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Laflamme and Mekhail discuss emerging nuclear roles for LLPS in genome organization, gene expression and DNA repair, highlighting the emerging notion that biomolecular condensates regulate the sequential engagement of molecules in multistep biological processes.
In this Perspective, Axel Newton and Andrew Pask examine the role of the Runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2) QA repeat during skeletal development and discuss how its emergence and expansion may have facilitated the evolution of morphological novelty in vertebrates.
Shuai Jiang discusses the regulation and functional role of the Tet2 enzyme, a regulator of lymphoid and myeloid cell development frequently mutated in haematopoietic cancers. He highlights how Tet2 activity may be modulated to influence cancer immune responses.
In this Review, Lisa Waylen and colleagues provide an overview of techniques used for spatial resolution of gene expression in a tissue or organ. They discuss the advantages, disadvantages and future directions of current methods and illustrate how spatial transcriptomics has impacted our understanding of biology.
In this Perspective, Christopher Gisriel et al. discuss the challenges in accurate assignment of co-factors in cryo-EM, particularly for chlorophylls. They explore the factors that lead to misassignment and offer suggestions for improving reliability of cryo-EM-based assignments.
In this Perspective article, Claudio Quilodrán et al. discuss how hybridization should be considered with respect to conservation. They argue hybridization may be useful for species conservation by enhancing the ability of taxa to adapt better to changing environmental conditions or increasing genetic diversity.
Sannigrahi et al. discuss conformational switching that allows proteins to alter their conformation, aiding in pathogenesis by enabling cellular entry of viruses and bacterial toxins. Focussing on fusion domain of the Spike glycoprotein of SARS COV2 virus, they identify similar “switching sequences” present in diverse pathogen derived proteins.
Dimple Chakravarty et al. review the rapidly emerging data indicating a higher rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection in men. They note that men in the age group most at risk of infection are also at high risk of prostate cancer, and explore the potential links between these diseases and implications for COVID-19 treatment in prostate cancer patients.
Eve Miguel et al. discuss the potential and practice of wildlife culling to control infectious disease both in the wildlife population and in transmission to humans. They identify several factors that must be considered when using culling, including host and pathogen ecology and eco-sociological contexts.
In this Perspective, Bryan Runck and colleagues discuss an often-overlooked consequence of scaling up cover cropping – a cornerstone of sustainable agriculture. Using published seed yield data from common cover crops, they demonstrate the potentially large land use cost and discuss ways for reducing this cost.
In this review, Cottrill et al. discuss how the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane conductance Regulator (CFTR) interacts with the membrane into which it is inserted. They summarize recent insight into the ways lipids are imbalanced in CF epithelia and how the lipid environment affects CFTR.
Ellegaard et al. discuss the potential for using ancient environmental DNA (eDNA), combined with resurrection ecology, to analyse trophic interactions and evolutionary adaptation to changing environments. Their Review suggests that these techniques will improve our ability to predict genetic and phenotypic adaptation to environmental stress.
Dalal et al. provide a thorough review of bilateral hemispheric interactions in the context of odor perception and memory. They summarize reports on anatomy, physiology and behavior related to olfaction. This review provides insights on how odor information can be processed unilaterally and/or bilaterally despite the lack of topographical organization.
Pastore et al. provide independent evidence that the Alzheimer Aβ peptides could function as antimicrobial peptides based on convincing structural and sequence similarities with viral fusion domains and established antimicrobial peptides. Aβ could dispatch an antimicrobial function through a mechanism that involves membrane pore formation.
