Search

This paper demonstrates that micropatterned human embryonic stem cell colonies can acquire spatial patterns reminiscent of those in the embryo and proposes their use to study early developmental processes in the human system.

Efflux transporters of the RND family confer resistance to multiple antibiotics in Gram-negative bacteria. Here, the authors identify pyridylpiperazine-based compounds that potentiate antibiotic activity in E. coli through allosteric inhibition of its primary RND transporter.

Ultrathin solar cells having thicknesses below 1 µm can still reach efficiencies comparable to their thicker counterparts, but require less material to manufacture. By exploiting light-trapping nanostructures, Chen and colleagues achieve GaAs solar cells with 20% efficiency at just 205 nm thicknesses.

A human binary protein interactome map that includes around 53,000 protein–protein interactions involving more than 8,000 proteins provides a reference for the study of human cellular function in health and disease.

Denoising low-counting statistics data in the presence of multiple, unknown noise profiles is a challenging task in scientific applications where high accuracy is required. Oppliger and colleagues train a deep convolutional neural network on pairs of experimental low- and high-noise X-ray diffraction data and demonstrate better performance on experimental noise filtering compared with the case of training on artificial data pairs.

Quantum electrodynamics predicts a rare process in which light is scattered by light. The ATLAS Collaboration reports signs of this elusive effect in the collisions of ultra-relativistic lead ions.

α-secretase–mediated processing of cellular prion protein and amyloid precursor protein is decreased in prion and Alzheimer's diseases. Mathéa Pietri et al. now show that activity of a kinase, PDK1, is increased in the brain following prion infection and with amyloid pathology. This results in internalization of TACE and impairs TACE-mediated α-secretase activity. Inhibition of PDK1 is beneficial in mouse models of prion infection and Alzheimer's disease, suggesting PDK1 may be targeted to attenuate disease progression.

Ten years after the discovery of the Higgs boson, the ATLAS  experiment at CERN probes its kinematic properties with a significantly larger dataset from 2015–2018 and provides further insights on its interaction with other known particles.

Here the authors report 20 novel genomic risk loci for calcific aortic valve stenosis, the most common heart valve disorder. Using RNA sequencing in 500 human aortic valves, they prioritize candidate causal genes including TWIST1, a gene involved in endothelial-mesenchymal transition.

Blanpain and colleagues identify NR2F2 as a regulator of stemness and invasiveness that promotes tumor renewal and restricts differentiation to sustain squamous cell carcinomas.

Myofibroblasts contribute to the development of liver fibrosis. Here, the authors report that the transcription factor Basonuclin 2 (BNC2) integrates fibrogenic signals and drives myofibroblastic transcriptional activation in liver fibrosis.

Assessing cell phenotypes in image-based assays requires solid computational methods for transforming images into quantitative data. Here, the authors present a strategy for learning representations of treatment effects from high-throughput imaging, following a causal interpretation.

The mantle transition zone is poorly, mechanically mixed, and acts to impede mantle flow, according to seismic observations integrated with detailed mineral-physics models.

A large, slow-moving landslide underlying the city of Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has accelerated in recent decades due to hydrological modifications related to urbanization, according to an analysis of aerial photographs and remote-sensing data.

Treatment of diffuse anaplastic Wilms tumours (DAWT) remains a challenge. Here, the authors perform multi-omic analysis and identify a desert-like DAWT subtype accounting for one third of DAWT cases and suggest treating them with HDAC and/or WEE1 inhibitors.

JWST observations of CH₃⁺ in a protoplanetary disk in the Orion star-forming region are reported showing that gas-phase organic chemistry in the interstellar medium is activated by ultraviolet irradiation and the methyl cation.

Blood plasma protein data was combined with machine learning models for a simple method to determine differences in organ-specific aging; the study provides a basis for the prediction of diseases and aging effects using plasma proteomics.

Tissue fluidification in invasive breast carcinoma is accompanied by mechanical stresses that compromise nuclear integrity and liberate DNA, resulting in the activation of a pro-inflammatory response that shape tumour evolution and progression.

Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) is still not well understood. Here the authors provide patient reported outcomes from 590 hospitalized COVID-19 patients and show association of PASC with higher respiratory SARS-CoV-2 load and circulating antibody titers, and in some an elevation in circulating fibroblast growth factor 21.

Steve Brown and colleagues report an analysis of 20 phenotyping tests, including 413 data parameters, across 449 mutant mouse alleles. They identify widespread pleiotropy and assign putative functions to genes that lacked previous phenotypic annotation.

Tracking data from 17 marine predator species in the Southern Ocean are used to identify Areas of Ecological Significance, the protection of which could help to mitigate increasing pressures on Southern Ocean ecosystems.

In the canonical bacterial transcription, both nascent transcript and polymerase dissociate from template DNA. By employing multi-color single-molecule fluorescence imaging, here the authors show that RNA polymerases remain bound to DNA after the transcript release.

The ability to evolve Plasmodium drug resistance in vitro is challenging and time consuming. Here, Kümpornsin et al. generated a Plasmodium falciparum parasite line with an elevated mutation rate by impairing the proof-reading activity of DNA polymerase, which results in a higher mutation rate, quick resistance development, and a lower inoculum than wild type to support the identification of new antimalarial targets and understand drug resistance mechanisms.

A series of behavioural, electrophysiological and chemical assays are used to attempt to detect long-range sex pheromones involved in species-specific male swarm recognition by Anopheles female mosquitoes, but no evidence is found.

Senescent cells play a role in pathogenesis of diabetes, and senolytic agents can improve obesity- and diabetes-related pathologies. Here the authors report that mitochondrially targeted tamoxifen, a potential anti-cancer agent with senolytic activity, alleviates symptoms of obesity and prediabetes in mice, potentially via reduction of food intake and elimination of senescent cells.

Uropathogenic strains of Escherichia coli (UPEC) are a leading cause of urinary tract infections (UTIs) and invasion involves Rho GTPase members, notably Rac1, to drive actin cytoskeleton rearrangement leading to engulfment. Here, Petracchini et al. provide evidence of an ECM stiffnessmodulated role of Optineurin (OPTN), which regulates HACE1-dependant Rac1 activity and thus controls integrinmediated mechanotransduction and bacterial invasion.

Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor is an important regulator of appetite and glucose homeostasis. Here the authors describe super-resolution microscopy and in vivo imaging compatible fluorescent probes, which reveal endogenous glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor distribution and dynamics in islets and brain.

CRISPR-based immunity and microbial community dynamics in a wastewater treatment plant over one and a half years.

By constructing an evolutionary trajectory of the cyclostome-gnathostome Pou5 gene family and comparing the structural and phenotypic protein variations, the authors uncover the origin of functional characteristics for the pluripotency factor Oct4.

Several kinases regulate spine morphology and plasticity. Here, the authors show that the tyrosine kinase Pyk2 regulates hippocampal plasticity and contributes to cognitive and hippocampal plasticity deficits in a mouse model of Huntington’s disease.

This study shows that the biological impact and footprint of a leakage from a controlled sub-seabed release of carbon dioxide is confined to a few tens of metres, and identifies monitoring strategies for full-scale carbon storage operations.

While neutrophils are the first line of defence against infections and inflammation, their unrestricted recruitment and constant activation might result in prolonged inflammation and sharpening of specific pathological conditions. Here the authors develop a strategy to specifically target activated, pro-inflammatory neutrophils and neutrophil–platelet complexes to deliver therapeutics in the context of a murine model of venous thrombosis.

The nuclear pore complex is crucial for mediating nucleocytoplasmic exchanges. Here the authors use budding yeast to reveal a mechanism responsible of maintaining nucleoporin homeostasis by sensing changes in the complex integrity and further altering the metabolism of the corresponding mRNAs.

Assessing 3,129 species of trees and shrubs found in 164 global urban areas shows that over half of the species currently experience non-ideal climates. They project increases in risk due to climate change by 2050 and highlight cities where all species are at risk.

Land subsidence and uplift influence the rate of sea-level rise. Most coastal populations live in subsiding areas and experience average rates of relative sea-level rise three to four times faster than due to climate change alone, indicating the need for policy to address subsidence.

Targeted therapies matched to genomics improved progression-free survival when genomic alterations were classified as level I/II (according to ESCAT), and genomics should thus be driven by target actionability in patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Lipins need to bind cell membranes before they can function as phosphatidic acid phosphatases. Here, the authors elucidate the structural basis of lipin membrane-association and identify a lipin domain with a novel protein fold that is critical for membrane binding and full functionality of lipins.

Alfvén waves are fundamental plasma modes that provide a mechanism for the transfer of energy between particles and fields. Here the authors confirm experimentally the conservative energy exchange between Alfvén wave fields and plasma particles via high-resolution MMS observations of Earth’s magnetosphere.

Adult neurogenesis is a unique form of neuronal plasticity, involving the genesis and integration of newborn neurons into the mouse dentate gyrus. Here the authors demonstrate that adult neurogenesis improves representations of space in the dentate gyrus by increasing the place-specific responses of mature neurons.

An integrated analysis of several cohorts shows that clonal, antigen-experienced T cells are found in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, suggesting that the adaptive immune system has a role in age-related neurodegeneration.

Macroscopic properties usually follow algebraic scaling laws near phase transitions. Here, the authors investigate the scaling properties of the metal‐insulator transition at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface, finding that coupling between structural and electronic properties prevents the universal behavior.

AMPK modulates idiopathic and hypoxic pulmonary hypertension in adults, largely via unknown mechanisms. Here, the authors show that AMPK deficiency in smooth muscles causes persistent pulmonary hypertension of the new born and premature death in mice, due to increased muscularisation and remodeling of pulmonary arteries, reduced alveolar numbers and alveolar membrane thickening

This study finds that inhibition of the hypothalamic melanocortin receptors increases the level of high-density lipoprotein HDL-C, a form of cholesterol, circulating in the blood stream. Uptake of HDL-C into the liver was slowed, as expression of one of the hepatic cholesterol receptors was downregulated.

The surface of CdSe nanoplatelets can exhibit a paramagnetic behaviour that influences the polarization properties of the optical emission.

The authors summarize the data produced by phase III of the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project, a resource for better understanding of the human and mouse genomes.

Neoplastic pancreatic cysts are associated with invasive pancreatic cancer, but their origins and evolutionary relationships are unclear. Here, the authors present the evolutionary analysis of neoplastic cysts and report them as precursors of invasive pancreatic cancer, and that SMAD4/TGFBR2 alterations are likely drivers of invasion in a subset of cases.