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This study reports a modular-cloning-based platform for high-throughput chloroplast engineering in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii that allows large-scale characterization of genetic parts and prototyping of new traits, as demonstrated for the photorespiration pathway.

How animals coordinate the production of multimodal signals is poorly understood. Here, authors shows how a single neural circuit integrates social cues and motivational state to orchestrate signal production across modalities.

Stoldt, Maass, and colleagues present a study where smFISH is combined with STED and MINFLUX microscopy to map mitochondrial mRNA at nanometre resolution, enabling the exploration of the structural folding and distribution of mRNAs within mitochondria.

Rui Li and colleagues propose a deep learning solution to inverse problems in imaging. Their sparsity-efficient network and software improve image restoration across advanced light microscopy modalities with fewer parameters than existing models.

Talin is a well-known regulator of cell adhesion and intracellular force transmission in animals. Here, the authors demonstrate that talin’s mechanical function is evolutionarily conserved and already established in unicellular eukaryotes.

Membrane-free complex coacervate microdroplets are compelling models for primitive compartmentalization, but it is unclear how molecular co-operativity influences physicochemical properties and activity of membrane-free compartments. Here, the authors use RNA/peptide coacervates as a model to reveal the relationship between coacervate properties and ribozyme activity.

Animals alternate between active periods and periods of rest or sleep. This study in fruit flies points to brain metabolism as a cause for this and shows that a network of glial cells interacting with neurons links brain function with the need for rest and sleep.

Specificity in interactions with otherwise common glycan structures is likely achieved through glycan context. Here, the authors show that such glycan context is generated through tunable glycan arrangements that are translated into function by galectins.

Clonal or isogenic model organisms allow for controlled replication, but their isolation from natural systems compromises their relevance for ecology and evolution research. However, a substantial number of vertebrate species reproduce clonally in nature and are an underused resource.

Current photoproximity labelling methods often require metal-based catalysts to map protein interactomes but, owing to their toxicity, they have limited intracellular applicability. A deazaflavin cofactor has now been developed as a biocompatible alternative for diazirine activation inside living cells, offering accurate mapping of protein interactors and dynamics with excellent spatio-temporal control.

During filamentous growth in the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans, a reduction in ribosome concentration leads to a decrease in macromolecular crowding. Inhibition of ribosome biogenesis can trigger filamentous growth in this pathogen.

The authors propose a Generalized Latent Equilibrium framework for fully local credit assignment in physical, dynamical neuronal networks such as the brain. By exploiting dendritic structure and prospective coding in cortical neurons, it enables an online approximation of backpropagation through space and time.

Exploration is vital for efficient and successful learning. Here, the authors propose a normative account of the role of hippocampal replay in generating approximately optimal exploratory choices.

The function of transcription factors is conveyed through intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) containing activation or repression domains, but the lack of quantitative structural ensemble models prevents their mechanistic decoding. Here, the authors use several methods to demonstrate that DNA binding can lead to complex changes in the IDR ensemble and accessibility on the example of the C-terminal IDR of pioneer factor Sox2.

This study introduces a deep active optimization pipeline that effectively tackles high-dimensional, complex problems with limited data. The approach minimizes sample size and surpasses existing methods, achieving optimal solutions in up to 2,000 dimensions.

Rhodamines are privileged fluorescent dyes for labelling intracellular structures in living cells. Here, the authors present a facile protecting-group-free synthesis permitting generation of a wide range of symmetrical and unsymmetrical 4-carboxyrhodamines covering the whole visible spectrum.

Activity recognition in live-cell imaging is laborious. Here, authors present, IVEA, a fully automated AI ImageJ plugin, that efficiently detects and classifies exocytosis events, from synaptic transmission to single-vesicle fusion, across cell types and imaging setups.

Arterial development is critical for proper blood flow, but the mechanisms mediating this process at the organ level remain unclear. Here, they show that a subpopulation of endothelial cells is important for formation of arterial endothelium in the intestine.

Scanning dielectric microscopy of nanocapillaries filled with water reveals that interfacial and strongly confined water exhibits a large in-plane dielectric constant and an in-plane conductivity approaching superionic values. 

To what degree do the laws of thermodynamics constrain biological function? This work shows that the amount of free energy dissipated by microbes during growth imposes tight constraints on the versatility of their metabolism.

The common description of strong-field light–matter interaction neglects the quantum-optical nature of the driving field. Now signatures of strong-field photoemission appear in electron energy spectra when driving with non-classical light.

Authors show that water trapped between 2D MXene sheets forms amorphous ice clusters at low temperatures, which cause a hysteresis of electrical conductivity. This structural rearrangement of water is affected by the presence of solvated cations, allowing reversible switching of the electronic properties of MXene films.

Here the authors develop a pipeline combining atomic force microscopy and deep learning to trace and quantify the structure of complex DNA molecules like replication intermediates and recombination products. Furthermore, they characterise surface deposition effects using simulations.

Pathogenic variants in UNC13A underlie a novel neurodevelopmental syndrome, with three subtypes defined by distinct genotypes with varying clinical and functional impacts characterized in cellular and animal models.

Skate-specific changes in the epigenome and its three-dimensional organization contributed to the evolution of the batoid fin morphology.

Some refractory rocks from the ultra-slow spreading Gakkel ridge (Arctic Ocean) have model ages up to 2 billion years, implying the long-term preservation of refractory domains in the asthenospheric mantle rather than their erasure by mantle convection. It is suggested that the upwelling mantle beneath mid-ocean ridges is highly heterogeneous, which make its composition difficult to be constrained by mid-ocean ridge basalts alone.

How the bones of the skull vault expand to cover the brain is poorly understood. Here, the authors demonstrate that such bones grow through a mechanical feedback mechanism that propagates a wave of differentiation and emergent cell motion.

Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age dairy pastoralists in Mongolia are associated with diverse mortuary practices. Here, the authors analyze aDNA from 30 individuals and identify two genetic groups associated with distinct mortuary traditions that seem to have mixed rarely, pointing to complexities in these pastoralist societies.

In this follow-up study presenting results at 96 weeks, cabotegravir and rilpivirine long-acting therapy remained noninferior to oral therapy, had acceptable safety and tolerability profiles, and resulted in durable virologic suppression, further supporting its consideration for African treatment programs.

This study of 89 multinational firms finds no significant link between voluntarily offsetting emissions and decarbonization speed. Firms spend little funds on carbon credits, and emission offsetting is not a central part of their climate strategies.

Language production and comprehension are often studied as separate processes, but they are intertwined in naturalistic conversation. In this Review, Holler and Kuhlen summarize how visual signals, feedback and multi-party interactions contribute to language processing and require further study.

DREDge is a software tool for motion correction of high-density electrophysiology recordings. It can handle action potential or local field potential data and is demonstrated on a variety of acute or chronic recordings from humans, nonhuman primates and mice.

Phytochrome photoreceptors are master regulators of plant development. This paper describes 3D structures of soybean phytochrome A in both Pr (inactive) and Pfr (signalling) states, revealing changes that might transmit the light signal to the cell.

Small regulatory RNAs can act on target mRNAs to control their translation and stability. Here, the authors present evidence that this riboregulation can potentially regulate by pairing to a target site within translation initiation complex and translation-transcription assemblies.

Using whole-embryo imaging and point cloud analysis, Brambach et al. reveal that global tissue diversity can be reduced to two organisational archetypes, crystalline and amorphous, each requiring specific cadherin expression during development.

Genomes of nine brown algal species with different sex determination systems show that U/V sex chromosomes evolved 450–224 Ma and show remarkable conservation of genes within the sex-determining region despite independent expansions of the sex locus in each lineage.

In this study, Rödström et al. use cryo-EM to reveal a range of structural features in THIK-1 K⁺ channel and demonstrate how these features define many functional properties of the channel, thus expanding its potential as a drug target.

The use of main-group elements in radical cross-coupling reactions has been little explored. Now, a low-valency bismuth complex has been shown to emulate the behaviour of first-row transition metals and undergo single-electron-transfer oxidative addition to redox-active electrophiles, leading to the development of a bismuth-catalysed C–N coupling reaction between amines and carboxylic acids.

Achieving genetic circuits on single DNA molecules could have varied applications. Here, authors observed proteins emerging from single DNA molecules through coupled transcription-translation complexes, and show that nascent proteins lingered on DNA, regulating cascaded reactions on the same DNA and allowing the design of a pulsatile genetic circuit.

Despite high levels of trade, the basic characteristics of the aquatic food trade are largely unknown. Here, the authors present a global seafood trade database showing the increasing globalization of farmed and wild aquatic foods.

Different types of SETBP1 variants cause variable developmental syndromes with only partial clinical and functional overlaps. Here, the authors report that SETBP1 variants outside the degron region impair DNA-binding, transcription, and neuronal differentiation capacity and morphologies.

Here, the authors find that mammals with more diverse immune genes (MHC I) face lower cancer risk, suggesting that immune surveillance could be a widespread natural defense against cancer.