Search

This study correlates the structure and the CO₂ photohydrogenation performance of a series of isostructural Ni-based MOFs. Comparative characterization reveals the occurrence of an in situ restructuring, yielding different surface active sites.

The hypersensitivity of sulfide solid-state electrolytes to moisture are not compatible with today’s manufacturing infrastructure. Here, authors present a reversible surface modification strategy using 1-undecanethiol, that enables the processability of sulfide SSEs under humid ambient air.

The ability to sequence oligonucleotides which consist entirely of artificial bases will facilitate their ongoing development and use. Here authors demonstrate de novo nanopore sequencing of DNA oligomers composed of “P” “Z” “S” and “B” bases with high sequencing accuracy.

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy of CaNi₂ shows a band with vanishing dispersion across the full 3D Brillouin zone that is identified with the pyrochlore flat band as well as two additional flat bands that arise from multi-orbital interference of Ni d-electrons.

Electrical stimulation of the neuromuscular system holds promise for therapeutic biomedical applications, but is currently restricted by power. Here, the authors introduce fully implantable resonator-based designs achieving ±20 V compliance and >300 mW output, enabling multichannel, biphasic, current-controlled operation to evoke functional gate patterns for 6-weeks in freely behaving rats.

Cryptochrome 4 from the night-migratory European robin displays magnetically sensitive photochemistry in vitro, in which four successive flavin–tryptophan radical pairs generate magnetic-field effects and stabilize potential signalling states.

Cationic polyelectrolytes have a broad range of applications, including membranes for fuel cells. Here, the authors report a family of cationic polyelectrolytes based on the highly modular cyclopropenium ion building block, which show high ionic conductivity and tunable physical properties.

The kinesin-1 motor protein accesses open active and closed autoinhibited states. These states are regulated by a flexible elbow within a complex coiled-coil architecture. Now, a conformational switch has been developed by engineering the elbow to create a closed state that can be controllably opened with a de novo designed peptide to increase kinesin transport inside cells.

Here, the authors demonstrate a wafer-scale, low-temperature process using atomic layer deposition, for the synthesis of uniform, conformal amorphous boron nitride (aBN) thin films. They further fabricate aBN-encapsulated monolayer MoS₂ field-effect transistors.

In this work, Kamal, Knox et al develop a high-throughput system to identify small molecules that disrupt amyloid formation by pre-selecting compounds that suppress molecular interactions within the cuticle of the C. elegans pharynx.

Genome sequencing and phylogenomic analysis show that the lungfish, not the coelacanth, is the closest living relative of tetrapods, that coelacanth protein-coding genes are more slowly evolving than those of tetrapods and lungfish, and that the genes and regulatory elements that underwent changes during the vertebrate transition to land reflect adaptation to a new environment.

Diagnosing shortcut learning in clinical models is difficult, as sensitive attributes may be causally linked with disease. Using multitask learning, the authors propose a method to directly test for the presence of shortcut learning in clinical ML systems.

Rechargeable aqueous zinc batteries are heralded as a sustainable energy technology but still face technical challenges. The hybrid electrolyte here eliminates hydrogen evolution reaction, the most thorny issue, and allows for impressive battery performance even under harsh conditions.

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.

Identification of molecules that induce novel interactions between proteins has been limited by the complexity of rationally designing interactions. The authors report a method to discover molecular glue-like “trimerizers” based on α-helically constrained peptides that can co-opt the surfaces of E3 ubiquitin ligases to bind therapeutically important proteins.

A population of TRAIL-positive astrocytes in glioblastoma contributes to an immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment and this mechanism can be targeted with an engineered oncolytic virus to improve outcomes.

Characterizing the assembly of the nuclear pore complex (NPC) remains challenging. Here, the authors develop a set of nanobodies that recognize seven constituent nucleoporins, study their binding characteristics, and apply them to probe accessible and obstructed NPC surfaces in yeast.

Targeting the glycolytic PFKFB3 enzyme is being studied as a therapeutic strategy against cancer. Here the authors identify PFKFB3 as being involved in homologous recombination (HR) repair of DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) and present a PFKFB3 inhibitor.

Imaging the visible light emitted from accelerated electron bunches reveals important information about the three-dimensional charge structure of the bunches, which strongly influences the performance of free-electron lasers.

Here the authors reveal that a neomorphic mutation in chromatin protein SMCHD1 enhances SMCHD1-mediated gene silencing, including at the FSHD disease-relevant locus, while depleting SMCHD1-mediated chromatin interactions, suggesting these SMCHD1 functions are unlinked.

Differential sensing aims to mimic senses such as taste and smell through the use of synthetic receptors. Here, the authors show that arrays of de novo designed peptide assemblies can be used as sensor components to distinguish various analytes and complex mixtures.

Border and colleagues present FUSION, an open-source, web-based platform designed to integrate spatial omics with histological context. FUSION enables intuitive, interactive exploration of cellular and tissue-level features across diverse organs and assay types.

Olfactomedin-2 is a pleiotropic glycoprotein emerging as a regulator of energy homeostasis via the hypothalamus. The present findings functionally connect adipose-specific OLFM2 to obesity, and highlight its significance in maintaining adipocyte commitment to avoid metabolic disease.

Incorporating polar residues into hydrophobic protein channel pores facilitates selective proton transport. Now, classical and multiscale reactive molecular dynamics simulations of designed channels reveal dynamic water wires within the channel lumen that are proton conductive according to structural and functional validation. These results provide some guiding principles for biological and engineered proton conduction.

Ferumoxytol (Fer) is an FDA-approved iron oxide formulation that disrupts caries-causing biofilms with high specificity but cannot interfere with enamel acid demineralization. Here, Fer is combined with stannous fluoride (SnF2), resulting in enhanced stability of SnF2 and inhibition of both biofilm accumulation and enamel damage more effectively than either alone.

The S-layer structure of C. crescentus is revealed by combining the X-ray crystal structure of an S-layer protein and cryo-ET of cell stalks. The resulting model shows that the S-layer is porous and stabilized by calcium ions.

In male mouse germline development, the precise DNA methylation of young, active transposons requires a two-step process in which SPIN1 and SPOCD1 mark young LINE1 elements before the piRNA pathway triggers DNA methylation.

The properties of chiral conjugated molecules, such as the absorption and/or emission of circularly polarized light or electron transport, are highly anisotropic. Now it has been shown that templating layers can control the orientation and anisotropic properties of small chiral molecules in bulk thin films useful for a range of emerging technologies.

A survey of sharks and rays on coral reefs within 66 marine protected areas across 36 countries showcases that the conservation benefits of full MPA protection to sharks almost double when accompanied by effective fisheries management.

Observations from the Labrador Coast indicate the presence of subsea permafrost landforms outside of the Arctic, suggesting a potential underestimation of subsea permafrost in the world’s oceans.

Deficiencies in aprataxin, which reverses 5′-adenylate DNA adducts, can lead to the neurodegenerative disorder AOA1. Mutagenesis analyses and the crystal structure of the aprataxin ortholog from Schizosaccharomyces pombe in complex with DNA, AMP and Zn²⁺ reveal the mechanisms by which this enzyme processes DNA lesions and maintains genome integrity.

Here, Johnson et al show that bacterial pneumonia induces an interaction between the ubiquitin E3 ligase subunit FBX024 and the mitochondrial protein DARS2 to modulate host immune responses.

There are currently no approved treatments for Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus (CCHFV) infection. In this study, the authors structurally characterize the epitope targeted by protective non-neutralizing mouse and human antibodies and provide insights into their broad range potential against various CCHFV strains.

Enveloped viruses employ the maturing environment of endosomes to promote endosomal escape. Here, authors generate a pseudo-atomic model of the BUNV envelope using sub-tomogram averaging and AlphaFold, and identify ionic cues for fusion events.

Withanolides are plant steroids with potent bioactivities found in many medicinal plants including Withania somnifera, but their biosynthetic pathway is largely unknown. Here, the authors report the genome assembly of W. somnifera and reveal a conserved gene cluster in Solanaceae plants for withanolide biosynthesis.

Light-driven approaches could lower the carbon footprint of chemical production. Here the authors use the perovskite oxide LaMn_1−xCu_xO₃ as a photocatalyst to convert ethane to ethylene and hydrogen.

With improved optics and intensity, X-ray reflectivity can now provide subnanometre vertical resolution of surface features.

Encapsulating large and contorted nanographenes inside artificial receptors remain challenging. This work reports the synthesis, characterization and binding properties of a trigonal prismatic cage compound that can serve as a receptor for contorted nanographene derivatives.

Although the TMPRSS2-ERG gene fusion is the most common alteration in human prostate cancer, its involvement in disease progression remains unclear. Here, the authors demonstrate that ERG is methylated by Enhancer of zest homolog 2 leading to enhanced transcriptional and oncogenic activity.

Ingo Braasch, John Postlethwait and colleagues report the genome of the spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus), whose lineage diverged from teleosts before genome duplication. Their data provide insights into the evolution of genes involved in immunity, mineralization and development and facilitate the comparison of cis-regulatory elements between teleosts and humans.

Whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in over 7,000 individuals with critical COVID-19 are used to identify 16 independent variants that are associated with severe illness in COVID-19.

Actin polymerization provides force for vital processes of the eukaryotic cell, but our understanding of actin dynamics and energetics remains limited due to the lack of high-quality probes. Here authors identify a family of highly sensitive fluorescent nucleotide analogues which bind to actin and provide energy to power actin-based processes.

Unusually high rates of respiratory distress were observed in infants following in utero exposure to SARS-CoV-2. Here the authors find, in a longitudinal cohort of infants born to persons infected with SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy, that maternal vaccination is associated with a lower odds of infant respiratory distress.

This Article presents a battery with protons as the charge carrier, as opposed to Li-ion batteries, which rely on the transport of Li-ions. Protons are conducted by means of the Grotthuss mechanism in a hydrated Prussian blue analogue electrode, offering potential for ultrafast rate and long-life batteries.