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Duan and Kaushik et al. reveal the structural basis of how Escherichia coli and Thermus thermophilus RNA polymerases initiate transcription from Np₄A alarmones producing Np₄-capped transcripts. The caps form various interactions with a polymerase during initial steps, influencing capping efficiency.

Olfactory perception of food-derived odors influences feeding behavior, but the underlying neural pathways remain unclear. Here, the authors show that prolonged exposure to food odor suppresses food intake and body weight gain by activating an olfactory bulb–hypothalamus circuit.

This study reveals neuronal targets of Lac-Phe in the hypothalamus that mediate its suppression of food intake.

This Review explores how post-translational modifications orchestrate replication stress responses by regulating checkpoint signaling, DNA repair and fork remodeling, thereby preserving genome stability under genotoxic conditions.

Liu and colleagues examine how severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 variants evade CD8⁺ T cell epitope recognition.

Lan et al. demonstrate the high performance of plasma p-tau217 in detecting and tracking multiple aspects of Alzheimer’s disease pathology, outperforming other plasma tau biomarkers across two Chinese cohorts (GHABS and Huashan) and the North American ADNI cohort.

ERα^vlVMH neurons mediate the inhibitory role of 17β-oestradiol on prolactin production, and this inhibition is lifted in lactating mice to promote lactation-associated metabolic adaptations.

Cleavage by pathogen-derived proteases of an engineered chimeric protein activates its plant immune receptor component, enabling broad-spectrum resistance to pathogens in plants.

Glutamatergic neurons in the parvocellular part of the medial vestibular nucleus mediate motion-induced hypothermia and can be targeted to prevent diet-induced obesity.

Immune checkpoint blockade therapy for cancer is promising, but delivery optimization is desirable. Here the authors generate cancer-targeting liposomes with anti-PD-L1 and doxorubicin for protease-mediated intratumoral release of both components, and see effective tumor control in mouse models, thereby hinting potential clinical translation.

The authors identify a neural population in the basal forebrain of mice that is key for maintaining energy balance by facilitating homoeostatic feeding while suppressing hedonic overeating.

Grb10, an adaptor protein known to regulate insulin signalling, can interact with the leptin receptor for enhancement of leptin signalling in hypothalamic AgRP and POMC neurons in mice.

Waste lithium-ion batteries and low-density polyethylene plastics present environmental issues. Herein, the authors demonstrate a synergistic pyrolysis approach for efficient and selective lithium extraction and upgrading of transition metal-carbon composites.

Sustainability in agriculture can be improved harnessing biological N₂ fixation in legumes. Here, the authors combine different crops with peanut plants finding that maize and oilseed rape are the most successful combinations which have potential to enhance rhizosphere microbiota N₂ fixation.

m⁶A-SAC-seq uses chemical labeling to quantify m⁶A at single-base resolution in the mammalian transcriptome.

Here, using proteomics, next-generation sequencing, biochemistry and cryo-EM, the authors delineate the role of CedA as an unconventional transcription factor in Escherichia coli, which protects from different stressors, including antibiotics, by regulating the transcriptional landscape.

Oesophageal squamous-cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a leading cause of cancer death, and half of ESCC cases occur in China. Here, the authors provide an in depth genomic landscape for this disease and identify specific mutation signatures—one of which is linked to alcohol intake.

Adenosylcobalamin (AdoCbl) is an essential vitamin whose production is limited to bacterial fermentation. Here, the authors report an alternative method for the synthesis of AdoCbl based on a cell-free reaction system integrating more than 30 biocatalytic reactions to produce AdoCbl from 5-aminolevulinic acid.

The FDA approved drug aprepitant is an antagonist of the Neurokinin 1 receptor (NK1R). Here the authors present aprepitant bound NK1R crystal structures and use NMR spectroscopy to gain further insights into the dynamics of aprepitant binding, which is of interest for further drug development.

Dou, Xiao, Shen, Wang et al. show that RBFOX2 recognizes m⁶A on chromatin-associated RNAs and recruits RBM15, YTHDC1 and PRC2 to facilitate transcription suppression. Inhibition of the axis exerts anti-leukaemic effects.

A study presents the results of surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 in animal and environmental samples from a market linked to early human cases of coronavirus disease 2019.

Identification and characterization of variants in HTR2C in people with severe obesity, reveals a role for serotonin 2C receptor in regulation of appetite, weight and behavior.

Guided sparse factor analysis (GSFA) is a powerful statistical framework to detect changes in gene expression as a result of perturbations in single-cell CRISPR screening.

A six-letter sequencing workflow can simultaneously detect genetic and epigenetic bases.

DNA damage results in the acetylation of the cell-cycle checkpoint kinase WEE1 at Lys177 enabling activation. The deacetylase SIRT1 directly associates with and modifies WEE1 to inactivate it enabling resistance to WEE1 inhibition in cancer cells.

The use of thin silver films with nanometric thickness for optoelectronic devices is essential for high transparency, flexibility, and electrical properties. Ma et al. report a thinning-back process with a flood ion beam, to further reduce film thickness down to 4.5 nm.

This study reveals that the interaction between antiferromagnetic magnetic moments and electron spin causes disordered carriers to hop between localized states, resulting in a nonlinear increase in the terahertz responsivity as temperature decreases.

A double-ring-resonator device on thin-film lithium niobate enables the generation of electro-optic frequency combs with a 30% power efficiency and an optical span of 132 nm.

This study examines contributions of non-carbon neutrality countries to climate mitigation through BECCS. Cultivating switchgrass in these countries can remove up to 19.9 PgC of CO₂, leading to net cooling despite biophysical warming effects.

Patients with refractory ulcerative colitis often undergo ileal pouch anal anastomosis forming an ileal pouch. Here the authors use a single-cell genomics approach to show that ileal pouches from ulcerative colitis patients feature a unique type of enterocytes which express colonocyte-specific and inflammatory genes while also retaining expression of ileal marker genes.

N⁶-methyladenosine is mapped at single-base resolution in as few as ten cells.

The construction of well-ordered nanoarrays, particularly invoking metastable material phases, remains a challenge. Here, authors prepared a well-ordered, rhodium nanoarray on two-dimensional, metastable rhodium oxide to enhance hydrogen evolution electrocatalysis.

Achieving the reduction of U(VI) to solid U(IV) using electrochemical methods under ambient conditions is significant for uranium recovery but challenging. Here, the authors developed a secondary metal ion-induced strategy for electrocatalytic production of U(IV) solids from U(VI) solutions.

In contrast with well-established dearomatization protocols such as the Birch reduction, sigmatropic rearrangement-based dearomatizations are a less-explored but potentially effective route to saturated compounds. Here, the authors show a [5,5]-rearrangement-enabled dearomatization of aryl sulfoxides.

SARS-CoV-2 variants with immune escape capability highlight the need for the development of cross-neutralising vaccines and regimens. Here, the authors assess the immunogenicity and safety of NVSI-06-08, that integrates antigens from multiple SARS-CoV-2 strains into a single immunogen, as a heterologous booster in adults previously vaccinated with the inactivated vaccine.

Inhibiting the PCSK9 protein, a regulator of cholesterol metabolism, enhances immune checkpoint therapy in mouse models of cancer, in a manner that depends on the regulation of antigen-presenting MHC I molecules.

Platinum group metal- and iron-free catalysts are highly desirable for the oxygen reduction reaction in proton-exchange membrane fuel cells. Now, Wu and co-workers show a carbon catalyst with atomically dispersed single Mn sites as an efficient catalyst with enhanced stability in acidic media.

A natural pathway in rice and in seven other major crop species degrades 57–89% of accumulated methylmercury and releases Hg into the air. The MeHg demethylation within rice mitigates Hg flux into human food webs, diminishing human cognitive damage and generating global economic benefits of US$30.7–84.2 billion.

Stabilizing high oxidation state of Ru centers is important to achieve stable performance for acidic oxygen evolution reaction. Here the authors report two-dimensional ruthenium-iridium oxide for enhanced stability and activity for acidic water oxidation in proton exchange membrane electrolyzer.

Alpha-fetoprotein producing gastric carcinomas (AFPGC) are rare and aggressive. Here, the authors profile AFPGC tumours using whole exome sequencing, and find amplifications in CCNE1 and ERBB2 that are associated with poor outcomes but are potential therapeutic targets, as shown in patient-derived xenografts.

The conventional method for synthesizing thioether compounds typically relies on thiol, disulfide, and sulfinyl halide as initial substances, suffering from strong odors, limited availability, and reactivity issues. Here, the authors present an approach for assembling S-thiosulfonates and SS-thiosulfonates through the integration of dual copper/photoredox catalysis

In situ real-time water pollution monitoring provides a fast and convenient way to detect water pollutants, but the development of detectors with high sensitivity is still challenging. Portable organic photodetectors fabricated with a colloid processing approach achieve highly sensitive and accurate monitoring of trace pollutants in water.

Coagulation plays a crucial role in ensuring the safety of drinking water by removing natural organic matter. A comprehensive investigation of existing coagulation theories at the molecular functional group scale highlights the importance of the properties of natural organic matter on coagulation efficiency and provides valuable insights for predicting and achieving the efficient removal of pollutants by coagulation.

The importance of ensuring access to clean drinking water is manifested in UN Sustainable Development Goals. Here, a national-level assessment of tap-water safety shows spatial variations across China. The disparity is correlated with natural and anthropogenic factors and linked to public health-risk rates.

The transcription factor retinoid X receptor-alpha (RXRα) can also form homotetramers. Here the authors show that the anti-cancer agent K-80003 selectively inhibits the nongenomic action of N-terminally-cleaved RXRα in tumour cells by stabilizing its tetramerization but not that of full-length RXRα.

Mitotic spindle assembly is required for proper cell division, but many underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, the authors show that NuMa undergoes liquid-liquid phase separation, condensing on spindle poles during mitotic entry and enriching critical components to promote spindle assembly.