3 October 2026

Editing the cis-regulatory elements that silence embryonic zeta-globin in adult red cells reactivated it to therapeutic levels in cells from patients with severe alpha-thalassaemia, and rescued a mouse model of Hb Bart's hydrops fetalis until late gestation.

Nature Genetics · doi:10.1038/s41588-026-02770-0

A 52-week randomised trial of semaglutide in 106 people with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease found no change in the MRI primary outcomes, but lower renal artery resistance, signs of halted fibrosis and effects on glomerular endothelial cells in paired biopsies.

Nature Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41591-026-04674-2

A cryo-EM structure of the CRISPR-associated transposase TnsB bound to both transposon ends shows how the different left and right ends are paired, through DNA distortion and a new protein-protein interface needed for efficient transposition.

Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.aee1374

Paired genome and RNA sequencing of microdissected kidney compartments found most common allele-specific expression is driven by sequence; more allele-specific expression in diseased glomeruli was associated with better outcomes.

Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.aeg3462

In aged mouse naive CD4 T cells, loss of the chromatin organiser SATB1 weakens TAD boundaries and extends CTCF-mediated contacts, switching on inflammatory genes; deleting SATB1 in young cells reproduces this.

Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.aeg1622

In a gut community from wild mice, Bacteroides acidifaciens needs its type VI secretion system to persist long term but not to colonise; the system sits on a mobile element recently exchanged between species.

eLife · doi:10.7554/eLife.110200

Toxin from enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis kills colonic enteric neurons in mice and causes lasting dysmotility; a metabolite from Fusobacterium nucleatum increases toxin production.

Nature Microbiology · doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02497-y

In Pseudomonas aeruginosa, tRNA-modifying enzymes peak before the genes that depend on their modifications, so tRNA modification is timed to match codon use across the growth cycle.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2615985123

Plants whose seeds germinate on the parent evolved this repeatedly by losing seed desiccation and dormancy genes, not by gaining new ones; knocking out the Arabidopsis orthologs gives similar phenotypes.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2602105123

A widely used maximum-age fossil calibration for animal origins is unreliable, and better calibrations place the origin of animals at about 800-700 million years ago, before the Ediacaran.

Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.aeg6289

Across 14 data sets and 18 metrics, common benchmark metrics for genetic perturbation models such as MSE and Pearson delta were often miscalibrated; with calibrated metrics and a positive-control baseline, deep learning models beat uninformative baselines.

Nature Biotechnology · doi:10.1038/s41587-026-03307-w

Neurons in macaque inferior temporal cortex shift their encoding of object position after motion adaptation, matching human perception; current computer vision networks do not.

Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2026.09.019

Deep learning on super-resolution images of grass pollen separated C3 from C4 grasses and tracked 25,000 years of grassland change on Mt. Kenya.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2607372123

The rice gene PHS7 encodes the transcription factor RISBZ1, which drives ABA transport from endosperm into embryo and resists pre-harvest sprouting; an indica allele explains part of the indica-japonica difference and works through marker-assisted selection.

Molecular Plant · doi:10.1016/j.molp.2026.09.017

The wheat stripe rust resistance gene Yr26, also known as Yr24, YrCH42 and YrG22, was cloned; it arose in emmer wheat and encodes a transmembrane protein that triggers cell death.

Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-026-76091-5

A prize-winning microscopy image was made with AI tools, and researchers say such visualisation becomes a problem when the model misrepresents the underlying data.

Nature · doi:10.1038/d41586-026-03086-z

Researchers allege the vote that rejected the Anthropocene as a geological epoch violated procedure and are calling for transparency.

Nature · doi:10.1038/d41586-026-03118-8

1,053 new Y-chromosome genomes show Bronze Age Xinjiang paternal lines were mostly local or western steppe, with later inflow from East Asian farmers and Central Asian groups; four Hui subgroups differ by both migration and cultural assimilation.

Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.aeg8897

Children aged 4-9 in six societies in Latin America, Africa and Europe all helped peers in the same task, with only small cultural differences in how.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2515233123

A modified drug that targets the cells behind endometriosis lesions showed early promise; the condition affects about 190 million people.

Nature · doi:10.1038/d41586-026-03042-x