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This study introduces the Cattle Cell Atlas, a single-cell expression resource including 1,793,854 cells from 59 tissues. Integrative analyses leveraging this atlas provide insights into the biology underlying bovine monogenic and complex traits.

On-site crop disease diagnostics is critical for precise application of pesticides. Here, the authors report an in-field molecular diagnostic tool for wheat pathogens using a nucleic acid amplification-free, gene mutation-resolved and smartphone-integrated genetic assay.

Within three hours after sandy soil rewetting, redox reactions mediated by iron and manganese, combined with the generation of reactive oxygen species, induce substantial abiotic release of carbon dioxide, representing 95.5% of total emissions via direct and indirect mechanisms.

Fire impacts soil organic carbon stocks, in addition to aboveground biomass, yet changes are not well constrained. This study shows that more soil carbon is lost from drier ecosystems than humid ones and that the carbon sink is increasing in savannah–grassland regions with declining burned area.

This study describes a targeted artificial evolution strategy to create a continuum of compact phenotypes in cucurbit crops for higher yield and labour efficiency, based on screening natural populations and artificially generating novel variants.

The northern temperate carbon sink is estimated to increase by 0.64 PgC each year for each increase in atmospheric CO₂ concentrations by 100 ppm, suggests an analysis of data from field experiments at 7 sites constraints.

Nucleotide binding and leucine-rich repeat domain proteins (NLRs) serve as immune receptors in plants and animals. Huang et al.identify a mitochondrial inner membrane protein AtPAM16 in Arabidopsis, which contributes to negative regulation of NLR-mediated immunity.

Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria can replace chemical fertilizers, but they are susceptible to harsh environmental conditions. Here, the authors report on a protective hydrogel for promoting rhizobacteria colonization to enhance growth and improve adaptability of plants to acidic soil.

Farmland ecosystems are influenced by human interventions. Here, the authors assess the relationship of farmland management to net ecosystem productivity of farmland, finding a positive impact of 17.02% in major grain-producing areas of China.

Dermatitis-causing insects are concentrated southeast of the Heihe-Tengchong Line in China, and their distribution is projected to expand northward with increasing temperature and precipitation, according to an analysis that uses environmental, socio-economic data and Maxent modeling.

Neutralizing nanobodies (Nb) are of considerable interest as therapeutic agents for COVID-19 treatment. Here, the authors functionally and structurally characterize Nbs that bind with high affinity to the receptor binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and show that an engineered homotrimeric Nb prevents disease progression in a Syrian hamster model of COVID-19 when administered intranasally.

Indicine cattle make up half of all cattle populations worldwide. Using a large genomic dataset, this study finds historic migrations and extensive introgression with domestic and wild bovine species has facilitated this species physiological adaptation to extreme environments.

Long interspersed element 1 (LINE-1 or L1) retrotransposons have been shown to move throughout the genomes of adult rat neural progenitor cells (NPCs) in vitro and in the mouse brain. Here, NPCs isolated from human fetal brain and derived from human embryonic stem cells are shown to support the retrotransposition of engineered human L1s in vitro, which could contribute to individual somatic mosaicism.

Based on the correlation analysis of various omics data from Brassica napus L., authors identify one Flavobacterium strain C2 which mitigates P deficiency by regulating fatty acid metabolism and enhancing P uptake, indicating potential strategies to improve P utilization in rapeseeds.

In the adult brain, the neurotrophic factor basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is predominantly secreted by astrocytes. Here the authors use optogenetics to activate astrocytes, leading to release of bFGF, inducing enhanced dopaminergic differentiation of neural progenitors and promoting brain repair in a mouse Parkinson’s disease model.

Antibiotic therapy is usually not effective for salmonellosis. Here, the authors present an approach that may be useful for the treatment of salmonellosis, consisting of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S)-responsive glycovesicles that release antibiotics in the presence of Salmonella in the gut.

Intermittent fasting (IF) has been shown beneficial in reducing metabolic diseases. Here, using a multi-omics approach in a T2D mouse model, the authors report that IF alters the composition of the gut microbiota and improves metabolic phenotypes that correlate with cognitive behavior.

Synaptic abnormalities and learning dysfunction are prominent characteristics of Down's syndrome. Now Huaxi Xu and colleagues show that expression of the protein SNX27 is reduced in Down's syndrome brains and that restoring its expression can ameliorate learning dysfunction in a mouse model of the disease.

Cholinergic neurons in the diagonal band of Broca degenerate early in Alzheimer’s disease. Here the authors show that in healthy mice, these cholinergic inputs innervate newborn neurons in the hippocampus, and that loss of this innervation in an Alzheimer’s disease model leads to impairments in spatial memory.

Pachytene Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) expressed in mammalian germ lines are abundant, but their evolution and function are not fully understood. Here, the authors find that pachytene piRNA loci are hotspots of structural variation, which underlies rapid piRNA birth, divergence, and loss.

The American cockroach (Periplaneta americana) is an hemimetabolous insect with rapid growth, high fecundity, and remarkable tissue-regeneration capability. Here Li et al sequence its 3.38-Gb genome and perform the functional studies, yielding insights into its environmental adaptation and developmental plasticity.

Prostate cancer (PrCa) involves a large heritable genetic component. Here, the authors perform multivariate fine-mapping of known PrCa GWAS loci, identifying variants enriched for biological function, explaining more familial relative risk, and with potential application in clinical risk profiling.

Chromosome 8q24 is known to be a major susceptibility region for prostate cancer risk. Here the authors analyze genetic data across the 8q24 region from 71,535 prostate cancer patients identifying 12 risk loci, three previously unreported, highlighting the contribution of germline variation at this locus.

Induced pluripotent stem cells are shown to be useful for studying phenotypes relevant to familial and sporadic Alzheimer’s disease, even though it can take decades for the disease to manifest in patients.