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The International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium reports the discovery of 48 new susceptibility variants for multiple sclerosis through targeted follow-up of immune-related loci. They also report fine mapping of association signals at established susceptibility loci and provide insights into the immune system processes underlying this disease.

Rhythmic patterning governs the formation of somites in vertebrates, but how the period of such rhythms can be changed is unclear. Here, the authors generate a genetic model in zebrafish to increase DeltaD expression, which increases the range of Delta-Notch signalling, causing faster segmentation.

Copy number variants (CNVs) account for a major proportion of human genetic diversity and may contribute to genetic susceptibility to disease. Here, a large, genome-wide study of association between common CNVs and eight common human diseases is presented. The study provides a wealth of technical insights that will inform future study design and analysis. The results also indicate that common CNVs that can be 'typed' on existing platforms are unlikely to contribute much to the genetic basis of common diseases.

Comprehensive analyses of 178 lung squamous cell carcinomas by The Cancer Genome Atlas project show that the tumour type is characterized by complex genomic alterations, with statistically recurrent mutations in 11 genes, including TP53 in nearly all samples; a potential therapeutic target is identified in most of the samples studied.

Nutrient content analyses of marine finfish and current fisheries landings show that fish have the potential to substantially contribute to global food and nutrition security by alleviating micronutrient deficiencies in regions where they are prevalent.

Observations of an event (several energetic eruptions leading to a terminal explosion that is surprisingly hydrogen-rich) with the spectrum of a supernova do not match with other observations of supernovae.

The understanding of how a singlet exciton separates into triplet states in organic semiconductors is crucial to the design of efficient organic solar cells. Here, Lukmanet al. identify the role played by charge-transfer states during triplet formation through side-group engineering of pentacenes.

Morphological characterization of organic photovoltaic active layers is restricted by the lack of accurate chemical mapping tools. Here, the authors demonstrate an energy-filtered scanning electron microscopy technique, which enables sub-nanometre resolution imaging of an organic photovoltaic blend.

Typhoid fever is caused by Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S. Typhi). This study examines ∼2,000 clinical isolates of S. Typhi to show highly structured/geographically restricted genomes except rapidly disseminating H58 subclade, and design a genotyping framework for tracking the disease.

Mark Daly, Manuel Rivas and colleagues used next-generation sequencing to study the coding exons of 56 genes from regions previously associated with Crohn's disease. Follow-up analyses in independent case-control series confirmed association of many newly discovered rare variants with disease risk.

Nicholas Thomson and colleagues report whole-genome sequencing of 132 globally distributed isolates of Shigella sonnei, a cause of human dysentery. Their phylogeographic analyses suggest that the current S. sonnei population is under 500 years old, and the authors are able to trace several distinct lineages that have spread out of Europe to other continents over the last few decades.

An ongoing elephant poaching crisis is threatening not only elephant populations but also the local economies that rely on nature-based tourism. Here, Naidoo and colleagues use an economic model to estimate the financial contribution of elephants to tourism and the possible consequences of their loss.

Genome-wide association analyses identify 12 susceptibility loci for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). A genetic risk score for HCM was associated with disease status in a validation study and influenced phenotypic severity in carriers of risk variants in sarcomere genes.

Cooling electrons into the microkelvin temperature range is of interest both for practical purposes and fundamental studies, but current demonstrations are limited to small, specific devices. Here, the authors achieve sub-millikelvin temperatures in a large-area, two-dimensional electron gas.

The extraction of the wind pattern, vorticity and divergence down to a scale of 200 km from the cluster of cyclones at Jupiter’s north pole shows evidence of an anticyclonic ring, which is needed to keep the system stable, around the central cyclone. No signatures of convection are observed at 200 km scales.

Nematic liquid crystal elastomers (LCE). exhibit unique mechanical properties such as large loss behaviour, which makes these materials interesting for damping applications. Here, the authors investigate the effect of anomalous damping in LCEs by comparing impact dissipation in shaped samples with elastic wave transmission and resonance.

Exciton-polaritons are typically formed in organic systems when the molecules are confined between metallic or dielectric mirrors. Here, the authors reveal that interactions between excitons and moderately confined photonic states within the bare organic film can also lead to polariton formation, making them the primary photoexcitation.

It is known cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) involves a high tumour mutation burden. Here the authors identify common cSCC mutated genes, copy number changes, altered pathways and report the presence of a novel mutation signature associated with chronic exposure to the immunosuppressive drug azathioprine.

This manuscript investigates the binding mode of a potent SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody. N3-1 is escaped by Omicron variants due to altered spike dynamics. This work suggests the need for innovative vaccine designs to combat evolving variants.

Higher order coiled coils with five or more helices can form α-helical barrels. Here the authors show that placing β-branched aliphatic residues along the lumen yields stable and open α-helical barrels, which is of interest for the rational design of functional proteins; whereas, the absence of β-branched side chains leads to unusual low-symmetry α-helical bundles.

Blocking gene expression by interfering with translation of mRNA can be accomplished by means of antisense or short interfering RNA strategies, but more potent inhibitors would act by inhibiting transcription of genomic DNA. Two new studies show efficient inhibition of transcription using single-stranded peptide nucleic acid or double-stranded RNA targeted to the open complex formed at the transcription start site.

Data from the Kepler spacecraft and the HARPS-N ground-based spectrograph indicate that the extrasolar planet Kepler-78b has a mean density similar to that of Earth and imply that it is composed of rock and iron.

New methods and larger sample groups are used to precisely determine the alleles in the HLA complex which contribute susceptibility to type 1 diabetes.

A genome-wide-association meta-analysis of 18,381 austim spectrum disorder (ASD) cases and 27,969 controls identifies five risk loci. The authors find quantitative and qualitative polygenic heterogeneity across ASD subtypes.

Simulating ultrafast quantum dissipation in molecular excited states is a strongly demanding computational task. Here, the authors combine tensor network simulation, entanglement renormalisation and machine learning to simulate linear vibronic models, and test the method by analysing singlet fission dynamics.

Anharmonic ultrafast structural dynamics are expected in lead halide perovskites due to their soft nature. Here Rivett et al. show that these dynamics lead to picosecond-long polarization anisotropy of photo-carriers in several halide perovskites, orders of magnitude slower than in conventional semiconductors.

Ultrafast photo-induced processes in complex systems require theoretical models and their experimental validation which are still lacking. Here the authors investigate singlet fission in a pentacene dimer by a combined experimental and theoretical approach providing a real-time visualisation of the process.

Cantrell and colleagues perform a comparative quantitative mass spectrometric analysis of the proteomes of naïve and activated CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells. Proteomes are dynamically regulated and mTORC1 inhibition leads to differential consequences depending on cell state.

Singlet fission in organic semiconductors can generate triplet exciton pairs that are crucial to the charge generation in a photovoltaic process, whilst their nature remains elusive. Here, Yonget al. show that the immediate triplet pair is bound and emissive in a range of acene and heteroacene materials.

Genetic and environmental factors impact on lung function, important in the diagnosis of pulmonary diseases. Here the authors use imputation of genotypes to the 1000 Genomes Project reference panel to identify novel, low frequency variants associated with lung function.

AMPK regulates cellular energy balance using its γ subunit as an energy sensor of cellular AMP and ADP to ATP ratios. Here, the authors show that γ2 AMPK activation lowers heart rate by reducing the activity of pacemaker cells, whereas loss of γ2 AMPK increases heart rate and prevents the adaptive bradycardia of endurance training in mice.

In the Saccharomyces cerevisiae pheromone response pathway, the MAP kinase Fus3 mediates the rapid negative feedback that adjusts the dose–response of the downstream system response to match that of receptor-ligand binding. This 'dose–response alignment' improves the fidelity of information transmission. Negative feedback could be used as a general mechanism in signalling systems to align dose–responses.

Using unique barcodes for tumour cells, the authors explore the dynamics of human glioblastoma subpopulations, and suggest that clonal heterogeneity emerges through stochastic fate decisions of a neutral proliferative hierarchy.

Isolates of the Vibrio cholerae O1 serotype Ogawa from Yemen are from a single sublineage of the seventh pandemic El Tor (7PET) lineage and are susceptible to several commonly used antibiotics as well as to polymyxins.

Ternary chalcogenides are gaining interest as nontoxic, stable solar absorbers. Here, the authors investigate NaBiS₂, finding cation disorder to be a critical parameter that enables its high absorption strength and unusual charge-carrier kinetics.

Stacking-disordered ice crystallites are shown to have an ice nucleation rate much higher than predicted by classical nucleation theory, which needs to be taken into account in cloud modelling.

Rosalind Eeles and colleagues report meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for prostate cancer and genotyping on the custom iCOGS array in 25,074 cases and 24,272 controls from 32 studies available in the PRACTICAL Consortium. They identify 23 new prostate cancer susceptibility loci, 20 of which are associated with both aggressive and non-aggressive disease.

Truly remote, independent InGaAs quantum dots are tuned to the same energy using large applied electric fields of up to −500 kV cm⁻¹. This allows for two-photon interference of their emission under coincidence gating, and opens up the possibility of transferring quantum information between remote solid-state sources.

Helium-3 spin-echo measurements and modelling of admolecule–substrate interactions through force field schemes are used to investigate the diffusion and rotation of pentacene admolecules on a pentacene monolayer at room temperature.

The Impact of Genomic Variation on Function Consortium is combining single-cell mapping, genomic perturbations and predictive modelling to investigate relationships between human genomic variation, genome function and phenotypes and will provide an open resource to the community.

A longitudinal study of an individual patient developing neutralizing antibodies against HIV-1 (targeting the V1V2 region of gp120) reveals how such neutralizing antibodies develop and evolve over time, providing important insights relevant to vaccine development.