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The role of IgG glycosylation in the immune response has been studied, but less is known about IgM glycosylation. Here the authors characterize glycosylation of SARS-CoV-2 spike specific IgM and show that it correlates with COVID-19 severity and affects complement deposition.

In this study, Aggarwal and colleagues perform prospective sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 isolates derived from asymptomatic student screening and symptomatic testing of students and staff at the University of Cambridge. They identify important factors that contributed to within university transmission and onward spread into the wider community.

A study of the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in England between September 2020 and June 2021 finds that interventions capable of containing previous variants were insufficient to stop the more transmissible Alpha and Delta variants.

De Jesus et al. describe the redox-mediated regulation of m⁶A writer methyltransferase 3, which blunts innate immune responses by modification of RNA sensor and editor component mRNAs during the onset of type 1 diabetes in β-cells.

Cryo-electron microscopy structures of Staphylococcus aureus BlaR1 reveal dynamic signalling states regulating broad spectrum β-lactam antibiotic resistance through cleavage of the transcriptional repressor BlaI and induced expression of the β-lactamase blaZ and the β-lactam-resistant cell-wall transpeptidase mecA.

Unlike most inflammatory fibrotic conditions, frozen shoulder is a spontaneously self-resolving human disease. Here authors study samples from frozen shoulder capsules by single cell RNA sequencing and by microculture modelling of cell-cell interactions to conclude that specific macrophage populations and their interaction with fibroblasts might promote fibrosis resolution.

Plasma levels of liver enzymes provide insights into hepatic function and related diseases. Here, the authors perform a genome-wide association study on three liver enzymes, identifying genetic variants associated with their plasma concentration as well as links to metabolic and cardiovascular diseases.

Alcoholic hepatitis, a common cause of liver failure, lacks effective treatment. Here, the authors show altered hepatic HNF4a isoform expression and hypermethylation of its target genes in patients. HNF4a dysregulation is improved in vitro by TGFb or PPARg modulation suggesting potential therapeutic avenues.

Biological evolution and language evolution share many striking parallels. This Review explains how these similarities enable the use of statistical methods derived from phylogenetics to understand how human languages evolve and the insights that language phylogenies can reveal.

A genetic study of problematic alcohol use in 435,563 individuals, including data from the Million Veteran Program, Psychiatric Genomics Consortium and UK Biobank, found many novel risk loci and provided new insights into trait biology.

Predicting ecological impacts of climate change is complicated, because key biological parameters are unknown for future conditions. Using a mechanistic energy budget model to relate sea ice to polar bear reproduction, Molnáret al.predict decreases in litter size with anticipated changes in sea ice.

Fire-derived organic matter (OM) is present throughout the environment, and its impact on nutrient cycling remains poorly understood. Here, the authors show that this pyrogenic OM can retain large quantities of ammonia through covalent bond formation, thereby exerting an important control on nitrogen cycling.

Tractor is a statistical framework that facilitates the inclusion of admixed individuals in association studies by leveraging local ancestry. Tractor generates accurate ancestry-specific effect-size estimates and improves the resolution of association signals.

Post-international travel quarantine has been widely implemented to mitigate SARS-CoV-2 transmission, but the impacts of such policies are unclear. Here, the authors used linked genomic and contact tracing data to assess the impacts of a 14-day quarantine on return to England in summer 2020.

Young children frequently encounter respiratory pathogens that elicit immune responses in developing lungs. Farber and colleagues examine rare lung tissue samples obtained from pediatric organ donors and find age-dependent formation of bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue (BALT), which peaks at 3 years of age and dissipates thereafter. Profiling of BALT lymphocytes indicates that repertoire and functional differences exist between the lung, draining lymph nodes and circulating cells.

Type 1 diabetes is associated with autoimmune destruction of pancreatic beta-cells. Here the authors compose a large-scale electron microscopy image data base of pancreatic organ donor tissue to enable data mining and further understanding of the disease.

Genetic and testing data from England show that the SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern B.1.1.7 has a transmission advantage over other lineages.

Statistical modelling techniques and concepts from biology are applied to linguistic data to show a general and law-like relationship between the frequency with which meanings are used in everyday language and their rate of evolution throughout Indo-European history: the more a word is used, the less likely it is to change over time. The findings demonstrate a fundamental aspect of language evolution that is predicted to apply to all languages.

Primary biliary cirrhosis is an autoimmune liver disease with poor therapeutic options. Here Cordell et al. a perform meta-analysis of European genome-wide association studies identifying six novel risk loci and a number of potential therapeutic pathways.

A large-scale genetic analysis of type 1 diabetes identifies new susceptibility variants, highlights potential regulatory mechanisms and provides genetic support for therapeutic targets for immune intervention.

C₄ photosynthesis is thought to be more efficient than the ancestral C₃ form, but data directly comparing the two are inconsistent. This study compares 382 grasses and finds a consistent increase in growth and greater investment in water and nutrient acquisition in C₄ species.

The ability to culture live pancreatic tissue slices for long periods of time would enable longitudinal studies ex vivo. Here the authors culture human and mouse pancreatic slices in a perfluorocarbon-based culture system and show stable endocrine and exocrine function for up to ten days in culture.

Coupling technological advances with sociocultural and policy changes can transform agri-food systems to address pressing climate, economic, environmental, health and social challenges. An international expert panel reports on options to induce contextualized combinations of innovations that can balance multiple goals.

A computational approach to generate reference-free protein families from the sequence space in metagenomes reveals an enormously diverse functional space.

HLA alleles and microbiome alterations have been separately associated with human autoimmunity. Here the authors identify differences in stool microbiome between healthy carriers of HLA alleles conferring low- and high-risk for type 1 diabetes, suggesting that HLA shaping of microbiome may contribute to HLA impact on autoimmunity risks.

Expression of peripheral tissue antigens may be important for peripheral T cell tolerance. Fathman and colleagues demonstrate involvement of the transcription factor Deaf1 in maintaining this expression and link a Deaf1 isoform with type 1 diabetes.

The sinus node generates rhythmic heartbeat but the molecular basis of pacemaking is still under debate. Here, the authors combine quantitative proteomics and single-nucleus transcriptomics to characterize the molecular composition of the sinus node and provide insights into the underpinnings of pacemaking.

The Omicron variant evades vaccine-induced neutralization but also fails to form syncytia, shows reduced replication in human lung cells and preferentially uses a TMPRSS2-independent cell entry pathway, which may contribute to enhanced replication in cells of the upper airway. Altered fusion and cell entry characteristics are linked to distinct regions of the Omicron spike protein.