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Understanding the genetic factors that regulate panicle architecture is important for improving rice yields. In this study, Li et al. demonstrate that the gene PTB1is critical for regulating panicle seed setting rate and pollen tube growth.

Sequencing the genome and microbiome of about 1,500 tick samples from regions across China revealed host–microbe associations in ticks that could have implications for controlling ticks and tick-borne diseases.

Genome-scale engineering is generally limited to single methods of alteration such as overexpression, repression or deletion. Here the authors present a tri-functional CRISPR system that can engineer complex synergistic interactions in a genome-wide manner.

The efficacy of anticancer gene therapy varies by the delivery efficiency of the mRNA cargo as well as their injection method. Here this group reports using LNP-delivered mRNA encoding 3 C protease treated on three different types of solid tumor models showing effective tumor growth inhibition, with three different injection methods, respectively.

Here, the authors evaluate the neutralization susceptibilities of BA.2.86 and JN.1 and determine the structural basis for binding to the ACE2 receptor and monoclonal neutralizing antibodies, revealing their evolution and antibody evasion mechanism.

A graph-based peanut pangenome constructed using 6 newly assembled and 2 previously published genomes and 269 resequenced accessions highlights the contribution of structural variants to pod size.

Two-electron water oxidation is an important strategy to generate H2O2 but it often requires carbonate electrolyte that will often limit its further application. Cu₂(OH)₂CO₃ tablet electrode is found to be able to efficiently produce hydrogen peroxide in noncarbonate electrolyte by a crystal OH mediating pathway.

Designing novel molecules with desired bioactivity is a critical challenge in drug discovery, particularly for novel or understudied targets. The authors propose a pharmacophore-guided deep learning approach PGMG to generate diverse active-like molecules with limited activity data.

Porphyrins are produced at scale through metabolic engineering and optimization of CPIII purification.

Jumonji domain-containing histone demethylases regulate flowering in plants. Here Zheng et al. show that Arabidopsis JMJ13 is an H3K27me3 demethylase that recognizes H3K27me3 via hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions and affects both photoperiod and temperature-dependent flowering responses.

Goronzy and colleagues examine differences in naive CD4⁺ T cells from young and older adults to TCR stimulation. They find reduced HELIOS expression in the elderly, resulting in increased CD25 expression and activation of pSTAT5 in FOXP3⁻ T cells. This scenario favors generation of short-lived effector T cells over memory cell populations.

Release of the zero-COVID policy in China in late 2022 led to two large Omicron-driven waves of infection in 2023. Here, the authors analyze virus genomes and serology data from before and after the two waves and describe changes in virus lineage distribution and age-specific antibody responses.

Mitigation efforts to protect agricultural productivity against flooding focus on areas with high-frequency floods. However, agricultural regions with low-frequency floods experience a larger proportion of flood impacts, highlighting the urgency of prioritizing mitigation efforts in these regions.

The Kondo effect has been observed in transition metal dichalcogenides, where it typically stems from magnetic impurities. Here the authors report the Kondo effect in a heterodimensional superlattice VS₂-VS, where dimensionality effects on intrinsic magnetic properties play a major role.

Not all megakaryocytes are created equal, with sub-populations identified that generate platelets and differentially regulate blood stem cells. These sub-populations, conserved in humans, are important in treating blood and clotting disorders.

The thermoelectric material Mg₃Bi₂ is shown to be ductile in single-crystal form along certain directions, with a room-temperature tensile strain of 100%, which is attributed to the gliding of dislocations.

Modifying plant lignin pathway to enhance saccharification efficiency is often associated with growth penalty. Here, the authors show that overexpression of Pag-miR408 in poplar leads to enhanced saccharification efficiency and growth in both laboratory and field conditions, and laccase genes are the targets of Pag-miR408.

Lithium metal batteries suffer from the dendrite growth upon electrochemical cycling. Here the authors introduce a lithiophilic-lithiophobic gradient interfacial ZnO/CNT layer, which facilitates the formation of a stable solid electrolyte interphase, and suppresses the growth of lithium dendrite.

Porous carbons with high specific surface area and electronic conductivity are of interest for their electron and ion transport ability. Here authors use ultra-high temperature reactions of Li metal and polytetrafluoroethylene to make graphitized porous carbon for electrochemical energy storage.

Cilia project from cells to serve sensory functions, and ciliary disruption can result in multiple disorders known as ciliopathies. Here the authors show that the ciliopathy gene TCTN1 functions to regulate the ciliary transition zone and ectosome formation.

An automated deep-learning pipeline for chest-X-ray-image standardization, lesion visualization and disease diagnosis can identify viral pneumonia caused by COVID-19, assess its severity, and discriminate it from other types of pneumonia.

A new procedure for cataract removal that preserves lens epithelial progenitor cells in mammals, which require Pax6 and Bmi1 for their self-renewal, achieves lens regeneration in rabbits, macaques and in infants with cataracts.

Sequencing of haploid sugarcane, Saccharum spontaneum, allows assembly of a prototypical version of the sugarcane chromosome set. This new reference genome will serve as a resource to accelerate sugarcane improvement.

Tao Cheng, Qian-fei Wang, Gang Huang and colleagues identify recurrent somatic loss-of-function mutations in SETD2 in individuals with acute leukemia. SETD2 encodes a histone H3K36 methyltransferase, and loss of SETD2 function causes global loss of H3K36 trimethylation and promotes leukemia stem cell self renewal.

p63 and PAX6 act to specify limbal stem or progenitor cells (LSCs), and WNT7A controls corneal epithelium differentiation through PAX6; loss of WNT7A or PAX6 induces LSCs into epithelium, and transduction of PAX6 in skin epithelial stem cells converts them to LSC-like cells and transplantation in a rabbit corneal injury model can replenish corneal epithelial cells and repair damaged corneal surface.