Biology subjects

He, J.-S.

Publications and source records attributed to He, J.-S..

9 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Hidden grassland productivity from overlooked herbivore impacts

Grasslands cover approximately 40% of Earth's land surface and contribute substantially to terrestrial primary production. Despite widespread grazing, field estimates of grassland aboveground net primary productivity commonly overlook two grazing-related processes: biomass consumed by herbivores and post-grazing compensatory growth. The magnitude and direction of the resulting biases remain unclear. Here we quantified these biases using a 3-year yak grazing experiment on the Tibetan Plateau, a meta-analysis of 152 grazing experiments across China, and a global synthesis of 212 paired observations from 58 studies. Overlooking biomass consumed by herbivores consistently underestimated productivity by 34-51%. By contrast, overlooking grazing-induced compensation generated smaller but more variable biases, ranging from 29% underestimation to 19% overestimation, mainly reflecting contrasting compensatory responses under rotational versus continuous grazing. These findings show that overlooking grazing-mediated processes introduces substantial, process-dependent biases in grassland productivity estimates, underscoring the need to incorporate these processes into ecosystem and climate assessments.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2026

Oncolytic Adenovirus Armed with cGAS Activates STING Pathway and Enhances Antitumor Immunity in Lung Cancer with Superior Combined Efficacy of PD-L1 Therapy

The extensive expression of STING in patients with non - small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is closely associated with overall survival and other factors. Activation of the STING pathway can suppress NSCLC. However, the clinical translation of STING agonists remains hindered by challenges such as off-target effects, metabolic instability, and suboptimal pharmacokinetics. In this study, we engineered two oncolytic adenoviruses (OAds), OAd-HcGAS and OAd-McGAS, expressing human or murine cGAS, respectively, using an Ad5/3 chimeric adenovirus platform under regulation by the hTERT promoter to evaluatewhether OVs carrying the cGAS gene are capable of specifically activating the STING pathway within tumors and enhancing the anti - tumor efficacy of OVs both in vitro and in vivo.In vitro, OAd-HcGAS exhibited robust replication and potent cytolytic activity in tumor cells. It activated the STING-TBK1-IRF3 signaling axis, triggering a strong type I interferon (IFN-I) and pro-inflammatory cytokine response without compromising viral replication. In a murine Lewis lung carcinoma allograft model, intratumoral (i.t.) administration of OAd-McGAS led to substantial cGAS expression and consequential activation of the STING pathway. Moreover, the combination with anti-PD-L1 therapy resulted in tumor regression in over half of the cases. Notably, this armed oncolytic virus strategy enhanced the activation and infiltration of multiple immune cell populations. Collectively, these findings establish cGAS-expressing oncolytic adenoviruses as a novel and effective therapeutic strategy for lung cancer treatment. Graphical AbstractViral replication & Transgene expression & Cancer treatment

immunology↗

bioRxiv2023

Differences in adult survival drive divergent demographic responses to a decade of field warming on the Tibetan Plateau

O_LIA central question in biodiversity conservation is whether species will maintain viable population dynamics under future climate change. Assessing species extinction risk under climate warming requires demographic studies integrating vital rate responses to long-term warming throughout species life cycle. However, studies of this nature are rare. C_LIO_LIHere, we examine the demographic responses of two co-occurring herbaceous plants, Elymus nutans Griseb. and Helictotrichon tibeticum (Roshev.) Holub, after a decade (2011-2020) of in situ active warming by 2{degrees}C in the grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau. We parameterise Integral Projection Models (IPMs) to project the population dynamics under ambient and long-term warming conditions, and examine the key vital rates responsible for any potential differences in population growth rates. C_LIO_LIWarming has contrasting effects on the two functionally similar co-occurring species: warming promotes the population growth rate of H. tibeticum, but intensifies the population decline of E. nutans. Our elasticity analyses show that survival is the most important vital rate for population viability in both species under both ambient and warmed conditions. Furthermore, our retrospective Life Table Response Experiment (LTRE) analysis reveals that the contrasting fates of the two species under warming mainly arise from the different responses of adult survival, which is significantly promoted in H. tibeticum but slightly reduced in E. nutans. Individual shrinkage occurred 1.6-fold more frequently under warming than ambient conditions for both species, and made considerable negative contributions to their population growth rates in warmed plots. However, such negative effects are offset in H. tibeticum (but not E. nutans) by the positive contribution to population growth rate of the associated increased survival. C_LIO_LISynthesis. Our study illustrates that the responses to climate warming may vary considerably between similar co-occurring species, and species with a demographically compensatory strategy may avoid population collapse. Additionally, caution is needed when generalizing findings among functionally similar species, and that conservation measures should be tailored at the species level. C_LI

ecology↗

bioRxiv2023

Warming and altered precipitation independently and interactively suppress alpine soil microbial growth in a decadal-long experiment

Warming and precipitation anomalies affect terrestrial carbon balance partly through altering microbial eco-physiological processes (e.g., growth and death) in soil. However, little is known about how such processes responds to simultaneous regime shifts in temperature and precipitation. We used the 18O-water quantitative stable isotope probing approach to estimate bacterial growth in alpine meadow soils of the Tibetan Plateau after a decade of warming and altered precipitation manipulation. Our results showed that the growth of major taxa was suppressed by the single and combined effects of temperature and precipitation, eliciting 40-90% of growth reduction of whole community. The antagonistic interactions of warming and altered precipitation on population growth were common (~70% taxa), represented by the weak antagonistic interactions of warming and drought, and the neutralizing effects of warming and wet. The members in Solirubrobacter and Pseudonocardia genera had high growth rates under changed climate regimes. These results are important to understand and predict the soil microbial dynamics in alpine meadow ecosystems suffering from multiple climate change factors.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2022

ZEB2 regulates the development of CD11c+ atypical B cells

CD11c+ atypical B cells (ABC) are an alternative memory B cell lineage identified both in normal immune responses as well as pathogenic responses in autoimmunity. While it is clear that ABCs have a distinct transcriptional program, the factors that direct this program have not been identified. Here, we generated a human tonsil single-cell RNA-seq dataset and identified candidate transcription factors associated with the ABC population. We selected 8 of these transcription factors for further analysis based on their conserved expression in mouse ABC bulk RNA-seq datasets. Using an optimized CRSPR-Cas9 knockdown method we found that only zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 2 (Zeb2) knock-out impaired ABC formation. To assess the role of Zeb2 in ABC formation in vivo we used Zeb2fl/fl mice crossed to a CD23Cre line. Germinal center and plasma cell responses in these mice after Plasmodium sporozoite immunization were largely unaltered but we observed a specific defect in ABC formation. We further determined that ZEB2 haploinsufficient Mowat Wilson syndrome patients also have decreased circulating ABCs in the blood, supporting a role for this transcription factor in humans as well as mice. In sum, we identified Zeb2 as a key TF governing the formation of ABCs.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2021

Nuclear stabilisation of p53 requires a functional nucleolar surveillance pathway

The nucleolar surveillance pathway (NSP) monitors nucleolar fidelity and responds to nucleolar stresses (i.e., inactivation of ribosome biogenesis) by mediating the inhibitory binding of ribosomal proteins (RPs) to mouse double minute 2 homolog (MDM2), a nuclear-localised E3 ubiquitin ligase, which results in p53 accumulation. Inappropriate activation of the NSP has been implicated in the pathogenesis of collection of human diseases termed "ribosomopathies", while drugs that selectively activate the NSP are now in trials for cancer. Despite the clinical significance, the precise molecular mechanism(s) regulating the NSP remain poorly understood. Using genome-wide loss of function screens, we demonstrate the ribosome biogenesis (RiBi) axis as the most potent class of genes whose disruption stabilises p53. Furthermore, we identified a novel suite of genes critical for the NSP, including a novel mammalian protein implicated in 5S ribonucleoprotein particle (5S-RNP) biogenesis, HEATR3. By selectively disabling the NSP, we unexpectedly demonstrate that a functional NSP is required for the ability of all nuclear acting stresses tested, including DNA damage, to robustly induce p53 accumulation. Together, our data demonstrates that the NSP has evolved as the dominant central integrator of stresses that regulate nuclear p53 abundance, thus ensuring RiBi is hardwired to cellular proliferative capacity.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Infrared heater warming system markedly reduces dew formation: An overlooked factor in arid ecosystems

Dew plays a vital role in ecosystem processes in arid and semi-arid regions and is expected to be affected by climate warming. Infrared heater warming systems have been widely used to simulate climate warming effects on ecosystem. However, how this warming system affects dew formation has been long ignored and rarely addressed. In a typical alpine grassland ecosystem on the Northeast of the Tibetan Plateau, we measured dew amount and duration by artificial condensing surfaces, leaf wetness sensors and in situ dew formation on plants from 2012 to 2017. We also measured plant traits related to dew conditions. The results showed that (1) warming reduced the dew amount by 41.6%-91.1% depending on the measurement method, and reduced dew duration by 32.1 days compared to the ambient condition. (2) Different plant functional groups differed in dew formation. (3) Under the infrared warming treatment, the dew amount decreased with plant height, while under the ambient conditions, the dew amount showed the opposite trend. We concluded that warming with an infrared heater system greatly reduces dew formation, and if ignored, it may lead to overestimation of the effects of climate warming on ecosystem processes in climate change simulation studies.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2017

Strong positive biodiversity-productivity relationships in a subtropical forest experiment

Forest ecosystems contribute substantially to global terrestrial primary productivity and climate regulation, but, in contrast to grasslands, experimental evidence for a positive biodiversity-productivity relationship in highly diverse forests is still lacking1. Here, we provide such evidence from a large forest biodiversity experiment with a novel design2 in subtropical China. Productivity (stand-level tree basal area, aboveground volume and carbon and their annual increment) increased linearly with the logarithm of tree species richness. Additive partitioning3 showed that increasing positive complementarity effects combined with weakening negative selection effects caused a strengthening of the relationship over time. In 2-species mixed stands, complementary effects increased with functional distance and selection effects with vertical crown dissimilarity between species. Understorey shrubs reduced stand-level tree productivity, but this effect of competition was attenuated by shrub species richness, indicating that a diverse understorey may facilitate overall ecosystem functioning. Identical biodiversity-productivity relationships were found in plots of different size, suggesting that extrapolation to larger scales is possible. Our results highlight the potential of multi-species afforestation strategies to simultaneously contribute to mitigation of climate change and biodiversity restoration.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2017

Climate change will lead to pronounced shifts in the diversity of soil microbial communities

Soil bacteria are key to ecosystem function and maintenance of soil fertility. Leveraging associations of current geographic distributions of bacteria with historic climate, we predict that soil bacterial diversity will increase across the majority (~75%) of the Tibetan Plateau and northern North America if bacterial communities equilibrate with existing climatic conditions. This prediction is possible because the current distributions of soil bacteria have stronger correlations with climate from ~50 years ago than with current climate. This lag is likely associated with the time it takes for soil properties to adjust to changes in climate. The predicted changes are location specific and differ across bacterial taxa, including some bacteria that are predicted to have reductions in their distributions. These findings demonstrate the widespread influence that climate change will have on belowground diversity and highlight the importance of considering bacterial communities when assessing climate impacts on terrestrial ecosystems.\n\nIMPORTANCEThere have been many studies highlighting how plant and animal communities lag behind climate change, causing extinction and diversity debts that will slowly be paid as communities equilibrate. By virtue of their short generation times and dispersal abilities, soil bacteria might be expected to respond to climate change quickly and to be effectively in equilibrium with current climatic conditions. We found strong evidence to the contrary in Tibet and North America. These findings could significantly improve understanding of climate impacts on soil microbial communities.

ecology↗