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Biology subjects

Huang, C.

Publications and source records attributed to Huang, C..

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Microscale Characterization of Undecalcified Bone Tissue Using Correlative Atomic Force Microscopy and Histology

Characterizing bone tissue in its mineralized state remains technically challenging. Conventional approaches typically compromise mechanical integrity through decalcification or lack the structural resolution necessary to capture microscale heterogeneity. Here we present an integrated workflow combining atomic force microscopy (AFM) with histological and immunofluorescence assays on adjacent undecalcified bone tissue cryosections. Using a tape-transfer mounting approach, we resolve mechanically and structurally distinct tissue types within a minimally processed single mouse femur section. Furthermore, we show that decalcification substantially alters nanoscale surface topography and local mechanical properties. Applied to an aging cohort of C57BL/6J female mice spanning 7 to 115 weeks, the proposed method detects age-associated changes in bone matrix structure and stiffness. The approach provides a practical methodology for spatially correlating nanomechanical properties with molecular markers in bone and other mineralized tissues, with broad applicability to disease models including cancer metastasis, osteoporosis, and osteoarthritis.

biophysics↗

Identification of glycosyltransferases that synthesize pectin heteroglycan block polymers and a structural motif required for their activity

Pectin is a family of plant cell wall complex polysaccharides and proteoglycans comprised of the glycan domains homogalacturonan (HG), rhamnogalacturonan I (RG-I), and the substituted HGs rhamnogalacturonan II (RG-II), xylogalacturonan and apiogalacturonan. The number, type, and arrangement of the pectic domains in different pectic polymers are unknown, as is the identity of the enzymes that link the domains together. Here we show that two Arabidopsis -1,4-galacturonosyltransferases, GAUT13 and GAUT14, in addition to previously reported HG acceptor-dependent and HG de novo synthesis activities, initiate and elongate HG on the non-reducing end of RG-I, identifying enzymes that synthesize pectic RG-I:HG heteroglycans. While other catalytic GAUTs did not initiate HG on RG-I acceptors, they were able to elongate HG once initiated on RG-I by GAUT13 and GAUT14. We show that the three different GAUT14 acceptors (UDP-GalA, HG, and RG-I) compete for the same binding pocket, and amino acids required for GAUT14 catalytic activity were identified using in vitro enzyme assays, computational modeling, and site-directed mutagenesis. The transfer of the GAUT14 hypervariable 1 (HV1) motif (RTFASKLQSRS) was sufficient and necessary to transfer RG-I:HG extension activity to GAUT10, which otherwise does not have this activity, representing a novel functional glycosyltransferase domain swapping strategy. The presence of all three catalytic activities in a GAUT13/14 homolog from the non-vascular seedless plant Physcomitrium established the early evolution of GAUT13/14 trifunctionality. The identification of GAUT13 and GAUT14 as RG-I:HG extension catalysts provides targets for probing in planta structure and function of RG-I:HG heteropolymers.

plant biology↗

PatientPheX: A Full-Text Biomedical Corpus for Patient-Specific Phenotype Information Extraction

Patient-specific phenotype information extraction identifiers and normalizes phenotype entities and links them with individual patients, supporting rare disease research and genotype-phenotype analysis. However, existing datasets rarely combine full-text biomedical content with detailed annotations of patients, phenotypes, related entities, and their associations. In this work, we present PatientPheX, a corpus for patient-specific phenotype information extraction comprising 200 full-text articles, primarily case reports and case series. The corpus provides mention annotations and normalization for seven biomedical entity types, together with explicit associations between patients and entities across sentences, paragraphs, and sections. Negated findings and composite phenotype mentions are also annotated. Corpus construction combines automated pre-annotation, large language model (LLM)-assisted verification, and manual review and adjudication. Benchmarks cover entity recognition and normalization and patient-phenotype association extraction using gold-standard and predicted entities. The overall document-level entity F1 was 86.95%, while phenotype F1 was 79.33%. The best relation extraction macro-F1 decreased from 84.14% with gold-standard entities to 54.98% with predicted entities, highlighting the combined challenges of phenotype extraction and patient attribution. PatientPheX provides a resource for developing and evaluating patient-centered information extraction methods and supports the construction of structured patient-level knowledge resources for phenotype-driven biomedical research.

bioinformatics↗

Lactation Remodels the Maternal Lung to Promote Preemptive Innate Defense

Lactation is a hallmark of mammalian evolution, imposing extraordinary physiological demands on mothers to nourish their offspring. Yet how mothers maintain their own health while meeting these demands remains poorly understood. Here, we discover that lactation establishes a preemptive innate defense program in the maternal lung through enhanced epithelial production of surfactant proteins and mucin, vascular remodeling that supports granulocyte recruitment and accumulation of activated intravascular neutrophils. These tissue-wide adaptations safeguard lactating dams against diverse respiratory pathogens. We further identify prolactin and CGRP as neuroendocrine signals contributing to pulmonary remodeling and uncover parallel lactation-associated granulocyte adaptations in marsupial and non-human primate models. Together, our findings expand the framework of reproductive immunology, revealing that reproduction couples systemic fetal tolerance with tissue-specific immune adaptations that safeguard maternal health during lactation.

immunology↗

Benchmarking longitudinal local centiles for radiographic knee osteoarthritis prognosis

Cartilage thickness on MRI is a structural biomarker of osteoarthritis (OA), yet anatomical variation and aging can mask early disease, including changes occurring 12-36 months before incident OA. We propose longitudinal local centile maps that use normative growth charts as prior information and integrate a knee's earlier scans to identify cartilage that is thinner or thicker than expected. We built the reference charts from 5,045 scans of 957 persistently radiographically normal knees in the Osteoarthritis Initiative. Under participant-separated nested cross-validation, longitudinal centile profiles achieved higher 12- and 24-month AUCs for predicting incident radiographic OA than regional PCA, radiomics, cross-sectional centile features, and raw-map deep features across most classifiers. These conventional descriptors added little when combined with centile profiles, and cross-sectional centiles added little beyond longitudinal centiles. Deep centile features achieved the best AUCs (0.954 [95% CI 0.931-0.974] at 12 months and 0.969 [0.949-0.985] at 24 months; balanced accuracy 0.917 and 0.931) and outperformed raw-map deep features in all 12 classifiers after correction for multiple comparisons. No representation consistently improved 36-month prediction. Longitudinal centiles transform cartilage thickness maps into reference-based deviation maps: deep longitudinal centile features provide the highest predictive accuracy, while regional longitudinal centile profiles provide interpretable prognosis with the second-highest accuracy.

bioengineering↗

Comparative proteomic quantification reveals novel longevity regulators

Proteomics is a powerful tool for profiling the protein landscape underlying cellular and physiological processes. Advances in mass spectrometry-based methods, such as tandem-mass-tags (TMT) isobaric labeling-based proteomics at both MS2 and MS3, label-free quantification (LFQ) with data-dependent-acquisition (DDA) or data-independent acquisition (DIA)-based proteomics, and stable isotope labeling with amino acid (SILAC) spike-in-assisted proteomics, enable quantitative proteome comparisons across biological conditions. These five quantitative proteomic methods offer distinct advantages in coverage, throughput, and quantitative reproducibility. Here, we treated them as orthogonal approaches, retaining protein candidates with significant, consistent-direction changes supported across multiple independently instrumented methods to identify high-confidence protein-level changes associated with longevity. Insulin/insulin-like growth factor signaling (IIS) is a highly conserved longevity regulatory pathway from Caenorhabditis elegans to humans. By quantitatively profiling IIS mutants in C. elegans and performing genetic screening, we obtained a systems-view of proteomic changes linked to longevity and identified new longevity regulators. This systematic cross-method comparison also serves as a valuable resource for guiding the selection of quantitative proteomics approaches.

molecular biology↗

A general method to develop excitation ratiometric neuropeptide sensors with enhanced sensitivity for in vivo applications

Neuropeptides regulate a wide range of physiological processes throughout the nervous and endocrine systems, yet their spatiotemporal dynamics in vivo remain poorly understood. While recently developed intensiometric sensors can detect neuropeptides, their use in vivo is often confounded by artifacts induced by hemodynamic changes, pH fluctuations, and motion. Here, we present a general strategy for engineering dual-excitation ratiometric (Ex-ratiometric) neuropeptide sensors by tuning the excited-state proton transfer properties of the fluorescent reporter. Dual excitation at 405 nm and 488 nm produces a ratiometric signal that intrinsically corrects fluorescence fluctuations unrelated to ligand binding. Using an AlphaFold3-guided in silico design approach combined with experimental validation, we developed a suite of Ex-ratiometric sensors. As a representative example, Ex-NTS2.0 enables robust detection of neurotensin (NTS) in vivo while remaining largely resistant to hemodynamics, pH, and motion-induced artifacts. Overall, these findings establish a scalable and mechanistically grounded platform for developing new Ex-ratiometric tools and provide a broadly applicable strategy for sensitive detection of neuropeptide dynamics in living systems.

neuroscience↗

ProteoformTracker: an interactive tool for planning proteoform detectability in top-down and middle-down proteomics

Characterizing proteome complexity in disease contexts is essential for understanding molecular mechanisms and advancing therapeutic development. Mass spectrometry (MS)-based top-down and middle-down proteomics (TDP/MDP) can resolve intact proteoforms - protein molecules carrying a unique combination of isoform sequence and post-translational modifications (PTMs); however, their technical complexity and modest throughput present challenges for experimental planning and limit their broader application. Here, we present ProteoformTracker, an online web tool that prospectively models MS signal and evaluates the feasibility of using TDP/MDP to distinguish a target proteoform from related isoforms and the background proteome. ProteoformTracker takes as input a gene's annotated isoforms, a novel long-read/assembled transcript, or an rMATS alternative-splicing event, with or without user-specified PTMs, and predicts each proteoform's MS1 charge-state envelope and exact isotope pattern, scores per-bond MS2 fragmentation propensity, and searches the full reference human proteome for confounding proteins that could share the target's intact mass or a charge-state m/z peak. ProteoformTracker also supports middle-down workflows via simulated partial protease digestion. Results are rendered as interactive, zoomable MS1 and MS2 visualizations with live resolvability and fragment-ion statistics, letting users incorporate outside evidence into which confounders they compare against. We envision ProteoformTracker as a useful tool for users to plan TDP/MDP experiments targeting specific proteoforms. ProteoformTracker is implemented in R (Shiny) with a Python backend for exact mass and isotope-pattern calculation and is freely available at http://www.proteoformtracker.org together with the documentation and a walkthrough.

bioinformatics↗

OmniSyn unifies target-aware molecular generation and optimization within a synthesis-native LLM framework across the human proteome

Designing target-specific bioactive molecules with actionable synthesis routes for the human proteome holds enormous potential for expanding therapeutic discovery, but remains a challenge. Existing target-aware generative models often depend on protein structures and generate molecules before assessing synthetic feasibility. Here we present OmniSyn, a protein-sequence-conditioned Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) language model that couples a task-conditioned interaction module with a synthesis-action decoder to generate molecules with explicit synthesis traces, thereby unifying de novo ligand generation, synthesizability projection and hit-to-lead (H2L) optimization within synthesis-traceable chemical space. OmniSyn is pre-trained with self-distillation and post-trained with task-specific reinforcement learning (RL) to adapt expert routing and optimize molecular properties across design modes. On unseen protein targets from MolGenBench, a real-world drug-discovery benchmark, OmniSyn achieves state-of-the-art performance across de novo design and H2L optimization, including target-awareness and hit-rediscovery metrics, despite relying only on protein sequences rather than three-dimensional (3D) pocket structures. By embedding synthesis planning into the design process, OmniSyn shifts molecular generation from a generate-then-filter paradigm toward design-with-synthesis paradigm, transforming virtual predictions into experimentally actionable candidates. Independent AiZynthFinder evaluation yielded retrosynthetic success rates of 68.47% for de novo generation and 71.92% for H2L optimization, improving over the strongest baselines by 61.3% and 184.2%, respectively, and supporting the synthetic feasibility of OmniSyn-generated molecules. In synthesizability projection, OmniSyn further converts outputs from external generative models into close analogues with improved retrosynthetic feasibility while preserving molecular similarity. Having established strong benchmark performance and external retrosynthetic feasibility, we next applied OmniSyn at human-proteome scale, spanning more than 21,000 targets. Rapid sequence-conditioned sampling enabled the construction of, to our knowledge, the largest human-proteome-scale generative virtual library, comprising 2.7 billion target-specific molecules, each accompanied by model-derived synthesis traces and target-specific prioritization scores. By enabling scalable target-specific molecular design with synthesis-aware generation across the human proteome, OmniSyn opens new opportunities for exploring previously inaccessible therapeutic targets, including those lacking experimentally resolved structures.

bioinformatics↗

Human parietal retrieval states prioritize an absent temporal reference to reconstruct event order

How the brain judges when something happened is thought to involve reconstruction--deriving temporal judgments from information recovered from memory rather than simply reading out a fixed temporal code. Testing this has been difficult because conventional tasks present both compared items at retrieval, so reinstatement could reflect cue processing as much as memory recovery. Here we dissociated what a judgment requires from what its cue supplies: during fMRI scanning, participants (n = 55) judged a targets temporal position relative to a milestone that was never shown at retrieval. We found that retrieval patterns in the precuneus and angular gyrus resembled the absent milestone more than the target, a bias strongest in the precuneus. Moreover, trial-by-trial similarity to the encoded path linking milestone to target--rather than to either alone--predicted correct judgments independently of retrieval activation. Human parietal retrieval is thus configured more by what a judgment requires than by what the cue supplies, providing content-specific representational evidence for reconstructive temporal-order memory.

neuroscience↗

Aging-associated regulatory B-like cells establish a lung-selective immunosuppressive niche to promote pulmonary metastasis

While aging is the primary risk factor for cancer development and a critical driver of metastasis, yet how aging selectively remodels specific distant organs to favor tumor colonization remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate that host aging selectively enhances susceptibility to lung metastasis in an inflammation-dependent manner, without uniformly affecting other organs. Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals that the aged lung accumulates PD-L1CTLA-4IgMIgD- regulatory B (Breg)-like cells, representing the immune population most amplified by the cooperative effects of aging and tumor burden. Trajectory analysis delineates their differentiation from naive B cells, driven by Il10, Ctla4, Cd274, and Egr1 upregulation. This program is evolutionarily conserved, increasing progressively with human chronological lung age. Mechanistically, aged CD140a adventitial fibroblasts drive CXCL13-dependent B-cell reprogramming into a senescent state. These Breg-like cells directly impair natural killer cell cytotoxicity and CD4 T-cell responses, accelerating pulmonary colonization. Our findings reveal a targetable, lung-specific age-associated stromal-immune axis driving metastatic organotropism.

immunology↗

Hippocampal-midcingulate connectivity is associated with representational integration during cognitive map updating

Cognitive maps organize experience into structured internal models that support goal-directed behavior. Although map formation has been extensively studied in the human hippocampus, the neural mechanisms supporting flexible updating of established maps remain unclear. We used fMRI to track the formation and updating of a spatial cognitive map across three days. Participants learned object-location associations and later updated them by remapping objects among fixed locations. Representational similarity analysis revealed two concurrent signatures in the right hippocampus: prior relational structure remained differentiated, whereas updated associations became integrated. Map updating engaged a frontoparietal network and modulated hippocampal-cortical connectivity. Critically, hippocampal-midcingulate connectivity was associated with the integration of updated associations, but not with the differentiation of prior relational structure. These results suggest that cognitive map updating involves coordinated hippocampal-cortical interactions that incorporate new information while preserving prior relational structure, reflecting a balance of stability and plasticity in internal models.

neuroscience↗

A novel AR molecular glue degrader via bivalent engagement of the N-terminal domain and RNF213-UBE2J2 complex

Targeted protein degradation enables the elimination of disease-relevant proteins through induced proximity between E3 ligases and substrates. Current androgen receptor (AR) therapies act via the ligand-binding domain (LBD) but fail against constitutively active LBD mutants or splice variants such as AR-V7. Here, we identify GZL626, a small-molecule degrader that induces proteasome-dependent degradation of both full-length AR and AR-V7. GZL626 suppresses AR transcriptional activity, inhibits proliferation of AR-positive prostate cancer cells, and blocks SARS-CoV-2 infection. Mechanistically, GZL626 binds the intrinsically disordered AR N-terminal domain (NTD) and promotes formation of a noncanonical RNF213-UBE2J2-AR ternary complex that drives AR ubiquitination and degradation. The AR DNA-binding domain (DBD) acts as a structural hub within this assembly. Distinct from PROTACs or classical molecular glues, GZL626 engages both AR and RNF213 bivalently, remodeling protein interactions to stabilize a functional E3-E2-substrate complex. These findings establish GZL626 as a first-in-class NTD degrader with potential to overcome resistance in advanced prostate cancer.

biophysics↗

CRISPR activation screens identify core protein-dependent regulation of heparan sulfate sulfation and ligand specificity

Heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) are essential cell surface and extracellular matrix glycoconjugates that mediate diverse biological processes through interactions between their heparan sulfate (HS) chains and extracellular ligands. While HS sulfation patterning is known to dictate ligand specificity, how cells control HS assembly to regulate these interactions remains incompletely understood. To systematically identify genetic modifiers of HS-protein interactions, we performed genome-wide CRISPR activation (CRISPRa) screens in HEK293T cells using binding of antithrombin (AT), which selectively recognizes 3-O-sulfated HS motifs, or the N-sulfation-specific antibody 10E4 as functional readouts. Strikingly, the screens revealed proteoglycan core proteins as key modulators of HS function. In particular, syndecan-1 (SDC1) emerged as a preferential enhancer of AT binding compared to other syndecan family members. Targeted upregulation of syndecan family members increased total HS levels, but only SDC1 enhanced AT binding. Structural and enzymatic analyses demonstrated that SDC1-associated HS chains contain elevated 6-O-sulfation and serve as superior substrates for 3-O-sulfotransferases relative to SDC2-associated HS chains. Additionally, SDC1 exhibited slower cell surface recovery, which was blocked by cycloheximide treatment, consistent with extended trafficking and biosynthetic processing. Overall, these findings indicate that proteoglycan core protein identity influences HS sulfation patterning and ligand-binding specificity and trafficking kinetics may contribute to core protein-dependent regulation of HS modification.

Cell Biology↗

Molecular mechanism of IF1- and IF2-driven translation initiation in bacteria

Bacterial translation initiation is a highly regulated process essential for accurate start codon selection and the assembly of an elongation-competent ribosome. Two initiation factors, 1 (IF1) and 3 (IF3), contribute to quality control for formation of 30S preinitiation complex (30S PIC), while the GTPase IF2 facilitates stable initiator tRNA binding and promotes subunit association. However, the molecular mechanism of IF1 action and the regulatory role of IF2-mediated GTP hydrolysis and inorganic phosphate (Pi) release remain poorly understood. Using ensemble cryo-EM integrated with fast-kinetics, we delineate the translation initiation pathway involving IF1 and IF2. We show that IF1 transiently associates with the 30S subunit and interferes with the formation of multiple inter-subunit bridges. IF2 promotes subunit association by stabilizing the 30S PIC through interactions mediated by its N-terminal domains. IF1 departure happens after or concomitant with GTP hydrolysis, following which the inter-subunit bridges establish. Then Pi release triggers remodeling of IF2 followed by its departure from the 70S initiation complex. These findings reveal how the coordinated interplay of IF1 and IF2 with the ribosome ensures translational fidelity and plays crucial role for formation of elongation-competent 70S.

biochemistry↗

Bioelectric state transitions enable de novo feather bud formation in developing skin

Tissue patterning is integral to development and regeneration, yet the factors that initiate morphogenetic patterning remain to be explored. Here, using embryonic chicken skin as a model, we show that perturbation of calcium signaling induces de novo feather bud formation in regions that normally do not form feather buds. This is achieved through coordinated changes in calcium dynamics, endogenous bioelectric currents, transcriptional regulation of calcium and potassium channel genes, and morphogen signaling. Different combinations of channel perturbations altered the number, distribution, size, and shape of induced feather buds. Live calcium imaging and extracellular electrophysiological recordings revealed homeostatic regulation, in which initially depressed calcium activity is followed by elevated calcium activity. Inward bioelectric currents emerge as de novo feather buds appear. Potassium channel blockade suppressed calcium dynamics, abolished endogenous currents, and inhibited new bud formation. Canonical feather morphogenesis pathways including Shh and {beta}-catenin are induced in these new buds. Our findings support a model in which developmental bioelectricity contributes to regulating the threshold of feather bud formation. These results identify developmental bioelectricity as an unrecognized regulatory layer of tissue patterning that warrants further study. Bullet points- Calcium signaling perturbation induces de novo feather bud formation in apteric skin - Ion channel perturbations regulate the formation, distribution and shape of new buds across a continuum, depending on channel type(s) and perturbation strength. - Elevated calcium activity and inward bioelectric currents accompany feather bud induction - Developmental bioelectricity represents an unrecognized regulatory layer for morphogenesis

Developmental Biology↗

CWF19L2 couples pre-mRNA alternative splicing with the maternal-to-zygotic transition to safeguard female fertility

The maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT) requires precise spatiotemporal execution of pre-mRNA alternative splicing (AS), yet the core splicing machinery driving this developmental reprogramming remains incompletely understood. Here, we identify the CWF19-like protein 2 (CWF19L2) as an indispensable pre-mRNA AS regulator that safeguards against oocyte and early embryo competence defects (OECD). While murine germline-specific depletion of Cwf19l2 spares morphological folliculogenesis, oocyte maturation, or fertilization, it induces complete female sterility characterized by profound developmental arrest at the 2-cell stage. Mechanistically, maternal deficiency of CWF19L2 localized to nuclear speckles disrupts transcription-splicing-translation coupling, collapsing AS homeostasis during maternal reserves and zygotic genome activation. We further demonstrate that CWF19L2 orchestrates the pre-mRNA splicing network through directly binding to target transcripts and indirectly modulating via interacting with the core spliceosomal factor PRPF8. Importantly, exogenous Cwf19l2 mRNA partially rescues the embryonic arrest. Together, our findings establish CWF19L2 as an indispensable AS engine during the MZT, providing a mechanistic foundation for OECD and a novel molecular etiology for female infertility.

Cell Biology↗

Transient suppression of the ECM1 gatekeeper is essential for HGF/c-MET-driven liver regeneration

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a multifunctional cytokine stored in the extracellular matrix as an inactive precursor and is essential for tissue repair. How HGF activity is dynamically regulated during regeneration remains unclear. Here, we identify extracellular matrix protein 1 (ECM1) as a physiological inhibitor of active HGF during liver regeneration. Following 70% partial hepatectomy, active HGF rapidly increases in parallel with a sharp decline in ECM1, and preventing this downregulation delays liver mass recovery. Mechanistically, ECM1 directly binds the active HGF -subunit through a mechanism dependent on residue R392, thereby suppressing c-MET-ERK-MYC signaling and hepatocyte proliferation. Loss of ECM1 permits activation of this pathway, whereas MYC overexpression rescues ECM1-mediated growth inhibition. In patients, proliferative hepatocytes localize to ECM1-negative regions. Supported by transcriptomic analyses and computational modeling, these findings identify ECM1 as an extracellular gatekeeper whose transient downregulation enables HGF-driven tissue repair. HighlightsO_LIECM1 is temporally downregulated during liver regeneration, while forced ECM1 expression delays liver mass recovery after 70% PHx by suppressing hepatocyte proliferation. C_LIO_LIRapid and transient ECM1 downregulation permits HGF-c-Met-ERK-MYC signaling to drive hepatocyte cell-cycle entry and expansion. C_LIO_LIECM1 directly binds the active HGF -subunit with residue R392 playing a critical role, revealing a novel extracellular mechanism for growth factor inhibition. C_LIO_LILoss of ECM1 marks proliferative hepatocytes in human liver repair, identifying ECM1 as a tunable regulator of regenerative capacity. C_LI

cell biology↗