Sugars are the structural building blocks of carbohydrates, which are transported through a series of transporters in plant. To explore the molecular mechanisms of how transporters, play roles in uptake, transport and mobilization of sugars in maize, a series of bioinformatics analyses were done to identify and characterize the transporters. Following the analyses, 60 sugar transporters were identified in maize, which shared eight (STP, PLT, ERD6, INT, TMT, pGlcT, SUC, and VGT) clades during phylogenetic analysis. Due to having significant differences in molecular weight, multiple beta-strands, transmembrane helices, and 11–12 transmembrane domains, the transports might play significant variations in functional properties. Since most transporters are plasma membrane bound, and have the highest homolog pairs (39) with S. bicolor during synteny analysis, the transporters might be involved in intercellular sugar transport that are conserved and significantly duplicated during the process of evolution. The lowest binding affinity (ΔG: − 7.1 kcal/mol) in ZmVGT1-Suc docked complex, and most commonly found hydrogen bond mediated attachment of valine residue ligand might represent the complex stability and functional integrity of the complex. Indeed, the RMSD deviation of 1 (for ZmST10-Gal) to 3 Å (for ZmST10-Glu) among the docked complexes might guide the subtle conformational differences that could impact the functional roles of the complexes. Next, during co-expression analysis, clustering of 491 genes with 43 maize sugar transporter into four co-expression clusters and five different metabolic pathways might guide their inter regulatory roles in interacting different metabolic pathways. More specifically, co-expression of ZmSTP9 and ZmPLT10 with the MYB8 and A6b stress-responsive transcription factors might guide their stress regulatory mechanisms. The RNA-Seq based observation of differential tissue specific expression and expression under salinity, drought, nitrogen deficiency, and heat stress and qRT-PCR mediated validation of differential tissue specific expression and upregulation of ZmPLT1 , ZmPLT8 , ZmSTP1 , ZmTMT1 , and ZmSUC3 under salinity stress might guide their potential roles in abiotic stress tolerance. The plasma membrane localized validation of subcellular localization of ZmPLT1 and ZmPLT8 proteins might guide the consistent results between dry and wet lab experiments. Therefore, the identified and characterized maize sugar transporters through integrated dry and wet lab experiments might guide the future research in developing abiotic stress tolerant maize and exploring the molecular mechanism of stress tolerance trough transporter guided regulation of maize abiotic stress signaling pathways following circuit enabled synthetic biology approaches.

Background and Aims: Childhood immunization is a cost‐effective public health intervention, and Bangladesh has achieved South Asia's highest complete immunization rate, yet village‐level effectiveness of local awareness programs remains poorly evaluated. This study evaluated whether exposure to a village‐level vaccination awareness program was independently associated with full immunization coverage among mothers in Jashore District, Bangladesh, alongside other maternal determinants. Methods: A community‐based, comparative cross‐sectional study surveyed 1,000 mothers of children aged 0–5 years, sampled by convenience from villages with and without an implemented awareness program, between June and August 2025. Bivariate associations with full immunization status were tested using Chi‐square tests and 95% confidence intervals; multivariable logistic regression estimated adjusted odds ratios (AOR) for all predictors simultaneously. Results: Of 886 mothers with recorded status, 62.1% (95% CI 58.8%–65.2%) were fully immunized. Maternal education showed the strongest association, rising from 53.6% among mothers with no education to 80.9% among graduates (χ ² = 52.60, p  < 0.001); after adjustment, higher secondary (AOR = 3.42) and graduate education (AOR = 3.64) remained significant, and a supplementary linear‐trend model confirmed a significant dose‐response gradient across education levels (AOR = 1.50 per level, 95% CI 1.31–1.72, p  < 0.001). Awareness‐program exposure showed no association with full immunization, either before (61.9% vs. 62.2%, p  = 0.98) or after adjustment (AOR = 0.98, p  = 0.90). Distance to health facilities (43.2%), fear of side effects (30.9%), and husband disapproval (25.9%) were the leading reported barriers. Mothers with unrecorded EPI status were more often less‐educated than those with recorded status ( p  = 0.004), a missingness pattern addressed explicitly in the Discussion. Conclusion: Maternal education, not awareness‐program exposure, independently predicted full immunization. Program investment should shift from generic exposure toward literacy‐sensitive content, husband‐inclusive counseling, and outreach‐site expansion to help close Bangladesh's remaining immunization gap.