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Bacterial mechanosensitive channel YnaI opens at near-lytic membrane tension. Here, authors show that YnaI remains open to a much lower membrane tension than required for its activation and evolved to respond to slow changes in membrane tension.

CCR9 is chemokine receptor involved in gut inflammation and cancer. Here, the authors use AI-based modeling, protein engineering and pharmacological experiments to reveal the unusual anatomy of CCR9 activation by its endogenous chemokine agonist CCL25.

In this work, authors utilise a prefractionation natural product extract screening platform, which uncovers coniotins, lipopeptaibiotics with broad antifungal activity and a mechanism of action that targets fungal cell wall β-glucan.

Mantle–lithosphere interactions may initiate global-scale tectonic plate reorganizations that affect the entire mantle, according to an Earth-like geodynamic simulation investigated by topological data analysis.

The authors identify a single main-chain hydrogen bond required to keep GABA_A receptors closed in the absence of neurotransmitter. Electrophysiology and molecular dynamics simulations suggest disruption of this bond is a key component of channel opening during inhibitory synaptic signaling in the brain.

Dietary n-6 PUFAs enhance adipose tissue expandability through the PPARγ–LPCAT3 membrane remodelling axis.

Noel et al. show aberrant updating of expectations in three distinct mouse models of autism spectrum disorder. Brain-wide neurophysiology data suggest this stems from excess units encoding deviations from prior mean and a lack of sensory prediction errors in frontal areas.

Here they generate endogenous optogenetic RhoGEFs and use them to quantitatively direct and study epithelial furrowing via cell shortening, uncovering design principles for morphogenetic furrowing including a role for tissue mechanics in furrow asymmetry.

In this Review, the authors present a roadmap towards achieving consensus on development, analysis and interpretation of single-cell transcriptomics data in adipose tissue, including discussion of roadblocks, best practices and ideal cell-type markers for annotation of adipose tissue cell types in mice and humans.

In this study, the authors describe SANA, a nitroalkene derivative of salicylate, as a potential activator of creatine-dependent energy expenditure and thermogenesis in adipose tissue. Preclinical and clinical data from this paper also suggest that SANA improves glucose homeostasis and promotes weight loss in mice and humans.

Latorre-Muro et al. show that the cytosolic chaperone PPID drives insertion of the mitochondrial import receptor TOM70 into the mitochondrial outer membrane, thereby regulating body temperature, glucose homeostasis and body weight in obese mice.

Bioplastics are desirable materials for the replacement of petrochemical-derived plastics, but achieving the desired properties can be challenging. Here, the authors report a bioplastic formed from a combination of polysaccharide sources and DNA from living organism waste, with biodegradability and recyclability.

Individuals with malignant hyperthermia susceptibility (MHS) suffer from lifethreatening responses to heat. Here the authors demonstrate that adaptive thermogenesis from brown adipose tissue contributes to this heat sensitivity in a preclinical mouse model of MHS

Natural hair colour in Europeans is a complex genetic trait. Here, the authors carry out a genome-wide association study using UK BioBank data, suggesting that in combination with pigmentation genes, variants with roles in hair texture and growth can affect hair colouration or our perception of it.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae bearing engineered alginate and mannitol catabolic pathways can ferment sugars from brown macroalgae to produce ethanol, potentially allowing the use of brown macroalgae as a viable feedstock for the production of biofuels and renewable chemicals.

Chronic care manages long-term, progressive conditions, while acute care handles short-term ones. Here, authors show chronic conditions account for most of the global health burden, with 68% of DALYs and 93% of YLDs attributed to chronic care needs.

Microbial communities, exposed to early Earth-like conditions in a modern microbialite reef, change cyclically due to seasonal environmental variations, implying evolved metabolic processes in microbialites over time, based on multiple chemical, physical, and biological analyses.

Experiments suggest aerotolerant archaea produce methane in the surface layers of coastal sandy sediments and that this activity is driven by seaweed and seagrass metabolites.

Dehingia, Milewska-Puchała and colleagues find a pervasive lncRNA-mediated increase in interactions between CTCF and RNA-binding proteins during embryonic stem cell differentiation. These interactions reinforce chromatin architecture in neural cells.

ZF5.3 is a mini-protein that escapes endosomes efficiently. Work to understand the underlying mechanism now reveals that ZF5.3 unfolds at pH values lower than 5.5 through protonation of Zn(II)-bound His residues. Unfolding promotes pH-dependent interactions with a unique lipid present in late endolysosomal membranes and is essential for endosomal escape.

Whole-ecosystem manipulations of Caribbean islands occupied by brown anoles, involving the addition of competitors (green anoles) and/or top predators (curly-tailed lizards), demonstrate that predator introductions can alter the ecological niches and destabilize the coexistence of competing prey species.

When light is absorbed by metal nanoparticles, electromagnetic energy is focused far beyond the diffraction limit. Here, the authors show that this energy can be further localized by the dissipation of energy within a bimetallic antenna-reactor system into attached palladium satellites.

Mechanisms underlying excess risk of heart failure among people with HIV are unclear. Here, the authors identify a proteomic signature enriched in immune activation and extracellular matrix remodeling that may reflect shared pathways in HIV and aging that contribute to risk of heart failure.

Ultrafast electron diffraction can probe structural dynamics of photochemical reactions in real space and real time. Here the authors study the ring-opening of cyclohexadiene with sub-100 fs temporal resolution and sub-angstrom spatial resolution.

A direct proxy for past dissolved organic carbon signatures using co-precipitated organic carbon in iron ooids enables reconstruction of marine dissolved organic carbon signals dating back to the Palaeoproterozoic.

SARS-CoV-2 infection can lead to sustained increased macrophage numbers and formation of enlarged lipid-laden macrophages after viral clearance. This can be prevented with antiviral treatment in mice.

Cyanobacteria use both chlorophylls and phycobilins to absorb light energy, and authors here use cultivation experiments, numerical simulations and protein phylogenetics to argue that cyanobacteria evolved in a green-light environment during the Archaean era in which green-specialized phycobilins would have been selectively advantageous.

Warmer and more arid conditions are triggering forest die-off and mortality events worldwide, but how are the droughts’ characteristics leading to tree death? This study shows that tree-killing droughts are longer and more intense in dry versus wet biomes, while mortality-inducing droughts are higher in intensity in angiosperm-dominated forests.

The authors quantify changes in carbon flow to Arctic tundra and boreal forest consumers under warming. Small-mammal specimens separated by 30 years and wolf spiders from short-term warming experiments show similar patterns of change, switching from plant-based to fungal-based food webs.

The Neolithic Revolution marked an important shift from foraging to farming in human society. Here, the authors show that in Europe the spread of farming involved mostly within-group mating and limited cultural transmission.

The authors highlight inconsistencies and divergencies in the literature reporting data on indirect calorimetry for studies on whole-body energy homeostasis, and propose harmonization of standards to facilitate data comparison and interpretation across different datasets.

Computational and spectroscopic studies of molecular lanthanide complexes have implicated 4f orbitals in metal–ligand bonding interactions. Now, a comparative study of isostructural d-block, actinide and lanthanide complexes has shown that 4f-orbital covalency enables ring-opening isomerization in a Ce(IV)–cyclopropenyl complex in the solid state, a reaction not observed for the other complexes studied.

Female genital tract (FGT) microbiome dynamics in discordant HIV shedding and long-term antiretroviral therapy are poorly understood. Here, using 125 cervicovaginal specimens collected over two years from 31 women living with HIV in Lima, Peru, Kaelin et al. show that FGT bacteriome and virome patterns over time are linked with discordant shedding and ART duration.

Tumor-associated neutrophils exhibit heterogeneity in breast cancer. Here, the authors identify a distinct precursor population (PreNeu) in estrogen receptor-positive tumors. PreNeu suppress homologous recombination in cancer cells, promoting error-prone DNA repair and enhancing sensitivity to PARP inhibitors.

Retrospective analysis of ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT scans from over 50,000 patients reveals correlations between presence of brown adipose tissue and lower odds of having cardiometabolic conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension.

Benzene reduction by molecular complexes remains a considerable synthetic challenge, and typically requires harsh reaction conditions involving group I metals. Now it has been shown that a highly polar organometallic samarium alkyl complex enables the reduction of benzene to its tetra-anion without the need for a group I metal.

Using voltage imaging, the authors show that interneurons in the hippocampus sharpen memory-encoding-activity by increasing the signal-to-noise ratio of pyramidal neuron sensory representations during working memory in mice.

Body size and composition are complex traits that are challenging to characterize due to environmental and genetic influences. Here, Arehart et al. disentangle shared and distinct genetic signals underlying body size and composition.

Genome-wide and targeted perturbation of DNA methylation at centromeres affects CENP-A positioning and centromere structure, resulting in aneuploidy and reduced cell viability.

The morphogenetic events that occur during gastrulation involve dramatic cell- and tissue-level changes. Here they show that propagation of nematic order, leading to long-range spatial correlation, is universally conserved during metazoan embryogenesis.

Elevated eripheral serotonin reduces brown adipose tissue thermogenesis and promotes obesity and metabolic dysfunction.

Cold stimulation induces the synthesis and release of the lipid species 12,13-diHOME from brown adipose tissue. This ‘lipokine’ then acts on brown adipocytes to promote the uptake of fatty acids to fuel this cell type's heat production.

Metal–organic frameworks hold promise as electrocatalysts for water splitting, but their large-scale production remains a challenge. This study reports on a scalable synthetic approach to fabricate large-area metal–organic framework-based electrodes, achieving high catalytic activity and stability in practical alkaline water electrolysis.

CD4⁺ T cells promote immunity to tuberculosis infection via macrophages. Here the authors show upregulation of SLAMF1/CD150 on infected macrophages after interaction with CD4⁺ T cells and that the presence of SLAMF1 promotes ROS production by macrophages and the absence of Slamf1 in macrophages results in higher mycobacterial loads in infected mice.