Search

Two Co single crystal surfaces remain metallic up to 1 bar during Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The observed intermediates support the carbide mechanism as the reaction pathway. By adding and removing CO we can follow the dynamics of the (dis)appearance of intermediates.

Forests are essential for both climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation, yet how to balance these goals in managed forests remains unclear. Here, using a Europe-wide dataset, the authors find that biodiversity increases with carbon stocks, but mostly when deadwood is included.

Cosgun et al. show that, in B cell leukemia, β-catenin expression is maintained at low levels through glycogen synthase kinase 3B (GSK3β)-mediated phosphorylation. Inhibition of GSK3β results in β-catenin–Ikaros–NuRD complex formation, leading to B-ALL cell death through MYC repression.

Proteomic data from natural isolates of Saccharomyces cerevisiae provide insight into how these cells tolerate aneuploidy (an imbalance in the number of chromosomes), and reveal differences between lab-engineered aneuploids and diverse natural yeasts.

Analysis combining multiple global tree databases reveals that whether a location is invaded by non-native tree species depends on anthropogenic factors, but the severity of the invasion depends on the native species diversity.

Cancer patients are at increased risk for severe bacterial infections due to immune dysfunction. Here, the authors show that chronic tumor-derived G-CSF drives NAMPT/NAD-dependent neutrophil dysfunction from the progenitor stage, and that targeting this pathway restores infection control.

Although it has shown high efficacy in many tumor types, interleukin-12 (IL-12) treatment provokes severe systemic toxicity. Here, the authors discover that use of an IL-12Fc fusion cytokine with abolished binding to the neonatal Fc receptor presents efficacy in local glioblastoma therapy while preventing toxicity.

A cell surface reporter that binds to a fluorine-18-labelled radioligand enables the monitoring of CAR T cells and gene therapy vectors in preclinical models using PET imaging.

A hybrid machine learning and atomistic modelling strategy enables one-shot design of efficient enzymes to catalyse diverse biological and non-biological chemical transformations.

Nitrogenases reduce inorganic nitrogen to organic ammonia in a crucial step of the nitrogen cycle. Here the authors show that the vanadium-nitrogenase ofAzotobacter vinelandii can also catalyse the in vivoconversion of carbon monoxide to hydrocarbons in a secondary non-biosynthetic pathway.

The carcinogenic bacterium Helicobacter pylori infects gastric cells. Here, the authors show that H. pylori preferentially infects differentiated cells in the pit region of gastric units, and this relies on bacterial chemotaxis towards host cell-released urea, which scales with host cell size.

Nuclear DNA damage downstream of mitochondrial ROS is often cited to contribute to cancer initiation and aging. However, here the authors show that although H₂O₂ induces DNA mutations when produced near DNA, it does not when released by mitochondria.

Biomarkers that predict mortality are of interest for clinical as well as research applications. Here, the authors analyze metabolomics data from 44,168 individuals and identify key metabolites independently associated with all-cause mortality risk.

The evolutionary origin of the enzyme-catalysed Krebs cycle is unclear. Here, the authors identify non-enzymatic intermediates that replicate key elements of the cycle, suggesting that inorganic catalysts may have driven the origin of metabolic processes.

The authors present a method for the conversion of full-length tau protein into seeding-competent amyloid fibrils without heparin or other negatively charged co-factors, which could be useful for studying the effects of post-translational modifications on Tau aggregation as well as to identify potential inhibitors of tau aggregation. Biochemical experiments and solid-state NMR spectroscopy measurements show that these co-factor-free tau fibrils have similar properties as amyloid fibrils isolated from brain tissue but differ from those of commonly used heparin-induced tau fibrils.

The use of oncolytic viruses as a therapy for cancer is limited by mechanisms inhibiting viral replication in the tumor. Here, the authors show that a chemical derivative of itaconate, 4-octyl itaconate, increases oncolytic virus VSVΔ51 efficacy in various cancer models, through decreasing antiviral immunity.

Allergen specific immunotherapy (AIT) is both, safe and effective in reducing systemic symptoms of venom allergy in individuals. Here the authors examine the underlying immune cell changes after venom specific AIT in early time points after therapy initiation showing indicative changes in specific immune cell populations.

The function of VCP/p97 AAA-ATPase cofactor UBXD1 and its UBX domain has been elusive. Here the authors show that the extended UBXD1 UBX domain is located at the p97 pore exit where it binds ubiquitin, suggesting that UBXD1 receives unfolded substrates and hands them off for down-stream processing.

Oct4, along with Sox2 and Klf4 can induce pluripotency, but structurally similar factors like Oct6 cannot. Here, using pluripotency competent and incompetent factors, the authors show that Sox2 plays a dominant role in facilitating chromatin opening at Oct4 bound DNA early during reprogramming to pluripotency.

Chronic care manages long-term, progressive conditions, while acute care handles short-term ones. Here, authors show chronic conditions account for most of the global health burden, with 68% of DALYs and 93% of YLDs attributed to chronic care needs.

Samuli Ripatti and colleagues report a genome-wide association study for human serum metabolites using NMR of serum samples from over 8,000 Finnish individuals. They identify 31 loci associated with at least one of 216 serum metabolic measures.

Species’ traits and environmental conditions determine the abundance of tree species across the globe. Here, the authors find that dominant tree species are taller and have softer wood compared to rare species and that these trait differences are more strongly associated with temperature than water availability.

Head and neck cancer patients could greatly benefit from personalised treatment, but a lack of large public datasets hampers this potential. Here, the authors present HANCOCK, a multimodal dataset that integrates demographical, clinical, and histopathological data for 763 head and neck cancer patients that empowers machine learning models for clinical outcome prediction.

The authors show that acetylation enhances the aggregation of 3R tau, while blocking the aggregation of 4R tau, providing a molecular basis for disease- and isoform-specific tau deposition.

Through structural and biochemical analyses, the authors uncover and Hsp90-independent pathway through which the co-chaperones p23 and the p23-FKBP51 complex modulate tau aggregation, a key feature of Alzheimer’s disease.

RNA binding protein HDLBP (or Vigilin) localizes in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane. Here the authors show that HDLBP contributes to translation of ER-targeted mRNAs.

Environmental conditions are likely to become more temporally variable with global environmental change. Parepa et al. show that temporal variability on soil nutrient availability strongly promotes plant invasion and consequently can be a strong driver of ecological changes.

A cell-based phenotypic screen led to the discovery of compounds called NVS-STGs, which bind to the N-terminal domain of STING and act as a molecular glue to induce higher-order oligomerization and activation.

Translation efficiency can be affected by mRNA stability and secondary RNA structures. Here the authors reveal that loss of DHX36 helicase activity leads to an accumulation of translationally inactive target mRNAs with G-rich structures in untranslated regions.

A comparison of alpha diversity (number of plant species) and dark diversity (species that are currently absent from a site despite being ecologically suitable) demonstrates the negative effects of regional-scale anthropogenic activity on plant diversity.

It is generally assumed that ecologically relevant intraspecific diversity is restricted to DNA sequence variation. Here, Latzel et al.show that epigenetic diversity can increase the productivity of plant populations as well as their ability to suppress competitors.

Local pH alterations can be manifestations of pathologies such as cancer, inflammation and ischaemia. Here Düwelet al. show hyperpolarized ¹³C-labelled zymonic acid can be used as a non-invasive probe to map and measure pH in vivo, suggesting it as a candidate for clinical imaging and a diagnostic tool.

Inbreeding depression has been observed in many different species, but in humans a systematic analysis has been difficult so far. Here, analysing more than 1.3 million individuals, the authors show that a genomic inbreeding coefficient (FROH) is associated with disadvantageous outcomes in 32 out of 100 traits tested.

Heterologous expression of an active, metallocentre-containing nitrogenase in a non-diazotrophic host is challenging. Now, the heterologous biosynthetic pathway of Mo-nitrogenase is pieced together in Escherichia coli using genes from Azotobacter vinelandii and Methanosarcina acetivorans.

By use of a degron-mediated acute protein degradation model, Schwickert and colleagues are able to distinguish between direct and indirect gene targets of multiple transcription factors involved in early B cell development.

Myosin motors perform many fundamental functions in eukaryotic cells by providing force generation, transport or tethering capacity. Here, the authors show that a single phosphorylation event can modulate actin-activated ATPase activity and change the mechanical properties of myosin-VI.

Phospholipase D3 polymorphisms are linked to late-onset Alzheimer’s disease but the mechanisms are not understood. Van Acker and colleagues show that Phospholipase D3 processes mitochondrial DNA in lysosomes to maintain lysosomal homeostasis and proper degradation of the amyloid precursor protein.

ASCC3 is a multi-functional helicase that contains two consecutive Ski2-like helicase units. Here, the authors show that ASCC3 can unwind DNA by threading one strand of a substrate duplex through both helicase units, supported by the TRIP4 protein.

Astrocytes drive multiple sclerosis (MS) by enhancing inflammation. Here, the authors show that the deubiquitinase OTUD7B in astrocytes protects mice from experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a model of MS, by reducing inflammation and stabilizing GFAP thereby physically restricting inflammation.

Ceramides are lipids that act directly on mitochondria to trigger apoptosis, but the underlying mechanism remains largely unclear. Here authors use a photoactivatable ceramide probe combined with a computation approach and functional studies to identify the voltage-dependent anion channel VDAC2 as a direct effector of ceramide-mediated cell death.

Here the authors introduce a photo-activatable-competition and chemoproteomic enrichment (PACCE) method to localize protein-RNA interfaces using photoactivatable cellular RNA to protect RNA binding regions on proteins from electrophilic purine probe labeling.

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias identifies new loci and enables generation of a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

In bacteria Zn2+-dependent deacylases are underexplored. Here, the authors identify bacterial deacylases, providing systemic structure-function analyses to reveal the basis of substrate specificity, acyl-chain preference and inhibition.

Aneuploidy disrupts proteostasis, leading to protein aggregation and accumulation of SQSTM1/p62 in the cytosol. Here, the authors show that cytosolic p62-positive bodies in aneuploid cells are enriched for mitochondrial precursor proteins, which in turn impairs mitochondrial function.

Timothy Frayling, Joel Hirschhorn, Peter Visscher and colleagues report a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for adult height in 253,288 individuals. They identify 697 variants in 423 loci significantly associated with adult height and find that these variants cluster in pathways involved in growth and together explain one-fifth of the heritability for this trait.

N-terminal protein acetylation is required for plant viability. Here the authors show that reducing N-terminal acetylation by NatA leads to an increase in global protein turnover that is facilitated by absent masking of a novel N-degron