Science - USA (2022-05-06)

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States by Salvadorans led to
a major increase in homicide
rates and gang activity such as
drug trafficking and extortion in
El Salvador. Gang recruitment
of children also increased in El
Salvador: Children who were
exposed to the US-originated
gangs were more likely to be
involved in gang-related crimes
as adults. By increasing gang
violence in El Salvador, these
deportations fueled an increase
in migration of children back to
the United States. —BW
Amer. Econ. Rev. https://www.
aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/
aer.20201540&&from=f (2022).

MOLECULAR METHODS
Regulating the regulators
Human cells contain many mes-
senger RNA (mRNA)–binding

proteins (mRBPs) that bind
to mRNAs and regulate their
translation into functional
proteins. Although such mRBPs
may outnumber transcription
factors, we know much less
about how they are regulated
by signaling pathways. Vieira-
Vieira et al. addressed how
phosphorylation regulates
mRBP function. They developed
a method called quantitative
RNA interactome capture and
used it to measure the fraction
of mRBPs that bind to mRNA
in relation to phosphoryla-
tion. The authors identified
individual sites where phos-
phorylation affects binding
to mRNA. Although the data
recapitulate known regulatory
sites, new potential regulatory
sites were also found, includ-
ing a splicing regulator where

phosphorylation affects its
nucleocytoplasmic localiza-
tion. —VV
Mol. Cell 10.1016/
j.molcel.2022.03.024 (2022).

GEOPHYSICS
Repeating marsquakes
The single seismometer placed
on the surface of Mars by the
InSight mission has been in
operation for more than 2
years. With a combination of a
matched-filter technique and
Bedford’s law, Sun and Tkalčić
report repetitive seismic events
associated with the Cerberus
Fossae region of Mars. The
authors attribute these events
to magma movement associ-
ated with volcanic activity in
upper mantle beneath Cerberus
Fossae. If confirmed, these

observations would show that
the region is seismically active
and that the methodology could
be useful for detecting other
seismic events on the planet.
—BG
Nat. Commun. 13 , 1695 (2022).

DEVELOPMENT
The skeleton begins
Most of the vertebrate skel-
eton solidifies following a softer
cartilaginous template that
develops from mesenchymal
cells that have aggregated into
precartilaginous condensations.
The shape of the early mesen-
chymal condensates dictates the
shape of the final bone. Paudel
et al. traced cell lineages through
mesenchymal cell condensa-
tions as they formed in the
developing zebrafish to build the
facial skeleton. The locations of
mesenchymal condensations are
defined by intersecting pro- and
anticondensation signals within
early developing tissue. The
authors suggest that signals from
the adjacent epithelium might
define positions of the initial mes-
enchymal condensations, and
that maturation to the precarti-
laginous state might follow as cell
proliferation drives daughter cells
away from the epithelium. —PJH
Dev. Biol. 486 , 44 (2022).

ENERGY
Electricity price
fluctuations in Europe
Both long-term trends and short-
term fluctuations in electricity
markets can make or break wind
and solar producers. Weather
patterns have strong correlations
with electricity demand while also
affecting the amount of electric-
ity that solar and wind farms
can supply. Han et al. provide a
detailed analysis of electricity
prices in Europe from 2015 to
2019, including the price fluctua-
tions, averages, and extremes on
time scales ranging from days to
minutes. This work should help to
provide a better understanding of
the spot market electricity price
time series. —YY
PRX Energy 10.1103/
PHOTO: JAH/ISTOCK.COM PRXEnergy.1.013002 (2022).

SCIENCE science.org 6 MAY 2022 • VOL 376 ISSUE 6593 593

FILOVIRUSES

Isolation of Lloviu virus


F


iloviruses such as Ebola and
Marburg are a perennial source
of anxiety for zoonotic transfer.
The human populations gener-
ally thought to be at risk
of filovirus exposure are in sub-
Saharan Africa. However, in 2002,
the Lloviu filovirus was first identified
from a mass die-off of Schreiber’s
bats (Miniopterus schreibersii) in
northern Spain. Kemenesi et al.
report the isolation and sequencing of
Lloviu filovirus from bats in Hungary.
During 2016–2020, surveillance
found Lloviu virus in dead and live
cave-dwelling bats and in their blood-
engorged ectoparasites. Antibody
testing detected nine seropositive
bats out of 74 live bats and overall
on-site RT-PCR detected four posi-
tives among 351 live bats sampled.
Although Lloviu virus can infect
several human cell lines, unlike Ebola
virus, recombinant Lloviu virus does
not initiate immune signaling in
macrophages and may be nonpatho-
genic to humans, like the Ebola virus
relative Reston filovirus. —CA
Nat. Commun. 13 , 1706 (2022).
Lloviu filovirus has been isolated from
Schreiber’s bat (Miniopterus schreibersii)
in Hungary.

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