Search

In vaccination there may be differences between the sexes in terms of protection. Here the authors show that male mice are less well protected by Plasmodium liver stage vaccines compared to female mice and this is due to lower hepatic memory CD8⁺ T cell density and reduced recruitment of these memory T cells, which are affected by the presence of testicular hormones.

Lorentz invariance — the postulate that all observers measure exactly the same speed of light in vacuum, independent of photon energy — is a cornerstone of Einstein's special relativity, but it has been suggested that it might break near the Planck scale. A possible variation of photon speed with energy is a key test for this proposed violation; here, by studying sharp features in γ-ray burst light-curves to look for even tiny variations in photon speed, no evidence for the violation of Lorentz invariance is found.

Process development for 3D printing of new metal alloys can be time-consuming and variability in the printing outcome makes it even more challenging. Here, authors demonstrate an in-situ method using high-speed imaging and deep learning to accelerate the process design for a more consistent quality.

The authors examine life-history differences between terrestrial versus aquatic vertebrates and their mode of reproduction. They find that land vertebrate life histories are more constrained than aquatic ones. In particular, the results suggest a wider diversity of reproductive strategies in aquatic habitats than in terrestrial ones.

We developed PRINT, a computational method that identifies footprints of DNA–protein interactions from bulk and single-cell chromatin accessibility data across multiple scales of protein size.

Electrical excitability in neuroendocrine SCLC cells promotes tumour progression through action potential firing, increasing ATP demand and oxidative phosphorylation dependency, whereas non-neuroendocrine cells provide metabolic support, driving a tumour-autonomous cycle that enhances tumorigenesis and metastasis.

Elucidating the formation of quasicrystals, which have long-range orientational order but no translation periodicity, remains a challenge. Here, the authors track and geometrically describe how a decagonal nickel–zirconium seed grows into a tenfold twinned dendritic structure.

A field-effect MoS<Subscript>2</Subscript> transistor with a negative capacitor in its gate shows stable, hysteresis-free performance characterized by a sub-thermionic sub-threshold slope.

Meteorology measurements from NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars reveal a diversity of processes at work in the atmospheric boundary layer at Jezero crater over a range of temporal scales.

A molecular aggregate formed in a two-dimensional organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite superlattice with a near-equilibrium distance is shown to have a near-unity photoluminescence quantum yield like that of single molecules, despite being in an aggregated state.

Optical pooled screening is enhanced by amplification of barcodes before in situ sequencing.

Multi-omics datasets pose major challenges to data interpretation and hypothesis generation owing to their high-dimensional molecular profiles. Here, the authors develop ActivePathways method, which uses data fusion techniques for integrative pathway analysis of multi-omics data and candidate gene discovery.

Cancers evolve as they progress under differing selective pressures. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, the authors present the method TrackSig the estimates evolutionary trajectories of somatic mutational processes from single bulk tumour data.

Viral pathogen load in cancer genomes is estimated through analysis of sequencing data from 2,656 tumors across 35 cancer types using multiple pathogen-detection pipelines, identifying viruses in 382 genomic and 68 transcriptome datasets.

Due to the pulsed nature of X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) instruments the majority of protein crystals, which are injected using continuous jet injection techniques are wasted. Here, the authors present a microfluidic device to deliver aqueous protein crystal laden droplets segmented with an immiscible oil and demonstrate that with this device an approx. 60% reduction in sample waste was achieved for data collection of 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonate 8-phosphate synthase crystals at the EuXFEL.

Thioredoxin (Trx), Trx reductase, Txnip and NADPH together comprise the Trx system. Here the authors make a T cell-specific thioredoxin reductase-1 knockout mouse to show how this system reprograms cellular metabolism to enable T cell development, proliferation and responses.

A particle shower detected by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the very high energy of the Glashow resonance demonstrates its potential for the study of high-energy particle physics and astrophysics.

Li et al. report large circular dichroism in 2D chiral perovskite single crystals, arises from the inorganic sublattice, instead of chiral ligands, driven by electron-hole exchange interactions. This is evidenced by both reflective circular dichroism spectroscopy and ab initio theory.

In this study the authors identify a possible link between the gene FAM222A and brain atrophy. The protein it encodes is found to accumulate in plaques seen in Alzheimer’s disease, and functional analysis suggests it interacts with amyloid-beta.

The mechanical properties of central nervous system (CNS) scar tissue are considered to contribute to axon regeneration failure. Here, the authors identify members of the small leucine-rich proteoglycan family as modulators of the inhibitory viscoelastic response of CNS lesions.

A survey of sharks and rays on coral reefs within 66 marine protected areas across 36 countries showcases that the conservation benefits of full MPA protection to sharks almost double when accompanied by effective fisheries management.

Fishing has had a profound impact on global reef shark populations, and the absence or presence of sharks is strongly correlated with national socio-economic conditions and reef governance.

A violation of Lorentz symmetry would represent a fundamental departure from the physics of the standard model. Searching for anomalous neutrino oscillations, the IceCube collaboration reports no violation, and puts stringent bounds on its existence.

Alzheimer’s disease is heterogeneous in its neuroimaging and clinical phenotypes. Here the authors present a semi-supervised deep learning method, Smile-GAN, to show four neurodegenerative patterns and two progression pathways providing prognostic and clinical information.

Quantum communication requires quantum correlations between the information processing units and the information carrying units. Here, the authors use time-bin encoding and frequency downconversion to telecom wavelengths to achieve kilometre-scale spin-photon correlations.

Fluorescent in situ hybridization is used to identify the subcellular ___location of mRNAs encoding core photosystem subunits in cyanobacteria. They are clustered at thylakoid surfaces, near the central cytoplasm and nucleoid, by mRNA-binding proteins.

Inter-organellar contacts are hubs for several critical cellular processes, such as lipid synthesis. Here Ganji et al. show that the p97-UBXD8 complex modulates contacts by regulating membrane lipid composition and saturation.

Identification of febrile children at risk of death in low-resource settings can improve survival, but tools for their prompt recognition are lacking. Here, the authors show that sTREM-1 measured at clinical presentation predicts in-hospital mortality in febrile children in Uganda.

Expression of ADAM8, a metalloprotease disintegrin, correlates with worse prognosis in pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Here Schlomann et al. show that ADAM8 promotes PDAC invasiveness, and develop a peptide inhibitor that blocks ADAM8 function and impedes PDAC progression in mouse models.

The cGAS–STING pathway has a central role in the pathogenesis of severe COVID-19 by driving the increase in type I interferons that occurs in the later stages of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Steroid units can facilitate membrane permeation and bioavailability in drugs. Here, using a medicinal chemistry program, Krieget al. identify an arylmethylamino steroid that kills Plasmodium parasites, likely through a chelate-based quinone methide mechanism, and has activity against Schistosoma mansoni.

Viruses manipulate host cell pathways to support infection. Here the authors show that SARS-CoV-2 infection modulates cellular metabolism and limits autophagy, and identify druggable host pathways for virus inhibition.

Time-resolved crystallography (TRX) is used for monitoring only small conformational changes of biomacromolecules within the same lattice. Here, the authors report the interplay between synchronous molecular rearrangements and lattice phase transitions in RNA crystals, providing the basis for the investigation of large conformational changes using TRX.

Necroptosis, a form of cell death, occurs in acute renal injury. Here, the authors show that ferroptosis—a form of cell death dependent on iron - also occurs during acute kidney injury, and show that an inhibitor of ferroptosis can improve survival in a mouse model of acute kidney damage.

Weishaupt, Körtvélyessy, et al. investigate the role of a genetic variant in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) causation. Reduction of serum neurofilament light chain levels upon treatment with the SOD1-specific drug tofersen indicates engagement of a relevant target and thus causality of the variant p.D91A in SOD1.

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) are known for their copious IFN-I production. Soumelis and colleagues show that functionally and transcriptomically distinct human pDC populations can be generated from a single microbial or cytokine stimulus.

Serial femtosecond crystallography using X-ray free-electron lasers has huge potential for time-resolved structural experiments. Here, the authors present a structure of the light-driven proton pump bacteriorhodopsin using these techniques.

Deep γ-ray observations of the Galactic Centre with arcminute angular resolution show traces of petaelectronvolt protons within the central ten parsecs of our Galaxy; the accelerator of these particles could have provided a substantial contribution to Galactic cosmic rays in the past.

Polycrystalline substrates are a hindrance to the realization of high-definition plasmonic nanostructures. In this paper the authors chemically grow large and thin gold single crystals, and show that they can be coupled with top-down fabrication methods to produce high-quality nanostructures with good optical properties.

Using integrated metagenomics, metaproteomics and metabolomics approaches, the authors characterize the microbial taxa and metabolic pathways facilitating lignocellulose degradation across gut compartments of a wood-feeding beetle.

High-throughput microscopy combined with gene silencing by RNA interference is a powerful method for studying gene function. Here, a genome-wide method is presented for phenotypic screening of each of the ∼21,000 human protein-coding genes, using two-day imaging of dividing cells with fluorescently labelled chromosomes. The method enabled the identification of hundreds of genes involved in biological functions such as cell division, migration and survival.

BAG3 is a Hsp70 co-chaperone that is highly expressed in muscles. Here the authors show that several myofibrillar myopathy causing BAG3 mutations are not impaired in Hsp70 binding, but rather impair the ADP-ATP exchange step of the Hsp70 cycle, causing the aggregation of BAG3, Hsp70 and Hsp70 clients and leading to a collapse of protein homeostasis.

An extensive RNA binding protein atlas (RBPome) for primary T cells would be a useful resource. Here the authors use two different methods to characterise the mouse and human T cell RBPome and show regulation of Roquin-1/2 dependent and independent pathways.

Carbon isotopic analysis reveals global biogeographic traits in shark trophic interactions, and sheds light on the diverse foraging behaviour of sharks.

Heat transport in ultrathin metal layers is important for potential applications in optical‐magnetic switching, but difficult to access experimentally. Here, the authors use ultrafast X‐ray diffraction to directly probe and explain unexpected time‐dependent transport behavior in Au–Ni nanolayers.

This Perspective discusses fungal taxonomy and provides guidance for the naming of fungal taxa known only from sequences.