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Genomic analyses of DNA from modern individuals show that, about 800 years ago, pre-European contact occurred between Polynesian individuals and Native American individuals from near present-day Colombia, while remote Pacific islands were still being settled.

Simultaneous inhibition of LSD1 and GSK3 kinase promotes cell differentiation, providing a therapeutic strategy for treating acute myeloid leukaemia.

Epigenetic coregulators ENL (eleven-nineteen-leukemia) and MOZ (monocytic leukemia zinc finger) are implicated in leukemias. Here, the authors report the acetylation-dependent and acetylation-independent mechanism for the ENL–MOZ complex formation and show the colocalization of ENL and MOZ at active promoters.

An analysis of 24,202 critical cases of COVID-19 identifies potentially druggable targets in inflammatory signalling (JAK1), monocyte–macrophage activation and endothelial permeability (PDE4A), immunometabolism (SLC2A5 and AK5), and host factors required for viral entry and replication (TMPRSS2 and RAB2A).

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.

As the world urbanizes, we need better understanding of how urbanization and urban environments affect people cognitively. This study uses human brain activity, assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging, to predict the number of visits to various locations within Lisbon, Portugal, when exposed to geotagged images from Flickr.

The yeast NuA3 complex regulates gene transcription and the cell cycle. Nguyen et al. show that intersubunit interactions involving the Taf14, Yng1 and Sas3 subunits are essential in biological activities of the NuA3 complex.

Immunological stressors are linked to the transformation of preleukemic B cells to B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Here the authors show a dysregulation of innate immune signaling in preleukemic precursor B cells and link to the development of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia in a murine model.

Although activated Notch receptors have been associated with chemoresistance in cancer, the role of specific Notch ligands remain elusive. Here, the authors show that in breast cells the Notch ligand DLL1 is expressed in cells with a cancer stem cell phenotype and promote doxorubicin resistance in part through NF-kB, as well as metastasis.

Sharks and rays are vital coral reef species. This study shows that nearly two thirds (59%) of the 134 coral-reef associated species are threatened with extinction. The main cause of their decline is found to be overfishing, both targeted and unintentional, and extinction risk is greater for larger species found in nations with higher fishing pressure and weaker governance.

An analysis of 2,954 genomes from 38 cancer subtypes identified 19,166 retrotransposition events in 35% of samples. Aberrant LINE-1 retrotranspositions can lead to the deletion of tumor-suppressor genes as well as the amplification of oncogenes.

Analysis of genomic networks from 430 modern individuals across 21 Pacific island populations reveals the human settlement history of Polynesia.

A lifetime cartography of in vivo senescent cells shows that they are heterogeneous. Senescent cells create an aged-like inflamed niche that mirrors inflammation associated with ageing and arrests stem cell proliferation and tissue regeneration.

Kang and colleagues show that the transcription factor Elf5 controls the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) during development and in metastasis, by repressing the expression of Snail2/Slug, a key EMT-inducing factor.

The mitotic regulator Cdc14 is shown to mediate transcriptional silencing of yeast ribosomal genes by preventing the nucleolar localization of a subunit of RNA polymerase I. If ribosomal transcription is not shut down, the presence of transcripts prevents the loading of condensin and blocks chromosome condensation and segregation.

Cohesin, which tethers sister chromatids together, is found to be cleaved by separase after DNA damage, resulting in cohesin dissociation and allowing for post-replicative repair of DNA double-strand breaks.

Singh et al. show that ELF5 loss disrupts IFNGR1 ubiquitination by FBXW7, thus enhancing IFN-γ signalling, neutrophil accumulation and PD-L1 expression to promote breast cancer progression and metastasis.

Phosphorylation of Dna2 by the CDK stimulates resection of DNA double-strand breaks to stimulate recombinational DNA repair. Here the authors show that once resection has taken place, mitotically activated Cdc14 phosphatase inhibits resection by dephosphorylating Dna2 to facilitate DNA repair by homologous recombination.

Cell fate commitment involves transcription factor activity and changes in chromatin architecture. Here the authors show that CAF-1 maintains lineage fidelity by controlling chromatin accessibility at specific sites; suppressing CAF-1 triggers differentiation of myeloid stem and progenitor cells into a mixed lineage state.

Fuchs and colleagues delineate a mechanism by which PARP11-mediated IFNAR1 loss sustains an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment and show that PARP11 inactivation can enhance chimeric antigen receptor T efficacy in preclinical solid tumor models.

By coupling robotic cell culture systems with artificial intelligence–powered image analysis, Schiff et al. identify previously unseen characteristics of Parkinson’s disease in patient skin cells that distinguish them from healthy controls.

The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a dynamic process that plays important roles in cancer progression and metastasis. Here, the authors characterize a non-linear hysteretic response of E-cadherin repression during TGFβ-induced EMT that is controlled by the strength of the miR-200s/ZEBs negative feedback loop and enhances metastasis.

Kang and colleagues demonstrate that the ΔNp63 isoform of p63 upregulates the expression of the Fzd7 Wnt receptor to promote normal and cancer stem cell activity in the mammary gland.

RNA interference screens were used to identify chromatin-associated factors that impede reprogramming of somatic cells into iPS cells; suppression of the chromatin assembly factor CAF-1 enhances the generation of iPS cells by rendering chromatin more accessible to pluripotency transcription factors.

Observations of the young star HD 142527, whose disk is separated into inner and outer regions by a gap suggestive of the formation of a gaseous giant planet, show that accretion onto the star is maintained by a flow of gas across the gap, in agreement with dynamical models of planet formation.

What causes hematopoietic stem cell loss of functionality? Here, Alvarez et al. show that loss of origin licensing factor MCM3 induces replicative stress (RS), causing aberrant erythrocyte maturation, but mice strains with higher tolerance to RS can overcome this defect.

Recent studies have changed our understanding of the prevalence and biological significance of DNAN⁶-adenine methylation (6mA) in eukaryotes. This modification is involved in regulating transcription, transposable elements and epigenetic inheritance, and thus can be considered to be a eukaryotic epigenetic mark.

Aragón and colleagues show that the phosphatase Cdc14 acts on the CDT subunit of RNA polymerase II to silence transcription of repetitive regions of the yeast genome. At telomeres this event promotes condensin loading and mitotic segregation.

Genetic and Structural analysis of COVID patients cohort reveals a correlation between mitochondrial haplogroup and SARS-CoV-2 severity.