Complete Mutagenesis of the Genome and Proteome of ΦX174

The bacteriophage ΦX174 was the first genome to be sequenced and the first to be chemically synthesised. Here we present a complete map of the consequences of changing every nucleotide in the ΦX174 ge...

biorxiv.org

On the timing of eukaryotic origin

The emergence of eukaryotes marks a monumental juncture in the 4.6-billion-year evolutionary odyssey of our planet. Despite decades of research, the origin of eukaryotic life remains unresolved, with...

doi.org

Coexistence of Photosynthetic Marine Microorganisms, Viruses and Grazers: Towards Integration in Ocean Ecosystem Models

Our study explores coexistence regimes of a virus and a zooplankton with a single phytoplankton for different model structures (left panel). The inclusion of an infected class and a resistant class i...

enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Gasdermin D-mediated delivery of caspase inhibitors to suppress pyroptosis - Nature

Nature - Gasdermin D-mediated delivery of caspase inhibitors to suppress pyroptosis

nature.com

Ancient marine life may be hiding in Antarctica’s Blood Falls

LA JOLLA, California—August 3, 2026—Blood Falls has long been one of Antarctica’s strangest landmarks: a red-stained outflow that spills from...

jcvi.org

…and RNA makes Protein. (part 1)

by Christoph — A two-part visual journey into the peptidyltransferase, where and how rRNA catalyzes ribosomal peptide-bond formation. Here is part 1...

smallthingsconsidered.blog

Light-activated tetanus neurotoxin for conditional proteolysis and inducible synaptic inhibition in vivo - Nature Methods

LATeNT is a light-activatable form of tetanus neurotoxin that can be used for spatiotemporally precise inhibition of exocytosis in neurons and other cells. It can inhibit synaptic transmission in vivo...

nature.com

Wit, unker, git: The lost medieval pronouns of English intimacy

Tales of love and adventure from 1,000 years ago reveal a dazzling range of now-extinct English pronouns. They capture something unique about how people once thought about "two-ness".

buff.ly

2026 Daniel Shiran Prize Awarded to Dr. Noga Ron-Harel of the Technion Faculty of Biology - הטכניון-מכון טכנולוגי לישראל

technion.ac.il

An antagonistically pleiotropic gene regulates vertebrate growth, maturity, and lifespan - Nature Communications

Here they use killifish to reveal a stark genetic trade-off in aging. They found that disrupting the vgll3 gene accelerates early-life maturation and growth but directly increases the risk of age-rela...

nature.com

Ancient grains illuminate the mosaic origin of domesticated wheat - Nature Plants

Ancient grain DNA reveals wheat’s mosaic origin, shaped by independent mutations and hybridization of northern and southern wild lineages. Further mixing, migration and human-driven adaptation guided ...

nature.com

A pangenome of tetraploid wheat reveals the genetic architecture underlying domestication and genomic diversity for breeding - Nature Genetics

A pangenome of tetraploid wheat constructed from 12 de novo genome assemblies spanning 10 subspecies, integrating with whole-genome sequencing data, highlights genetic variation associated with agricu...

nature.com

Tunable kinetic destabilization governs RNA polymerase passage through a DNA-bound transcription factor

Eukaryotic transcription factors recognize short motifs, creating abundant binding sites within gene bodies and potential collisions with elongating RNA polymerases, yet how such encounters are resolved remains unclear. Here, we use optical tweezers to monitor RNA polymerase transcription through DNA-bound Egr-1, a zinc-finger transcription factor. Using DNA-fluctuation suppression as a readout of polymerase arrival, we show that Egr-1 delays elongation in an orientation- and rNTP-dependent manner, whereas force measurements indicate that RNAP does not bypass the TF by mechanical eviction. Instead, RNAP destabilizes the Egr-1-DNA complex over a short, structured interaction zone, increasing TF dissociation non-monotonically with distance. Monte Carlo simulations incorporating these kinetic changes recapitulate passage-time distributions. CpG methylation shortens Egr-1 residence time and largely eliminates the TF-dependent delay, suggesting a role for gene-body methylation in reducing kinetic barriers to elongation. These results reveal DNA-bound TFs as tunable barriers that locally shape transcription elongation. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Israel Science Foundation, https://ror.org/04sazxf24

biorxiv.org

A unicellular relative links aggregative multicellularity to animal origins - Nature

Aggregative multicellularity was key to the evolution of the multicellular animal genetic toolkit.

nature.com

Function-specific epistasis shapes evolutionary trajectories towards antibiotic resistance - Nature Communications

Antibiotic resistance can evolve through the combination of factors but the predictability of this is unclear. Here, the authors used high-throughput evolution experiments to reveal that antibiotic re...

nature.com

DNA polymerization activates RNA cleavage of a reverse transcriptase–like antiviral enzyme

Defense-associated reverse transcriptases (DRTs) transcribe noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) for antiviral defense, but the mechanisms of ncRNA-independent DRTs remain unclear. In this work, we show that a sin...

science.org

How smallpox reached the Americas: first genomic evidence points to Europeans

Viral sequences from Chilean mummies confirm the disease was introduced from Europe.

go.nature.com

Focusing on full submissions

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 30 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02452-xNature Microbiology no longer considers presubmission enquiries and instead evaluates all research through full manuscript submissions. This change is intended to improve fairness, rigour and efficiency, ensuring that editorial decisions are based on a complete assessment of the data.

go.nature.com

Diatoms maintain metabolic activity in deep ocean twilight zones

Phytoplankton are primarily confined to the sunlit epipelagic zone, yet intact algal cells persist in the ocean's mesopelagic twilight zone where light is minimal. However, their survival strategies in the deeper ocean remain unknown. Here, we isolate Chaetoceros sp. DS1 from 1000 m depth and reveal its survival mechanisms under prolonged darkness and high pressure, including membrane lipid remodeling and enhanced antioxidant defenses. Importantly, DS1 maintains a latent photosynthetic reserve that activates upon exposure to dim blue light and higher pressure typical of the twilight zone, enabling photosynthesis and nutrient uptake. It exhibits metabolic flexibility by utilizing stored carbon in darkness and assimilating organic carbon under dim light. Global meta-omics data show widespread, transcriptionally active Chaetoceros-like diatoms in the twilight zone, expressing blue-light sensors and protein synthesis genes. These findings identify the ocean twilight zone as a previously overlooked niche for metabolically active phytoplankton, expanding understanding of deep-ocean microbial ecology and carbon cycling. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Natural Science Foundation of China, 42188102, 42476116, 42476115, 42576100 Global Ocean Negative Carbon Emissions (ONCE) Project Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities

biorxiv.org

Quantifying phage-host dynamics using droplet microfluidics - Nature Communications

Bacteriophages are key tools in molecular biology and promising agents against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Here, the authors present a high-throughput droplet microfluidics platform that co-encapsu...

doi.org