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GvpU regulates spatial organization of gas vesicles in the bacterial cytosol through tunable interactions with the core gas vesicle shell protein and phase transition, enabling future opportunities for engineering of cellular buoyancy.

A pangenome of oat, assembled from 33 wild and domesticated oat lines, sheds light on the evolution and genetic diversity of this cereal crop and will aid genomics-assisted breeding to improve productivity and sustainability.

An algorithm that combines deep learning, Bayesian optimization and computer vision techniques can be used to autonomously tune a semiconductor spin qubit from a grounded device to Rabi oscillations.

Modern ecological and geomorphological baselines along the Georgia coast of eastern North America are structured by 5000 years of Indigenous and Euro-American interactions with these environments, according to archeology, geomorphology, geology, history, and marine ecology data.

Resonant X-ray excitation of the  ⁴⁵Sc nuclear isomeric state was achieved by irradiation of a Sc-metal foil with 12.4-keV photon pulses from a state-of-the-art X-ray free-electron laser, allowing a high-precision determination of the transition energy.

A pangenome analysis of 76 wild and domesticated barley accessions in combination with short-read sequence data of 1,315 barley genotypes indicates that allelic diversity at structurally complex loci may have helped crop plants to adapt to agricultural ecosystems.

Biomolecular condensates of Eps15 recruit and assemble clathrin. In turn, clathrin assembly restricts condensate growth while imposing the preferred curvature of the clathrin lattice.

Poulin et al. developed intersectional genetic approaches to target dopamine neuron subtypes defined by combinatorial gene expression. They demonstrate that dopamine neuron subtypes display distinctive projection patterns to forebrain regions.

This study reports that the induction of the transcription factor ΔFosB is critical for mice to show resilience to the effects of chronic social defeat stress and for antidepressant responses in susceptible mice. ΔFosB acts to promote resilience by the induction of the GluR2 AMPA glutamate subunit, which decreases the responsiveness of nucleus accumbens neurons to glutamate.

The chemosynthetic symbionts of the bivalve Loripes lucinalis and nematode Laxus oneistus are found to encode nitrogen fixation genes, with evidence for active nitrogen fixation.

Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) is known to modulate the pathological aggregation of proteins implicated in neurodegenerative diseases, such as tau and TDP-43, but the phase behavior of the tau/TDP-43 multicomponent system remains underexplored. Here, the authors show that, depending on protein concentration and the strength of LLPS-driving interactions, tau and TDP-43 low complexity domain (LCD) can function either as scaffolds — driving condensate formation — or as clients — being passively recruited into condensates formed by the other.

Kucharska, Ivanochko and Hailemariam and colleagues solved cryo-EM structures of Pfs48/45, needed for Plasmodium falciparum development, with potent antibodies. The work revealed conformational epitopes, with implications for design of therapies against malaria.

A double-transgenic mouse model that enables monitoring or manipulation of dopamine and serotonin simultaneously in the brain’s nucleus accumbens shows that these neuromodulators have opponent roles in reward learning.

Chemical upcycling of polyolefin plastic waste over metal-based catalysts is crucial for the circular economy, but currently available methods are incompatible with chlorine-contaminated feedstocks. Here the authors propose a two-stage dechlorination–hydrogenolysis (or hydrocracking) upcycling strategy to tackle this problem.

The authors show that optogenetic inhibition of inputs from medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) or insula to the nucleus accumbens core (NAcore) inhibits aversion-resistant alcohol intake. Alcohol-drinking rats showed increased hyperpolarization-active NMDARs at mPFC and insula inputs to NAcore medium spiny neurons. Knocking down these receptors in the NAcore inhibited aversion-resistant alcohol intake.

The acidophilic fungus Acrodontium crateriforme is present in traps of the carnivorous plant Drosera spatulata and promotes prey digestion.

Although several techniques have been reported to obtain electron-rich colloidal quantum dots, these materials usually suffer from poor stability under air exposure. It is now shown that the use of strongly bound ligands and a careful ligands-exchange strategy lead to air-stable n-type quantum dots that can be used in solar cells and chemical sensors.

Authors provide analysis of starch-binding protein Sas6, from Ruminococcus bromii, a bacterium that degrades resistant starch granules in the human gut, and demonstrate how carbohydrate-binding modules recognize different moieties within starch.

The ‘Pf’ bacteriophages of Pseudomonas aeruginosa play roles in biofilm formation and virulence. Here, the authors identify a prophage regulatory module, KKP (kinase-kinase-phosphatase), that controls virion production of co-resident Pf prophages and mediates host defense against diverse lytic phages.

Understanding aqueous solutions at graphitic interfaces is critical in a wide variety of emerging technologies. Here, the authors unravel specific ion effects at the interface with graphene and within graphene slit-pores by coupling first-principles simulations and electrochemical measurements.

On exposure to low-frequency ultrasound, porphyrin microbubbles form nanoparticles that possess the same optical and therapeutic properties as the original microbubble, which can be used simultaneously for imaging and drug delivery.

Time-resolved cryo-EM captured transient intermediates during E. coli RNAP promoter melting, revealing conformational changes affecting stepwise transcription bubble opening. Results inform how DNA sequence controls bacterial transcription initiation.

In their complex, the SARS-CoV-2 nsp13 helicase and RNA polymerase would translocate on RNA in opposite directions. Cryo-EM and MD simulations resolve this conundrum, suggesting an allosteric mechanism to turn the helicase on and off.

Heterostructuring and mixing of disparate materials provide new degrees of freedom to control carrier mobilities and exciton binding in solution-processed semiconductors. This Review highlights recent examples of heterostructured materials and devices, and examines the future direction of the field.

Bacteriophage repressor proteins downregulate viral lytic gene expression. Herein, the authors present the X-ray crystal structure of a monomeric repressor that binds an asymmetric DNA sequence using two independent domains.

Beas et al. show that stress exposure drives disinhibition of PVT projection neurons. This process involves an LC-mediated rise in extracellular DA in the midline thalamus, requires D2 receptors on PVT neurons, and increases stress sensitivity.

Copper (Cu) is an essential trace element for growth and development and the Cu⁺ transporter Ctr1 is crucial for both dietary Cu uptake and peripheral distribution. Here authors solve Cu⁺ -free and Cu⁺ -bound Ctr1 structures which adopt a homo-trimeric Cu⁺ -selective ion channel-like architecture

The Nuclear-physics and Multi-Messenger Astrophysics framework, NMMA, combines multiple information from neutron stars and neutron star mergers. Here, the authors show an update of the NMMA framework to constrain neutron star equation of state by simultaneously analyzing multi-messenger observations.

An extracorporeal cross-circulation approach enables, in a swine model, 36 hours of normothermic perfusion in healthy lungs, the recovery of injured lungs, and extended therapeutic interventions in all lungs.

Initialization and operation of spin qubits in silicon above 1 K reach fidelities sufficient for fault-tolerant operations at these temperatures.

The authors find that the expression of the DNA methyltransferase Dnmt3a in mice is regulated by chronic cocaine and chronic social defeat stress in the nucleus accumbens. Manipulations that block DNA methylation potentiate cocaine reward and cause an antidepressant-like effect.

Crystal structures of HIV-1 Env V1V2 in complex with human broadly neutralizing antibodies and ontogeny analyses allow the engineering of Env trimers that are recognized by ancestor and intermediate antibody forms.

Aqueous organic redox flow batteries are promising for grid-scale energy storage, although their practical application is still limited. Here, the authors report highly ion-conductive and selective polymer membranes, which boost the battery’s efficiency and stability, offering cost-effective electricity storage.

Single-cell analysis of the adult human brain is facilitated by improved methods for RNA-seq and hypersensitive-site mapping.

Pfs25 is a transmission-blocking vaccine candidate for Plasmodium. Here, McLeod et al. analyze the antibody response to Pfs25 in sera from a clinical trial evaluating a Pfs25 vaccine candidate, identify a potent transmission-blocking antibody and determine recognized epitopes on Pfs25.

Small-molecule serial femtosecond X-ray crystallography (smSFX) characterizes microcrystals by indexing sparse serial XFEL diffraction frames, with little sample preparation, without beam damage, and at room temperature and pressure.

CNNM/CorB proteins are a conserved family of membrane proteins associated with Mg²⁺ transport. Here, structures of an archaeal CorB protein in apo state and with Mg²⁺-ATP bound and accompanying biophysical experiments suggest direct Mg²⁺ transport by CorB proteins.

BRS3 is a receptor regulating energy metabolism. The authors find that DMH Brs3 neurons control body temperature, energy expenditure, and heart rate, but not food intake. In contrast, PVH Brs3 neurons regulate food intake but not energy expenditure.

Flexible filamentous plant viruses, which cause substantial crop damage worldwide, have eluded structural characterization so far. The cryo-EM structure of BaMV now reveals the virus architecture and the structural basis of its flexibility.

Cryo-EM and mass spectrometry analyses of the spike glycoprotein trimer from coronavirus HcoV-NL63 reveal an extensive glycan shield that covers the protein surface, including an epitope targeted by neutralizing antibodies against several coronaviruses.

The high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy structure of a pre-fusion coronavirus spike trimer from mouse hepatitis virus is presented; the structure reveals architectural similarities to paramyxovirus F proteins, suggesting that these fusion proteins may have evolved from a distant common ancestor.

About 33.5 million years ago, at the Eocene–Oligocene transition, the Earth's climate switched from greenhouse to icehouse conditions. The analysis of terrestrial spore and pollen evidence deposited in ocean sediments in the Norwegian–Greenland Sea now reveals that cold-month mean temperatures declined by about 5 °C prior to the Eocene–Oligocene transition and that seasonality increased.

This paper shows that gut flora can influence cardiovascular disease, by metabolizing a dietary phospholipid. Using a metabolomics approach it is found that plasma levels of three metabolites of dietary phosphatidylcholine—choline, betaine and TMAO—are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease in humans. The gut flora is known to have a role in TMAO formation from choline, and this paper shows that dietary choline supplementation enhances macrophage foam cell formation and lesion formation in atherosclerosis-prone mice, but not if the gut flora are depleted with antibiotics.

The four-coordinate iron sites of typical iron–sulfur clusters rarely react with small molecules, implicating three-coordinate iron in many catalytic cycles. Now, a [4Fe-3S] cluster featuring three-coordinate iron sulfide that resembles the proposed substrate binding site has been synthesized. This cluster shows biomimetic reactivity with a low-spin electronic configuration.