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Profiling phenotype switching in melanoma. Wouters et al. perform large-scale gene expression analysis in patient samples and identify transcriptional networks that modulate the intermediate cell state and ultimate mesenchymal switching in melanoma.

Most cyanobacteria are oxygenic photoautotrophs, and fermenters under dark anoxic conditions. Here, the authors analyse genomic sequences of related uncultivated bacteria, inferring their metabolic potential, and supporting that their common ancestor was an anaerobe capable of fermentation and H₂ metabolism.

Oestrogen negative breast cancer is associated with a poor prognosis. In this study, the authors perform a meta-analysis of 11 breast cancer genome-wide association studies and identify four new loci associated with oestrogen negative breast cancer risk. These findings may aid in stratifying patients in the clinic.

Specific deletion of group 2 innate lymphoid cells in mice shows these cells have roles in the recruitment of eosinophils and in mounting immune and epithelial type 2 responses.

A cross-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analysis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) including 29,612 patients with ALS and 122,656 controls identifies 15 risk loci with distinct genetic architectures and neuron-specific biology.

The Wnt pathway is one of the core de-regulated pathways in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and is activated in only a subset of patients; however, no universal drivers of the disease have been identified. Here the authors show that Notch2 and β-catenin pathways are the main drivers of the pro-survival bidirectional crosstalk between stromal cells and leukemic cells.

The improper timing of transforming growth factor-β production is a hallmark of severe COVID-19 that may impede natural killer cell function and early control of infection.

Production of hydrogen via the photocatalytic reduction of water is an attractive source of energy, but the catalysts are often expensive and possess little room for modification. Here, the authors show that covalent organic frameworks can be tuned for optimal photocatalytic performance.

Single-cell RNA-seq and CITE-seq were used to profile the glioblastoma immune landscape in humans and mice, revealing the diversity and dynamics of tumor macrophages as the disease progresses from initial diagnosis to recurrence.

The evolutionary history of pigs in Africa is unclear. Here, the authors examine 67 whole genomes, finding incomplete speciation between bushpigs and red river hogs as well as evidence suggesting that humans brought bushpigs to Madagascar 1000-5000 years ago.

Using the FANTOM5 CAGE expression atlas, the authors show that bidirectional capped RNAs are a signature feature of active enhancers and identify over 40,000 enhancer candidates from over 800 human cell and tissue samples across the whole human body.

Traumatic brain injury is associated with changes to the metabolome. Here the authors show that acute traumatic brain injury has distinctive serum metabolic patterns which may suggest protective changes of systemic lipid metabolism aiming to maintain lipid homeostasis in the brain.

The impact of late Pleistocene climate change on ecosystems has been hard to assess. Here, the authors sequence ancient DNA from Hall’s Cave, Texas and find that both plant and vertebrate diversity decreased with cooling, and though plant diversity recovered with rewarming, megafauna went extinct.

An intricately linked homeostasis exists between the gut microbiome and host immune system. Scheffold and colleagues show that intestinal T_reg cells upregulate the transcription factor c-Maf in response to specific signals from the gut microenvironment to establish host–microbiota homeostasis.

Here, using an integrative experimental and computational approach, Imle et al. show how cell motility and density affect HIV cell-associated transmission in a three-dimensional tissue-like culture system of CD4⁺ T cells and collagen, and how different collagen matrices restrict infection by cell-free virions.

Anticipation helps to prioritise the processing of task-relevant sensory targets over irrelevant distractors. Here the authors analyse visual EEG responses and show that anticipation may do so by enhancing the neural representation of the target and by delaying the interference caused by distractors that follow closely in time.

geNomad identifies mobile genetic elements in sequencing data.

A region on chromosome 19p13 is associated with the risk of developing ovarian and breast cancer. Here, the authors genotyped SNPs in this region in thousands of breast and ovarian cancer patients and identified SNPs associated with three genes, which were analysed with functional studies.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play a role in intercellular communication, however the precise biogenesis of different populations of EVs are not clear. Here, the authors follow the intracellular trafficking of two proteins before their secretion in EVs and report the biogenesis and protein markers of EV subtypes: ectosomes budding from the plasma membrane as well as exosomes from late endosomes.

Disparate modes of suppression of the let-7 microRNA family are selectively and inversely related in neuroblastoma.

Although long-term kidney allograft failure is broadly classified as T cell- or antibody-mediated, this dichotomy is not always apparent in all patients, highlighting the need for improved allograft tissue characterisation. Here, the authors use single-cell RNA sequencing and multiplex imaging for transcriptomic and spatial profiling of allograft tissue from patients experiencing different degrees of rejection severity.

Previous studies identified an association between the 2q35 locus and breast cancer. Here, the authors show that a SNP at 2q35, rs4442975, is associated with oestrogen receptor positive disease and suggest that this effect is mediated through the downregulation of a known breast cancer gene, IGFBP5.

Alison Dunning, Stacey Edwards and colleagues analyze 3,872 common variants across the ESR1 locus in 118,816 women. They find five independent variants within regulatory regions that associate with different breast cancer–related phenotypes and regulate the expression of ESR1, RMND1 and CCDC170.

Switching target protein accumulation and activity by portable conditional degrons is potentially useful for both basic research and bioengineering. Here the authors present a versatile system to tune protein levels in live animals and plants using a temperature-sensitive N-end rule degradation signal.

CEP63 is a centrosomal protein that is mutated in the microcephaly disease Seckel syndrome. Here the authors disrupt Cep63 in the mouse and find that neural progenitor cells undergo p53-dependent cell death, and uncover a role for CEP63 in ensuring correct meiotic recombination in male gametes.

Advanced ecological modelling reveals how Sahul (Australia and New Guinea) was first peopled, suggesting the most probable routes and surprisingly rapid early settlement of this continent by anatomically modern humans starting 50,000 to 75,000 years ago.

Bone is the second most common metastatic site in patients presenting with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Bisphosphonates have been approved to reduce bone pain and the risk of skeletal-related events (SREs) in such patients; however, new research suggests bisphosphonates do not improve survival or prevent development of SREs.

Little is known about viral-host interactions in the continental subsurface. Here, the authors use a combination of metagenomics, fluorescence in situ hybridization, and electron microscopy to show infections of abundant C-fixing subsurface archaea by lytic viruses.

3D printing offers flexibility in fabrication of polymer objects but fabrication of large polymer structures with micrometer-sized geometrical features are challenging. Here, the authors introduce a method combining advantages of 3D printing and polymerization-induced phase separation, which enables formation of 3D polymer structures with controllable inherent porosity.

A compendium of Omnitrophota genomes is coupled with cell size and qSIP analyses to predict the physiology and lifestyle of this enigmatic phylum.

During a pandemic, trust in leaders is affected by how they resolve moral dilemmas. Across 22 countries, leaders’ endorsement of instrumental harm reduced public trust, while endorsement of impartial beneficence increased trust.

Using stereolithography 3D printers, a silica nanocomposite is shaped and then fused to produce non-porous, very smooth, highly transparent fused silica glass components.

Wickström and colleagues describe how mechanical forces applied to epidermal stem cells lead to relocation of emerin to the nuclear envelope and reduced nuclear actin levels, resulting in chromatin changes that influence lineage commitment.

A dust impact event detected by the ROSINA mass spectrometer towards the end of the Rosetta mission brings evidence of the presence of ammonium salts in comets. Ammonium salts can store enough nitrogen to explain the observed nitrogen depletion in comets and may have a role in amino acid formation.

A machine learning approach was used to recover over 10,000 inovirus-like sequences from existing microbial genomes and metagenomes, consequently proposing the reclassification of the Inoviridae family to a viral order, and uncover the previously unrecognized diversity of these viruses across hosts and environments.

Memory B cells are important for protecting the host from pathogen rechallenge, but their properties and locations remain ill-defined. Here the authors show, using single-cell transcriptomics and repertoire analyses, that mouse spleen and bone marrow host distinct populations of isotype-switched memory B cells to potentially optimize for rapid recall responses.

Our current understanding of the demographic history of Greenland relies on preserved fossils. Here, the authors sequence ancient DNA from four midden deposits and find a prominent role for caribou, walrus and whale species in Paleo-Inuit cultures not evident from the fossil record.