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We demonstrate that the transmembrane protease TMPRSS2 is a receptor for coronavirus HKU1; it triggers HKU1-mediated cell–cell fusion and viral entry by binding to both HKU1A and HKU1B spikes.

The enzyme SpoT is important for accumulation of the alarmone (p)ppGpp, which triggers the stringent response in E. coli. Here, Germain et al. show that the protein YtfK promotes SpoT-dependent accumulation of (p)ppGpp and is required for activation of the stringent response during phosphate and fatty acid starvation.

Valerie Cormier-Daire and colleagues report mutations in ADAMTSL2 in geleophysic dysplasia, a connective tissue disorder. The authors present evidence that ADAMTSL2 is an extracellular matrix protein regulating the bioavailability of TGF-β.

Chromosome-level genome assemblies of allotetraploid Coffea arabica and representatives of its diploid progenitors, Coffea eugenioides and Coffea canephora, provide insights into Arabica’s diversification history.

Tropical forest landscapes are increasingly being modified by human activities. Here the authors apply a causal inference approach to Neotropical forest data to disentangle the role of landscape-level and local drivers and reveal replacement of ‘loser’ by ‘winner’ tree species with distinct functional profiles.

The Consortium on Asthma among African-ancestry Populations in the Americas (CAAPA) aims to better understand population genetics of the African diaspora. Here, it uses deeply sequenced whole-genomes to describe the impact of admixture and potential disease burden of deleterious variants.

Adipose tissue is composed of a number of adipocytes and a number of other cells including immune cells. Here the authors use single-cell sequencing of murine brown adipose tissue immune cells and describe multiple macrophage and monocyte subsets and show that monocytes contribute to brown adipose tissue expansion.

Examining drivers of the latitudinal biodiversity gradient in a global database of local tree species richness, the authors show that co-limitation by multiple environmental and anthropogenic factors causes steeper increases in richness with latitude in tropical versus temperate and boreal zones.

Pro-inflammatory signaling during embryonic development is poorly understood. Here, the authors identify that the master inflammatory factor p65 drives cycles of cell quiescence and proliferation to power the development of hematopoietic stem cells.

An exciting genome-wide association study in the British population for seven common diseases. This analysis confirms previously identified loci and provides strong evidence for many novel disease susceptibility loci.

Alternative stable states in forests have implications for the biosphere. Here, the authors combine forest biodiversity observations and simulations revealing that leaf types across temperate regions of the NH follow a bimodal distribution suggesting signatures of alternative forest states.

The bacterium Helicobacter pylori, often found in the human stomach, can be classified into distinct subpopulations associated with the geographic origin of the host. Here, the authors provide insights into H. pylori population structure by collecting over 1,000 clinical strains from 50 countries and generating and analyzing high-quality bacterial genome sequences.

Alison Dunning, Stacey Edwards and colleagues analyze 3,872 common variants across the ESR1 locus in 118,816 women. They find five independent variants within regulatory regions that associate with different breast cancer–related phenotypes and regulate the expression of ESR1, RMND1 and CCDC170.

In this study, Delaune et al., isolate and characterise a SARS-CoV-2-related coronavirus from two bats sampled in Cambodia. Their findings suggest that the geographic distribution of SARS-CoV-2-related viruses is wider than previously reported.

Severe congenital development defects such as Jeune syndrome can result from the malfunction of primary cilia and dynein. Here Schmidts et al. report unique biallelic null mutations in a gene encoding a dynein light chain, helping to explain the nature of ciliopathies in human patients.

The African BioGenome Project (AfricaBP) Open Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics established a series of regional workshops in 2023 to exchange knowledge and overcome barriers, which could serve as a model for other scientific communities.

Dianna Milewicz and colleagues report the identification of loss-of-function mutations in TGFB2 in individuals with familial thoracic aortic aneurysm and acute aortic dissection associated with mild systemic features of the Marfan syndrome.

An apparent redundant role with EZH2 has rendered EZH1 as a secondary player in PRC2-mediated homeostasis regulation. Here, the authors report that gain- and loss-of-function variants in EZH1 cause neurodevelopmental disorders, highlighting its functional relevance.

Fine-mapping of causal variants and integration of epigenetic and chromatin conformation data identify likely target genes for 150 breast cancer risk regions.

In the male germline, DNMT3C methylates retrotransposons whereas DNMT3A globally methylates the genome and regulates spermatogonial stem cell (SSC) plasticity. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis shows that Dnmt3A mutant SSCs self-renew but do not differentiate.

Whole genome sequencing is increasingly being adopted for Shigella sonnei outbreak investigation and surveillance, but there is no global classification standard. Here, the authors develop and validate a genomic framework implemented using open-source software, and demonstrate its application using surveillance data.

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias identifies new loci and enables generation of a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Certain chemotherapeutic agents can exert their anticancer effect through indirect immune-dependent mechanism. Here, the authors screen a library of tyrosine kinase inhibitors and show that crizotinib is an effective stimulator of immunogenic cell death and can potentiate the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade.

The signals that enable endothelial cells to switch to hemogenic to generate hematopoietic stem cells are poorly understood. Here, the authors identify an intracellular sensor of pathogens as an inductive developmental cue that primes this switch.

Integrating inventory data with machine learning models reveals the global composition of tree types—needle-leaved evergreen individuals dominate, followed by broadleaved evergreen and deciduous trees—and climate change risks.

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.

Distinguishing local hydrological, cave internal, and regional monsoon signals in speleothem records resolves disagreements among proxy reconstructions and illuminates the Holocene evolution of summer and winter monsoon in Southeast Asia.

A high-resolution three-dimensional global climate model of Saturn captures the small-scale dynamics of its stratosphere. It is able to reproduce the observed semi-annual equatorial oscillation and finds evidence of an interhemispheric meridional circulation that can explain the periodicity of its equatorial oscillation and the seasonal behaviour of hydrocarbon abundances.