Search

European XFEL allows investigation of the picosecond time range in the photocycle of photoactive yellow protein.

An increasing number of amyloid structures are determined. Here, the authors present the structure-based amyloid core sequence prediction method Cordax that is based on machine learning and allows the detection of aggregation-prone regions with higher solubility, disorder and surface exposure, and furthermore predicts the structural topology, orientation and overall architecture of the resulting putative fibril core.

Birthweight has been found to associate with later-life health outcomes. Here the authors perform a meta-analysis of epigenome-wide association studies of 8,825 neonates from 24 birth cohorts in the Pregnancy And Childhood Epigenetics Consortium, identifying differentially methylated CpGs in neonatal blood that associate with birthweight.

While membrane contact sites between intracellular organelles are abundant, little is known about the contacts between membranes that delimit extracellular junctions within cells, such as intracellular parasites. Here authors demonstrate the segregation of a lipid transporter from a solute transporter in the malarial host-parasite interface.

Using large-scale data describing five decades of wheat breeding progress in western Europe, a study shows that breeding for high performance enhances wheat productivity under not only optimal conditions but also conditions with reduced agrochemical inputs.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa displays substantial genetic diversification across sub-compartments in cystic fibrosis (CF) lungs. Here, Kordes et al. show that, despite genetic variation, the ex vivo transcriptional profiles of P. aeruginosa populations are similar across five different areas in an explanted CF lung.

Uhlmann et al. show that the preclinical phase of Alzheimer’s disease may in fact be a relatively late manifestation of a much earlier pathogenic and targetable process of seed formation and propagation.

Here the authors present a tool that enables a flexible set of existing binning algorithms to be combined, resulting in improved binning accuracy and the recovery of more near-complete genomes from metagenomes compared to standalone methods.

While strain is known to affect cardiac electrophysiology, experimental systems to interrogate the effect of rapid strain cycles on cardiac tissue are lacking. Here the authors introduce a multielectrode array that can induce rapid dynamic strain cycles on cardiomyocyte strands and see effects of strain amplitude but not strain rate on impulse conduction.

This study uses calcium imaging to show that T4 and T5 neurons are divided in specific subpopulations responding to motion in four cardinal directions, and are specific to ON versus OFF edges, respectively; when either T4 or T5 neurons were genetically blocked, tethered flies walking on air-suspended beads failed to respond to the corresponding visual stimuli.

NASA’s Cold Atom Lab has operated on the International Space Station since 2018 to study quantum gases and mature quantum technologies in Earth’s orbit. Here, Williams et al., report on a series of pathfinding experiments exploring the first quantum sensor using atom interferometry in space.

5-hydroxymethyluracil (hmU) is an oxidative DNA lesion and a potential intermediate in DNA repair–coupled DNA demethylation pathways. Isotopic labeling and MS reveal that hmU is produced directly by Tet-mediated oxidation of thymine in mouse embryonic stem cells, suggesting a functional role for hmU in stem cells.

Global data collected between 2014 and 2024 provide insights into the distribution and potential transport mechanisms of subsurface microplastics throughout the oceanic water column.

Spectrally resolved FLIM with three excitation wavelengths and detection on 32 channels combined with advanced pattern matching allows for simultaneous detection and discrimination of fluorophores with nearly identical emission spectra, enabling highly multiplexed imaging.

DNA damage induces silencing of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) transcription. Stucki and colleagues reveal that rRNA silencing is an ATM-dependent pan-nuclear response to irradiation, in which the nucleolar protein Treacle targets DNA-damage protein NBS1 to nucleoli.

Impaired TGF-β signaling due to SMAD4 mutation in PDAC tumors initiates a STAT3-dependent signaling cascade that leads to increased stromal stiffening and disease progression.

Vegetation resilience to drought is underlain by plant physiological responses. Here, the authors combine remote sensing data, explainable machine learning and model simulations to map global vegetation responses to drought linked to physiological processes such as stomatal regulation and light use efficiency.

Mitochondria modulate both normal and premature aging, yet if primary oxidative phosphorylation deficiency can cause progeria has been unclear. Here, the authors show that mice with severe isolated respiratory complex III deficiency display cellular senescence and juvenile-onset segmental progeria.

A structural and functional analysis of the systems involved in oligosaccharide uptake in gut Bacteroidetes describes multicomponent complexes termed utilisomes that include pre-processing and transport subunits.

Imputation uses genotype information from SNP arrays to infer the genotypes of missing markers. Here, the authors show that an imputation reference panel derived from whole-genome sequencing of 3,781 samples from the UK10K project improves the imputation accuracy and coverage of low frequency variants compared to existing methods.

Bacterial cell growth and division require the coordinated action of enzymes that synthesize and degrade cell wall polymers. Here, the authors identify enzymes that cleave the D-arabinan core of arabinogalactan, an unusual component of the cell wall of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and other mycobacteria.

Population-based genome sequencing provides an increasingly rich resource for the identification of low-frequency, large effect variants associated with clinically important phenotypes. Timpson et al. use UK10K data to identify a variant of the APOC3gene strongly associated with plasma triglyceride levels.

Numerous genetic variants, including those located in the non-coding regions of the genome, are known to be associated with blood cells traits. Here, Frontini and colleagues investigate their potential regulatory functions using epigenomic data and promoter long-range interactions.

Levels of extracellular calcium can increase at sites of infection and inflammation; however, the physiological significance of this has been unclear. This work shows that extracellular calcium acts as a danger signal, triggering the NLRP3 inflammasome via two G protein-coupled receptors.

Interfaces of organic donor-acceptor blends provide intermolecular charge-transfer states with red-shifted but weak absorption. By introducing an optical micro-cavity; Siegmundet al., enhance their photoresponse to achieve narrowband NIR photodetection with broad spectral tunability.

Analysis of ancient genomic data of 51 humans from Eurasia dating from 45,000 to 7,000 years ago provides insight into the population history of pre-Neolithic Europe and support for recurring migration and population turnover in Europe during this period.

Despite its wide use in ageing research, the contribution of specific age-associated pathologies toC. elegansmortality is not well understood. Here the authors identify two types of death in worms, with either a swollen or a shrunken pharynx, that are differentially affected by age and mutations that extend worm lifespan.

Serial femtosecond crystallography is an X-ray free-electron-laser-based method that uses X-ray bursts to determine protein structures. Here the authors present the structure of a photosynthetic reaction centre, an integral membrane protein, achieved with no sign of X-ray-induced radiation damage.

PDEδ is a widely expressed factor that sustains the spatial organization and signalling of Ras family proteins. Here the authors describe the activity of Deltazinone 1, a new highly selective PDEδ inhibitor of KRAS-dependent cancer cell growth with low cytotoxic side effects.

Both rare and common variants contribute to the aetiology of complex traits such as type 2 diabetes (T2D). Here, the authors examine the effect of coding variation on glycaemic traits and T2D, and identify low-frequency variation in GLP1Rsignificantly associated with these traits.

Gut microbes are known to influence whole-body metabolism. Here Everard et al.show the adaptor protein MyD88 in intestinal epithelial cells is sensitive to changes in the diet and affects composition of the gut microbiota, which influences the development of obesity and associated diseases.

The actomyosin cytoskeleton consists of a contractile array but how it becomes organized is not clear. Here the authors reconstitute a controllable contractile system to show that force balances at boundaries determine contraction dynamics, and spatial anisotropy leads to self-organization or aligned contractile fibres.

The microbial carbon pump is an important pathway for marine carbon sequestration, yet the chemical complexity and stability of persistent molecules remain enigmatic. Here, the authors use bioassay experiments to investigate the complexity and refractory nature of bacterial dissolved organic matter.

The cellular function of small GTPases is regulated by switching between active (GTP-bound) and inactive (GDP-bound) states. Here the authors develop nucleotide analogues that can be covalently linked to GTPases via a strategically placed cysteine residue to lock the target GTPase in defined activation states.

Perception is guided by anticipating future events, but it is not clear how this is computed neurally. Here, the authors use ultra-fast fMRI to show that humans preplay anticipated visual sequences in the primary visual cortex and that this preplay correlates with faster detection of the stimuli.

A prerequisite for using domain walls in logic or sensing devices is a thorough knowledge of the properties and precise control. Here the authors monitor the domain wall motion in curved nanowires by stroboscopic imaging and find a regime of oscillating velocity and spin structure below the Walker breakdown.

Since protein interactions can be sensitive to small sequence changes, phylogenomics alone gives limited insight into protein functional evolution. Here, the authors illustrate how the combination of phylogenomics and interaction proteomics helps elucidate protein functional evolution with a study of the shelterin complex evolution.

Breast cancers have been extensively studied at the genomic and transcriptomic levels in the hope of tailoring therapeutic regimens. Here the authors generate deep coverage proteomes from several clinical breast cancer samples, and use machine learning techniques to uncover biological processes altered in specific cancer subtypes.

During mitosis, mitochondria partition into daughter cells through microtubule-based transport. Here the authors show that the mitochondrial protein Miro and the cytoskeletal-associated protein Cenp-F interact in a cell-cycle dependent manner to promote microtubule-directed movement of mitochondria.

Insulin and insulin-like growth factor 1 signalling pathways have overlapping effects on adipose tissue and glucose homeostasis. Boucheret al.created fat-specific double knockouts of these pathways and demonstrated their crucial role for adipocyte development, metabolism and thermogenesis in mice.

Whole-genome sequencing analysis of individuals with primary immunodeficiency identifies new candidate disease-associated genes and shows how the interplay between genetic variants can explain the variable penetrance and complexity of the disease.

Dynamical modelling of the ultra-compact dwarf galaxy M60-UCD1 reveals the presence of a supermassive black hole; this suggests the object is a stripped galaxy nucleus and implies the existence of supermassive black holes in many other ultra-compact dwarf galaxies.

Navigating through everyday environments requires the ability to keep track of others. Here, the authors show this ability is linked to grid-like codes in the human entorhinal cortex that signal the spatial paths other individuals take.

A computational pipeline identifies tumor antigen post-translational modifications guiding immune responses.

An inactive black hole has been found in the Large Magellanic Cloud, bound into a binary star system. Having experienced a negligible ‘kick’ during formation, the existence of this black hole has strong implications for black hole-–black hole mergers.

Pemphigus vulgaris is a life-threatening blistering skin disease caused by autoantibodies which destabilize cell adhesion of keratinocytes. The phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor apremilast prevents skin blistering by stabilizing the keratin filament anchorage of desmosomes.

In mice, reactivation of neurons that express cFos during fear conditioning induces a behavioural response. Here the authors show that cFos expression in mouse dentate gyrus shifts every day to different neurons, even during highly consistent spatial navigation, and suggest this clock-like selection mechanism may aid the encoding of episodic memories.