Comparison of stratospheric evolution during the major sudden stratospheric warming events in 2018 and 2019

Using Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications,Version 2(MERRA-2)data in the northern hemisphere at the 10 hPa level,we compared the stratospheric evolution of temperature and geopotential height during two major sudden stratosphere warming events(SSWs)that occurred in the Arctic winter of 2018 and 2019.In the prewarming period,poleward temperature-enhanced regions were mainly located around 120°E with a displaced vortex and around 120°E and 60°W with splitting vortices.The evolution of geopotential height indicated that these temperature-enhanced regions were both on the western side of high-latitude anticyclones.In the postwarming period,the polar vortex turned from splitting to displacement in the 2018 SSW but from displacement to splitting in the 2019 SSW.Both transitions were observed over the Atlantic region,which may have been caused by anticyclones moving through the polar region.Our findings revealed that the evolution of the anticyclone is important during SSWs and is closely related to temperature-enhanced regions in the prewarming periods and to transitions of the polar vortices in postwarming periods.

Coiled-coil domain-containing 38 is required for acrosome biogenesis and fibrous sheath assembly in mice

During spermiogenesis,haploid spermatids undergo dramatic morphological changes to form slender sperm flagella and cap-like acrosomes,which are required for successful fertilization.Severe deformities in flagella cause a male infertility syndrome,multiple morphological abnormalities of the flagella(MMAF),while acrosomal hypoplasia in some cases leads to sub-optimal embryonic developmental potential.However,evidence regarding the occurrence of acrosomal hypoplasia in MMAF is limited.Here,we report the generation of base-edited mice knocked out for coiled-coil domain-containing 38(Ccdc38)via inducing a nonsense mutation and find that the males are infertile.The Ccdc38-KO sperm display acrosomal hypoplasia and typical MMAF phenotypes.We find that the acrosomal membrane is loosely anchored to the nucleus and fibrous sheaths are disorganized in Ccdc38-KO sperm.Further analyses reveal that Ccdc38 knockout causes a decreased level of TEKT3,a protein associated with acrosome biogenesis,in testes and an aberrant distribution of TEKT3 in sperm.We finally show that intracytoplasmic sperm injection overcomes Ccdc38-related infertility.Our study thus reveals a previously unknown role for CCDC38 in acrosome biogenesis and provides additional evidence for the occurrence of acrosomal hypoplasia in MMAF.