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The efficacy of radiotherapy is sometimes hindered by the hypoxic and immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Chen et al. develop an injectable hydrogel encapsulating IL-12/aCTLA-4 co-engineered red blood cells, thereby alleviating hypoxia-induced radioresistance and sequentially releasing aCTLA-4/IL-12 to relieve tumor immunosuppression.

Du, Xie, Dai, Jia, et al. assess the role of MEFV variants in Castleman Disease using both in vitro experiments and patient samples. The inflammatory response, scRNA landscape, and high prevalence of MEFV variants propose a critical role for MEFV in Castleman disease.

Rotenoids are natural insecticides from Fabaceae plants. Here the complete biosynthetic pathway to make rotenoids is elucidated in Amorpha fruticosa and Tephrosia vogelii, revealing a unique Fe(II)-dependent dioxygenase that catalyses core B-ring formation via redox-neutral cyclization. These findings enable the production of rotenoids in tobacco, paving the way for future biotechnological production.

The development of cost-effective, sustainable, and efficient catalysts for liquid organic hydrogen carrier systems is a significant goal. Herein, authors present a system based on manganese catalysis with a theoretical H₂ capacity of 5.3 wt% and high selectivity for the dehydrogenation reaction.

Knowing how consumers allocate their budget among different food categories helps us understand their preferences, priorities and economic accessibility. This study investigates the convergence of budget shares for total food, stimulants, raw food categories and ultra-processed foods and beverages across more than 90 countries over the past decades.

The drivers of coexistence between species with different growth rates are of interest in both ecology and applied microbial science. The authors show, via modelling, that species interactions moderated by consumption or degradation of chemicals can allow coexistence.

The present main-stream medical ultrasonic nebulizers contain a usually overlooked health risk of lead exposure as their key components are made of lead-containing piezoceramics. Here the authors introduce a lead-free medical ultrasonic nebulizer, which eliminates lead exposure risk in nebulization therapy and offers a healthy solution for patients.

HD5 induces filopodial extensions in epithelial cells that the pathogen Shigella exploits to facilitate invasion and infection.

The DAWN study is a phase 3 clinical trial that demonstrates effective glycemic control of dorzagliatin as an add-on therapy to metfomin in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Two types of amyloid-β protein (1–42) (Aβ₄₂) fibrils are known to form in the insoluble fraction of diseased human brains. Now, another type of Aβ₄₂ fibril (type III) has been identified in the soluble fraction of Alzheimer’s disease brain using cryo-electron microscopy. These studies also reveal differences in ligand–fibril interactions between fibril types.

C(sp³)-C(sp³) amination represents a promising approach for synthesizing various amines, facilitating applications from late-stage scaffold hopping to the degradation of polymers and biomass. Herein, the authors report an electro-oxidative benzylic C(sp³)-C(sp³) amination reaction of aromatic hydrocarbons using nitriles, amides, and sulfonamides as nucleophiles.

A study reveals progressive cohesin loading and a hypertranscription state responsible for the formation of genic cohesin islands at active regulatory genes in mouse embryos, highlighting an interplay between chromatin architecture and transcription as they are established for the first time.

Cao et al. report an A-site co-doping strategy by substituting Cs+ cation by alkali metals for perovskite quantum wires embedded in nanoporous alumina template, stabilising the crystal structure and enabling high-colour purity LEDs spanning from blue to green spectral region.

Astragaloside IV, the key active compound in Radix Astragali, a medicinal plant used for immunomodulation in Asia and Europe, now has a fully elucidated biosynthetic pathway, enabling its efficient production through synthetic biology.

USP17L, encoded by a gene family expressed in mouse 2-cell embryos and 2-cell-like cells, is shown to promote the 2-cell program in mESCs at both transcriptional and post-translational levels, in part through deubiquitinating H2AK119ub1 and ZSCAN4.

SAMHD1 is a dNTP hydrolase that has been shown to act as a restriction factor against retroviruses such as HIV, and also regulates the retrotransposition of LINE-1 elements. Here the authors reveal the structural basis for dGTP-dependent tetramerization and allosteric activation of the enzyme.

This study presents an advanced ChIP-seq method, provides a valuable epigenomics resource for 14 economically important plant organs and reveals histone modification landscape dynamics and functions during rapeseed seed dormancy and germination.

Male breast cancer may involve different populations of immune cells. Here the authors use single cell transcriptomics to show that infiltration of T cells is lower in male breast cancer relative to female breast cancer, and find that this is accompanied by distinct metabolic changes.

The SEED study is a phase 3 clinical trial demonstrating a beneficial effect on glycemic control of dorzagliatin, a glucokinase activator, in drug-naive patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes.

Patients with metastatic cancers of unknown primary (CUP) are currently unable to gain access to drugs through standard of care or clinical trials. Here, the authors perform whole-genome and transcriptome sequencing (WGTS) on 72 patients with CUP and demonstrate the feasibility of using WGTS to determine the specific cancer types of CUP, thereby clinically benefiting patients with CUP.

Germline variants that predispose to lung cancer have been mostly studied in Western populations, but data from Chinese patients is lacking. Here the authors analyze lung cancer germline variants in 1794 Chinese patients, finding exclusive variants or with different frequency compared to TCGA data.

Hepatitis B virus is an ancient human pathogen that dates back more than 10,000 years. Here, the authors investigate the evolutionary history of the virus in Eastern Eurasia by sequencing 34 genomes dating from approximately 400–5,000 years ago and comparing them with other contemporary sequences.

Effective artificial selection of microbial communities has proven challenging. In this simulation study, the authors investigate how to improve selection efficacy by increasing community function heritability through experimentally implementable perturbation strategies.

Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP1R) agonists are used to treat type 2 diabetes (T2D), and polyagonists targeting multiple hormone receptors are investigated as potential therapeutics for T2D. Here the authors report that IBI362 (LY3305677), a balanced once-weekly GLP-1 and glucagon receptor dual agonist, showed favourable safety and tolerability in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes in a randomized controlled phase 1b clinical trial.

Diverse GABAergic neurons arise from progenitors in the medial ganglionic eminence. Here, the authors show these progenitors are progressively fate-restricted, with early-born interneurons occupying cortex in an “inside-out” pattern and later-born types like chandelier cells generated “outside-in”.

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic allergic inflammatory disease with a complex underlying genetic etiology. Here, the authors identify a series of rare variants in DSP and PPL in multiplex families with EoE and uncover a pathogenic role for desmosomal dysfunction in EoE.

Although psoriasis is a chronic disorder affecting approximately 2% of the population, little is known about the underlying genetic architecture. Here, the authors carry out exome sequencing in a large Han Chinese cohort of psoriasis patients and healthy controls, and identify three new genes that may increase risk of developing the disease.

The net-zero transition will bring co-benefits to various sectors but also potential trade-offs that could undermine sustainable development efforts. A study shows that in China, the co-benefits from the transition alone will not secure a sustainable energy–food–water–air quality system.

A genomic analysis of human remains from the Bronze Age provides insights into the origin of the Tarim Basin mummies from the Xinjiang region.

A study using soybean–common bean grafting systems reveals that mobile sRNAs are predominantly produced in shoots and accumulate in roots by long-distance transport, while mobile mRNAs are produced in both shoots and roots, with a small proportion moved.

Structural diversity and complex molecular frameworks are important for small molecule screening libraries, yet these are some of the most difficult features to introduce. Here, the authors show a strategy to make a number of natural products and complex non-natural analogues from simple building blocks.

The kinetic parameters in heterogeneous catalysis are informative in a mechanistic study. Here, the authors show the correlation between the coordination environment of isolated boron sites and the kinetics of oxidative dehydrogenation of propane.

ATP acts as a co-substrate in enzyme catalysed reactions, but can also specifically bind metal ions. Here, the authors show that ATP interacts with copper ions and forms a Cu(II)-ATP complex that efficiently catalyses Diels-Alder reactions, and determine ATP residues that are essential for this activity.

Wang, Liang, Huang et al. evaluate associations between mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNA-CN) and HbA1c and weight loss in patients with type 2 diabetes treated with metformin or acarbose, as part of the MARCH study. They find that patients with higher mtDNA-CN lost more weight on metformin, but did not see the same with acarbose.

Myopic foveoschisis with foveal detachment had been treated by vitrectomy without ILM peeling as well as foveal sparing ILM peeling in an attempt to reduce the occurrence of postoperative complications. We performed this retrospective study to assess which is the best method for improving anatomical and functional outcomes, and to reduce the incidence of postoperative macular holes.

Hydrogen peroxide and brassinosteroids (BR) both regulate plant development and stress responses. Here Tian et al. show that hydrogen peroxide can trigger oxidation of the BR-responsive BZR1 transcription factor and promote its transcriptional activity, thereby linking BR and redox signaling.