Einkorn (Triticum monococcum) — the world’s first domesticated wheat species — was domesticated approximately 10,000 years ago. Ahmed et al. generated chromosome-scale genome assemblies of a domesticated einkorn landrace, TA10622, and a wild einkorn accession, TA299. The centromeric regions in both accessions were completely assembled, which enabled in-depth analysis of the unique structure across

Variable numbers of tandem repeats (VNTRs) are a category of genomic variants whose contribution to disease risk remains underexplored, owing to challenges in genotyping VNTRs accurately in large population samples. To overcome these challenges, Mukamel et al. applied a statistical imputation approach to estimate haplotype-resolved repeat lengths at 9,561 multiallelic VNTR loci in 418,136 participants

Single-cell genomics has been used to describe a plethora of novel cellular states on the basis of their transcriptomic and epigenomic profiles, but does not in and of itself identify causal links between such states and phenotypes of interest. Fernández-Chacón et al. examine the mechanisms of vascular pathophysiology due to DLL4 targeting in mouse liver endothelial cells in vivo, via genetic and pharmacological

Enhancers can bypass nearby genes to communicate with promoters at long genomic distances, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Liang et al. reconstructed enhancer–promoter-derived RNA interaction (EPRI) maps in six cell lines. Motif scanning analysis on the enhancer–promoter sequence junctures showed enrichment in Alu elements, whose complementary transcripts can form RNA duplexes

The symmetric inheritance of histone modifications by the nascent chromatin fibers during DNA replication is essential for proper developmental progression. Two new studies using mouse embryonic stem cells further illuminate the role of histone inheritance in early cell fate decisions.

A chromatin expansion microscopy technique known as ChromExM is described by Pownall et al. in recent work published in Science. This improved methodology enables the determination of chromatin, transcription factors and transcriptional activities at the nanoscale level during genome activation in zebrafish embryos. The authors observe that while binding chromatin, the Nanog transcription factor forms

Spatially resolved transcriptomics provides insights into gene expression profiles and the spatial information of cells in their native state. Kanemaru et al. integrated existing single-cell datasets with newly generated spatial transcriptomic data to identify cellular niches in eight anatomical regions of the adult human heart. Combining targeted dissection and histology, the authors generated transcriptomic

The emergence of resistance to cancer therapy remains a considerable clinical challenge, but the mechanisms that underpin the evolution of drug-resistant clones are poorly understood. In new work published in Nature, Goyal et al. developed FateMap, a barcode-based framework that enabled them to track the fate of hundreds of thousands of cell clones after drug treatment. Applying the method to vemurafenib-treated

Genome-wide association studies have provided valuable insights into the genetic and biological pathways that underlie common psychiatric disorders. Contributing to these efforts, Als et al. report a large-scale genome-wide association meta-analysis of depression comprising six contributing studies, including expanded datasets from the iPSYCH and FinnGen cohorts. Their analyses identified 243 independent