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Sera from vaccinated individuals and some monoclonal antibodies show a modest reduction in neutralizing activity against the B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2; but the E484K substitution leads to a considerable loss of neutralizing activity.

A study reports whole-genome sequences for 490,640 participants from the UK Biobank and combines these data with phenotypic data to provide new insights into the relationship between human variation and sequence variation.

AlphaStar uses a multi-agent reinforcement learning algorithm and has reached Grandmaster level, ranking among the top 0.2% of human players for the real-time strategy game StarCraft II.

Computational and spectroscopic studies of molecular lanthanide complexes have implicated 4f orbitals in metal–ligand bonding interactions. Now, a comparative study of isostructural d-block, actinide and lanthanide complexes has shown that 4f-orbital covalency enables ring-opening isomerization in a Ce(IV)–cyclopropenyl complex in the solid state, a reaction not observed for the other complexes studied.

Combining global eddy covariance observations and photosynthesis estimates from terrestrial biosphere models, the authors demonstrate widespread acclimation of photosynthesis to light in natural environments, with croplands showing stronger acclimation rates than forests or grasslands.

Analysis of genomic data from 981 colorectal cancers from participants in 11 countries reveals variations in mutational signatures of microsatellite-stable cancers that are dependent on geographical origin and age at which the cancer was diagnosed.

A genome-wide association study of critically ill patients with COVID-19 identifies genetic signals that relate to important host antiviral defence mechanisms and mediators of inflammatory organ damage that may be targeted by repurposing drug treatments.

An initial draft of the human pangenome is presented and made publicly available by the Human Pangenome Reference Consortium; the draft contains 94 de novo haplotype assemblies from 47 ancestrally diverse individuals.

Here, Parzych et al describe the development of a DNA-delivered SARS-CoV-2 mAb cocktail displaying synergistic RBD binding that confers broad neutralizing activity against variants of concern and prophylactic efficacy in multiple small animal models.

Genetic and testing data from England show that the SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern B.1.1.7 has a transmission advantage over other lineages.

Alien species could be either more or less likely to become naturalized where closely related species occur. This study reveals a global latitudinal pattern whereby successfully naturalized alien plants are more closely related to natives at higher latitudes, reinforced by human modification of the environment.

The extrusion of large extracellular vesicles is an important mechanism that facilitates cell-to-cell communication and maintains homoeostasis. Here, Atkin-Smith et al. use intravital microscopy to directly visualize the formation of large extracellular vesicles in bone marrow.

Using unique barcodes for tumour cells, the authors explore the dynamics of human glioblastoma subpopulations, and suggest that clonal heterogeneity emerges through stochastic fate decisions of a neutral proliferative hierarchy.

The Vertebrate Genome Project has used an optimized pipeline to generate high-quality genome assemblies for sixteen species (representing all major vertebrate classes), which have led to new biological insights.

How the immune response is involved in the response to multiple myeloma after treatment is not fully understood. Here the authors investigate how lenalidomide treatment in newly diagnosed MM patients affects the immune microenvironment in the blood and bone marrow and compare between responses to treatment.

In this study, Aggarwal and colleagues perform prospective sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 isolates derived from asymptomatic student screening and symptomatic testing of students and staff at the University of Cambridge. They identify important factors that contributed to within university transmission and onward spread into the wider community.

A new specific, small-molecule activator of the PI3Kα isoform (UCL-TRO-1938) identified through high-throughput screening can transiently activate PI3K signalling and biological responses in cells and tissues, with potential therapeutic applications in tissue protection and regeneration.

Whole-genome sequencing analysis of individuals with primary immunodeficiency identifies new candidate disease-associated genes and shows how the interplay between genetic variants can explain the variable penetrance and complexity of the disease.

Temporal multi-omic analysis of tissues from rats undergoing up to eight weeks of endurance exercise training reveals widespread shared, tissue-specific and sex-specific changes, including immune, metabolic, stress response and mitochondrial pathways.

To address the question of whether a recurrent tumour is genetically similar to the tumour at diagnosis, the evolution of medulloblastoma has been studied in both an in vivo mouse model of clinical tumour therapy as well as in humans with recurrent disease; targeted tumour therapies are usually based on targets present in the tumour at diagnosis but the results from this study indicate that post-treatment recurring tumours (compared with the tumour at diagnosis) have undergone substantial clonal divergence of the initial dominant tumour clone.

There is currently no licensed SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Here, the authors generate an optimized DNA vaccine candidate encoding the SARS-CoV-2 spike antigen, demonstrating induction of specific T cells and neutralizing antibody responses in mice and guinea pigs. These initial results support further development of this vaccine candidate.

It is known that exercise influences many human traits, but not which tissues and genes are most important. This study connects transcriptome data collected across 15 tissues during exercise training in rats as part of the Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium with human data to identify traits with similar tissue specific gene expression signatures to exercise.

Pugh and colleagues use single-cell RNA sequencing, CRISPR screens and functional assays to define a gradient of developmental and wound-response cell states in glioblastoma stem cells, revealing insights into glioblastoma origins and potential therapeutic targets.

Achieving both thermally activated delayed fluorescence and triplet-triplet annihilation has potential for the development of organic light-emitting diodes with high efficiency but is challenging. Here, the authors report a donor-acceptor chromophoric design to achieve both in thin films.

In this study, satellite-derived locational probabilities are analysed to unravel records of river adjustment in the Philippines. The data show spatially non-uniform variability in along-valley patterns of geomorphic river mobility.

Post-international travel quarantine has been widely implemented to mitigate SARS-CoV-2 transmission, but the impacts of such policies are unclear. Here, the authors used linked genomic and contact tracing data to assess the impacts of a 14-day quarantine on return to England in summer 2020.

Shocked compression experiments support the melt line of nickel above that of iron, as recently theorised, which helps to constrain the behavior of nickel at conditions relevant to Earth’s core where it makes up 5-20 wt %

Developmental disorders (DDs) are more prevalent in males, thought to be due to X-linked genetic variation. Here, the authors investigate the burden of X-linked coding variants in 11,044 DD patients, showing that this contributes to ~6% of both male and female cases and therefore does not solely explain male bias in DDs.

Understanding why certain alien species become naturalized can shed light on biological invasion patterns. In this global analysis on thousands of taxa, van Kleunen and colleagues show that plant species of economic use are more likely to become naturalized, and that this underlies geographic patterns and phylogenetic signals in naturalization

The Wnt molecular subgroup of medulloblastoma is associated with better prognosis than the other molecular subgroups. Here, the authors show that activating Wnt signaling impairs tumor development and improves survival in Group 3 and Group 4 medulloblastoma preclinical models.

Investigation of variation in three cohorts has identified multiple genetic signals associated with the pregnancy-specific liver disorder, intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, giving insight into the disease which can cause preterm birth and stillbirth.

Whole-genome sequencing and phenotype data sharing are introduced in a national health system to streamline diagnosis and to discover coding and non-coding variants that cause rare diseases.

COVID-19 can be associated with neurological complications. Here the authors show that markers of brain injury, but not immune markers, are elevated in the blood of patients with COVID-19 both early and months after SARS-CoV-2 infection, particularly in those with brain dysfunction or neurological diagnoses.

Openshaw and colleagues find myeloid inflammation and complement activation signatures in patients with long COVID who were previously hospitalized.

HIV envelope is a target for vaccine development, but induction of broadly neutralizing antibodies has been difficult. Here, the authors show that electroporation with a synthetic DNA vaccine construct allows in vivo production of HIV envelope native like trimers to induce autologous tier-2 neutralizing antibodies targeting a C3/V5 epitope in mice.

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.

Stig Bojesen, Georgia Chenevix-Trench, Alison Dunning and colleagues report common variants at the TERT-CLPTM1L locus associated with mean telomere length measured in whole blood. They also identify associations at this locus to breast or ovarian cancer susceptibility and report functional studies in breast and ovarian cancer tissue and cell lines.

CREBBP and KMT2D mutations frequently co-occur in B cell lymphomas with unclear significance. Here the authors show that they cooperate to skew B cell fate decisions and induce a CD8-depleted immune-evasive microenvironment to facilitate lymphomagenesis.

Analyses of the relationships between temperature, moisture and seven key plant functional traits across the tundra and over time show that community height increased with warming across all sites, whereas other traits lagged behind predicted rates of change.

The fraction of leaf nitrogen allocated to RuBisCO indicates differing nitrogen use strategies of plants and varies considerably. Here the authors show that this variation is largely driven by leaf thickness and phosphorus content with light intensity, atmospheric dryness and soil pH also having considerable influence.

de Souza et al. examine whether visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and hepatic fat (HF) are related to carotid atherosclerosis beyond traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Findings reveal that higher VAT and HF are linked to cardiovascular risks such as hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol, as well as increased carotid atherosclerosis.

Delta-valerobetaine is a microbiome-derived metabolite that correlates with obesity-related phenotypes in humans, and exacerbates diet-induced obesity in mice.

This study presents results from a SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance study at a university campus in which ~2,000 samples were sequenced over five months. The authors document the replacement of Delta with Omicron as the dominant variant, and describe clinical characteristics and transmission dynamics.

Flexible neural probes, consisting of a linear array of graphene microtransistors, can be used to record from DC brain signals to high-frequency neuronal activity in awake rodents, thus showing potential for in vivo electrophysiology, and in particular epilepsy research.