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The inhibitor of kB kinase (IKK) is a central regulator of NF-kB signalling. Here the authors identify a motif conserved in substrates of canonical and alternative NF-kB pathways which mediates docking to catalytic IKK dimers: they show that phosphorylation of the conserved tyrosine suppresses the docking interaction.

Adipose tissue is composed of a number of adipocytes and a number of other cells including immune cells. Here the authors use single-cell sequencing of murine brown adipose tissue immune cells and describe multiple macrophage and monocyte subsets and show that monocytes contribute to brown adipose tissue expansion.

A disturbed microbial network characterizes relapsing refractory Crohn’s disease and antedates disease recurrence after surgical removal of the active disease segment.

Magnetic atoms embedded in a niobium selenide superconductor are shown to give rise to a long-range coherent bound state extending tens of nanometres.

The modelling of the SARS-CoV-2 spatial organization within a cell-like volume combined with physical virus/host contacts profiling brings a realistic spatial representation of SARS-CoV-2/human interactome.

A global dataset of the satellite-tracked movements of pelagic sharks and fishing fleets show that sharks—and, in particular, commercially important species—have limited spatial refuge from fishing effort.

Drosophila aurA mutants develop brain tumours which are associated with defective mitotic spindle assembly. Caous et al. show that these mutants are surprisingly insensitive to tumour-suppressive spindle assembly checkpoint inactivation, due to a checkpoint-independent delay in cyclin B degradation.

Douglas Easton, Per Hall and colleagues report meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies for breast cancer, including 10,052 cases and 12,575 controls, followed by genotyping using the iCOGS array in an additional 52,675 cases and 49,436 controls from studies within the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC). They identify 41 loci newly associated with susceptibility to breast cancer.

This study presents the assembly and analysis of the genome sequence of a female domestic Duroc pig and a comparison with the genomes of wild and domestic pigs from Europe and Asia; the results shed light on the evolutionary relationship between European and Asian wild boars.

Stig Bojesen, Georgia Chenevix-Trench, Alison Dunning and colleagues report common variants at the TERT-CLPTM1L locus associated with mean telomere length measured in whole blood. They also identify associations at this locus to breast or ovarian cancer susceptibility and report functional studies in breast and ovarian cancer tissue and cell lines.

Protein networks have been widely explored but most binding affinities remain unknown, limiting the quantitative interpretation of interactomes. Here the authors measure affinities of 65,000 interactions involving human PDZ domains and target sequence motifs relevant for viral infection and cancer.

In vertebrate multiciliated cells, most centrioles are synthesized and released by poorly characterized structures called deuterosomes. Here, the authors report that the previously-uncharacterized Cdc20b in mouse and Xenopus associates with deuterosomes and contributes to centriole release.

Using microheaters and a genetic algorithm optimization, deterministic phase-front shaping through a planar thermo-optical module can be realized, complementing the existing optical shaping toolbox by offering low-chromatic-aberration, polarization-insensitive and transmission-mode components.

Identifying causal variants and genes in genome-wide association studies remains a challenge, an issue that is ameliorated with larger sample sizes. Here the authors meta-analyze kidney function genome-wide association studies to identify new loci and fine-map loci to home in on variants and genes involved in kidney function.

Moving objects generate motion information at different scales, but it is not known how the brain pools all of this information to reconstruct object speed and whether pooling depends on the purpose for which the information will be used. Here the authors find task-dependent differences in pooling that can be explained by an adaptive gain control mechanism.

The flow of fluid, such as mucus in the human respiratory tract, can affect biological function. Here the authors show that the hydrodynamic interactions mediated by mucus are essential for the directional coordination of ciliary beating in the lungs.

Mechanical cues can induce morphogenetic processes during development. Here the authors show that mechanical changes during embryonic development in both zebrafish and Drosophilalead to nuclear localization of β-catenin, which regulates genes required for early mesoderm development in both species.

MicroRNAs of the miR-34/449 family initiate formation of multiciliated cells through the suppression of cell cycle genes and Notch. Here the authors show that miR-34/449 also regulate the assembly of an apical actin network necessary for basal body anchoring by regulating the expression of R-Ras.

The role of TFIID core module TAFs (TATA-binding protein-associated factors) in embryogenesis is unknown. Here, the authors show that Taf4 is essential at mid-gestation and for complete neuronal differentiation of embryonic stem cells, but that Taf4a and Taf4b are redundant at early embryonic stages.

Defects in non-canonical Wnt/planar cell polarity signalling have recently been linked to breast cancer aggressiveness. Puvirajesinghe et al. identify VANGL2, p62/SQSTM1 and JNK as important players in this pathway which may be amenable to therapeutic intervention in breast cancer.

Leptosphaeria maculans is a plant pathogen that causes stem canker of oilseed rape. Rouxel et al. sequence and describe the key features of the L. maculansgenome, including partitioning into AT-rich blocks that are enriched in effector genes and transposable elements affected by repeat-induced point mutation.

Sociobiology is here to stay and the debate now needs to move on.

Frequencies of rare variants fluctuate over populations, hampering gene discovery. Here the authors use a population-specific reference panel, the Genome of the Netherlands, to discover four novel loci involved in lipid metabolism, including an exonic variant in ABCA6.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a potentially serious liver disease with a substantial burden worldwide. In this Consensus Statement, a global multidisciplinary group of experts develop consensus statements and recommendations addressing a broad range of topics on NAFLD to raise awareness and spur action.

A multi-ancestry genome-wide association study of prostate cancer performed in 156,319 cases and 788,443 controls identifies 187 novel risk variants associated with the disease. Genetic risk scores associated with overall risk, and risk of aggressive disease in men of African ancestry.

Phosphate involvement in calcium carbonate biominerals raises questions on biomineralisation pathways. Here, the authors explore the presence of phosphate in the growing shell of the European abalone and suggest a shared mixed mineral ancestral precursor with final crystal phase being selected by mineral-associated proteins.

Hyperpolarization by dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization has brought highly sensitive magnetic resonance to reality but there still remains severe limitations. Here the authors show an approach relying on the generation of hyperpolarizing polymers that bear a dual function.

Genome-wide association analyses identify new susceptibility loci for Brugada syndrome. Functional studies implicate microtubule-related trafficking effects on sodium channel expression as an underlying molecular mechanism.

Ageing in the worm Caenorhabditis elegans is shown to be delayed by supplementation with α-ketoglutarate, an effect that is probably mediated by ATP synthase—which is identified as a direct target of α-ketoglutarate—and target of rapamycin (TOR).

Crustal melting may play a fundamental role in orogenic processes, but quantifying crustal melt remains difficult. Here, the authors combine pressure-temperature paths, electrical conductivity and geophysical data to elucidate the melting conditions in Tibet since the Miocene.

Earthquakes rarely affect hydrothermal systems in non-magmatic context. Here the authors report outbursts of CO₂ and hydrothermal disturbances triggered by the 2015 Nepal earthquake, revealing high sensitivity of Himalayan hydrothermal systems to co-, post- and possibly pre- seismic deformation.