2020-05-22

封面图展示的是生长在一株小麦小穗上的禾谷镰刀菌（图中橙色部分）。镰刀菌头疫病（简称FHB，也被称为小麦赤霉病）会导致降低粮食的产量与质量，从而威胁到世界范围内的小麦供应。研究人员已经从小麦栽培品种的近缘野生种——小麦草中分离出一种基因，这种基因可以减少镰刀菌的感染，并能将小麦籽粒中的霉菌毒素排出。该基因可以通过育种引入小麦品种，以减少与小麦赤霉病相关的损失。

Fusarium graminearum fungus (orange) growing in a wheat spikelet. The disease Fusarium head blight (FHB; also known as wheat scab) threatens the world's wheat supply by reducing grain yield and quality. Researchers have isolated a gene from wheatgrass (Thinopyrum elongatum), a wild relative of cultivated wheat, that decreases Fusarium infection and detoxifies mycotoxins in wheat grains. This gene can be introduced to wheat cultivars through breeding to minimize FHB-related losses.

2020-05-29

封面图展示的是来自多种人类肿瘤类型组织切片中的细菌。在肿瘤中经常会发现细菌，而不同的肿瘤类型具有不同的微生物组成，正如这里由不同颜色的细菌所呈现出来的一样。该图像还反映出所观察到的肿瘤细菌在细胞内部的定位，主要是在癌细胞和免疫细胞内。未来的研究将集中探索这些细菌在肿瘤发展与治疗反应中所起到的作用。

Illustration of bacteria in tissue sections from multiple human tumor types. Bacteria are frequently found in tumors, and different tumor types have distinct microbial compositions, as represented here by the different colors of bacteria. The image also reflects the observed intracellular localization of tumor bacteria, mostly inside cancer and immune cells. Future studies will explore the role of these bacteria in tumor development and treatment response.

2020-06-05

封面图上展示的是在增加过量电子密度条件下，利用艺术抽象手法表现的氨溶液变化情况。液态氨的微射流可以被用来追踪电绝缘液体如何变成金属，同时伴随着颜色的变化从透明的蓝色到深蓝色再到青铜色。通过光谱法及理论上的映射能级，揭示出了从电解液到液态金属的渐变过程。

Artistic abstraction of how ammonia solutions change with increasing excess electron concentration. Microjets of liquid ammonia can be used to track how an electrically insulating liquid becomes a metal, with an accompanying color change from transparent blue through deeper blue to bronze. Mapping energy levels spectroscopically and theoretically reveals a gradual transition from electrolyte to liquid metal.

2020-06-12

封面图展示的是雄性（图左）和雌性（图右）金丝雀，显示出具有性别双色性——也就是指性别之间的颜色差异。这些马赛克金丝雀是通过普通金丝雀与红金翅雀杂交，并选择具有性别双色性的后代繁育出来的。羽毛颜色的显著差异是由一个单一基因所决定的，该基因在鸟类产生雌雄双色性的过程中发挥了作用。

Male (left) and female (right) canaries (Serinus canaria) exhibiting sexual dichromatism—i.e., color difference between sexes. These mosaic canaries were created by crossing common canaries with red siskins and selecting the progeny for sexual dichromatism. The pronounced differences in plumage coloration are driven by a single gene that mediates sexual dichromatism in birds.