Search

This study on respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) reveals global genomic gaps. Using INFORM-RSV data, it uncovers selection’s impact on RSVA and RSVB diversity. Analysing full genomes, it highlights non-neutral epidemic processes. The research emphasises air travel’s influence on global spread, underscoring the need for comprehensive RSV genomic surveillance.

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a causative agent of meningitis and bacteremia. In a combined pathogen and host GWAS, Lees et al. find that host genetic variation is associated with both susceptibility and severity of pneumococcal meningitis, and specific bacterial genetic variation associated with susceptibility.

A hybrid analogue–digital quantum simulator is used to demonstrate beyond-classical performance in benchmarking experiments and to study thermalization phenomena in an XY quantum magnet, including the breakdown of Kibble–Zurek scaling predictions and signatures of the Kosterlitz–Thouless phase transition.

The International Strawberry Sequencing Consortium reports the draft genome of the woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca). The genome of this diploid species should serve as a reference genome for the Fragaria genus, as the cultivated strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) is an octoploid where F. vesca is predicted to be a subgenome donor.

A nanoparticle-based immunotherapy targeted to a protein responsible for signalling between monocytes and macrophages reduces plaque inflammation in atherosclerotic mice and appears to be safe in non-human primates.

By integrating DNA genotype and RNA sequencing data from human samples, d’Escamard et al. identify a gene regulatory co-expression supernetwork that plays an important role in fibromuscular dysplasia, a poorly understood disease affecting 3–5% of adult females.

Trans-ancestry genome-wide analyses identify multiple loci associated with ascending aortic diameter. A polygenic score constructed from these loci predicted prevalent risk of thoracic aortic aneurysm in independent populations.

Ju et al. show that during three-dimensional cell migration, compression recruits cytoplasmic linker-associated proteins to microtubules; these stabilized microtubules then coordinate nuclear positioning and contractility in confined migration.

A study of the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in England between September 2020 and June 2021 finds that interventions capable of containing previous variants were insufficient to stop the more transmissible Alpha and Delta variants.

Analysis of forest-management studies finds that forest removal is more likely to increase streamflow in areas with greater water storage between the surface and bedrock, and that forest planting is more likely to decrease streamflow in drier climates.

Patient-derived xenograft models (PDX) have been extensively used to study the molecular and clinical features of cancers. Here the authors present a cohort of 536 PDX models from 25 cancers, as well as their genomic and evolutionary profiles and their suitability for clinical trials.

Cryo-EM reveals how transthyretin moves, offering insights into ligand binding and amyloidogenesis. The work highlights the utility of cryo-EM in studying small proteins and uncovering targets for structure-based drug design in transthyretin amyloidosis.

The characteristics of immune cells in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) are not fully understood. Here the authors examine the transcriptomic profile and ontogeny of macrophages from the PNS, show they are derived from both embryonic and hematopoietic precursors, and that they have some shared features with microglia.

Challenges in batch normalization and data integration limit the comparison of existing mass cytometry datasets. Here, the authors report CytofIn that can integrate mass cytometry datasets from the public domain and reveal cellular features associated with immune oncology by analyzing five public cancer datasets.

The transition between the locked and slowly slipping regions of the southern Cascadia megathrust has a lower porosity than these regions, according to seismic imaging. This suggests that the transition area is ductile, which may limit rupture propogation.

A new Burden of Proof meta-analytic method that accounts for between-study heterogeneity and corrects for bias between different study designs is used to interpret the strength of evidence between different pairs of risk factors and health outcomes.

Despite the significance of mosquitos for human health, little research has focused on their phylogeny. Here, the authors present a resolved phylogenetic history of mosquitoes based on phylogenomics showing that these major disease vectors radiated coincidentally with geologic events and the diversification of their hosts.

A high-density genomic variation map from 744 genomes encompassing maize and all wild taxa of the genus Zea reveals evidence of adaptive variation and provides a genus-wide resource of genetic diversity in Zea.

Durable agonism of NPR1 achieved with a novel investigational monoclonal antibody could mirror the positive hemodynamic changes in blood pressure and heart failure identified in humans with lifelong exposure to NPR1 coding variants.

Simulated annual wheat yields during 1889–2020 show that, since the 1990s, Indian Ocean Dipole has replaced El Niño Southern Oscillation as the dominant climate driver across most of the Australian wheatbelt. The occurrences of more positive Indian Ocean Dipole events in recent decades resulted in severe yield reductions.

The authors find that the Avpr1a gene, encoding the vasopressin-1A receptor, is responsible for strain-dependent pain sensitivity of mice to formalin and capsaicin. In humans, a single nucleotide polymorphism in AVPR1A was found to affect capsaicin pain and desmopressin analgesia. In both species, the effects were male specific and dependent on stress levels at the time of testing.

The Cousa objective is an ultra-long working distance air objective optimized for two- and three-photon imaging. Bypassing challenges caused by water immersion and short working distances, the Cousa enables and improves imaging of diverse specimens.

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.

An analysis of data from 522 population-based studies encompassing 82 global regions and spanning more than a century (1920–2024) shows spatiotemporal transitions across epidemiologic stages 1 to 3 of inflammatory bowel disease, and models stage 4 progression.

The IDG-DREAM Challenge carried out crowdsourced benchmarking of predictive algorithms for kinase inhibitor activities on unpublished data. This study provides a resource to compare emerging algorithms and prioritize new kinase activities to accelerate drug discovery and repurposing efforts.

Analysis of antibody responses to COVID-19 vaccines encoding variant-specific spike, with or without ancestral spike, suggests no loss of neutralization of the ancestral virus with variant-only vaccines, which may simplify future vaccine updates.

Environmental and genetic risk factors affect the distal airway epithelium in idiopatic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) but the role of the epithelium in IPF remains unclear. Here the authors show that pathologic activation of the ERBB-YAP axis induces dynamic and structural dysfunction in the distal airway epithelium eliciting a pro-fibrotic phenotype in mesenchymal cells.

Conditional genetic ferret models enable ionocyte lineage tracing, ionocyte ablation and ionocyte-specific deletion of CFTR to elucidate the roles of pulmonary ionocyte biology and function during human health and disease.

Many important cellular structures in the body are curved at the scale of multiple cell lengths. Cells respond collectively to this curvature, and it influences their migration during development and growth.

Artificial reefs provide important ecosystem services in marine environments. Accurate knowledge of the area covered by such reefs can help evaluate benefits and risks of such structures. This study describes the physical footprint of artificial reefs deployed in coastal waters of the United States.

Combining droplet-based ATAC-seq and mitochondrial DNA sequencing reveals clonal variation in human cells and tissues.

Evolutionary distinctness is used as a metric to determine conservation priorities across all Chondrichthyes, identifying 21 countries with the highest richness, endemism and evolutionary distinctness of threatened species as targets.

How human brain activity relates to peripheral metabolism is not known. Here, the authors find that intracranial activity is strongly coupled to peripheral glucose variations across multiple brain regions and is sufficient for decoding of glucose levels.

Genes2Genes is a dynamic programming framework that enables precise alignment for single-cell trajectories at the per-gene level.

Analysis of the genomes of 50 species of Lemuriformes shows high levels of genomic diversity, likely due to allele sharing, as well as population declines and inbreeding patterns resulting from ecological factors and human impacts in Madagascar.

The fossil record of primates is sparse, and many gaps remain in our knowledge. One gap relates to the divergence within the catarrhines — the ancestors of hominoids (apes and humans) and Old World monkeys. The discovery of a previously unknown catarrhine in Saudi Arabia, dated to 29–28 million years ago, helps to fill in some details. This specimen shows very few catarrhine specializations, suggesting that the divergence between Old World monkeys and hominoids must have occurred after this date.

Barcia Durán, Dayasagar, et al. map the expression of immune checkpoints in human atherosclerosis and examine the influence of lipid-lowering treatments and type 2 diabetes to understand how immune checkpoint inhibitors worsen cardiovascular risk in survivors of cancer.

Cabozantinib, an inhibitor of multiple receptor tyrosine kinases, has efficacy in a mouse model of neurofibromatosis type I and has clinical activity in reducing plexiform neurofibroma volume in a phase II trial of patients with NF1.

Fungi from the genus Fusarium are important pathogens of animals and crop plants. Some have a wide host range, whereas others are more specific in the organisms they infect. Here, clues are provided as to how differences in specificity come about. The genomes of two Fusarium fungi with differing host ranges have been sequenced, and compared with the genome of a third species. Experiments show that transferring two whole chromosomes turns a non-pathogenic Fusarium strain into a pathogenic one.

The US COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub produced medium to long term projections based on different epidemic scenarios. In this study, the authors evaluate 14 rounds of projections by comparing them to the epidemic trajectories that occurred, and discuss lessons learned for future similar projects.

Cell shape provides a structural signature for the classification and investigation of the jamming of bronchial epithelial layers in asthma.

A growing portfolio of Ru-based single-crystal optical actuators is forging a new class of photonic materials that hold prospects for quantum technologies but complete photoconversion into each SO₂-isomeric state is rarely achieved. Here, the authors report the photoisomerization of trans-[Ru(SO₂)(NH₃)₄(4-bromopyridine)]tosylate₂.

Prevotella copri, together with other microbiota members, plays a key role in mediating the beneficial effects of a gut microbiota-directed complementary food for malnourished children on microbiota and host functions.

In image analysis, the shape properties of cells/organelles should be unaffected by image orientation. Conventional autoencoder (AE) methods can be sensitive to orientation. Here, the authors develop an unsupervised AE method that learns robust, orientation-invariant representations.

Brain-iron elevation is implicated in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but the impact of the metal on disease outcomes has not been analysed in a longitudinal study. Here, the authors examine the association between the levels of ferritin, an iron storage protein, in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of AD patients and show that CSF ferritin levels predict AD outcomes.

ALBATROSS is a deep-learning-based model for predicting ensemble properties of intrinsically disordered proteins and protein regions, such as radius of gyration, end-to-end distance, polymer-scaling exponent and ensemble asphericity, directly from sequences.

A comprehensive analysis of brain somatic mosaicism across the neocortex demonstrates the origins and distribution patterns of cells within the human brain.