Volume 26 Issue 10, October 2025

This Comment posits that enhancers stimulate the transcription machinery only through short-range interactions and, therefore, that enhancer activity at a distance is mediated by chromatin loops between distal and proximal enhancers, not between enhancers and promoters.

Independently of its nuclear DNA-binding activity, the transcription factor PXR has a cytoplasmic function: it binds to mRNAs and promotes their stability.

Paul et al. demonstrate that entry into the cell cycle from quiescence involves a transient, partial inactivation of the APC/C ubiquitin ligase, which halts the degradation of glycolysis enzymes and ensures sufficient ATP production for cell division.

In this Tools of the Trade article, Pasquier and Amari (Gueroui lab) describe the development of ControLD, which allows the intracellular sequestration of organelles through condensate formation, enabling the control of inter-organelle communication.

To celebrate the journal’s 25th anniversary, we asked 13 researchers to offer a glimpse of what their research field might look like in 2050. They consider how technological breakthroughs — for example, artificial intelligence-powered virtual cells — could transform our understanding of how molecules, organelles and cells behave in different contexts, revolutionize therapies and enable the design of resilient crops.

Collective cell migration has major roles in animal development, tissue repair and cancer metastasis. This Review explores how migrating collectives are organized in development versus cancer, focusing on cell adhesion, signalling and guidance cues.

Transposable elements (TEs) comprise nearly half of the human genome. This Review discusses transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms that repress TE activity, how TEs escape this suppression and regulate endogenous genes in development and disease, and emerging therapeutic strategies that exploit TE derepression.

Membrane contact sites between organelles facilitate the exchange of ions, lipids and metabolites. This Expert Recommendation highlights recent advances in defining the organelle contactome and discusses challenges and future directions in membrane contact site research.

Studying RNA function is constrained by limitations of traditional methods. This Roadmap discusses how artificial intelligence (AI) can enhance the study of how non-coding regions of mRNA regulate its function, and suggests how to use AI to harness publicly available data towards that goal.