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Vaccination is effective in protecting from COVID-19. Here the authors report immune responses and breakthrough infections in twice-vaccinated patients receiving anti-TNF treatments for inflammatory bowel disease, and find dampened vaccine responses that implicate the need of adapted vaccination schedules for these patients.

Clinical, genomic and transcriptomic analyses of paired samples of synchronous bilateral female breast cancer identify associations between tumor concordance and immune infiltrates levels and response to neoadjuvant treatment.

A lack of non-destructive measurements and difficulty in tuning direct coupling between motional modes limits quantum information processing with trapped ions. Both features have now been achieved in an ion crystal using oscillating electric fields.

The PSA (KLK3) genetic variant rs17632542 is associated with reduced prostate cancer risk and lower serum PSA levels, although the underlying reasons are unclear. Here, the authors show that this PSA variant reduced proteolytic activity and leads to smaller tumours, but also increases invasion and bone metastasis, indicating its dual risk association depending on tumour context; the variant is associated with both lower risk and poor clinical outcomes.

The role of mitochondrial activity in angiogenesis is not entirely understood. Here, the authors show that mitochondria as a signaling hub and their dysfunction causes augmented TGFβ signaling to induce retinal sprouting retardation and vascular malformations.

The bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, which causes Lyme disease and is transmitted by ticks, has a linear chromosome and multiple plasmids. Here, Takacs et al. show that the pathogen is polyploid, the number of genome copies decreases during stationary phase, and chromosome copies are regularly spaced along the cell’s length.

The praying mantis, a predatory insect, estimates depth via binocular vision. In this way, the animal decides whether prey is within reach. Here, the authors explore the neural correlates of binocular distance estimation and report that individual neurons are tuned to specific locations in 3D space.

How the neural crest gains its pluripotency-like stem cell potential is unclear. Here, the authors show that the entire post-gastrula ectoderm maintains expression of pluripotency genes, leading to the high stem cell capacity in the neural crest.

Here the authors present the structural mechanism of recognition of unnatural nucleobases in a six-letter expanded genetic system by E. coli RNA polymerase, and provide structural evidence for tautomerization during transcription.

The polysaccharide xylan binds to cellulose microfibrils in the plant cell wall, but the nature of this interaction remains unclear. Here Simmonset al. show that while xylan forms a threefold helical screw in solution it forms a twofold screw to bind cellulose microfibrils in the plant cell wall.

The bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) and Smad1 signalling pathway is required for embryogenesis. In this study, Smad1 is shown to be phosphorylated by Atm in response to DNA damage and this results in elevated Smad1 signalling, thus uncovering a new role for this pathway in the DNA damage response.

Analysing gut microbial time series from wild baboons, the authors show that microbiome dynamics are rarely synchronized across hosts in shared environments but are highly individualized even within the same social groups.

Oncogenic gene fusions are frequent in childhood cancers but remain poorly understood and untargeted. Here, the authors identify 272 oncogenic fusions in transcriptomics data from 5190 childhood cancer patients, revealing their possible etiologies, their links with tumor progression and evolution, and their potential as therapeutic targets.

Cryo-electron microscopy structures of OPA1, mutations of which are associated with the disease dominant optic atrophy, provide insight into how structural features of OPA1 enable this protein to mediate mitochondrial-membrane fusion and remodelling.

Most astronomers head for remote mountain-tops or deserts to study the cosmos. Jenny Hogan meets a confident team set up on a patch of farmland in a crowded corner of mainland Europe.

The role of the Klf5 in early and postnatal prostate development and in regeneration is unclear. Here, the authors show that Klf5 acetylation regulates and maintains luminal differentiation of prostate basal progenitors and is essential following androgen-induced regeneration.

The authors report the emergence of quadrupolar excitons in angle-aligned WSe₂/WS₂/WSe₂ heterotrilayers characterized by a delocalized hole residing in both outer WSe₂ layers, electric-field tunability and reduced exciton–exciton interactions.

Genomic amplification of chromosome 3q often encodes proteins that contribute to cancer development. Here the authors identify a non-coding product of the 3q region, the lncRNA PLANE that promotes tumorigenesis through the deregulation of transcriptional corepressor NCOR2 pre-mRNA splicing.

Over-canal solar photovoltaic arrays are likely to reduce water evaporation and carry financial co-benefits, but estimates are lacking. With hydrologic and techno-economic simulations of solar panels covering California’s canal network, this study shows the advantages of covering canals with solar panels.

The ‘invariant rate of ageing’ hypothesis suggests that the rate of ageing tends to be constant within species. Here, Colchero et al. find support for the hypothesis across primates, including humans, suggesting biological constraints on the rate of ageing.

Here, Chen et al. describe the role of the G protein–coupled receptor GPR17 in oligodendrocytes and show that it acts as a negative regulator of oligodendrocyte maturation and myelination.

Infection with SARS-CoV-2 has been linked with substantive inflammation, lung pathology and development of COVID-19. Here the authors spatially associate CCL18 and CCL21 in distinct tissue niches with lung pathology of severe COVID-19.

As the standard technique of the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) industry for simulating turbulent flows, the traditional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) method offers efficiency but incurs significant modeling errors compared to high-fidelity simulations. This study uses physics-informed machine learning to predict a correction for these modeling errors based on local observations of the mean flow, an approach found to generalize across a family of periodic hill flows.

DNA methylation plays an important role in silencing transposable elements. Here the authors find that loss of DNMT1 and DNA methylation leads to transcriptional activation and chromatin remodelling of evolutionarily young—hominoid-specific —LINE-1 elements which then act as alternative promoters for neuronal genes.

Our understanding of the functional link between differential DNA methylation and type 2 diabetes and obesity remains limited. Here the authors present a blood-based EWAS of fasting glucose and insulin among 4808 non-diabetic Europeans and identify nine CpGs not previously implicated in glucose, insulin homeostasis and diabetes.

Leukemia inhibitory factor receptor (LIFR) is frequently downregulated in liver cancer. Here the authors show that loss of LIFR promotes liver tumorigenesis and confers resistance to drug-induced ferroptosis through NF-κB-mediated upregulation of iron-sequestering cytokine LCN2.

Micronutrient availability is key to future global food security. A macroanalysis reveals how sources of micronutrients and countries of origin have varied in the United Kingdom over the six decades before Brexit. Through scenario analysis, the effects of trade and dietary choices on nutrient supply and demand are also explored.

Model systems to study SARS-CoV-2 infection are required to better understand the immune response. Here the authors use a lung and macrophage co-culture system by differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells to better understand the phenotype and gene expression changes in host lung cells and macrophages after SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro.

Modern decadal scale sea surface temperature variability in the eastern Mediterranean is within the range reported from a Last Interglacial alkenone proxy temperature record. However, future warming could outpace Last Interglacial variability.

Infection with Omicron after vaccination produces cross-neutralizing antibodies to other variants of concern, whereas this induces a limited response to non-Omicron variants in unvaccinated individuals.

A key challenge for repurposing the licensed drug rapamycin for geroprotection is to avoid side effects from chronic dosing regimens. The authors show in model organisms that a brief administration of the drug early in adulthood has long-lasting beneficial effects that are similar to lifelong treatment.

Meshworks of claudin polymers control the paracellular transport and barrier properties of epithelial tight junctions. Here, the authors show different claudin nanoscale organization principles, finding that claudin segregation enables barrier formation and paracellular ion flux across tight junctions.

Atomic force microscopes have revolutionized the study of materials, but probing watery biological systems has proved more difficult. Jenny Hogan asks whether a fix is at hand.

COVID-19 can be associated with neurological complications. Here the authors show that markers of brain injury, but not immune markers, are elevated in the blood of patients with COVID-19 both early and months after SARS-CoV-2 infection, particularly in those with brain dysfunction or neurological diagnoses.

Directed cell migration requires spatially regulated activity of GTPases Rac1 and RhoA. Here Cao et al. show that growth factor stimulation promotes phosphorylation of tensin-3 and phosphatase and tensin homologue (PTEN) and their association with PI 3-kinase and deleted in liver cancer 1 (DLC1) to regulate GTPase activity.

Past genome-wide associate studies have identified hundreds of genetic loci that influence body size and shape when examined one trait at a time. Here, Jeff and colleagues develop an aggregate score of various body traits, and use meta-analysis to find new loci linked to body shape.

Ion migration has been related to hysteresis in perovskite solar cells, but not all perovskite cells exhibit a hysteresis. Here, Caladoet al. show that ion migration occurs regardless of hysteresis, but photogenerated carriers screen the effects of ionic charge for some solar cell architectures.

Bone mineral density (BMD) is the best predictor of osteoporotic fracture risk. Here, the authors perform a genome wide association study in Icelanders and people of European and East-Asian descent, and identify a new allele in intron 15 of the PTCH1gene that associates with reduced BMD.

A subcutaneous colon-specific niche consisting of colon epithelial cells, decellularized colon extracellular matrix and immunosuppressive nanofibres reduced inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract of mice with established ulcerative colitis.

Heterozygous deletions in the ANKS1B gene cause ANKS1B neurodevelopmental syndrome. Here the authors show this syndrome is associated with impaired white matter integrity, and that Anks1b-deficient mouse models display deficits in oligodendrocyte maturation, myelination, and Rac1 function.

The combination of piezoresponse force microscopy and optical measurements reveals the influence of strain in the formation of one-dimensional moiré patterns and the resulting behaviour of interlayer excitons in van der Waals heterostructures.

Chris Garcia, David Baker and colleagues use a computational approach to develop designed repeat protein binders (DRPBs), which function as human Frizzled (Fz) subtype-selective antagonists and enable identification of Fz subtypes active in different organs.

Combining neuroimaging, physiological and behavioural methods, Meissner et al. show that humans can self-regulate the brain’s arousal levels via a biofeedback approach that is based on measurements of the eye’s pupil.

Singlet fission in organic semiconductors can generate triplet exciton pairs that are crucial to the charge generation in a photovoltaic process, whilst their nature remains elusive. Here, Yonget al. show that the immediate triplet pair is bound and emissive in a range of acene and heteroacene materials.

Phenotypic and genetic heterogeneity of cells within a tumour is thought to mediate treatment resistance and contribute to cancer progression. Here the authors show that genetic diversity in pediatric cancers is common after chemotherapy and can be quantified to predict survival.

Differential impact of genetic and environmental influences on DNA methylation may result in sex- and age-related physiological variation and disease susceptibility. By analysing DNA methylome of 2,603 individuals from twin families, here, the authors establish a catalogue of between-individual variation in DNA methylation.