Articles

Sensitivity to noise is currently an obstacle to the use of quantum imaging techniques in real-world scenarios. Here, exploiting non-local cancellation of dispersion on time-frequency entangled photons, the authors show a 43dB improvement in resilience to noise for imaging protocols towards a quantum LiDAR.

Transitioning from spores to hyphae is crucial for host invasion by the plant pathogenic fungus Zymoseptoria tritici. Here, the authors show that the spore-to-hypha transition is enhanced by wheat leaf surface compounds and is regulated by the white-collar complex, which integrates light with biotic and abiotic cues to allow host invasion through open stomata.

Diet affects the human gut microbiome, but studies linking crop genetics to seed traits that influence the human gut microbiome are lacking. Here, the authors develop an in vitro microbiome screening method and reveal the association between sorghum genes regulating condensed tannin biosynthesis and human gut microbiome.

The interface between perovskite-oxide SrTiO₃ and other oxides realizes efficient spin-to-charge current conversion; however, the typically insulating oxides hinder the propagation of spin-currents. Here the authors achieve a record efficiency by replacing an oxide insulator with a strongly-correlated polar metal.

Vertical exchange in the ocean is an important conduit connecting the surface to the deep and influences the distributions of gases, nutrients, pollutants, and other tracers. Here the authors using high-resolution observations and numerical simulations of the ocean fronts in the Northern Gulf of Mexico reveal that the interaction between the fronts and land-sea breeze creates slantwise pathways for water parcels and induces significant subduction of surface water and upwelling of bottom water.

Contact sites permit the exchange of signals and materials between organelles. Here the authors characterize a protein complex associated with an ER-mitochondrial contact site in Arabidopsis that is required for mitochondrial function and mitochondrial turnover

The defocusing problem has been considered the main bottleneck for developing optoelectronic μ-compound eye (CE) cameras. Here, the authors report miniature optoelectronic CE cameras with an ommatidia logarithmic-profile. The camera enables large field-of-view imaging, spatial position identification, and sensitive trajectory monitoring of moving targets.

The authors present an approach to underwater imaging, which does not require tethering or batteries. The low-power camera uses power from harvested acoustic energy and communicates colour images wirelessly via acoustic backscatter.

The formation of branched microtubule networks in mitotic spindles depends on the augmin complex. Zupa, Würtz et al. elucidate the molecular architecture and conformational plasticity of the augmin complex using integrative structural biology, providing structural insights into microtubule branching.

During viral infections high levels of antibodies can form soluble immune complexes (sICs) with antigen and trigger Fcγ receptors (FcγR) leading to increased immunopathology. Here the authors measure FcγRs activation by sICs and consider how these may lead to excessive immunopathology during severe SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The functional role of airway basal cells has not been comprehensively studied in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Here, the authors show that airway basal cells of IPF patients display a distinct phenotype, are profibrotic if transplanted to mice and that fibrosis can be ameliorated by Src iinhibitors.

Identifying structural variants (SVs) under positive selection in cancer is challenging. Here, the authors develop CSVDriver, a method that computes SV breakpoint proximity and the contribution of elements such as topologically associating domains, and identifies loci that show signs of positive selection and contain known and putative drivers.

Magnetotactic bacteria use intracellular chains of ferrimagnetic nanocrystals, produced within magnetosome organelles, to align and navigate along the geomagnetic field. Here, Wan et al. identify two proteins involved in magnetosome positioning in Magnetospirillum magneticum, homologs of which are widespread among magnetotactic bacteria.

Microsporidia are fungal-related intracellular parasites that infect animals and humans. Here, Murareanu et al. develop a high-throughput screening method using the nematode C. elegans as a host, and identify several compounds that inhibit microsporidia infection through different mechanisms.

IDO1-mediated tryptophan metabolism plays an important role in creating an immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment. Here, the authors show that deubiquitinase USP14 regulates immune suppression by inducing IDO1 stabilization and suggest USP14 as a potential therapeutic target to improve immunotherapy in colorectal cancer.

“Intracellular phase separation is emerging as a universal principle for organizing biochemical reactions in time and space. Here the authors show that PopZ condensate dynamics support cell division and using PopZ modular architecture, the tunable PopTag platform was developed to enable designer condensates.”

Center-surround receptive fields are typically considered to mediate edge detection. Here, by studying retinal bipolar cells responding to flashed and moving stimuli, the authors reveal an additional function: enhanced representation of newly appearing visual items.

Matson et al. performed single nucleus sequencing of the “spared” spinal cord tissue distal to an injury in mice. They found that spinocerebellar neurons expressed a pro-regenerative gene signature and showed axon outgrowth after injury.

There are limited predictive biomarkers for drug treatment responses in individuals with multiple sclerosis. Here using existing clinical trials data, the authors propose a deep-learning predictive enrichment strategy to identify which participants are most likely to respond to a treatment.

Frequency of cancer-related gene mutations can vary between populations. Here, the authors show differences in TP53 and other gene mutations between the U.S. and Chinese patients, and analyse differences in environmental risk factors to demonstrate that population-specific factors should be considered when discussing cancer risk.