Search

Analysis of observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array showed evidence of the thermal Sunyaev–Zeldovich effect in the direction of the Spiderweb protocluster at a redshift of 2.156.

Organic cation transporters (OCTs) are responsible for the hepatic uptake and renal clearance of well over 250 US Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs. Suo et al. solved cryo-electron microscopy structures of OCT variants in complex with xenobiotics, providing insights into drug recognition by OCTs.

The interplay of quantum measurements and unitary evolution is expected to produce dynamical phases with different entanglement properties. An entanglement phase transition has now been detected with hybrid quantum circuits in a superconducting processor.

Maternal genome-wide analyses identify variants associated with gestational duration and preterm delivery. Maternal alleles positively associated with gestational duration exhibit negative fetal effects on birth weight, likely reflecting antagonistic pleiotropy.

Complete sequences of chromosomes telomere-to-telomere from chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla, Bornean orangutan, Sumatran orangutan and siamang provide a comprehensive and valuable resource for future evolutionary comparisons.

The myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a heterogeneous group of chronic blood cancers. Here, the authors analyse genomic and gene expression data from MDS patients to investigate how driver mutations alter gene expression, diagnostic clinical variables and survival.

Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR) states result from the exchange coupling between a localized magnetic moment and a superconductor. Traditionally, the YSR states have been studied for magnetic atoms. For molecular magnets with extended ligand spin, the entanglement of spin and ligand orbital gives rise to new forms of YSR excitations. Here, Xia et al uncovered spin-orbital YSR states in an unpaired ligand spin in the molecular magnet Tb2Pc3 on Pb.

The association of specific immune cell types with SARS-CoV-2 severity is not fully understood. Here the authors analyse PBMC from individuals recovered from COVID-19 and propose immune cell signatures post recovery that are associated with disease severity.

Cryo-EM structures of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) envelope trimers with neutralizing antibodies reveal mechanisms—conserved throughout SIV evolution—of immune evasion through extended variable loops and glycan shielding, involving both N- and O-linked glycans.

PELP1 is a large scaffolding protein implicated in many cellular activities, including ribosome assembly as part of the Rix1 complex, comprising PELP1, WDR18, TEX10 and other components. Here, authors present the cryo-EM structure of PELP1 in complex with its binding partner WDR18, revealing the architecture of PELP1's numerous signaling motifs.

Nanoplastic water pollution represents an increasing concern. Here, photogravitactic MXene-derived microrobots are programmed to trap nanoplastics in the layered structure and magnetically transfer them to low-cost electrodes for further detection.

Analyses of the genetic architecture of the human plasma metabolome in two large population-based cohorts identify associations between genetically determined metabolite levels and health.

Here, the authors report the cryoEM structure of AA amyloid from a cat shelter with extreme disease prevalence and reveal the feline-specific sequence insert in the fibril core. The sequence is 99% identical to AA amyloid from cheetah with reported prion-like transmission in zoos.

Cryo-electron microscopy and crystal structures of Arabidopsis NPR1—a bird-shaped homodimer—and its complex with the transcription factor TGA3 provide an explanation for a direct role of salicylic acid and enhanceosome assembly in regulating NPR1-dependent gene expression.

Claude-Taupin et al. show that ATG9A mediates protection against plasma membrane damage in diverse biological contexts through a mechanism involving IQGAP1 and ESCRTs.

Ancient DNA reveals how the explosive expansion of Yamnaya steppe pastoralists began with a small community north of the Black Sea speaking ancestral Indo-European, and detects genetic links with Anatolian speakers, stemming from a common Indo-Anatolian homeland in the North Caucasus–lower Volga region.

Analyses of 475 ancient horse genomes show modern horses emerged around 2200 bce, coinciding with sudden expansion across Eurasia, refuting the narrative of large horse herds accompanying earlier migrations of steppe peoples across Europe.

Membranous nephropathy (MN) is a rare autoimmune disease of podocyte-directed antibodies, such as anti-phospholipase A2 receptor. Here, the authors report a genome-wide association study for MN and identify two previously unreported loci encompassing the NFKB1 and IRF4 genes and additional ancestry-specific effects.

How global climatic changes are translated into ice-sheet fluctuations and sea-level change is not well understood. Here the authors present a compilation of empirical data and numerical modelling results of pre-LGM Northern Hemisphere ice sheet changes and show pronounced ice-sheet asymmetry within the last glacial cycle and significant variations in ice-marginal positions between older glacial cycles.

High-yield farming systems have the potential to spare non-farmed land for other uses (such as nature conservation), but raise concerns about their other environmental impacts (such as greenhouse gas emissions and soil erosion). This study argues such impacts should be measured per unit of production and shows that viewed this way, some land-efficient systems have less impact than lower-yielding alternatives.

Oxidative stress can promote neurodegeneration. Akassoglou and colleagues describe Tox-seq, a functional single-cell RNA sequencing method to identify oxidative stress transcriptional signatures in CNS-resident cells. Tox-seq identified coagulation and glutathione-redox pathway genes that are coupled to oxidative stress and that could be targeted by the glutathione-regulating small molecule acivicin.

The archaeological record provides large ensembles of radiocarbon dates which can be used to infer long-term changes in human demography. Here, the authors analyse the radiocarbon record of the Iberian peninsula, finding support for a bottleneck during the Last Glacial-Interglacial transition

Grasslands, and the livestock that live there, are dynamic sources and sinks of greenhouse gases, but what controls these fluxes remains poorly characterized. Here the authors show that on the global level, grasslands are climate neutral owing to the cancelling effects of managed vs. natural systems.

Here, using cryo-EM and smFRET, Henderson et al. show how tryptophan 571 in the HIV-1 Env acts as a conformational switch during receptor-mediated viral entry and design HIV-1 Env proteins that cannot undergo conformational changes. This has important implications for HIV-1 vaccine design.

The SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein is flexible, and its receptor-binding domain (RBD) fluctuates between up or down conformations. Mutations engineered into the spike ectodomain either lock the RBD in the down state or make it adopt the up conformation more readily.

Inversions are a little-studied type of genomic variation that could contribute to phenotypic traits. Here the authors characterize 45 common polymorphic inversions in human populations and investigate their evolutionary and functional impact.

Feedback modulation of V1 is implicated in functions such as attention yet the precise neural mechanisms are not known. Here the authors report that optogenetic inactivation of V2 projections leads to modulation of V1 receptive field properties such as size, surround suppression and response amplitude.

Unintended and undesirable consequences can hinder policymaking. This Perspective explores how anticipatory governance can reduce ignorance, manage errors and avoid imperious immediacy when shaping future technological innovation to support more sustainable food systems transformations.

This work combines mass spectrometry imaging at high resolution with FISH for the visualization and identification of microorganisms. The authors develop a sample preparation and imaging pipeline called metaFISH to colocalize metabolite patterns with community members and apply it to a host–microbe symbiosis (mussel and its symbionts) to identify symbiosis-specific metabolites.

A specialized technology can restore and preserve microcirculation and cellular functions hours post-mortem in an isolated pig brain.

A cross-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analysis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) including 29,612 patients with ALS and 122,656 controls identifies 15 risk loci with distinct genetic architectures and neuron-specific biology.

Little is known about the effects of molecular crowding and confinement on biomolecule function. Castronovoet al. investigate the reactions of restriction enzymes with DNA confined in bushy matrices and find that the enzymes enter at the side of the matrix before diffusing two-dimensionally.

The coupling between a single-molecule spin and a single phonon in a carbon nanotube is observed.

It is currently difficult to perform accurate single-cell assays in 384-well plates. Here the authors report Dye Drop which uses sequential density displacement and microscopy for multi-step assays on cells, and use this to collect single-cell dose-response data for small molecules in breast cancer cells.

The recent determination of the structure of the class I phosphoinositide 3-kinase PI3Kα has identified important structural differences between the class 1 PI3Ks. How can this information be used to improve cancer therapy?

Hugh Watkins, Sekar Kathiresan, Ruth McPherson, Martin Farrall and colleagues report the results of a large genome-wide association meta-analysis of coronary artery disease based on 1000 Genomes imputation. They identify ten new risk loci and show that susceptibility to this disease is largely determined by common SNPs with small effect sizes.

Characterization of medulloblastoma tissues using single-cell transcriptomics shows that the different molecular subtypes consist of distinct developmental phenotypes.

Reference assemblies of great ape sex chromosomes show that Y chromosomes are more variable in size and sequence than X chromosomes and provide a resource for studies on human evolution and conservation genetics of non-human apes.

High-resolution time differences between six Middle Palaeolithic hearths from El Salt Unit x (Spain) obtained through archaeomagnetic and archaeostratigraphic analyses show sometimes decade-long intervals between hearths.

Tumour-induced expansion of regulatory T (T_Reg) cells is an obstacle to successful cancer immunotherapy. Does it make more sense to suppress the function of these cells rather than deplete them to improve the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy?

Proteome and transcriptome often show poor correlation, hindering the system-wide analysis of post-transcriptional regulation. Here, the authors study proteome and transcriptome dynamics during Drosophila embryogenesis and present basic mathematical models describing the temporal regulation of most protein-RNA pairs.

What neurons encode when animals face a dangerous situation is unclear. Here, the authors show that the prefrontal cortex encodes both threat-specific information and a more general representation of the presence of danger.