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This study shows how the bacterial retron Eco2 defends against viruses. Phage nucleases trigger activation of Eco2, which cuts RNAs, shuts down protein production and stops phage replication.

A technique called condense-seq has been developed to measure nucleosome condensability and used to show that mononucleosomes contain sufficient information to condense into large-scale compartments without requiring any external factors.

Plasmodium vivax reticulocyte binding protein 2b (PvRBP2b) is important for invasion of reticulocytes and PvRBP2b antibodies correlate with protection. Here, Chan et al. isolate and characterize anti-PvRBP2b human monoclonal antibodies and describe mechanisms by which these antibodies inhibit invasion.

The activity of the membrane-bound enzyme pMMO depends on copper but the location of the copper centers is still under debate. Here, the authors reconstitute pMMO in nanodiscs and use native top-down MS to localize its copper centers, providing insights into which sites are essential for activity.

Donahue et al. show that ageing is associated with changes in ER morphology. ER-phagy drives age-associated ER remodelling through tissue-specific factors.

TREM2 is an important AD risk factor playing essential roles in the microglial response to amyloid pathology. Here, authors show using a TREM2 reporter mouse that TREM2 levels are critical for efficacy of TREM2 agonism informing current clinical efforts.

Here, the authors show that 2’-O-methylated RNA fragments from ribosomal RNA naturally block TLR7 and TLR8, helping to avoid avoid harmful self-RNA detection and autoimmunity.

The APOE-ε4 allele is the strongest genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, but it is not deterministic. Here, the authors show that common genetic variation changes how APOE-ε4 influences cognition.

Viral ribonucleoprotein–viral protein networks form pre-replication centres that nucleate viral factories and drive respiratory syncytial virus replication.

WIN332 is an HIV-1 Env protein designed to elicit a new class of Asn332-glycan-independent antibodies (type II) to the V3-glycan site of Env. WIN332 immunization rapidly induces type-II V3-glycan antibodies with low inhibitory activity indicative of a neutralization activity in macaques.

Circulating tumor cell (CTC) clusters are key drivers of metastasis, yet their formation in tumors lacking classical adhesion molecules is unclear. Here, the authors discover that hyaluronic acid promotes homotypic and heterotypic CTC clustering by initiating early cell contacts and stabilizing mature interactions.

An algorithm that combines deep learning, Bayesian optimization and computer vision techniques can be used to autonomously tune a semiconductor spin qubit from a grounded device to Rabi oscillations.

This study investigates whether genetic predisposition to systemic inflammation affects cortical thinning trajectories and the risk for psychopathology in adolescents, using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study.

Bacteria use diverse defence systems against phages, including a 164-residue prophage-encoded protein, Rip1, which senses conserved phage assembly rings to form membrane pores that block virion maturation and trigger premature host cell death.

Researchers used explainable AI to analyze pancreas tissue from living donors, revealing that changes in fat cell clusters, nerve structures, and islet proximity to fat cells distinguish people with type 2 diabetes from those without the condition.

CD44 expressed by fibroblastic reticular cells in secondary lymphoid organs regulates trafficking of dendritic cells, and thus has an essential role in the priming of T cells and the adaptive immune response.

Hole-based spin qubits in planar Ge is a promising system for advancing scalable spin qubit processors. Here the authors demonstrate the strong hole charge-photon coupling and probe Wigner molecule states in a cavity-quantum dot hybrid architecture on planar Ge.

Native top-down proteomics reveals epidermal growth factor receptor–estrogen receptor-alpha (EGFR–ER) signaling crosstalk in breast cancer cells and dissociation of nuclear transport factor 2 (NUTF2) dimers to modulate ER signaling and cell growth.

Single-cell RNA sequencing and assay for transposase-accessible chromatin using sequencing profiling of human retinal samples from diverse ancestries create an epitranscriptomic atlas characterizing over 130 cell types. Integration with genome-wide association study and expression quantitative trait loci data provides further insights into gene regulation and disease etiology.

The electronic behaviour of complex oxides such as LaNiO₃ depends on many intrinsic and extrinsic factors, making it challenging to identify microscopic mechanisms. Here the authors demonstrate the influence of oxygen vacancies on the thickness-dependent metal-insulator transition of LaNiO₃ films.

Highly strained germanium on silicon samples with up to 3.1% uniaxial strain are fabricated and then investigated by Raman spectroscopy. During optical pumping, changes in both the emission wavelength and output power are observed, indicating that bandgap modification and optical gain are occurring.

Plasma p-tau217 tests used to develop clocks that predict when cognitively unimpaired individuals would develop symptoms of Alzheimerʼs disease.

Deep brain stimulation tuned to cue-reactivity within the nucleus accumbens region reduced drug cravings, heralding an evocation-based programming strategy for opioid use disorder.

A deep-learning-based de novo design strategy was developed that enables simultaneous scaffolding of three distinct epitopes derived from respiratory syncytial virus within small single-domain immunogens. Crystallographic analyses confirmed precise presentation of the designed motifs. The multiepitope constructs elicited enhanced cross-reactive and neutralizing antibody responses, demonstrating the potential of generative models for complex multisite protein engineering.

Here they demonstrate a therapeutic intervention elevating levels of CYP450-derived lipids to control the expansion of intermediate monocytes in tissue and peripheral blood, presenting a first in class therapeutic approach for treating chronic inflammatory disease.

Pseudaminic acids (Pse) are a family of carbohydrates found within bacterial lipopolysaccharides, capsular polysaccharides and glycoproteins. Now, monoclonal antibodies have been developed that recognize diverse Pse across several bacterial species, enabling mapping of the Pse glycoproteome and demonstrating therapeutic potential against multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumanii in in vitro and in vivo infection models.

With information on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico still coming in, more is being learned about the role of indigenous bacteria in cleaning the spill. Meanwhile, efforts are under way to enlist new genomic technologies to improve outcomes. Jeffrey L. Fox reports.

Cell surface receptors perceive immunogenic elicitors, triggering downstream signalling via receptor-like cytoplasmic kinases such as BIK1. Here the authors define and use the phosphorylation motif of BIK1 to find novel substrate candidates.

Glucose deprivation triggers the secretion of the cytokine LIF, which promotes angiogenesis and immune suppression in lung cancer models.

Gap junctions close in response to intracellular acidification. Using cryo-EM, the authors reveal a reversible gating mechanism in Cx46/50, where lipid entry into the pore displaces a gating helix and induces pH-dependent conformational closure.

The integration of germanium quantum-well devices and low-loss waveguides with silicon substrates shows promise for realizing low-loss, on-chip photonic interconnects.

Asexual-to-sexual switching underpins malaria transmission. Prajapati et al. identify an AP2-G loss-of function mutation and use it as a genetic tool to show that GDV1 is essential for initial ap2-g activation and sexual commitment initiation.

Heparan sulfate proteoglycans facilitate the assembly of clusters of glycoRNAs and cell surface RNA-binding proteins, which negatively modulate VEGF-A signalling and angiogenesis.

Biogenic–anthropogenic interactions increase the formation and prevalence of secondary organic aerosol coatings on urban black carbon in Nanjing, China. These coatings amplify radiative effects, according to a model–data analysis for 2023.

Fanjiang Kong, Zhixi Tian, Xingliang Hou, Baohui Liu and colleagues report the cloning and functional characterization of J, the locus underlying the long-juvenile (LJ) trait that has enabled tropical cultivation of soybean. They show that J, an ortholog of Arabidopsis ELF3, downregulates the expression of E1, thereby promoting flowering under short-day conditions.

Chen et al. show that redox signals activate ADAR1 to fix faulty RNA pieces during DNA copying, ensuring smooth replication and protecting genome stability.

This study applies generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) and advanced transcriptome wide association study (TWAS) methods to improve the discovery of colorectal cancer risk transcription factors and genes, including potential druggable targets.

A van der Waals heterostructure made from atomic layers of ferroelectric CuCrP₂S₆ and ferromagnetic Fe₃GeTe₂ can offer reversible, non-volatile ferroelectric control of two-dimensional magnetism.

Guidance on how to decarbonize the economy while limiting impacts on jobs and ensuring stability is scarce. Now a study finds that relying on a carbon tax alone falls short, whereas combining industrial regulations, subsidies and a modest tax is the most promising approach to achieve sustainable growth with green jobs.

TGF-β is a latent complex (L-TGF-β). Latency is conferred by a homodimeric prodomain with a previously undefined domain architecture. Here we define the architecture of the prodomain as domain-swapped providing structural insights into the mechanism of activation of L-TGF-β.

The CMS Collaboration reports the measurement of the spin, parity, and charge conjugation properties of all-charm tetraquarks, exotic fleeting particles formed in proton–proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider.

Despite advances in enzyme design and engineering, the development of biocatalysts featuring a combination of tailored stereoselectivity with broad substrate scope has been very difficult. Focusing on a new-to-nature reaction, the authors report a mechanism-based, multi-state computational design workflow for the generation of ‘generalist’ cyclopropanases capable of transforming a broad range of substrates with tailored and divergent stereoselectivity.

Hole spin qubits in germanium have seen significant advancements, though improving control and noise resilience remains a key challenge. Here, the authors realize a dressed singlet-triplet qubit in germanium, achieving frequency-modulated high-fidelity control and a tenfold increase in coherence time.

A gatemon is a transmon-type superconducting qubit made using a hybrid superconductor-semiconductor approach enabling tunability with electric gates. Here the authors demonstrate a gatemon qubit in planar germanium, which is anticipated to have various advantages.

FeGe is an antiferromagnetic kagome metal with a rich magnetic and electronic phase diagram. Recently it was found that post-growth annealing of FeGe can suppress or induce charge density wave order depending on the annealing temperature. Here, Klemm, Siddique et al show the critical role that annealing induced Ge-vacancies and stacking faults play in the formation of charge density wave order in FeGe.

Engineering the interaction between spin and charge is important for the creation of spintronics devices. Here, the authors show that the Rashba effect at a single crystalline Fe/Ge(111) interface produces enhanced spin-charge conversion, which could help develop a spin field-effect-transistor.

Insects are crucial for ecosystem functioning but face multiple threats, including invasive alien species. Here the authors quantify impacts of invasive alien species on four insect orders, with effects varying by insect group and type of invader.