Technology Feature |
Featured
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Article
| Open AccessTransposase-assisted target-site integration for efficient plant genome engineering
Fusion of rice Pong transposase to the Cas9 or Cas12a programmable nucleases provides sequence-specific targeted insertion of enhancer elements, an open reading frame and gene expression cassette into the genome of the model plant Arabidopsis and crop soybean.
- Peng Liu
- , Kaushik Panda
- & R. Keith Slotkin
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Nature Podcast |
How do fish know where a sound comes from? Scientists have an answer
A dual hearing system helps fish pinpoint a sound’s source — plus uncovering the secrets of the sensory structures that respond to touch during sex.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Benjamin Thompson
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Article
| Open AccessHuman SARS-CoV-2 challenge uncovers local and systemic response dynamics
A human SARS-CoV-2 challenge study in individuals without previous exposure to the virus or vaccines provides detailed profiles of local and systemic epithelial and immune cell response dynamics over time and infection status.
- Rik G. H. Lindeboom
- , Kaylee B. Worlock
- & Sarah A. Teichmann
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Technology Feature |
Push and pull: how to measure the forces that sculpt embryos
A steadily growing toolbox is giving researchers the ability to monitor and measure the physical forces that shape embryonic development.
- Michael Eisenstein
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Career Feature |
Tiny beauty: how I make scientific art from behind the microscope
Steve Gschmeissner images tiny creatures and viruses to show the public an unseen world.
- Josie Glausiusz
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Editorial |
CRISPR cures and cancer vaccines: researchers can help to shepherd them to market
It’s not just people with ultra-rare disorders who could benefit from hyper-personalized therapies. Scientists and regulators must work together to ensure the benefits are spread.
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News Feature |
Hope, despair and CRISPR — the race to save one woman’s life
Researchers in India fought to develop what could have been the first therapy to use gene-editing to halt a rare neurodegenerative disease. The efforts hold lessons for the messy state of modern drug development.
- Heidi Ledford
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Article |
The respiratory system influences flight mechanics in soaring birds
An investigation of the subpectoral diverticulum—an inflatable air sac structure between the major flight muscles—in 68 avian species reveals that the respiratory system has a role in the mechanics of flight in soaring birds.
- Emma R. Schachner
- , Andrew J. Moore
- & Karl T. Bates
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Research Highlight |
CRISPR improves a crop that feeds billions
The gene-editing system, normally used to disrupt a gene, is applied to improve the function of a gene in rice.
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Article
| Open AccessSingle-cell nascent RNA sequencing unveils coordinated global transcription
Nascent transcription in genes and enhancers genome-wide at the single-cell level is quantified using global run-on and sequencing (GRO–seq) with click chemistry.
- Dig B. Mahat
- , Nathaniel D. Tippens
- & Phillip A. Sharp
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Technology Feature |
How to keep the lights on: the mission to make more photostable fluorophores
Fluorescent labels that have greater resistance to bleaching could help researchers to get more from biological imaging.
- Ariana Remmel
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Research Briefing |
Measuring the forces that shape early human embryos
Contractile forces at the surface of cells of early human embryos bring the cells together. When these forces are absent, the embryo will not develop further. ‘Weak’ cells do not produce these forces and cannot contribute to the embryo. These observations should influence clinical choices during assisted reproductive-technology procedures.
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Outlook |
AI assistance for planning cancer treatment
Armed with the right data, advances in machine learning could help oncologists to home in quickly on the best treatment strategies for their patients.
- Michael Eisenstein
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Article
| Open AccessStructural basis for pegRNA-guided reverse transcription by a prime editor
Cryo-electron microscopy structures of the prime editor bound to a prime editing guide RNA and target DNA, in the pre-initiation, initiation and elongation and termination states, provide insights into the mechanism by which prime editing occurs.
- Yutaro Shuto
- , Ryoya Nakagawa
- & Osamu Nureki
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Article
| Open AccessHigh-resolution in situ structures of mammalian respiratory supercomplexes
Mammalian respiratory supercomplexes are imaged in their native membrane environment by in situ cryo-electron microscopy, providing insight into their reactive intermediates and conformational dynamics.
- Wan Zheng
- , Pengxin Chai
- & Kai Zhang
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Article
| Open AccessLife-cycle-coupled evolution of mitosis in close relatives of animals
We analyse cell division in ichthyosporeans and find that multinucleated life cycles favour the evolution of closed mitosis, in which the cell constructs a spindle within an intact nucleus.
- Hiral Shah
- , Marine Olivetta
- & Gautam Dey
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Article
| Open AccessNatural proteome diversity links aneuploidy tolerance to protein turnover
Proteomic data from natural isolates of Saccharomyces cerevisiae provide insight into how these cells tolerate aneuploidy (an imbalance in the number of chromosomes), and reveal differences between lab-engineered aneuploids and diverse natural yeasts.
- Julia Muenzner
- , Pauline Trébulle
- & Markus Ralser
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Article
| Open AccessSelective haematological cancer eradication with preserved haematopoiesis
An antibody–drug conjugate that targets the pan-haematopoietic marker CD45 combined with transplanted stem cells engineered to be shielded from it can eradicate leukaemic cells while preserving haematopoiesis.
- Simon Garaudé
- , Romina Marone
- & Lukas T. Jeker
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Technology Feature |
DeepLabCut: the motion-tracking tool that went viral
Mackenzie and Alexander Mathis were still early in their careers when their software created a sensation. Now they’re using it to support other young scientists.
- Jyoti Madhusoodanan
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News |
World’s brightest X-rays: China first in Asia to build next-generation synchrotron
The US$665-million High Energy Photon Source (HEPS) outside Beijing puts China among only a handful of countries that have fourth-generation synchrotron light sources.
- Gemma Conroy
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Technology Feature |
Powerful ‘nanopore’ DNA sequencing method tackles proteins too
Latest methods bring the speed, portability, and long read lengths of nanopore sequencing to proteomics.
- Caroline Seydel
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Research Briefing |
Quantum tunnelling of electrons brings ultrafast optical microscopy to the atomic scale
The oscillating electromagnetic fields that carry light can cause electrons to tunnel back and forth through a potential energy barrier. Remarkably, this alternating current can coherently emit measurable light waves — an unexpected process that can be exploited to build an optical microscope that undercuts existing spatial and temporal limitations.
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Article
| Open AccessThe intrinsic substrate specificity of the human tyrosine kinome
An atlas of the substrate specificities for the human tyrosine kinome reveals diversity of motif specificities and enables identification of kinase–substrate relationships and kinase regulation in phosphoproteomics experiments.
- Tomer M. Yaron-Barir
- , Brian A. Joughin
- & Jared L. Johnson
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Article |
Label-free detection and profiling of individual solution-phase molecules
Enhanced light–molecule interactions in high-finesse fibre-based Fabry–Pérot microcavities are used to detect and profile individual unlabelled solution-phase biomolecules, leading to potential applications in the life and chemical sciences.
- Lisa-Maria Needham
- , Carlos Saavedra
- & Randall H. Goldsmith
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News & Views |
Microbubble ultrasound maps hidden signs of heart disease
Cardiovascular disease claims more lives each year than do the two next-deadliest diseases combined. An ultrasound technique that tracks tiny gas-filled bubbles could pave the way towards improved early detection.
- Elisa E. Konofagou
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Spotlight |
How I’m supporting other researchers who have moved to Lithuania
Biochemist Stephen Knox Jones chose a role in the Baltic country over other faculty positions in Denmark and the United States. He explains why.
- Jacqui Thornton
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Spotlight |
I fell out of love with the lab, and in love with business
The COVID-19 pandemic changed Karolina Makovskytė’s career ambitions, propelling her to a business development role in her home nation of Lithuania.
- Jacqui Thornton
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Spotlight |
How bioinformatics led one scientist home to Lithuania
Juozas Gordevičius founded a data-science company in the United States before returning to Vilnius.
- Jacqui Thornton
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Obituary |
Allen J. Bard obituary: electrochemist whose techniques underpin clinical diagnostics, materials discovery and more
Innovator who pioneered scanning electrochemical microscopy, bioassays and solar fuels.
- Michael Rose
- & Henry S. White
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Spotlight |
A snapshot of Lithuania’s life-sciences landscape
Nature examines the Baltic country’s research ambitions as it marks 20 years of European Union membership.
- Jacqui Thornton
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News |
‘ChatGPT for CRISPR’ creates new gene-editing tools
Some of the AI-designed gene editors could be more versatile than those found in nature.
- Ewen Callaway
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Article
| Open AccessWhole-cortex in situ sequencing reveals input-dependent area identity
BARseq interrogates the expression of 104 cell-type marker genes in 10.3 million cells over nine mouse forebrain hemispheres to reveal the role of peripheral inputs on cortical area development.
- Xiaoyin Chen
- , Stephan Fischer
- & Anthony M. Zador
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Article
| Open AccessSpatiotemporally resolved colorectal oncogenesis in mini-colons ex vivo
Topobiologically complex mini-colons—which enable the faithful in vitro recapitulation of colorectal cancer tumorigenesis and its environmental determinants—offer the possibility to reduce animal use in a wide range of experimental applications.
- L. Francisco Lorenzo-Martín
- , Tania Hübscher
- & Matthias P. Lutolf
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Career Feature |
Breaking ice, and helicopter drops: winning photos of working scientists
Nature’s annual photography competition attracted stunning images from around the world, including two very different shots featuring the Polarstern research vessel.
- Jack Leeming
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Outlook |
AI’s keen diagnostic eye
Powered by deep-learning algorithms, artificial intelligence systems could replace agents such as chemicals currently used to augment medical scans.
- Neil Savage
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Technology Feature |
A milestone map of mouse-brain connectivity reveals challenging new terrain for scientists
A pioneering ‘connectomics’ collaboration has successfully reconstructed one cubic millimetre of brain tissue, but researchers are still just scratching the surface of the complexity it contains.
- Michael Eisenstein
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News |
This fMRI technique promised to transform brain research — why can no one replicate it?
The DIANA technique sparked excitement from neuroscientists. But two new papers have cast doubt over the results.
- McKenzie Prillaman
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News & Views |
A bitter taste receptor activated in a surprising way
The sensing of bitter taste results from the complex interplay of many chemical cues and a range of receptors. It emerges that this complexity might be built-in even at the level of individual receptors.
- Antonella Di Pizio
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Article
| Open AccessSingle-cell multiplex chromatin and RNA interactions in ageing human brain
We introduce multinucleic acid interaction mapping in single cells (MUSIC), for concurrent profiling of multiplex chromatin interactions, gene expression and RNA–chromatin associations within individual nuclei, as a tool for exploring chromatin architecture and transcription.
- Xingzhao Wen
- , Zhifei Luo
- & Sheng Zhong
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Technology Feature |
One year, three researchers, millions of cells: how a small team created the largest mouse-embryo atlas so far
A map of mouse development from conception to birth tracks 12.4 million cells at single-cell resolution as they mature into organs and other tissues.
- Sara Reardon
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News & Views |
Powerful microscopy reveals blood-cell production in bone marrow
A method for imaging the production of blood cells in the bones of mice has revealed the organization of cell lineages, both in a steady state and in response to stressors, such as bleeding and infection.
- M. Carolina Florian
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Nature Video |
Building a heart atlas: researchers map organ in stunning detail
Cutting edge imaging techniques reveal how cells organise as the heart develops.
- Dan Fox
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Nature Index |
Four change-makers seek impact in medical research
Bringing fresh perspectives to long-standing health challenges, these scientists are using techniques such as big-data analytics and AI to push the field.
- Amy Coombs
- & Sandy Ong
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Article |
Universal recording of immune cell interactions in vivo
A paper reports the development of a universal tool for studying cellular interactions in biological systems, and demonstrates its coupling with single-cell transcriptomics methods to provide insights into the biology of the interactions.
- Sandra Nakandakari-Higa
- , Sarah Walker
- & Gabriel D. Victora
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Technology Feature |
How phase separation is revolutionizing biology
Imaging and molecular manipulation reveal how biomolecular condensates form and offer clues to the role of phase separation in health and disease.
- Elie Dolgin
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News |
MEGA-CRISPR tool gives a power boost to cancer-fighting cells
A system that edits RNA rather than DNA can give new life to exhausted CAR T cells.
- Sara Reardon
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Technology Feature |
Super-speedy sequencing puts genomic diagnosis in the fast lane
Streamlined workflows for DNA and RNA sequencing are helping clinicians to deliver prompt, targeted care to people in days — or even hours.
- Michael Eisenstein
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News |
Move over, CRISPR: RNA-editing therapies pick up steam
Two RNA-editing therapies for genetic diseases have in the past few months gained approval for clinical trials, raising hopes for safer treatments.
- Mariana Lenharo
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Article
| Open AccessGenetic determinants of micronucleus formation in vivo
Genetic screening identifies a rich catalogue of regulators of micronucleus formation.
- D. J. Adams
- , B. Barlas
- & G. Balmus
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