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Bacteria tend to live in thin layers of water on surfaces. Now the capillary forces in these layers are shown to help organize the bacteria into dense packs.

Uncovering the rules of microtubule network self-organization under confinement is key to understanding how cells build structure in complex environments. This study reveals a tunable boundary-sensing feedback mechanism, wherein pioneer microtubules navigate confined environments and generate nucleation sites for new microtubules, thereby shaping network architecture.

Germinal centre B cells modify their mutation rate to preserve high-affinity receptors, thereby safeguarding high-affinity B cell lineages and enhancing the outcomes of antibody affinity maturation.

Most bacteria exist in dense aggregates, yet this lifestyle is relatively poorly understood compared with planktonic cultures. This Review explores biophysical models of aggregate development, and how models can be extended to account for the complex behaviours of single-species and multispecies colonies.

Biomolecules in the cell nucleus form condensates at a rate slower than that predicted by the theory of droplet growth. Experiments on living cells attribute this anomalous coarsening behaviour to subdiffusive dynamics in the crowded nucleus.

M3-seq uses combinatorial indexing alongside post hoc rRNA depletion in a single-cell RNA sequencing approach that reveals bacterial heterogeneity and rare populations during antibiotic stress and phage infection, as well as bet-hedging responses during growth.

Biomolecular condensates play a role in cellular processes and their size affects reaction pathways. The size distribution is connected to varying contributions of nucleation and coalescence.

To enhance CO₂ fixation, algae concentrate CO₂ in an organelle called the pyrenoid. A biophysical model provides systematic analysis of the mechanism and determines the minimal steps for its engineering into crops to enhance yields.

Different nutrient limitations slow down Escherichia coli translation via distinct mechanisms: P limitation leads to fewer ribosomes; N limitation reduces translation elongation via ribosome stalling; and C limitation is characterized by inactive ribosomes not bound to mRNA.

The decision to form a fruiting body have been studied extensively, however, the mechanical events that trigger the creation of multiple cell layers is poorly understood. Here the authors find M. xanthus cells adjust their reversal frequency to control mechanical stresses that triggers layer formation in the colonies.

Most organisms, from bacteria to humans, can follow temperature gradients to an optimal temperature. Experience influences eukaryotes' preferred temperature, and, as it turns out, bacteria also adjust their temperature preference depending on growth conditions.

The phase separation of two species of associating polymers is suppressed by a magic-number effect for certain combinations of the numbers of binding sites. Here the authors use lattice simulations and analytical calculations to show that this magic-number effect can be greatly enhanced if one component has a rigid shape.

Systems biology has produced a challenge to the educational system. In the future, practitioners of biology at the systems level will need combinations of skills that are rarely found in individual scientists today. So, how should we educate students to succeed across scientific disciplines?

Biofilms of rod-shaped bacteria can grow from a two-dimensional layer of founder cells into a three-dimensional structure with a vertically aligned core. Here, the physics underlying this transition is traced down to the properties of individual cells.

Cells in the connective tissue are surrounded by a heterogeneous network of biopolymers. Here, the authors investigate how such heterogeneity affects cellular mechanosensing by simulating the deformation response of experimental and modelled biopolymer networks to locally applied forces.

Gupta, Johnson et al. quantify the turnover rates of ~3200 E. coli proteins, demonstrating that cytoplasmic proteins are recycled when nitrogen is limited and that protein degradation rates are generally uncoupled from cell division rates.

Bacteria can form organized multicellular communities through regulation of cell growth, motility, shape and differentiation. Here, Ellison et al. show that bacterial multicellular development can also be driven by specific patterns of localization of appendages known as type IV pili.

Most bacteria live in biofilms, surface-attached communities encased in an extracellular matrix. Here, Yan et al. show that matrix production in Vibrio cholerae increases the osmotic pressure within the biofilm, promoting biofilm expansion and physical exclusion of non-matrix producing cheaters.

Self-propelled particles are shown to orient themselves towards areas of high density, phase separating into fluid-like clusters. This behaviour is unique to active systems, forming a distinct class of motility-induced phase separation.

Cells must coordinate nutrient uptake for balanced growth, but the mechanism by which this occurs was unknown. Flux measurements and biochemical assays now identify α-ketoglutarate as the key signal in this process that accumulates upon nitrogen limitation and inhibits an enzyme involved in glucose transport.

Stable hetero-complexes exist in the dilute phase of phase-separating algal pyrenoid proteins in vitro.

An elegant mathematical model supported by experiments in Escherichia coli demonstrates how clustering enzymes can efficiently channel intermediates from one enzyme to the next, facilitating rational engineering of metabolism.

Topological defects in active nematic systems such as epithelial tissues and neural progenitor cells can be associated with biological functions. Here, the authors show that defects can play a role in the layer formation of the soil bacterium Myxococcus xanthus.

In mice on a low microbiota-accessible carbohydrate (MAC) diet, the diversity of the gut microbiota is depleted, and the effect is transferred and compounded over generations; this phenotype is only reversed after supplementation of the missing taxa via faecal microbiota transplantation, suggesting dietary intervention alone may by insufficient at managing diseases characterized by a dysbiotic microbiota.

Active matter locally dissipates energy to produce systematic motion. This Perspective highlights proliferation as a special type of activity that breaks particle number conservation and thereby gives rise to a unique set of collective phenomena characteristic of life.

It is remarkable how robustly a bacterial species can maintain its preferred size. In this Review, Willis and Huang explore classic and current knowledge of the mechanisms that coordinate bacterial cell size with essential growth and cell cycle processes.