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How inflammation spreads from the skin to the joints in psoriatic disease is unclear. Here, the authors show that joint-resident fibroblasts can control differentiation of infiltrating skin-derived myeloid precursors that can become inflammatory macrophages.

This multicenter study demonstrates use of dried and capillary blood as a minimally invasive, scalable approach for Alzheimer’s biomarker testing in research, with potential as a widely scalable population-based research approach, especially in resource-limited settings.

Aortopathy poses a high risk of aortic dissection, particularly during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Here the authors report a retrospective case series of seven women with aortopathy who underwent PEARS, a surgical strategy to prevent aortic root dilatation, and a subsequent pregnancy.

An analysis of 24,202 critical cases of COVID-19 identifies potentially druggable targets in inflammatory signalling (JAK1), monocyte–macrophage activation and endothelial permeability (PDE4A), immunometabolism (SLC2A5 and AK5), and host factors required for viral entry and replication (TMPRSS2 and RAB2A).

Experiments under upper-tropospheric conditions map the chemical formation of isoprene oxygenated organic molecules (important molecules for new particle formation) and reveal that relative radical ratios control their composition

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.

Here the authors reveal how an incoherent feedforward C/EBPα–Notch circuit times lung cell fate, guiding alveolar development, repair after injury, and shifts between protective and reparative states.

Whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in over 7,000 individuals with critical COVID-19 are used to identify 16 independent variants that are associated with severe illness in COVID-19.

Antidepressant drugs are the most common treatment for depressive episodes but only a fraction of patients experience adequate response. Here the authors find dysregulation of miRNAs in peripheral blood samples from depressed patients after antidepressant treatment, and show that the miRNAs are regulators of psychiatrically relevant signalling pathways.

Polygenic scores for body mass index and obesity constructed using data from 5 million people with different ancestries were associated with distinct weight gain trajectories from early childhood to adulthood.

Genome-wide analyses in over one million self-reported cases and controls identify genetic variants associated with stuttering and find genetic correlations with autism, depression and impaired musical rhythm, supporting a potential neurological basis for stuttering.

This study reveals that global adoption of mass timber products can expand forestland, increase carbon stocks in forest and wood products, and decrease life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions.

This study shows that animal-based high-fat diets accelerate tumour growth and impair anti-tumour response to melanoma in obese mice, whereas plant-based high-fat diets do not.

Experiments performed in the CERN CLOUD chamber show that, under upper-tropospheric conditions, new atmospheric particle formation may be initiated by the reaction of hydroxyl radicals with isoprene emitted by rainforests.

Analysis of soundscape data from 139 globally distributed sites reveals that sounds of biological origin exhibit predictable rhythms depending on location and season, whereas sounds of anthropogenic origin are less predictable. Comparisons between paired urban–rural sites show that urban green spaces are noisier and dominated by sounds of technological origin.

Together with an accompanying paper presenting a transcriptomic atlas of the mouse lemur, interrogation of the atlas provides a rich body of data to support the use of the organism as a model for primate biology and health.

Two doses of the coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 boost antibody responses and functions in phase 1/2 trial participants.

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.

A large genome-wide association study of more than 5 million individuals reveals that 12,111 single-nucleotide polymorphisms account for nearly all the heritability of height attributable to common genetic variants.

HNF1B is overexpressed in the clear cell subtype and epigenetically silenced in the serous subtype of ovarian cancer. Pearce and colleagues now show that genetic variants in HNF1B are differentially associated with risks of developing these two cancer subtypes, possibly through an epigenetic mechanism.

Phylogenomic analysis of 7,923 angiosperm species using a standardized set of 353 nuclear genes produced an angiosperm tree of life dated with 200 fossil calibrations, providing key insights into evolutionary relationships and diversification.

Here, the authors suggest that nitric oxide (NO) is an endogenous epigenetic regulator of gene expression by inhibiting DNA demethylation enzymes (TET and ALKBH2) and increasing DNA methylation at gene regulatory loci throughout the genome.

Paul Pharoah and colleagues report the results of a large genome-wide association study of ovarian cancer. They identify new susceptibility loci for different epithelial ovarian cancer histotypes and use integrated analyses of genes and regulatory features at each locus to predict candidate susceptibility genes, including OBFC1.

Together with a companion paper, the generation of a transcriptomic atlas for the mouse lemur and analyses of example cell types establish this animal as a molecularly tractable primate model organism.

Stig Bojesen, Georgia Chenevix-Trench, Alison Dunning and colleagues report common variants at the TERT-CLPTM1L locus associated with mean telomere length measured in whole blood. They also identify associations at this locus to breast or ovarian cancer susceptibility and report functional studies in breast and ovarian cancer tissue and cell lines.

Chromodomain Helicase DNA-binding (CHD) proteins have been implicated in neurodevelopmental processes. Here, the authors identify missense variants in CHD3 that disturb its chromatin remodeling activities and cause a neurodevelopmental disorder with macrocephaly and speech and language impairment.

Ionizing radiation from cosmic rays has been identified as a source of correlated errors in superconducting qubits, but a direct demonstration of this link has been lacking. Here the authors measure the coincidence between correlated errors and incident cosmic rays in a chip with 10 transmon qubits.

Unlike ferrocene and its cationic counterpart ferrocenium, the ferrocene monoanion is an unusual species that has been observed through low-temperature electrochemical studies. Now, a family of isostructural 3d metallocenates has been isolated that consists of a manganocene, a cobaltocene and a high-spin ferrocene anion stabilized by cyclopentadienyl ligands bearing bulky aliphatic groups.

Most confirmed susceptibility variants for epithelial ovarian cancer lie in non-protein-coding sequences. Here Permuth-Wey and colleagues investigate variants in 3′ untranslated regions (UTRs) and uncover a new susceptibility locus.

Genome-wide association studies have identified regions which confer risk of high-grade serous epithelial ovarian cancer. Here the authors use expression quantitative train locus analysis to identify candidate genes and functionally characterise them, identifying a role for HOXD9 in ovarian cancer.

This work reveals a mechanism of cGAS- and STING-dependent type I IFN induction in response to biofilm-associated Candida albicans DNA packaged in extracellular vesicles.

Upregulation of the ATP-dependent ACF chromatin-remodeling complex in the NAc is a necessary and causal component for susceptibility to stress-induced depressive behaviors in mice, and this complex is also shown to be upregulated in the NAc of depressed humans.

A single dose of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine elicits antibodies and cytokine-producing T cells that might help control or prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Californium is difficult to prepare in its divalent state. Now, crystals of a Cf(II) crown–ether complex have been synthesized by reduction of a Cf(III) precursor with an Al/Hg amalgam. They exhibit 5f→6d transitions in the visible region and near-infrared emission that are highly sensitive to changes in the coordination environment.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production by reverse electron transfer (RET) through complex I is thought to cause tissue damage from heart attacks. Here, the authors combine in vivo work with biochemical and cryo-EM analyses to characterize the effects of a P25L mutation in the ND6 subunit of mitochondrial complex I. They observe that this mutation does not affect oxidative phosphorylation but renders complex I unable to generate ROS by RET: ND6-P25L mice are protected against cardiac ischaemia–reperfusion injury, thus providing evidence for the proposed role of ROS production in myocardial infarction.

Ken Ong and colleagues report meta-analysis of 32 genome-wide association studies for age at menarche. They identify 30 loci newly associated with age at menarche, including four that were previously associated with BMI.

Ultra-deep mapping of genome organization uncovers precise nuclear compartments and diffuse CTCF loops. This work demonstrates that compartment domains segregate the 5′ and 3′ ends of genes and that CTCF loops create proximal structures.

Genome-wide analysis identifies variants associated with the volume of seven different subcortical brain regions defined by magnetic resonance imaging. Implicated genes are involved in neurodevelopmental and synaptic signaling pathways.

Genome-wide association analyses identify 301 new loci influencing bone mineral density and 13 loci influencing fracture risk. Integrative analyses of epigenomic data and mouse knockout phenotypes provide additional insights into osteoporosis pathophysiology.

Only 7% of the 2245 estuaries, globally, that connect to the ocean only intermittently have been studied in past decades, with ecosystem services, climatic and human disturbances and management particularly neglected, according to a global meta-analysis of 271 published articles.

Innate IL-17-producing T cells—in particular, adipose γδ17 T cells—are enriched in molecular-clock genes, and the circadian expression of IL-17A and RORγt by these cells has a role in maintaining local homeostasis and regulating lipogenesis.

Whole-genome sequencing of lung cancer in never smokers identifies different copy number subtypes and shows a lack of tobacco smoking signatures, even in cases exposed to secondhand smoke.

MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma remains an aggressive childhood cancer with its core regulatory circuits less understood. Here, the authors identify that the transcriptional corepressor Runx1t1 is indispensable for MYCN-driven neuroblastoma tumorigenesis.

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.