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The mitochondrial β-barrel assembly machinery exhibits conformational dynamics in the absence of substrate. The antibiotic darobactin A stabilizes the open confirmation of the Sam50 lateral gate and inhibits SAM complex function in vitro.

DNA methylation is an epigenetic mark that plays a critical role in many biological processes. Here, we describe the development of SAM-DNMT3A a tool for induction of genome wide DNA methylation. Using SAM-DNMT3A we show that DNA methylation is a unique vulnerability in ER+ breast cancer.

The Southern Annular Mode (SAM) has shifted towards its positive phase owing to ozone depletion and increasing greenhouse gas concentrations. This Review discusses the dynamics, trends and projections of the SAM and how these will affect southern high-latitude climate, including Southern Ocean circulation, carbon cycling and the Antarctic cryosphere.

A new self-assembled monolayer at the buried interface of inverted perovskite solar cells improves photostability and favours energy transfer, resulting in devices with a certified power conversion efficiency of 27.19% and 1,500-h stability under the ISOS-L-2 protocol.

The enzyme PCMT1 was found to install a C-terminal cyclic imide modification on proteins that marks them for degradation by CRBN, uncovering a conserved protein turnover pathway with implications in metabolism and neurological function.

Crystal structures reveal the catalytic mechanism through which the radical S-adenosylmethionine enzyme MiaB adds a methylthio group onto tRNA.

Colonic smooth muscle cell (CSMC) hypertrophy and hyperplasia have been described in human ulcerative colitis (UC) and animal models. Here the authors show that mice lacking smooth muscle (SM) 22a develop spontaneous colitis which has RSAD2-driven mitochondrial dysfunction and inflammation in CSMC and show dependence on RSAD2 for colitis alleviation.

The LEAFY transcription factor is a master regulator of flower development in plants. Here the authors describe the structure of a LEAFY oligomerization domain and show that mutations that disrupt oligomerization alter its capacity to bind low affinity and poorly accessible target sites.

SAM riboswitches are RNA elements that regulate bacterial gene expression in response to binding of the small-molecule metabolite, S-adenosylmethionine. The SAM-II riboswitch binds its ligand through a conformational capture mechanism that is dependent on formation of a transient pseudoknot.

Bicyclostreptins are peptide natural products in which a macrocyclic β-ether and a heterocyclic sp³–sp³ linkage between a backbone amide nitrogen and an adjacent α-carbon are installed by two radical S-adenosylmethionine metalloenzymes.

Eph receptor tyrosine kinases and their ephrin ligands mediate cell-cell communication. Here, the authors assess the structure and dynamics of the EphA2 intracellular region and uncover complex effects of phosphorylation within the linker region between EphA2 kinase and SAM domains.

Radical SAM enzymes are versatile enzymes catalysing chemically challenging reactions. Now, a radical SAM enzyme that post-translationally modifies ribosomally synthesized peptides to contain D-amino acids has been discovered in Bacillus subtilis, and its mechanism has been deciphered. These peptides, called epipeptides, efficiently inhibit bacterial growth.

Common Era sea-ice variability in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean was strongly influenced by interacting climate modes, according to climate modelling and an analysis of sea-ice and temperature proxies.

Combined omics techniques lead to the functional assignment of four enzymes involved in a new methionine salvage pathway linking polyamine metabolism with isoprenoid biosynthesis. This reaction sequence involves a homolog of nature's most abundant protein, the CO₂-fixing enzyme RubisCO.

A matrix-confined molecular layer of compact surface coverage and good conductivity is developed as charge transport substrate to fabricate perovskite solar-cell devices with high efficiencies, which shows application potential for scalable production.

L-Cysteine-derived thiazolidines have now been shown to be artificial substrates of the radical SAM enzyme HydE, which converts them into S-adenosyl-L-cysteine. Carbon–sulfur bonds are formed in a concerted mechanism that involves the formation of a C-centred radical that concomitantly attacks the S atom of a thioether. This is the first example of a radical SAM enzyme that reacts directly on a sulfur atom instead of abstracting an H-atom.

TsrM, a member of the radical SAM enzyme family, is shown to catalyze tryptophan methylation en route to thiostrepton A with the help of a methylcobalamin cofactor and without generating the canonical 5-deoxyadenosyl radical.

In plants, the shoot apical meristem generates all of the above ground organs and meristem morphology may predict important agricultural traits. Here Leiboff et al. use high throughput phenotyping and a genome-wide association study to uncover genes associated with variation in maize meristem size.

Cystathionine beta-synthase is a conserved essential enzyme of one-carbon metabolism. Here, the authors show that the enzyme oligomerises to form filaments that undergo conformational and morphological changes in response to its activator S-adenosyl-L-methionine, the global methyl donor.

Silencing of transgenes such as Cas9 limits gene editing and CRISPRa applications. Here, the authors show that adding intronic sequences reduces silencing and boosts transgene expression, enabling improved CRISPRa-mediated gene activation and more stable expression of the transgene over time.

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.

Pangenome Mutation-Annotated Network (PanMAN) is a pangenome data structure that encodes shared mutational and evolutionary histories across microbial genomes, providing both high compression and enhanced representative power.

This study demonstrates that growth arrest under stress in Arabidopsis protects meristem cells from DNA damage, challenging the idea that it is merely due to energy trade-offs and highlighting its role as an active defense strategy.

Spatial transcriptomic studies and lineage tracing reveal that, after brain injury, transient profibrotic fibroblasts develop from existing brain fibroblasts, infiltrate lesions, regulate the local immune response and lead to beneficial scar tissue formation.

Members of the SAM-dependent methyltransferase superfamily are involved in the modification of wobble uridine to 5-oxacetyl uridine in Gram-negative bacteria; CmoA converts SAM to carboxy-SAM (Cx-SAM; a metabolite that was unknown previously), and CmoB uses Cx-SAM to convert 5-hydroxyuridine to 5-oxyacetyl uridine in tRNA.

This study introduces a sediment-based method to reconstruct Antarctic fast-ice change during the late Holocene, revealing cyclic patterns linked to solar variability and offering insight into long-term cryosphere climate dynamics.

Tree buds integrate cold and warm cues to control dormancy release. Extended warm periods block plasmodesmata opening by repressing Flowering Locus T and GA pathways in buds. This mechanism ensures robust temporal regulation of dormancy release.

Nikkomycins and polyoxins are peptidylnucleosides with antifungal activity. The biosynthetic routes to these natural products share a bicyclic intermediate formed by a carbon radical–centered ring closure catalyzed by the radical SAM enzymes NikJ or PolH.

A highly potent and selective small-molecule catalytic inhibitor of the protein lysine methyltransferase NSD2 shows therapeutic efficacy in preclinical models of KRAS-driven pancreatic cancer and lung cancer.

Multiomics reveals that sexual differentiation in human malaria parasites, which is essential for transmission, is regulated by competition between phospholipid metabolism and histone methylation.

Structural insights into the poly-ADP-ribosyltransferase tankyrase reveal its filamentous architecture and illustrate how assembly controls catalytic and non-catalytic functions.

Humanized mice bearing full-length human genes recapitulate human biology but are challenging to generate. Here, the authors develop TECHNO, a twostep CRISPR–ES cell method that efficiently replaces mouse loci with >200-kbp human orthologs, enabling versatile in vivo disease modeling.

BrxX methylase in complex with SAM cofactor mediates foreign DNA recognition by the BREX system. BrxX can be engineered to modify BREX specificity and enhance defense. BREX defense and methylation require assembly of supramolecular BrxBCXZ complex.

Analysis of Babesia divergens egress from host cells reveals druggable targets and identifies compounds for potential babesiosis treatment.

Combining discrete molecular junctions to make integrated circuits is a major goal in molecular electronics, but problems with reliability, stability and yield have hindered progress. Researchers have now overcome some of these challenges to simultaneously fabricate 20,000 molecular junctions on a single wafer and connect 200 of them in series.

This study uses data assimilation to reconstruct the Southern Annular Mode over the last 2000 years. The authors find that the mode’s history reflects natural climate variability, except for the most-recent positive trend

The Sorting and Assembly Machinery (SAM) complex folds beta-barrel proteins and inserts them into the mitochondrial outer membrane. Here authors report cryoEM structures of the SAM complex from Myceliophthora thermophila, which reveals a GST-like fold for Sam35 and Sam37 and sheds light on how the Sam50 beta-barrel opens a lateral gate to accommodate its substrates.

Self-assembled monolayers targeting wide-bandgap perovskite solar cells are essential to reduce the open-circuit voltage loss. Here, the authors report the stepwise tuning of interfacial energy level through inductive effect, achieving perovskite/TOPCon tandem solar cells with efficiency over 31%.

PRDM9 is a PR domain containing histone methyl transferase which expression is normally restricted to the germline that has also been linked to a number of somatic cancers. Here the authors describe the identification of a small molecule that selectivity inhibits the methyltransferase activity of PRDM9 in biochemical and cellular assays

The creation of ‘smart surfaces’ that can act as switches or memory devices will rely on systems with bistable states that can be interconverted externally. Now, a low-voltage and robust surface-confined switch that transduces an electrical input into an optical and magnetic output is described.

Agricultural drought linked to past and current growing-season soil moisture is rising in Europe, southern Africa, northern South America and western North America and may persist until 2100, according to climate reanalyses and model simulations.

The bacterial protein H-NS prevents costly expression of horizontally acquired genes such as those in Salmonella pathogenicity islands (SPIs), which are essential for infection. Here, Kortebi et al. show that the expression of SPI-1 is associated with Salmonella chromatin remodelling and with the repositioning of this region toward the nucleoid periphery.

The RNA methyltransferase activity of SPOUT1/CENP-32 is crucial for accurate mitotic spindle organization. Here, the authors describe a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by bi-allelic pathogenic SPOUT1 variants with reduced activity and compromised function in spindle organization.

In molecular junctions, where a molecule is placed between two electrodes, the current passed decays exponentially as a function of length. Here, Chen et al. show that this exponentially attenuation can be controlled by changing a single atom at the end of the molecular wire.

Neural stem and progenitor cells (NSPCs) encounter constant stresses during aging, such as elevated oxidative stress. Here the authors show that oxidative stress induced reduction in NSPC neural differentiation is mediated by a FOXO3-GNMT/SAM-lamin-cGAS/STING-IFN-I signalling cascade initiated by FOXO3 oxidation.

Simultaneous spin and orbital angular momentum conservation enables control over the divergence and polarization of EUV vortex beams, paving the way to ultrafast studies of chiral systems using high-harmonic beams with designer spin and orbital angular momentum.