxin; Wang, Hui; Zhang, Guan; Ding, Haiping; Han, Beibei; Liu, Lei; Shi, Jian; Du, Jiyuan; Li, Xiaohu; Li, Xinzheng; et al (April 2024, The Plant Journal)

   SUMMARY Carotenoids perform a broad range of important functions in humans; therefore, carotenoid biofortification of maize (Zea maysL.), one of the most highly produced cereal crops worldwide, would have a global impact on human health.PLASTID TERMINAL OXIDASE(PTOX) genes play an important role in carotenoid metabolism; however, the possible function ofPTOXin carotenoid biosynthesis in maize has not yet been explored. In this study, we characterized the maizePTOXlocus by forward‐ and reverse‐genetic analyses. While most higher plant species possess a single copy of thePTOXgene, maize carries two tandemly duplicated copies. Characterization of mutants revealed that disruption of either copy resulted in a carotenoid‐deficient phenotype. We identified mutations in thePTOXgenes as being causal of the classic maize mutant,albescent1. Remarkably, overexpression ofZmPTOX1significantly improved the content of carotenoids, especially β‐carotene (provitamin A), which was increased by ~threefold, in maize kernels. Overall, our study shows that maizePTOXlocus plays an important role in carotenoid biosynthesis in maize kernels and suggests that fine‐tuning the expression of this gene could improve the nutritional value of cereal grains. 

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2. Anatomy and relationships of the early diverging Crocodylomorphs Junggarsuchus sloani and Dibothrosuchus elaphros

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.24949  

   Ruebenstahl, Alexander A.; Klein, Michael D.; Yi, Hongyu; Xu, Xing; Clark, James M. (October 2022, The Anatomical Record)
3. Structural stability and the low‐lying singlet and triplet states of BN ‐ n ‐acenes, n  = 1–7

   https://doi.org/10.1002/jcc.27038  

   Milanez, Bruno D.; dos Santos, Gustavo M.; Pinheiro, Max; Ueno, Leonardo T.; Ferrão, Luiz F.; Aquino, Adelia J.; Lischka, Hans; Machado, Francisco B. (March 2023, Journal of Computational Chemistry)
4. Revisiting the N ( N  + 1)/2‐site s ‐type Gaussian charge model for permutationally invariant polynomial fitting of global molecular tensor surfaces

   https://doi.org/10.1002/qua.27102  

   Kudratov, Sophia A.; Kaledin, Martina; Kaledin, Alexey L. (June 2023, International Journal of Quantum Chemistry)

   Abstract The exact expressions for the dipole, quadrupole, and octupoles of a collection ofNpoint charges involve summations of corresponding tensors over theNsites weighted by their charge magnitudes. When the point charges are atoms (in a molecule) theN‐site formula is an approximation, and one must integrate over the electron density to recover the exact multipoles. In the present work we revisit theN(N + 1)/2‐site point charge density model of Hall (Chem. Phys. Lett.6, 501, 1973) for the purpose of fitting ab initio derived multipole moment hypersurfaces using permutationally invariant polynomials (PIP). We examine new approaches in PIP‐fitting procedures for the dipole, quadrupole, octupole moments, and polarizability tensor surfaces (DMS, QMS, OMS and PTS, respectively) for a non‐polar CCl₄and a polar CHCl₃and show that compared to the primitiveN‐site model theN(N + 1)/2‐site model appreciably improves the relative RMSE of the DMS and does much more substantially so, by an order of magnitude, for the corresponding ones of QMS and OMS. Training datasets are obtained by sampling potential energies up to 18 000 cm⁻¹above the global minima, generated by molecular dynamics simulations at the DFT B3LYP/aug‐cc‐pVDZ level of theory. 

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5. SAMI-H  i : The H  i view of the Hα Tully–Fisher relation and data release

   https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac3556  

   Catinella, Barbara; Cortese, Luca; Tiley, Alfred L; Janowiecki, Steven; Watts, Adam B; Bryant, Julia J; Croom, Scott M; d’Eugenio, Francesco; van de Sande, Jesse; Bland-Hawthorn, Joss; et al (December 2022, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)

   ABSTRACT We present SAMI-H i, a survey of the atomic hydrogen content of 296 galaxies with integral field spectroscopy available from the SAMI Galaxy Survey. The sample spans nearly 4 dex in stellar mass ($$M_\star = 10^{7.4}-10^{11.1}~ \rm M_\odot$$), redshift z < 0.06, and includes new Arecibo observations of 153 galaxies, for which we release catalogues and H i spectra. We use these data to compare the rotational velocities obtained from optical and radio observations and to show how systematic differences affect the slope and scatter of the stellar-mass and baryonic Tully–Fisher relations. Specifically, we show that $$\rm H\alpha$$ rotational velocities measured in the inner parts of galaxies (1.3 effective radii in this work) systematically underestimate H i global measurements, with H i/$$\rm H\alpha$$ velocity ratios that increase at low stellar masses, where rotation curves are typically still rising and $$\rm H\alpha$$ measurements do not reach their plateau. As a result, the $$\rm H\alpha$$ stellar mass Tully–Fisher relation is steeper (when M⋆ is the independent variable) and has larger scatter than its H i counterpart. Interestingly, we confirm the presence of a small fraction of low-mass outliers of the $$\rm H\alpha$$ relation that are not present when H i velocity widths are used and are not explained by ‘aperture effects’. These appear to be highly disturbed systems for which $$\rm H\alpha$$ widths do not provide a reliable estimate of the rotational velocity. Our analysis reaffirms the importance of taking into account differences in velocity definitions as well as tracers used when interpreting offsets from the Tully–Fisher relation, at both low and high redshifts and when comparing with simulations. 

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