Search

Identifying DNA lesions is key to assessing mutagenic activity. Here, the authors develop STEEL-seq, a method that maps single-stranded DNA breaks (SSBs) using a custom error-prone DNA polymerase. This approach reveals SSB enrichment near active promoters in the human genome.

Current trends imply that we will transgress most of the planetary boundaries by 2050; however, ambitious, urgent and universal action to ameliorate climate change and increase resource efficiency can effectively reduce the degree of transgression.

The DNA methylation landscape of triple-negative breast cancer remains to be characterised. Here, the authors analyse tumour methylome profiles and the genomic context of CpG methylation and identify two epigenetic subtypes with distinct transcriptional patterns.

Nonreciprocal transmission of waves is crucial for transport and redistribution of energy, yet the architecture to break time-reversal symmetry is hard to realise. Here, the authors proposed elastic-wave circulator that could achieve this without breaking reciprocity, enabling mode transition and wave trapping concurrently.

Here the authors characterize a single-domain antibody that broadly neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 variants with high potency by targeting the heptad repeat 2 (HR2) coiled coil, conserved in sarbecoviruses. Binding to its quaternary epitope blocks membrane fusion, by locking HR2 in its prefusion conformation.

P. falciparum (malaria) transmission includes the development of male and female parasite forms called gametocytes, which are taken up by the Anopheles mosquito. The authors of this study use single cell transcriptomics to define the transcriptional programs, identify key regulators and predict novel genes, involved in driving the male and female sexual cell fates.

In Sweden, dietary changes simulated under four food futures pathways reduced environmental impacts by 30 percent, but waste and fossil fuel emissions reductions are necessary to meet the climate target, according to an analysis that combines food items, nutrients, health, and environmental data.

Intensifying food production sustainably is critical given growing demand and agriculture’s environmental footprint. This meta-analysis finds that practices such as adding organic matter and increasing crop diversity can partly substitute for nitrogen fertilizer to sustain or increase yields.

The main protease, a key enzyme of SARS-CoV-2, can protect itself from oxidative damage. Here, Reinke, Schubert, and colleagues used XFEL radiation to image the enzyme, revealing the disulfide and NOS/SONOS bonds that form in response to oxygen.

Yazar and coauthors investigate the incorporation of procedural justice—fair and inclusive decision-making processes—among the climate-ambitious cities in the C40 network. They find that less than half of C40 cities emphasize procedural justice in climate planning, thereby limiting their ability to meaningfully address systemic inequality.

Humans have influenced the shaping of the landscape for generations, yet disentangling these influences from those of climate is a challenge. Giguet-Covex et al.take the novel approach of using lake sediment DNA to reconstruct a detailed picture of human land use since the Neolithic Period.

Single-molecule 3D tracking is critical to understand macromolecular dynamics but achieving this at a sub-millisecond resolution remains challenging. Here the authors present a 3D tracking method based on cross-entropy minimization and the true excitation point spread function.

The flagship paper of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium describes the generation of the integrative analyses of 2,658 cancer whole genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types, the structures for international data sharing and standardized analyses, and the main scientific findings from across the consortium studies.

Integrative analyses of transcriptome and whole-genome sequencing data for 1,188 tumours across 27 types of cancer are used to provide a comprehensive catalogue of RNA-level alterations in cancer.

An analysis of 643 cases of community forest management shows that most led to improved environmental and income outcomes, but access and resource rights often deteriorate when formalizing such management.

Nano-contact-based spin wave generation may enable high-frequency magnonic devices but has been limited to long wavelengths and weak signal strengths. Here the authors demonstrate high-order short-wavelength propagating spin waves with increased transmission rates and propagation lengths in magnetic tunnel junction stacks.

The ribosome maturation factor Rea1 catalyzes essential steps in the production of the large ribosomal subunit. Here, Busselez et al. describe functionally important conformational changes in Rea1.

This study maps global tree composition in forests and assesses the impacts of historical forest cover loss and climate change. The results highlight the need for preserving the remaining large forest biomes, while regenerating degraded forests in a way that provides resilience against climate change.

Examining drivers of the latitudinal biodiversity gradient in a global database of local tree species richness, the authors show that co-limitation by multiple environmental and anthropogenic factors causes steeper increases in richness with latitude in tropical versus temperate and boreal zones.

RNA sequence-structure-function relationships can be studied via assays of variant activity. The authors developed a method to systematically determine ribozyme variant kinetics, using it to map double-mutant interactions and show that cleavage rate drives sequence conservation in the glmS ribozyme.

Water consumption in line with natural water supply ensures sustainable and equitable access to freshwater resources worldwide. This study assesses whether renewable surface water is enough to meet people’s basic needs and, where it is not, estimates how much groundwater would be required.

The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has substantial impacts on the global climate. This Review outlines ENSO relationships with Africa, outlining their dynamics, impacts on precipitation and projected changes in the future.

Controlling elastic waves in medium is essential to many applications in mechanical to earthquake engineering. Ma et al. demonstrate selective suppression of different vibrational modes in a three-dimensional rod-shape structure, which shows fluid-like elasticity with only longitudinal waves propagating.

Gaggioli, Lo et al. show that the histone methyltransferase EHMT2/G9a catalyses heterochromatin assembly at stressed replication forks. Untimely heterochromatin disassembly by demethylase KDM3A exposes forks to PRIMPOL-mediated genome instability.

Ever-increasing society needs have made thermosets crucial, but their recycling poses considerable challenges. Dynamic covalent chemistry (DCC) offers a solution, and industry is ready for its implementation. On the basis of market proximity, three DCC-based strategies are proposed for stimulating industrial uptake of DCC-thermosets.

Here, the authors elongated the hinge structure of IgG1 monoclonal antibodies. The modified IgG1-IgG3 hybrid subclass showed enhanced Fc-mediated function compared to IgG1 in two distinct biological systems, Streptococcus pyogenes and SARS-CoV-2.

This allows versatile non-volatile tuning of the mutual synchronization of chains of up to four oscillators and provides a path toward individual oscillator control in large oscillatory arrays.

Gandhi, Zivkovic, Østergaard and colleagues describe a bispecific antibody, HMB-001, which could be used for the prophylactic treatment of patients with genetic bleeding disorders, currently treated acutely with recombinant coagulation factor VIIa. HMB-001 can bind and accumulate endogenous FVIIa and localize it to sites of vascular injury by targeting it to the TREM-like transcript-1 receptor selectively expressed on activated platelets.

Synchronization of oscillators can be used to carry out cognitive tasks. Large two-dimensional arrays of synchronized spin Hall nano-oscillators have now been demonstrated, and may in future enable neuromorphic computing on the nanoscale.

dDsk2 is a conserved extraproteasomal ubiquitin receptor that targets ubiquitylated proteins for degradation. Here the authors report that dDsk2 regulates RNA polymerase II pausing by preventing H2Bub1 deubiquitylation, suggesting a nonproteolytic function of dDsk2.

Cognitive function is associated with health and important life outcomes. Here, the authors perform a genome-wide association study for general cognitive function in 300,486 individuals and identify genetic loci that implicate neural and cell developmental pathways in this trait.

The European X-ray free-electron laser (EuXFEL) in Hamburg is the first XFEL with a megahertz repetition rate. Here the authors present the 2.9 Å structure of the large membrane protein complex Photosystem I from T. elongatus that was determined at the EuXFEL.

In breast cancer, the immune infiltration of the tumour associates with clinical outcome. Here, the authors infer immune context based on gene expression data and identify a new independent subtype linked to pro-tumorigenic immune infiltration.

Temporarily exceeding temperature targets could increase risk of crossing tipping-element thresholds. This study considers a range of overshoot scenarios in a stylized network model and shows that overshoots increase tipping risks by up to 72% compared with remaining within targets.

The capacity of coral reefs to keep pace with sea-level rise is central to their ability to continue to provide shoreline protection to vulnerable coastal communities. Here, the study shows that whereas restoration has the potential to minimize climate-change impacts, doing nothing will amplify them.

The prolactin receptor consists of a folded extracellular domain, a transmembrane domain and an intracellular intrinsically disordered domain. Here the authors use a combined experimental and computational approach to obtain a structure of a class I cytokine receptor, the human prolactin receptor.

Strongly correlated insulating Mott and generalized Wigner phases are detected in WSe₂/WS₂ moiré superlattices, and their electrical properties and excited spin states are studied using an optical technique.

Forests help to sustain cities and all who live in them. This Review considers barriers to sustaining resilient forests and suggests paths for overcoming them.

Nickelates have been shown to host unconventional superconductivity, and recently it has been found that the choice of substrate can significantly change the superconducting critical temperature. This suggests, that like some Cuprates, strain could be important. Here Gao, Fan, Wang, and coauthors find that magnetic excitations in a parent Nickelate are insensitive to substrate choice, and therefore strain, which differs markedly from the case of Cuprates.

Integrating multifunctional oxides on silicon is highly desirable. Here, the authors present asymmetric BaTiO3 superlattices on silicon exhibiting enhanced out-of-plane polarization by harnessing the interfacial strain and broken inversion symmetry.

Determination of interactions between native proteins in cells is important for understanding function. Here the authors report MolBoolean as a method to detect interactions between endogenous proteins in subcellular compartments, using antibody-DNA conjugates for identification and signal amplification.

In this Viewpoint article, we asked four experts to share their thoughts on the implementation of artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques into cancer research and care, and how to separate the hope from the hype to overcome the challenges ahead.

Researchers must help to define science-based targets for water, nutrients, carbon emissions and more to avoid cascading effects and stave off tipping points in Earth’s systems.

The generation of oocytes in a dish from mouse pluripotent cells may be difficult to replicate with human cells.

Carbon-neutral hydrocarbon fuels can be produced using sunlight and air via a thermochemical solar fuel production chain, thus representing a pathway towards the long-term decarbonization of the aviation sector.

Upwelling within the highly productive Benguela current off the Namibian coast began in, and intensified throughout, the Neogene epoch. Model simulations indicate its development was intimately connected to evolving topography and mountain uplift in Africa.