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SARS-CoV-2 Omicron XEC variant, a recombinant of JN.1 progeny, shows increased viral fitness and pathogenicity. Here, the authors show that the nucleocapsid mutation R204P enhances inflammation and suggest a growing role of non-spike mutations in viral evolution.

Estimates from the Global Burden of Disease study reveal declines in chronic respiratory disease mortality between 1990 and 2023—especially during the COVID-19 pandemic—but the burdens on people affected remain substantial.

Here the authors show a feedback loop between active aldehydes and fatty acid oxidation that can reprogram T cell metabolism to promote exhaustion thereby limiting antitumor T cell immunity.

A single-cell multiomic immune cell atlas from 235 Japanese, including patients with COVID-19 and healthy individuals, linked with host genetics including germline and somatic mutation, plasma proteomics and metagenomics data reveals that immune cells are dynamically regulated in a cell state-dependent manner.

A genome-wide association study highlights a variant in DOCK2, which is common in East Asian populations but rare in Europeans, as a host genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19.

Available wheat genomes are annotated by projecting Chinese Spring gene models across the new assemblies. Here, the authors generate de novo gene annotations for the 9 wheat genomes, identify core and dispensable transcriptome, and reveal conservation and divergence of gene expression balance across homoeologous subgenomes.

Turning CO2 into useful fuels is promising for cleaner energy but remains hard due to low efficiency. This study shows that a spinel-engineered catalyst boosts ethanol formation by promoting C–C coupling while suppressing further carbon-chain growth.

This study reveals that MDS stem cells progressively acquire progenitor-like chromatin features during disease progression, and that a scoring system based on chromatin accessibility in MDS stem and progenitor cells correlates strongly with disease progression.

Metal/silicate partition coefficients of H and C diminish when both are present. Modelling using the new partitioning data suggests the origins of Earth’s water and carbon, as well as their core and bulk Earth concentrations.

Nitrogen-doped fullerenes and carbon nanotubes have been produced, but the synthesis of nitrogen-doped buckybowls, is an unsolved challenge. Tanet al. report an enantioselective synthesis of triazasumanene, and show that nitrogen doping leads to deeper bowl structures than in all-carbon buckybowls.

Deoxygenating phenols is a difficult task, made more complex by the tendency of hydrogenation techniques to also reduce the aromatic ring. Here, the authors show an iridium catalyst that can selectively cleave the C–O bond in phenols and related compounds, as well as cleaving aryl methyl ethers.

A nucleic acid-based therapeutic uses short Staple oligomers to hybridize with target mRNAs and induce an RNA G-quadruplex, suppressing protein translation.

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.

The authors presented an ultrahigh-responsivity phototransistor with a thin InGaAs film on a silicon waveguide. The effective gating by the silicon waveguide enables 10⁶ A/W responsivity, promising for optical power monitors in Si photonic circuits.

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 73 Japanese patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and 75 healthy controls were analyzed using single-cell transcriptomics. Combining these data with genotyping data highlights the interplay between host genetics and the immune response in modulating disease severity.

Somatic mutations in ASXL1 lead to clonal hematopoiesis, and Sato et al. elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which mutated ASXL1 in hematopoietic cells drives atherosclerosis in mice.

In reticular chemistry, the formation of strong chemical bonds between molecular components is typically considered a core prerequisite for synthesizing open-framework materials. Now a series of robust frameworks have been assembled through van der Waals interactions; the stacking of polyhedral molecular building blocks results in the formation of three-dimensional open diamond networks.

Analysis of the blood DNA virome in patients with COVID-19 and autoimmune disease associates endogenous HHV-6 (eHHV-6) and high anellovirus load with increased disease risk, most notably for systemic lupus erythematosus. eHHV-6 carriers show a distinct immune response.

Nakamura et al. find that the master transcriptional regulator of lysosomal biogenesis and autophagy TFEB is activated following LC3 lipidation during lysosomal damage and show the importance of this mechanism during kidney injury.

Owing to the electropositive character of aluminium it is difficult to prepare Al anions; the few that exist are supported by nitrogen ligands. Now, a dialkyl-alumanyl anion has been synthesized that features a polar Al–K bond. This anion reacts as a very strong base that deprotonates benzene, and undergoes nucleophilic substitution reactions.

Vertically oscillating head motions mimicking mechanical accelerations experienced during light jogging or treadmill running at moderate velocity reduce blood pressure in rats and human adults with hypertension.

The spatial organization of porous coordination-polymer crystals into higher-order structures is critical for their integration in heterogeneous catalysts, separation systems and electrochemical devices. A method for spatially controlling the nucleation site leading to the formation of mesoscopic architecture in porous coordination polymers, in both two and three dimensions, is now demonstrated.

A genome-wide study by the Long COVID Host Genetics Initiative identifies an association between the FOXP4 locus and long COVID, implicating altered lung function in its pathophysiology.

Systematic analysis from the Global Burden of Disease study reported that, despite global improvements from 1990 to 2021, dietary iron deficiency-associated disease burden remains high in women, children and residents in low socio-demographic index countries.

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.

JADE is a subunit of human acetyltransferase complex HBO1 that is essential in transcriptional regulation. Gaurav et al. characterize the molecular mechanism by which JADE mediates genomic association and enzymatic and pathological activities of the HBO1 complex.

Distinguishing closely related molecules using chemosensor materials is a continuing challenge. Here, an entangled porous coordination polymer is developed, which confines volatile organic compounds, and allows photoluminescence-based distinction of structurally similar aromatic molecules.

Localized cell stimulation is useful in the analysis of biological signalling networks. Here the authors develop a photosensitive porous framework to achieve spatiotemporally controlled cellular delivery of the gaseous biomolecule nitric oxide, using it to regulate intracellular calcium levels.

Social insects are commonly parasitized by beetles that live inside colonies and consume nest resources or even the brood. Here, Yamamotoet al. present fossil evidence that social parasitism by beetles dates back at least 99 million years—contemporaneous with the earliest fossil indications of ant and termite eusociality.

The capability of materials to interconvert between phases enables greater control over properties without additional chemical modification but can result in a sacrifice of porosity. Here, the authors synthesize metal-organic polyhedra that interconvert between the liquid-glass-crystal phases and develop a membrane with enhanced porosity and CO₂ selectivity.

Statistical fine-mapping of mRNA and protein quantitative trait loci in blood samples from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force sheds light on regulatory mechanisms and disease associations.

This study reveals that jellyfish swimming can be guided and predicted using electrical stimulation and machine learning, illustrating how embodied intelligence shapes both spontaneous and stimulus-evoked behaviors.

Removal of the C. elegans germline substantially increases organismal lifespan. Here, Nakamura et al. show that the transcription factors MML-1 and MXL-2 coordinate this process in that they reduce TOR signalling and increase autophagy by regulating activity of HLH-30.

Long-read sequencing technologies are useful for the multifaceted task of characterising somatic mutations, including structural variants, in cancers. Here, the authors combine short and long read sequencing for the phasing analysis, which enables them to resolve the chromosomal backgrounds of somatic mutations in Japanese non-small cell lung cancers.

Yanagawa et al. show that the autophagy-related protein Rubicon recruits WIPI2d to endosomes to promote exosome biogenesis. Rubicon promotes both an increase in exosome release during ageing and the pro-senescent effects of these exosomes.

In lignocellulose biomass, microbes prefer consuming glucose over xylose, which affects target compound production. Here, the authors achieve simultaneous utilization of glucose and xylose for target chemical production and cell growth, respectively, and realize high-level production of shikimate pathway derivatives.

Ikeda et al. report that HLA-DRB1 can serve as a leukemia-specific target for CAR T or natural killer cell-based therapy in patients with AML after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Increases in transcriptional elongation speed with age affect organismal lifespan and ageing-related changes could be reversed with lifespan-extending interventions.

The absence of an objective way of assessing freezing of gait in Parkinson’s Disease hinders research and care. A machine-learning contest using wearable sensor data delivered detection algorithms with high precision and identified time-of-day effects.