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Reflection anisotropy spectroscopy has long been used to explore surface optical properties, yet the origins of bulk-related features remain contentious. Here, the authors introduce a layer-resolved exciton localization measure within many-body perturbation theory to reveal that these bulk features in arsenic-modified silicon are primarily due to surface-localized states, challenging traditional views and highlighting the role of excitonic contributions.

High-efficiency photoelectrodes, which integrate light absorption with catalysis, have been limited to costly materials. Here, the authors develop an anticorrosion barrier that enables low-cost semiconductors for integrated solar fuel devices with 20.8% solar-to-hydrogen energy conversion efficiency.

A discussion of the evolution, present status and future outlook for tandem solar cells employing perovskite materials.

A new strategy to separate radioactive americium from lanthanides based on complexation with polyoxometalates and ultrafiltration technique is highly efficient and rapid, does not involve any organic components and requires minimal energy input.

Hegazy and colleagues demonstrate that epithelial oncostatin M receptor expression drives gut inflammation and tumor formation.

Plant-specific class III glutaredoxins regulate the activity of TGA transcription factors. Here, the authors show that that ROXY9, a member of the class III of glutaredoxins, lacks oxidoreductase activity due to unfavourable positioning of glutathione. Consequently, class III glutaredoxins may not regulate gene expression through redox modifications of target proteins.

A benchmarking competition improves tools that predict how regulatory regions control gene expression.

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.

This report from the 1000 Genomes Project describes the genomes of 1,092 individuals from 14 human populations, providing a resource for common and low-frequency variant analysis in individuals from diverse populations; hundreds of rare non-coding variants at conserved sites, such as motif-disrupting changes in transcription-factor-binding sites, can be found in each individual.

Results for the final phase of the 1000 Genomes Project are presented including whole-genome sequencing, targeted exome sequencing, and genotyping on high-density SNP arrays for 2,504 individuals across 26 populations, providing a global reference data set to support biomedical genetics.

Understating degradation pathways is critical to the development of perovskite photovoltaics. Thiesbrummel et al. show that internal electric field screening induced by ion migration is a dominant contributor to the operational performance loss of perovskite solar cells.

The goal of the 1000 Genomes Project is to provide in-depth information on variation in human genome sequences. In the pilot phase reported here, different strategies for genome-wide sequencing, using high-throughput sequencing platforms, were developed and compared. The resulting data set includes more than 95% of the currently accessible variants found in any individual, and can be used to inform association and functional studies.

Whole-genome sequencing analysis of individuals with primary immunodeficiency identifies new candidate disease-associated genes and shows how the interplay between genetic variants can explain the variable penetrance and complexity of the disease.

The first high-resolution structures of transaldolase with bound intermediates both define active site residues that necessitate a revision of the current reaction pathway and point to a high-energy intermediate structure and protein conformational changes as mechanisms to promote product formation.

Carbenes have been postulated to take part in the catalytic cycle of several enzymes, but direct detection of these unstable compounds has been elusive. Spectroscopic and structural studies of pyruvate oxidase now identify a carbene-containing cofactor, calling for reinspection of existing enzyme mechanisms.

1000 Genomes imputation can increase the power of genome-wide association studies to detect genetic variants associated with human traits and diseases. Here, the authors develop a method to integrate and analyse low-coverage sequence data and SNP array data, and show that it improves imputation performance.

Nilesh Samani and colleagues report a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for mean leukocyte telomere length in 37,684 individuals, with replication of selected variants in an additional 10,739 individuals. They identify seven loci associated with mean telomere length, including two that have been associated with several cancers, and also find that alleles associated with shorter telomere length were associated with a higher risk of coronary artery disease.

White phosphorus (P₄) is selectively transformed by oxidative onioation into salts of P₁-transfer reagents that feature reactive P–N bonds. These P₁ compounds can be used in P–N, P–O and P–C bond-forming reactions to form value-added phosphorus chemicals, representing a viable alternative to the most relevant, yet problematic, P(III) precursor, namely PCl₃.

Structural analysis of the enzyme transketolase at sub-ångström resolution shows the existence of physically distorted covalent intermediates with elongated scissile substrate bonds. These observations highlight the ability of enzymes to enhance the reactivity of reaction intermediates leading to a more efficient process.

LncRNAs influence endothelial cell function via a number of mechanisms. Here the authors show that the lncRNA GATA6-AS regulates endothelial gene expression through interaction with the nuclear deaminase LOXL2, with functional consequences on endothelial-mesenchymal transition and angiogenesis.

Structural and biophysical studies reveal that low-barrier hydrogen bonds enable long-range communication between the active sites of multimeric enzymes and synchronise catalysis.

Alternative splicing of eukaryotic messenger RNA transcripts often leads to the production of several mature RNAs — including linear RNAs and circular RNAs (circRNAs) — from a single gene locus. The names given to circRNAs are often ambiguous and lack consistency across studies. This Comment calls on the community to embrace a common nomenclature for naming circRNAs to ensure clarity and reproducibility.

The findings of a World Health Organization expert working group that is developing animal models to test vaccines and therapeutic agents for the treatment of COVID-19, and their relevance for preclinical testing, are reviewed.

A wide variety of enzymatic pathways that produce specialized metabolites in bacteria, fungi and plants are known to be encoded in biosynthetic gene clusters. Information about these clusters, pathways and metabolites is currently dispersed throughout the literature, making it difficult to exploit. To facilitate consistent and systematic deposition and retrieval of data on biosynthetic gene clusters, we propose the Minimum Information about a Biosynthetic Gene cluster (MIBiG) data standard.