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A variant of group A Streptococcus serotype M1 (UK) has been increasingly reported and can be differentiated from the global variant by its overexpression of the superantigen SpeA. Here, Davies et al probe the mechanism behind enhanced SpeA expression and demonstrate that a SNP in the 5’ leader sequence of ssrA is responsible for this virulence phenotype.

Harvesting energy from evaporation is constrained by the limited transport kinetics of materials and the slowly changing humidity of the environment. Chen et al. follow hierarchical design strategies to overcome these problems and create engines that start and run when placed at air-water interfaces.

Single-species antibiotic dose response is a poor predictor of multi-species community dynamics because it cannot foresee the tipping points that cause irreversible changes in resistance that persist even when treatment stops.

An analysis of eight ultra-faint galaxies during the epoch of reionization with absolute magnitudes between −17 mag and −15  mag shows that most of the photons that reionized the Universe come from dwarf galaxies.

Ten years after the discovery of the Higgs boson, the ATLAS  experiment at CERN probes its kinematic properties with a significantly larger dataset from 2015–2018 and provides further insights on its interaction with other known particles.

The ATLAS Collaboration reports the observation of the electroweak production of two jets and a Z-boson pair. This process is related to vector-boson scattering and allows the nature of electroweak symmetry breaking to be probed.

This study presents a global well-to-wake assessment of jet fuel greenhouse gas emissions with a range of 81.1-94.8 gCO₂e MJ⁻¹. Understanding this variability can improve decision-making amid the transition to decarbonizing aviation.

Levulinic acid (LA) is a value-added chemical easily obtained from biomass. The pathway enabling LA degradation in Pseudomonas putida requires five enzymes and can be engineered into Escherichia coli, which could enable further biotechnological applications.

The carbon footprint of oil refining differs depending on crude oil quality and refinery configuration. Analysis of global oil refining in 2015 shows refining carbon intensity at crude, refinery and country levels and highlights potential for emissions reductions.

This report from the 1000 Genomes Project describes the genomes of 1,092 individuals from 14 human populations, providing a resource for common and low-frequency variant analysis in individuals from diverse populations; hundreds of rare non-coding variants at conserved sites, such as motif-disrupting changes in transcription-factor-binding sites, can be found in each individual.

Genome-wide ancient DNA data from individuals from the Middle Bronze Age to Iron Age documents large-scale movement of people from the European continent between 1300 and 800 bc that was probably responsible for spreading early Celtic languages to Britain.

The ATLAS Collaboration reports a measurement of the ratio of the decay rates of W bosons to τ leptons and muons, in agreement with universal lepton couplings as postulated in the standard model of particle physics.

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.

The Omicron variant evades vaccine-induced neutralization but also fails to form syncytia, shows reduced replication in human lung cells and preferentially uses a TMPRSS2-independent cell entry pathway, which may contribute to enhanced replication in cells of the upper airway. Altered fusion and cell entry characteristics are linked to distinct regions of the Omicron spike protein.

A genome-wide association study and Metabochip meta-analysis of body mass index (BMI) detects 97 BMI-associated loci, of which 56 were novel, and many loci have effects on other metabolic phenotypes; pathway analyses implicate the central nervous system in obesity susceptibility and new pathways such as those related to synaptic function, energy metabolism, lipid biology and adipogenesis.

Immune lymphocyte estimation from nucleotide sequencing (ImmuneLENS) infers B cell and T cell fractions from whole-genome sequencing data. Applied to the 100,000 Genomes Project datasets, circulating T cell fraction provides sex-dependent and prognostic insights in patients.

Mixed responses to targeted therapy within a patient are a clinical challenge. Here the authors show that TP53 loss-of-function cooperates with whole genome doubling which increases chromosomal instability. This leads to greater cellular diversity and multiple routes of resistance, which in turn promotes mixed responses to treatment.

A large-scale mutagenesis screen identifies mutant phenotypes for over 11,000 protein-coding genes in bacteria that had previously not been assigned a specific function.

Swanton and colleagues present a clonal expression signature, ORACLE, which, in combination with clinicopathological and molecular risk factors, can predict survival of patients with lung adenocarcinoma, and they prospectively validate its prognostic value.

The goal of the 1000 Genomes Project is to provide in-depth information on variation in human genome sequences. In the pilot phase reported here, different strategies for genome-wide sequencing, using high-throughput sequencing platforms, were developed and compared. The resulting data set includes more than 95% of the currently accessible variants found in any individual, and can be used to inform association and functional studies.

An analysis involving the shotgun sequencing of more than 300 ancient genomes from Eurasia reveals a deep east–west genetic divide from the Black Sea to the Baltic, and provides insight into the distinct effects of the Neolithic transition on either side of this boundary.

A sequencing chemistry that separates nucleotide identification from nucleotide incorporation achieves high accuracy.

Although many countries have strengthened their emissions reduction pledges, their ability to limit the warming outcomes is still in question. A multimodel analysis demonstrates that these trajectories are in line with the 2 °C target but countries probably face feasibility challenges to achieve them.

Traditional type 2 diabetes (T2D) screening methods often depend on age, BMI guidelines and glucose measurements. Here, authors use a deep learning model that leverages chest radiographs and electronic health record data to screen for T2D, highlighting potential for early detection and intervention.

The CNV analysis group of the Psychiatric Genomic Consortium analyzes a large schizophrenia cohort to examine genomic copy number variants (CNVs) and disease risk. They find an enrichment of CNV burden in cases versus controls and identify 8 genome-wide significant loci as well as novel suggestive loci conferring either risk or protection to schizophrenia.

Individuals over eighty years of age are less likely to mount a good immune response against SARS-CoV-2 (measured by neutralization titres) after the first dose of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine, but achieve good neutralization after the second dose.

Climate impact assessments usually rely on modeling approaches that are either comprehensive but inflexible and inefficient, or lacking sufficient detail. Here the authors describe a framework to assess multi-sectoral climate impacts and show its capability and timely responsiveness to new policies.

SCENT is a nonparametric method that models association between chromatin accessibility and gene expression in single-cell multimodal datasets, enabling construction of cell-type-specific enhancer–gene maps to aid mapping of candidate causal variants and genes for common diseases.

Over one hundred loci have been identified to be associated with the familial risk of prostate cancer but the functional effects are poorly understood. Here the authors use single-nucleotide variant and epigentic data to show an underlying genetic architecture marked by histone modification.

Imputation uses genotype information from SNP arrays to infer the genotypes of missing markers. Here, the authors show that an imputation reference panel derived from whole-genome sequencing of 3,781 samples from the UK10K project improves the imputation accuracy and coverage of low frequency variants compared to existing methods.

Quantum electrodynamics predicts a rare process in which light is scattered by light. The ATLAS Collaboration reports signs of this elusive effect in the collisions of ultra-relativistic lead ions.

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.

Single-cell analysis of lung, heart, kidney and liver autopsy samples shows the molecular and cellular changes and immune response resulting from severe COVID-19 infection.

Scientists are beginning to understand why these ‘mini Wall Streets’ work so well at forecasting election results — and how they sometimes fail.

Genome-wide analysis of self-reported dyslexia identifies 42 associated loci, including 27 not previously associated with cognitive traits. Dyslexia shows genetic correlation with ambidexterity but not neuroanatomical measures of language-related circuitry.

Fitness landscapes largely shape the dynamics of evolution, but it is unclear how they shift upon ecological diversification. By engineering genome-wide knockout libraries of a nascent bacterial community, Ascensao et al. show how ecological and epistatic patterns combine to shape adaptive landscapes.

A protocol for the electrochemical reduction of nitrogen to ammonia enables isotope-sensitive quantification of the ammonia produced and the identification and removal of contaminants.

Brain and skull development are intimately related across tetrapods. Here, the authors show a close relationship between brain and skull roof across evolutionary transitions and ontogenetic stages of reptiles.

Wildlife hunting can support diets and socio-economic well-being in communities around the world, but overexploitation can have cascading ecosystem effects. This study examines socio-cultural, economic and landscape factors associated with wildlife hunting in tropical forests in Africa.

Sven van der Lee, Julie Williams, Gerard Schellenberg and colleagues identify rare coding variants in PLCG2, ABI3 and TREM2 associated with Alzheimer's disease. These genes are highly expressed in microglia and provide additional evidence that the microglia-mediated immune response contributes to the development of Alzheimer's disease.

Plant root architecture can adapt to different nutrient conditions in the soil. Here Giri et al. show that the rice auxin influx carrier AUX1 mobilizes auxin from the root apex to the differentiation zone and promotes root hair elongation when roots encounter low external phosphate.