Foreign cultural norms are better accepted in the second language.

Cultural diversity goes hand-in-hand with language variation. It is unknown however, whether using a second language influences one's disposition toward cultural concepts. Here, we show that bilinguals process violations of cultural norms differently depending on whether concepts are introduced in the native (L1) or the second (L2) language.

Unlocking Second Language Novel Metaphor Processing: Behavioral and ERP Insights From First and Second-Language English Users.

A growing literature uses event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate novel metaphor processing as a window into creative processes like conceptual expansion. Modulations of the N400 generally indicate that while novel metaphors are initially processed as semantic anomalies, after a connection is found relating the concepts, they pattern more with literal sentences. Existing research largely focuses on monolinguals, but less is known about novel metaphor processing in bilinguals' second language (L2).

Operating in a second language lowers cognitive interference during creative idea generation: Evidence from brain oscillations in bilinguals.

Tasks measuring human creativity overwhelmingly rely on both language comprehension and production. Although most of the world's population is bilingual, few studies have investigated the effects of language of operation on creative output. This is surprising given that fluent bilinguals master inhibitory control, a mechanism also at play in creative idea evaluation.

Controlling stimulus ambiguity reduces spurious creative ideation variance in a cyclic adaptation of the alternative uses task.

In the alternative uses task (AUT), a well-established creativity assessment, participants propose alternative uses for common items (e.g., a brick) within a 2-3 min timeframe.

Brain potentials reveal how emotion filters native language access when bilinguals read words in their second language.

It is now well established that reading words in a second language (L2) automatically activates native language (L1) translations in bilinguals. Although there is evidence that access to such representations is inhibited when words have a negative emotional valence, the mechanism underlying such inhibition is elusive, and it is unknown whether inhibition arises online as L2 is being processed or whether negative valence affects subsequent L1 processing. Here, we recorded event-related brain potentials in Chinese-English bilinguals engaged in an implicit translation-priming paradigm involving L2 (English) word pairs.

How stereotype threat affects the brain dynamics of creative thinking in female students.

When people are placed in a situation where they are at risk of substantiating a negative stereotype about their social group (a scenario termed stereotype threat), the extra pressure to avoid this outcome can undermine their performance. Substantial and consistent gender disparities in STEM fields leave women vulnerable to stereotype threat, including the stereotype that women are not as good at generating creative and innovative ideas as men. We tested whether female students' creative thinking is affected by a stereotype threat by measuring power in the alpha frequency band (8-12Hz oscillations) that has been associated with better creative thinking outcomes.

High-resolution association mapping with libraries of immortalized lines from ancestral landraces.

Association mapping with immortalized lines of landraces offers several advantages including a high mapping resolution, as demonstrated here in maize by identifying the causal variants underlying QTL for oil content and the metabolite allantoin. Landraces are traditional varieties of crops that present a valuable yet largely untapped reservoir of genetic variation to meet future challenges of agriculture. Here, we performed association mapping in a panel comprising 358 immortalized maize lines from six European Flint landraces.

Glucosylation of (±)-Menthol by Uridine-Diphosphate-Sugar Dependent Glucosyltransferases from Plants.

Menthol is a cyclic monoterpene alcohol of the essential oils of plants of the genus , which is in demand by various industries due to its diverse sensorial and physiological properties. However, its poor water solubility and its toxic effect limit possible applications. Glycosylation offers a solution as the binding of a sugar residue to small molecules increases their water solubility and stability, renders aroma components odorless and modifies bioactivity.

Six Uridine-Diphosphate Glycosyltransferases Catalyze the Glycosylation of Bioactive C-Apocarotenols.

C-apocarotenoids (norisoprenoids) are carotenoid-derived oxidation products that perform important physiological functions in plants. Although their biosynthetic pathways have been extensively studied, their metabolism including glycosylation remains poorly understood. Candidate uridine-diphosphate glycosyltransferase genes () were selected based on their high transcript abundance in comparison with other in vegetative tissues of and peppermint ( × ), as these tissues are rich sources of apocarotenoid glucosides.

Engineering creativity: Prior experience modulates electrophysiological responses to novel metaphors.

Novel metaphorical language use exemplifies human creativity through production and comprehension of meaningful linguistic expressions that may have never been heard before. Available electrophysiological research demonstrates, however, that novel metaphor comprehension is cognitively costly, as it requires integrating information from distantly related concepts. Herein, we investigate if such cognitive cost may be reduced as a factor of prior domain knowledge.

Keep calm and carry on: electrophysiological evaluation of emotional anticipation in the second language.

Investigations of the so-called 'foreign language effect' have shown that emotional experience is language-dependent in bilingual individuals. Response to negative experiences, in particular, appears attenuated in the second language (L2). However, the human brain is not only reactive, but it also builds on past experiences to anticipate future events.

Novel biotechnological glucosylation of high-impact aroma chemicals, 3(2H)- and 2(5H)-furanones.

Glucosyltransferases are versatile biocatalysts to chemically modify small molecules and thus enhance their water solubility and structural stability. Although the genomes of all organisms harbor a multitude of glucosyltransferase genes, their functional characterization is hampered by the lack of high-throughput in-vivo systems to rapidly test the versatility of the encoded proteins. We have developed and applied a high-throughput whole cell biotransformation system to screen a plant glucosyltransferase library.

The bilingual brain turns a blind eye to negative statements in the second language.

Neurobilingualism research has failed to reveal significant language differences in the processing of affective content. However, the evidence to date derives mostly from studies in which affective stimuli are presented out of context, which is unnatural and fails to capture the complexity of everyday sentence-based communication. Here we investigated semantic integration of affectively salient stimuli in sentential context in the first- and second-language (L2) of late fluent Polish-English bilinguals living in the UK.

Hemispheric asymmetry of emotion words in a non-native mind: a divided visual field study.

This study investigates hemispheric specialization for emotional words among proficient non-native speakers of English by means of the divided visual field paradigm. The motivation behind the study is to extend the monolingual hemifield research to the non-native context and see how emotion words are processed in a non-native mind. Sixty eight females participated in the study, all highly proficient in English.

OEP61 is a chaperone receptor at the plastid outer envelope.

Chloroplast precursor proteins encoded in the nucleus depend on their targeting sequences for delivery to chloroplasts. There exist different routes to the chloroplast outer envelope, but a common theme is the involvement of molecular chaperones. Hsp90 (heat-shock protein 90) delivers precursors via its receptor Toc64, which transfers precursors to the core translocase in the outer envelope.

A novel isoform of pantothenate synthetase in the Archaea.

The linear biosynthetic pathway leading from alpha-ketoisovalerate to pantothenate (vitamin B5) and on to CoA comprises eight steps in the Bacteria and Eukaryota. Genes for up to six steps of this pathway can be identified by sequence homology in individual archaeal genomes. However, there are no archaeal homologs to known isoforms of pantothenate synthetase (PS) or pantothenate kinase.

Elucidation of the final reactions of DIMBOA-glucoside biosynthesis in maize: characterization of Bx6 and Bx7.

Benzoxazinoids were identified in the early 1960s as secondary metabolites of the grasses that function as natural pesticides and exhibit allelopathic properties. Benzoxazinoids are synthesized in seedlings and stored as glucosides (glcs); the main aglucone moieties are 2,4-dihydroxy-2H-1,4-benzoxazin-3(4H)-one (DIBOA) and 2,4-dihydroxy-7-methoxy-2H-1,4-benzoxazin-3(4H)-one (DIMBOA). The genes of DIBOA-glc biosynthesis have previously been isolated and the enzymatic functions characterized.

Pantothenate synthetase is essential but not limiting for pantothenate biosynthesis in Arabidopsis.

Pantothenate (vitamin B5) is the universal precursor for coenzyme A (CoA), an essential cofactor that is required in the metabolism of carbohydrates and fatty acids. The final step of bacterial and eukaryotic pantothenate biosynthesis is catalyzed by pantothenate synthetase (PTS), which is encoded by a single gene in Arabidopsis thaliana (AtPTS). There was debate whether PTS represents the only mode of pantothenate production because previous biochemical evidence pointed to an additional pantothenate pathway in plants.

Molecular adaptation and allostery in plant pantothenate synthetases.

Pantothenate synthetase catalyzes the ATP-dependent condensation of pantoate and beta-alanine to yield pantothenate, the essential precursor to coenzyme A. Bacterial and plant pantothenate synthetases are dimeric enzymes that share significant sequence identity. Here we show that the two-step reaction mechanism of pantothenate synthetase is conserved between the enzymes from Arabidopsis thaliana and Escherichia coli.