Researchers from China developed the first high-density 10K SNP array for wax gourd using genotyping by target sequencing (GBTS) technology, comprising 10,722 genome-wide SNPs distributed across the genome, including 278 associated with functional trait loci.

First development of a RT-ERA/CRISPR-Cas12a platform for rapid and visual detection of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease Virus (EHDV), enabling on-site diagnosis within 1 h without specialized equipment.

Dragonflies have evolved special light-sensing proteins that let them see deeper red light than most animals. Researchers have now discovered that the mechanism of red vision is shared with humans and this ability comes from small molecular changes that could inspire new biomedical technologies.

NTU Singapore scientists have identified a fat-producing enzyme (GPAT) in brain cells that amplifies the damage caused by α-synuclein, the protein linked to Parkinson's disease. GPAT delivers a "double hit" — impairing cells' energy-producing machinery while increasing the protein's toxicity. Reducing GPAT activity led to less brain cell damage in lab models. The findings point to a potential new treatment target for a disease that currently has no cure.

Researchers from Henan Agricultural University integrated the dynamic transcriptional landscape of early peanut seed development and verified the function of key genes.

Researchers investigating peanut seed development have focused on elucidating the gene regulatory networks during the critical transition when the peg from air to the soil and the peg begins to swell. The scientists report that a key gene, AhZAR1-4, orchestrates normal embryonic development through multiple hormone pathways. This discovery provides a new tool for enhancing peanut yield in future breeding programs. 

A study published in Cell Research [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41422-026-01245-5] advances a central idea in stem cell biology by identifying a checkpoint that controls the identity of many different types of stem cells across developmental stages.

For nearly two decades, scientists have understood that stem cell self-renewal depends on blocking differentiation signals—a concept described in earlier work, including Qi-Long Ying and Austin Smith’s 2008 Nature paper “The ground state of embryonic stem cell self-renewal.”

Now, researchers from the labs of Ying at USC and Guang Hu at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), have identified the protein GSK3α as a “stemness checkpoint” that drives differentiation and that can be inhibited to maintain stem cell identity.

This discovery introduces a new conceptual framework: rather than viewing stem cell maintenance as the result of many unrelated signaling conditions, distinct stem cell types share common checkpoints.

POSTECH reveals how mosaic partial reprogramming enhances wound repair responses.