Search

Green subsidies (carrots) are now becoming a more politically acceptable climate policy option compared with corrective regulations (sticks). However, researcher show that carrots without quick and appropriate sticks will not be sufficient to reach the deep decarbonization goal in the long run.

The xylosyltransferase isoenzymes XT1 and XT2 catalyze the first glycosylation step in the biosynthesis of proteoglycans. Now, bump-and-hole engineering of XT1 and XT2 enables substrate profiling and modification of proteins as designer proteoglycans to modulate cellular behavior.

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.

An in-depth analysis of tissue biopsies from patients with multiple myeloma and CAR T cell therapy-associated immune-related adverse events (CirAEs) after treatment with commercial BCMA-targeted CAR T cell therapy shows that CD4⁺ CAR T cells mediate off-tumor toxicities and that high CD4:CD8 ratio at apheresis, robust early CAR T cell expansion, ICANS and ciltacabtagene autoleuce treatment are independently associated with the development of CirAEs.

Comparative genomics and high-resolution mass spectrometry reveal the biosynthetic gene clusters, and vast chemical diversity of natural products that they encode, in Photorhabdus and Xenorhabdus, bacteria that interact with hosts as symbionts and entomopathogens.

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.

A WHO-supported pre−post study shows that implementation of the Y-Check comprehensive health check program is feasible and acceptable for adolescents in Zimbabwe, offering screening for 25 health conditions and behaviors, health promotion, on-site care and referral.

Klose and colleagues show that the neuropeptide vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) acts on LGR5⁺ epithelial stem cells in the gut to restrain their proliferation and differentiation to secretory cell types. This VIP–VIPR1 interaction acts to limit type 2 immune responses.

The authors conduct a national inventory on individual tree carbon stocks in Rwanda using aerial imagery and deep learning. Most mapped trees are located in farmlands; new methods allow partitioning to any landscape categories, effective planning and optimization of carbon sequestration and the economic benefits of trees.

Wastewater-based surveillance tends to focus on specific pathogens. Here, the authors mapped the wastewater virome from 62 cities worldwide to identify over 2,500 viruses, revealing city-specific virome fingerprints and showing that wastewater metagenomics enables early detection of emerging viruses.

ADGRL4 is a cancer-implicated adhesion GPCR whose ability to couple to G proteins had been unclear. Here, authors show that ADGRL4 weakly engages Gq and determine its 3.1 Å active-state structure, revealing its mechanism of activation.

Chronic care manages long-term, progressive conditions, while acute care handles short-term ones. Here, authors show chronic conditions account for most of the global health burden, with 68% of DALYs and 93% of YLDs attributed to chronic care needs.

A novel reporter captured spatial temporal dynamics of effector-triggered-immunity (ETI)-induced systemic immunity, revealing that signal propagation and establishment in systemic acquired resistance depend on jasmonates. Furthermore, ETI initiates jasmonate-dependent systemic induced surface electrical potentials.

Brown et al. show that mouse islet progenitors with different transcriptomes produce distinct β-cell subtypes and maternal diet alter the subtype proportions. Similar β-cell subsets exist in humans, with a subset enriched in genes related to β cell function reduced in diabetes.

Annunziato, Quan and Donckele et al. identify G3BP2 (Ras–GAP SH3 domain-binding protein 2) as a molecular glue-induced neosubstrate of the CRL4^CRBN E3 ubiquitin ligase. The CRBN–glue neosurface uses a molecular surface mimicry mechanism to recruit and degrade G3BP2 in a compound-dependent manner.

DNA hybridisation thermodynamics parameters underlie rational design of oligonucleotides for diagnostics and nanotechnology. Here, the authors present an accurate method to measure the free energy of a given DNA structure at specific temperature and buffer conditions.

This study demonstrates that the extracellular matrix (ECM) of the developing brain stabilizes recently born synapses. The authors identify a microglial metalloprotease that digests the ECM to increase the plasticity of these newborn synapses.

In this study, authors employ fragment-based lead discovery to identify WRN inhibitors. The fragment hits reveal an additional allosteric pocket and uncover a previously uncharacterized structural conformation of the WRN helicase domain with unique orientations of the ATPase domains

Hepatocyte organoids derived directly from human tissue enable long-term hepatocyte expansion and can be combined with portal mesenchyme and cholangiocyte organoids to form a donor-specific periportal liver assembloid system.

Smith and Bartel show that mRNA recruitment to stress granules imparts resistance to the integrated stress response translational shutdown.

Genome-wide association studies incorporating data for populations of African ancestry provide an expanded view of the genetic basis of schizophrenia, which has previously been studied mainly in European and East Asian cohorts.

This study applies a global food and land system modelling framework to quantify the impact of 23 food system measures on 15 outcome indicators related to public health, the environment, social inclusion and the economy—from today until 2050.

The identification of cellular targets for natural products that potently inhibit the growth of cancer cell lines implicates oxysterol-binding proteins in the growth of cancer cells. These natural products, termed ORPphilins, also affect sphingomyelin biosynthesis.

Here authors identify GluN2D-containing NMDA receptors on interneurons as a specific target for rapid antidepressant action. Blocking GluN2D restores stress-impaired plasticity and mimics the effects of ketamine with fewer side effects.

McGrail and colleagues report that high intratumoral bacteria abundance is associated with an immunosuppressive microenvironment and resistance to immune checkpoint blockade in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Recent MPXV outbreaks underscore the need for better vaccines and treatments. Here, the authors isolate and structurally characterize potent antibodies interacting with A28 that they identify as a key viral surface protein essential for viral entry and that induces strong, protective antibody response in mice.

Understanding deregulation of biological pathways in cancer can provide insight into disease etiology and potential therapies. Here, as part of the PanCancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) consortium, the authors present pathway and network analysis of 2583 whole cancer genomes from 27 tumour types.

Variants in the PSMC5 gene impair proteasome function and cellular homeostasis, altering brain development in children. This study reveals underlying molecular mechanisms contributing to this neurodevelopmental phenotype, and suggests therapeutic leads for neurodevelopmental proteasomopathies.

A pan-cancer genomic analysis reports the effects of structural variations on chromatin domains (TADs). Most TAD disruptions do not result in appreciable changes in expression of nearby genes.

dSHERLOCK is a nucleic acid platform for the quantification of double-stranded DNA targets using CRISPR/Cas and isothermal amplification and is applied to quantify pathogen C. auris in clinical surveillance swab samples.

Multi-trait genome-wide analyses identify variants associated with comorbid lung diseases. Polygenic scores leveraging shared components of heritable risk improve prediction of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer in a multi-ancestry cohort.

In this study, the authors develop a flavivirus vaccine strategy by introducing mutations into envelope glycoproteins resulting in structural changes that conceal the ADE-prone fusion loop epitope. They show that the Zika virus-specific construct protects mice against viral challenge and prevents ADE by Dengue virus.

Eight decades of forest plot monitoring show a pervasive increase in tree mortality across Australia’s forest biomes driven by climate change, jeopardizing their role as enduring carbon sinks.

Understanding of the immune microenvironment in pediatric acute T cell lymphoblastic leukemia is limited. By analyzing single-cell transcriptome, surface protein expression and immune repertoire data, the authors here identify non-malignant CD4^-CD8^- TCRαβ T cells that are present in a subset of patients with Rap1 signaling in leukemia cells and are associated with adverse clinical outcome in patients with low minimal residual disease.

Impure glycerol is obtained as a significant by-product of biodiesel production. Now it is shown that this crude glycerol can be reacted with water over very simple basic or redox oxide catalysts to produce methanol in high yields, together with other useful chemicals, in a one-step low pressure process.

Natural variation in the courtship song of Drosophila is mapped to the intronic insertion of a retroelement at the slowpoke locus, which encodes an ion channel.

Ribosomal translation is coupled to cotranslational protein folding, process assisted by dedicated chaperones. Here, authors present structures of the ribosome-bound yeast Hsp70 chaperone Ssb, identifying its ribosomal binding site and revealing its interactions with a model nascent chain.

The basic features of dopamine release sites are still largely unknown. Here, the authors determine the ultrastructure of fluorescent dopaminergic and glutamatergic synaptosomes in mouse striatum using cryo-correlative light and electron microscopy.

NbN/AlN/NbN qubits prepared by atomic layer deposition allow for precise control of the tunnelling barrier and stable operation beyond the temperature limit of aluminium-based devices.

Polymer thin films that emit and absorb circularly polarised light are promising in achieving important technological advances, but the origin of the large chiroptical effects in such films has remained elusive. Here the authors demonstrate that in non-aligned polymer thin films, large chiroptical effects are caused by magneto-electric coupling, not structural chirality as previously assumed.

There is a trade-off between achieving fast qubit control and preserving long qubit lifetimes. In this work, the authors demonstrate single qubit gates by driving a transmon qubit parametrically at 1/3 of its frequency, creating fast, high-fidelity gates while protecting the qubit lifetime and mitigating heating.

Albumin selectively inhibits Mucorales growth through the release of bound free fatty acids.

Human genetic variation influences instability of DNA repeats that commonly expand as we age.

Pastoralism spread through cultural diffusion into the Green Sahara, where an isolated, distinct North African ancestry persisted.

There is a lack of effective therapies for patients with non-V600E BRAF mutant cancer. Here, the authors report limited response in a phase II trial investigating the combination of binimetinib (MEK inhibitor) and encorafenib (BRAF inhibitor) for the treatment of non-V600E BRAF mutant cancer and subsequently investigate resistance mechanisms and combination therapeutic strategies in patient-derived models.

Climate change can alter when and how animals grow, breed, and migrate, but it is unclear whether this allows populations to persist. This global study shows that shifts in seasonal timing are key to helping vertebrate species maintain population growth under global warming.

A prospective nationwide genomic screening pilot for ten genes in young adults in Australia detected pathogenic variants in 2% of the population, most of whom were ineligible for government-funded genomic testing.

The environmental exposome, which includes pollution, contamination, climate and social determinants of health, is intricately involved in the pathophysiology of heart failure. In this Review, Hahad and colleagues explore the complex relationship between environmental stressors and heart failure, advocating for their inclusion alongside traditional risk factors and highlighting the need for new strategies to address the effects of the exposome on public health.

This study associates p53 loss and brain metastasis in breast cancer. Mechanistically, p53-null tumors recruit astrocytes that provide substrates for enhanced fatty acid synthesis via upregulated SCD1 expression, representing a targetable axis in the disease.

A large sulfur-bearing carbon ring molecule has been detected in space, 2,5-cyclohexadien-1-thione, using laboratory spectroscopy and a radio telescope. Found near the Galactic Centre, it opens the door to a new family of interstellar molecules.