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Hepatitis C virus remains a health burden due to the lack of an effective vaccine, hindered by difficulties in replicating the native E1E2 antigen structure. Here, the authors engineer a stabilized E1E2 heterodimer using cryo-EM-guided modifications, enhancing immunogenicity and paving the way for future HCV vaccine development.

Most H₂ used in the chemical industry is derived from fossil fuels. Now it has been shown that coupling native microbial H₂ pathways with engineered alkene biosynthesis and membrane-bound Pd catalysis enables biocompatible hydrogenation of metabolic intermediates in living bacteria. This hybrid chemo-microbial platform supports the carbon-negative synthesis of industrial chemicals from waste-derived feedstocks.

Climate action could avoid over 1 million deaths globally from air pollution in 2040. However, it is suggested that cooperation is needed between developed and developing nations to ensure that disparities in air pollution are not perpetuated in the future.

Crohn’s disease is associated with disturbances in the B-cell compartment and secreted antibodies. Here, the authors reveal impaired colonic dimeric IgA responses in patients with Crohn’s disease and verify this phenotype in murine models, demonstrating that mitochondrial dysfunction drives defective mucosal humoral immunity.

In this work, authors provide evidence that bacteria in spatially structured populations protect each other from antibiotics through collective nutrient consumption, creating ‘death fronts’ that sweep through the colony– explaining why infections often survive treatments that work in lab tests.

Mechanical response of semiconducting polymers affects their electrical properties, yet the detail remains elusive. Zhong et al. examine the multiscale structural evolution of conjugated polymer thin films during uniaxial deformation and link it to mechanical resilience and solar cell performance.

Understanding how each tumor establishes its unique spatial landscape and what factors drive the landscape for tumor fitness remains significantly challenging. Here, the authors employ spatial single-cell imaging and single-cell RNA sequencing to analyze 50 liver cancer biospecimens and find that different tumor cell states may be organized into distinct clusters, or ‘villages’.

Mediterranean ecosystems are at risk of invasive weeds. Here, the authors assess fitness-related traits in common dandelions with culling experiments, finding that plants with intact microbiomes exhibit increased competitiveness in comparison to local species.

Past work has found that Black and Hispanic faculty are judged more harshly in promotion and tenure. Here, evidence from a natural experiment shows that evaluating faculty simultaneously with other candidates helps mitigate these racial disparities.

The paper reports a scalable, chemical-free plasma process that converts methane and water into high-purity, single-layer graphene oxide while co-producing hydrogen, cutting greenhouse emissions, and lowering cost compared with conventional methods.

In this work, authors use whole genome tracking in a neonatal intensive care unit to reveal a strong link between Staphylococcus aureus colonization and invasive infection, pinpointing critical new targets for infection prevention in high-risk infants.

Here, the authors show that bile salt hydrolase activity is common among human gut bacterial isolates spanning seven major phyla and identify strains capable of directly dehydrogenating conjugated bile acids via hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases to produce conjugated secondary bile acids, challenging the notion that deconjugation is a prerequisite for further bile acid modifications.

Anthropogenic nitrogen enrichment reduces symbiotic nitrogen fixation, but environmental factors alone cannot explain this response. This meta-analysis shows that integrating both environmental factors and plant performance traits improves the predictive accuracy of symbiotic nitrogen fixation responses by 42.7%.

PARP1 is a first responder to DNA damage. Here, multiple cryo-EM strategies and biophysical tools analyze PARP1 and partner HPF1 detecting a DNA break, revealing a striking mobility of the PARP1 catalytic domain relative to the DNA binding domains.

Plants require the plastid encoded RNA polymerase PEP to generate viable photosynthetic apparatus. Here the authors genetically engineer an optoswitch that enables photo-induced complementation of an albino mutant restoring transcription and chloroplast biogenesis on demand.

In this study, the authors describe how light shapes a long-term threat avoidance behavior via a visual circuit linking the eye with the limbic system in mice.

Here the authors identify nicotine-derived inhibitors of the SARS-CoV−2 main protease that outperform Paxlovid in cells and mice, remain effective against resistant variants, and show broad activity against multiple human coronaviruses.

Using large-scale genetics and Genomic SEM/E-SEM, the study shows broad shared genetic risk between many physical illnesses and internalizing, neurodevelopmental, and substance-use disorders, revealing a transdiagnostic illness factor and cross-cutting disease pathways.

This study shows that the Snowflake mutant in clownfish results from altered communication between pigment cells, producing enlarged white bars with jagged edges. It points to cell–cell communication as a driver of color pattern diversity in fishes.

Brief ultrasound to human frontal eye fields, but not motor cortex, rapidly biases eye movement contralaterally in a perceptual choice task. The size of this effect scales with individual baseline FEF inhibitory tone.

Supersolid phases are quantum-entangled states of matter exhibiting the dual characteristics of superfluidity and solidity. Here, the authors map the phase diagram of K₂Co(SeO₃)₂. and identify signatures of two supersolid phases separated by a 1/3 magnetization plateau.

DNA methylation heterogeneity and dynamics hinder distinguishing early pathological changes from normal variation. Here, the authors identify stable sites whose disruption is linked to blood cancers, aging, and cardiovascular risk.

Urban ecology traditionally focuses on single cities, yet cities play key roles in ecological processes such as migration. Radar analysis across the continental USA reveals that nearly half of stopover hotspots concentrate in metropolitan areas, linked to urbanization.

Borneol has repelled mosquitoes for millennia, but how it worked was unknown. Here, the authors show the sensory pathway mosquitoes use to detect and avoid this ancient plant compound, opening the door to improved natural repellents.

Fibrosis is the final common pathway in chronic kidney disease and a potential target for therapeutic interventions. Here, the authors use intravital imaging to show that pyrimidinergic calcium signaling links tubular injury to fibroblast activation, and that blocking this pathway reduces fibrosis

This study shows that mithramycin suppresses the EWS::FLI1 transcription factor in Ewing sarcoma using a hybrid CUT, Tag & GRO assay, revealing mechanism, need for continuous dosing, and supporting clinical use of next-gen analog AIT-102.

Pertussis notifications reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands but increased in 2023 to the highest levels since vaccination introduction. Here, the authors use longitudinal serological data from a nationwide cohort study to investigate waning immunity and infection incidence.

How neurons resolve gustatory inputs with opposing valences is currently unknown. Here, authors show that bitter and sweet gustatory receptor neurons in fruit flies converge on a pair of neuropeptidergic neurons that instruct opposing feeding behaviors via distinct transmitters based on the input they receive

This study reveals how plant-associated bacteria dynamically reprogram gene expression during root colonization, using a new high-throughput approach that overcomes low bacterial biomass and interference from plant RNA.

The ferroelectric nematic phase has both spontaneous polarity and fluidity and is therefore desirable, but can be challenging to obtain. Here, the authors report the preparation of a number of ferroelectric nematogens, of which several show the phase transition at relatively low temperatures.

The authors show that aging of metastable protein condensates can lead to amyloid formation and impair biochemical activity. Certain small molecule metabolites can selectively impede this transition, preserving condensate function.

DNA recognition and cleavage control in type II topoisomerases are poorly understood processes. Here, the authors determine cleaved and uncleaved structures of supercoiled DNA-bound topoisomerase VI that reveal how the enzyme activates its cleavage state and prefers to act at deformable substrates.

Many GPCRs signal from endosomes, which requires active G proteins at this location. Here, the authors describe how active Gα_s accumulates on endosomes and reveal location-biased selectivity in GPCR-mediated G protein activation.

ASXL1 is often mutated in myeloid cancers. Here, the authors describe the molecular and structural mechanism by which ASXL1 associates with the transcriptional coactivator BRD4, helping to explain their high correlation in cancers.

Exhaustion is a functional state that hampers anti-cancer and antiviral CD8 T cell activity, and is preceded by a stem-like state, maintained by the transcription factor TCF1. Here authors develop mouse models that allow a precise understanding of the developmental trajectory between the stem-cell-like and exhausted states of CD8 T cells and find that while constitutive overexpression of TCF1 expands the stem-like T cell pool, TCF1 expression specifically in already exhausted cells is unable to promote dedifferentiation.

Gel ionotronics are typically easy to prepare, but control of local ionic character is unusual. Here, the authors report the combination of elastomers with photo-ion generators for photopatterned control of conductivity in the gel materials.

Here they show that FOXF2 is required for pericyte maturation and function during postnatal alveolar morphogenesis. FOXF2 is required in pericytes to induce angiogenesis after neonatal hyperoxic injury, revealing a link between pericyte-endothelial crosstalk and bronchopulmonary dysplasia pathogenesis.

Autopsy brain studies can be distorted because time and temperature alter gene expression. Here, the authors show that neurons, then oligodendrocytes, sequentially activate artifact genes, and provide a tool to measure these effects in RNA sequencing data.

Little work has been done to describe and address the variability inherent in the agroinfiltration and genetic engineering of Nicotiana benthamiana. Here, the authors identify and quantify the sources of virtually all variation and develop recommendations for minimizing variation.

By generating whole genomes of 150 participants representing 12 Khoe-San click-speaking groups, the authors, reveal over 1.3 million unknown DNA variants, distinct San and here described Damara genetic trajectories, while achieving century-long global predominance.

Cell division in many Gram-positive bacteria involves the synthesis of a peptidoglycan septum that is then hydrolyzed to facilitate cell separation. Here the authors show that, after septum formation, the cell wall at the division site is remodelled by transpeptidation as new poles form during daughter cell separation in Bacillus subtilis.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) has improved breast cancer patient outcomes but residual disease limits success. Here, the authors report a phase II clinical trial investigating talimogene laherparepvec (oncolytic virus engineered to express GM-CSF) combined with atezolizumab (anti-PD-L1) in HER2-negative breast cancer patients with residual disease following NAC.

Cationic amino acids are essential to protein synthesis and cellular signaling. Here, authors determine the structure of the cationic amino acid transporter 1 and determined how it is co-opted as a receptor for leukemia-causing animal viruses.

Cardiac rhythm depends on tightly regulated sodium channel gating. Here, the authors determine the structure of human Na_v1.5 in an intermediate open state and show how specific N-terminal interactions and ion binding near the IFM motif together regulate fast inactivation.

Chromosome folding in early zebrafish development starts with formation of fountains. These patterns, also prominent in other systems, form at active enhancers, depend on transcription factors, and reflect preferential loading of loop extruding cohesin at enhancers.

Researchers report a solid that is amorphous in two dimensions but crystalline in the third, made of stacked disordered atomic layers. This shows that crystalline and amorphous order can coexist within a single material depending on direction.

The transformations for aragonite precursors in coral are not fully understood but have implications in bio, biogenic and geological mineralization. Here, the authors use high-resolution mapping and observe exponential decay from the edge of four precursors to coral aragonite skeleton in Stylophora pistillata.

An electronic–photonic transmitter chip can enable signal readout of superconducting electronics for interfacing with room-temperature environments.

The limited tunability of threshold voltage is a major obstacle for applying two-dimensional transistors in post-silicon electronics. Here, the authors show that bimetallic thiophosphates, such as LiInP₂S₆, enable programmable threshold voltages in both n-type and p-type 2D transistors, leading to low-power, high-speed complementary logic inverters.

Therapies combining chemotherapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors have shown limited efficacy in patients with advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Here the authors report the results of a pilot phase 1 trial of neoadjuvant modified Folfirinox plus nivolumab in borderline-resectable PDAC, including safety, efficacy and immunological correlates.