Search

Lewis acid additive semicarbazide hydrochloride improves the formation of α-phase FAPbI₃-based films and promotes a homogeneous vertical distribution of A-site cations through a deprotonation–reprotonation process. The upgraded device performance reaches up to 26.12% with high stability, and mini-module perovskite solar cells achieving 21.47% (area, 11.52 cm²) demonstrate great scalability.

An investigation on Lewis acids reveals a mechanism for p-type doping of semiconducting polymers based on the formation of water–Lewis acid complexes, protonation of the polymer and electron transfer between neutral and charged chain segments.

In nature, enzymes can orchestrate the combination of several different catalytic species, but mimicking this with synthetic catalysts is often problematic due to undesirable interactions between the catalysts. Here, an N-heterocyclic carbene and a Lewis acid cooperate to catalyse the efficient formation of γ-lactams.

A study of several longitudinal birth cohorts and cross-sectional cohorts finds only moderate overlap in genetic variants between autism that is diagnosed earlier and that diagnosed later, so they may represent aetiologically different conditions.

NatD is an acetyltransferase responsible for N-α-terminal acetylation of the histone H4 and H2A and has been linked to cell growth. Here the authors show that NatD-mediated acetylation of histone H4 serine 1 competes with the phosphorylation by CK2α at the same residue thus leading to the upregulation of Slug and tumor progression.

Analysis combining multiple global tree databases reveals that whether a location is invaded by non-native tree species depends on anthropogenic factors, but the severity of the invasion depends on the native species diversity.

Distinguishing between different proteins that each bind to the same type of glycan is challenging. Here, the authors demonstrate that an enzymatically synthesised library of Lewis^x ‘glycofluoroforms’ that feature site-specific fluorination can discriminate closely related proteins.

The pros and pitfalls of partnering in science, with insights from researchers and beyond.

The pros and pitfalls of collaboration, with insights from researchers and beyond.

N-glycosylation is vital for biological processes but difficult to analyse. Here, the authors introduce a scalable method to profile N-glycans across 20 mouse tissues, revealing tissue-specific glycosylation patterns and novel N-glycan structures, offering new insights into glycobiology.

In this Stage 2 Registered Report, Buchanan et al. show evidence confirming the phenomenon of semantic priming across speakers of 19 diverse languages.

The authors report a meta-analysis of methylome-wide association studies, identifying 15 significant CpG sites linked to major depression, revealing associations with inflammatory markers and suggesting potential causal relationships through Mendelian randomization analysis.

The uptake of ammonia by a covalent–organic framework (COF) containing a high density of Lewis-acidic boron sites has been found to be significantly greater than that exhibited by other state-of-the-art porous materials. The ammonia can be removed by heating under vacuum and the structural integrity of the COF is maintained during adsorption/desorption cycles.

A study by Tajadura-Ortega et al. uses glycan microarrays to reveal how vaginal microbiota interacts with host glycans, offering insights into how glycan interactions influence bacterial colonization and competition.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), a diverse range of membrane-delimited particles, have multiple cellular functions and, when released by cancer cells, can promote tumour growth and metastatic dissemination. The authors of this Review describe advances in the development of EVs as biomarkers and cancer therapeutics, focusing on clinical translation of EVs into diagnostic and therapeutic clinical tools.

A wireless, minimally invasive emergency rescue device is developed for the active burst-release of stable particulate forms of peptide and hormone drugs into subcutaneous sites in mice.

Meningeal immunity represents an emerging focus in neuroimmune interactions with implications for vaccine development. Here, the authors review how insights from meningeal immunity are being integrated into vaccine innovation, with implications for treating CNS tumors, infectious diseases, and age-related neuroinflammation.

An analysis of 24,202 critical cases of COVID-19 identifies potentially druggable targets in inflammatory signalling (JAK1), monocyte–macrophage activation and endothelial permeability (PDE4A), immunometabolism (SLC2A5 and AK5), and host factors required for viral entry and replication (TMPRSS2 and RAB2A).

Halogen bonding is known to get stronger with increasing halogen polarizability, but some trends of the periodic table break down for heavy elements owing to relativistic effects. Now, through distribution coefficient measurements and relativistic quantum mechanical calculations, AtI has been shown to form stronger halogen bonds than I₂—meaning that astatine conforms to the trend.

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.

Puan and San Luis et al. find that FUT6, encoding a fucosyltransferase, is required for the “rolling” behavior of certain white blood cells that enables them to move from blood vessels to tissues. They show that FUT6 deficiency leads to a loss of the tetrasaccharide sLex on the surface of basophils, resulting in cells that are less sticky and therefore less able to form the necessary adhesions for exiting the blood vessel to drive the allergic reaction.

A global network of researchers was formed to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity; this paper reports 13 genome-wide significant loci and potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection.

The flagship paper of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium describes the generation of the integrative analyses of 2,658 cancer whole genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types, the structures for international data sharing and standardized analyses, and the main scientific findings from across the consortium studies.

Due to a paucity of terrestrial data, knowledge of the size of the East Antarctic ice sheet in the past is limited. Here, the authors present isotope data of sulfates from the Lewis Cliff Ice Tongue moraine, which suggest temporary existence of ice-free conditions in central Antarctica since the Miocene.

Species’ traits and environmental conditions determine the abundance of tree species across the globe. Here, the authors find that dominant tree species are taller and have softer wood compared to rare species and that these trait differences are more strongly associated with temperature than water availability.

Understanding deregulation of biological pathways in cancer can provide insight into disease etiology and potential therapies. Here, as part of the PanCancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) consortium, the authors present pathway and network analysis of 2583 whole cancer genomes from 27 tumour types.

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.

Despite the abundance and non-toxic nature of sodium, organosodium reagents have rarely been used in organic synthesis. Now iron-catalysed homocoupling and C(sp²)–C(sp³) cross-coupling reactions of arylsodium compounds are reported. The observed C(sp²)–C(sp³) cross-coupling reactivity of arylsodium reagents is enabled by Lewis donor additive N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylethylenediamine.

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.

Whole-genome sequencing data from more than 2,500 cancers of 38 tumour types reveal 16 signatures that can be used to classify somatic structural variants, highlighting the diversity of genomic rearrangements in cancer.

Analysis of cancer genome sequencing data has enabled the discovery of driver mutations. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium the authors present DriverPower, a software package that identifies coding and non-coding driver mutations within cancer whole genomes via consideration of mutational burden and functional impact evidence.

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.

An analysis of 2,954 genomes from 38 cancer subtypes identified 19,166 retrotransposition events in 35% of samples. Aberrant LINE-1 retrotranspositions can lead to the deletion of tumor-suppressor genes as well as the amplification of oncogenes.

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 authors present SVclone, a computational method for inferring the cancer cell fraction of structural variants from whole-genome sequencing data.

Multi-omics datasets pose major challenges to data interpretation and hypothesis generation owing to their high-dimensional molecular profiles. Here, the authors develop ActivePathways method, which uses data fusion techniques for integrative pathway analysis of multi-omics data and candidate gene discovery.

In this study the authors consider the structural variants (SVs) present within cancer cases of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium. They report hundreds of genes, including known cancer-associated genes for which the nearby presence of a SV breakpoint is associated with altered expression.

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.

Here, the authors combine isolation and sequencing of bacteria from both mothers and infants and to show that several microbial strains are commonly transferred, including from the genus Bifidobacterium, with factors that influencing transfer including delivery mode and exposure to antibiotics in labour.