A dynamic epigenome is critical for appropriate gene expression in development and health1,2,3,4,5. Central to this is the intricate process of transcription6,7,8,9,10,11, which integrates cellular signaling with chromatin changes, transcriptional machinery and modifications to messenger RNA, such as N6-methyladenosine (m6A), which is co-transcriptionally incorporated. The integration of these aspects

Studies of stem cell behaviour during regeneration have largely focused on understanding how cells make the choice between self-renewal and differentiation. It remains unclear whether cells undergo smooth transitions during differentiation or pause at selective intermediate states. Three studies now explore this question in lung regeneration.

A detailed understanding of the function of neural networks and how they are supported by a dynamic vascular system requires fast three-dimensional imaging in thick tissues. Here we present confocal light field microscopy, a method that enables fast volumetric imaging in the brain at depths of hundreds of micrometers. It uses a generalized confocal detection scheme that selectively collects fluorescent

The tragedy is one of the largest industrial accidents involving the explosive chemical, and it hit Lebanon amid the coronavirus pandemic and an economic crisis.

Marine biologist Greg Rouse is elated to have been on a research cruise that discovered the world’s longest creature.

Astrophysicist Katie Mack’s book explores all the ways the cosmos could destroy itself.

Pioneering guidelines aren’t enough to prevent overseas militaries such as China’s from co-opting the country’s science, say some experts.

Listen to an audio version of a recent Nature feature article.

Images from space bolster the population count, but the birds remain vulnerable to climate change.

A change in the sex ratio of offspring in the United Kingdom might reflect shifting attitudes about gender.

SARS-CoV-2 seems to interact with the immune system in some unusual ways. Plus: the first cancer tumour seen in a dinosaur and the study that has tracked the survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs for decades.

US rules forced an online neuroscience course to block people in Iran from signing up, but the organizers won a last-minute reprieve.

Researchers want to use this information to predict and stop future outbreaks.

The phosphoinositide, phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2), has long been established as a major contributor to intracellular signaling, primarily by virtue of its role as a substrate for phospholipase C (PLC). Signaling by Gq-protein–coupled receptors triggers PLC-mediated hydrolysis of PIP2 into inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate and diacylglycerol, which are well known to modulate vascular ion

The type VII protein secretion system (T7SS) is conserved across Staphylococcus aureus strains and plays important roles in virulence and interbacterial competition. To date, only one T7SS substrate protein, encoded in a subset of S. aureus genomes, has been functionally characterized. Here, using an unbiased proteomic approach, we identify TspA as a further T7SS substrate. TspA is encoded distantly

Regulatory T (Treg) cells, expressing CD25 (interleukin-2 receptor α chain) and Foxp3 transcription factor, maintain immunological self-tolerance and suppress various immune responses. Here we report a feature of skin Treg cells expanded by ultraviolet B (UVB) exposure. We found that skin Treg cells possessing a healing function are expanded by UVB exposure with the expression of an endogenous opioid

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses of the H5 A/goose/Guangdong/1/96 lineage can cause severe disease in poultry and wild birds, and occasionally in humans. In recent years, H5 HPAI viruses of this lineage infecting poultry in Asia have spilled over into wild birds and spread via bird migration to countries in Europe, Africa, and North America. In 2016/2017, this spillover resulted in

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neuroinflammatory disease characterized by demyelination of neurons in the central nervous system (CNS) (1). While the ultimate cause of the disease is unknown, MS is commonly considered to be an autoimmune disorder in which autoreactive CD4+ T cells are activated by an (unknown) autoantigen presented by antigen-presenting cells (APCs) outside the CNS. Once in the CNS,

Both animal and plant cells rely on innate immune systems to recognize and appropriately respond to pathogens. These systems have many similar themes and surprising commonalities, both in the protein domains used and in the mechanisms of larger immune complexes (1). In PNAS, Duxbury et al. (2) explore these commonalities by generating functional plant–animal hybrid immune receptors to ask questions

Virus entry is a multistep process. It initiates when the virus attaches to the host cell and ends when the viral contents reach the cytosol. Genetically unrelated viruses can subvert analogous subcellular mechanisms and use similar trafficking pathways for successful entry. Antiviral strategies targeting early steps of infection are therefore appealing, particularly when the probability for successful

Adaptive social behavior and mental well-being depend on not only recognizing emotional expressions but also, inferring the absence of emotion. While the neurobiology underwriting the perception of emotions is well studied, the mechanisms for detecting a lack of emotional content in social signals remain largely unknown. Here, using cutting-edge analyses of effective brain connectivity, we uncover

Cytotoxic T cell differentiation is guided by epigenome adaptations, but how epigenetic mechanisms control lymphocyte development has not been well defined. Here we show that the histone methyltransferase DOT1L, which marks the nucleosome core on active genes, safeguards normal differentiation of CD8+ T cells. T cell-specific ablation of Dot1L resulted in loss of naïve CD8+ T cells and premature differentiation

Maintaining energy homeostasis requires coordinating physiology and behavior both on an acute timescale to adapt to rapid fluctuations in caloric intake and on a chronic timescale to regulate body composition. Hypothalamic agouti-related peptide (AgRP)-expressing neurons are acutely activated by caloric need, and this acute activation promotes increased food intake and decreased energy expenditure

The identification of precision blood biomarkers which can accurately indicate damage to brain tissue could yield molecular diagnostics with the potential to improve how we detect and treat neurological pathologies. However, a majority of candidate blood biomarkers for neurological damage that are studied today are proteins which were arbitrarily proposed several decades before the advent of high-throughput

In this issue of Cell Stem Cell, Jia et al. (2020) identify residual cancer stem cells (CSCs) as a mechanism of immunotherapy resistance in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Remarkably, targeting this population of CSCs can be exploited to potentiate immunotherapy and reduce tumor recurrence and metastasis.

Stem cell biologists have been yearning to visualize hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in live animals since Kiel et al. (2005) first visualized them in bone cavities. With two recent papers from Christodoulou et al. (2020) and Upadhaya et al. (2020), we can all now see how HSCs behave in their niches!

Barrier properties of the choroid plexus (ChP) help protect the brain from the external world. In Science, Pellegrini et al. (2020) report the successful creation of human ChP organoids, which produce a cerebrospinal fluid-like secretion and recapitulate barrier functions, thereby inspiring new advances for targeted brain therapeutics.

Senescence is a critical factor in several diseases, yet senolytic therapies targeting senescent cells remain hindered by lack of specificity. In the June issue of Nature, Amor et al. (2020) develop chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells targeting uPAR, a novel senescent-cell marker, to treat liver adenocarcinoma and liver fibrosis.

As humans age, hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) occasionally acquire mutations in genes including DNMT3A that enable them to outcompete other HSCs and increase leukemia risk. In this issue of Cell Stem Cell, Tovy et al. (2020) report a previously uncharacterized mechanism by which DNMT3A loss confers increased fitness to HSCs by analyzing a rare experiment of nature.

COVID-19 has unfortunately halted lab work, conferences, and in-person networking, which is especially detrimental to researchers just starting their labs. Through social media and our reviewer networks, we met some early-career stem cell investigators impacted by the closures. Here, they introduce themselves and their research to our readers.

Aging has a profound and devastating effect on the brain. Old age is accompanied by declining cognitive function and enhanced risk of brain diseases, including cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. A key question is whether cells with regenerative potential contribute to brain health and even brain “rejuvenation.” This review discusses mechanisms that regulate neural stem cells (NSCs) during aging

Oguri and colleagues use single-cell RNA sequencing to identify a beige adipocyte precursor cell that gives rise to thermogenic adipocytes in subcutaneous adipose tissue. These beige fat progenitors are marked by PDGFRα, Sca1, and CD81 and proliferate upon activation of FAK-signaling in response to the cold and irisin.

In the skin, sympathetic nerves, arrector pili muscles, and hair follicles form a tri-lineage unit to cause piloerection or goosebumps. In this issue of Cell, Schwartz et al. report that, beyond goosebumps, muscle-anchored nerves form “synapse-like” connections with hair follicle stem cells to promote hair regeneration in response to cold.

Serotonin production by enterochromaffin cells (ECs) is microbiota-dependent, but the mechanism of this is unknown. In this issue of Cell, Sugisawa et al. demonstrate that Piezo1 in ECs senses single-strand RNA (ssRNA) from intestinal microbiota to promote serotonin production. Deletion of Piezo1 in intestinal epithelium promotes bone formation, decreases peristalsis, and protects from colitis because