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Artificial assembly of small functional proteins provides effective strategies for downsizing RNA degraders. Here, authors develop STAR, a hypercompact RNA degrader with evolved toxin endoribonucleases and engineered Cas6- CBS system, enabling efficient degradation of cytoplasmic and nuclear RNAs.

A versatile nano-adaptor is used to construct multi-specific nano-antibodies for treatment of tumours in mice.

This study reveals the genetic basis of Benzylisoquinoline alkaloids (BIAs) biosynthesis in magnoliids, and further illustrates that preferentially retained ancient gene duplicates enabled BIA production in early-diverging eudicots and magnoliids.

Hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) attract increasing attention as porous materials. Despite the widely studied solid-state properties, little research has been done on the solution state. Here, the authors demonstrate that HOFs fragment into small particles while maintaining their original assemblies upon dispersing in solvents.

To emulate nature biological processing, highly-integrated ultra-sensitive artificial neuromorphic system is highly desirable. Here, the authors report flexible sensor array of 1024 pixels using combination of carbon nanotubes and perovskite QDs as active matetials, achieving highly responsive device for reinforcement learning.

A large number of marketed drugs contains a chiral carboxylic acid scaffold. Here, the authors report the asymmetric hydrogenation of α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acids to α-chiral carboxylic acids using a cobalt catalyst bearing an electron-donating chiral diphosphine ligand.

The parental experience exerts a profound impact on offspring phenotypes. Zhu et al. find that in locusts the population density of parents regulates the hatching synchrony of progeny eggs via the FOXN1-PTBP1/XPO5 pathway, facilitating the nuclear export of precursor miRNA in the oocytes.

Multi-component cascade transformations including difunctionalization of two alkynes with both syn- and anti-selectivity in one catalyst system is challenging. Herein, the authors report a Nickel-catalyzed four-component reaction to access densely substituted 1,3-dienes using two terminal alkynes, aryl boroxines, and perfluoroalkyl iodides.

Cryptococcus neoformans causes opportunistic infection and potentially lethal immunopathology but therapeutic options are limited. Here the authors implicate myeloid derived suppressor cells during C. neoformans infection and suggest targeting arginase-1 production as a potential therapeutic strategy.

The authors reveal that stabilization of PYL dimer can relieve ABA-induced inhibition of seed germination using a computationally designed compound DBSA. Crystal structure and other experiments show that DBSA selectively binds to the dimeric PYL.

The NF-kB pathway is strictly regulated to prevent excessive inflammatory and immune responses. Here, Li et al. describe an alternative pathway of negative regulation of p65- driven gene expression.

The Schmidt reaction enables nitrogen insertion across an aldehyde or ketone substrate by frequently using azide reagents. Here, the authors show a Schmidt reaction of aryldiazonium salts as a replacement of azide reagents to access skeletally diverse cyclic lactams.

How excitatory neurons (EN) acquire senescence is unclear. Here, the authors show that GDF11 in ENs slows EN senescence, brain ageing, cognitive decline and maintains lifespan, revealing a mechanism underlying EN senescence and brain ageing.

Nominally anhydrous minerals composing Earth’s and planetary rocks incorporate microscopic amounts of volatiles whose distribution affects their physical properties. Here the authors present an approach for trace-element quantification using micro-scale Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy.

Innate and adaptive immunity are equally important for the anti-tumor response and immunotherapy simultaneously activating both arms could have therapeutic benefits. Here authors show that a composite nanoparticle platform that immobilizes monoclonal antibodies targeting PD-L1, 4- 1BB and NKG2A or TIGIT recruits and activates both NK and CD8 + T cells.

The Earth’s mantle transition zone may play a key role in large-scale intraplate magmatism and plate tectonics. Here, the authors provide evidence for the origin of continental flood basalts in this zone, by combining oxygen isotope and geochemical evidence from the late Cenozoic Chifeng volcanics of East Asia.

Real-time MRI provides accurate navigation and targeting for neurological interventions. Here, the authors propose a deep unrolled neural network for MRI reconstruction that enables real-time monitoring of remote-controlled brain interventions and can be integrated into diagnostic scanners.

S-methyl methionine (SMM) is a key molecule in production of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), an important marine anti-stress compound, with roles in global nutrient cycling. Here, the authors determine the mechanism of SMM synthesis and uncover unexpected roles for SMM in archaea, CPR bacteria and animals.

Chen et al. provide an m⁵C landscape in bladder cancer and show m⁵C enrichment at oncogene mRNAs that promotes tumour progression. They identify YBX1 as the m⁵C ‘reader’ that recruits ELAVL1 to stabilize mRNAs.

Genetic sequencing of 137 silkworm strains enables reconstruction of silkworm domestication history and identifies key genes involved in silk production, circadian rhythms, as well as candidate genes associated with breeding traits.

The formate–nitrite transporter family, of which FocA is a representative member, is known to transport short-chain acids in bacteria, archaea, fungi, algae and parasites; however, the structure and transport mechanism of these transporters remain unknown. Here, study of the crystal structure of Escherichia coli FocA reveals that the overall structure of FocA closely resembles that of aquaporin, suggesting that it is in fact a channel, rather than a transporter.

Two dimensional (2D) metal-organic frameworks have demonstrated unique photophysical properties compared to their bulk analogs. Here, the authors demonstrate that exfoliation of 2D MOFs can suppress interlayer exciton-related emission, allowing for modulation of the overall emission color and switching of optical memory states.

De-domestication is the process by which cultivated plants adopt characteristics similar to that of their wild predecessors. Here Qiuet al. re-sequence de-domesticated weedy rice and matched cultivated varieties and identify genetic variants indicative of convergent evolution across multiple de-domestication events.

The formation of the pre-metastatic niche enables the colonisation of disseminated cancer cells in distant organs. Here, the authors show that Th2 cytokines induce Complement 3 production in lung mesenchymal stromal cells, which recruits neutrophils and promotes the formation neutrophil extracellular traps, facilitating breast cancer cell metastasis to the lungs.

Fast and sensitive detection of water molecules in organic solvents and gases remains an important challenge. Here, Pan and co-workers design a metal-organic framework capable of ultrafast and reversible water sensing by photoluminescence switching via an excited state intramolecular proton transfer mechanism.

Current strategies to boost anti-tumor immune response include the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors and bispecific T cell-engaging antibodies. Here the authors describe a versatile antibody immobilization nanoplatform that can be used to deliver different combinations of immunotherapeutics, showing therapeutic superiority in pre-clinical models.