Biying Zhu

Abstract Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive heterogeneous lung disease driving global illness and death, yet reliable biomarkers for its early diagnosis, molecular subtyping and prognosis are lacking. Here, we conduct targeted plasma metabolomic profiling in two independent, deeply phenotyped cohorts comprising 1344 participants across the full spectrum of COPD severity, with 3-year longitudinal follow-up for 651 subjects.

Abstract Genome-wide association studies have identified >100 loci associated with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), yet the mechanisms by which noncoding variants alter disease risk remain unclear. Here we map chromatin accessibility in human MASLD liver nuclei, revealing enrichment of risk variants within cell-type-specific regulatory elements bound by lineage-determining transcription factors.

eLife assessment This study reports a comparative biochemical and structural analysis of two PLP decarboxylase enzymes from plants. The work is useful because of the potential application of these enzymes in industrial theanine production. The structure provides a solid basis for understanding substrate specificity but some aspects of the work are incomplete. The paper will be of interest to enzymologists studying PLP enzymes and those working on enzyme engineering in plants.