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Tropical aboveground biomass carbon is a crucial, yet complex, component of the terrestrial C budget. Here remote observations demonstrate that fire emissions and post-fire recovery in non-forested African biomes dominate the interannual variability of aboveground biomass carbon, which acts as a moderate net C sink.

Co-lead authors Wang, Zhang, Qiu, Lu and their colleagues model an incentive-based emergency demand response to counter heatwaves. The modelled responded leads to the peak load reduction of 7.32% for the covered households, and can achieve a 1.02% peak load reduction when reaching a wide audience with no additional financial burden on vulnerable groups.

Ecological transitions, like shifts between habitats, can shape genomic variation. By analyzing genomes from 66 sea catfish species, this study finds that younger freshwater lineages show more positive selection and body shape disparity, with prolactin gene adaptations likely aiding their colonization and radiation.

Studies into the effects of climate change on crop yields have tended to focus on the average state of the climate. Now, research into the effects of adverse weather events on wheat yields in Europe suggests that the probability of single and multiple adverse events occurring within a season is expected to increase substantially by the year 2060.

Gut Bacteroides deploy several polysaccharide utilization loci (PULs) to forage diverse dietary and host-derived glycans. Here, the authors identify the RNA-binding protein RbpB and a family of noncoding RNAs as key players in post-transcriptional PUL regulation, further showing that ablation of RbpB in Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron compromises colonization in the mouse gut in a diet-dependent manner.

Bacteria swimming near surfaces can get trapped in circular trajectories that lead nowhere, hindering efficient surface exploration. A harmful strain of bacteria is now shown to circumvent the problem by exploiting transient surface adhesion events.

Linder et al. show how cancer cells reduce proline biosynthesis through P5CS to cope with glutamine starvation.

The activation of pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) was found to promote the progression of Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) via metabolic crosstalk. Here, this group designs a liposome nanosystem encapsulating NF-κB inhibitor (TPCA-1) and CD71 aptamerlinked glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) siRNA to dual rectify the metabolism abnormalities of PDAC cells and reverses the activated PSC to quiescence.

A model for the non-thermal emission of pulsars can fit their γ- and X-ray spectra using just four physical parameters. The model explains several spectral features, and can be used to predict the detectability of pulsars in X-rays given the γ-ray emission, and vice versa.

Chemical and structural imaging of Komodo dragon teeth reveals that they maintain their sharp cutting edges through iron-enriched coatings, a unique adaptation compared with theropod dinosaurs (for which they have previously been used as an extant model).

Extensive lysosomal damage can result in cell death but how limited protease leakage affects cytoplasmic organelles in viable cells is not well understood. Here the authors show that limited lysosomal damage leads to changes in the mitochondrial proteome and the modulation of macrophage immunometabolism.

Drivers of spatial differences in leaf phenology are not as widely studied as temporal differences. Here the authors show that the spatial variation of leaf unfolding in 8 deciduous tree species in Europe can be explained by local adaptation to long-term mean climate conditions.

cryoDRGN-ET is a generative neural network method for heterogeneous reconstruction of cryo-ET subtomograms. Using subtomogram tilt-series images, it can capture states diverse in both composition and conformation.

Amazonians are subject to climate shocks, but the associated health outcomes are still unclear. This study finds that rainfall variability is associated with adverse birth outcomes, especially for those most isolated and marginalized.

Analyses of 2,658 whole genomes across 38 types of cancer identify the contribution of non-coding point mutations and structural variants to driving cancer.

Ronco and colleagues analyze disaster-induced movements in the presence of floods, storms, and landslides during 2016–2021, providing empirical evidence that differential vulnerability exists and quantifying its extent. They achieve this by employing explainable machine learning techniques to model and understand internal displacement flows and patterns from observational data.

Cell-surface receptors form the front line of plant immunity. Here, the authors show that the RLP co-receptors SOBIR1 and BAK1 directly phosphorylate each other, leading to activation of the immune receptor complex in which RLCKs are differentially required for production of reactive oxygen species that play a role in resistance against Phytophthora palmivora.

With the generation of large pan-cancer whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing projects, a question remains about how comparable these datasets are. Here, using The Cancer Genome Atlas samples analysed as part of the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes project, the authors explore the concordance of mutations called by whole exome sequencing and whole genome sequencing techniques.

Climate change is impacting mountain regions and the agricultural livelihood of residents, and will continue to do so. In this study, the authors survey farmers in ten African mountain regions to understand their perceptions of climate change impacts and identify adaptation opportunities and constraints.

Natural environmental and ecological shifts impose sufficiently strong selection to drive exceptionally rapid, parallel and fluctuating adaptive tracking in a Drosophila melangaster mesocosm.

ALT cells use an alternative lengthening mechanism of telomeres and bear telomeric DNA damage with increased levels of damage-induced long non-coding RNA. Here the AUs show that antisense oligonucleotides (ASO) targeting such RNAs can induce ALT cancer cells selective cell death.

In somatic cells the mechanisms maintaining the chromosome ends are normally inactivated; however, cancer cells can re-activate these pathways to support continuous growth. Here, the authors characterize the telomeric landscapes across tumour types and identify genomic alterations associated with different telomere maintenance mechanisms.

A computationally efficient description of ice-water systems at the mesoscopic scale is challenging due to system size and timescale limitations. Here the authors develop a machine-learned coarse-grained water model to elucidate the ice nucleation process much more efficiently than previous models.

Understanding the microscopic variability of CMOS spin qubits is crucial for developing scalable quantum processors. Here the authors report a combined experimental and numerical study of the effect of interface roughness on variability of quantum dot spin qubits formed at the Si/SiO₂ interface.

The human gut contains diverse bacterial strains that are beneficial/critical for health. Here, the authors compare the response of human gut and laboratory E. coli strains to the antibiotic tetracycline in molecular detail and find a severe dysfunction of protein synthesis only in the gut strain.

Xyloglucans are polysaccharides found in plant cell walls. Here, the authors describe the xyloglucan depolymerization machinery of phytopathogenic Xanthomonas bacteria, and show that sugars released by this system induce the expression of key virulence factors driving pathogenesis.

Tighanimine et al. perform integrative time-resolved transcriptome and metabolome analysis in senescent cells and find that glycerol-3-phosphate and phosphoethanolamine accumulate and rewire lipid metabolism to promote senescence.

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.

The most common protein modification in eukaryotes is N-terminal acetylation, but its functional impact has remained enigmatic. Here, the authors find that a key role for N-terminal acetylation is shielding proteins from ubiquitin ligase-mediated degradation, mediating motility and longevity.

Single-cell proteomics needs improved workflows for reliable proteome characterization in minute samples. Here, the authors demonstrate that matching data to a higher-input sample faithfully improves proteome coverage to examine proteome response and heterogeneity in single-cell populations.

Tightness-looseness theory predicts that social norms strengthen following threat. Here the authors test this and find that, after the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, hand washing norms increased, but no evidence was observed for a robust change in most other norms.

Adult-onset leukoencephalopathy with axonal spheroids and pigmented glia is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by pathogenic CSF1R mutations. Here the authors find that microglial loss is linked to reduced myelinating oligodendrocytes, an expansion of neuropilin-2⁺ oligodendrocytes and a maladaptive stress response in astrocytes.

Brandl, Johansen et al. compare organismal traits, community structure, and productivity dynamics of cryptobenthic reef fishes across two locations, the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, the former of which harbors the world’s hottest coral reefs. They show that environmental extremes in the Arabian Gulf result in dramatically less diverse, abundant, and productive cryptobenthic fish assemblages, which could foreshadow the future of coral reef biodiversity and functioning.

The ribosome-associated complex (RAC), which contains the Hsp40 protein Zuo1 and the non-canonical Hsp70 protein Ssz1 forms a chaperone triad with the fungal-specific Hsp70 protein Ssb. Here the authors combine X-ray crystallography, crosslinking and biochemical experiments and present the structure of the Zuo1 N-terminus bound to Ssz1 and demonstrate that Ssz1 is an active chaperone for nascent chains.

The authors use stomach contents from six fish species sampled for 12 years to show that warming shifts foraging behaviour to favour consumption of less energetically rewarding prey. Using food web models, they show that this flexible foraging could lead to reduced community biodiversity.

The establishment of marine reserves in areas previously exploited by humans is recognised as an effective conservation tool. Through modelling effects of isolation from human influence, D'agata et al. show that marine reserves fall short of supporting key ecological values compared with wilderness areas.

Ocean acidification is expected to have a negative impact on calcifying organisms, however, our understanding of the acclimation potential of corals in their natural habit is currently limited. Here, the authors find that scleractinian corals living in high pCO₂ conditions cannot fully adapt the chemistry of their internal calcifying fluid compared to corals growing in ambient conditions.

European forest tree species experienced strong climatic fluctuations over Quaternary. In spite of these pronounced environmental changes, population genomic analyses reveal that major forest tree species managed to retain their evolutionary potential over the period.

Forcing people to choose quickly often changes pro-social behavior, but it is unclear why. Here, the authors show that under time pressure, people engage in incomplete information searches biased by concern (or lack thereof) for others, explaining effects often attributed to automatic processing.

A pan-cancer genomic analysis reports the effects of structural variations on chromatin domains (TADs). Most TAD disruptions do not result in appreciable changes in expression of nearby genes.