News & Comment

A review of citation rates from genomic studies in the GWAS Catalog suggests that sharing summary statistics results, on average, in ~81.8% more citations, highlighting a benefit of publicly sharing GWAS summary statistics.

Cilia assembly and function require intraflagellar transport (IFT), a mechanism that uses “trains” to transport cargoes into and out of cilia. While much has been learned about IFT in the past decades, IFT train assembly, loading of cargo and transport regulation have remained poorly understood. In a recent study, Hesketh, Mukhopadhyay and colleagues obtained the complete structure of the IFT-A complex, a key element of IFT trains. By modelling IFT-A into anterograde trains and performing structure-guided mutagenesis, the authors uncover how the IFT-A complex polymerizes and forms carriages to accomplish its distinctive functions.

We reflect on how far we have come while looking forward to the next phase of our journey.

Recent structures of DNA-bound bacterial and phage recombinases provide insights into homologous recombination and suggest relation to the eukaryotic Rad52 and identification of a Rad52 single strand annealing protein (SSAP) superfamily.

The BIL1/BZR1 transcription factor is known to regulate transcriptional responses to the brassinosteroid class of phytohormones by directly recognizing short cis regulatory elements in promoters. A new study by Shohei Nosaki, Nobutaka Mitsuda, and colleagues published in Nature Plants indicates that binding of this transcription factor is additionally affected by nucleobases that influence DNA shape but are not directly contacted by BIL1/BZR1.

To commemorate LGBTQIA+ STEM Day this year, we reached out to faculty in institutional and national leadership roles to discuss their academic journeys, the importance of having queer role models and ways to better support LGQTBIA+ researchers.

The STEM Village is an international effort dedicated to improving the visibility of the LGBTQ+ STEM community. As part of our own celebration of LGBTQIA+ STEM Day, we spoke to members of The STEM Village leadership team about their programming and ways to get involved.

Dr. Nikki Traylor-Knowles is an Associate Professor of Marine Biology and Ecology at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. Dr. Traylor-Knowles received her Ph.D. from Boston University and was a NSF Ocean Sciences postdoctoral fellow at Hopkins Marine Station before starting her own research lab in 2016. In this Q&A, Dr. Traylor-Knowles tells us about her work on understanding the complexities of coral and role as the founder of Black Women in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Science (BWEEMS).

Anti-retroviral therapy with drugs like dolutegravir is a powerful tool in both the treatment and prevention of HIV, but is limited by strict adherence to a daily therapeutic regimen. In a recent study, Deodhar, Sillman, and colleagues developed a dolutegravir prodrug that offers long-lasting protection against HIV infection, with the potential to dramatically improve anti-retroviral therapy efficacy.

While recent advances in plant single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) have made numerous strides in identifying novel regulatory events, transcriptional profiling of certain cell types, such as phloem poles, has not yet been thoroughly investigated. A recent article by Otero et al. utilized cell-type specific marker lines and a second-generation single-cell approach to uncover transcriptomic landscapes specifying protophloem-adjacent cells, as well as identify a set of important transcription factors (TFs) signifying early phloem development.

The viruses infecting bacteria, known as phages, carry a wondrous diversity of enzymes known as endolysins, which are responsible for opening cellular doors, like the membrane or wall, so that newly minted phages are set free. In a recent study, Oechslin and colleagues explored the evolutionary mystery of lactococcal endolysin biodiversity, suggesting that these endolysins are flexible and can be used as kinds of skeleton keys to open a broad range of cellular doors.

Recent findings implicating homeobox B13 (HOXB13) as a regulator of sheep tail length and their impact on sheep breeding via selection-based strategies and molecular genetics-based tools are discussed.

Oligodendrocytes are derived from a subtype of glia called oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs). The potential functions of OPCs beyond oligodendrogenesis however, have remained elusive. In their latest study, Auguste et al. demonstrate that OPCs could play a regulatory role in synaptic connectivity in the developing and adult mouse visual cortex - a function that is independent of oligodendrogenesis.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most aggressive cancers, with less than 10% of patients surviving more than five years. A major challenge of PDAC is understanding the complexity of the tumor architecture and identifying targetable cellular phenotypes that can inform clinical decision-making. Hwang et al. recently harnessed spatially-resolved transcriptomics to characterize gene expression profiles across PDAC tumor slices and identified recurrent expression patterns in malignant and fibroblast cellular neighborhoods that correlated with treatment outcomes.

Soil microbiota, including arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), are critical for plant nutrition in non-agricultural ecosystems. A new study by Edlinger et al. shows that agricultural soils are negatively impacted by fungicide use and generally have lower AMF diversity and abundance.

More than twenty years have passed since the first complex genetic circuits were implemented in the model bacteria, Escherichia coli. Yet, translating these circuits to other clinically-relevant bacteria remains a challenge. In a recent study, Huang and colleagues applied engineered transcription factors to control the growth of a microbial community of Bacteroides species.

In this second Q&A for Peer Review Week, we spoke to Dr. Franziska Denk and Professor Katryn Stacey about their views on research integrity as scientists and reviewers.

Peer Review Week celebrates the essential role of peer review in maintaining the quality and integrity of science. This year’s theme is “Research Integrity: Creating and supporting trust in research.” In honour of this, here at Communications Biology, we spoke to Rafal Marszalek, Si Ming Man and Guideng Li about their views on research integrity as scientists and editors.

Out of the ashes departmental seminar breakdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic rose Pal(a)eoPERCS, a global effort to engage early career researchers from around the world in an accessible and productive community. We spoke to the committee of Pal(a)eoPERCS about the formation, success, and drive for their initiative.

Recent developments in the field of planarian stem cell research are discussed, an active and accessible stem cell system that can generate any cell type of the planarian body, to address the question of pluripotency among neoblasts.