22 September 2026

Researchers used chemical tags to shut down hepatitis B virus DNA lurking as 'mini-chromosomes' inside liver cells, without cutting the DNA, achieving strong viral suppression in liver cells, mice and monkeys. A clinical trial testing the therapy in humans has now begun in Hong Kong and New Zealand.

Nature · doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02981-9

Measuring 61 protein-protein interactions across yeast strains carrying about 12,000 natural genetic variants identified 'piQTLs' where genetic variation changes interaction strength, often through variants in poorly annotated regions like 3'UTRs with effects as large as coding changes.

Nature Genetics · doi:10.1038/s41588-026-02747-z

In triple-negative breast cancers with defective DNA repair, the protein PUM3 suppresses transcription-linked replication stress; blocking PUM3 is selectively lethal to these repair-deficient tumor cells, including those with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations.

Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-026-77417-z

A mouse model carrying a mutation linked to a human intellectual-disability syndrome showed hyperactivity, impulsivity and learning deficits alongside a smaller skull, thinner cortex and disrupted neocortex layering, tracing back to broad disruption of a protein-modification process called O-GlcNAcylation.

eLife · doi:10.7554/eLife.107170

Genomic analysis across cyanobacteria, the first organisms to evolve oxygen-producing photosynthesis, finds their repeated shifts between single-celled and filamentous multicellular forms involve modular gains and losses of the same ancestral genes, with convergent evolution repeatedly reusing similar gene functions for cell division and signaling.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2608186123

An antibody-DNA conjugate selectively killed the plasma cells producing disease-causing anti-DNA antibodies in a mouse model of lupus, ablating up to 80% of them within two days and substantially improving kidney disease while leaving other antibody-producing cells untouched.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2526826123

T cells generated during adolescence retain a durable developmental imprint that makes them better at infiltrating and killing tumors than T cells generated in adulthood; the study identifies a specific T cell subset responsible for this advantage.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2612774123

A theoretical model shows that networks of self-amplifying chemical reactions, enclosed in dividing compartments, can maintain and pass on alternative stable states without genes, suggesting a route to heredity and selection before genetic sequences existed.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2621400123

A Q&A with digital-health researcher Wuyou Sui outlines ethical concerns in using consumer smartwatches and rings for research, including data accuracy, privacy and consent, as their use in health studies grows.

Nature · doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02671-6

An analysis of data sets posted to support replication of social-science studies found that about one-fifth breached participants' promised confidentiality, in one case exposing self-reported crimes and named accomplices never given to police.

Science · doi:10.1126/science.aem4443

fMRI in people born without hands who use their feet for daily tasks found their brains reorganize hand-related secondary somatosensory cortex toward foot representation, a reweighting driven by lifelong sensorimotor experience rather than fixed anatomical mapping.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2602353123

A model combining three decades of demographic data with climate projections for the black-browed albatross found that reducing greenhouse gas emissions cut extinction risk roughly in half, while genetic adaptation alone failed to prevent population decline under projected warming.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2620362123

A Nature career column answers a graduate student's question about how to leave an unsupportive PhD lab and find a new adviser without damaging existing relationships or risking retaliation.

Nature · doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02441-4

Comparing closely related C3 and C4 plant species found that C4 species relax a light-protection mechanism, nonphotochemical quenching, faster than C3 species do, driven by how C4 photosynthesis regulates internal pH, suggesting this widely proposed crop-yield engineering target is already close to optimized in C4 crops.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2621033123

A feature surveys AI tools now being used or trialled in peer review, from citation and calculation checks to judgments on a paper's claims and novelty, and the questions publishers and reviewers face about trusting them.

Science · doi:10.1126/science.aem0443

China's national science funding agency reprimanded and penalized four senior academics and their teams for data fabrication and tampering, part of a wider crackdown on 31 research teams following misconduct flagged by an independent online research-integrity sleuth.

Nature · doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02890-x

U-Pb dating of tin ore grains from Shang dynasty bronze-production sites traces the metal's origin to the Great Hinggan Range, over 1,500 km to the north, showing Bronze Age China had a continental-scale tin supply network comparable to those documented elsewhere in the ancient world.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2625071123

An edible, rice-paper-like battery tested in pigs can power ingestible medical devices, such as an RFID tag or a stomach-stimulating capsule, then safely dissolve and be absorbed by the body.

Nature · doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02987-3

High-precision oxygen isotope measurements of organic matter in primitive meteorites show it retains oxygen signatures from the early solar system largely unaltered, helping constrain where this material's building blocks originated.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2605307123