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A paper published in Nature Methods describes integrative DNA and protein tagging (iDAPT). iDAPT is a new approach for analysing both genomic (iDAPT-seq) and proteomic (iDAPT-MS) components of accessible chromatin from a single nuclear lysate.

A study in Current Biology demonstrates the use of environmental DNA to monitor the abundance and composition of airborne grass pollen on a national scale. Integration with health data can infer the effects of specific pollen types on respiratory health.

Chew et al. report in Nature Communications that short histone H2A variants are upregulated in a wide range of cancers, indicating that they become oncohistones when aberrantly expressed.

In a study in Science, Lopatkin et al. identify mutations in metabolic genes of Escherichia coli that lead to antibiotic resistance. Functional analyses of the mutations support the view that metabolic dysfunction helps pathogens escape the lethal effects of antibiotics.

In a report in Molecular Cell, Wang et al. describe genome oligopaint via local denaturation fluorescence in situ hybridization (GOLD FISH). This Cas9-superhelicase-based DNA-FISH method locally denatures DNA at physiological temperatures and provides an improved signal-to-background ratio.

Jin et al. describe a barcoding approach for analysing metastasis, which they used to generate an organ-specific metastasis map for 500 cancer cell lines.

A study in Nature Biotechnology describes Scriabin, a highly scalable framework for inference of cell–cell communication from scRNA-seq data at the level of individual cells.

A paper in Nature Communications describes a framework for identifying seed traits in food crops that have health-promoting effects on the gut microbiome, with implications for crop improvement approaches.

A comparative genomics study published in Nature Communications provides new insight into the genomic changes underlying the convergent evolution of sociality in spiders.

A paper in Nature Biotechnology describes epigenetic expression inference from cfDNA-sequencing (EPIC-seq), and demonstrates its use for non-invasive classification of cancers.

In this paper in Nature Genetics, Atkinson et al. describe Tractor, a statistical framework and software package that enables admixed populations to be included in large-scale genomics studies.

A study in Nature Communications shows that horizontal transfer of bacterial chromosomes by phage-mediated lateral transduction renders them more mobile than many classically defined mobile genetic elements, including plasmids and transposons.

Park and colleagues describe in Nature Medicine a ‘genome-first’ approach to associate rare predicted loss-of-function genetic variants from whole-exome sequencing data with clinical phenotypes from electronic health records.

A study in Nature Biotechnology describes single-cell genome and epigenome by transposases sequencing (scGET-seq), which generates euchromatin and heterochromatin profiles from the same cell, and Chromatin Velocity, a computational framework capable of predicting future epigenetic cell fate trajectories from scGET-seq data.

In this study in Molecular Cell, Clarke et al. describe a system that enables multiple Cas9-mediated genome edits to be introduced into cells in a defined, sequential order.

An article in Cell describes a multi-omic analysis of health risks from spaceflights that implicates mitochondrial stress and dysregulation as key drivers.

A study in Nature describes a new method for studying variation in meiosis. Sperm-seq is a single-cell sequencing approach that enables genome-wide analysis of multiple meiotic phenotypes in thousands of sperm simultaneously.

A study in Genome Biology uses EpiGo-KRAB to analyse the roles of H3K9me3 in genome organization and transcriptional repression and reveals the two functions may be distinct.

A study in Nature Genetics reports the first genome-wide significant loci for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and implicates biologically informative genes, such as FOXP2, as contributors to its aetiology.

A new study in Nature demonstrates that re-setting the epigenetic age of retinal ganglion cells re-establishes youthful gene expression programmes and restores vision in glaucomatous and aged mice.

Fozouni et al. describe a CRISPR–Cas13a-based approach for rapid, accurate and portable detection of SARS-CoV-2 in infected individuals.

A new study has identified genetic determinants of mosaic loss of chromosome Y (LOY) in leukocytes that are also associated with increased risk of various non-haematological cancers, suggesting LOY in blood is a biomarker of genome instability in other tissues.

During ageing, many normal human tissues become a patchwork of mutant clones. Colom et al. show that, in mutagenized mouse oesophageal epithelium, this mutational landscape arises through cell competition, with clone fitness determined by the genotype of their neighbours.

In a study in Nature Microbiology, Setoh et al. use deep mutational scanning to speed up viral evolution and identify key determinants of host tropism in Zika virus.

A study in Molecular Cell reveals how CTCF and cohesin contribute to genome organization through their roles in forming and stacking chromatin loops.

A paper in Science reports that circadian gene expression in humans is affected by sex and age, findings that might explain differential disease prevalence among these groups and have implications for treatment.

A paper in Molecular Cell reports the characterization of a second functional light strand promoter (LSP2) in the mitochondrial genome, challenging the view that mitochondrial DNA replication and gene expression are coupled by their reliance on a single light strand promoter (LSP).

A microscopy-based pooled CRISPR screening approach described in Cell enables the cellular functions of thousands of genes to be assessed at remarkable phenotypic depth.

A report in Molecular Cell identifies six new triggers of target-directed miRNA degradation, which are essential for normal Drosophila melanogaster embryogenesis.

A study in Genome Biology provides new insight into the role of DNA methylation and demethylation in regulating cell fate in early mouse embryos.

A new study in Cell has characterized genome-wide dosage sensitivity for 54 human disorders, providing insight into the causal genes and disease mechanisms associated with rare copy-number variants.

A new study in Science reports the extraction and analysis of ancient hominid nuclear DNA from Paleolithic sediments. This advance paves the way to a fuller picture of human evolution by bypassing the dependency on rare skeletal remains.

A report in Science describes in situ genome sequencing (IGS), a method that enables genomes to be simultaneously sequenced and imaged in intact samples, including early mouse embryos. IGS will facilitate insight into the relationship between genome sequence and organization.

A study in eLife identifies 71 nuclear loci associated with mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNA-CN) and reveals a putative causal role for mtDNA-CN in dementia.

A paper in Molecular Cell reports EpiDamID, a new tool for simultaneously profiling transcription and histone post-translation modifications in single cells.

Using whole-genome sequencing and haplotype tracking, Viluma et al. show that the small, highly inbred Scandinavian wolf population has lost substantial genetic diversity over a 30-year period. Their findings have important implications for the management and conservation of endangered species.

Attempts to understand the role of aneuploidy in tumorigenesis have been hampered by conflicting results. Now, two new mouse models described in Genes and Development provide evidence that chromosome instability-induced aneuploidy drives T cell lymphomagenesis.

A paper in Cell reports a chromosome-level genome assembly and methylome for the conifer Pinus tabuliformis. At 25.4 Gb, it the largest gymnosperm genome available to date and provides insight into conifer adaptation.

A study in Cell describes the discovery of a conserved set of small non-coding RNAs that are glycosylated in diverse cell types. These glycoRNAs are found at the surface of cells, where they can participate in extracellular interactions.

A report in Molecular Cell describes short capped RNA sequencing (scaRNA-seq), which is used to show that, in differentiating cells, enhancers predominantly regulate gene expression by modulating transcription initiation, and not pause release as previously supposed.

A report in Science describes a method to generate transient chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells in vivo via lipid nanoparticle-mediated T cell-targeted delivery of a CAR-encoding nucleoside-modified mRNA.

A recent study in Cell describes a developmentally important liquid-to-solid phase transition involving oskar ribonucleoprotein granules in Drosophila melanogaster oocytes.

Flotte et al. describe the first test of adeno-associated virus-based gene therapy for Tay-Sachs disease in humans. Delivery to the thalamus and cerebrospinal fluid was found to be broadly safe, providing a firm basis for future clinical trials.

Kong et al. describe 6mASCOPE, a new approach for both quantifying N⁶-methyldeoxyadenine (6mA) and discriminating its genomic source. Results indicate that eukaryotic genomes contain low levels of 6mA, with bacterial genomes accounting for the majority of 6mA in some samples.

A study in Molecular Biology and Evolution reports de novo genome sequences for 17 bumblebee species spanning all 15 subgenera. This valuable resource should provide a deeper biological understanding of these commercially and ecologically important pollinators.

A study in Science describes the generation of a lineage-resolved single-cell transcriptome atlas for Caenorhabditis elegans embryos. This resource provides insight into the transcriptional changes underlying cell fate decisions.

Pathogens are wreaking havoc on bee populations. A study in Science describes how bacteria in the guts of bees can be engineered to protect their hosts from two particular pests, deformed wing virus and Varroa mites.

An experimental evolution study published in Science demonstrates that non-additive interactions between pollinators (bumblebees) and herbivores (caterpillars) drive rapid evolution in plants.

One in four UK adults over the age of 65 suffers from loneliness. An analysis of UK Biobank data has identified 15 genomic loci associated with loneliness and reports a possible causal link between obesity and loneliness and depression.

Epigenetic clocks translate the DNA methylome into a biological age but usually work only within a species. Now, a study in Cell Systems reports a cross-species epigenetic clock that works across a number of mammals, including humans, dogs and mice.