Browse Articles

Inducible promoters that control gene expression in response to small molecules are essential in synthetic biology. Here, the authors describe a simple and reliable approach for constructing strongly inducible synthetic yeast promoters, which are validated for use in large-scale protein production.

Modern biotechnology necessitates robust biosecurity protocols to address the risk of engineered biological threats. In this Perspective, the authors review cutting-edge methods for DNA analysis and recommend avenues to improve biosecurity in an adaptable manner.

Technical advances have enabled simultaneous study of the molecular and biomechanical inputs involved in regulating development. In this Perspective, the authors give a historical view of these advances and propose that biomechanical cues in the marine environment may have helped foster metazoan evolution.

Immune gene expression analysis can help differentiate between inflammatory skin diseases. Here the authors compare expression profiles between different human inflammatory skin diseases and identify gene modules such as cytokines or inflammatory mediators and a molecular map to assist in diagnosis and treatment.

Affinity chromatography allows for the separation of biomolecules such as proteins, based on a change in the chemical solvent composition and the resulting impacts on ligand binding. Here, authors introduce a physical principle by exploiting the light-dependent interaction between the Azo-tag and an α- CD chromatography matrix.

The authors define the cenotectic — the low-temperature stability limit for a liquid under arbitrary thermodynamic conditions — and measure it for several aqueous solutions of relevance to extraterrestrial oceans using isochoric freezing/melting.

Peripherally restricted CB1 inhibitors retain the weight loss benefits of this drug class while sparing the negative psychiatric side effects. The authors here elucidate cryo-EM structures of CB1 bound to peripherally restricted inhibitors to explain these drugs’ molecular mechanism of action.

Hetero-oligomeric proteins offer many advantages for bioengineering efforts but are difficult to make from scratch. Here, authors present a simple method for creating pseudosymmetric hetero-oligomers from input symmetrical proteins.

The mechanisms regulating multipotency in glandular epithelia remain unclear. Here, the authors identify the key role of collagen signaling and ECM stiffness in regulating stem cell multipotency in glandular epithelia.

Read-in and read-out of data limit the overall performance of optical computing methods. This work introduces a multilayer optoelectronic framework that alternates between optical and optoelectronic layers to implement matrix-vector multiplications and rectified linear functions experimentally

The authors uncover one of the largest mitoribosomes, dedicated to translating only three proteins in lethal human eukaryotic pathogens of the Apicomplexa phylum. All members of mitochondrial DNA-containing Myzozoa, including Toxoplasma gondii, have commandeered three lineage-specific families of RNA-binding proteins to meticulously piece together over 40 mitochondrial rRNA fragments to build an operational mitoribosome.

S-cluster is a group of high-velocity stars near the supermassive black hole in the center of our Galaxy, and binary stars have been predicted in the S-cluster, but not detected. Here, the authors show detection of a spectroscopic binary in the S-cluster.

Macronucleophagy degrades nuclear components. Here, the authors use yeast cells to show that macronucleophagy can act as a break to limit micronucleophagy, another mode of autophagic degradation of nuclear components, and that this may play a role in protection against starvation.

Gorgonopsians were sabre toothed therapsids, a group that is ancestral to mammals. The authors here describe a gorgonopsian from the early–middle Permian of Mallorca, suggesting that therapsids originated in tropical regions and diversified quickly over 10 million years.

This study shows that among healthy adults tracked across their lives, brain atrophy rates correlate with genetic risk for Alzheimer’s and memory decline, and that degeneration in Alzheimer’s-vulnerable brain regions is a continuous phenomenon.

Mutations in the NRF2-KEAP1 pathway is found to be related with therapeutic resistance and poor outcomes of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Here this group reports that cystine/glutamate antiporter system xc−, controlled by NRF2, can be non-invasively imaged by positron emission tomography thereby providing a sensitive and specific marker of NRF2 activation in advanced preclinical models of NSCLC.