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Centrosome dynamics play a central role in immune regulation. Here, the authors demonstrate that centrosome integrity as well as centriole numbers and spatial organisation emerge as critical determinants of effective T cell responses.

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.

Immunotherapies that employ engineered T cells rely on the selective and high expression of the targeted antigen in cancer cells and thus tumor heterogeneity compromises therapeutic success. Here authors generate an engineered T cell coreceptor that targets a secondary antigen and selectively enhances antigen receptor sensitivity in T cells.

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.

One of three back-to-back papers to show dosage of BACH2 can modulate T cell differentiation and function and how we might apply this to enhance chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapies for cancer.

A pan-cancer genomic analysis reports the effects of structural variations on chromatin domains (TADs). Most TAD disruptions do not result in appreciable changes in expression of nearby genes.

Here the authors assess baloxavir, oseltamivir, favipiravir, or amantadine for treatment of severe influenza A(H5N1) in female mice and find that baloxavir provides best survival outcomes with reduced lung replication and viral neuroinvasion, supporting its consideration for use in human A(H5N1) infections.

The authors present Gemini, their bifunctional replicon platform capable of functioning as either self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) or self-amplifying DNA (saDNA).

The authors present SVclone, a computational method for inferring the cancer cell fraction of structural variants from whole-genome sequencing data.

Dietary n-6 PUFAs enhance adipose tissue expandability through the PPARγ–LPCAT3 membrane remodelling axis.

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.

Allelic losses occurring in cancer cells have been suggested as potential targets for therapy. Here, the authors show how recurring loss of heterozygosity of a drug metabolic gene in colorectal cancers can be exploited using a low molecular weight compound.

Thermostable antibodies called SPEARs enable rapid immunostaining with improved tissue penetration.

Wetland methane emissions are a major source of uncertainty in global emissions estimates. Here the authors use high-resolution remote sensing data to identify small non-forested wetlands and find that they contribute 24% of wetland methane emissions and that these emissions are increasing.

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.

CD44 expressed by fibroblastic reticular cells in secondary lymphoid organs regulates trafficking of dendritic cells, and thus has an essential role in the priming of T cells and the adaptive immune response.

The variability in clinical outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection is partly due to deficiencies in production or response to type I interferons (IFN). Here, the authors describe a FIP200-dependent lysosomal degradation pathway, independent of canonical autophagy and type I IFN, that restricts SARS-CoV-2 replication, offering insights into critical COVID-19 pneumonia mechanisms.

Brain-wide recordings in mice reveal that prior expectations are distributed through recurrent loops across all levels of cortical and subcortical processing.

Cryo-EM structures of the stabilized prefusion conformation of the glycoprotein B ectodomain—the HSV-1 entry machine—identify a prefusion-specific neutralizing antibody and reveal how prefusion glycoprotein B may evade antibody-mediated neutralization.

Biosynthesis of all androgens from cholesterol first requires cytochrome P450 (CYP) 11A1 for generation of pregnanes and then CYP17A1 for biosynthesis of androgens, but CYP17A1 inhibition cannot completely inhibit androgen biosynthesis in prostate cancer. Here, the authors identify a role for CYP51A1 in the biosynthesis of androgens that completely bypasses the requirement for CYP17A1 and demonstrate that CYP51A1 is essential for the biosynthesis of ¹³C-testosterone from ¹³C-cholesterol in prostate cancer cells.

It is generally thought that complement activation in human membranous nephropathy (MN) occurs predominantly via the lectin or alternative pathway. Here, the authors show that the classical pathway is the dominant form of complement activation in MN and a pathogenic driver of the disease.

Butyrophilin 2A2 is a member of the B7 costimulatory family that is expressed on antigen presenting cells and is linked to the regulation of T cells. Here the authors implicate butyrophilin 2A2 in enhancement of CD45 phosphatase activity within the immunological synapse during T cell activation, leading to expansion of regulatory T cells and reduction of proinflammatory Th17 CD4 T cells.

The flagship paper of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium describes the generation of the integrative analyses of 2,658 cancer whole genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types, the structures for international data sharing and standardized analyses, and the main scientific findings from across the consortium studies.

NBCn1 plays an important role as a base loader allowing breast cancer cells to survive in an acidic environment. Here, Wang et al report its near atomic structure and transport cycle involving minimal structural changes associated with an exceptionally high turnover rate, enabling efficient cellular base loading and tumor survival

While the photoreceptor outer segments in the bird outer retina have access to oxygen, the inner retina operates under chronic anoxia, supported by anaerobic glycolysis in the retinal neurons.

Whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in over 7,000 individuals with critical COVID-19 are used to identify 16 independent variants that are associated with severe illness in COVID-19.

Signalling by the developmental morphogen BMP2 through the transcription factor SMAD1 has a key role in controlling the glutamatergic innervation of parvalbumin-expressing interneurons and maintaining the balance between excitation and inhibition in the mammalian cortex.

The cortex fuels essential physiological processes with glucose-derived carbon, while gliomas fuel their aggressiveness by rerouting glucose carbon pathways and scavenging alternative carbon sources such as environmental amino acids, providing a potential therapeutic target.

Analysis of cancer genome sequencing data has enabled the discovery of driver mutations. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium the authors present DriverPower, a software package that identifies coding and non-coding driver mutations within cancer whole genomes via consideration of mutational burden and functional impact evidence.

The advantage of living in cities compared with rural areas with respect to height and BMI in children and adolescents has generally become smaller globally from 1990 to 2020, except in sub-Saharan Africa.

Here the authors use a genome-wide approach to identify genetic variants associated with RNA isoform variation, uncovering new links between transcriptional regulation and complex traits. The findings can advance understanding of disease mechanisms.

DEAD-box helicase 6 (DDX6), the regulator of P-body assembly, is essential for the survival of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells. Here the authors report that DDX6 undergoes phase separation to preserve mRNA subsets in P-bodies, promoting branched-chain amino acid metabolism and chemoresistance in AML.

In this study the authors consider the structural variants (SVs) present within cancer cases of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium. They report hundreds of genes, including known cancer-associated genes for which the nearby presence of a SV breakpoint is associated with altered expression.

In somatic cells the mechanisms maintaining the chromosome ends are normally inactivated; however, cancer cells can re-activate these pathways to support continuous growth. Here, the authors characterize the telomeric landscapes across tumour types and identify genomic alterations associated with different telomere maintenance mechanisms.

A cortical premotor network in HVC, once initiated, can sustain and regulate the sequential production of zebra finch song syllables without major extrinsic inputs.

Understanding deregulation of biological pathways in cancer can provide insight into disease etiology and potential therapies. Here, as part of the PanCancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) consortium, the authors present pathway and network analysis of 2583 whole cancer genomes from 27 tumour types.

The endoplasmic-reticulum (ER) transmembrane protein IRE1 mitigates ER stress through kinase-ribonuclease and scaffolding activities. However, a significant nonenzymatic IRE1 dependency has been shown in cancer. Here, the authors design a proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) to fully disrupt cellular IRE1 protein, selectively blocking growth of IRE1-dependent cancer cells.

Becker et. al developed a proteomic proximity labeling platform named POCA, which makes use of a photosensitizer for singlet oxygen production and protein capture in the presence of amine, enabling profiling of interactomes of proteins and lipids in living cells.

De novo assemblies of 43 Y chromosomes spanning 182,900 years of human evolution reveal considerable diversity in the size and structure of the human Y chromosome.

A quantitative fluorescence-activated cell sorting method for generating fully human conformational antibodies against amyloid aggregates associated with neurodegenerative disorders—without the need for immunization—has now been developed. Engineered antibodies obtained using this approach show properties rivaling those of clinical-stage antibodies specific for tau and α-synuclein amyloid aggregates.

Analyses of 2,658 whole genomes across 38 types of cancer identify the contribution of non-coding point mutations and structural variants to driving cancer.

Robbins and colleagues show that cigarette smoke-induced endothelial dysfunction enables atherosclerotic plaque macrophages to drive abdominal aortic aneurysm formation in a mouse model of atherosclerosis.

Autoimmunity mediated by age-associated B cells (ABC) can affect males and females differently. Here, using a lupus-like mouse model that affects females more severely, the authors observe an ABC mediated and guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) restrained pathogenic process involving TLR7.