Search

A global map of human subcellular architecture yields protein complex structures, reveals protein functions, identifies assemblies with multiple localizations or cell-type specificity and decodes paediatric cancer genomes.

Iceberg calving can act as a submarine melt amplifier through excitation of transient internal waves.

In this study, the authors engineered a targeted Saccharomyces boulardii probiotic yeast platform, showing it exhibits high adherence to extracellular matrix proteins, resulting in longer gut residence, higher colon concentrations, and enhanced recovery in murine colitis.

A genome-wide association study of age at onset of walking in over 70,000 infants found 11 significant loci. Age at onset of walking showed SNP heritability of 24%, a reliable polygenic score and genetic overlap with ADHD and brain phenotypes.

During cell division, a cytoplasmic bridge—the midbody—forms between the nascent daughter cells, but it has been unclear under which conditions this is retained by a daughter cell or released. Now, Ettinger and colleagues show that midbody-release occurs more frequently in stem cells compared with cancer cells.

The reported burden of SARS-CoV-2 has been relatively low in tropical Africa compared to Europe and the Americas, but estimating true infection rates is challenging. Here, the authors screen blood donors in Kenya for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and describe spatiotemporal seroprevalence dynamics.

Here the authors show that a high-fat diet in pregnant mice can release silencing of the imprinted Dlk1 locus in multiple generations of offspring. They found that this occurs via changes in microRNA expression at the locus of interest, as well as transcriptional changes across the genome, in the developing oocytes.

Different phosphorylation patterns created by GRK2 and GRK5 on the C-terminal tail of ACKR3 lead to distinct structural arrangements and dynamics of G-protein-coupled receptor–arrestin complexes, potentially explaining diverse cellular outcomes.

Although progress in the coverage of routine measles vaccination in children in low- and middle-income countries was made during 2000–2019, many countries remain far from the goal of 80% coverage in all districts by 2019.

Projections of future sea level rely on the understanding of the relationship between sea-level and past climate changes. This study reconstructs 30,000 years of sea level evolution along Atlantic Africa in response to the climatic modifications.

A computational deep learning approach is used to design synthetic proteins that target the neosurfaces formed by protein–ligand interactions, with applications in the development of new therapeutic modalities such as molecular glues or cell-based therapies.

A biocatalytic approach to enantioselective nucleophilic aromatic substitution (S_NAr) was achieved through laboratory evolution of highly efficient and selective S_NArase biocatalysts.

Despite treatment, patients with chronic kidney disease remain at high risk of kidney failure and cardiovascular disease. Here, the authors show that apelin offers potential cardiorenal protection for this high-risk patient group.

Zaman, Yang and Huang et al. demonstrate MDK’s suppressive effect on amyloid-β and its impact on amyloid burden and microglial activation in Alzheimer disease mice, highlighting its protective role in pathogenesis.

Cui and colleagues identify the chromatin organizer protein SATB1 as a critical regulator of quiescence in stem-like progenitor CD8⁺ T cells that arise during chronic viral infection and cancer.

Dense calcium imaging combined with co-registered high-resolution electron microscopy reconstruction of the brain of the same mouse provide a functional connectomics map of tens of thousands of neurons of a region of the primary cortex and higher visual areas.

The authors report the development of dual covalent proximity inducing molecules capable of selectively cross-linking two non-interacting proteins. Through the selective proximity-based activation of two SuFEx electrophiles, a functional ternary complex of interest can be trapped kinetically which mimics the thermodynamic stabilization associated with molecular glues. This work further demonstrates that “covalent glue mimics” can efficiently and selectively crosslink tumor immunotherapeutically relevant proteins to stabilize and promote cell-cell interactions enacting tumor cell clearance.

The connections between global mean temperature and precipitation responses to CO₂ doubling (equilibrium climate and hydrological sensitivity) are driven through low-cloud responses to surface warming, according to MIROC5 perturbation experiments.

What is the state of trust in scientists around the world? To answer this question, the authors surveyed 71,922 respondents in 68 countries and found that trust in scientists is moderately high.

A synthetic receptor has been designed to form pseudorotaxanes and polypseudorotaxanes with oligo/polysaccharides in water. Target substrates have all-equatorial substitution patterns, and include cellulose, cellodextrins and the cationic polysaccharide chitosan. The results suggest an approach to dissolving these polysaccharides under mild conditions and could prove useful for processing these abundant renewable resources.

Plasmodium kinesin-8B is essential for male gamete formation and its absence blocks parasite transmission. Using cryo-EM and TIRF, the authors report how kinesin-8B motor domains are tuned to support microtubule motility and depolymerase activity.

Aldolases have been a mainstay in synthesis, but their scope has been limited to activated electrophiles. Now carbon–carbon bond formation with ketone electrophiles is enabled by transaldolases, which form a strong nucleophile that is resistant to protonation. This chemistry enables convergent synthesis of non-canonical amino acids bearing tertiary alcohol side chains.

The genomic landscape of hereditary SDHB-mutant pheochromocytomas (PC) and paragangliomas (PG) remains to be explored. Here, the authors perform multiomic analysis on 94 tumours from 79 patients and identify the molecular features of metastatic disease and treatment response.

There’s an emerging body of evidence to show how biological sex impacts cancer incidence, treatment and underlying biology. Here, using a large pan-cancer dataset, the authors further highlight how sex differences shape the cancer genome.

Integrated data, including 100 human genomes from the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Early Bronze Age periods show that two major population turnovers occurred over just 1,000 years in Neolithic Denmark, resulting in dramatic changes in the genes, diet and physical appearance of the local people, as well as the landscape in which they lived.

Whole-genome sequencing data for 2,778 cancer samples from 2,658 unique donors across 38 cancer types is used to reconstruct the evolutionary history of cancer, revealing that driver mutations can precede diagnosis by several years to decades.

Some cancer patients first present with metastases where the location of the primary is unidentified; these are difficult to treat. In this study, using machine learning, the authors develop a method to determine the tissue of origin of a cancer based on whole sequencing data.

Cancers evolve as they progress under differing selective pressures. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, the authors present the method TrackSig the estimates evolutionary trajectories of somatic mutational processes from single bulk tumour data.

Cryo-electron microscopy structures of the bacterial O-antigen ligase WaaL, combined with genetics, biochemistry and molecular dynamics simulations, provide insight into the mechanism by which WaaL catalyses the biosynthesis of lipopolysaccharide.

Haematopoiesis has high clonal diversity up to about 65 years of age, after which diversity drops precipitously owing to positive selection acting on a handful of clones that expand exponentially throughout adulthood.

In ischaemic tissues, hypoxia and nutrient deprivation were found to induce the transcriptional regulator PGC-1α which in turn induces VEGF to promote angiogenesis; this pathway is independent of hypoxia-inducible factor, which is also implicated in hypoxia-induced VEGF regulation and angiogenesis.

Human leukocyte antigens (HLA) are multi-allelic and polymorphic genes that present antigens to immune cells for inducing protective immunity. Here, using systems biology and structural approaches, the authors show that micropolymorphism of three HLA has effects beyond the modulation of antigen diversity.

By bringing together whole exome and genome sequencing data from five cohorts, the authors assess the contribution of rare germline variants to prostate cancer risk and severity, further validating previously reported genes, and implicating a role for genes not previously reported.

Peer review information

Nature Communications thanks the anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. A peer review file is available.

Here, Tulsian et al. identified the effect of biologically relevant full-length IgG binding on the Spike protein from different SARS-CoV-2 variants to comprehensively understand the mechanisms of antibody evasion, towards the development of better antiviral strategies.

A species-level phylogenetic analysis of the high-elevation flora of the European Alps reveals that the flora is young and colonist rich. Its assembly was primarily driven by the Pleistocene climatic cycles, rather than ancient orogenic events.

A population of macrophages with exclusive molecular and functional signatures in the muscle spindles express machinery for synthesizing and releasing glutamate, and a cellular component, the muscle spindle macrophages, directly regulates neural activity and muscle contraction.

The authors assess the current and future burden of mental and behavioural disorders across Australia. They show that high temperatures contributed 1.8% of Australia’s mental and behavioural disorder burden in the 2010s with expected increases to 2.4–2.8% by the 2050s and highlight the need for both adaptation and mitigation.

Experimental analysis of reconstructed ancestral globins reveals that haemoglobin’s complex tetrameric structure and oxygen-binding functions evolved by simple genetic and biophysical mechanisms.

This work quantifies the impact of sound ordinances on the wind energy capacity in the United States. It finds existing sound ordinances reduce the capacity by 8% over standard setbacks and explores impacts of other hypothetical ordinance scenarios.

Use of an enhanced suite of marine ecosystem models and Earth system model outputs from Phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) reveals greater decline in mean global ocean animal biomass than previously projected under both strong-mitigation and high-emissions scenarios.

Cytokinin influences various aspects of plant growth and development, including vascular development. The TMO5/LHW complex regulates a precise balance of cytokinin in xylem and procambium, therefore organizing root vascular patterning in Arabidopsis.

Water and hydroxyl enrichment in the solar-wind-irradiated rim of an olivine grain from asteroid Itokawa suggests that its regolith could contain ~20 l m⁻³ of water from solar wind—a potential water source for airless planetary bodies.

Studies in mice show that µ-opioid peptide receptor regulation of reward consumption in mice acts through a specific dorsal raphe to nucleus accumbens projection and requires enkephalin-producing neurons.