Communications Biology

Evaluating the analytical performance of direct-to-consumer gut microbiome testing services - Communications Biology Comparative analysis of DTC gut microbiome testing services reveals significant methodological variability, underscoring the need for standardized reference materials and guidelines to ensure reproduc...

Our PI, Gregor Gorkiewicz was asked to contribute to an opinion piece in @derstandard.at. read it now at: www.derstandard.at/story/300000... It concerns the quality of the "Commercial At Home MIcrobiome Tests". Read the eye-opening and concerning original paper here.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Psychedelic 5-MeO-DMT induces dissociated state in mice A new study published in Communications Biology shows how an injection of the psychedelic compound 5-MeO-DMT induces a dissociated brain state in mice, combining elements of sleep and wakefulness.

A new "behind the paper" blogpost from @benbreant.bsky.social at @psl-univ.bsky.social on their recent publication dealing with the effects of the psychedelic 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine on mice brain:
communities.springernature.com/posts/psyche...

Can we use human EEG data to optimize vision models? Yes!
Our ReAlnet paper is finally out @commsbio.nature.com w/ Yile Wang & @juliedgolomb.bsky.social !!
Our alignment framework makes ANNs more brain-like, enhancing model-human similarity across EEG, fMRI, and behavior.
doi.org/10.1038/s420...

Life science research in extreme environments: a conversation with astronaut Jessica Meir - Communications Biology Jessica Meir is a NASA astronaut, marine biologist, and physiologist. She flew for the first time to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2019 where she served as a flight engineer for Expedition ...

🚀 In a recent Q&A, our editor Ben Bessieres spoke to Dr. Jessica Meir, a NASA astronaut, about her passion for biology and the value of conducting scientific research in space. Currently, Dr. Meir is on NASA’s SpaceX #Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station!
doi.org/10.1038/s420...

Fauzy Nasher from the Wren lab at the @lshtm.bsky.social
wrote an easy to understand "behind the paper" post on their recent Campylobacter publication: communities.springernature.com/posts/how-ca...

The type VI secretion system of Acinetobacter: mechanisms, biology and therapeutic potential - Communications Biology We synthesize advances in Acinetobacter T6SS biology, revealing how non-canonical structural solutions and multilayered regulation create an adaptable system for competition, persistence, and host imm...

Lei Song, Jing Jie and others from The First Hospital of Jilin University take a deep dive into the molecular biology of Type VI Secretion Systems of pathogenic, often multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter - and discuss potential therapeutic implications: www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Sex as a biological variable (SABV) This Collection promotes research that considers Sex As a Biological Variable (SABV) across all realms of biological research, from molecular and cellular ...

If you are interested in research scrutinizing the foundational biases and knowledge gaps about when sex does and does not make a difference, have a look at our cross-journal Collection of papers:
www.nature.com/collections/...

*This Collection is now closed for submissions*

The Sex Inclusive Research Framework to address sex bias in preclinical research proposals - Nature Communications In preclinical research, there is a persistent sex bias where research is conducted with a single sex. Here, the authors present a Sex Inclusive Research Framework that provides a traffic light classi...

💡Exploring the challenges posed by sex bias in preclinical research led to the design of the interactive Sex Inclusive Research Framework (SIRF):
@natcomms.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

MRC Embedding Diversity in Research Design explainer: The complexity of sex in the animal kingdom YouTube video by UK Research and Innovation

📽️ Lastly, Dr Karp tackles the complexity of sex across the animal kingdom and the impact of the language we use when communicating about sex as a biological variable.
#SABV
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WceZ...

MRC Embedding Diversity in Research Design explainer: Sex is represented by multiple mechanisms YouTube video by UK Research and Innovation

📽️ Next, what does a difference between sexes mean? Is sex a casual factor in itself, or an indicator of an underlying, sex-related, causal factor?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnV_...

MRC Embedding Diversity in Research Design explainer: Define the goal of inclusion YouTube video by UK Research and Innovation

📽️ The second video considers the goal of research - is it exploratory or confirmatory, and what that means for how you power, analyse and interpret the data from your experiments:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-Ez...

MRC Embedding Diversity in Research Design explainer: Gender versus sex YouTube video by UK Research and Innovation

📽️ The first video explains the difference between the terms sex and gender and how they can be defined:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOJ_...

Navigating the paradigm shift of sex inclusive preclinical research and lessons learnt - Communications Biology As progress is made in sex-inclusive preclinical research, the author highlights areas of research practice where significant development has been achieved & where more change is needed towards co...

🧵The way we think about and carry out sex-inclusive preclinical research is developing. In 4 short video “explainers”, Dr Natasha Karp, in collaboration with #MRC, highlights 4 key considerations, which were earlier explored by her in a Comment @CommsBio.
@ukri.org #SABV
doi.org/10.1038/s420...

ATM Inhibition Enhances Knock-in Efficiency by Suppressing AAV-Induced Activation of Apoptotic Pathways - Communications Biology Linear donor DNA, including AAV, overactivates ATM in a copy-number-dependent manner, causing apoptosis and shifting repair toward c-NHEJ. ATM inhibition rescues high-donor cells and suppresses c-NHEJ...

🧬Genome editing: new study highlights the critical role of donor DNA configuration (circular vs. linear) on DNA damage response signalling and provides a strategy for optimizing gene editing efficiency by selectively modulating the ATM pathway.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Lysine malonylation regulates human sperm motility - Communications Biology Elevated lysine malonylation impairs human sperm motility by disrupting glycolysis, cAMP-PKA signalling, and calcium homeostasis, proposing a novel target for diagnosing and treating asthenozoospermia...

🚨Lysine #malonylation (Kmal) is enriched in the tail proteins of human sperm and impairs sperm motility. New study reveals potential targets for future research into diagnosing and treating male #infertility.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Targeted blocking of gene splicing can dysregulate intron-embedded primary microRNAs - Communications Biology Splice-site targeting antisense oligonucleotides can increase the expression of host gene intron-embedded microRNA and affect axonal development in zebrafish.

🐟 Studying #zebrafish pituitary development, researchers show that ASO-induced suppression of gene #splicing leads to the dysregulation of intronic primary #microRNAs.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Intracellular complement Factor H promotes tumor progression through modulation of cell cycle and actin cytoskeleton - Communications Biology Factor H overexpression predicts poor prognosis across cancers through cell-intrinsic effects. Intracellular FH in tumor cells and fibroblasts interacts with E2F/Rb, reduces nuclear p53, alters actin ...

💡New research reveals a cell‑intrinsic, pro‑tumorigenic role of Complement Factor H that extends far beyond its traditional extracellular complement activity.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...

👁️Non-invasive method for molecular profiling of the human retina: #Raman #spectroscopy at the optic nerve head reveals age‑linked changes in the retina, establishing its potential as an early diagnostic tool for #ophthalmic and #neurodegenerative disease biomarkers.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...

✂️🪲Injection-based insect genome editing: fusing a HUH endonuclease tag to #Cas9 boosts both #NHEJ ‑driven knockout and HDR‑mediated #knock‑in across multiple arthropods.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Olfaction in fruit flies (Tephritidae) balances detection and discrimination of host fruits - Communications Biology Challenging a central assumption in chemical ecology, we show that polyphagous fruit flies do not rely solely on volatiles shared across hosts: compounds specific to particular hosts shape oviposition...

🍎🪰 Polyphagous fruit flies (Tephritidae) exhibit species-specific olfactory tuning to host fruit compounds, suggesting an evolved balance between detection and discrimination, with potential implications for ecological management and pest control strategies.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...

🧠🧬Single‑nucleus long‑read seq reveals cell‑type‑specific RNA isoform diversity in the human brain, uncovering altered and previously unannotated transcripts in #Alzheimer’s disease that highlight isoform dysregulation as an underexplored contributor to pathology.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Soluble epoxide hydrolase in the liver orchestrates abdominal aortic aneurysm formation in mice - Communications Biology Soluble epoxide hydrolase, a pro-inflammatory enzyme predominantly expressed in the liver, serves as a key mediator of liver-aorta crosstalk, amplifying systemic inflammation and promoting the develop...

Hepatic soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) emerges as a key driver of abdominal aortic aneurysm through liver–aorta crosstalk, where aortic galectin‑3 activates liver sEH to boost pro‑inflammatory factors that promote aneurysm formation.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Anthraquinones derived from soil actinomycetes combat multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus - Communications Biology Mechanistic profiling of a soil-derived anthraquinone reveals potent anti-MRSA activity via membrane disruption, metabolic collapse, and FabF targeting, supporting its potential for treating drug-resi...

🦠An anthraquinone compound, derived from soil actinomycetes, shows potent activity against #MRSA, combining rapid bactericidal action, membrane and metabolic disruption, low toxicity, and strong efficacy across infection and contamination models.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...

🦴 Dlx5⁺ endosteal precursor cells act as a transient source of trabecular bone‑forming osteoblasts, with Hedgehog signalling capable of diverting them toward marrow adipocytes and driving bone loss.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...

🧠New research reveals topographic, multisensory numerotopic maps in the human brain, showing how we intuitively process quantity through shared visual and auditory coding schemes.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Evaluating the analytical performance of direct-to-consumer gut microbiome testing services - Communications Biology Comparative analysis of DTC gut microbiome testing services reveals significant methodological variability, underscoring the need for standardized reference materials and guidelines to ensure reproduc...

Comparative analysis of gut microbiome testing services reveals significant methodological variability, underscoring the need for standardized reference materials and guidelines to ensure reproducibility and reliability in commercial microbiome testing. www.nature.com/articles/s42...

At-home gut health tests yield contradictory results, study suggests Results and health assessments from gut microbiome home-testing kits vary whether they are produced by the same or different manufacturers.

Results from at-home gut microbiome tests can vary significantly between and within manufacturers, highlighting the need for standardized protocols to improve accuracy and reliability. doi.org/hbqrmz

Evaluating the analytical performance of direct-to-consumer gut microbiome testing services - Communications Biology Comparative analysis of DTC gut microbiome testing services reveals significant methodological variability, underscoring the need for standardized reference materials and guidelines to ensure reproducibility and reliability in commercial microbiome testing.

Results and health assessments from gut microbiome home-testing kits vary whether they are produced by the same or different manufacturers. The findings, published in Communications Biology, highlight the need for caution when interpreting or acting on test results, according to the authors. 🧪

Article in press: Researchers from Brazil and the UK sequenced Anopheles mosquito genomes of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, shedding light on the Kerteszia subgenus, mostly responsible for Malaria transmission in the region: www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Antibiotic-induced gut microbiome remodeling reduces neuroinflammation in traumatic brain injury - Communications Biology Short-term oral antibiotics reshape the gut microbiome after single or repeated TBI in male mice, yet reduce lesion volume, apoptosis, gliosis, cytokines, and immune infiltration, revealing SCFA-indep...

short-term antibiotically induced gut dysbiosis lead to reduced traumatic brain damage in male mice www.nature.com/articles/s42...