Animals learn trajectories to rewards in both spatial, navigational contexts and relational, non-navigational contexts. Synchronous reactivation of hippocampal activity is thought to be critical for recall and evaluation of trajectories for learning. Do hippocampal representations differentially contribute to experience-dependent learning of trajectories across spatial and relational contexts? In this study, we trained mice to navigate to a hidden target in a physical arena or manipulate a joystick to a virtual target to collect delayed rewards. In a navigational context, calcium imaging in freely moving mice revealed that synchronous CA1 reactivation was retrospective and important for evaluation of prior navigational trajectories. In a non-navigational context, reactivation was prospective and important for initiation of joystick trajectories, even in the same animals trained in both contexts. Adaptation of trajectories to a new target was well-explained by a common learning algorithm in which hippocampal activity makes dissociable contributions to reinforcement learning computations depending upon spatial context.

While we think of neurons as having a fixed identity, many show spectacular plasticity. Metamorphosis drives massive changes in the fly brain; neurons that persist into adulthood often change in response to the steroid hormone ecdysone. Besides driving remodeling, ecdysone signaling can also alter the differentiation status of neurons. The three sequentially born subtypes of mushroom body (MB) Kenyon cells (γ, followed by α'/β', and finally α/β) serve as a model of temporal fating. γ neurons are also used as a model of remodeling during metamorphosis. As γ neurons are the only functional Kenyon cells in the larval brain, they serve the function of all three adult subtypes. Correspondingly, larval γ neurons have a similar morphology to α'/β' and α/β neurons-their axons project dorsally and medially. During metamorphosis, γ neurons remodel to form a single medial projection. Both temporal fate changes and defects in remodeling therefore alter γ-neuron morphology in similar ways. Mamo, a broad-complex, tramtrack, and bric-à-brac/poxvirus and zinc finger (BTB/POZ) transcription factor critical for temporal specification of α'/β' neurons, was recently described as essential for γ remodeling. In a previous study, we noticed a change in the number of adult Kenyon cells expressing γ-specific markers when mamo was manipulated. These data implied a role for Mamo in γ-neuron fate specification, yet mamo is not expressed in γ neurons until pupariation, well past γ specification. This indicates that mamo has a later role in ensuring that γ neurons express the correct Kenyon cell subtype-specific genes in the adult brain.

Recurrent outbreaks of novel zoonotic coronavirus (CoV) diseases in recent years have highlighted the importance of developing therapeutics with broad-spectrum activity against CoVs. Because all CoVs use -1 programmed ribosomal frameshifting (-1 PRF) to control expression of key viral proteins, the frameshift signal in viral mRNA that stimulates -1 PRF provides a promising potential target for such therapeutics. To test the viability of this strategy, we explored whether small-molecule inhibitors of -1 PRF in SARS-CoV-2 also inhibited -1 PRF in a range of bat CoVs-the most likely source of future zoonoses. Six inhibitors identified in new and previous screens against SARS-CoV-2 were evaluated against the frameshift signals from a panel of representative bat CoVs as well as MERS-CoV. Some drugs had strong activity against subsets of these CoV-derived frameshift signals, while having limited to no effect on -1 PRF caused by frameshift signals from other viruses used as negative controls. Notably, the serine protease inhibitor nafamostat suppressed -1 PRF significantly for multiple CoV-derived frameshift signals. These results suggest it is possible to find small-molecule ligands that inhibit -1 PRF specifically in a broad spectrum of CoVs, establishing frameshift signals as a viable target for developing pan-coronaviral therapeutics.

Individuals vary in their innate behaviours, even when they have the same genome and have been reared in the same environment. The extent of individuality in plastic behaviours, like learning, is less well characterized. Also unknown is the extent to which intragenotypic differences in learning generalize: if an individual performs well in one assay, will it perform well in other assays? We investigated this using the fruit fly , an organism long-used to study the mechanistic basis of learning and memory. We found that isogenic flies, reared in identical laboratory conditions, and subject to classical conditioning that associated odorants with electric shock, exhibit clear individuality in their learning responses. Flies that performed well when an odour was paired with shock tended to perform well when the odour was paired with bitter taste or when other odours were paired with shock. Thus, individuality in learning performance appears to be prominent in isogenic animals reared identically, and individual differences in learning performance generalize across some aversive sensory modalities. Establishing these results in flies opens up the possibility of studying the genetic and neural circuit basis of individual differences in learning in a highly suitable model organism.

The flagella of mammalian sperm display non-planar, asymmetric beating, in contrast to the planar, symmetric beating of flagella from sea urchin sperm and unicellular organisms. The molecular basis of this difference is unclear. Here, we perform in situ cryo-electron tomography of mouse and human sperm axonemes, providing the highest resolution structural information to date. Our subtomogram averages reveal mammalian sperm- specific protein complexes within the outer microtubule doublets, the radial spokes and nexin-dynein regulatory complexes. The locations and structures of these complexes suggest potential roles in enhancing the mechanical strength of mammalian sperm axonemes and regulating dynein-based axonemal bending. Intriguingly, we find that each of the nine outer microtubule doublets is decorated with a distinct combination of sperm- specific complexes. We propose that this asymmetric distribution of proteins differentially regulates the sliding of each microtubule doublet and may underlie the asymmetric beating of mammalian sperm.

Electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) can generate high-resolution views of cells with faithful preservation of molecular structure. In situ cryo-EM, therefore, has enormous potential to reveal the atomic details of biological processes in their native context. However, in practice, the utility of in situ cryo-EM is limited by the difficulty of reliably locating and confidently identifying molecular targets (particles) and their conformational states in the crowded cellular environment. We recently showed that 2DTM, a fine-grained template-based search applied to cryo-EM micrographs, can localize particles in two-dimensional views of cells with high precision. Here we demonstrate that the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) observed with 2DTM can be used to differentiate related complexes in focused ion beam (FIB)-milled cell sections. We apply this method in two contexts to locate and classify related intermediate states of 60S ribosome biogenesis in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell nucleus. In the first, we separate the nuclear pre-60S population from the cytoplasmic mature 60S population, using the subcellular localization to validate assignment. In the second, we show that relative 2DTM SNRs can be used to separate mixed populations of nuclear pre-60S that are not visually separable. We use a maximum likelihood approach to define the probability of each particle belonging to each class, thereby establishing a statistic to describe the confidence of our classification. Without the need to generate 3D reconstructions, 2DTM can be applied even when only a few target particles exist in a cell.

Nitrate (NO3-) uptake and distribution are critical to plant life. Although the upstream regulation of nitrate uptake and downstream responses to nitrate in a variety of cells have been well-studied, it is still not possible to directly visualize the spatial and temporal distribution of nitrate with high resolution at the cellular level. Here, we report a nuclear-localized, genetically encoded biosensor, nlsNitraMeter3.0, for the quantitative visualization of nitrate distribution in Arabidopsis thaliana. The biosensor tracked the spatiotemporal distribution of nitrate along the primary root axis and disruptions by genetic mutation of transport (low nitrate uptake) and assimilation (high nitrate accumulation). The developed biosensor effectively monitors nitrate concentrations at cellular level in real time and spatiotemporal changes during the plant life cycle.

The translation initiation complex 4F (eIF4F) is a rate-limiting factor in protein synthesis. Alterations in eIF4F activity are linked to several diseases, including cancer and infectious diseases. To this end, coronaviruses require eIF4F complex activity to produce proteins essential for their life cycle. Efforts to target coronaviruses by abrogating translation have been largely limited to repurposing existing eIF4F complex inhibitors. Here, we report the results of a high throughput screen to identify small molecules that disrupt eIF4F complex formation and inhibit coronavirus RNA and protein levels. Of 338,000 small molecules screened for inhibition of the eIF4F-driven, CAP-dependent translation, we identified SBI-1232 and two structurally related analogs, SBI-5844 and SBI-0498, that inhibit human coronavirus OC43 (HCoV-OC43; OC43) with minimal cell toxicity. Notably, gene expression changes after OC43 infection of Vero E6 or A549 cells were effectively reverted upon treatment with SBI-5844 or SBI-0498. Moreover, SBI-5844 or SBI-0498 treatment effectively impeded the eIF4F complex assembly, with concomitant inhibition of newly synthesized OC43 nucleocapsid protein and OC43 RNA and protein levels. Overall, we identify SBI-5844 and SBI-0498 as small molecules targeting the eIF4F complex that may limit coronavirus transcripts and proteins, thereby representing a basis for developing novel therapeutic modalities against coronaviruses.

Ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs) at postsynaptic terminals mediate the majority of fast excitatory neurotransmission in response to release of glutamate from the presynaptic terminal. Obtaining structural information on the molecular organization of iGluRs in their native environment, along with other signaling and scaffolding proteins in the postsynaptic density (PSD), and associated proteins on the presynaptic terminal, would enhance understanding of the molecular basis for excitatory synaptic transmission in normal and in disease states. Cryo-electron tomography (ET) studies of synaptosomes is one attractive vehicle by which to study iGluR-containing excitatory synapses. Here we describe a workflow for the preparation of glutamatergic synaptosomes for cryo-ET studies. We describe the utilization of fluorescent markers for the facile detection of the pre and postsynaptic terminals of glutamatergic synaptosomes using cryo-laser scanning confocal microscope (cryo-LSM). We further provide the details for preparation of lamellae, between ~100 to 200 nm thick, of glutamatergic synaptosomes using cryo-focused ion-beam (FIB) milling. We monitor the lamella preparation using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and following lamella production, we identify regions for subsequent cryo-ET studies by confocal fluorescent imaging, exploiting the pre and postsynaptic fluorophores.

The brain can become transiently disconnected from the environment while maintaining vivid, internally generated experiences. This so-called 'dissociated state' can occur in pathological conditions and under the influence of psychedelics or the anesthetic ketamine (KET). The cellular and circuit mechanisms producing the dissociative state remain poorly understood. We show in mice that KET causes spontaneously active neurons to become suppressed while previously silent neurons become spontaneously activated. This switch occurs in all cortical layers and different cortical regions, is induced by both systemic and cortical application of KET and is mediated by suppression of parvalbumin and somatostatin interneuron activity and inhibition of NMDA receptors and HCN channels. Combined, our results reveal two largely non-overlapping cortical neuronal populations-one engaged in wakefulness, the other contributing to the KET-induced brain state-and may lay the foundation for understanding how the brain might become disconnected from the surrounding environment while maintaining internal subjective experiences.