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Strigolactones (SLs), key regulators of plant growth, are believed to mediate their responses through a proposed receptor (D14) that interacts with an F-box protein (D3) to form a D14–SCF^D3 protein complex; here the perception of SLs by the D14–SCF^D3 complex and the control of gene expression are linked by the finding that DWARF 53, a repressor protein of SL signalling, interacts with the D14–SCF^D3 complex and is ubiquitinated and degraded in a SL-dependent manner.

A small molecule that disrupts interaction between Nur77 and LKB1 leads to LKB1 exit from the nucleus to activate cytoplasmic AMPK and, ultimately, reduces blood glucose and insulin in diabetic mice.

This study shows that aggressive behavior by male Drosophila melanogaster to another male is attenuated when the aggressor male fly had prior exposure to females. The study also shows that this prior experience-dependent modulation of aggression behavior is mediated by a sexually dimorphic neural circuit and pheromone-based contact chemosensation mechanism.

On copper catalysts, Cu^δ+ sites play a key role in the electrochemical reduction of CO₂ to C₂ hydrocarbons, however, they are prone to being reduced (to Cu⁰) themselves. Now, a Cu^δ+-based catalyst is reported that is stable for in excess of ~40 hours while electrochemically reducing CO₂ to multi-carbon hydrocarbons and that exhibits a Faradaic efficiency for C₂ of ~80%.

SMARCB1 is frequently lost in solid cancer and reported to support tumourigenesis through STAT3 activation. Here, the authors show in several preclinical models that targeting IL6/JAK/STAT3 molecular pathway is a potential therapeutic approach for SMARCB1-deficient bladder cancer.

This paper describes molecular subtypes of cervical cancers, including squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma clusters defined by HPV status and molecular features, and distinct molecular pathways that are activated in cervical carcinomas caused by different somatic alterations and HPV types.

Thyroid-stimulating hormone and autoantibody M22 push the extracellular domain of the thyrotropin receptor into an upright active conformation, revealing a universal activation mechanism of glycoprotein hormone receptors and providing the molecular basis of Graves’ disease, hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s disease.

Resistance to anti-HER2 therapy in breast cancer remains a major obstacle in the clinic. Here the authors performed a CRISPR-selective vulnerability screen to identify transaldoloase as a target that is synthetically lethal with HER2 inhibition in breast cancer cells.

Pancreatic cancer patients have previously been noted to have a change in medication history prior to diagnosis. Here, the authors utilise two large population cohorts to show associations between recent medication changes and risk of a subsequent pancreatic cancer diagnosis.

Weyl fermions are evidenced in weakly correlated electron systems, but whether they survive strong electron correlations remains obscure. Here, Guo et al. report evidence of the chiral anomaly, topological Hall effect and a cubic temperature dependence of specific heat, suggesting existence of Weyl fermions in a heavy fermion semimetal YbPtBi.

Analysis of chromatin state and accessibility in mouse tissues from twelve sites and eight developmental stages provides a comprehensive view of chromatin dynamics.

Mapping transcription factors (TFs) occupancy is essential for understanding transcriptional programs. Here the authors use biotinylated knockin alleles of key cardiac TFs (GATA4, NKX2-5, MEF2A, MEF2C, SRF, TBX5, TEAD1) to map their genome-wide occupancy in the fetal and adult mouse heart, providing insight into the cardiac transcriptional regulatory network.

A solution-based ligand-exchange strategy enables the realization of close-packed quantum dot solid films with near-unity photoluminescence quantum yield and high charge carrier mobility.

Predicting coral response to ocean acidification is dependent on our understanding of their internal carbonate chemistry. Here, using microelectrodes, the authors show that corals elevate pH and carbonate ion concentration in their calcifying fluid, but keep total dissolved inorganic carbon low.

Graphene oxide’s permeation properties make it a promising material for purification of hydrogen, but humidity can cause deleterious swelling. Here the authors remedy this by incorporating positively charged nanodiamonds into graphene oxide membranes, stabilizing the structure and minimizing performance degradation.

The performance of wide-bandgap perovskite photovoltaics is limited by the undesired phase transition and high density of deep level traps. Here, Tan et al. incorporate dipolar methylammonium cation to make the material defect-tolerant and achieve a high power conversion efficiency of 20.7%.

High-density, intrinsically stretchable transistors with high driving ability and integrated circuits with high operation speed and large-scale integration were enabled by a combination of innovations in materials, fabrication process design, device engineering and circuit design.

Tamnes et al. explore the complex relationship between ill-being—including mental and behavioural disorders—and mental well-being.

The glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor is a key regulator of glucose homeostasis and a drug target for type 2 diabetes but available GLP-1R agonists are suboptimal due to several side-effects. Here authors report the cryo-EM structure of GLP-1R bound to an ago-allosteric modulator in complex with heterotrimeric G_s which offers insights into the molecular details of ago-allosterism.

Colibactin is produced by human enterobacteria and assumed to be a gut bacterial genotoxin. Now, colibactin-645 has been identified as a macrocyclic colibactin metabolite that contains a C-terminal 5-hydroxy-4-oxazolecarboxylic acid moiety and induces DNA double-strand breaks in vitro and in human cell cultures via a unique copper-mediated oxidative mechanism.

Super-enhancers (SEs) are important regulatory elements for gene expression, but their intrinsic properties remain poorly understood. Here the authors analyse Hi-C and ChIP-seq data and find that a significant fraction of SEs are hierarchically organized, containing both hub and non-hub enhancers.

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) loss of heterozygosity, allele-specific mutation and measurement of expression and repression (MHC Hammer) detects disruption to human leukocyte antigens due to mutations, loss of heterogeneity, altered gene expression or alternative splicing. Applied to lung and breast cancer datasets, the tool shows that these aberrations are common across cancer and can have clinical implications.

Sequencing of the genome of the butterfly Heliconius melpomene shows that closely related Heliconius species exchange protective colour-pattern genes promiscuously.

Reduced-dimensional halide perovskites are promising for light-emitting diodes but suffer from photo-degradation. Here Quan et al. identify the edge of the perovskite nanoplatelets as the degradation channels and use phosphine oxides to passivate the edges and boost device performance and lifetime.

A human stem cell–derived model helps to uncover neuronal phenotypes associated with genetic forms of neuropsychiatric disease.

The Rpd3L HDAC complex is an ancient chromatin-modifying complex found in diverse eukaryotes. Here, authors describe the cryo-EM structure of the yeast complex and show that key features are preserved in the human complex.

De-Chen Lin, Ming-Rong Wang and colleagues report exome sequencing, RNA sequencing, and copy number analyses of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. They identified recurrent mutations in FAT1, FAT2, ZNF750, EP300 and KMT2D.

This study maps the DNA methylome profile of adult mouse dentate gyrus neurons at the single-base resolution and finds prevalent methylation of both CpG dinucleotides and non-CpG cytosines (CpH). The study also shows that CpH methylation can repress transcription. Furthermore, CpH methylation is recognized by the Rett syndrome–associated protein MeCP2, which is established during neuronal maturation and maintained by DNA methyltransferase DNMT3A.

Pseudo-Landau levels in strained graphene modify not only the local density of states, but also the transport through a Hall bar device.

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 range of timescales and luminosities measured from the nearby fast radio burst FRB 20200120E observationally connects these extreme extragalactic transients with studies of Galactic neutron stars.

Bernards and colleagues identify cFLIP as a common dependency of cancer cells by conferring protection from senolytic-induced cell death. They nominate combination of DR5 activation and cFLIP suppression for enhanced killing of senescent cancer cells.

Cyprinids fish species contain multiple subgenomes as a result of past duplications. Here, Xu et al. report new genomes of 21 cyprinid fish and conclude that observed subgenome dominance patterns are likely due to both maternal dominance and transposable element densities in each polyploid.

Root exudates play a key role in modulating the soil microbiota. The export of bitter triterpenes (mediated by a Multidrug and Toxic Compound Extrusion protein) shapes the rhizosphere, leading to robust disease resistance.

Benzofluorene-containing angucyclines, bacterial natural compounds with potential use as therapeutics/antibiotics, occur as dimers. Here, the authors elucidated the dimerization mechanism which turned out to work spontaneously, without enzymatic catalysis.

Levels of circulating thyrotropin and free thyroxine reflect thyroid function, however, their genetic underpinnings remain poorly understood. Taylor et al. take advantage of whole-genome sequence data from cohorts within the UK10K project to identify novel variants associated with these traits.

Sick heart and vessels skew hematopoiesis toward inflammatory myeloid cells. Rhode et al. show that hypertension, atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction cause endothelial dysfunction in bone marrow (BM), which in return causes overproduction of inflammatory myeloid cells and systemic leukocytosis in mice. This process is mediated by VEGF signaling, IL-6 and versican production by the BM endothelium.

Roger Milne and colleagues conduct a genome-wide association study for estrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast cancer combined with BRCA1 mutation carriers in a large cohort. They identify ten new risk variants and find high genetic correlation between breast cancer risk for BRCA1 mutation carriers and risk of ER-negative breast cancer in the general population.

A region on chromosome 19p13 is associated with the risk of developing ovarian and breast cancer. Here, the authors genotyped SNPs in this region in thousands of breast and ovarian cancer patients and identified SNPs associated with three genes, which were analysed with functional studies.

The Scaly-foot Snail, Chrysomallon squamiferum, is a model for understanding the evolution of biomineralised armour. Here, the authors present a chromosome-level reference genome assembly and tissue-specific transcriptomic data for this enigmatic organism.

Tumor suppressor protein p53 interacts with and is acetylated by PHF20, but the consequences of this association were not clear. Now PHF20 is shown to be a direct regulator of p53, with its Tudor domain recognizing p53 modified with dimethyl groups at Lys370 or Lys382. This association promotes p53's stabilization and activation during the DNA-damage response, by inhibiting the association of Mdm2 with p53.

A photonic anomalous Floquet insulator is emulated in a silicon photonic chip. Up to four-photon topologically protected entangled states are generated in a monolithically integrated emitter in ambient conditions through four-wave mixing on top of the edge modes of the insulator.

Using a multi-omics approach to analyse meconium and stool samples from babies during the first few days of life, the authors show that the gut is detectably colonized within 16 h of birth, with Escherichia coli dominating, and that this correlates with proteome and metabolome changes including the fermentation of amino acids.

An anticancer agent, olsalazine, conjugated to a cell-penetrating peptide has been synthesized and shows the ability to self-assemble intracellularly by the tumour-associated enzyme furin, with the potential for tumour therapy and chemical exchange saturation transfer magnetic resonance imaging in vivo.