Search

Observations from the JWST MIRI/LRS show the detection of SO₂ spectral features in the 5–12-μm transmission spectrum of the hot, Saturn-mass exoplanet WASP-39b, suggesting that photochemistry is a key process in high-temperature exoplanet atmospheres.

Liquid ultrafast electron scattering measures structural responses in liquid water with femtosecond temporal and atomic spatial resolution to reveal a transient hydrogen bond contraction then thermalization preceding relaxation of the OH stretch.

Next-generation sequencing of pooled samples tagged with sample-specific molecular barcodes enables the testing, for SARS-CoV-2 RNA, of thousands of nasal or saliva samples in a single run without the need for RNA extraction.

A study of the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in England between September 2020 and June 2021 finds that interventions capable of containing previous variants were insufficient to stop the more transmissible Alpha and Delta variants.

Spin squeezing in an optical atomic clock based on arrays of neutral atoms is used to realize measurement performance below the standard quantum limit.

Shifts in temperature alter the structure and dynamics of macromolecules. Now, infra-red laser-induced temperature jump is combined with X-ray crystallography to observe protein structural dynamics in real time. Using this method, motions related to the catalytic cycle of lysozyme, a model enzyme, are visualized at atomic resolution and across broad timescales.

A set of isobaric labeling reagents called TMTpro enables deep quantitative comparisons of proteome measurements across 16 samples.

A high-throughput chemical–genetic screening approach for the discovery of targets and chemicals to treat Mycobacterium tuberculosis yields tenfold more hit compounds than conventional whole-cell screening methods.

Oncolytic viruses promote an inflammatory response and elicit anti-tumor immunity. Here the authors show, unexpectedly, that the oncolytic virus, VSVIFNβ, induces type I interferon responses that, when combined with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T therapy, lead to the attrition of both CAR T and conventional T cells, thus dampening their anti-tumor activity.

Intraspecies response to climate change is expected to align with genetic affinity. Using the American pika as a case study suggests that divisions of species distributions best explain intraspecific heterogeneity in climate relationships.

Reactive iron minerals protect vast amounts of terrestrial carbon from decomposition and release as CO₂. Here the authors show that reactive iron alone does not provide sufficient protection except under strict oxic conditions—instead, iron itself promotes carbon decomposition.

Medulloblastomas are the most common malignant childhood brain tumours and are thought to arise from the cerebellum. There is substantial heterogeneity among medulloblastomas and some are thought to arise following aberrant Sonic Hedgehog pathway activation. It is now shown that a distinct subtype of medulloblastoma arises from the dorsal brainstem and is associated with altered WNT signalling. Distinct molecular and clinical profiles of the subtypes have implications for future treatment.

The authors develop a new oxide-dispersion-strengthened NiCoCr-based alloy using a model-driven alloy design approach and laser-based additive manufacturing, showing how such designs can provide superior compositions using far fewer resources than previous methods.

In a GWAS study of 32,438 adults, the authors discovered five novel loci for intracranial volume and confirmed two known signals. Variants for intracranial volume were also related to childhood and adult cognitive function and to Parkinson's disease, and enriched near genes involved in growth pathways, including PI3K-AKT signaling.

The crystal structure of the human κ-opioid receptor in complex with an antagonist, JDTic, is determined, with potential importance for the design of new therapeutic agents.

Mammographic density is a strong risk factor for breast cancer. Here, the authors identify several new loci associated dense area, non-dense area and percent density, and highlight a shared genetic basis for mammographic density and breast cancer.

Ruth Loos and colleagues report a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies in 181,171 individuals identifying 14 new loci associated with heart rate and test these for association with cardiac conduction, rhythm disorders and cardiovascular disease. Their experimental studies in Drosophila melanogaster and zebrafish models provide support for a role for 20 candidate genes at 11 of these loci in regulation of heart rate.

Studies of brain network development typically focus on a single scale. Here, the authors derived personalized functional networks across scales, and find that network development systematically adheres to and strengthens hierarchical cortical organization.

The innate immune response in epithelial cells after SARS-CoV-2 infection is not fully understood. Here the authors use human air-liquid interface culture and show single cell transcription changes and delayed type I Interferon responses after SARS-CoV-2 infection compared with other respiratory viruses.

The CCT complex, a key player in the chaperone machinery, has been implicated in Huntington’s disease. Pavelet al. show that CCT2/5/7 also play an essential role in autophagosome degradation, and that the aggregation of proteins upon CCT2/5/7 depletion is primarily a consequence of impaired autophagy.

Genome editing provides a unique opportunity to create produce benefiting consumers, but success depends on risk-proportional regulation. Existing seedless fruit varieties such as watermelon, mandarin oranges and grape are strongly preferred by consumers and support healthy diets without pre-market regulatory approvals required for commercialization. Replicating the seedless trait in other fruits is a promising way to increase consumption. Here we compare the differential treatment by various regulatory systems of identical products made by inserting an ancient seedless allele into muscadine grape (Vitis rotundifolia) using traditional breeding or templated or non-templated genome editing tools.

Integrated data, including 100 human genomes from the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Early Bronze Age periods show that two major population turnovers occurred over just 1,000 years in Neolithic Denmark, resulting in dramatic changes in the genes, diet and physical appearance of the local people, as well as the landscape in which they lived.

A machine learning approach is presented to identify dominant patterns in disease progression in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. The nonlinearity of ALS progression has important clinical implications.

A system employing liquid-handling robotics and an integrated mobile microscope enables the automated culture, sample collection and in situ microscopy imaging of up to ten fluidically coupled organ chips within a standard tissue-culture incubator.

I-motif DNA structures are thought to form in cytosine-rich regions of the genome and to have regulatory functions; however, in vivo evidence for the existence of such structures has so far remained elusive. Now an engineered antibody that is selective for i-motif structures has been developed and used to detect i-motifs in the nuclei of human cells.

COVID-19 booster immunizations aimed at spike protein from new SARS-CoV-2 variants induce robust germinal centre B cell responses against the original spike protein, as well as de novo B cell responses against the variant spike protein.

The 1.8 Å high-resolution X-ray crystal structure of the human δ-opioid receptor is presented, with site-directed mutagenesis and functional studies revealing a crucial role for a sodium ion in mediating allosteric control in this receptor.

Cutaneous squamous cell of the skin is a common neoplasm that frequently arises from precancerous actinic keratoses. Here, the authors carry out genomic analysis on matched sets of human lesions and compare with those in ultraviolet treated mice and identify conserved drivers of tumour development.

Infection elicits cytokine production that can alter hematopoiesis. Potocnik and colleagues identify a unique IL-7Rα⁺c-Kit^hi progenitor subset that arises during acute malaria infection and gives rise to predominantly myeloid cells.

A proteomics study unveils a large collection of proteins that get reversibly palmitoylated in response to neuronal activity — the neuronal palmitoyl-proteome. In particular, this study focuses on the discovery of a brain-specific isoform of the small GTPase Cdc42, whose unexpected palmitoylation specifically affects dendritic spine morphogenesis in response to neuronal activity. These findings identify palmitoylation as a key modifiable signal on many synapse-enriched proteins that contribute to activity-driven changes in synapse morphology and function.

Genetic and testing data from England show that the SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern B.1.1.7 has a transmission advantage over other lineages.

Post-international travel quarantine has been widely implemented to mitigate SARS-CoV-2 transmission, but the impacts of such policies are unclear. Here, the authors used linked genomic and contact tracing data to assess the impacts of a 14-day quarantine on return to England in summer 2020.

In this study, Aggarwal and colleagues perform prospective sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 isolates derived from asymptomatic student screening and symptomatic testing of students and staff at the University of Cambridge. They identify important factors that contributed to within university transmission and onward spread into the wider community.

Age at voice-breaking is used to determine puberty timing in men, recall of which is considered less accurate than age at first menarche in women. Here, the authors perform multi-trait GWAS for male puberty timing by including both age at voice breaking and age of first facial hair for improved phenotype definition and power.

Answer ALS is a resource of patient-derived iPS cell lines, multi-omic data derived from iPS neurons and longitudinal clinical and smartphone data from over 1,000 patients with ALS. This serves as a foundation to identify distinct disease subgroups.

The crystal structure of the human nociceptin/orphanin FQ peptide receptor in complex with the peptide mimetic antagonist compound-24 is determined, with potential importance for the development of new therapeutic agents.

The synthetic enzyme-armed killer (SEAKER) approach equips chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells with the capacity to express enzymes that process anticancer prodrugs at tumor sites of action.

GWAS have previously found 24 genomic loci associated with chronotype, an individual’s preference for early or late sleep timing. Here, the authors identify 327 additional loci in a sample of 697,828 individuals and further explore the relationships of chronotype with metabolic and psychiatric diseases.

A tweezer clock containing about 150 ⁸⁸Sr atoms achieves trapping and optical excited-state lifetimes exceeding 40 seconds, and shows relative fractional frequency stability similar to that of leading atomic clocks.

In the tropics, substantially more rain falls just north of the Equator. An analysis of satellite observations, reanalysis data and model simulations suggests that the meridional ocean overturning circulation contributes significantly to the tropical rainfall peak north of the Equator.

Adam Bass, Gad Getz and colleagues report whole-exome sequencing of 149 esophageal adenocarcinomas (EACs) and whole-genome sequencing of 15 EACs. They identify a mutational signature defined by a high prevalence of A>C transversions, as well as 26 genes mutated at high frequency in EACs.

Unlike the Arctic, the Southern Ocean has shown little warming. An analysis of observations and numerical simulations suggests that Southern Ocean warming patterns are shaped by meridional overturning more than surface heating.

Lentiviral vectors that express a fluorescent reporter and a selectable marker in pluripotent cells improve and simplify isolation of induced pluripotent stem cell lines in mouse and human.

A genome-wide association study for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) identifies 12 loci and implicates neurodevelopmental pathways and conserved regions of the genome as being involved in underlying ADHD biology.

Two doses of the coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 boost antibody responses and functions in phase 1/2 trial participants.