Associations between 3D chromatin architectures and epigenetic modifications have been characterized in animals. However, any impact of DNA methylation on chromatin architecture in plants is understudied, which is confined to Arabidopsis thaliana. Because plant species differ in genome size, composition, and overall chromatin packing, it is unclear to what extent findings from A. thaliana hold in other species. Moreover, the incomplete chromatin architectural profiles and the low‐resolution high‐throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi‐C) data from A. thaliana have hampered characterizing its subtle chromatin structures and their associations with DNA methylation. We constructed a high‐resolution Hi‐C interaction map for the null OsMET1‐2 (the major CG methyltransferase in rice) mutant (osmet1‐2) and isogenic wild‐type rice (WT). Chromatin structural changes occurred in osmet1‐2, including intra‐/inter‐chromosomal interactions, compartment transition, and topologically associated domains (TAD) variations. Our findings provide novel insights into the potential function of DNA methylation in TAD formation in rice and confirmed DNA methylation plays similar essential roles in chromatin packing in A. thaliana and rice.

Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCo) has long been studied from many perspectives. As a multisubunit (large subunits [LSUs] and small subunits[SSUs]) protein encoded by genes residing in the chloroplast ( rbcL ) and nuclear ( rbcS ) genomes, RuBisCo also is a model for cytonuclear coevolution following allopolyploid speciation in plants. Here, we studied the genomic and transcriptional cytonuclear coordination of auxiliary chaperonin and chaperones that facilitate RuBisCo biogenesis across multiple natural and artificially synthesized plant allopolyploids. We found similar genomic and transcriptional cytonuclear responses, including respective paternal-to-maternal conversions and maternal homeologous biased expression, in chaperonin/chaperon-assisted folding and assembly of RuBisCo in different allopolyploids. One observation is about the temporally attenuated genomic and transcriptional cytonuclear evolutionary responses during early folding and later assembly process of RuBisCo biogenesis, which were established by long-term evolution and immediate onset of allopolyploidy, respectively. Our study not only points to the potential widespread and hitherto unrecognized features of cytonuclear evolution but also bears implications for the structural interaction interface between LSU and Cpn60 chaperonin and the functioning stage of the Raf2 chaperone.

No abstract

Attentional processes play a complex and multifaceted role in the integration of input from different sensory modalities. However, whether increased attentional load disrupts the audiovisual (AV) integration of common objects that involve semantic content remains unclear. Furthermore, knowledge regarding how semantic congruency interacts with attentional load to influence the AV integration of common objects is limited. We investigated these questions by examining AV integration under various attentional-load conditions. AV integration was assessed by adopting an animal identification task using unisensory (animal images and sounds) and AV stimuli (semantically congruent AV objects and semantically incongruent AV objects), while attentional load was manipulated by using a rapid serial visual presentation task. Our results indicate that attentional load did not attenuate the integration of semantically congruent AV objects. However, semantically incongruent animal sounds and images were not integrated (as there was no multisensory facilitation), and the interference effect produced by the semantically incongruent AV objects was reduced by increased attentional-load manipulations. These findings highlight the critical role of semantic congruency in modulating the effect of attentional load on the AV integration of common objects.

Working memory refers to the cognitive capacity to temporarily store and manipulate information from multiple sensory domains. Recent studies have shown that cognitive training can improve performance in both visual working memory and tactile working memory tasks. However, it is still unclear whether the effects of training can be transferred from one sensory modality to another. The current study assessed whether the training effect of the tactile orientation sequence task could transfer to visual orientation sequence and visuospatial working memory tasks. The results showed that participants’ accuracy in the tactile orientation sequence task was significantly increased after 9 days of training compared with that before training. Remarkably, participants’ accuracy in both the visual orientation sequence task and the visuospatial task was significantly improved after 9 days of training. These results suggest that it is possible to improve visual working memory through a transfer effect from tactile task training without practice in the visual domain, which opens a wide range of applications for tactile orientation sequence tasks.