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Prime editing enables the precise modification of genomes through reverse transcription of template sequences appended to the 3' ends of CRISPR-Cas guide RNAs1. To identify cellular determinants of prime editing, we developed scalable prime editing reporters and performed genome-scale CRISPR-interference screens. From these screens, a single factor emerged as the strongest mediator of prime editing: the small RNA-binding exonuclease protection factor La. Further investigation revealed that La promotes prime editing across approaches (PE2, PE3, PE4 and PE5), edit types (substitutions, insertions and deletions), endogenous loci and cell types but has no consistent effect on genome-editing approaches that rely on standard, unextended guide RNAs. Previous work has shown that La binds polyuridine tracts at the 3' ends of RNA polymerase III transcripts2. We found that La functionally interacts with the 3' ends of polyuridylated prime editing guide RNAs (pegRNAs). Guided by these results, we developed a prime editor protein (PE7) fused to the RNA-binding, N-terminal domain of La. This editor improved prime editing with expressed pegRNAs and engineered pegRNAs (epegRNAs), as well as with synthetic pegRNAs optimized for La binding. Together, our results provide key insights into how prime editing components interact with the cellular environment and suggest general strategies for stabilizing exogenous small RNAs therein.

Purpose: Data literacy empowers college students, equipping them with essential skills necessary for their personal lives and careers in today's data-driven world. This study aims to explore how community college students evaluate their data literacy and further examine demographic and educational/career advancement disparities in their self-assessed data literacy levels. Design/methodology/approach: An online survey presenting a data literacy self-assessment scale was distributed and completed by 570 students at four community colleges. Statistical tests were performed between the data literacy factor scores and students' demographic and educational/career advancement variables. Findings: Male students rated their data literacy skills higher than females. The 18-19 age group has relatively lower confidence in their data literacy scores than other age groups. High school graduates do not feel proficient in data literacy to the level required for college and the workplace. Full-time employed students demonstrate more confidence in their data literacy than part-time and nonemployed students. Originality/value: Given the lack of research on community college students' data literacy, the findings of this study can be valuable in designing and implementing data literacy training programs for different groups of community college students.

Rapid death of infected cells is an important antiviral strategy. However, fast decisions that are based on limited evidence can be erroneous and cause unnecessary cell death and subsequent tissue damage. How cells optimize their death decision making strategy to maximize both speed and accuracy is unclear. Here, we show that exposure to TNF, which is secreted by macrophages during viral infection, causes cells to change their decision strategy from "slow and accurate" to "fast and error-prone". Mathematical modeling combined with experiments in cell culture and whole organ culture show that the regulation of the cell death decision strategy is critical to prevent HSV-1 spread. These findings demonstrate that immune regulation of cellular cognitive processes dynamically changes a tissues' tolerance for self-damage, which is required to protect against viral spread.

Maintaining functional connectivity is critical for the long-term conservation of wildlife populations. Landscape genomics provides an opportunity to assess long-term functional connectivity by relating environmental variables to spatial patterns of genomic variation resulting from generations of movement, dispersal and mating behaviors. Identifying landscape features associated with gene flow at large geographic scales for highly mobile species is becoming increasingly possible due to more accessible genomic approaches, improved analytical methods and enhanced computational power. We characterized the genetic structure and diversity of migratory mule deer Odocoileus hemionus using 4051 single nucleotide polymorphisms in 406 individuals sampled across multiple habitats throughout Wyoming, USA. We then identified environmental variables associated with genomic variation within genetic groups and statewide using a stepwise approach to first evaluate nonlinear relationships of landscape resistance with genetic distances and then use mixed-effects modeling to choose top landscape genomic models. We identified three admixed genetic groups of mule deer and found that environmental variables associated with gene flow varied among genetic groups, revealing scale-dependent and regional variation in functional connectivity. At the statewide scale, more gene flow occurred in areas with low elevation and mixed habitat. In the southern genetic group, more gene flow occurred in areas with low elevation. In the northern genetic group, more gene flow occurred in grassland and forest habitats, while highways and energy infrastructure reduced gene flow. In the western genetic group, the null model of isolation by distance best represented genetic patterns. Overall, our findings highlight the role of different seasonal ranges on mule deer genetic connectivity, and show that anthropogenic features hinder connectivity. This study demonstrates the value of combining a large, genome-wide marker set with recent advances in landscape genomics to evaluate functional connectivity in a wide-ranging migratory species.

Representatives from the Kansas State Department of Education; the Kansas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing; the University of Kansas Transition Coalition; and the transition coordinator, parents, Independent Living Center, and administrators from the Kansas School for the Deaf formed a team to establish quality transition services and resources for students who are deaf or hard of hearing, and to provide assistance to their parents, educators, agencies, and independent living center staff, especially in rural areas. The team, a result of the Summits sponsored by the federally supported pepnet 2, wanted deaf and hard of hearing students to be empowered to experience life as self-sufficient and contributing citizens. The Kansas team got together and deliberated. The team was well aware of multiple and varied needs, but had a difficult time prioritizing. They realized a need for data to pursue a systematic approach and make purposeful and effective decisions. They also needed to include other people who were involved with and cared about the transition process for deaf and hard of hearing young people. A representative from pepnet 2, the federal initiative to increase the lifetime choices of students who are deaf or hard of hearing, suggested that the team reach out to the Transition Coalition, a research unit at the University of Kansas that provides information, training, and resources for effective transition for students with disabilities. The Transition Coalition recommended administration of its Quality Indicators of Exemplary Transition Programs Needs Assessment-2 (QI-2). Today the Kansas pepnet 2 team has identified the unmet needs of deaf and hard of hearing students, and hopes to use this data to enable school districts to better prepare teachers, parents, and students for transition from high school to postsecondary education or the workplace.

Objective: Native inland trout conservation efforts rely on physical barriers to exclude nonnative salmonids from target habitats. We used genetic techniques to evaluate a series of natural waterfalls for their potential to serve as barriers to prevent nonnative salmonids from entering a proposed reintroduction area for federally threatened Greenback Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus virginalis stomias. Methods: Genetic samples were collected from nonnative Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis at 11 sampling reaches above and below natural waterfalls (height: ~1–3 m under base flow conditions) along a 33‐km segment of Colorado's upper Cache la Poudre River near the outflow of the proposed reintroduction area. To evaluate whether upstream movement of Brook Trout is restricted by any of these waterfalls, we characterized longitudinal trends in genetic diversity along the river corridor and examined patterns of genetic differentiation and population structure in relation to waterfall locations using a panel of microsatellites. Result: We found no evidence that the waterfalls served as complete movement barriers for nonnative Brook Trout based on genetic clustering analyses, estimates of population differentiation, and longitudinal genetic patterns. Our multilocus assessment did not identify alleles restricted to downstream reaches, and the river segment was genetically homogenized. Conclusion: Our evaluation suggests that the existing waterfalls do not fully prevent upstream movement by nonnative Brook Trout, and thus barrier modification would be needed to establish an isolated Greenback Cutthroat Trout population in the proposed wilderness area. Impact statementGenetic analyses suggested that a series of natural waterfalls do not act as sufficient barriers for isolating a proposed Greenback Cutthroat Trout reintroduction area in Colorado, USA. Barrier modification or construction would be necessary to prevent invasion by nonnative salmonids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have produced three antitoxins consisting of the variable domains of camelid heavy chain-only antibodies (VH H) by expressing the genes in the chloroplast of green algae. These antitoxins accumulate as soluble proteins capable of binding and neutralizing botulinum neurotoxin. Furthermore, they accumulate at up to 5% total soluble protein, sufficient expression to easily produce these antitoxins at scale from algae. The genes for the three different antitoxins were transformed into Chlamydomonas reinhardtii chloroplasts and their products purified from algae lysates and assayed for in vitro biological activity using toxin protection assays. The produced antibody domains bind to botulinum neurotoxin serotype A (BoNT/A) with similar affinities as camelid antibodies produced in Escherichia coli, and they are similarly able to protect primary rat neurons from intoxication by BoNT/A. Furthermore, the camelid antibodies were produced in algae without the use of solubilization tags commonly employed in E. coli. These camelid antibody domains are potent antigen-binding proteins and the heterodimer fusion protein containing two VH H domains was capable of neutralizing BoNT/A at near equimolar concentrations with the toxin. Intact antibody domains were detected in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of mice treated orally with antitoxin-producing microalgae. These findings support the use of orally delivered antitoxins produced in green algae as a novel treatment for botulism.

Internationalizing higher education is increasingly recognized as an important element of higher education today. Institutions want to produce graduates who are global citizens, and therefore attempt to strengthen their position in the global marketplace by internationalizing the campus community through the research, teaching, and service functions of the institution (Wildavsky, 2010). As a way to increase internationalization efforts, the establishment of "offshore branch campuses"--educational facilities that provide students the opportunity to receive face-to-face instruction in a country different than that of the host institution--has become more popular since the turn of the century. This study focuses on the Incheon Global Campus (IGC) in South Korea, which provides a unique consortium model of an international education hub that can offer a microcosm for examining student affairs practice in an offshore branch campus. Specifically, the research questions were: (1) How is student affairs practiced on an offshore branch campus? and (2) Who serves in student affairs roles on an offshore branch campus? This study fills a gap in the literature surrounding the practice of student affairs worldwide, and also provides insight into who serves in student affairs roles on a start-up offshore branch campus based on a consortium model.

This phenomenological case study explored the transition experience of undergraduate students attending an international branch campus in South Korea. Findings revealed pre-transition experiences and personal characteristics, peer support, and a connection between the home and international branch campus greatly impacted the transition experience, including a participant's ability to cope with the transition. Findings have both positive and negative considerations that institutions establishing or operating a new international branch campus will find particularly useful in practice.

In this article, co-written by a teacher and a professor, the authors examine possible explanations for why Adam (first author), a New York City public school special educator, failed the edTPA, a teacher performance assessment required by all candidates for state certification. Adam completed a yearlong teaching residency where he was the special educator intern of a co-teaching team. He received glowing reviews on all program assessments, including 12 clinical observations and firsthand evaluations by his principal and one student. In this article, the authors analyze Adam's edTPA submission showing evidence of how he met his teacher education program's expectations for teaching inclusively in a heterogeneous Integrated Co-Teaching classroom using frameworks from Universal Design for Learning and culturally sustaining pedagogy. They speculate that this pedagogical approach was in conflict with the Pearson/SCALE (Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity) edTPA expectations or scorer training. They conclude by discussing the paradigmatic conflicts between the Pearson/SCALE special edTPA handbook and the aims and practices of inclusive education.

TiO2, well known for its photocatalytic properties, has also been studied as a safer anode material for lithium ion batteries compared to graphite. However, improvements are needed to address the limited lithium ion diffusion within the host and the structural distortion during lithium insertion/extraction. Here, we demonstrate that a thin layer of hydrogenated surface disorder on the crystalline TiO2 electrode induces better electrochemical energy storage performance, better charge/discharge rate performance, larger capacity and longer stability. The reasons for these improvements are explored in terms of the facilitation of lithium ion transport within the disordered layer and the alleviation of structural distortion during the lithium insertion/extraction process, and the faster ion exchange rates in the hydrogenated disordered layer. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

In this paper, we report findings from the second year of a three-year research and professional development program designed to help elementary school teachers engage in dialogic teaching to support the development of students' argument literacy. We define argument literacy as the ability to comprehend and formulate arguments through speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The professional development program was focused on promoting teachers' use of a specific type of talk called "inquiry dialogue" to achieve the goal of developing students' argument literacy. We used a single-group pretest-posttest design to assess the impact of the professional development on teachers' epistemological beliefs and their enactment of inquiry dialogue in text-based discussions. Our analyses of videotaped discussions at the beginning and end of the year showed that there were substantial improvements in teachers' facilitation of inquiry dialogue and in the quality of students' argumentation during discussions. Contrary to expectations, however, there were no changes in teachers' epistemology; teachers' beliefs about knowledge and knowledge justification remained at a relativist stage throughout the course of the program, suggesting that teachers continued to view all opinions as equally valid and regard arguments and the use of reasons and evidence as idiosyncratic.

We examine edTPA (a teacher performance assessment) implementation at one private university during the first year that our state required this exam for initial teaching certification. Using data from semi-structured interviews with 19 teacher educators from 12 programs as well as public information on edTPA pass rates, we explore whether the edTPA served its intended roles as a gatekeeper to the teaching profession and a catalyst for curriculum change. Although the edTPA did not serve as gatekeeper in our context, we did find a wide variety of consequential program-level gatekeeping practices. To explore the test's function as a curriculum improvement lever, we created weighted change scores to represent the range of edTPA-related curricular changes across 12 programs. We found a wide range of curricular responses to the edTPA, from marginalization of the assessment to deep edTPA integration in program coursework. Finally, we explore teacher educators' analyses of the edTPA as an instructional tool.

As urban districts undertake special education reform initiatives to move toward inclusive schooling arrangements, educators are challenged to reflect critically on their practices to support greater participation of all students, including those with disabilities. The authors describe the narratives of three educators who participated in a professional development opportunity offered in the context of special education reform within a large urban school district. By exploring the parameters of their practice, their professional priorities and their struggles in adopting the offerings of this professional development, the authors derive important clues to the process of change that can inform professional development for inclusive practice.