Highlights of Science Journals Must-See Research in May 2021

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Science: Reveal the single-cell map of human striatum development
doi:10.
1126/science.
abf5759 The

striatum regulates different characteristics of human social behavior, and it is also an area affected by many neurological diseases.
In a new study, researchers from Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States constructed a comprehensive single-cell map of this region during early human fetal development, taking into account protein-coding transcripts and long intergenic non-coding RNA (long intergenic RNA).
noncoding RNA, lincRNA).
The relevant research results were published in the Science Journal on May 7, 2021.
The title of the paper is "The coding and long noncoding single-cell atlas of the developing human fetal striatum".


The understanding of the molecular mechanisms of human striatal development is limited because there are few related fetal tissues and only a limited set of protein-coding genes are used in most genetic identification studies.
These authors constructed a cell-specific molecular map of the lateral ganglionic eminence (LGE), the precursor structure of the striatum.
Their first goal was to use bulk RNA sequencing to determine the newly identified lincRNA catalog in this region.
This catalog should help clarify the specific characteristics of human development, because lincRNA exhibits accelerated evolution, is highly cell specific, and is required for brain development.
Their second goal is to understand how the medium spiny neuron (MSN), the main cell type of the striatum, differentiates and diversifies, and which genes are the main regulators of fate determination .
MSN differentiates into D1 and D2 types, named after it expresses one of the two variants of human dopamine receptors (D1 and D2).
They used single-cell RNA sequencing to infer the developmental status of MSN, and to determine and verify their fate markers.

The molecular blueprint of striatum development, the picture is from Science, 2021, doi:10.
1126/science.
abf5759.

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Science: New research shows that the infectivity levels of SARS-CoV-2 infected persons in all age groups are roughly the same.

doi:10.
1126/science.
abi5273

was initially a preliminary analysis of routine laboratory data, and later developed into a history of SARS- The largest study of viral load levels in CoV-2 patients.
In a new study, researchers from the Charlotte Medical University in Berlin, Germany, analyzed PCR samples from more than 25,000 COVID-19 patients.
They determined the viral load of each sample and used their results to estimate the level of infectivity.
This provides a clear concept of disease infectivity under different age groups and different severity of diseases.
It also provides new insights into the SARS-CoV-2 virus variant B.
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The relevant research results were published online in the Science Journal on May 25, 2021, with the title of the paper "Estimating infectiousness throughout SARS-CoV-2 infection course".


To better understand and estimate the infectivity of specific groups, these authors analyzed PCR samples from more than 25,000 COVID-19 cases to determine the viral load of these samples.
The viral load of each sample---the total number of copies of the SARS-CoV-2 genome contained in the sample---provides a rough estimate of the amount of virus present in the patient’s throat, and is therefore a useful tool for estimating personal infectivity index.
To further improve their estimates, they also applied the results of studies on the minimum viral load threshold usually required to successfully isolate SARS-CoV-2 (isolation indicating the presence of an infectious virus) in cell culture.
Among the cases studied, more than 4,300 cases provided continuous samples.
Using these samples to track viral load data in the throat, they were able to model typical changes in viral load during infection.
They then looked for obvious differences in their data, especially those related to different age groups, disease severity, and virus variants.


There is no significant difference in the viral load levels of SARS-CoV-2 positive individuals between the ages of 20 and 65: the average throat swab sample contains approximately 2.
5 million copies of the SARS-CoV-2 genome.
The lowest viral load was found in very young children (0 to 5 years old).
Viral load levels start with approximately 800,000 copies of the viral genome, increase with age, and approach adult levels in older children and adolescents.

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Science: reveals four worrying new


coronavirus variants to evade immune response mechanisms doi:10.
1126/science.
abh1139 The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 is raging around the world.
This variant of the virus carries mutations that allow it to evade some immune responses that are naturally occurring or through vaccination.
In a new study, researchers from the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands revealed key details of how these escape mutations work.
They used structural biology techniques to describe how important neutralizing antibody classes bind to the original epidemic strain of SARS-CoV-2, and how this binding process was first discovered in Brazil, the United Kingdom, South Africa, and India.
Destroyed by mutations in the new variant.
The relevant research results were published online in the journal Science on May 20, 2021.
The title of the paper is "Structural and functional ramifications of antigenic drift in recent SARS-CoV-2 variants".

The newly emerged SARS-CoV-2 variant escapes the two main neutralizing antibodies.
The picture is from Science, 2021, doi:10.
1126/science.
abh1139.