Sunday, May 19, 2024

Deep-sea sponge's “zero-energy” flow control could inspire new energy efficient designs, according to research co-led by NYU Tandon School of Engineering

NYU TANDON SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

The Venus flower basket sponge, with its delicate glass-like lattice outer skeleton, has long intrigued researchers seeking to explain how this fragile-seeming creature’s body can withstand the harsh conditions of the deep sea where it lives.

Now, new research reveals yet another engineering feat of this ancient animal’s structure: its ability to filter feed using only the faint ambient currents of the ocean depths, no pumping required.

This discovery of natural ‘“zero energy” flow control by an international research team co-led by University of Rome Tor Vergata and NYU Tandon School of Engineering could help engineers design more efficient chemical reactors, air purification systems, heat exchangers, hydraulic systems, and aerodynamic surfaces.

In a study published in Physical Review Letters, the team found through extremely high-resolution computer simulations how the skeletal structure of the Venus flower basket sponge (Euplectella aspergillum) diverts very slow deep sea currents to flow upwards into its central body cavity, so it can feed on plankton and other marine detritus it filters out of the water.

The sponge pulls this off via its spiral, ridged outer surface that functions like a spiral staircase. This allows it to passively draw water upwards through its porous, lattice-like frame, all without the energy demands of pumping.

"Our research settles a debate that has emerged in recent years: the Venus flower basket sponge may be able to draw in nutrients passively, without any active pumping mechanism," said Maurizio Porfiri, NYU Tandon Institute Professor and director of its Center for Urban Science + Progress (CUSP), who co-led the study and co-supervised the research. "It's an incredible adaptation allowing this filter feeder to thrive in currents normally unsuitable for suspension feeding."

At higher flow speeds, the lattice structure helps reduce drag on the organism. But it is in the near-stillness of the deep ocean floors that this natural ventilation system is most remarkable, and demonstrates just how well the sponge accommodates its harsh environment. The study found that the sponge’s ability to passively draw in food works only at the very slow current speeds – just centimeters per second – of its habitat.

"From an engineering perspective, the skeletal system of the sponge shows remarkable adaptations to its environment, not only from the structural point of view, but also for what concerns its fluid dynamic performance," said Giacomo Falcucci of Tor Vergata University of Rome and Harvard University, the paper’s first author. Along with Porfiri, Falcucci co-led the study, co-supervised the research and designed the computer simulations. "The sponge has arrived at an elegant solution for maximizing nutrient supply while operating entirely through passive mechanisms."

Researchers used the powerful Leonardo supercomputer at CINECA, a supercomputing center in Italy, to create a highly realistic 3D replica of the sponge, containing around 100 billion individual points that recreate the sponge's complex helical ridge structure. This “digital twin” allows experimentation that is impossible on live sponges, which cannot survive outside their deep-sea environment.

The team performed highly detailed simulations of water flow around and inside the computer model of the skeleton of the Venus flower basket sponge. With Leonardo's massive computing power, allowing quadrillions of calculations per second, they could simulate a wide range of water flow speeds and conditions.

The researchers say the biomimetic engineering insights they uncovered could help guide the design of more efficient reactors by optimizing flow patterns inside while minimizing drag outside. Similar ridged, porous surfaces could enhance air filtration and ventilation systems in skyscrapers and other structures. The asymmetric, helical ridges may even inspire low-drag hulls or fuselages that stay streamlined while promoting interior air flows.

The study builds upon the team’s prior Venus flower basket sponge research published in Nature in 2021, in which it revealed it had created a first-ever simulation of the deep-sea sponge and how it responds to and influences the flow of nearby water.

In addition to Porfiri and Falcucci, the current study’s authors are Giorgio Amati of CINECA; Gino Bella of Niccolò Cusano University; Andrea Luigi Facci of University of Tuscia; Vesselin K. Krastev of University of Rome Tor Vergata; Giovanni Polverino of University of Tuscia, Monash University, and University of Western Australia; and Sauro Succi of the Italian Institute of Technology.

A grant from the National Science Foundation supported the research. Other funding came from CINECA, Next Generation EU, European Research Council, Monash University and University of Tuscia.

About the New York University Tandon School of Engineering

The NYU Tandon School of Engineering is home to a community of renowned faculty, undergraduate and graduate students united in a mission to understand and create technology that powers cities, enables worldwide communication, fights climate change, and builds healthier, safer, and more equitable real and digital worlds. The school’s culture centers on encouraging rigorous, interdisciplinary collaboration and research; fostering inclusivity, entrepreneurial thinking, and diverse perspectives; and creating innovative and accessible pathways for lifelong learning in STEM. NYU Tandon dates back to 1854, the founding year of both the New York University School of Civil Engineering and Architecture and the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute. Located in the heart of Brooklyn, NYU Tandon is a vital part of New York University and its unparalleled global network. For more information, visit engineering.nyu.edu.

JOURNAL

Physical Review Letters

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.208402

ARTICLE TITLE

Adapting to the Abyss: Passive Ventilation in the Deep-Sea Glass Sponge Euplectella aspergillum

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

16-May-2024

Black adults at risk for Alzheimer’s disease live in more polluted areas, US study finds

Study of 107 older adults finds that non-white New York and North Carolina residents with mild cognitive impairment reside in places with more environmental injustices than their white peers

IOS PRESS

Alisa Adhikari — IMAGE:
FIRST AUTHOR - ALISA ADHIKARI
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CREDIT: DUKE UNIVERSITY

DURHAM, NC – May 16, 2024: A study by Duke and Columbia Universities finds older, non-white adults are more likely to live in areas with higher air pollution and near toxic disposal sites, among or environmental injustices, potentially underlying their cognitive health.

“A lot of money has been spent on understanding the genetics and pathological characterization of Alzheimer's disease,” said P. Murali Doraiswamy, MBBS, FRCP, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University’s School of Medicine, and senior author of the study. “But we still don’t have a good way to quantify the dozens of environmental risks for the disease and how they may interact together.”

The results add to a growing area of research exploring the connections between environmental factors and brain health, racial injustices, and aging, and suggests looking at a patient’s address may be just as important for care providers to consider as listening to their heart or ordering a brain scan.

The results were published May 14, 2024 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease Reports.

Location and Brain Health

Where someone lives can influence their brain health. Middle-aged women get a cognitive boost when residing in areas with more trees, flowers, parks and other green spaces, whereas living in poorer neighborhoods with more polluted air elevates risks for and rates of Alzheimer’s disease.

These are piecemeal examples, though.

“An all-encompassing snapshot tying multiple environmental factors and resources available based on where someone lives to neurodegenerative disorders, like Alzheimer's disease, has not been explored as well,” said Alisa Adhikari, a clinical research associate in Dr. Doraiswamy’s lab and the study’s first author.

Race and Place on the Mind

107 participants aged 55 – 95 with mild cognitive impairment living in or around New York City, NY or Durham, NC were recruited to study the effectiveness of computerized cognitive training therapies, such as crossword puzzles and brain games, on slowing dementia progression over 78 weeks.

To get a fuller sense of how place, race, and the mind influence each other, co-author Adaora Nwosu pulled in data from the Center for Disease Control’s Environmental Justice Index (EJI). The EJI provides location-specific information about 36 environmental and social burden indicators such as neighborhood walkability and access to green spaces, diesel exhaust, air, water and noise pollution levels, as well as the likelihood of living in older homes with greater exposure to lead or asbestos.

Non-white participants, mainly Black enrollees, were found to face higher environmental burdens.

“Minorities had greater exposure to ozone, diesel, particulate matter, carcinogenic air toxins, lack of recreation of parks, and proximity to toxic disposal sites,” Adhikari said, which she says explains, in part, the higher environmental burden scores.

Older non-white adults also scored much worse on social vulnerability metrics, such as more likely to live in older homes within poorer neighborhoods, which the authors suggest may be a result of past injustices.

There were no connections found, however, between race, location, and measures of cognitive decline likely due to all participants actively taking medicine and doing brain training exercises to curb neurological symptoms, as part of the study’s original research design.

Analysis of the EJI data also revealed that adults from the New York City site tended to live in areas with markedly higher pollution compared to counterparts in Durham, which may have impacted or accelerated their decline even before enrolling in treatment.

“This was eye-opening for us,” Dr. Doraiswamy said. “We tend to treat all sites and all subjects in a clinical trial as homogeneous with regards to environmental exposures. Moving forward, this type of metric may prove useful to help us better study how environmental exposures impact clinical trial outcomes.”

ZIP Codes as Part of a Checkup

Dr. Doraiswamy described the findings as a “pilot study,” and as such, his team is now planning for a larger, national study with thousands of participants that includes more objective neurodegeneration measurements like MRI brain scans to better assess cognitive health over time.

“The intent is not to substitute for clinical history or a blood test or require this for entry into a research study,” Dr. Doraiswamy said. “It's just that with clinical history, there's no way of measuring objectively what kind of a neighborhood exposures a person has unless you actually go and visit every single patient's home and take measurements with a sensor and so on and so forth.”

Ultimately, the team hopes that this study will spur more collaborations between clinical and environmental researchers to mitigate racial injustices and ensure everyone has access to a brain healthy environment.

JOURNAL

Journal of Alzheimer s Disease Reports

DOI

10.3233/ADR-240020

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Characterizing Neighborhood Vulnerabilities in Mild Cognitive Impairment using the Environmental Justice Index

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-May-2024

Study suggests that air pollution promotes inflammation in the brain, accelerating cognitive decline and increasing risk of dementia

This is the first study in Denmark showing a link between air pollution and dementia. "The novelty of this study is the very detailed and accurate data that we use," says researcher behind the study.

UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN - THE FACULTY OF HEALTH AND MEDICAL SCIENCES

Results from new study suggests that long-term exposure to air pollution leads to increased risk in dementia in Denmark.

"We also find association with noise, but this seems to be explained by air pollution primarily. Our study is in line with growing international knowledge on this topic." says Professor at Section of Environmental Health Zorana Jovanovic Andersen.

This is an important finding which adds that air pollution, beyond well-known effects on respiratory and cardiovascular system, also has major impacts on our brain, promoting inflammation in the brain, accelerating cognitive decline, and increasing risk of dementia.

"This is the first study in Denmark showing a link between air pollution and dementia. Although air pollution levels in Denmark have been declining and are relatively low, compared of the rest of Europe and world, this study shows that there are still significant and concerning health effects that demand more action and policies towards reduction of air pollution. As we are going to live longer, and more and more people will be diagnosed with dementia, this finding is important as it offer an opportunity to prevent new dementia cases, and ensure more healthy aging, by cleaning up the air we breathe," says Zorana Jovanovic Andersen.

An internationally unique study

The study followed a cohort of nurses for 27 years, from 1993 until 2020.

“This is internationally unique and necessary in regards of the development of dementia which can take many years. Second, the air pollution was estimated for each participant for a total of 41 years (from 1979 until 2020), which is also incredible. Third, we had extensive details about participant’s lifestyle and socio-economics and all our result take them in consideration. The novelty of this study is the very detailed and accurate data that we used,” says Research Assistant from Section of Environmental Health Stéphane Tuffier.

“Nurses with higher physical activity had a lower risk of dementia when exposed to air pollution compared to nurses with less physical activity. This indicates that physical activity might mitigate the adverse effects of air pollution on cognitive decline and risk of dementia,” Tuffier says.

JOURNAL

Alzheimer s & Dementia

DOI

10.1002/alz.13814

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Long-term exposure to air pollution and road traffic noise and incidence of dementia in the Danish Nurse Cohort

Research supports Sunak’s ‘smoke-free generation’ policy but British ministers will miss key levelling up health targets

UK Government needs range of public health policies to close health inequalities

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CITY UNIVERSITY LONDON

The Government will miss key health inequalities targets that are a cornerstone of its levelling up agenda, new research suggests.

Although the study concludes that a notional immediate outright ban on tobacco sales would eventually increase healthy life expectancy by 2.5 years, it would not be enough for the Government to meet the targets for reducing health inequalities set out in its levelling up white paper. An immediate ban on smoking would, however, extend the working lives of both men and women, the paper concludes, with the greatest impact in more deprived areas.

Local government secretary Michael Gove’s 2022 levelling up white paper pledged to narrow the difference in ‘healthy life expectancy’ (HLE) between England’s most prosperous and most deprived local authorities by 2030, and to boost overall HLE by five years by 2035. HLE measures the number of years lived in at least reasonable health. In the UK it has risen more slowly than life expectancy in recent decades – meaning people are typically spending more years in poor health, with obvious implications for NHS and social care budgets.

The researchers, drawn from Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), Heriot-Watt University and LCP, analysed the likelihood of the 2035 target being met. They published their paper, The great health challenge: levelling up the UK, in The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance: Issues and Practice.

Lead author Les Mayhew, Professor of Statistics at Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), said: “It is clear that drastic smoking cessation intervention is necessary to increase healthy life expectancy across the population and to narrow pernicious health inequalities. The rolling ban proposed in the Government’s current legislation is a good first step but further research could strengthen the case for an outright ban.

“Policymakers need to commit to politically difficult policies even if improvements in population health are gradual and long-term. With an ageing population, the pressure on policymakers to intervene in behaviours that shorten working lives will become irresistible – as seen already with the current focus on sickness and disability benefits.”

The analysis confirmed that people who have never smoked typically enjoy an additional six years of HLE. Earlier research has shown that smoking kills around 78,000 people in England each year and leads to around 500,000 hospital admissions.

Recent research by the International Longevity Centre concluded that smoking cuts UK economic output by £19.1 billion, due to shorter working lives. Welfare and healthcare costs would boost that figure significantly.

The latest study also concluded:

The nine year gap in average life expectancy between the richest and most deprived local authority areas almost doubles, to 17 years, for years lived in reasonable or good health.
A 1-year improvement in health expectancy increases life expectancy by 4.5 months. This means the gap between lifespan and healthspan gets smaller so that people live both longer and in better health.
Lung cancer deaths in different local authority areas revealed a correlation with the number of years spent in good health. HLE was lowest in cities, including London, the north of England and the midlands – and notably low in an arch linking Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Hull.
A targeted campaign in areas with high levels of smoking would significantly reduce health inequalities but the results would take time to work through.
Targeted smoking cessation policies would extend working lives, reduce the welfare bill and ease pressure on NHS and social care budgets.

Andrew Cairns, Professor of Actuarial Mathematics at Heriot-Watt University, said: "Our paper confirms that a smoking ban on those born in 2009 or later is one of the best ways to improve the health of people living in more deprived areas of the UK. The findings vividly illustrate the transformative impact of this measure on the health landscape. It coincides with a parliamentary debate, signalling a concerted effort towards a healthier future for all."

Mei Chan, Senior Statistician in LCP’s Health Analytics, said: “Our study has shone a light on the importance of measuring how much time people spend in good health rather than just focusing on life expectancy. While recent political events have put the issue of smoking into the spotlight, the UK Government already had ambitious targets in place. It’s clear that more needs to be done to meet the ambitious target to improve healthy life expectancy by five years and narrow the gap between the richest and poorest areas.

“The study also highlighted that lifestyle-related risk factors such as smoking, nutrition, alcohol consumption and physical activity are interconnected, particularly in more deprived communities. The rolling smoking ban is a promising start, though the use of joined-up policy approaches tackling multiple lifestyle factors would strengthen the long term impact of the smoke free generation policy.”

ENDS

JOURNAL

The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance Issues and Practice

DOI

10.1057/s41288-024-00317-0

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

The great health challenge: levelling up in the UK

Differing values of nature can still lead to joined up goals for sustainability

UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA

Recognising and respecting the different ways nature is valued can enable better environmental decision-making, according to new research led by the University of East Anglia (UEA).

International agreements such as the Sustainable Development Goals represent wide support for a sustainable future, living within planetary boundaries and ensuring a safer future for current and next generations.

However, there remain huge disagreements about how to advance such goals, often resulting in marginalisation, conflict and inaction.

The paper, published in the journal One Earth, examines the basis for this disagreement, reviewing four competing but well-established potential approaches towards resolving current environmental crises: Nature Protection; Green Economy; Earth Stewardship and Biocultural Diversity; and Degrowth and Post-growth.

One of the key findings is that there are clear differences in the way they value nature. In particular, Nature Protection tends to prioritise the intrinsic value of nature or ‘nature for itself’, while Green Economy tends to prioritise instrumental values of nature or ‘nature for society’.

Earth Stewardship and Biocultural Diversity recognise these values but also stress relational values of nature or ‘nature as society’; and Degrowth straddles these types of values, prioritising sufficiency and redistribution.

The international team of researchers finds that these different approaches to valuing nature are critical distinguishing features of such strategies, but also help to explain why compromise between them is often difficult.

Lead author Adrian Martin, Professor of Environment and Development at UEA’s School of Global Development, said: “There is a tendency not to be receptive to ideas that come from other pathways, making it hard to build the massive movement that is needed for transformation to solve the climate and biodiversity crises.

“However, the act of revealing this basis for disagreement also helps us to move forwards. It helps point the way towards a more inclusive and potentially more transformative environmentalism, recognising and respecting plural values of nature.”

The paper suggests three ways in which this can happen. Firstly, through ways of working that make plural values of nature visible and usable for decision-making; secondly by reforming relevant institutions, such as systems of laws, land tenure and economic incentives, to ensure that these plural values can be embedded in practice; and thirdly to address the power imbalances that underpin the current domination of the green economy pathway, involving, for example, the mobilization of civil rights movements.

“In this study we reveal the role that values play in underpinning different perspectives about how best to achieve sustainability and justice,” added Prof Martin. “We already knew that the environmental movement is fragmented but now we have a better understanding of why that is so entrenched.

“More importantly, we have the basis for better mutual understanding based on greater transparency about values and ways of working that respect the diversity of ways of valuing nature. Our hope is that this can support more inclusive and better environmental decision-making.”

‘Plural values of nature help to understand contested pathways to sustainability’, Adrian Martin, Erik Gomez-Baggethun, Martin Quaas, Ricardo Rozzi, Alejandra Tauro, Daniel P. Faith, Ritesh Kumar, Patrick O’Farrell, and Unai Pascual, is published in One Earth on May 17.

JOURNAL

One Earth

DOI

10.1016/j.oneear.2024.04.003

ARTICLE TITLE

Plural values of nature help to understand contested pathways to sustainability

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-May-2024

Ultraprocessed food consumption and cardiometabolic risk factors in children

JAMA NETWORK

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest that high ultraprocessed food (UPF) consumption in young children is associated with adiposity and other cardiometabolic risk factors, highlighting the need for public health initiatives to promote the replacement of UPFs with unprocessed or minimally processed foods.

Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Nancy Babio, Ph.D., email nancy.babio@urv.cat.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.11852)

Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

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Embed this link to provide your readers free access to the full-text article This link will be live at the embargo time http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.11852?utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_term=051724

About JAMA Network Open: JAMA Network Open is an online-only open access general medical journal from the JAMA Network. On weekdays, the journal publishes peer-reviewed clinical research and commentary in more than 40 medical and health subject areas. Every article is free online from the day of publication.

JOURNAL

JAMA Network Open

UNC Greensboro researcher approved for NCInnovation grant funding for lithium refining research

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT GREENSBORO

Launch UNCG Reverse Pitch — IMAGE:
HEMALI RATHNAYAKE, PH.D. IS A PROFESSOR OF NANOSCIENCE IN UNCG'S JOINT SCHOOL OF NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY.
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CREDIT: SEAN NORONA, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS PHOTOGRAPHER

UNC Greensboro researcher Hemali Rathnayake, Ph.D., has been approved for grant funding from NCInnovation to continue her work in developing a cost-effective and efficient lithium refining process for converting lithium into battery-grade lithium carbonate.

The grant approval is conditioned on standard next steps, including executed grant agreements and formal notification to government partners. This funding is part of NCInnovation’s larger mission to unlock the innovative potential of North Carolina’s world-class universities.

“From mobile phones to automobiles, our everyday modern lifestyle relies on lithium batteries. Purification of lithium is key to battery production, a critical emerging industry at home in Greensboro, our state and surrounding region, and globally. UNC Greensboro is proud of Dr. Hemali Rathnayake and the pioneering research she leads in the development of a cost-effective and efficient lithium refining process. The funding support from state legislators and NCInnovation is vital to continuing this applied research,” said Chancellor Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr.

“Dr. Rathnayake’s lithium refining solutions show incredible promise for North Carolina’s economy,” said Michelle Bolas, NCInnovation Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer. “This work has the capability to help advance our mission to make North Carolina THE innovation state.”

Dr. Rathnayake has led the development of a cost-effective and efficient lithium refining process for converting lithium into battery-grade lithium carbonate (LCE). The global demand for lithium is experiencing substantial growth for its primary role in energy storage, electronic bikes, electrification of tools, and other battery-intense applications. North Carolina has a large and growing lithium and battery industry. Rathnayake’s refining technology has the potential to boost a sustainable domestic supply chain for lithium-based products.

Modern plant enzyme partners with surprisingly ancient protein

Study reveals that protein responsible for building a key component of modern plant cell walls first emerged in ancient species

DOE/BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY

Brookhaven Lab biologists Chang-Jun Liu and Xianhai Zhao — IMAGE:
CHANG-JUN LIU (LEFT) AND XIANHAI ZHAO (RIGHT) WITH ARABIDOPSIS PLANTS LIKE THOSE USED IN THIS RESEARCH.
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CREDIT: KEVIN COUGHLIN/BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY

UPTON, N.Y. — Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered that a protein responsible for the synthesis of a key plant material evolved much earlier than suspected. This new research explored the origin and evolution of the biochemical machinery that builds lignin, a structural component of plant cell walls with significant impacts on the clean energy industry.

When the first land plants emerged from aquatic environments, they needed to adapt in order to survive.

Chang-Jun Liu, a senior scientist in Brookhaven’s Biology Department, said, “The emergence of lignin, which provides structural support for the plants, was a key evolutionary event that enabled plant survival in the new terrestrial environment.”

Understanding how plants developed protective mechanisms that enable survival in new environments is vital as they face challenges imposed by climate change today. But lignin is also of great interest to researchers searching for clean energy options. This tough plant material can be processed and converted into valuable bioproducts. And lignin is the only renewable source of aromatic compounds, which are chemically similar to molecules found in conventional jet fuel and can be used as “drop-in” fuel by airlines.

“Modern plants contain three types of lignin, but most early lignin-containing plants had only two types. The ‘newer’ lignin is called syringyl-lignin, or S-lignin,” explained Liu. S-lignin evolved relatively recently with flowering plants and is structurally less complex than the other lignin components. Its potential industrial applications, in particular, have captured the attention of scientists because S-lignin is relatively easy to break down to simple aromatics.

The new study, recently published in The Plant Cell, builds on years of research focused on lignin and the molecules responsible for its synthesis. In 2019, Liu and his colleagues discovered that a specific cytochrome b5 protein, CB5D, is indispensable for the production of S-lignin but not the other, more ancient types of lignin.

“The uniqueness of CB5D’s role in S-lignin synthesis intrigued us,” Liu noted. “So, we were inspired to further explore its origin and evolution.”

Enzymatic teamwork

In a previous study, Liu’s team found that CB5D has a special partnership with an enzyme called ferulate 5-hydroxylase (F5H). Together, these molecules synthesized the valuable S-lignin.

The scientists knew that the evolution of F5H in flowering plants had led to the production of S-lignin. So, they expected to find that CB5D had co-evolved with F5H.

To explore their hypothesis, the scientists ran a genetic analysis to find other plant species whose DNA contained genes similar to the modern CB5D gene, which acts as instructions for assembling the CB5D protein. They identified 21 species, ranging from evolutionarily ancient to evolutionarily recent. The scientists then synthesized these genes and individually expressed them in a modern plant species that was genetically altered to lack the CB5D gene.

“Without the CB5D gene, the plant synthesizes only a small amount of S-lignin,” said Xianhai Zhao, a postdoctoral researcher at Brookhaven and lead author on the new paper. “But if this function was restored with the expression of one of the related genes, then we would know that gene functions similarly to the modern CB5D gene.”

The scientists discovered that a gene from a green algae species that evolved into an early land plant over 500 million years ago restored S-lignin synthesis in the modern plant. This indicated that the gene exhibited CB5D-type functionality. The scientists also found that the function was conserved in several early land plants, like liverworts and mosses.

“This means that the CB5D evolved millions of years earlier than we had expected,” explained Liu. “It was quite surprising to find that a modern electron acceptor like F5H had partnered with an ancient protein to develop new biochemical machinery that synthesizes the advanced lignin structure.”

Scientific teamwork and next steps

The CB5D gene and its more ancient counterpart contained similar DNA sequences and functions. But the scientists wanted to make sure that the CB5D protein from an ancient species, like liverwort, was expressed in the same subcellular structures as modern CB5D.

So, they used confocal microscopy at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, a DOE Office of Science user facility at Brookhaven Lab, to confirm that this was the case.

Having found ancient genes that encode proteins similar to the modern CB5D protein in terms of S-lignin synthesis in modern plants and cellular localization, the team wanted to learn more about this protein’s ancient function and how it changed or expanded over time.

Their analysis showed the CB5D-like protein emerged in aquatic algae just before they transitioned to a terrestrial environment. And because it was conserved in early land plants, this protein likely serves one or more essential functions.

“Ancient plants like liverwort didn’t contain S-lignin,” said Zhao. “If the CB5D-type protein wasn’t responsible for synthesizing S-lignin, what did it do?”

Liu remarked, “That’s the beauty of research. Answering one question leads you to even more interesting questions waiting to be explored.”

This work was supported by the DOE Office of Science.

Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit science.energy.gov.

Follow @BrookhavenLab on social media. Find us on Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and Facebook.

JOURNAL

The Plant Cell

DOI

10.1093/plcell/koae120

ARTICLE TITLE

Cytochrome b5 diversity in green lineages preceded the evolution of syringyl lignin biosynthesi