Tuesday, September 23, 2025

Growth switch for plant adaptability discovered

University of Freiburg

How does a plant manage to quickly adapt its growth to changing environmental conditions? A research team at the University of Freiburg led by plant physiologist Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kleine-Vehn has discovered a previously unknown mechanism for this: a cellular degradation machinery acts in the background like a switch that decides whether the plant hormone auxin is available or not. This mechanism enables the plant to respond to the environment and dynamically regulate its growth, whether it be root growth in the soil or shoot curvature towards the light. The results have been published in the journal Science Advances.

PILS proteins as gatekeepers

At the heart of the newly discovered control mechanism are the so-called PILS proteins. They act like gatekeepers: sometimes they retain auxin inside the cell, sometimes they release it for growth. Which decision is made depends on how many of these proteins are present. The Freiburg researchers have now been able to show that a cellular degradation machinery, known as ERAD machinery, regulates the number of PILS proteins as needed. If auxin is required due to changes in the environment, the gatekeepers are degraded and the plant changes its growth mode. Under stable conditions, however, the proteins remain in place and inhibit the hormone response.

Possible key to sustainable agriculture in the future

“You can think of this mechanism as a molecular switch,” says study leader Kleine-Vehn. “The plant decides whether auxin is effective or not, which thus flexibly adapts its growth to the environment.” The discovery opens up a new perspective on the fine control of plant development. It shows how closely internal control mechanisms and external signals are interlinked.

Seinab Noura, a biologist at the University of Freiburg and first author of the study, also emphasises the significance of the findings: “If we make targeted use of such mechanisms, crops could become more resistant to stress.” In the long term, this knowledge could also help to make plants more robust against climate change, a key factor for sustainable agriculture in the future.

Original publication: Seinab Noura, Jonathan Ferreira Da Silva Santos, Elena Feraru, Sebastian N.W. Hoernstein, Mugurel I. Feraru, Laura Montero-Morales, Ann-Kathrin Rößling, David Scheuring, Richard Strasser, Pitter F. Huesgen, Sascha Waidmann, Jürgen Kleine-Vehn: ERAD machinery controls the conditional turnover of PIN-LIKES in plants. In: Science Advances. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adx5027
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kleine-Vehn is Professor of Molecular Plant Physiology at the Faculty of Biology at the University of Freiburg. Since 2024, he has also been spokesperson for the Cluster of Excellence CIBSS – Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies. His research focuses on the molecular cell biology of plants.
The work was carried out as part of the CIBSS – Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies cluster of excellence at the University of Freiburg and was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.adx5027

A vital “youth molecule” may help promoting quality of life in the older population – a conclusion from many clinical studies

University of Oslo, Ullevaal University Hospital

Scientists from the University of Oslo (UiO), Akershus University Hospital (Ahus), and international partners have released a new expert opinion in Nature Aging. The article brings together more than 25 researchers from around the world, including clinicians and internationally recognised leaders in the biology of ageing and metabolism, particularly in the study of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD⁺). Their collective perspective underscores the global effort to understand how this tiny molecule, NAD⁺, could be key to healthier ageing and protection against diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

NAD⁺ is often described as a cell’s “fuel regulator.” It helps our bodies produce energy, repair damaged DNA, and keep cells functioning properly. As we grow older, however, NAD⁺ levels naturally decline. This fall is linked to memory loss, muscle weakness, and many age-related diseases. “Fine-tuning NAD⁺ metabolism holds promise for delaying age-related health decline as well as disease such as premature ageing diseases” says Dr. Jianying Zhang, one of the lead authors. “But to truly unlock its potential, we need to better understand the right doses, long-term safety, and interindividual variability in response to NAD+ augmentation strategies.”

This study reviews years of research and clinical trials where scientists have tested ways to increase NAD⁺ levels, often by giving patients special vitamin-like compounds such as nicotinamide riboside (NR) or nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN). Early results are encouraging, with some trials reporting improvements in memory, movement, and metabolism. The researchers highlight that larger and longer-term clinician studies are needed to validate its clinical efficacies against different conditions.

A timely expert perspective

The Nature Aging article comes at a moment of intense scientific and public interests. Around the world, including in Norway, multiple clinical trials are under way testing NAD⁺ precursors such as NR and NMN. These supplements have also become part of a booming global commercial market, sparking debate about which compound is the most effective and whether the promising results seen in animal models will translate to patients.

“This is why we believe the timing is right to share an expert opinion,” says Dr. Evandro Fei Fang-Stavem, senior author and head of the Fang Lab at UiO and Ahus. “NAD⁺ is fundamental to life, yet there is still confusion and noise in the field about which supplements work best and how they should be used. Our article consolidates the evidence and provides a scientific roadmap to guide both ongoing research and future clinical use.”

Deputy Head of the Institute of Clinical Medicine, Prof. Torbjørn Omland, MD, PhD, MPH, and a co-author of the paper says, 'There is a knowledge gap on NAD+ and its clinical effects to basic researchers and clinicians, and this review paper provides the latest expert opinion to those who are interested in and are working in the field NAD+ research. This review will also provide relevant information to many NAD+-based clinical trials across a wide spectrum of clinical conditions, including neurological and cardiovascular disease'.

The authors emphasise that while NAD⁺ supplements and drugs are being widely studied, more collaboration and rigorous testing will be crucial to turn this exciting science into safe and effective treatments for ageing and age-related diseases.

Other Norwegian co-authors include Sofie Lautrup (UiO and Ahus), Hilde Loge Nilsen (OUS), Leiv Otto Watne (Ahus and UiO), Geir Selbæk (UiO and Norwegian National Centre for Ageing and Health), Mathias Ziegler (UiB), Ole-Bjørn Tysnes (UiB), Charalampos Tzoulis (UiB). Other main authors were from the University of Copenhagen (Denmark), Chiba University (Japan), Harvard Medical School (USA), and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging (USA).

Reference:
Zhang J, Wang H-L, Lautrup S, Nilsen HL, Treebak JT, Watne LO, Selbæk G, Wu LE, Omland T, Pirinen E, Cheung TC, Wang J, Ziegler M, Tysnes O-B, Zapata-Pérez R, Bruzzone S, Cantó C, Deleidi M, Janssens GE, Houtkooper RH, Scheibye-Knudsen M, Koshizaka M, Yokote K, Verdin E, Bohr VA, Tzoulis C, Sinclair DA & Fang EF. Emerging strategies, applications and challenges of targeting NAD⁺ in the clinic. Nature Aging (Published online 9 September 2025). DOI: 10.1038/s43587-025-00947-6.

Journal

Nature Aging

DOI

10.1038/s43587-025-00947-6

Method of Research

Systematic review

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Emerging strategies, applications and challenges of targeting NAD+ in the clinic

Article Publication Date

9-Sep-2025

COI Statement

Fang-Stavem is a co-owner of Fang-S Consultation AS (Organization number 931 410 717) and NO-Age AS (Organization number 933 219 127); he has a CRADA arrangement with ChromaDex (USA) and an MTA with GeneHarbor (Hong Kong) Biotechnologies Limited; he is a consultant to AgeLab (Vitality Nordic AS, Norway) and the Hong Kong Longevity Science Laboratory (Hong Kong).

New type of time crystals discovered

An exotic quantum phenomenon manifests itself under conditions where one would not normally expect it, show scientists at TU Wien (Vienna)

Vienna University of Technology

Time crystal — image:
Correlations between quantum particles result in a rhythmic signal – without the need for an external beat to set the tempo.
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Credit: TU Wien

Nature has many rhythms: the seasons result from the Earth's movement around the sun, the ticking of a pendulum clock results from the oscillation of its pendulum. These phenomena can be understood with very simple equations.

However, regular rhythms can also arise in a completely different way – by themselves, without an external clock, through the complex interaction of many particles. Instead of uniform disorder, a fixed rhythm emerges – this is referred to as a ‘time crystal’. Calculations by TU Wien (Vienna) now show that such time crystals can also be generated in a completely different way than previously thought. The quantum physical correlations between the particles, which were previously thought to be harmful for the emergence of such phenomena, can actually stabilise time crystals. This is a surprising new insight into the quantum physics of many-particle systems.

Space crystals and time crystals

When a liquid freezes, the particles change their spatial order: In the liquid, they move wildly and randomly, with no structure. When the liquid freezes, a crystal forms in which the individual particles are located in very specific places in a very regular pattern. A liquid looks the same everywhere, it has the same properties everywhere and in every direction, it is completely symmetrical. In a crystal, however, this symmetry is broken: suddenly there is a regular structure, there is a direction that differs from other directions.

Can this kind of symmetry breaking also occur in time? Is it possible that a quantum system is initially disordered in time, that every point in time is the same as every other, but that a temporal order nevertheless emerges?

Quantum fluctuations: harmful or useful?

“This question has been the subject of intensive research in quantum physics for over ten years,” says Felix Russo from the Institute of Theoretical Physics at TU Wien, who is conducting research for his doctoral thesis in Prof. Thomas Pohl's team. In fact, it has been shown that so-called time crystals are possible – systems in which a temporal rhythm is established without the beat being imposed from outside.

“However, it was thought that this was only possible in very specific systems, such as quantum gases, whose physics can be well described by mean values without having to take into account the random fluctuations that are inevitable in quantum physics,” says Felix Russo. “We have now shown that it is precisely the quantum physical correlations between the particles, which were previously thought to prevent the formation of time crystals, that can lead to the emergence of time-crystalline phases.”

The complex quantum interactions between the particles induce collective behaviour that cannot be explained at the level of individual particles – similar to how the smoke from an extinguished candle can sometimes form a regular series of smoke rings; a phenomenon whose rhythm is not dictated from outside and which cannot be understood from single smoke particles.

Particles in the laser lattice

“We are investigating a two-dimensional lattice of particles held in place by laser beams,” says Felix Russo. “And here we can show that the state of the lattice begins to oscillate – due to the quantum interaction between the particles.”

The research offers the opportunity to better understand the theory of quantum many-body systems – paving the way for new quantum technologies or high-precision quantum measurement techniques.

Journal

Physical Review Letters

DOI

10.1103/dc2s-94gv

Article Title

Quantum Dissipative Continuous Time Crystals

Behind the scenes of ammonia synthesis

Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society

Key Aspects

Catalyst Activation: Identified as the critical step where the active catalyst is formed.
Promoter Role: Promoters form cementitious phases that play a pivotal role in enhancing catalyst performance. Moreover, their distribution within the catalyst is key for the enhanced activity and stability of the system.
Structural Insights: The active structure consists of a special form of porous iron covered by mobile potassium a specie.
Stability Factors: Mineral phases containing oxides of aluminum, silicon, and calcium, contribute to the structural stability.

Unveiling the Catalyst's Secrets

The Haber-Bosch process, a cornerstone of industrial ammonia production, has remained largely unchanged for over a century. However, researchers at the Departments of Inorganic Chemistry and Interface Science of the Fritz Haber Institute, the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, and Clariant have made significant strides in the mechanistic understanding of the highly complex industrial catalyst that drives this process. By using advanced characterization techniques like operando scanning electron microscopy and near-ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, the team has decoded the complex interactions within multi-promoted ammonia synthesis catalysts.

Prof. Thomas Lunkenbein, the corresponding author, stated, "Our research provides a deeper understanding of the catalyst's inner workings, revealing how promoters and structural transformations contribute to its efficiency and stability. This knowledge is crucial for developing next-generation catalysts that are both more effective and sustainable."

The Critical Role of Activation

The study reveals that the activation phase is crucial for forming the active catalyst configuration. During this phase, the interplay of various promoter phases facilitates the transformation of the catalyst's structure into a porous entity with a special surface coverage paving the way for its enhanced performance and longevity.

Promoters: The Unsung Heroes

Promoters, including potassium, calcium, and aluminum oxides, are vital in stabilizing the catalyst's structure and boosting its activity. These elements work together to create cement-like phases -an important ingredient for robust and efficient catalyst capable of sustaining ammonia synthesis over extended periods. In addition, ammonia K -a special form of highly dispersed K+ species- was found to be the pacemaker of the catalytic reaction. The research highlights the importance of the catalyst's hierarchical porous structure, which is stabilized by mineral phases. This architecture not only enhances the catalyst's durability but also its resistance to deactivation, ensuring consistent performance in industrial settings.

A Legacy of Innovation

The Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society has a long history in the field of ammonia synthesis, marked by groundbreaking achievements that have shaped modern industrial chemistry. The institute's namesake, Fritz Haber, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his pioneering work on the synthesis of ammonia from its elements, a process that revolutionized agricultural fertilizer production. Decades later, in 2007, Gerhard Ertl, former director of the institute, received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces, further advancing the understanding of catalytic reactions, with one of the key examples being the deep mechanistic insight he provided on the ammonia synthesis processes by means of the use of model catalysts. This rich tradition of excellence continues to inspire and drive innovative research at the institute, as evidenced by the latest insights into multi-promoted industrial catalyst systems for ammonia production.

Conclusion

This study sheds light on the intricate dynamics of ammonia synthesis catalysts, offering valuable insights that could pave the way for future innovations in industrial chemistry, including the strong need of considering the dynamic nature of active catalytic surfaces while at work. By understanding the role of promoters and the critical role of the activation process, researchers can develop more efficient and sustainable catalysts for ammonia production. We acknowledge the expertise and input of Prof. Dr. Robert Schlögl, which together with the team of excellent scientists, have led to this important scientific contribution.

Journal

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41467-025-63061-6

Method of Research

Experimental study

Article Title

Decoding technical multi-promoted ammonia synthesis catalysts

Insects in Britain not in freefall, but facing local upheavals, study finds

Fears of a nationwide collapse in the UK's insect populations may be overstated, many but communities are being re-shaped

Rothamsted Research

Fears of a nationwide collapse in Britain’s insect populations may be overstated, according to a major new study. Instead, researchers have found a more complex picture: while some species are holding steady or even expanding, many communities are being reshaped at a local level by climate change and urban development.

The study team, including staff at the Rothamsted national insect survey, analysed more than three decades of records covering 1,252 species of butterflies, moths, dragonflies, grasshoppers, beetles, bees, wasps and hoverflies. Using advanced machine-learning models, they tracked changes in where insects live across Great Britain and pinpointed the main environmental forces driving those shifts.

Contrary to widespread fears of an overall collapse, the team detected no nationwide decline in insect occupancy since 1990. But beneath that headline figure, the data revealed profound local changes in the make-up of insect communities.

Urban sprawl and the simplification of farmland emerged as key drivers of decline in certain species, while rising temperatures are altering life cycles. Insects with narrow habitat requirements are particularly vulnerable to the loss of diverse landscapes, while species capable of breeding multiple times a year are better able to adapt to a warming climate.

“The findings suggest that while Britain may not be witnessing an outright crash in insect numbers, it is undergoing a subtler but no less significant ecological reshuffling,” said Rothamsted population modeller Dr Yoann Bourhis who led the study. This could have knock-on effects for pollination, pest control and wider biodiversity.”

Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-025-63093-y

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Trait mediation explains decadal distributional shifts for a wide range of insect taxa

Is flooding under climate change more predictable than we thought?

Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo

Tokyo, Japan – Is your city prepared for flooding caused by extreme rainfall under climate change? In many regions, the uncertainty surrounding this threat is a major cause for concern and an obstacle to adaptation. However, according to researchers from Japan, their new statistical method increases the accuracy of flood risk projections across about 70% of the Earth's landmass.

The Earth's climate is notoriously complex to model, with considerable uncertainty stemming from the internal variability of this chaotic system. Flood risks are particularly important to predict accurately, because human populations often gather around waterways. A key approach to improve future flood risk projection accuracy is to increase the sample size of the climate scenarios used for analysis, but the number of large-ensemble experiments available for these future projections remains limited.

In a new study published in Scientific Report , researchers from the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, developed a method to expand the statistical sample size of the available ensemble data by merging parts of future climate scenarios with the same level of warming but different socioeconomic pathways. These pathways account for various socioeconomic factors including economic growth, urbanization, and technological development.

"Previously, it was believed that flood risk changes would vary under different future socioeconomic scenarios," explains study lead author Yuki Kimura. "However, under the same level of global warming, the geographic distribution of flood risks is actually broadly similar across socioeconomic pathways." This approach using large-scale simulations with a global flood model and climate projection data allowed the research team to more accurately evaluate future flood risks across much of the Earth's land surface. These findings offer policymakers powerful new insights for adaptation and preparedness strategies, by separating out the unpredictable effects of real socioeconomic factors.

Specifically, the area around the Mississippi River, USA, and a region extending from China to Southeast Asia were identified as areas that particularly benefited from the increased accuracy of flood risk prediction achieved in this study.

According to study senior author Dai Yamazaki, "Using this method, we can now report flood risk information that is both reliable and practical, regardless of the socioeconomic scenario, based on specific warming levels such as 2°C or 3°C." Basing projections on these warming levels, rather than time-based predictions, aligns well with the climate policy targets set by the Paris Agreement, further highlighting the practical value of this approach.

Considering warming levels independently from time may not be appropriate for all climate parameters -- for example, particularly rapid warming could affect ecosystems in ways that differ markedly from more gradual scenarios at the same warming level. However, given its practical benefits for predicting flood risks, this method will likely become widely used in future to provide accurate, actionable information to prepare for climate change effects.

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The article, "Reduction of the uncertainty of flood projection under a future climate by focusing on similarities among multiple SSP-RCP scenarios" was published in Scientific Report at DOI:10.1038/s41598-025-16327-4.

About Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo

The Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo (UTokyo-IIS) is one of the largest university-attached research institutes in Japan. UTokyo-IIS is comprised of over 120 research laboratories—each headed by a faculty member—and has over 1,200 members (approximately 400 staff and 800 students) actively engaged in education and research. Its activities cover almost all areas of engineering. Since its foundation in 1949, UTokyo-IIS has worked to bridge the huge gaps that exist between academic disciplines and real-world applications.

Journal

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-025-16327-4

Article Title

Reduction of the uncertainty of flood projection under future climate by focusing on similarities among multiple SSP-RCP scenarios

Article Publication Date

22-Sep-2025