Indian scientists have discovered a previously unknown mechanism underlying life-threatening sepsis and proposed a new treatment strategy centered upon cell-free chromatin (cfCh), they reported in the March 4, 2020, edition of PLOS ONE. Notably, they showed that sepsis could be caused by cfCh released from dying host cells following microbial infection.

LONDON – Two papers published online in Nature following accelerated peer review provide fine detail of how the spike protein on the COVID-19 coronavirus binds to the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) through which it infects its human host.

As organisms adapt to their environment, adaptations that serve them in their current environment can become liabilities if that environment changes. The control of traits that are an asset in one situation and a liability by the same gene is called antagonistic pleiotropy. In the March 16, 2020, online issue of Nature Genetics, researchers reported a method to systematically identify mutations that conferred antagonistic pleiotropy – in the form of resistance to one drug, but heightened sensitivity to another – in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells.

BioWorld looks at translational medicine, including: How the eye cleans itself up; In blood stem cells, selection drives driver mutations early on; Dead cells do tell tales; Selective TGF-beta inhibition helps checkpoint blockade; How lung tumors seed to brain; Butyrate affects regulatory B cells, rheumatoid arthritis; Lamin A/C’s presence in nucleus, absence from membrane both problematic in progeria; Females, males have different metabolic response to intermittent fasting; Ditching PAMs expands CRISPR.