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UTX (also known as KDM6A) encodes a histone H3K27 demethylase and is an important tumour suppressor that is frequently mutated in human cancers1. However, as the demethylase activity of UTX is often dispensable for mediating tumour suppression and developmental regulation2-8, the underlying molecular activity of UTX remains unknown. Here we show that phase separation of UTX underlies its chromatin-regulatory activity in tumour suppression. A core intrinsically disordered region (cIDR) of UTX forms phase-separated liquid condensates, and cIDR loss caused by the most frequent cancer mutation of UTX is mainly responsible for abolishing tumour suppression. Deletion, mutagenesis and replacement assays of the intrinsically disordered region demonstrate a critical role of UTX condensation in tumour suppression and embryonic stem cell differentiation. As shown by reconstitution in vitro and engineered systems in cells, UTX recruits the histone methyltransferase MLL4 (also known as KMT2D) to the same condensates and enriches the H3K4 methylation activity of MLL4. Moreover, UTX regulates genome-wide histone modifications and high-order chromatin interactions in a condensation-dependent manner. We also found that UTY, the Y chromosome homologue of UTX with weaker tumour-suppressive activity, forms condensates with reduced molecular dynamics. These studies demonstrate a crucial biological function of liquid condensates with proper material states in enabling the tumour-suppressive activity of a chromatin regulator.

Microfiber (MF) has a similar structure to natural leather. Four rare earth (RE) elements, La, Ce, Gd, and Er, were loaded onto the surface of microfibers through plant tannins to prepare a wearable microfiber-based X-ray shielding material (RE-MF), and the X-ray shielding performance was tested. The analysis results of ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicate that the rare earth elements can be uniformly loaded onto the surface of ultrafine fibers using plant tannins. The test results of X-ray shielding performance show that within the photon energy of 100 keV, the microfiber materials loaded with four rare earth elements have good X-ray shielding performance, and the shielding efficiency is increased with the increase of the loading amount of rare earth element and the thickness of microfiber. In the 20-80 keV energy range, the shielding efficiency of 2.6 mm Gd4-MF is up to 60% against X-rays, nearly equal to that of 0.25 mm lead plate but with non-toxicity, softness and wearability features. The test results of mechanical properties show that the microfiber-based X-ray protective material maintains the original good mechanical properties of microfibers, and is expected to be widely used in the field of X-ray protection.

Light industries are crucial for China’s economic and social development, and the high-quality development of these industries is conducive to promoting China’s economic and social transformation, improving the quality of residents’ lives, and forming a new development pattern in which domestic and international cycles promote each other. In this study, the basic development pattern of the light industries and major problems faced by China’s economic transformation and upgrading were analyzed, and the common strategic directions for the development of China’s light industries were summarized, including green manufacturing, high-end manufacturing, intelligent manufacturing, and industrial cluster development. Focusing on major light industry categories such as paper-making, leather, plastic processing, and fermentation industries, key engineering issues that urgently require breakthroughs were proposed, and key equipment, components, raw materials and additives, strains, and process technologies were analyzed. We suggest to promote scientific and technological progress through the construction of innovation platforms, improve relevant industrial policies, optimize development environment, and cultivate talents, thereby promoting the high-quality development of the light industries and enhancing international competitiveness.

It remains unknown if biophysical or material properties of biomolecular condensates regulate cancer. Here we show that AKAP95, a nuclear protein that regulates transcription and RNA splicing, plays an important role in tumorigenesis by supporting cancer cell growth and suppressing oncogene-induced senescence. AKAP95 forms phase-separated and liquid-like condensates in vitro and in nucleus. Mutations of key residues to different amino acids perturb AKAP95 condensation in opposite directions. Importantly, the activity of AKAP95 in splice regulation is abolished by disruption of condensation, significantly impaired by hardening of condensates, and regained by substituting its condensation-mediating region with other condensation-mediating regions from irrelevant proteins. Moreover, the abilities of AKAP95 in regulating gene expression and supporting tumorigenesis require AKAP95 to form condensates with proper liquidity and dynamicity. These results link phase separation to tumorigenesis and uncover an important role of appropriate biophysical properties of protein condensates in gene regulation and cancer.