Browse Articles

Here the authors show transposable elements, formerly considered junk DNA, are a source of CTCF binding sites that contribute to species-specific 3D-genome structure, and may impact gene regulation during the course of mammalian evolution.

The mechanisms which generate fMRI signal correlations across the brain are not fully understood. Here, the authors record ultrafast fMRI signals in anesthetized female rats to demonstrate intrinsic macroscale oscillatory modes which drive correlated activity between distant regions.

Scaled manufacturing of ordered mesoporous materials has been historically challenging. This work reports a simple and generalizable method to directly convert low-cost thermoplastic elastomers to mesoporous polymer, carbon, and silica, with controlled pore textures by altering precursor identity.

Zinc metal anodes suffer from electrolyte corrosion and dendrite growth issues during electrochemical cycling. Here, the authors propose a gradient design to imprint the zinc anode, which both prohibits side reactions and alleviates zinc deposition behaviour.

Ruthenium-based materials show promising performance for ammonia decomposition, yet the underlying mechanism remains to be further explored. Here the authors investigate atomically dispersed Ru atoms on polar (111) on MgO facets to show synergistic metal sites in close proximity are required for the stepwise dehydrogenation of ammonia to N2/H2.

Developing multi-cancer early detection (MCED) tests based on cfDNA or protein markers holds great promise for effective cancer screening. Here, the authors show a sensitive, non-invasive pan-cancer detection method that concurrently detects the oncofetal chondroitin sulfate (ofCS) glycans and its protein backbone in plasma.

Barrier-to-autointegration factor 1 (BAF) is a DNA binding protein involved in numerous pathways including transcriptional regulation, DNA damage response and nuclear assembly. Here, Broussard and colleagues characterise its role in gammaherpesvirus reactivation.

The high dark current of perovskite photodetectors hinders the full potential of perovskites as active material for X-ray detectors. Here, Jin et al. provide a strategy to reduce the dark current to zero and massively enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of perovskite X-ray detectors and photodetectors.

The extensive information capacity of DNA makes it an attractive alternative to traditional data storage. DNA-Aeon is a DNA data storage solution that can correct all error types commonly observed in DNA storage, while encoding data into sequences that meet user-defined constraints such as GC content, homopolymer length, and no undesired motifs.

Here, Prakasam and colleagues show that polyQ-expanded androgen receptor toxicity can be attenuated using artificial miRNAs targeting Lsd1 and Prmt6, two AR-co-activators overexpressed in an androgen-dependent manner specifically in skeletal muscle, thus ameliorating spinal-bulbar muscular atrophy phenotypes in flies and mice.

Genome mining for biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) can be used for the discovery of new compounds of biotechnological interest. Here, the authors use metagenomics and metatranscriptomics to identify diverse BGCs in free-living and particle-associated microbial communities through the stratified water column of the Cariaco Basin, Venezuela.

The authors harness plasma focused ion beams for pseudo-atomic structure determination, reporting increased throughput and automation in in situ structural biology to elucidate structure-function relationships inside cells and tissues.

There are limitations with current protein sensing methods. Here the authors report DigitISA, a digital immunosensor assay based on microchip electrophoretic separation and single-molecule detection that enables quantitation of protein biomarkers in a single, solution-phase step.

The NLRP3 inflammasome plays a pivotal role in clearing viral respiratory infection, but the molecular mechanism is not fully known. Here authors show that acetate, produced by gut bacteria, may enhance NLRP3-mediated type I interferon production following influenza infection in mice.

Metasurface-based antennas show variable beam-patterns in response to the time width of electromagnetic pulses. This concept advances the design of antennas and wireless communication environments by using the pulse width as a new degree of freedom.

It is widely believed that bulk-state topology is crucial for enabling Majorana zero modes in solid-state systems. Here, the authors predict that superconducting vortices containing Majorana zero modes can arise from topologically-trivial electronic bands, expanding the pool of materials which may host such phenomena.

In biliary tract cancer HER2 alterations correlate with poor prognosis. Here, the authors present the results of a phase II clinical trial reporting the efficacy and safety of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor neratinib in patients with HER2-mutation positive advanced biliary tract cancers.

SARS-CoV-2 infection can cause coagulopathic events. Kuhn et al. show by cryo-ET how the Spike protein impacts platelet morphology by binding to the platelet surface, leading to micro-activation; and investigate integrin as possible point of contact.

In this work, the authors investigate on how condensate droplets, arising from liquid-liquid phase separation, can be engulfed by nanovesicles via distinct pathways, leading to different vesicle-droplet morphologies. Two key parameters are the stress asymmetry of the vesicle membrane and the line tension of the contact line between vesicle and droplet.

Magnet/superconductor hybrids have been explored for the realization of topological superconductivity but have mainly focused on ferromagnets with full gaps. Here, the authors find that the antiferromagnet/superconductor heterostructure of monolayer Mn on a Nb(110) surface is a topological nodal-point superconductor.