Search

Enzymes adapt by sampling new conformations while balancing destabilizing effects of mutations. Here, the authors reveal how TEM-1 β-lactamase acquires cefotaxime resistance through reshaping of dynamic conformational ensembles and localized stability networks, offering insight into the molecular framework of the activity-stability tradeoff.

Here the authors analyse genetic data for over 400,000 British and Irish people, showing that the frequency of the major genetic risk factor for haemochromatosis varies from a low of 1/212 in Southern England to 1/62-1/54 in Outer Hebrideans and Northwest Irish. Clinically diagnosed haemochromatosis varies 11- fold in frequency across England, emphasising the uneven risk landscape.

Non-invasive strategies to detect and track activated myeloid cells will facilitate disease diagnosis and monitoring in patients affected by neuroinflammatory disorders. Here, the authors present 18F-FMD, a dendrimer-based PET tracer that detects and monitors activated myeloid cells at different stages (presymptomatic and symptomatic) of Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis (EAE) in mice and in response to disease-modifying therapies.

Citizen science data are increasingly used in biodiversity monitoring. This study applies a digital twin approach to biodiversity monitoring using a large citizen science dataset on birds from Finland, demonstrating its potential for ecological forecasting.

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) plays an important role in decarbonization pathways to meet climate goals, but some methods are land-intensive. Multimodel analysis reveals conflicts between biodiversity and CDR that are distributed unevenly, and shows that synergies are crucial to meet climate and conservation goals.

By combining satellite observations with ground-based data and expert validation, this analysis demonstrates considerable misestimation of grassland extent and thereby carbon stock estimates in previous global assessments based on remote sensing.

Ubiquitin chains direct post-ER membrane proteins toward different degradation routes. Here, the authors show that K63 chains promote lysosomal sorting, whereas K48 chains trigger “CUTUP”, a protein shearing pathway mediated by two ubiquitin-dependent proteases, Ddi1 and Rbd2, and the proteasome.

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.

Optical spin orientation of itinerant ferromagnets in twisted MoTe₂ homobilayers is demonstrated, enabling control of topological Chern numbers with circularly polarized light.

The role of normally silenced transposable elements (TEs) in tumorigenesis remains unclear. Here, the authors show that increased expression of TEs in both patients and mice with colitis or by DNA hypomethylating drugs elicits a viral mimicry response that suppresses tumorigenesis. This viral mimicry response inhibits the stemness of cancer initiating cells in a cell autonomous manner.

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.

Here the authors report that some aspects of clinical heterogeneity in type 2 diabetes vary across populations. Using a deep-learning–based tree model built from over 32,000 patients, they document disease patterns and risks specific for the Chinese population, potentially enabling more precise prediction and personalized care.

A hidden quality-control system to filter out defective sperm during development is exploited by selfish genes to eliminate competing chromosomes.

Authors use metagenomic environmental surveillance in Cambodian live-bird markets and found that air sampling captured the greatest diversity of poultry viruses. It outperformed traditional swabs, identifying undetected H5N1 clades.

The Ocean Equity Index provides a systematic, twelve-criteria framework to assess and improve equity in ocean initiatives, projects and policies, producing structured data that guide evidence-based decisions and support more equitable outcomes for coastal communities and ecosystems.

“This randomized controlled trial in adults with central obesity found that high-intensity interval training, performed once or thrice weekly, reduced body fat mass compared with control, highlighting the benefits of “weekend warrior” interventions.”

Concerns over health misinformation online are becoming increasingly important. Here the authors show that older adults are more likely than younger people to encounter low-credibility health information online. Although exposure is limited overall, it is highest among those who already believe inaccurate health claims.

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.

The inferior heterojunction quality and misaligned energy levels at the buffer/absorber layer hinders development of antimony selenosulfide solar cells. Here, authors introduce low-work-function tantalum pentoxide dielectric layer for field-effect passivation, achieving device efficiency of 10.95%.

New methods for targeted covalent protein modification at low reactivity aspartates and glutamates are of high interest. Here, the authors report a technique inspired by the HaloTag technology, which employs a covalent conjugation reaction between ligands with a reactive chloroalkane linker and a specific aspartic acid, and use it to covalently modify lipoprotein chaperone PDEδ at a binding site glutamic acid.

Here, the authors use a mouse model of multiple sclerosis to show that CD38⁺Foxp3⁺ T_reg cells persist in postinflammatory CNS tissues and are needed for maintaining immune homeostasis. These localized stress-tolerant T_reg cells have developed mechanisms to exploit the limited availability of IL-2 in this tissue.

A martensitic alloy with a tensile strength exceeding 3 GPa and a fracture elongation of 5.13% is developed. These mechanical properties arise from interface complexes interacting with dense dislocation networks, which is a mechanism shown to be applicable to other compositions.

Macrocyclization typically proceeds via thioesterase mediation in type I polyketide synthases. Now, using genome mining and crystallographic analysis, an alternative mechanism for stereoselective macrocyclization in the akaeolide biosynthetic pathway is reported. The mechanism is proposed to proceed via an iminium-catalysed tandem Michael addition and Knoevenagel condensation, using nuclear transport factor 2-like enzymes.

Global Burden of Disease estimates show that between 1990 and 2023, the prevalence and burden of drug use disorders, inclusive of amphetamine, cannabis, cocaine and opioid use, have been increasing in high-income countries, particularly in the USA.

In this clinical study, the authors show that fecal microbiota transplantation is feasible and safe in adult women with anorexia nervosa, shifting gut bacteria toward a healthy donor profile and improving stool consistency after a single treatment.

The genetic basis underlying resistance to Sclerotinia stem rot (SSR) in oilseed rape remains elusive. Here, the authors identify BnaA07.MKK9 as a pivotal regulator of SSR resistance in oilseed rape by GWAS, providing new insights into plant defense mechanisms against necrotrophic pathogens.

Phosphorylation-dephosphorylation and ubiquitination tune TCR signaling to avoid self-reactivity. Kim and colleagues show that acetylation also modulates TCR signaling.

Spin transport properties of magnetically ordered materials have been well studied. Here, the authors report an anomalous spin signal exhibiting spin transport over 480 microns in the frustrated hyperkagome magnetic insulator Gd₃Ga₅O₁₂.

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) associated uveitis can cause vision loss in children, but mechanisms remain unclear. The authors here identify elevated CD19⁺IgD^-CD27^- double negative type 1 B cells in JIA-uveitis and show that targeting B-T cell interactions suppresses disease in mouse models of uveitis.

Producing isolated single-photon emitters in hexagonal boron nitride with predefined spin transitions is challenging. Oxygen annealing enables the controlled fabrication of narrowband quantum emitters with optically active spin for quantum applications.

RAS-driven cancers depend on SHOC2–PP1C. Here, the authors reveal that KRAS forms a low-affinity SHOC2–PP1C complex with fewer contacts than MRAS and show that dual inhibition of KRAS- and MRAS-dependent assemblies strengthens SHOC2 suppression and may overcome resistance.

Transition of superfluid to insulator is observed in the layer-imbalanced regime of bilayer magnetoexcitons.

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.

Butyrophilin 2A2 is a member of the B7 costimulatory family that is expressed on antigen presenting cells and is linked to the regulation of T cells. Here the authors implicate butyrophilin 2A2 in enhancement of CD45 phosphatase activity within the immunological synapse during T cell activation, leading to expansion of regulatory T cells and reduction of proinflammatory Th17 CD4 T cells.

Neural basis of decision-making is not fully understood. Here authors show that mouse prefrontal neurons encode history-specific rewards and choices. However, their influence is gated by task structure and timing, affecting decisions primarily in variable interval tasks and when temporal delays separate events.

Nylon-11 is a common and durable polymer but possess low piezoelectric properties. Here, the authors use mechanical accelerations and strong electric fields to induce crystallization, hydrogen-bonding and dipole alignment in Nylon-11 films, achieving high piezoelectricity.

Non-equilibrium two-dimensional melting is less understood than its equilibrium counterpart. Now it is shown that topologically driven melting in a two-dimensional crystal of charged colloids is the same irrespective of the mechanisms that generate the defects

Developing strategies for reducing carbon emissions in municipal solid waste management is essential to achieve the net-zero target. Here the authors systematically assess strategy options of different countries for achieving net-zero municipal solid waste management.

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.

Transferring genetic materials between distantly related yeasts, presents technical challenges but can yield industrially interesting phenotypes. Here the authors establish a method to transfer individual chromosomes from Saccharomyces cerevisiae into Kluyveromyces marxianus.

Climate change is altering how plants balance carbon gain and water loss. This study maps global leaf-level water-use efficiency over the past two decades, showing it is highest in regions that are cold or dry, increasing worldwide, and strongly influenced by atmospheric dryness.

Using infant fMRI, the authors show that, by 2 months of age, representations in high-level visual cortex encode visual categories that align with deep neural networks, and lateral object-selective regions are later to develop.

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.

Efficient nuclear delivery of DNA remains a major challenge in non-viral gene therapy. Here the authors present an improved workflow for generating DNA oligonucleotide-peptide conjugates which are ligated to linear DNA and achieve nuclear localization.

Experimental realizations of discrete time crystals have mainly involved 1D models with Ising-like couplings. Here, the authors realize a 2D discrete time crystal with anisotropic Heisenberg coupling on a quantum simulator based on superconducting qubits, uncovering a rich phase diagram.

Transcriptomic and clinical data analyses from multiple cohorts of patients with cancer receiving immunotherapy find that PD-1 blockade potentiates tumor-specific IgG1 plasma cell responses that complement cellular immunity and contribute to clinical benefit.

Here, the authors identify distinct, autism-specific diet microbiome interactions, showing how unhealthy diets and synthetic emulsifiers drive dysbiosis. The findings pave the way for microbiome-aware dietary strategies for autism.