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71 articles from ScienceNOW

Comment on "The global tree restoration potential"

Bastin et al. (Reports, 5 July 2019, p. 76) claim that 205 gigatonnes of carbon can be globally sequestered by restoring 0.9 billion hectares of forest and woodland canopy cover. Reinterpreting the data from Bastin et al., we show that the global land area actually required to sequester human-emitted CO2 is at least a factor of 3 higher, representing an unrealistically large...

Median raphe controls acquisition of negative experience in the mouse

Adverse events need to be quickly evaluated and memorized, yet how these processes are coordinated is poorly understood. We discovered a large population of excitatory neurons in mouse median raphe region (MRR) expressing vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (vGluT2) that received inputs from several negative experience–related brain centers, projected to the main aversion centers, and...

Response to Comment on "The global tree restoration potential"

Our study quantified the global tree restoration potential and its associated carbon storage potential under existing climate conditions. Skidmore et al. dispute our findings, using as reference a yearly estimation of carbon storage that could be reached by 2050. We provide a detailed answer highlighting misunderstandings in their interpretation, notably that we did not consider any time limit for...

Brain cell type-specific enhancer-promoter interactome maps and disease-risk association

Noncoding genetic variation is a major driver of phenotypic diversity, but functional interpretation is challenging. To better understand common genetic variation associated with brain diseases, we defined noncoding regulatory regions for major cell types of the human brain. Whereas psychiatric disorders were primarily associated with variants in transcriptional enhancers and promoters in neurons,...

Comprehensive AAV capsid fitness landscape reveals a viral gene and enables machine-guided design

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsids can deliver transformative gene therapies, but our understanding of AAV biology remains incomplete. We generated the complete first-order AAV2 capsid fitness landscape, characterizing all single-codon substitutions, insertions, and deletions across multiple functions relevant for in vivo delivery. We discovered a frameshifted gene in the VP1 region that...