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Global analysis of obesity trends from 1980 to 2024 in 200 countries and territories using data from 4,050 population-based studies reveals that framing obesity as a single global epidemic masks the highly varied dynamics across countries and age groups.

Analysis combining multiple global tree databases reveals that whether a location is invaded by non-native tree species depends on anthropogenic factors, but the severity of the invasion depends on the native species diversity.

The genomewide meta-analysis of lumbar spinal stenosis LSS identifies 73 previously unreported loci in addition to 15 known loci and highlights spinal degeneration as a key pathogenic mechanism. Overall, the findings expand knowledge of the genetic background of LSS.

Artificial intelligence (AI) could help improve risk predictions in acute leukaemia and reduce systemic health disparities in the diagnostic process. Here, the authors assemble a diverse, international cohort of 6,206 patients with acute leukaemias and deploy an AI tool to support diagnosis based on standard laboratory results, with refinements for both adult and peadiatric leukaemias.

Species’ traits and environmental conditions determine the abundance of tree species across the globe. Here, the authors find that dominant tree species are taller and have softer wood compared to rare species and that these trait differences are more strongly associated with temperature than water availability.

While hundreds of loci are linked with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), the functional consequences of the associated variants remain unclear. Here, the authors screened in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients’ genomes for protein-truncating variants near IBD loci, and identify a protein truncating variant in RNF186to be protective against UC.

A global network of researchers was formed to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity; this paper reports 13 genome-wide significant loci and potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection.

Studies on food systems transformations are heterogeneous. This systematic review develops pathways aimed at six key food systems actors across socio-economic contexts that can shift food systems towards greater sustainability.

The advantage of living in cities compared with rural areas with respect to height and BMI in children and adolescents has generally become smaller globally from 1990 to 2020, except in sub-Saharan Africa.

Chromium nitride is very incompressible, making it ideal for industrial coatings. However, it is now shown that the material softens at high pressure and low temperature in connection with a phase transition from cubic to orthorhombic structure. The results could be fundamental in designing ways to improve the mechanical properties of superhard CrN.

Data from a variety of sources—including satellite, climate and soil data, as well as field-collected information on plant traits—are pooled and analysed to map the functional diversity of tropical forest canopies globally.

Analysing >1,700 inventory plots from the Amazon Tree Diversity Network, the authors show that the majority of Amazon tree species can occupy floodplains and that patterns of species turnover are closely linked to regional flood patterns.

Inventory data from more than 1 million trees across African, Amazonian and Southeast Asian tropical forests suggests that, despite their high diversity, just 1,053 species, representing a consistent ~2.2% of tropical tree species in each region, constitute half of Earth’s 800 billion tropical trees.

Wood density is an important plant trait. Data from 1.1 million forest inventory plots and 10,703 tree species show a latitudinal gradient in wood density, with temperature and soil moisture explaining variation at the global scale and disturbance also having a role at the local level.

The Authors demonstrate imaging of separation and formation of chemical bonds during an elimination reaction by means of intense femtosecond X-rays pulses.

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias identifies new loci and enables generation of a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Examining drivers of the latitudinal biodiversity gradient in a global database of local tree species richness, the authors show that co-limitation by multiple environmental and anthropogenic factors causes steeper increases in richness with latitude in tropical versus temperate and boreal zones.

Exome sequencing data from 60,706 people of diverse geographic ancestry is presented, providing insight into genetic variation across populations, and illuminating the relationship between DNA variants and human disease.

There is a genetic component to the risk of severe COVID-19, but the genetic effects are difficult to separate from social constructs that covary with genetic ancestry. To address this, the authors identify determinants of COVID-19 severity using admixture mapping, viral phylodynamics, and host immune and metagenomic sequencing.

Large-scale sequence-based analyses identify novel risk variants and susceptibility genes for Crohn’s disease, and implicate mesenchymal cell-mediated intestinal homeostasis in disease etiology.

Wood density is a key control on tree biomass, and understanding its spatial variation improves estimates of forest carbon stock. Sullivan et al. measure >900 forest plots to quantify wood density and produce high resolution maps of its variation across South American tropical forests.

Genome-wide association analyses of 41,917 bipolar disorder cases and 371,549 controls of European ancestry provide new insights into the etiology of this disorder and identify novel therapeutic leads and potential opportunities for drug repurposing.

Hand grip strength as a proxy of muscular fitness is a clinical predictor of mortality and morbidity. In a large-scale GWA study, the authors find 16 robustly associated genetic loci that highlight roles in muscle fibre structure and function, neuronal maintenance and nervous system signal transduction.

Visualizing the structural dynamics of isolated molecules would help to understand chemical reactions, but this is difficult for complex structures. Intense femtosecond X-ray pulses allow the full imaging of exploding photoionized molecules, in this case, with eleven atoms.

Analysis of ground-sourced and satellite-derived models reveals a global forest carbon potential of 226 Gt outside agricultural and urban lands, with a difference of only 12% across these modelling approaches.

Analysis of HbA1c and FPG levels across 117 population-based studies demonstrates regional variation in prevalence of previously undiagnosed screen-detected diabetes using one or both measures and suggests that use of elevated FPG alone could underestimate diabetes prevalence in low- and middle-income countries.

Ortega-Molina et al. demonstrate that mouse models with mild, genetic overactivation of mTOR signaling develop chronic myeloid inflammation, causing reduced healthspan and lifespan, without an increase in tumor incidence.

Data from over 700,000 individuals reveal the identity of 83 sequence variants that affect human height, implicating new candidate genes and pathways as being involved in growth.

Genotype and exome sequencing of 150,000 participants and whole-genome sequencing of 9,950 selected individuals recruited into the Mexico City Prospective Study constitute a valuable, publicly available resource of non-European sequencing data.

In plants, the regulatory mechanisms that control disease resistance responses remain poorly understood. Marino et al. show that the Arabidopsis E3 ubiquitin ligase MIEL1 interacts with and ubiquitinates the MYB transcription factor (TF), MYB30, leading to proteasomal degradation of MYB30 and attenuation of plant defence.

The influence of X chromosome genetic variation on blood lipids and coronary heart disease (CHD) is not well understood. Here, the authors analyse X chromosome sequencing data across 65,322 multi-ancestry individuals, identifying associations of the Xq23 locus with lipid changes and reduced risk of CHD and diabetes mellitus.

Intense light pulses can create nonlinear ionization processes in atoms and molecules. Here the authors study the photoionization of xenon atoms using intense free-electron laser pulses that can create extremely high charge states and produce hollow atoms, featuring up to six simultaneous core-holes.

Multiple transcriptome approaches, including single-cell sequencing, demonstrate that escape from X chromosome inactivation is widespread and occasionally variable between cells, chromosomes, and tissues, resulting in sex-biased expression of at least 60 genes and potentially contributing to sex-specific differences in health and disease.

Narcolepsy has genetic and environmental risk factors, but the specific genetic risk loci and interaction with environmental triggers are not well understood. Here, the authors identify genetic loci for narcolepsy, suggesting infection as a trigger and dendritic and helper T cell involvement.

Polypeptide GalNAc-transferase T3 catalyzes the specific glycosylation of threonine-178 of fibroblast growth factor 23, and structural insights reveal a unique lectin-based mechanism of substrate recognition.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and DNA integration is a frequent cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but the consequences of this process are not fully understood. Here the authors use whole-genome and long-read sequencing data from HCC patient samples to study the timing and alterations induced by HBV insertions.

Exome-wide analysis identifies rare and low-frequency coding variants associated with body mass index. Gene-based meta-analysis and functional studies implicate 13 genes, eight of which are novel, and neuronal pathways as factors in human obesity.

From 1980 to 2018, the levels of total and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol increased in low- and middle-income countries, especially in east and southeast Asia, and decreased in high-income western countries, especially those in northwestern Europe, and in central and eastern Europe.

A transancestral exome-wide association study for body-fat distribution identifies protein-coding variants that are significantly associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index.

To better understand the etiology of frailty, the authors perform a large genetic study. They identified 45 additional variants and implicated MET, CHST9, ILRUN, APOE, CGREF1 and PPP6C as potential causal genes, linking frailty to immune regulation, metabolism and cellular signaling.

Sequencing and deep analysis of mRNA and miRNA from lymphoblastoid cell lines of 462 individuals from the 1000 Genomes Project reveal widespread genetic variation affecting the regulation of most genes, with transcript structure and expression level variation being equally common but genetically largely independent, and the analyses point to putative causal variants for dozens of disease-associated loci.

Many island plant species share a syndrome of characteristic phenotype and life history. Cerca et al. find the genomic basis of the plant island syndrome in one of Darwin’s giant daisies, while separating ancestral genomes in a chromosome-resolved polyploid assembly.

A dataset of 16 plant traits sampled from 2,461 individual trees from 74 tropical forest sites around the world is used to show a strong link between climate and plant functional diversity and redundancy, with drier tropical forests likely being less able to respond to declines in water availability.

Alternative stable states in forests have implications for the biosphere. Here, the authors combine forest biodiversity observations and simulations revealing that leaf types across temperate regions of the NH follow a bimodal distribution suggesting signatures of alternative forest states.

GalNAc transferases’ (GalNAc-Ts) catalytic domains are connected to a lectin domain through a flexible linker. Here the authors present a structural analysis of GalNAc-T4 that implicates the linker region as modulator of the orientations of the lectin domain, which in turn imparts substrate specificity.

Polymer brushes are often used to functionalise surfaces. Here, the authors report on the creation of high-density, regenerating hyaluronan brushes using hyaluronan synthase enzymes which can be patterned by photo-deactivation and demonstrate biocompatibility and resistance to biofilm formation.

Contrary to the view that urbanization is a major driver of the global rise in obesity, the global increase in body-mass index is shown to be mostly due to increases in the body-mass indexes of rural populations.