Search

Precise analysis of DNA–protein interactions can help to better understand various biological processes. Now, the ‘light-induced lysine (K) enabled crosslinking’ strategy (shortened to ‘LIKE-XL’) has been developed for spatiotemporal and global profiling of DNA–protein interactions, affording the discovery of low-affinity interactions between transcription factors and DNA using sequence-specific DNA baits.

This study shows that chronic amphetamine exposure in rats downregulates the NMDA receptor NR2B subunit on striatal neurons. This loss of NR2B has consequences for synaptic transmission and for behavior, sensitizing the rats to the stimulant.

Transancestral GWAS meta-analysis in 160,420 individuals identifies 139 loci associated with refractive error, including myopia. Newly identified genes implicate pathways involved in eye growth and light signaling cascades.

The quantum no-cloning theorem forbids the creation of perfect copies of an unknown quantum state. Even so, Chiribella et al.show the existence of physical processes that replicate quantum information at high rates and vanishing error, and are constrained only by the precision limits of quantum metrology.

The site-selective acylation of saccharides without extensive pre-protection of alcohol units has been a longstanding objective in organic synthesis. Here, the authors demonstrate that by simply altering the chirality of N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) organic catalysts, the site-selectivity of saccharide acylation can be effectively modulated.

The scalable, energy-efficient and environmentally friendly production of solid-state materials is crucial for next-generation material synthesis. Now an efficient and gram-scale synthesis of transition metal dichalcogenides, group XIV dichalcogenides and non-transition metal dichalcogenides has been achieved using the flash-within-flash heating technique, a non-equilibrium, ultrafast heat conduction method.

Dong and colleagues describe how T_FH cells initially interact with dendritic cells in colonic lymphoid follicles and further differentiate into long-lived pathogenic T_H1 cells, promoting the progression of colitis.

Terminal uridyltransferase 7 (TUT7) adds U-tails on diverse RNAs to promote degradation. Here the authors show that TUT7 is induced upon LPS treatment in macrophages and promotes decay of Regnase-1, thereby regulating the expression of a subset of cytokines, including IL-6.

Lead toxification in society is a public health crisis. The exposure to lead poisoning gives rise to a multitude of health issues. In this work, a chip-scale photonic platform that enables the highly quantitative detection of lead is demonstrated.

Potassium channels and membrane potential may influence macrophage function during inflammation. Here the authors show that the Kir2.1 potassium channel affects macrophage metabolism by altering cell surface retention of nutrient transporters and subsequently regulates inflammatory disease responses.

Wnt signals for intestinal stem cell self-renewal originate from the stroma and Paneth cells, but the source in stomach is unclear. Here the authors identify a conserved population of stromal cells adjacent to stomach epithelia where Gli2 activates Wnt ligands to promote gastrointestinal regeneration and development.

High-quality genome sequence of cultivated peanut comprising 2.54 Gb with 20 pseudomolecules and 83,709 protein-coding gene models provides insights into genome evolution and the genetic mechanisms underlying seed size and leaf resistance in peanut.

Results for the final phase of the 1000 Genomes Project are presented including whole-genome sequencing, targeted exome sequencing, and genotyping on high-density SNP arrays for 2,504 individuals across 26 populations, providing a global reference data set to support biomedical genetics.

Sodium-Potassium Pump (Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase, NKA) generates an electrochemical gradient of sodium and potassium ions across the plasma membrane by hydrolyzing ATP. Here, the authors report structures of human NKA providing insight into the cytoplasmic Na⁺ entrance and the cytoplasmic gate closure coupled to ATP hydrolysis.

Pyrochlore iridates have been studied for their potential to explore novel phases due to the interplay of correlations, spin-orbit interaction, and more recently dimensionality. Here the authors report a chiral spin-liquid-like state in (111)-oriented Y₂Ir₂O₇ thin films which emerges at a reduced thickness.

Authors present an adaptive underwater optical communication (UWOC) technology based on multi-wavelength lasers and a full-color metasurface for converting visible-band Gaussian to circular autofocusing Airy beams. The potential of Airy beams to mitigate optical power degradation is demonstrated, enabling stable data rate transmission via 4 K video transmission for these systems.

Electron doping of organic semiconductors is typically inefficient, but here a precursor molecular dopant is used to deliver higher n-doping efficiency in a much shorter doping time.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a diverse cancer characterised by a heterogeneous microenvironment. Here, the authors use single cell sequencing to analyse the tumour microenvironment in 10 nasopharyngeal carcinoma tumours and identify different cell types including immune-suppressive T regulatory, tolerogenic dendritic, and exhausted CD8 T cells.

A large-scale single-cell transcriptomic atlas of the non-human primate Macaca fascicularis encompasses over 1 million cells from 45 adult tissues.

In three-dimensional metals, topological objects known as Weyl nodes can arise from a crossing of the conduction and valence bands. Experiments under high magnetic fields show how Weyl nodes of opposite chiralities can move together to annihilate.

Although progress in the coverage of routine measles vaccination in children in low- and middle-income countries was made during 2000–2019, many countries remain far from the goal of 80% coverage in all districts by 2019.

Deconvolution methods infer levels of immune infiltration from bulk expression of tumour samples. Here, authors assess 6 published and 22 community-contributed methods via a DREAM Challenge using in vitro and in silico transcriptional profiles of admixed cancer and healthy immune cells.

In the field of multiferroic thin films, attaining low-temperature epitaxy has been a long-standing problem. In this work, authors propose a pathway to significantly reduce the BiFeO₃ thin film growth temperature using the BaBiPbO₃ template.

In the face of global plastic pollution, enzymatic degradation of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) has attracted much attention. Now, structural and biochemical studies reveal a minimal mutational strategy to increase the activity of PET-degrading enzymes, with potential evolutionary implications.

Reduced glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) is a hallmark of chronic kidney disease. Here, Pattaro et al. conduct a meta-analysis to discover several new loci associated with variation in eGFR and find that genes associated with eGFR loci often encode proteins potentially related to kidney development.

High-resolution subnational mapping of child growth failure indicators for 105 low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2017 shows that, despite considerable progress, substantial geographical inequalities still exist in some countries.

Here, using cryo-electron microscopy and functional assays in mouse oocytes and embryos, the authors delineate the composition of the subcortical maternal complex, showing that clinical variants associated with female reproductive diseases disrupt complex formation.

Here the authors report the crystal structures of RNase J from Mycobacterium tuberculosis in apo-state and complex with single strand RNA, revealing its physiological function in RNA metabolism.

Bio-degradation of poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) is an attractive tactic but requires an effective hydrolytic enzyme. Here, the authors demonstrate that cutinases are highly potent PBAT-decomposing enzymes and their mechanism is proposed based on substrate-binding mode.

The 20 proteinogenic amino acids cannot always satisfy the requirements of protein engineering. Here, the authors practice semi-rational non-canonical amino acid mutagenesis for a cytochrome P450 enzyme, leading to unnatural activities and significant mechanistic insights.

A human–SARS-CoV-2 protein interaction map highlights cellular processes that are hijacked by the virus and that can be targeted by existing drugs, including inhibitors of mRNA translation and predicted regulators of the sigma receptors.

The genome of the tropical blue-petal water lily Nymphaea colorata and the transcriptomes from 19 other Nymphaeales species provide insights into the early evolution of angiosperms.

Here, a draft sequence of the giant panda genome is assembled using next-generation sequencing technology alone. Genome analysis reveals a low divergence rate in comparison with dog and human genomes and insights into panda-specific traits; for example, the giant panda's bamboo diet may be more dependent on its gut microbiome than its own genetic composition.

Zhong-Jian Liu, Lai-Qiang Huang, Yi-Bo Luo, Hong-Hwa Chen and Yves Van de Peer report the first genome sequence of a crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) plant, the orchid Phalaenopsis equestris. They identify genes encoding CAM pathway enzymes and find that gene duplication was likely a key process in the evolution of CAM photosynthesis.

A cross-ancestry meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies identifies association signals for stroke and its subtypes at 89 (61 new) independent loci, reveals putative causal genes, highlighting F11, KLKB1, PROC, GP1BA, LAMC2 and VCAM1 as potential drug targets, and provides cross-ancestry integrative risk prediction.

Methods to reanalyze scRNA-seq data in a spatial perspective are vital but lacking. Here, the authors develop scSpace, an integrative method that uses ST data as spatial reference to reconstruct the pseudo-space of scRNA-seq data and identify spatially variable cell subpopulations, providing insights into spatial heterogeneity from scRNA-seq data.

Methods for predicting molecular structure predictions have so far focused on only the most probable conformation, but molecular structures are dynamic and can change when performing their biological functions, for example. Zheng et al. use a graph transformer approach to learn the equilibrium distribution of molecular systems and show that this can be helpful for a number of downstream tasks, including protein structure prediction, ligand docking and molecular design.

Insulin sensitivity declines with age via unclear mechanisms. Here, the authors show that the activity of membrane type 1 matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) is increased with ageing, leading to cleavage of the insulin receptor, and show that metabolic effects can be rescued by MT1-MMP inhibition in mice.

For control systems, blockchain usually exhibits a trade-off between security and real-time performance. Here, authors propose a new mechanism that utilizes multi-party computation and verification with prediction, specifically tailored for real-time security control of renewable energy power systems.

Samples from the Chang’e-6 mission show that the lunar magnetic field rebounded in field strength after its previous sharp decline of about 3.1 Ga.

A previously undescribed photocatalytic approach enables the effective p-type and n-type doping of organic semiconductors at room temperature using only widely available weak dopants such as oxygen and triethylamine.

Single sodium-ion solid electrolyte that meets the requirements of practical applications is difficult to design. Here, the authors show how kinetic stability via the creation of a self-passivating solid electrolyte interphase allows a homogenous glass solid electrolyte to exhibit remarkable electrochemical stability with sodium metal.

TcpC is a well characterised multifunctional virulence factor expressed by uropathogenic Eschericia coli. Here the authors show that TcpC also targets neutrophil NETosis via its E3 ligase functionality promoting the degradation of PAD4, and represents an additional immune evasion function of this bacterially derived virulence factor.

The deubiquitinase PICI1 is identified as part of an immunity hub that coordinates pattern- and effector-triggered immunity and is involved in conferring broad-spectrum resistance to blast across different subspecies of rice.

Three-dimensional residual channel attention networks (RCAN) enable improved image denoising and resolution enhancement on volumetric time-lapse fluorescence microscopy data, allowing longitudinal super-resolution imaging of living samples.

The electron-withdrawing target (EWT)-induced fluorescence quenching is an unsolved issue in intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) fluorophores that limits their applicability. Here, the authors report a simple and generalizable strategy to reverse the EWT-induced quenching mode into light-up mode, by introducing an indazole building block between the π-bridge and the donor in the ICT scaffold.