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Sarcomas are rare tumours with many different subtypes and clinical outcomes; a broader knowledge of their genetic features is required. Here, the authors analyse 2138 soft tissue and bone sarcomas across 45 subtypes using MSK-IMPACT targeted sequencing and find genomic groups that are distinct from histological subgroups.

Ghorbani and colleagues describe versican-V1 as an inhibitor of remyelination using transgenic mice that illuminate new GFP ⁺ oligodendrocytes. Mechanisms of versican-V1 include the direct inhibition of oligodendrocytes, and elevating Th17 cells.

Investigation of variation in three cohorts has identified multiple genetic signals associated with the pregnancy-specific liver disorder, intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, giving insight into the disease which can cause preterm birth and stillbirth.

Despite lung adenocarcinoma having a high global mortality, the genetic mutations present in Asian patients are uncharacterized. Here the authors use genomic and transcriptomic analysis to identify thirteen significantly affected genes, including RHPN2, GLI3, MRC2, TP53 and IQGAP3.

Myopia is a significant and increasing public health concern. Here Miyake et al. conduct a genome-wide association study and identify WNT7Bas a susceptibility gene across different ethnic groups, suggesting a possible role in the development of myopia.

Foliar spray of double-stranded RNA carried on clay particles or BioClay affords protection against multiple life stages of whitefly in crop hosts. The sprayed dsRNA makes its way to the vasculature of plants and is taken up by whiteflies during feeding.

It is hoped that quantum computers may be faster than classical ones at solving optimization problems. Here the authors implement a quantum optimization algorithm over 23 qubits but find more limited performance when an optimization problem structure does not match the underlying hardware.

A small-molecule compound, GSK2194069, specifically inhibits the β-ketoacyl reductase (KR) activity of the human fatty acid synthase. A co-crystal structure of the KR domain with the inhibitor confirms this interaction.

Recent improvements in the indirect-drive inertial confinement fusion experiments include the achievement of burning plasma state. Here the authors report the scaling of neutron yield in a burning plasma of Deuterium-Tritium fusion reaction by including the mode-2 asymmetry.

Whole-genome sequencing and phenotype data sharing are introduced in a national health system to streamline diagnosis and to discover coding and non-coding variants that cause rare diseases.

A burning plasma, a critical step towards self-sustaining fusion, is achieved at the US National Ignition Facility, with a subset of experiments demonstrating fusion self-heating beyond radiation and conduction losses.

Chemical experiments on californium are stymied by isotope availability and radioactivity considerations, but are advanced here with synthesis and characterization of an organometallic complex.

It is unclear whether CO₂-stimulation of photosynthesis can propagate through slower ecosystem processes and lead to long-term increases in terrestrial carbon. Here the authors show that CO₂-stimulation of photosynthesis leads to a 30% increase in forest regrowth over a decade of CO₂ enrichment.

Merlin et al. find that non-canonical glutamine transamination is required for macrophage efferocytosis in atherosclerotic plaques by sustaining redox buffering and fueling energy production for cytoskeletal rearrangements.

Establishing structure–property relationships for catalytic materials is essential for optimization of performance. Here, the authors solve the structure of molybdenum disulfide monolayers, and probe the role of lithium intercalation and the subsequent effects on catalytic hydrogen activation.

Jose Florez, Claudia Langenberg, Erik Ingelsson, Inga Prokopenko, Inês Barroso and colleagues perform large-scale association analyses using the Metabochip to gain further insights into the genetic architecture of glucose regulation. They identify 38 new loci influencing 1 or more glycemic traits and show that many of these loci also modify risk of type 2 diabetes.

The detection of microorganism-associated ligands by plant cells activates a signalling cascade in which the kinase BIK1 is monoubiquinated, released from the FLS2–BAK1 complex, and internalized by endocytosis.

Histone lysine demethylases (KDMs) can mediate transcriptional reprogramming in disease states. Here the authors show that KDM3A promotes left ventricular hypertrophy and cardiac fibrosis by activating the transcription of Timp1, and that pharmacological inhibition of KDM3A attenuates cardiac remodeling induced by pressure overload.

Tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs) facilitate malignant growth of glioblastoma (GBM). Here, the authors show that TAMs support glioma stem cell renewal via paracrine signalling to the pleiotrophin receptor PTPRZ1 and that blocking this axis results in increased survival of tumour-bearing animals.

Edgar Engleman and his colleagues show that B cell production of pathogenic IgG antibodies is involved in obesity-induced insulin resistance. They also show that B cell depletion in obese mice ameliorates metabolic disease, and that obese, insulin-resistant humans have a unique profile of IgG autoantibodies. These results suggest a possible new therapeutic target to treat insulin resistance.

Claudia Langenberg, James Meigs and colleagues apply a joint meta-analysis approach that accounts for differences in body mass index to identify variants associated with glycemic traits. They report six new loci associated with fasting insulin levels and provide insights into the genetic basis of insulin resistance.

Hu and Zhao et al. identify a mechanism mediated by CCL18 and RFX5, through which tissue macrophages adapt their metabolic programme to nutrient stress in the context of autoimmune diseases.

Ancestry and socioeconomic factors influence predictable changes in the vaginal microbiome that occur early in pregnancy in women who experience normal term birth.

Application of pathogen-specific double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) was proposed as an approach against plant viruses. However, the instability of dsRNA hampers its application. Now, a study has used clay nanosheets to deliver dsRNA and obtain sustained protection against viruses.

Disruption of the lactate transporter monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT1), which is highly enriched within oligodendroglia and reduced in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), causes axon damage and neurodegeneration in animal and cell culture models, suggesting a fundamental role for MCT1 in metabolic support of axons and ALS pathogenesis.

Food allergy is triggered by IgE, but some individuals are not allergic to peanuts despite making peanut-specific IgE, and are considered peanut-tolerant. Here, the authors identify differences in blood immune cell composition of peanut-allergic and tolerant infants using mass cytometry, which may help uncover the mechanism of allergic tolerance.

Analysis of mitochondrial genomes (mtDNA) by using whole-genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancer samples across 38 cancer types identifies hypermutated mtDNA cases, frequent somatic nuclear transfer of mtDNA and high variability of mtDNA copy number in many cancers.

Phenotypic variation and diseases are influenced by factors such as genetic variants and gene expression. Here, Barbeira et al. develop S-PrediXcan to compute PrediXcan results using summary data, and investigate the effects of gene expression variation on human phenotypes in 44 GTEx tissues and >100 phenotypes.

Structural variants (SVs) in human genomes contribute diversity and diseases. Here, the authors use a multi-platform strategy to generate haplotype-resolved SVs for three human parent–child trios.

The authors report the sweet-spot operation of germanium hole spin qubits, exploring the optimization of the external magnetic field orientation, the g-tensor and its electric tunability, and hyperfine interactions.

The endemic Tibetan antelope is adapted to high-altitude environments with low partial pressure of oxygen and high level of ultraviolet radiation. Here Ge et al. report a draft genome of this species and by comparison with other mammals, present possible genetic bases of highland adaptation.

The measurement of the total cross-section of proton–proton collisions is of fundamental importance for particle physics. Here, the first measurement of the inelastic cross-section is presented for proton–proton collisions at an energy of 7 teraelectronvolts using the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider.

The structures of four lysine methyltransferases give us the first glimpse of the molecular architecture responsible for histone/protein lysine methylation, whereas a recent study of the Esa1 histone acetyltransferase suggests that lysine acetyltransferases still have surprises in store.

Fernando Rivadeneira and colleagues in the Genetic Factors for Osteoporosis Consortium report a large-scale meta-analysis identifying new loci associated with bone mineral density (BMD) and risk of fracture. Thirty-two new loci are found to be associated with BMD, and 6 loci confer higher risk for low-trauma bone fracture.

The authors describe a two-cell-type CRISPR screen to identify tumour-intrinsic genes that regulate the sensitivity of cancer cells to effector T cell function.

Iodic acid (HIO₃) forms aerosols very efficiently, but its gas-phase formation mechanism is not well understood. Atmospheric simulation chamber experiments, quantum chemical calculations and kinetic modelling have now revealed that HIO₃ forms as an early iodine oxidation product from hypoiodite. The mechanism explains field measurements and suggests a catalytic role for iodine in particle formation.

The use of electron detectors with high spatio-temporal resolution is limited by the large amounts of data generated. Here, the authors describe ReCoDe, a data reduction and compression scheme, that preserves individual electron events, and enable on-the-fly reduction and compression of raw data.

This report from the 1000 Genomes Project describes the genomes of 1,092 individuals from 14 human populations, providing a resource for common and low-frequency variant analysis in individuals from diverse populations; hundreds of rare non-coding variants at conserved sites, such as motif-disrupting changes in transcription-factor-binding sites, can be found in each individual.

The bicyclic azetidines, a class of potent, well-tolerated antimalarial compounds that is active against multiple stages of the Plasmodium life-cycle, has been discovered following screens against libraries of compounds reminiscent of natural products.

Zbtb16-encoded transcription factor PLZF directs the differentiation of multiple innate and innate-like cell lineages, but how Zbtb16 itself is regulated remains unclear. Here the authors show, using CRISPR gene editing, ATAC-seq and ChIP-seq, that specific Runx1-bound enhancer elements critically modulate lineage-dependent expressions of PLZF.

Time-resolved crystallography (TRX) is used for monitoring only small conformational changes of biomacromolecules within the same lattice. Here, the authors report the interplay between synchronous molecular rearrangements and lattice phase transitions in RNA crystals, providing the basis for the investigation of large conformational changes using TRX.

Difluorocarbene transfer is mostly limited to reactions that utilize its intrinsic electrophilicity. Now, a controllable palladium-catalysed difluorocarbene transfer reaction is reported that involves nucleophilic and electrophilic palladium difluorocarbene species. The selective reactions between arylboronic acids and the difluorocarbene precursor BrCF₂PO(OEt)₂ give four different products—difluoromethylated and tetrafluoroethylated arenes and their corresponding fluoroalkylated ketones.

This report by the Consortium for Refractive Error and Myopia uses gene-environment-wide interaction study (GEWIS) to identify genetic loci that affect environmental influence in myopia development, and identifies ethnic specific genetic loci that attribute to eye refractive errors.

Two below-threshold surface code memories on superconducting processors markedly reduce logical error rates, achieving high efficiency and real-time decoding, indicating potential for practical large-scale fault-tolerant quantum algorithms.

Physical realizations of qubits are often vulnerable to leakage errors, where the system ends up outside the basis used to store quantum information. A leakage removal protocol can suppress the impact of leakage on quantum error-correcting codes.