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This study demonstrates that growth arrest under stress in Arabidopsis protects meristem cells from DNA damage, challenging the idea that it is merely due to energy trade-offs and highlighting its role as an active defense strategy.

A global network of researchers was formed to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity; this paper reports 13 genome-wide significant loci and potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection.

A comparison of alpha diversity (number of plant species) and dark diversity (species that are currently absent from a site despite being ecologically suitable) demonstrates the negative effects of regional-scale anthropogenic activity on plant diversity.

Immunological stressors are linked to the transformation of preleukemic B cells to B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Here the authors show a dysregulation of innate immune signaling in preleukemic precursor B cells and link to the development of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia in a murine model.

An analysis of 24,202 critical cases of COVID-19 identifies potentially druggable targets in inflammatory signalling (JAK1), monocyte–macrophage activation and endothelial permeability (PDE4A), immunometabolism (SLC2A5 and AK5), and host factors required for viral entry and replication (TMPRSS2 and RAB2A).

Clinical studies have suggested that the therapeutic potential of polyclonal convalescent plasma is highest in the first days of symptoms. Here, the authors present results from a pooled analysis of two clinical trials in COVID-19 outpatients that did not provide conclusive evidence in favor of convalescent plasma.

Characterisation of monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 are useful for potential therapeutics or to understand more about the immune response to this virus. Here the authors characterise a monoclonal antibody that has a broad range of reactivity against SARS-CoV-2 variants and measure how it binds to its specific target region of the receptor binding domain.

DNA sliding clamps are ring-shaped proteins that encircle DNA and harbour polymerases and other factors that promote processive DNA replication. Here the authors use X-ray crystallography, NMR and MD simulations to propose a model for a PCNA sliding mechanism that relies on short-lived polar interactions.

Roderic Guigó, Montserrat Corominas and colleagues find that histone marks associated with active chromatin are absent from genes with high expression during specific developmental stages in both Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans. They observe similar patterns for genes with high levels of transcriptional variation across mammalian tissues and cell types.

In this study, the authors report a mutation that increases the production of recombinant SARS-CoV-2 Spike and exposure of the RBD. In animal models, a Spike-based vaccine containing the mutation induces strong immunogenicity, provides protection from disease and results in faster tissue viral clearance.

The authors characterize a previously undescribed function of Snf5 that involves interaction with the transcription factor Gli1 and downregulation of its activity via chromatin remodeling. Snf5 is shown to restrict Hedgehog (Hh) signaling in normal development and cancer. Hh inhibition emerges as a potential therapeutic strategy for malignant rhabdoid tumors in which Snf5 is commonly lost.

New treatments are essential for methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia, but progress is slow. In this phase III–IV trial, cloxacillin plus fosfomycin failed to show superiority over cloxacillin alone, underscoring the challenges to improving patient outcomes.

Coupling microbial metagenomics with machine learning enables prediction of donor strain engraftment after fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) for a range of diseases, and may help tailor design of FMT to optimize microbial engraftment and achieve clinical outcomes.

A region on chromosome 19p13 is associated with the risk of developing ovarian and breast cancer. Here, the authors genotyped SNPs in this region in thousands of breast and ovarian cancer patients and identified SNPs associated with three genes, which were analysed with functional studies.

A genome-wide association study including 22,389 cases of multiple sclerosis finds an association with disease progression at the DYSF–ZNF638 and DNM3–PIGC loci and identifies a potential of higher educational attainment in slowing disease progression.

Lamina-associated domains (LADs) contact lamins in the nuclear lamina, and lamin B1 was thought to bind heterochromatic regions at the nuclear envelope. Here, the authors show lamin B1 associates with actively expressed euchromatin regions, creating dynamic euchromatin lamina-associated domains (eLADs) during epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition.

Sjögren’s syndrome, a disease that primarily affects women, is poorly understood. Here, the authors combine data from a large cohort of patients and healthy controls to identify biomarkers that distinguish patient subgroups to improve our understanding of the disease and facilitate drug development.

What causes hematopoietic stem cell loss of functionality? Here, Alvarez et al. show that loss of origin licensing factor MCM3 induces replicative stress (RS), causing aberrant erythrocyte maturation, but mice strains with higher tolerance to RS can overcome this defect.

Early stellarator designs suffered from high particle losses, an issue that can be addressed by optimization of the coils. Here the authors measure the magnetic field lines in the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator, confirming that the complicated design of the superconducting coils has been realized successfully.

Georgia Chenevix-Trench and colleagues report meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies identifying six loci newly associated with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). They also test variants at the 12 known and 6 new EOC susceptibility loci for association in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers.

Genetic and Structural analysis of COVID patients cohort reveals a correlation between mitochondrial haplogroup and SARS-CoV-2 severity.

The stress-activated kinase p38γ has a role in regulating entry into the cell cycle; in the liver, it can induce cellular proliferation during regeneration and promote the development of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Phytophthora infestans is a fungus-like eukaryote and the most destructive pathogen of potato, with current annual worldwide potato crop losses due to late blight estimated at $6.7 billion. Here, the sequence of the P. infestans genome is reported. Comparison with two other Phytophthora genomes showed rapid turnover and extensive expansion of certain secreted disease effector proteins, probably explaining the rapid adaptability of the pathogen to host plants.

Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality.