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A previously uncharacterized microbial enzyme is responsible for the production of molecular hydrogen in the gut, which drives the growth of other bacteria and has implications for human health.

Intelectin-2 defends mucosal interfaces by crosslinking mucus and blocking microbial growth. This study reveals that mouse and human intelectin-2 recognizes galactose-rich glycans to bind and target diverse bacteria—uncovering a potent, dual-action lectin that shapes host–microbe balance.

Detecting dilute airborne biomarkers is important in healthcare but is limited by the low sensitivity of current gas sensors. A portable, low-cost device is introduced that uses water condensation to enrich airborne biomarkers into a concentrated liquid, enabling existing liquid sensors to detect biomarkers with high sensitivity and broad accessibility.

Pilcher et al. present a single-cell transcriptomics-based immune atlas of participants with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, reporting on the association of cell types, gene expression and intercellular interactions with disease progression phenotypes.

How is specific ribosomal RNA expression precisely controlled in the malaria parasite? Dr. Couble et al. show that a switch between distinct energy-generating pathways during parasite development directly impacts the accessibility to rDNA chromatin.

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.

Withanolides are plant steroids with potent bioactivities found in many medicinal plants including Withania somnifera, but their biosynthetic pathway is largely unknown. Here, the authors report the genome assembly of W. somnifera and reveal a conserved gene cluster in Solanaceae plants for withanolide biosynthesis.

Time-lapse imaging studies of more than a day in the fly brain have been infeasible until now. Here the authors present a laser microsurgery approach to create a permanent window in the fly cuticle to enable time-lapse imaging of neural architecture and dynamics for up to 10–50 days.

Predicting highly enantioselective ligands for a given asymmetric catalytic reaction is very challenging, but could greatly reduce the need for high-throughput, trial-and-error experimentation. Here, the authors report a freely available, automated tool to identify appropriate chiral ligands for given substrates in asymmetric catalysis.

Conventional microscopy is unable to correlate nanoscale properties of metal halide perovskites with the performance of solar cells. Frohna et al. present a multimodal operando microscopy toolkit as a diagnostic tool to address the issue.

Mitochondrial diseases lead to chronic health impairment, aggravated by infections and other environmental exposures. Here authors show, in a mouse model of polymerase gamma (Polg)-related mitochondrial disease, that Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection prompts innate immune hyperreactivity via interferon-mediated upregulation of caspase11 and guanylate-binding proteins, leading to lung inflammation.

The hypersensitivity of sulfide solid-state electrolytes to moisture are not compatible with today’s manufacturing infrastructure. Here, authors present a reversible surface modification strategy using 1-undecanethiol, that enables the processability of sulfide SSEs under humid ambient air.

Caloric restriction improves Alzheimer’s Disease outcomes in mice, but this diet not only reduces calories, but imposes a prolonged fast between meals. Here, the authors show this fast is essential to improve Alzheimer’s pathology and cognition.

The largest known hydrothermal plume moves dissolved iron halfway across the Pacific. In situ measurements show that dissolved and particulate iron transport is facilitated by reversible exchange of dissolved iron onto organic compounds.

Methylthio-alkane reductases are recently discovered enzymes that can produce methanethiol and small hydrocarbons from methylated sulfur compounds. Now the cryo-EM structure of a methylthio-alkane reductase complex is solved, revealing large metalloclusters previously observed only within nitrogenases.

A metabolically bioactivated selective imidazothiazole nematicide shows comparable effectiveness at controlling plant root infection by Meloidogyne incognita to commercial nematicides, which are traditionally nonselective and toxic.

Multimodal and stimuli-responsive imaging agents can yield more biological information than more typical single-mode or inert imaging probes. Here, the authors have made a dual-modal MRI-fluorescence probe and demonstrate its ability to image redox status in vivo.

Perochon et al. show in Drosophila that gut-derived reactive oxygen species and FGF induce tracheal remodelling after intestinal damage, which in turn promotes intestinal regeneration by activating intestinal stem cells.

Microscopic colitis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the large intestine. Here the authors use single-cell RNA transcriptomic profiling and tissue localization studies to characterise the colon immune cell populations in MC, showing expansion of CD8 T cells with diverse TCR clonotypes and expression of CD4 T reg cell signatures.

Uechi et al. found that a small-molecule lipoamide dissolves stress granules (SGs) by targeting SFPQ, a redox-sensitive disordered SG protein, alleviating pathological phenotypes caused by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-associated FUS and TDP-43 mutants.

In Drosophila, a subpopulation of reward-encoding dopaminergic neurons antagonizes punishment-encoding neurons and can override punishment or hunger cues in favour of reward-seeking behaviour.

A combination of three monoclonal antibodies transiently reduced viremia in people living with HIV-1 and not on antiretroviral therapy, but it did not prevent viral rebound. Further studies are needed to determine if this approach can be optimized.

Select chemical compounds enriched in human odour activate an olfactory glomerulus in the brain of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which strengthens host-seeking behaviour and helps explain their strong preference for biting humans.

Plant-parasitic nematodes have the potential to destroy crops globally, and limited options for managing nematode infestation are available. Here, the authors report the 1,3,4-oxadiazole thioether scaffold called Cyprocide that selectively kills nematodes including diverse species of plant-parasitic nematodes.

Biological uptake in the surface and release in the deep ocean contribute to oceanic nickel distribution, including the residual surface Ni pool, according to culture experiments, field data and global biogeochemical circulation modelling

Olfactory deficits occur early in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Here, the authors identify that loss of locus coeruleus axons in the olfactory bulb underlies impaired olfaction in an AD mouse model and provide translational evidence for similar deficits in humans.

CRISPR–Cas9 engineering of the Drosophila Atpα gene (encoding the α-subunit of the sodium pump) is used to study the ability of mutations that evolved independently in several insect orders to confer resistance to keystone plant toxins.

Therapeutic checkpoint for acute myeloid leukemia requires further investigations. The authors here identify ST2⁺ Treg cells facilitate AML growth by inducing CD8⁺ T cell depletion and exhaustion, while targeting ST2 by antibodies depletes ST2⁺ Treg cells and improves AML prognosis.

A hydrindanone-based approach to yohimbinoid natural products has been developed. A judicious choice of reaction conditions — inspired by prior work by the Stork group — allows effective control of the stereochemistry at C3 of the yohimbinoid skeleton. This approach has resulted in the first total syntheses of the C3 epimeric natural products venenatine and alstovenine.

With the generation of large pan-cancer whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing projects, a question remains about how comparable these datasets are. Here, using The Cancer Genome Atlas samples analysed as part of the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes project, the authors explore the concordance of mutations called by whole exome sequencing and whole genome sequencing techniques.

Cancer cells have altered lipid metabolism. Here the authors show that DAXX promotes lipogenesis and tumorigenesis through interaction with SREBP1/2.

Living electrodes enable signalling into a microbial community, coordinating behaviour.

Transfer hydrogenation is challenging to apply to aryl halide reductive cross-couplings because of competing hydrogenolysis. Now aryl halide cross-couplings mediated by sodium formate have been developed. These processes display orthogonality to Suzuki and Buchwald–Hartwig couplings as pinacol boronates and anilines are tolerated and, owing to chelated intermediates, effective for challenging 2-pyridyl systems.

Jamaican fruit bats support disseminated infection of Ebola but not Marburg virus. The differences in infection dynamics are partially attributable to Marburg’s less efficient entry and impaired antagonism of type I interferon signaling.

Metabolic engineering requires the balancing of gene expression to obtain optimal output. Here the authors present COMPASS – COMbinatorial Pathway ASSembly – which uses plant-derived artificial transcription factors and cloning of thousands of DNA constructs in parallel to rapidly optimise pathways.

Macrocyclic peptides are promising scaffolds for chemical tools and potential therapeutics, but their synthesis is currently difficult. Here, the authors report the characterization of Ulm16, a peptide cyclase of the penicillin-binding protein (PBP)-type class of thioesterases, that catalyzes head-to-tail macrolactamization of nonribosmal peptides of 4–6 amino acids in length.

Here the authors show that lowering IGF-1R levels in endothelial cells improves insulin sensitivity, boosts energy use, and supports beneficial changes in adipose tissue, offering insights into potential treatments for obesity-related metabolic disorders.

Comprehensive protein ubiquitylation profiling by mass spectrometry typically requires large sample amounts, limiting its applicability to tissue samples. Here, the authors present an optimized proteomics method that enables multiplexed ubiquitylome analysis of cells and tumor tissue samples.

Ling, Liu and colleagues introduce MSR, a multiscale recursive algorithm that enhances cardiac microscopy for precise cardiovascular signal extraction, and validate the approach in vitro and in vivo.

Dual-wavelength photochemical systems open up new avenues for novel lithographic techniques but currently only few wavelength-orthogonal photoreactive compounds undergoing reversible photoreaction are known. Here, the authors exploit cis/trans photoisomerization of azobenzenes and demonstrate photoligation of the cis state with a photochemically generated ketene.

New biomarkers are required to improve the assessment of aortic wall integrity and risk of rupture. Here the authors report the development of an imaging probe for ADAMTS4, which they test in an abdominal aortic aneurysm mouse model and show in vivo prediction of aneurysm and rupture.

CAR T cell immunotherapy for paediatric solid and brain tumours is constrained by the availability of targetable antigens. Here, the authors investigate the landscape of cancer-specific exons as potential targets by analysing 1,532 RNAseq datasets from 16 types of paediatric solid and brain tumours.

Analysis of two-million-year-old ice from Antarctica provides a direct comparison of atmospheric gas levels before and after the shift from glacial cycles of 100 thousand years to 40-thousand-year cycles around one million years ago.

Rocks and dust from the asteroid Bennu contain some of the molecular building blocks of life on Earth, such as amino acids and nucleobases. They also carry ammonia that formed billions of years ago in cold, distant regions of our Solar System.

Inverse vulcanization allows stable polymers to be made from elemental sulfur, but development is restricted by cross-linkers and the elevated temperatures required. Here the authors report a catalytic method for a wide range of cross-linkers and found a reduced reaction temperature and reaction time is required.