Z-form nucleic acids (ZNAs) are left-handed DNA/RNA structures implicated in innate immunity and cell death, yet the endogenous force driving their formation in vivo had remained unclear. In this study, the research team identified oxidative DNA modification as a molecular trigger for nucleic acid conformational switching. They showed that oxidative lesions in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), particularly 8-oxoG formation, induced a transition from canonical B-DNA to Z-DNA. The resulting oxidized Z-mtDNA was sensed by the Zα domain of ZBP1, activating a ZBP1–MAVS–caspase-8 signaling pathway that drove hepatocyte apoptosis. The findings were highly relevant to acetaminophen (APAP)-induced acute liver failure, in which the current therapy, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), rapidly loses efficacy beyond the early detoxification phase. The team demonstrated that APAP-induced oxidative stress promoted mtDNA oxidation and Z-DNA formation, thereby triggering the secondary hepatotoxicity that resisted NAC treatment. Importantly, pharmacological activation of the oxidative DNA repair enzyme OGG1 with TH10785 reversed Z-DNA back to B-DNA and achieved near-complete survival in delayed-treatment models. Together, these findings established oxidation-driven DNA conformational transition as a fundamental signaling mechanism and identified reversal of Z-DNA as a promising therapeutic strategy for acute liver failure.

A new type of long-necked plant-eating dinosaur – the largest ever found in Southeast Asia – has been revealed in a study led by researchers at University College London (UCL), Mahasarakham University, Suranaree University of Technology and Sirindhorn Museum in Thailand.

A widely used method for measuring how well streams absorb excess nutrients has a hidden flaw: it systematically overestimates uptake length under high-nutrient conditions. Researchers at Duke Kunshan University have derived a corrected zero-order analytical approach that better captures stream nutrient processing when nutrients are abundant, improving the accuracy of tools used to assess river health and guide restoration decisions.

A group of researchers in the UK have shown how the distributions of Pseudo-nitzschia and Dinophysis - two phytoplankton groups known to produce natural toxins that can halt shellfish harvesting – have changed in the North East Atlantic over the last six decades. The research was led by scientists from the University of Plymouth and the Marine Directorate of the Scottish Government, in conjunction with Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), the Marine Biological Association (MBA), and the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS).

Many male hoverflies have bigger eyes than females, giving them the advantage of better optics and faster photoreceptors in high-speed pursuits to find a preferred partner to breed.

New research led by Flinders University – aimed at understanding the deft flying skills of these fast and dexterous native flies – compared different flight speeds between the sexes as key attributes for their survival success.

Physicists discover a new type of phase separation driven by a proliferating medium that rewrites the physics of particles inside it

Male strepsipterans develop inside a host insect during their larval stage and, upon reaching the adult stage, emerge from the host body to begin a free-living phase. In this study, researchers at University of Tsukuba directly observed the emergence behavior of male strepsipterans parasitizing stink bugs, where emergence sites are concealed beneath the host's wings, and found that, during emergence, the host exhibits a characteristic wing-raising behavior.

We revealed that the proton channel Hv1/VSOP, previously thought to function at the cell surface in microglia (brain immune cells), also functions on endosomes inside cells and precisely controls the actin cytoskeleton. Using advanced microscopy and electrophysiology (endosome patch-clamp), we found Hv1 acts as a brake on actin elongation. This discovery presents a novel cellular control mechanism where endosomal ion channels manipulate the cell skeleton itself, with implications for understanding neurodegenerative diseases.