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BioID detection of Ebola virus–host interactions when computationally integrated with existing host protein-protein networks, revealed functional cell protein complexes supporting infection, including the RNA decapping complex.

The neural basis of how the visual cortex processes complex features remains under active investigation. Here, the authors show that broadband stimuli increase neural responses and visual perception due to a reduction in center-surround suppression.

Vaccination against one viral strain can result in cross-reactive antibodies against another viral strain. In this study, the vaccination of mice against the 2009 H1N1 virus is shown to protect mice from the 1918 Spanish influenza virus, which resulted in millions of deaths worldwide.

A single-cell resolution image-based genome-wide CRISPR screen, analysed with deep learning and random forest models, identified host factors regulating Ebola virus infection at distinct stages in the viral life cycle.

Cell-type-specific electrical activity manipulations and deep-brain imaging in mice of neuronal populations associated with homeostasis of nutrient or fluid intake reveals that learning is conditioned by a negative-valence signal from the hunger-mediating AGRP neurons and also from the thirst-mediating neurons in the subfornical organ.

Changes in semen quality over the last 50 years correspond with increasing environmental stressors. Here, Moon et al. causally identified stress-mediated changes in secreted extracellular vesicles as regulators of sperm motility in mice and men.

MERS-CoV ORF4b antagonizes host innate immune response, partially via blocking nuclear import adapter IMPα activity and preventing nuclear translocation of NF-κB. Here, Munasinghe and Edwards et al. biochemically and structurally define the interaction between ORF4b and IMPα-family members and find a non-canonical interaction between ORF4b NLS and IMPα2 and IMPα3.

The European X-ray free-electron laser (EuXFEL) in Hamburg is the first megahertz (MHz) repetition rate XFEL. Here the authors use lysozyme crystals and microcrystals from jack bean proteins and demonstrate that damage-free high quality data can be collected at a MHz repetition rate.

A molecularly defined subset of somatostatin-positive inhibitory neurons in the mouse posterior parietal cortex carries a cell-type-specific error-correction signal for navigation.

Animals flexibly and rapidly adapt navigation routes to the environment and context. Here, the authors find that the flexibility in navigation decisions arises from cells distributed in posterior cortex, each of which mixes sensory and memory information.

Dynamic interaction of neurons in lateral orbitofrontal cortex with the sensory cortex implements value-prediction computations that are history dependent and error based, providing plasticity essential for flexible decision-making.

Neuron-tracing and labelling experiments in Drosophila females reveal the neural circuitry that coordinates mating and egg laying, and the role of sex peptide from male seminal fluid in triggering these neurons.

Christopher Kirk and his colleagues have developed the first specific inhibitor of the immunoproteasome. They find that the immunoproteasome has a major role in regulating cytokine production, as well as antigen presentation, and their inhibitor has good efficacy in animal models of arthritis.

Nipah virus (NiV) can be transmitted from bats and other animals to humans, causing severe encephalitis and respiratory disease. Here, Satterfield et al.show that the W protein of NiV modulates the host immune response and determines disease course in a ferret model of infection.

Stimulation of the light-activated cation channel channelrhodopsin-2 can depolarize heart muscle in vitro and in vivo, resulting in precise localized stimulation and constant prolonged depolarization of genetically targeted cardiomyocytes and cardiac tissue.

Ebola virus (EBOV) VP30 is a multifunctional protein that plays a role in transcription, but molecular details remain unknown. Here, using X-ray crystallography and minigenome assays, Xuet al. define the interaction between VP30 and a portion of NP that is critical for optimal EBOV RNA synthesis.

Using a multi-OMICS approach, Haas et al identify 54 human genes and 16 host-targeting chemical compounds that regulate influenza A virus infection in lung epithelial cells, including AHNAK and COBP1 which are also essential for SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Importin α isoforms regulate the nuclear import of different cargo proteins but the mechanisms conferring isoform specificity are not fully understood. Here, the authors study the interactions of importin α1 and α3 with two viral cargos, elucidating the structural basis for isoform-specific cargo recognition.

The SOX2 pioneer transcription factor performs critical roles in pluripotency and self-renewal of embryonic stem cells. Here the authors show that SOX2’s two nuclear localization signal sequences form a contiguous binding interface on the nuclear import receptor importin-α3, and provide a structural basis for the preference of SOX2 binding to IMPα3.

In this Review, Basler and colleagues describe the mechanisms of immune evasion used by filoviruses, with a focus on Ebola virus and Marburg virus, and discuss how these mechanisms are linked to pathogenesis and disease severity.

This study shows that mitochondrial DNA leaks into the cytoplasm during dengue virus infection, activating the DNA sensor cGAS. Viral NS2B targets cGAS for lysosomal degradation, inhibiting type I interferon responses in infected cells.

Mutations in the gene encoding the helicase senataxin have well established associations with the neurodegenerative disease ALS. Marazzi et al. show that senataxin can also attenuate virus-triggered responses by controlling RNA polymerase activity at genes encoding antiviral molecules.

This study reports the structure of hRSV NS1, identifying unique regions that modulate host gene expression and contribute to inhibition of the IFN-I pathway and of dendritic cell maturation, pointing to new avenues of hRSV attenuation.

The protein VP35 from Ebola virus contributes to immune evasion by antagonizing interferon signaling pathways. Now the crystal structure of the interferon inhibitory domain of VP35 bound to dsRNA indicates that VP35 sequesters the dsRNA ends, preventing them from being sensed by RIG-I-like receptors and inhibiting immune responses.

In this Opinion article, the authors discuss our current understanding of the roles of immunoproteasomes and thymoproteasomes in T cell receptor repertoire formation and propose that immunoproteasomes have additional roles in cytokine production and T helper cell differentiation.

A Xenopus laevis two-reporter screen identifies the antihelminthic drug pyrvinium as an inhibitor of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway that works by activating CK1α, which is likely working at the level of Pygopus, a core transcriptional component of the Wnt pathway.

A tour-de-force of structural biology solves the structure of the macromolecular injection machinery used to deliver a phage genome into a bacterium.

RIG-I is an RNA helicase that senses viral infections and triggers innate and adaptive immune mechanisms. Recent studies have identified RNAs bearing 5′-triphosphates as ligands of RIG-I and have suggested a mechanism for how RIG-I distinguishes viral RNA from host RNA.

The 1997 flu in Hong Kong infected only 18 patients, but killed 6 of them. Now, reverse genetics experiments have pinpointed the NS1 gene as a primary culprit.