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Seed traits are critical for soybean yield and quality. Here, the authors report a NF-YA transcription factor gene SW14 regulates soybean seed traits without affecting other agronomic traits by inhibiting GmLEC1-mediated transcriptional activation.

Aqueous two-phase systems have potential as biomimetic materials, but often lack stability and are prone to collapse. Here, the authors use interfacial assembly of chitin nanofibres and cellulose nanocrystals to prepare a biobased system with permeability and switchable motility.

A single umbilical cord blood unit of CD34⁺ HSPCs produces a high number of CD19 CAR-iNK cells using a modified cell culture method.

A super-pangenome analysis incorporating 123 newly sequenced bryophyte genomes reveals that bryophytes exhibit a larger number of unique and lineage-specific gene families than vascular plants.

This study introduces WinnowNet, a deep learning-based method incorporating curriculum learning to enhance peptide identification in metaproteomics. WinnowNet consistently outperforms existing tools across diverse datasets, offering improved insights into microbial communities.

Hydrocephalus, a disorder characterized by cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) overproduction and impaired blood-CSF barrier function, lacks effective non-invasive treatments. Here, authors show that a multi-functional nanomedicine (siR/RSV@TNP) combining anti-inflammatory resveratrol and SPAK siRNA restores blood-CSF barrier integrity, reduces CSF overproduction, and prevents hydrocephalus in mice, offering a promising therapeutic strategy.

The impact of global change-related stressors on microbial communities is poorly studied. Here, the authors use mesocosm experiments to show that combined environmental stressors such as nutrient and pesticide loading disrupt freshwater viral communities and virus-host interactions even when single stressors do not.

SOX2 is known to be oncogenic in squamous cell carcinomas. Here, the authors demonstrate that SOX2 promotes global histone acetylation and reprograms lipid metabolism in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cells.

To bypass the limitations of detergents, Ren et al. developed peptide scaffolds that extract membrane proteins directly into lipid nanodiscs, preserving the native environment for structural and functional studies of previously inaccessible membrane protein complexes

A guided diffusion model - DiffGui is designed here to generate molecules conditioned on protein targets. It simultaneously models both atoms and bonds with molecular property guidance, producing structurally realistic and high potential compounds.

Federated learning (FL) algorithms have emerged as a promising solution to train models for healthcare imaging across institutions while preserving privacy. Here, the authors describe the Federated Tumor Segmentation (FeTS) challenge for the decentralised benchmarking of FL algorithms and evaluation of Healthcare AI algorithm generalizability in real-world cancer imaging datasets.

The prevalence of mutations that can predispose to pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains unclear, especially in underrepresented populations. Here, the authors create a germline mutation map of 1,123 Chinese PDAC patients and compare them to cohorts from other populations, finding CFTR as a potential driver.

Artificial intelligence-based detection of gastric cancer at different stages from noncontrast computed tomography is suggested to be feasible in a retrospective analysis of large and diverse cohorts, including real-world populations in opportunistic and targeted screening scenarios.

The dilute CO₂ electrocatalysis suffers from low selectivity in membrane electrode assembly. Here, the authors report the design of self-reinforced CO₂ concentration gradient that breaks CO₂ mass transport limit, realizing direct and selective conversion of simulated flue gas in membrane electrode assembly.

Pharmacologic inhibition of dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) shows limited efficacy in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) models. Here the authors find that targeting the anti-apoptotic protein BCL-XL synergizes with DHODH inhibition in promoting apoptosis in PDAC cells, patient-derived organoids, and PDAC mouse models.

Polysubstituted arenes are ubiquitous structural cores in natural products and drugs but their synthesis through programmable arene modification remains a challenge. Now, a palladium- and norbornene-catalysed Catellani-type reaction of aryl ketones, through successive acylation and deacylation, allows the synthesis of polysubstituted arenes.

Macrocyclic compounds hold promise as therapeutic agents, yet their structural optimization is hindered by a scarcity of bioactive candidates. Here, the authors present CycleGPT, a generative chemical language model that enhances macrocycle design through innovative transfer learning and sampling strategies, leading to potent JAK2 inhibitors with promising in vivo efficacy.

Developing facile and direct synthesis routes for enantioselective construction of cyclic π-conjugated molecules is crucial but the chirality orginiating from the distorted structure around heptagon-containing polyarenes is largely overlooked. Herein the authors present a highly enantioselective synthesis for fabrication of all carbon heptagon-containing polyarenes via palladium-catalyzed carbene-based cross–coupling of benzyl bromides and N-arylsulfonylhydrazones.

Abiotic methylation triggered by plastic debris can occur independently of light conditions and therefore drive methylmercury formation in dark waters, according to an experimental study combined with density functional theory calculations.

Authors present a bispecific antiviral design targeting the virus and the host that simultaneously offers broad-spectrum protection against multiple existing transmissible human-pathogenic coronaviruses, including the Paxlovid-resistant SARS-CoV-2 mutants.

Self-assembly is attractive for constructing plasmonic nanomaterials with high chiroptical activity. Here, the authors show how chiral self-assembly of achiral gold nanodumbbells yields stable, homochiral assemblies with an asymmetry factor up to 0.23.

Immunoglobulin A (IgA) is an important part of the mucosal immune response. Here, the authors show that an intestinal commensal protist can enhance mucosal IgA production upon vaccination and that this involves the accumulation of free arachidonic acid in the intestinal lumen.

The ability to form pores in the plasma membrane of host airway epithelial cells is a common feature of many structurally diverse allergens that induce type 2 immune responses by stimulating IL-33 release and causing Ca²⁺ influx.

A high-peak-power low-duty-cycle pulsed fibre laser enables stimulated Brillouin scattering microscopy with pixel dwell times as low as 0.2 ms and spatial resolution as low as 500 nm and 2 μm in the lateral and axial directions, respectively.

This work proposes a zirconate titanate-based optical memristor that integrates non-volatility and ultrafast modulation within a single device, bridging the gap between high-speed photonics and nonvolatile memory, demonstrating the potential applications in a broad spectrum of scenarios.

The authors present a 3.5-million-year-long pollen record from the Zoige Basin of the eastern Tibetan Plateau, 3,442 m above sea level. The ~5,000 pollen assemblages retrieved from the core reveal many ecosystem transitions during this time and, when correlated with climatic curves, indicate what effects future warming may have on regional vegetation.

The understanding of the “enhanced permeability retention” (EPR) effect which enables cancer nanocarriers to penetrate solid tumors remains controversial. Here this group evaluates a range of intravenously injectable lipid-coated mesoporous silica nanoparticles exploring the role of proteins attached to the surface of nanoparticles in transcytosis-dominant cancer drug delivery.

Injectable hydrogels are being explored for Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) therapy, but most existing injectable hydrogels address only specific aspects of the RA pathological microenvironment. Here, the authors report an injectable bioadhesive and lubricating hydrogel, that prevents cartilage wear, provides long-term anti-inflammatory effects, and repairs damaged cartilage for RA therapy.

Acute stress activates autophagy in the lateral habenula, whereas chronic stress suppresses it, with this autophagy having a causal role in maintaining emotional homeostasis against stress, and its restoration through autophagy enhancers offers a novel antidepressant strategy.

Asymmetric multicomponent reactions that aim to control multiple chiral centers with high selectivity in a single step remain an ongoing challenge. Here, the authors present a photoredox- and chromium-catalyzed enantioselective three-component (hetero)arylalkylation of 1,3-dienes through C-H functionalization.

The high performance of two-dimensional (2D) channel membranes is generally achieved by preparing ultrathin or forming short channels with less tortuous transport through self-assembly of small flakes. Here, the authors report the construction of vertical channels in graphene oxide membranes based on a substrate template with asymmetric pores demonstrating high flux and metal ion rejection.

The quasi-two-dimensional antiferromagnet Co_1/3NbS₂ was recently reported to have a significant anomalous Hall effect. However, its controversial spin configuration has presented challenges in understanding the physical mechanism behind the AHE. Here, through an array of experimental probes, Gu, Peng and coauthors verify an intrinsic k-space Berry curvature as origin of the spontaneous Hall effect, and elucidate the domain-related magnetic reversal behaviours.

Water dissociation has proven power in tuning the behaviors of electrochemical CO₂ reduction. Here, the authors report the spontaneous water dissociation capability of the intermetallic electride LaCu_0.67Si_1.33 material that enables high rate electrosynthesis of methane from CO₂.

The carboazidation of olefins represents an effective strategy to introduce both carbon and nitrogen substituents into hydrocarbons, but asymmetric versions of this reaction remain elusive. Now, an iron-catalysed asymmetric radical carboazidation is introduced that yields chiral halogenated organoazides in high enantiomeric ratios.

Polar skyrmions are a topological polarization texture. While they have now been detected in numerous material systems, near universally these have required careful strain engineering. Here, Xue, Zhang, Zheng, Tong, Wang and coauthors observe polar skyrmions in the van der Waals ferroelectric CuInP2S6, without strain-engineering.

Chiral aliphatic amine and alcohol derivatives are difficult to access due to the challenge to differentiate between spatially and electronically similar alkyl groups. Here the authors show a nickel-catalyzed enantioselective hydroalkylation of acyl enamines and enol esters with alkyl halides to afford enantioenriched α-branched aliphatic acyl amines and esters in good yields with excellent enantioselectivity.

Switchable structural and physical bistability in ferroelectric materials can be achieved as result of molecular orbital breaking. Here, the authors describe the photo-mediated bistability in organosilicon Schiff base ferroelectric crystals for the modulation of dielectric, second-harmonic generation, and ferroelectric polarization and showing good in vitro biocompatibility.

The authors report a catalyst featuring Rh-Zn dual sites in a MoS₂ lattice integrated with TiO₂ for the photocatalytic carbonylation of CH₄ with CO and O₂ to CH₃COOH with a high productivity of 152.0 μmol g_cat.⁻¹ h⁻¹ and selectivity of 96.5%.