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Here, using cryo-EM, the authors reveal the mechanism by which RecA filamented on single-stranded DNA binds to and induces LexA cleavage, the key signal governing the bacterial DNA damage response pathway implicated in antibiotic resistance.

Transcription–replication conflicts can threaten genome stability. Here, the authors show that RNA polymerase II (Pol II) is a stronger roadblock to a DNA fork in the head-on orientation, and an RNA–DNA hybrid can form in front of Pol II, creating a topological lock trapping Pol II at the fork.

Kaposi’s Sarcoma-associated Herpesvirus encodes ORF74, a GPCR driving oncogenesis through high basal signaling. Here, authors present cryoEM structures of both inactive and active states, revealing the structural basis for its ligand promiscuity and spontaneous activation.

Researchers use a chimeric approach to reveal the first near-atomic resolution structures the yellow fever virion, showing key differences between vaccine and virulent strains that affect how antibodies recognise and neutralise the virus.

Measurements of anyons moving through a quantum point contact allow the extraction of their tunnelling exponent. This fully characterizes their topological order and confirms that they are well described by the Luttinger liquid theory.

Perforin monomers self-assemble into pre-pores that first insert into the membrane and then recruit additional subunits to grow in size.

As presented at the 2025 World Conference on Lung Cancer, in a multiarm phase 2 trial, perioperative immunotherapy was safe and feasible in patients with resectable diffuse pleural mesothelioma, with exploratory data suggesting that ctDNA kinetics could be informative of tumor regression and post-treatment survival.

Cryo-electron microscopy was used to study human mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) activation on lysosomal membranes, showing progressive recruitment by RAG–Ragulator, RHEB and RAPTOR, culminating in mTOR–membrane engagement and full enzyme activation.

Here the authors develop a pipeline combining atomic force microscopy and deep learning to trace and quantify the structure of complex DNA molecules like replication intermediates and recombination products. Furthermore, they characterise surface deposition effects using simulations.

Liston and colleagues design a gene-delivery system to specifically target astrocytes in the central nervous system to express IL-2 and thereby expand/maintain T_reg cells to suppress neuroinflammation.

The physical architectures of information storage dictate how data is encoded, organised and accessed. Here the authors use DNA with a single-strand overhang as a physical address to access specific data and do in-storage file operations in a scalable and reusuable manner.

Nanomechanical sensors that rely on intrinsic resonance frequencies usually present a tradeoff between sensitivity and bandwidth. In this work, the authors realise an optically driven nanorotor featuring high frequency stability and tunability over a large frequency range.

Experimental observation of flux periodicity ϕ₀/2 for interference of the outermost edge mode of Fabry-Perot interferometers has been attributed to exotic electron pairing mechanisms. Here, the authors demonstrate that the interfering charges of a Fabry-Perot interferometer are single electrons

Using a cryogenic 300-mm wafer prober, a new approach for the testing of hundreds of industry-manufactured spin qubit devices at 1.6 K provides high-volume data on performance, allowing optimization of the complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible fabrication process.

Bacterial Type I polyketide synthases are responsible for producing both lifesaving medicines and virulence factors, yet their stepwise mechanism remains elusive. Here, Burkart et al. characterize acyl carrier protein bound states of mycocerosic acid synthase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis through crosslinking and cryo-EM.

Atoms can be used as highly sensitive magnetic-field sensors. By exploiting the effects of electric fields on the optical transitions of excited Rydberg states, it is now demonstrated that it is also possible to probe very weak microwave electric fields with atoms.

Bacterial large subunit assembly is rapid and intricate, involving complex RNA domain interactions. Here, authors use anti-sense oligonucleotide probing with cryo-EM to reveal early-stage domain consolidation and identify RNA foldons that guide late-stage assembly.

Black phosphorus (BP) is considered a promising van der Waals material for the realization of mid-infrared detectors. Here, the authors report the realization of flexible infrared imagers based on solution-processed BP photodiodes on thin plastic substrates, showing long term stability and mechanical robustness.

This author’s experiment demonstrated a stabilized low phase-noise optical terahertz source (dual-wavelength Brillouin laser) to the quantum rotational transition of a molecule (OCS) and achieved a fractional frequency instability of 5 × 10⁻¹² after 100ms of averaging.

The authors observe THz emission from Ni/Pt heterostructure due to long-range ballistic orbital transport. The velocity of orbital current can be optically tuned by laser fluence, opening the avenue for future optorbitronic devices.

In cohort B of the phase 2 SWOG S1512 trial, pembrolizumab monotherapy in patients with unresectable desmoplastic melanoma elicited a complete response rate of 37% and an objective response rate of 89%, supporting a new treatment option for this tumor type.

Hunter et al. use RNA labelling to investigate RNA transfer between organs in mice. They show that RNA potentially moves en masse from liver to kidney and that this movement is augmented in acute liver injury, although the physiological relevance of the phenomenon is not yet known.

Attachment of a piece of viral protein to a small RNA achieves transfer of the RNA into neuronal cells in cell culture. This was also able to deliver an antiviral siRNA specifically into the brains of mice infected with encephalitis and achieve 80% protection. This study opens a new potential line of treatment for neuronal disease.

An approach that combines single-nucleus RNA sequencing and multiplexed perturbation identifies genes that enable the biosynthesis of direct precursors of the anti-cancer drug Taxol, whose current production involves a laborious extraction process from yew trees.

In eukaryotes, DNA replication depends on loading the ring-shaped helicase, Mcm2–7 onto double-stranded DNA and subsequent activation by GINS–Cdc45. Using single-particle EM reconstructions, the Mcm2–7 forms ring hexamers that are open between Mcm2 and Mcm5. When present, GINS and Cdc45 both seal off this gap. In the presence of a non-hydrolyzable ATP analog, two pores are formed. In this way, the complex could promote duplex opening and then segregate the two strands by partitioning them into the two pores.

The Sanitation-related Quality of Life index (SanQoL-5) combines answers to five questions (disgust, privacy, disease, shame and safety) into a score ranging from 0 to 1. This study found good evidence for the validity and cross-cultural comparability of SanQoL-5.

Inspired by the rich ion dynamics and interplay in biological channels, the authors report cooperative and inhibitory ion transport in angstrom-scale acetate functionalized MoS₂ two-dimensional channels.

All-electrical excitation of the hyperbolic phonon polaritons in hexagonal boron nitride by drifting charge carriers in nearby graphene results in electroluminescence at mid-infrared frequencies.

A palladium-catalysed reaction converts hydrocarbon-derived precursors to chiral boron-containing nortricyclanes, and the shape of these nortricyclanes makes them plausible isosteres for meta disubstituted aromatic rings.

A high-resolution X-ray diffraction study of chromium and niobium diselenide traces the evolution of the ordering wavevector in charge and spin density waves, respectively, as a function of temperature and applied pressure.

Infection by Plasmodium falciparum can manifest as diverse symptoms and outcomes with different treatment requirements. Here the authors use metabolomics, proteomics and transcriptomics data from 79 children to identify potential omics signatures that correlate with different extent and nature of inflammation to provide insights into the development of future treatments.

Wu et al. demonstrate that REM transcription factors and GDE1 guide RNA polymerase IV to specific genomic loci, establishing a DNA sequence-dependent mechanism for siRNA biogenesis and DNA methylation patterning.

Here, Isaacs, Nieto and Zhang et al. discover a potent nanobody and engineer a dual-action antibody that targets two viral proteins, offering strong protection against Nipah and Hendra viruses while preventing viral escape, potentially contributing to future treatments.

The authors report subnanosecond thermal transport on a gold–hexagonal boron nitrite interface governed by hyperbolic phonon–polariton coupling, demonstrating a cooling mechanism orders of magnitude faster than those relying on phonon-mediated processes.

Assessment of surface contamination shows that trace oxygen is a key factor influencing the trajectory and quality of graphene grown by low-pressure chemical vapour deposition, with oxygen-free synthesis showing increased reproducibility and quality.

Understanding the chemistry of perovskite precursor solutions enables improved film optoelectronic properties, allowing the fabrication of multijunction solar cells achieving power conversion efficiencies beyond the radiative limit of single-junction cells.

While fluid restriction is typically recommended for patients with chronic heart failure, this randomized clinical trial showed no difference in health status, as assessed by patient-reported outcomes, between patients recommended to a liberal versus a restrictive fluid regimen over the course of 3 months in an outpatient setting.

A matter-wave interferometer is demonstrated with an interferometric phase noise below the standard quantum limit, combining two core concepts of quantum mechanics, that a particle can simultaneously be in two places at once and entanglement between distinct particles.

A model of compositional state spaces in the hippocampus shows latent learning and rapid generalization. Bakermans et al. show that this model predicts the emergence of place responses in replay.

VARNAM is a red-shifted genetically encoded voltage sensor based on the Ace opsin. It is applied in Drosophila, mouse brain slices and behaving mice. It can be readily combined with blue-light-sensitive tools for dual-color applications.

A detailed understanding of the response of graphene resonators to changes in mass and temperature could lead to the development of ultrasensitive mass detectors and other nanoelectromechanical systems.

A twin-field quantum key distribution protocol based on optical coherence is deployed over a 254-kilometre commercial telecom network, demonstrating that coherence-based quantum communication can be aligned with existing telecommunication infrastructure.

Light pulses with controllable parameters are desired for studying the fundamental properties of matter. Here the authors generate and use phase-manipulated and highly time-stable XUV pulse pairs to probe the coherent evolution and dephasing of XUV electronic coherences in helium and argon.

Tamm states on subwavelength, reconfigurable plasmonic crystals are studied in the terahertz regime. By introducing an independently controlled plasmonic defect, an electromagnetically induced transparency phenomenon is revealed.