Search

The authors find that distinct radial glia subtypes generate and support midbrain dopaminergic neurons, revealing specialized function and lineage relationships among the diverse cell types that shape dopamine neuron development.

Desmoplastic stroma is a hallmark of aggressive colorectal cancer. Matrix cancer-associated fibroblasts derived THBS2 establishes a fibrotic, immune-exclusionary barrier that limits CD8⁺ T cell infiltration, while its inhibition restores CXCR3-mediated T cell recruitment and enhances response to immune checkpoint blockade.

Kidney shortages limit treatment options for patients with end-stage kidney disease, prompting exploration of xenotransplantation. Here, the authors show that a genetically modified pig kidney sustained essential functions in a living human for 51 days, informing future clinical strategies.

The growth of wafer-scale single-crystalline 2D semiconductors on sapphire is important for their electronic applications, but the underlying mechanisms are not yet fully understood. Here, the authors study the influence of air-induced sapphire surface hydrolysis on the growth process of 2D WS₂ and propose an ultraviolet light healing method to repair the degraded substrates.

Genome-wide association analyses across individuals of East Asian and European ancestries identify new risk loci for inflammatory bowel diseases. A polygenic risk score derived from the combined datasets shows improved prediction accuracy.

Carbon fibre is a lightweight next-generation material with various applications, but its production often requires expensive and toxic organic solvents, as well as highly energy-intensive heating processes. Here, the authors describe the polymerisation and spinning of carbon fibre using water, along with the implementation of a rapid heating process to reduce energy consumption.

Patients with partial recombination-activating gene (RAG) deficiency (pRD) present variable late-onset autoimmune clinical phenotypes. Walter and colleagues identified a restricted primary B cell antigen receptor repertoire enriched for autoreactivity and clonal persistence in pRD. They described dysregulated B cell maturation with expansion of T-bet⁺ B cells revealing how RAG impacts stringency of tolerance and B cell fate in the periphery.

A study from the FANTOM consortium using single-molecule cDNA sequencing of transcription start sites and their usage in human and mouse primary cells, cell lines and tissues reveals insights into the specificity and diversity of transcription patterns across different mammalian cell types.

Arrays of quantum dots are produced in carbon nanotubes as a result of the interaction between the nanotubes and a substrate, and show quantized energy-level splittings.

Here, the authors have performed a multi-population GWAS meta-analysis of pediatric steroid sensitive nephrotic syndrome cases to discover 12 loci (4 novel), fine-map HLA, implicate kidney and immune factors, and associate the polygenic risk score with earlier disease onset.

Many beneficial effects of exercise are mediated by factors secreted from the exercising muscle, so-called myokines. Here, the authors identify what might be the first exercised-induced adipokine, TGF-β2, which is secreted from subcutaneous fat in response to exercise-induced increases in serum lactate levels and has beneficial metabolic effects in mice.

Mammalian genomes are scattered with repetitive sequences, but their biology remains largely elusive. Here, the authors show that transcription can initiate from short tandem repetitive sequences, and that genetic variants linked to human diseases are preferentially found at repeats with high transcription initiation level.

The spike protein of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 has a higher affinity for ACE2 than Delta, and a marked change in its antigenicity increases Omicron’s evasion of therapeutic and vaccine-elicited neutralizing antibodies.

The next step after sequencing a genome is to figure out how the cell actually uses it as an instruction manual. A large international consortium has examined 1% of the genome for what part is transcribed, where proteins are bound, what the chromatin structure looks like, and how the sequence compares to that of other organisms.

Using more than 100 independent iPSC lines derived from patients with Alzheimer’s disease, the authors discovered loci associated with the neuronal production of amyloid β and confirmed their influence using RNA interference.

The homeostatic processes of adipogenesis and osteoblastogenesis are tightly linked, as discussed in this Review. Research into the bone–fat network has led to the elucidation of pathways that could be pharmacologically targeted in an attempt to enhance bone mass and reduce osteoporotic fracture risk.

KAGRA is a new gravitational wave detector being built in Japan. Unlike LIGO/Virgo, it will operate at cryogenic temperatures with sapphire mirrors. KAGRA will help improve the localization of gravitational wave detections and determination of the source parameters.

This study measures direct CP violation in B meson decays. Previous work suggested a difference in the decay of charged and neutral particles, but the large uncertainties on these measurements made it difficult to say whether the difference was real. This study reduces the uncertainty on the charged particle decay rate asymmetry by a factor of 1.7. Although firm conclusions cannot be drawn from this result, the measurement provides stronger evidence for a large deviation in direct CP violation between charged and neutral B-meson decays and possible new sources of CP violation beyond the standard model.

The authors solve the crystal structure of OsGA3ox2 and predict that of OsGA3ox1. These enzymes catalyze the final step in the biosynthesis of gibberellin, one of the plant hormones. Evolutionary analysis combined with the new structure reveal important aspects of the OsGA3ox1’s function in plant male reproduction.

X-ray observations of the core of the Perseus cluster reveal a remarkably quiescent atmosphere in which the gas has a line-of-sight velocity dispersion of about 164 kilometres per second in the region 30–60 kiloparsecs from the central nucleus; turbulent pressure support in the gas is four per cent of the thermodynamic pressure, necessitating only a small correction to the total cluster mass determined from hydrostatic equilibrium.

High-resolution X-ray spectra show near-solar abundances of chromium, manganese and nickel with respect to iron in the Perseus cluster, suggesting that the progenitors of type Ia supernovae could be near- and sub-Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarfs.