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Organic additives frequently shape crystallisation in natural and industrial settings, yet their precise influence on nucleation remains poorly understood. Here, Baken et al. investigate how additives affect the crystallization of the industrially relevant minerals portlandite and gypsum. Using controlled titration coupled with in situ synchrotron monitoring, the team demonstrates that both minerals form via intermediate steps: portlandite gradually becomes more ordered as it develops, while gypsum switches abruptly from a disordered to an ordered state. The study reveals that additives influence these pathways prior to nucleation by altering the nature of prenucleation clusters. How strongly an additive interacts with these clusters depends on its chemical state, which is controlled by the pH conditions specific to each mineral. These findings offer a starting point for creating an industrial “toolbox” to help select more effective additives, and they advance our understanding of biomineralisation processes.

CAR-T cell efficacy is often limited by the inability to maintain a memory T cell program. Here, the authors show that intrinsic CXCR4 expression enhances CAR-T cell persistence and memory differentiation in acute myeloid leukemia.

PARM is a deep-learning model trained on data from massively parallel reporter assays to help predict promoter activity in different human cell types, design synthetic promoters and identify key features of regulatory promoter grammar.

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.

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.

JNJ-9676—a small-molecule inhibitor targeting coronavirus M protein that shows excellent efficacy in Syrian golden hamster models—binds to and stabilizes the M protein dimer in an altered conformational state between its long and short forms, preventing the release of infectious virus.

A group of plant receptor-like kinases (LysM-RLKs) with high affinity for short-chain chitooligosaccharides and lipo-chitooligosaccharides (LCOs), play a complementary role in arbuscular mycorrhiza establishment with a sister group of LysM-RLKs specifically recognising LCOs.

Recent advances in computational methods have enabled the predictive design of self-assembling protein nanomaterials with atomic-level accuracy. Here authors investigate the assembly of two computationally designed, 120-subunit icosahedral complexes and find that assembly of each material from its two constituent protein building blocks was highly cooperative.

This protocol describes proximity biotinylation in cells without transfection or transduction using an off-the-shelf recombinant ProtA-TurboID enzyme consisting of a biotin ligase fused to an antibody-recognizing moiety, which, combined with a bait-protein-specific antibody, can be used to identify bait-proximal proteins.

Proximity biotinylation is a powerful tool to profile interactomes, but it requires genetic engineering of the target protein. Here, the authors develop a proximity biotinylation enzyme that can be directed to the target using antibodies, enabling interactome profiling of endogenous proteins or PTMs.

In mice, the pseudoautosomal region of the sex chromosomes undergoes a dynamic structural rearrangement to promote a high rate of DNA double-strand breaks and to ensure X–Y recombination.

Stomata regulate gas exchange and help plants cope with abiotic stress. The authors identify a signalling pathway that coordinates the balance between stomatal opening and closing under high-temperature and/or drought conditions.

Incorporating bioorthogonally-modified amino acids into newly synthesized proteins allows studying the nascent proteome, but current methods often require special conditions or are toxic to cells. Here, the authors develop a method that uses β-ethynylserine to label nascent proteins under standard conditions without harming cells.

Vanneste et al. introduce a syndrome-informed approach to GWAS, identifying a polygenic basis for achondroplasia-like facial shape variation in the general population, and showing that complex traits and Mendelian disorders share genetic pathways.

Affinity purification-mass spectrometry (AP-MS) can identify endogenous protein interactions but the need for high amounts of input material still limits its applicability. Here, the authors present a microfluidic-based AP-MS workflow that can capture protein interactions from 50─100-fold less input material than conventional approaches.

Current high-throughput single-cell transcriptomic methods are incompatible with paraformaldehyde, a common cell fixation technique. Here the authors present FD-seq, a method for droplet-based RNA sequencing of paraformaldehyde-fixed, stained and sorted single cells.

Results from the randomized, noncomparative, phase 2 MATISSE trial show that ultra-short neoadjuvant therapy with ipilimumab and nivolumab can prevent surgery and radiotherapy in patients with resectable cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, with an early decrease in total lesion glycolysis by [¹⁸F]FDG-PET/CT associated with response.

The impact of chromatin context on transcription factor binding affinities is quantified.

Using data from a single time point, passenger-approximated clonal expansion rate (PACER) estimates the fitness of common driver mutations that lead to clonal haematopoiesis and identifies TCL1A activation as a mediator of clonal expansion.

Meta-analyses in up to 1.3 million individuals identify 87 rare-variant associations with blood pressure traits. On average, rare variants exhibit effects ~8 times larger than the mean effects of common variants and implicate candidate causal genes at associated regions.

Many genome-wide datasets from various sources are combined to generate an integrative gene regulatory network in Arabidopsis. This network is used to predict and validate new transcriptional regulators of ROS signalling.

BANC-seq enables quantification of genome-wide transcription factor binding affinities in the native chromatin context. This protocol describes implementations based on chromatin immunoprecipitation or cleavage under target and release using nuclease, followed by library preparation, sequencing and data analysis.

The authors show that dynamics of protein phosphorylation in the vertebrate cell cycle is largely attributable to CDK-mediated regulation of intrinsically disordered proteins that are involved in biomolecular condensate formation.

Goede et al. combined multiple modalities to define a common tremor network across disorders. This finding may help optimize deep brain stimulation and guide future noninvasive therapies.

Meiotic cells deliberately break their DNA to allow chromosomes to swap genetic material. Here, authors reveal genetically separable pathways controlling the seeding and growth of chromosome-bound protein condensates responsible for DNA breaks.

Building crystal structures into the electron density is an important step in protein structure solution. Here, the authors recruit online game players, students, and experienced crystallographers to compete in a competition to solve a new structure, and find that crowdsourcing model-building works.

Surface-deformation imaging, molecular-fracture sensors and modelling reveal that plant-pathogenic Phytophthora slice through the plant surface during host invasion. The underlying mechanism resembles cutting with a sharp knife and is termed naifu invasion.

A precision medicine approach used unsupervised clustering to identify five distinct phenotypic profiles that can better predict risks of cardiometabolic disease compared with those ascertained based on the additive value of body mass index and other biomarkers, and validated these findings across four independent cohorts.

Here, in a sub-study of the MISAME-III randomized controlled trial, the authors show that maternal balanced energy-protein supplementation during pregnancy and lactation alters the maternal gut microbiome, leading to an enhanced infant carbohydrate metabolism, and identify microbial taxa with a potential role in mediating the effects.

Multielement Z-tag X-ray fluorescence (MEZ-XRF) offers a new avenue for nondestructive and highly multiplexed tissue imaging and operates from the nanometer to whole-tissue scale, unlocking new biological observations.

Quantitative mass spectrometry enables the proteome-wide assessment of biomolecular binding affinities. While previous approaches mainly focused on protein–small molecule interactions, the authors here present a method to probe protein–DNA and protein–nucleosome binding affinities at proteome scale.

Bacterial viruses (phages) are promising alternatives to treat antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, but finding matching phages against bacteria of interest is challenging. Here, Boeckaerts et al. present a machine learning approach that predicts phage-bacteria pairs at the strain level for Klebsiella pathogens.

A case–control study investigating the causes of recent cases of acute hepatitis of unknown aetiology in 32 children identifies an association between adeno-associated virus infection and host genetics in disease susceptibility.

In a biomarker-driven, outcome-adaptive platform trial for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, androgen receptor pathway inhibitors showed longer survival with respect to taxanes and physician’s choice treatment.

Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) plays critical roles in transcriptional silencing during development. Here the authors identify EZHIP as a cofactor of PRC2 expressed predominantly in the gonads, finding that EZHIP limits the enzymatic activity of PRC2 in germ cells in mice.

Large-scale sequence-based analyses identify novel risk variants and susceptibility genes for Crohn’s disease, and implicate mesenchymal cell-mediated intestinal homeostasis in disease etiology.

Automated design tools and tailored subunits are beneficial in fine-tuning all components of a complex genetic circuit. Here the authors create E. coli and B. subtilis promoter libraries using FACS and HTS, from which an online promoter design tool has been developed using CNN.

Structural insights into SARS and MERS coronavirus membrane protein reveals differences and conserved sites of an inhibitor binding pocket, aiding in the design of broad-spectrum and specific antivirals.

This genome-wide study of age at first sexual intercourse and first birth identifies 371 signals driven by reproductive biology, externalising behaviour and environmental effects, with later onset associated with lower incidence of some diseases.

5-hydroxymethyluracil (hmU) is an oxidative DNA lesion and a potential intermediate in DNA repair–coupled DNA demethylation pathways. Isotopic labeling and MS reveal that hmU is produced directly by Tet-mediated oxidation of thymine in mouse embryonic stem cells, suggesting a functional role for hmU in stem cells.

Histone H3 lysine 14 is propionylated and butyrylated in vivo in a metabolic-state-dependent manner and these modifications promote high levels of transcription.

Immune checkpoint blockade has become standard care for patients with recurrent metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Here the authors present the results of a non-randomized phase Ib/IIa trial, reporting safety and efficacy of neoadjuvant nivolumab monotherapy and nivolumab plus ipilimumab prior to standard-of-care surgery in patients with HNSCC. .

Identification of biomarkers to stratify patients who might benefit from treatment is needed to optimize targeted therapies. Here, based on an analysis of the RANGE trial (NCT02426125), the authors report potentially predictive biomarkers for survival benefit in patients with platinum-refractory advanced urothelial carcinoma treated with the anti-VEGFR2 monoclonal antibody ramucirumab.

Exome-wide analysis identifies rare and low-frequency coding variants associated with body mass index. Gene-based meta-analysis and functional studies implicate 13 genes, eight of which are novel, and neuronal pathways as factors in human obesity.

It is generally thought many microbes, owing to their ubiquity and dispersal capability, lack biogeographic structuring and clear speciation patterns compared to macroorganisms. However, Pinseel et al. demonstrate multiple cycles of colonization and diversification in Pinnularia borealis, a rare biosphere soil diatom.