Search

Nitrogen availability is frequently a key factor limiting plant growth, even when other conditions are favourable. Research demonstrates that via a short circuit in the terrestrial nitrogen cycle, Antarctic hair grass acquires soil nitrogen more efficiently than competing mosses, which may explain its success in a warming maritime Antarctic.

A survey of organic and conventional potato fields shows that species evenness is greater under organic management. Replicating these levels of evenness in a field trial shows that the evenness of natural enemies found in organic fields promotes pest control and increases crop biomass. This is independent of the identity of the dominant enemy species, so is a result of evenness itself.

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have potential for regenerative medicine applications, but are generated with very low efficiency. Here, the authors show highly efficient reprogramming of human primary fibroblasts to iPSCs via the synergistic activity of synthetic modified mRNAs, mature miRNA mimics, and optimized culture methods.

Cognitive decline in Huntington’s disease (HD) may be due to impaired hippocampal synaptic plasticity. In this study the authors show that AMPA receptor surface diffusion, a key player in synaptic plasticity, is deregulated in multiple HD mouse models as a result of impaired BDNF signalling that underlies the memory deficits, and can be pharmacologically rescued.

A randomized phase 2 study recently showed that the addition of ATR inhibitor berzosertib to gemcitabine improved PFS compared to gemcitabine alone in patients with ovarian cancer. In this preplanned exploratory study, the authors demonstrate that a genomic biomarker of replication-stress is associated with outcome to gemcitabine alone and may predict which patients benefit from addition of the ATR inhibitor berzosertib.

Peptide secondary metabolites have a diverse range of functions. Here the authors present a method to design and screen a large library of modified peptides in E. coli against a target of interest.

Goel et al found similar deficits in visual discrimination in humans and in a mouse model of FXS. In mice, a robust decrease in PV cell activity mediated this impairment, suggesting that manipulating inhibition may improve sensory processing in FXS.

There is an urgent need for novel strategies to combat life-threatening fungal infections. Here, Revie et al. identify a compound that induces alterations in fungal membranes, synergizes with azole antifungals against the pathogen Candida albicans, and inhibits virulence traits and biofilm formation in animal models of infection.

Abdel-Wahab and colleagues perform immunophenotyping of AML cells to identify AML-specific surface antigens and show that the RNA helicase U5 snRNP200 represents a therapeutic target for antibody therapy with optimized Fc receptor binding.

Hepatitis A virus exits hepatocytes cloaked in exosomes. While the syndecan–syntenin–ALIX exosome biogenesis pathway promotes its basolateral release, human strains evolved to bypass it thus evading host antiviral pressure.

Engineering cleavage sites into gas vesicle proteins enables protease-responsive regulation of gas vesicle mechanics and activates them as ultrasound contrast agents for imaging applications in cells and living mice.

Tumor-reactive T cell receptors are predicted based on single-cell RNA sequencing and single-cell T cell receptor sequencing.

James Brugarolas and colleagues identify recurrent BAP1 mutations in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). They show that BAP1 binds to HCF-1 and suppresses cell proliferation, and they find that BAP1 loss is associated with high tumor grade.

Ganuza et al. track newly specified blood progenitors in the dorsal aorta of the mouse embryo and demonstrate that they are polyclonal in origin and that hundreds of mesodermal, endothelial and blood precursors establish lifelong haematopoiesis.

Fine-scale synchrony of neural activity determines the nature of neural coding, but its underlying mechanisms are unclear. Here the authors find that coincident electrical and chemical synaptic inputs are nonlinearly integrated in overlapping retinal ganglion cell dendrites to produce synchronous spiking.

The authors show that tau can be released by neurons and transferred to other neurons via the extracellular space. Moreover, they show that enhancing neuronal activity accelerates transneuronal tau propagation and exacerbates tau pathology.

The canonical transcription factor ERG promotes degradation of a subset of mRNAs linked to mitotic progression by recruiting the CCR4–NOT deadenylation complex, thus revealing a new regulatory interplay between mRNA synthesis and degradation.

Comprehensive analysis of epigenetic regulation demonstrates a series of complex, interacting chromatin mechanisms by which chronic exposure to opiates downregulates Bdnf gene transcription in the ventral tegmental area. This regulatory cascade is also shown to play a role in controlling opiate-induced behavioral plasticity.

A diverse collection of potent neutralizing antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein have been isolated from five patients with severe COVID-19 and high serum neutralization titres.

This study shows that the memory deficit caused by amyloid fibrils in rodents is mediated, in part, by neuroinflammation leading to histone modification via alteration of the interaction between HDAC2 and methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2) and resulting epigenetic modification of the neuroligin 1 promoter, causing a reduction in neuroligin 1 expression in neurons.

Analysis of the hydrolysis kinetics of strigolactone receptors using enzyme-activated fluorescent probes revealed that the catalytic triad histidine of the receptor forms a covalent interaction with the strigolactone hydrolysis product, the D ring.

Alopecia areata (AA) is a common autoimmune disease with a known genetic component. Here, the authors analyse 3,253 AA patients and 7,543 healthy controls, and identify two new risk loci and disrupted immune response pathways associated with the disease.

The authors find that GABA_AR-mediated tonic currents recorded in rodent cerebellar granules cells can be modulated by ethanol in opposite directions in different strains exhibiting opposite preferences in alcohol consumption. These differences in ethanol sensitivity across strains are linked to differential levels of expression of presynaptic neuronal nitric oxide synthase and postsynaptic PKC activity.

Optogenetic suppression of layer 4 in the sensory cortex reveals a surprising role for its activity in the cortical microcircuit: layer 4 suppresses the main cortical output layer—layer 5—through a direct translaminar inhibitory circuit. This translaminar inhibition sharpens spatial representations in the somatosensory cortex.

New insights are offered that may offer a treatment for the bone defects in patients with neurofibromatosis type-1.

A single-cell Western (scWestern) blotting technique allows quantitative measurements of up to 11 protein targets from ~2,000 individual cells in under 4 hours, expanding single-cell heterogeneity studies to the proteome.

Ali Gharavi and colleagues report a genome-wide association analysis of IgA nephropathy in over 20,000 individuals of European and East Asian ancestry. They identify genome-wide significant signals at three new loci near VAV3, CARD9 and ITGAM-ITGAX and correlations between genetic risk and pathogen diversity.

Mitochondrial fission and fusion are important mechanisms to maintain mitochondrial function. Here, the authors report that middle-aged flies have more elongated, or ‘hyper-fused’ mitochondria, and show that induction of mitochondrial fission in midlife, but not in early life, extends the health and life of flies.

MicroRNA-29 is known to reduce collagen production in fibroblasts thereby inhibiting fibrosis in various organs. Here, Sassi et al. show that miR-29 can also enhance fibrotic signalling and pathological hypertrophy of the heart through its action in cardiomyocytes.

Morphological and experimental analyses of seal lice reveal a unique spiracle-closing system and exclude plastron use, suggesting cuticular and pigment-based respiration with limited tracheal oxygen storage as adaptations for prolonged dives.