Research articles

Temsavir, a compound that inhibits HIV entry by binding envelope (Env), is currently in clinical development. Here, Lai et al. identify a more than 10-fold improved compound and, using lattice engineering, obtain crystal structures that give insights into improved inhibition between small molecules and Env.

Protective antibody responses depend critically on proper B cell development and differentiation at multiple stages. Here the authors show that a protein arginine methyltransferase, Prmt5 uses multiples pathways to prevent death of immature B cells, yet modulates, in p53-independent manners, the survival and differentiation of mature B cells.

Gene editing strategies are typically designed to correct mutant genes, but most neurodegenerative diseases are sporadic. Here the authors describe a strategy to selectively edit the C-terminus of APP and attenuate amyloid-β production, while upregulating neuroprotective α-cleavage.

Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) quantum dots (QDs) have promising electronic properties which might be further tailorable by defect engineering. Here the authors describe a room temperature aqueous based synthesis of TMD QDs with controlled defect concentration, and demonstrate the correlation between defect concentration and biomedical activity.

Singlet exciton fission – the separation of photoexcited singlet states into two triplet states – holds promise for enhancing photocurrents in photovoltaic technologies. Krishnapriya et al. characterize how electron delocalization over the bridges in a series of pentacene dimers controls this process.

Motor learning is thought to be mostly procedural, but recent work has suggested that there is a strong cognitive component to it. Here, the authors show that humans use dissociable cognitive strategies, either caching successful responses or using a rule-based strategy, to solve a visuomotor learning task.

Transposable elements (TE) are the dominant constituent of plant genomes. Here the authors develop a tool to analyze TE insertion sites in 3000 rice genomes and provide evidence for recent TE activity during cultivation and that external, rather than genetic, stimuli trigger most activations.

Photonic crystals can steer, shape, and sculpture the flow of photons. Here, the author fabricate a deep-subwavelength photonic crystal slab that supports ultra-confined phonon polaritons, by patterning a nanoscale hole array in h-BN.

MLL3 and MLL4 are members of the SET1/MLL family of histone H3K4 methyltransferases, which are responsible for monomethylating histone H3K4 on enhancers. Here the authors show that an extended PHD domain (ePHD₆) in MLL3 and MLL4 specifically recognizes an H4H18-containing fragment of histone H4, and that modifications of residues surrounding H4H18 modulate H4 binding to MLL3/4.

Neurokinin receptors are G protein-coupled receptors. Here the authors present three crystal structures of the neurokinin 1 receptor (NK₁R) in complex with small-molecule antagonists including aprepitant and netupitant and observe that these clinically approved compounds induce a conformational change in the receptor.

The human stomach is divided into seven anatomically distinct regions but their protein composition is largely unknown. Here, the authors present a region-resolved map of the healthy human stomach mucosa as well as mucosa proteomes of tumor and tumor nearby tissue from gastric cancer patients.

The mechanisms underlying bacterial persisters formation remain poorly understood. Here, Chen et al. identify a complex formed by extracellular poly(dC) and the binding protein RmlB that controls Pseudomonas aeruginosa persister formation in response to environmental stimuli.

Centriolar separation is thought to be crucial for centriole duplication, but the mechanism behind separation is poorly understood. Here, using micropatterning, the authors report that actomyosin forces influence the direction, distance, and time of centriole separation.

A current challenge in genome editing is delivering Cas9 and sgRNA into target cells. Here the authors engineer a delivery system based on murine leukemia virus-like particles loaded with Cas9-sgRNA ribonucleoproteins to induce efficient genome editing in both cell culture and in vivo in mouse.

DnaB helicases are motor proteins that couple ATP-hydrolysis to the movement of the protein along single-stranded DNA leading to a separation of double-stranded DNA at the replication fork. Here authors use solid-state NMR spectroscopy and reveal DnaB’s conformational responses to ATP hydrolysis and the resulting DNA loading and translocation.

Transposable elements (TEs) fulfill essential but poorly understood roles in genome organization and gene expression control. Here the authors show that the regulation of TEs occurs through overlapping epigenetic mechanisms that control the expression and chromatin signatures at TEs.

The scalability of printable integrated circuits is lagging far behind that of conventional silicon-based technologies. Here, Kwon et al. show a three-dimensional integration approach by stacking printeddual-gate organic transistors on plastic foils with a density of 60 transistors per centimeter square.

Replacing the toxic lead in the state-of-the-art halide perovskite solar cells is highly desired but the device performance and stability are usually compromised. Here Chen et al. develop inorganic cesium tin and germanium mixed-cation perovskites that show high operational stability and efficiency over 7%.

The respiratory system is transformed in terms of functional change at birth to adapt to breathing air. Here, the authors examine the molecular changes behind the first breath in the mouse by Drop-seq based RNA sequencing, identifying activation of the unfolded protein response as a perinatal adaptation of the lung.

The inactive X chromosome (Xi) has an atypical structure, with global loss of TADs, A/B compartments and formation of mega-domains. Here the authors show that the non-canonical SMC family protein, SmcHD1, important for developmental gene silencing on Xi, antagonises TAD formation and compartmentalization on the Xi in a transcription independent way.