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Here, the authors conduct a metagenomic-based study of England’s rivers to show that biofilm bacteria are taxonomically and functionally diverse and are key to biogeochemical cycling, highlighting the importance of river biofilm bacteria in understanding and monitoring freshwater ecosystem health.

This Commission aims to resolve the current dialysis policy challenges in Thailand and generate lessons for the global kidney community by drawing on empirical evidence, systems thinking and multidisciplinary expertise to generate policy goals and recommendations.

ATF6α activation in human and preclinical models of hepatocellular carcinoma is significantly associated with an aggressive tumour phenotype characterized by reduced survival, glycolytic reprogramming and local immunosuppression.

A genome-wide association study in rice identifies variation in SBRR1 associated with sheath blight resistance. Introducing the SBRR1-R allele into a commercial rice variety reduces yield loss under severe exposure to sheath blight disease.

Crohn’s disease is associated with disturbances in the B-cell compartment and secreted antibodies. Here, the authors reveal impaired colonic dimeric IgA responses in patients with Crohn’s disease and verify this phenotype in murine models, demonstrating that mitochondrial dysfunction drives defective mucosal humoral immunity.

A human spinal cord organoid model can replicate two different types of spinal cord injury and can be used as an in vitro system to evaluate therapeutics and inflammatory reactions to treatments.

Capsular polysaccharides are bacterial virulence factors, yet their transport mechanism remains unclear. Here, the authors reveal the structure and dynamics of the Wza–Wzc complex, uncovering how a trans-envelope channel assembles to guide capsular polysaccharide synthesis and export.

Bång-Rudenstam et al. report that the acidic tumour microenvironment facilitates the assembly of chondroitin sulfate-enriched glycocalyx to disrupt lipid scavenging and prevent ferroptosis, thereby providing an adaptive mechanism upon tumour acidosis.

Wearable data from 7,013 participants in the All of Us Research Program show that park accessibility across 53 US cities is positively associated with daily step counts, providing a mechanism for how urban green space can improve health.

Spatiotemporal insight into photoactivation of the prototypical B₁₂ photoreceptor CarH is revealed across nine orders of magnitude in time, identifying a transient adduct that distinguishes it from thermally activated B₁₂ enzymes.

Phototrophic bacteria could be used for chemical manufacturing from various carbon sources. This Review discusses the pathways, engineering and potential application of solar chemical biosynthesis.

This study reports an ultrathin kanamycin-based composite membrane that overcomes permeability–selectivity trade-offs while delivering strong fouling resistance and broad-spectrum antibacterial activity for water purification.

Scholl et al. show that PopZ forms filamentous condensates driven by its helical domain and inhibited by its disordered region. Phase-dependent conformations modulate client interactions and disruption of filamentation or condensation impairs cellular function and growth.

This study shows that aligning remaining carbon budgets with national greenhouse gas inventory accounting reduces the global 1.5 ^∘C (50%) budget by  ~100 GtCO₂, with possible depletion around 2027, and suggests that 64-85 countries could have exceeded their fair share by 2025.

The ZFTA–RELA fusion, an oncogene for ependymomas, promotes the production of itaconate, and its dependence on this metabolite represents a new therapeutic target for this cancer.

Viral ribonucleoprotein–viral protein networks form pre-replication centres that nucleate viral factories and drive respiratory syncytial virus replication.

This study detects Chlamydia pneumoniae in human retina and brain, increasing with AD severity. Retinal pathogen load with Aβ₄₂ may predict AD stage. In models, infection drives Aβ deposition and NLRP3 activation, worsening pathology and cognition.

Natural products inspire the development of pseudo-natural products through combinations of fragments of compound classes that are chemically and biologically distinct. Here, the authors report a library of 244 pseudo-natural products, evaluate them in the cell painting essays and identify the phenotypic role of individual fragments.

The combination of within-species variation in pathogen load, the shape of the relationship between pathogen load and infectiousness, and vector feeding preferences shape transmission of multi-host vector-borne pathogens. Here, the authors use experimental and wild bird infection data to characterize the role of 17 host bird species in avian malaria transmission in Hawaii.

The hepatitis B virus surface protein recognizes host entry receptor via its intrinsically disordered peptide. The authors reveal the dynamic process of the viral surface protein that involves a stepwise binding maturation for establishing high affinity and specific virus-receptor entry complex.

Plasmas can unlock unconventional reactivity for established catalytic systems, but understanding the resulting mechanistic changes is a complex endeavour. Here in situ characterization techniques allow us to rationalize the promotional role of non-thermal plasma on the catalytic hydrogenation of CO₂ to methanol on Cu–Zn systems.

Energy mix and supply chain are the leading factors shaping green hydrogen sustainability, according to a spatial-temporal life cycle assessment covering 20 international supply chain scenarios for 27 years, across five hydrogen production technologies in 14 countries.

Carboxysomes are cyanobacterial CO₂-concentrating compartments with a proteinaceous shell. The elucidation of the role of the shell adaptor protein ApN in stepwise β-carboxysome assembly will aid the engineering of these structures in plants.

Cryo-electron microscopy structures of nucleotide excision repair complexes reveal the roles of the constituent proteins XPA, XPB, XPC, XPD, XPF, XPG and RPA in DNA bubble formation and excision of the lesion strand.

Donahue et al. show that ageing is associated with changes in ER morphology. ER-phagy drives age-associated ER remodelling through tissue-specific factors.

Genome-wide association meta-analysis identifies 58 independent risk loci for major anxiety disorders among individuals of European ancestry and implicates GABAergic signaling as a potential mechanism underlying genetic risk for these disorders.

A new species of pantylid microsaur from the Late Carboniferous of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, has teeth with dental occlusion consistent with herbivory, indicating an early transition to this condition among terrestrial tetrapods.

Exposure to inflammation drives hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) aging, limiting their self-renewal capacity and differentiation. Here, the authors explore the mechanistic link between inflammation and HSC aging. Using mouse models, they identify the innate immune RNA sensor MDA5 as a key mediator of HSC aging and show that MDA5 loss ameliorates the aging phenotype by improving proteostasis in aged HSCs.

In vitro models using tissue-specific progenitors recapitulate the lumen with gland-like structures and functional characteristics of the human stomach epithelium in a patient-specific disease model.

Langstein-Skora, Schmid, Huth et al. propose that intrinsically disordered region functionality can be driven by the interplay between linear binding motifs and contextual chemical characteristics such as charge and hydrophobicity.

Given rising diabetes prevalence globally, access to diabetes treatments is gaining urgency. Here, the authors show patterns of glucose-lowering medication use for diabetes across 62 low- and middle-income countries.

A follow-up analysis of a clinical trial that evaluated anti-PD-1 therapy in patients with cancer who are living with HIV provides mechanistic insights into transcriptomic, cellular and cytokine changes related to immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment and identifies a signature associated with clinical response.

The lowest-frequency gravitational wave background may be shaped by supermassive black hole binaries that scatter nearby stars or dark matter. In this case, the NANOGrav 15-year dataset favours dense galactic centres with 10⁶ solar masses per cubic parsec.

By combining real charging data with a Western U.S. grid model, this study finds that a cascading managed charging strategy reduces added emissions by 10–28% across grid scenarios for at least 2 million electric vehicles.

Centrosome dynamics play a central role in immune regulation. Here, the authors demonstrate that centrosome integrity as well as centriole numbers and spatial organisation emerge as critical determinants of effective T cell responses.

Here the authors report NiGa₂O_4–x(OH)_y for light-driven CO₂ hydrogenation to methanol. The surface Lewis acid–base pairs and -OH groups act as conduits for H^- /H⁺ transport to active sites, enhancing photocatalytic methanol production.

CLASSIC is a high-throughput genetic profiling platform that combines long- and short-read next-generation-sequencing modalities to quantitatively assess pools of constructs of arbitrary length containing diverse genetic part compositions.

Crystal structures of HIV Env trimer with native glycosylation in complex with neutralizing antibodies reveal a glycan shield of high-mannose and complex-type N-glycan and indicate a path for germline-targeting vaccine design.

Vestibular schwannomas that are caused by genetic mutations in the NF2 gene are hard to treat and lead to hearing loss. Here authors show in a mouse model that faithfully represents the human condition that combination therapy with anti-PD-1 and anti-VEGF inhibits tumor growth via normalizing the tumor vasculature and enhances T and NK cell antitumor cytotoxicity via upregulation of NKG2D.

Women of reproductive age may have specific concerns relating to perceived impacts on fertility and menstrual cycles that make them hesitant to receive COVID-19 vaccination. In this study, the authors explore COVID-19 vaccine uptake rates in women of reproductive age using linked data for ~13 million women in England.

A comprehensive atlas platform integrating transcriptional and epigenetic data enables more precise engineering of T cell states, accelerating the rational design of more effective cellular immunotherapies.

Proxy records from Lake Baikal show that rapid cooling coincided with Northern Hemisphere ice sheet expansion 2.7 million years ago, a change accompanied by a transition to open steppe ecosystems.

Insights into regulatory T cell biology are accelerating therapeutic innovation in cancer immunotherapy, autoimmune diseases and transplant rejection.

In this study, the authors present optimization and efficacy testing of apolipoprotein-based lipid nanoparticles for delivering various nucleic acid therapeutics in vivo to immune cells and their progenitors in the bone marrow.

Zhang, Huang, Wang, Long et al. report that NAT10 enhances serine uptake and biosynthesis in an ac4C-dependent mechanism, thereby promoting stemness and progression in acute myeloid leukaemia.

Neural mechanism underlying behavioural flexibility is not fully understood. Here authors study decision-making of macaques in a reversal task. They identify two complementary cognitive processes. Distinct neural patterns link these processes to the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, thalamus, and hippocampus.

Selecting for varieties of commercial crops with enhanced nutritional quality is important in agriculture. Here, the authors identify alleles of a gene in tomatoes that give rise to increased levels of vitamin E and find that the promoter of the gene is differentially methylated.

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

The specific glycosylation patterns of biological drugs often impact the efficacy and safety of the therapeutic product. Here the authors describe a native mass spectrometry approach that allows the resolution of highly complex glycosylation patterns on large proteins, which they apply to the therapeutic Fc-fusion protein Etanercept.

Micromitophagy is found to occur in plant male germline cells, mediated by ATG5–HSP90.2 signalling, and is evolutionarily conserved in angiosperms. This mechanism underpins paternal mitochondrial elimination and supports the zygote-to-embryo transition.