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The study advances the use of serological surveys to guide trachoma elimination program decisions and provides a way to set thresholds for whether or not to continue an intervention program.

Understanding collective behaviour is an important aspect of managing the pandemic response. Here the authors show in a large global study that participants that reported identifying more strongly with their nation reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies in the context of the pandemic.

Sensitive diagnostics are needed to detect carcinogenic human liver fluke infections. Sadaow et al. here use an immunomics approach to develop field-deployable tests for diagnosing liver fluke infection and its associated liver cancer.

Chronic care manages long-term, progressive conditions, while acute care handles short-term ones. Here, authors show chronic conditions account for most of the global health burden, with 68% of DALYs and 93% of YLDs attributed to chronic care needs.

Experiments in fission yeast show that cyclin-dependent kinase is first activated in the nucleus, from which the mitotic signal is propagated from CDK at the centrosome to the cytoplasm.

Using 1,425 UK Biobank participants, we show for the first time that morphological brain asymmetry exhibits evidence of plasticity changes throughout adulthood, which tracks individual variation ~1,000 lifestyle factors and ~4,500 disease ICD codes.

Tracking raw materials is critical for securing global supply chains, but traditional tags lack in traceability and anticounterfeiting. The authors present a DNATag-based system for secure traceability, featuring error tolerance, mobile phone readability, and robust forgery protection.

This study used fine-mapping to analyze genetic regions associated with bipolar disorder, identifying specific risk genes and providing new insights into the biology of the condition that may guide future research and treatment approaches.

Study shows PTSD predisposition shares distinct genes and genomic regions with several cardiovascular conditions. Here the findings reveal neuronal, immune, and metabolic pathways, and repurposed drug targets that further the understanding of the comorbidity.

The field of regenerative medicine would greatly benefit from the study of a non-human primate model. Here, the authors prospectively isolated two quiescent stem cell populations from the non-human primate mouse lemur.

Analysis combining multiple global tree databases reveals that whether a ___location is invaded by non-native tree species depends on anthropogenic factors, but the severity of the invasion depends on the native species diversity.

Whether multimorbidity accelerates brain Aβ deposition in humans remains largely unknown. Here, the authors demonstrate that higher self-reported multimorbidity burden predicts increased brain Aβ accumulation rates in the ADNI cohort.

Grayson et al. report the genomic discovery and biochemical characterization of a widely distributed gene cluster family for briarane diterpenoid biosynthesis in metazoans. This study expands our understanding of the metazoan specialized metabolism, revealing the use of biosynthetic gene clusters by octocorals.

The activity of the membrane-bound enzyme pMMO depends on copper but the ___location of the copper centers is still under debate. Here, the authors reconstitute pMMO in nanodiscs and use native top-down MS to localize its copper centers, providing insights into which sites are essential for activity.

Arrays of silicon nanoneedles are used to generate molecular replicas of live brain tissue for longitudinal spatial lipidomic classification via desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry imaging of gliomas and to monitor the responses of the tumours to chemotherapy.

Super-enhancer are usually defined by high levels of chromatin modification and associate with cell-specific gene expression. Here, the authors define hyperacetylated chromatin domains (HCDs) by using histone hyperacetylation peak breadth information and show that HCDs associated more closely with cell identity than super-enhancers.

This study uncovered genetic associations with environmental sensitivity in psychiatric and neurodevelopmental traits in an international collaboration using data from more than 21,000 monozygotic twins—the largest genetic study of monozygotic twin differences to date.

A platform based on quantum-emitter-embedded metasurfaces with a microcavity that can be tuned by a micro-electromechanical system is demonstrated, enabling dynamic photon emission with narrow bandwidth, ångström-level wavelength tunability and polarization switching.

A leading force in immunology.

Quantum spin-ice phases are predicted to have emergent gauge fields and fractionalization. Neutron scattering and thermodynamic measurements of the quantum spin-ice candidate Ce₂Zr₂O₇ show features consistent with these predictions.

A comprehensive analysis of the cell-specific molecular regulatory mechanisms underlying post-traumatic stress disorder in the human prefrontal cortex.

Tacto et al. uncover a key marker that enables the selection of functional, transplantable human islets derived from stem cells, potentially paving the way for more precise and effective diabetes cell therapy.

Eukaryotic DNA can be methylated as 5-methylcytosine and N6-methyladenine, but whether other forms of DNA methylation occur has been controversial. Here the authors show that a bacterial DNA methyltransferase was acquired >60 Mya in bdelloid rotifers that catalyzes N4-methylcytosine addition and is involved in suppression of transposon proliferation.

Here, the authors characterize the epigenetic status of hybrid ecDNA in HPVOPC, identifying HPV oncogenes E6/E7 in hybrid ecDNA are flanked by somatic DNA enhancers with strong cis-interaction. It can be targeted with ecDNA disrupting therapeutics.

A long-lived photoinduced metastable state in a quasi-one-dimensional cuprate, Sr₁₄Cu₂₄O₄₁, is reported.

Genome-wide analyses identify 30 independent loci associated with obsessive–compulsive disorder, highlighting genetic overlap with other psychiatric disorders and implicating putative effector genes and cell types contributing to its etiology.

BRCA1 and BRCA2 are well known breast cancer predisposition genes, however, many variants have not yet been classified for their pathogenicity. Here, the authors analyse a large combined cohort to provide evidence of variant pathogenicity.

A study shows that loss of memory precision associated with systems consolidation can be explained by neurogenesis-dependent reorganization of engram circuitry within the hippocampus over time.

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.

The flagship paper of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium describes the generation of the integrative analyses of 2,658 cancer whole genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types, the structures for international data sharing and standardized analyses, and the main scientific findings from across the consortium studies.

Analyses of 2,658 whole genomes across 38 types of cancer identify the contribution of non-coding point mutations and structural variants to driving cancer.

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.

Adhesive, filamentous type 1 pili are critical virulence factors in urinary tract infections. Here, the authors describe the cryo-EM structures of the entire type 1 pilus with all its structural components in the states prior to and after assembly termination.

Using a large cosmological sample of FRBs, Connor et al. have located many of the Universe’s unseen baryons, finding that most reside in the diffuse intergalactic medium, not galaxies—confirming the strong astrophysical feedback seen in simulations.

The arcuate fascicle connection with the middle temporal gyrus has been considered unique to humans. Using high-resolution diffusion MRI, the authors systematically show this connection in chimpanzees, suggesting a gradual evolution of the language network.

The molecular basis for the enrollment of X family DNA polymerases in non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) is unclear. Here the authors elucidate the structure of Pol λ within the DNA-PK long-range complex and Pol μ in association with Ku70/80 and characterize the interaction between the BRCT domains of Pol λ and μ with Ku70/80.

Polygenic risk scores for Alzheimer’s disease derived from individuals of European ancestry can show improved performance in multiancestry settings after incorporating genome-wide association summary statistics from diverse populations.

Recent advances have brought virus-induced gene editing closer to achieving its promise to simplify and democratize plant gene editing by weaning it from its dependence on tissue-culture-based transformation.

Using multiple in vivo mouse models, Rehman and colleagues report that tumor-induced impairments in the muscle vasculature mediated by circulating activin A contribute to cachexia development during cancer progression.

Multi-ancestry fine-mapping of breast cancer susceptibility regions identifies candidate causal variants and prioritizes likely effector genes supported by functional genomic evidence.

This work shows that receptor use in merbecovirus is clade-specific by clustering them into clades based on the receptor-binding ___domain (RBD) of their spike proteins. While MERS-CoV and its close relatives use the DPP4 receptor, several other clades—including all HKU5 bat coronaviruses—rely on ACE2, the same receptor used by SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2.

Bacterial colonies growing on solid surfaces can exhibit robust expansion kinetics, with constant radial growth and saturating vertical expansion. Here, the authors use modeling and experiments to show that colony growth dynamics are driven by an interplay of mechanical constraints and nutrient gradients arising from obligatory metabolic processes.

Protein citrullination regulates the physiological function of proteins and is linked to various autoimmune disorders. Here, the authors report on the allosteric targeting of PAD1-4 leading to broad inhibition of protein citrullination in neutrophils.

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).

Reducing the stigma and discrimination that people living with liver conditions experience requires rethinking how diagnoses, diseases, etiologies and circumstances are perceived — a shift that begins with the language used to name and describe them.

Three electron microscopy datasets are combined to provide a complete connectomic description of the neural circuitry that makes up the neck connective in Drosophila, including the descending neurons, ascending neurons and sensory ascending neurons.

Despite exhibiting ferroelectric features, SrTiO₃ fails to display long-range polar order at low temperatures due to quantum fluctuations. An ultrafast X-ray diffraction experiment now probes polar dynamics of this material at the nanometre scale.

The structure and function of the MCR activation complex from Methanococcus maripaludis were revealed, demonstrating its ATP-dependent ability to activate MCR and form methane while uncovering a unique electron transfer pathway involving iron–sulfur clusters similar to the nitrogenase cofactor intermediates.

Here, the authors have mapped the antibody response of the adeno-associated virus 9 (AAV9) gene therapy vector Zolgensma. AAV9 capsid variants were designed to escape this response while preserving manufacturing and biodistribution properties.

Whole-genome sequencing data for 2,778 cancer samples from 2,658 unique donors across 38 cancer types is used to reconstruct the evolutionary history of cancer, revealing that driver mutations can precede diagnosis by several years to decades.