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Reconstructing microbial genomes from 820 reef-building corals collected at 99 reefs across 32 islands throughout the Pacific Ocean highlights the importance of conserving coral reefs as vital reservoirs of molecular diversity.

Retinal prostheses aim to restore sight by stimulating residual retinal cells. Here, the authors develop a photoacoustic stimulation technology using a PDMS and carbon-based flexible film that activates retinal cells with near-infrared laser pulses, ex vivo and in vivo.

Microglia influence amyloid-β effects on astrocyte reactivity in the living brain of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. This phenomenon further contributes to cognitive impairment via tau phosphorylation and aggregation.

Many tumours exhibit hypoxia (low oxygen) and hypoxic tumours often respond poorly to therapy. Here, the authors quantify hypoxia in 1188 tumours from 27 cancer types, showing elevated hypoxia links to increased mutational load, directing evolutionary trajectories.

Inventory data from more than 1 million trees across African, Amazonian and Southeast Asian tropical forests suggests that, despite their high diversity, just 1,053 species, representing a consistent ~2.2% of tropical tree species in each region, constitute half of Earth’s 800 billion tropical trees.

The number of individuals in a given space influences animal interactions and network dynamics. Here the authors identify general rules underlying density dependence in animal networks and reveal some fundamental differences between spatial and social dynamics.

The authors present SVclone, a computational method for inferring the cancer cell fraction of structural variants from whole-genome sequencing data.

Integrative analyses of transcriptome and whole-genome sequencing data for 1,188 tumours across 27 types of cancer are used to provide a comprehensive catalogue of RNA-level alterations in cancer.

Analyses of 2,658 whole genomes across 38 types of cancer identify the contribution of non-coding point mutations and structural variants to driving cancer.

In somatic cells the mechanisms maintaining the chromosome ends are normally inactivated; however, cancer cells can re-activate these pathways to support continuous growth. Here, the authors characterize the telomeric landscapes across tumour types and identify genomic alterations associated with different telomere maintenance mechanisms.

With the generation of large pan-cancer whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing projects, a question remains about how comparable these datasets are. Here, using The Cancer Genome Atlas samples analysed as part of the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes project, the authors explore the concordance of mutations called by whole exome sequencing and whole genome sequencing techniques.

Analysis of cancer genome sequencing data has enabled the discovery of driver mutations. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium the authors present DriverPower, a software package that identifies coding and non-coding driver mutations within cancer whole genomes via consideration of mutational burden and functional impact evidence.

A pan-cancer genomic analysis reports the effects of structural variations on chromatin domains (TADs). Most TAD disruptions do not result in appreciable changes in expression of nearby genes.

An analysis of 2,954 genomes from 38 cancer subtypes identified 19,166 retrotransposition events in 35% of samples. Aberrant LINE-1 retrotranspositions can lead to the deletion of tumor-suppressor genes as well as the amplification of oncogenes.

Whole-genome sequencing data for 2,778 cancer samples from 2,658 unique donors across 38 cancer types is used to reconstruct the evolutionary history of cancer, revealing that driver mutations can precede diagnosis by several years to decades.

The characterization of 4,645 whole-genome and 19,184 exome sequences, covering most types of cancer, identifies 81 single-base substitution, doublet-base substitution and small-insertion-and-deletion mutational signatures, providing a systematic overview of the mutational processes that contribute to cancer development.

In this study the authors consider the structural variants (SVs) present within cancer cases of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium. They report hundreds of genes, including known cancer-associated genes for which the nearby presence of a SV breakpoint is associated with altered expression.

Alzheimer’s disease has been associated with increased structural brain aging. Here the authors describe a model that predicts brain aging from resting state functional connectivity data, and demonstrate this is accelerated in individuals with pre-clinical familial Alzheimer’s disease.

The flagship paper of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium describes the generation of the integrative analyses of 2,658 cancer whole genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types, the structures for international data sharing and standardized analyses, and the main scientific findings from across the consortium studies.

Viral pathogen load in cancer genomes is estimated through analysis of sequencing data from 2,656 tumors across 35 cancer types using multiple pathogen-detection pipelines, identifying viruses in 382 genomic and 68 transcriptome datasets.

Some cancer patients first present with metastases where the location of the primary is unidentified; these are difficult to treat. In this study, using machine learning, the authors develop a method to determine the tissue of origin of a cancer based on whole sequencing data.

Multi-omics datasets pose major challenges to data interpretation and hypothesis generation owing to their high-dimensional molecular profiles. Here, the authors develop ActivePathways method, which uses data fusion techniques for integrative pathway analysis of multi-omics data and candidate gene discovery.

Understanding deregulation of biological pathways in cancer can provide insight into disease etiology and potential therapies. Here, as part of the PanCancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) consortium, the authors present pathway and network analysis of 2583 whole cancer genomes from 27 tumour types.

Whole-genome sequencing data from more than 2,500 cancers of 38 tumour types reveal 16 signatures that can be used to classify somatic structural variants, highlighting the diversity of genomic rearrangements in cancer.

Cancers evolve as they progress under differing selective pressures. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, the authors present the method TrackSig the estimates evolutionary trajectories of somatic mutational processes from single bulk tumour data.

An expert-elicitation process identifies current methodological barriers for monitoring terrestrial biodiversity, and how technological and procedural development of robotic and autonomous systems may contribute to overcoming these challenges.

There’s an emerging body of evidence to show how biological sex impacts cancer incidence, treatment and underlying biology. Here, using a large pan-cancer dataset, the authors further highlight how sex differences shape the cancer genome.

Asthenozoospermia is a major cause of male infertility, and multiple morphological abnormalities of the flagella (MMAF) is a particularly severe form. Here, using whole-exome sequencing of 78 MMAF patients, the authors identify mutations in two WDR proteins, CFAP43 and CFAP44, and confirm that these proteins are required for flagellogenesis in mouse and Trypanosoma brucei.

Practical quantum computers will require protocols to carry out computation on encrypted data, just like their classical counterparts. Here, the authors present such a protocol that allows an untrusted server to implement universal quantum gates on encrypted qubits without learning about the inputs.

In a cluster-randomized trial conducted across 70 medical centers in six countries, a 16-week structured educational program for healthcare providers improved adherence to guidelines for rhythm control but not for stroke prevention in individuals with atrial fibrillation.

3D-printed models of the penis can facilitate the study of penile physiology and the repair of penile defects, as shown via a reconstructed and implanted corpus cavernosum that restored erectile function and mating capacity in rabbits and pigs.

How changes in brain blood vessels lead to a chronic reduction in blood flow and, consequently, to vascular dementia is poorly understood. Here, the authors show that venous endothelial dysfunction driven by EPAS1 promotes abnormal vascular remodeling and contributes to cognitive decline.

Using data from the Tara Pacific expedition, this study reports the biogeography and the diversity of microbiomes collected from corals, fish and plankton in 99 reefs across the Pacific Ocean. The large richness of Pacific Ocean reef microorganisms, when extrapolated to all fish and corals of the Pacific, represents the current estimated total prokaryotic diversity for the entire Earth.

Multiple types of DNA damage can lead to mutations in normal cells, ultimately contributing to the development of cancer. Here, the authors redefine the spectrum of mutational signatures linked to a particular type of DNA damage to uncover the protective role of specialized DNA repair mechanisms.

In a large, partially prospective cohort of patients with molecularly profiled and clinically annotated meningioma, the extent of surgical resection and radiotherapy (RT) response correlate with molecular classification, which can be used in a molecular model to predict clinical outcomes in response to RT.

Using data from the Tara Pacific expedition to investigate symbiont fidelity and patterns of gene expression across a thermal gradient, this study shows that Pocillopora corals have a three-tiered strategy of thermal acclimatization that is underpinned by host–photosymbiont specificity, host transcriptomic plasticity, and differential photosymbiotic associations under extreme warming.

Second-generation oxidation boosts the production of anthropogenic organic aerosol, according to an analysis of urban haze in an experimental chamber.

Seder and colleagues show that mucosal adenoviral-vectored vaccine boosting durably prevents infection in nonhuman primates of the highly transmissible, heterologous XBB.1.16 strain of SARS-CoV-2.