Nature Communications - 12 June 2013

Weekly Content Alert 12 June 2013  Featured image: Babu et al. develop nonvolatile liquid anthracenes with tunable full-colour luminescence at single blue-light excitation. Latest content: Articles Errata Journal homepage Recommend to library Web feed   Advertisement Nature Geoscience web focus: 5 years after the Wenchuan Earthquake The Wenchuan earthquake of 2008 killed more than 80,000 people and displaced millions. The most recent quake in April 2013 wreaked further havoc in the region. This web focus discusses the mechanisms for the Wenchuan quake and the implications for our understanding of the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, the on-going risk from quake-induced landslides, and the societal impacts. Free online to registered nature.com users until 31 October 2013. Produced with support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China.     Latest Articles View all Articles     Non-volatile memory based on the ferroelectric photovoltaic effect OPEN Rui Guo, Lu You, Yang Zhou, Zhi Shiuh Lim, Xi Zou, Lang Chen, R. Ramesh and Junling Wang Ferroelectric RAM is considered a promising candidate on the quest for a universal memory, but the concept is still problem prone. Here, the authors use the ferroelectric photovoltaic effect as a non-destructive read-out method for a new prototype memory, which shows good data retention and fatigue resistance. 11 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2990 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Materials science  Quasi-monoenergetic laser-plasma acceleration of electrons to 2 GeV OPEN Xiaoming Wang, Rafal Zgadzaj, Neil Fazel, Zhengyan Li, S. A. Yi, Xi Zhang, Watson Henderson, Y.-Y. Chang, R. Korzekwa, H.-E. Tsai, C.-H. Pai, H. Quevedo, G. Dyer, E. Gaul, M. Martinez, A. C. Bernstein, T. Borger, M. Spinks, M. Donovan, V. Khudik et al. Laser-plasma accelerators can produce high-energy electron bunches over just a few centimetres of distance, offering possible table-top accelerator capabilities. Wang et al. break the current 1 GeV barrier by applying a petawatt laser to accelerate electrons nearly monoenergetically up to 2 GeV. 11 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2988 Physical Sciences  Fluids and plasma physics  Optical physics  Atomistics of vapour–liquid–solid nanowire growth OPEN Hailong Wang, Luis A. Zepeda-Ruiz, George H. Gilmer and Moneesh Upmanyu The vapour–liquid–solid method is used to produce semiconducting nanowires but the fundamental processes involved are poorly understood. Wang et al. use atomic-scale simulations to elucidate the mechanisms involved in the growth and stability of gold-catalysed silicon nanowires. 11 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2956 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Primary sensory cortices contain distinguishable spatial patterns of activity for each sense OPEN M. Liang, A. Mouraux, L. Hu and G.D. Iannetti Human primary sensory cortices are traditionally regarded as being able to process only one sensory modality. Liang and colleagues use brain imaging to show that, as well as being processed in typically corresponding cortical areas, different sensory modalities are also processed in atypical cortical areas. 11 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2979 Biological Sciences  Neuroscience  An essential role for the N-terminal fragment of Toll-like receptor 9 in DNA sensing Masahiro Onji, Atsuo Kanno, Shin-Ichiroh Saitoh, Ryutaro Fukui, Yuji Motoi, Takuma Shibata, Fumi Matsumoto, Aayam Lamichhane, Shintaro Sato, Hiroshi Kiyono, Kazuhide Yamamoto and Kensuke Miyake Toll-like receptor 9 detects microbial DNA, and is activated by cleavage in the endolysosome. Onji et al. discover that following cleavage, the two parts of the protein remain associated, and this interaction is required for DNA sensing. 11 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2949 Biological Sciences  Immunology  Molecular biology  A common functional promoter variant links CNR1 gene expression to HDL cholesterol level Q. Feng, K.C. Vickers, M.P. Anderson, M.G. Levin, W. Chen, D.G. Harrison and R.A. Wilke Haplotypes in CNR1, the gene encoding the cannabinoid receptor CB1, are known to influence HDL cholesterol levels. Here Feng and colleagues identify rs806371 as a novel regulatory element reducing CNR1 gene expression and as the causal allele driving the association between CNR1 and HDL cholesterol levels in humans. 10 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2973 Biological Sciences  Genetics  Medical research  Role of biogenic silica in the removal of iron from the Antarctic seas Ellery D. Ingall, Julia M. Diaz, Amelia F. Longo, Michelle Oakes, Lydia Finney, Stefan Vogt, Barry Lai, Patricia L. Yager, Benjamin S. Twining and Jay A. Brandes Iron plays a key role in controlling biological production in the Southern Ocean, yet mechanisms regulating iron availability are not completely understood. Here, Ingall et al. show that structural incorporation of reduced, organic iron into biogenic silica represents a new and substantial removal pathway. 10 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2981 Earth Sciences  Biogeochemistry  Oceanography  αTAT1 is the major α-tubulin acetyltransferase in mice Nereo Kalebic, Simona Sorrentino, Emerald Perlas, Giulia Bolasco, Concepcion Martinez and Paul A. Heppenstall Acetylation of tubulin is proposed to be an important mechanism for the regulation of microtubule stability and diversity. Kalebic et al. generate mice lacking α-tubulin acetyltransferase activity, and reveal that an apparent absence of detectable tubulin acetylation is associated with impaired sperm motility. 10 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2962 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Developmental biology  Deregulation of translation due to post-transcriptional modification of rRNA explains why erm genes are inducible Pulkit Gupta, Shanmugapriya Sothiselvam, Nora Vázquez-Laslop and Alexander S. Mankin Erm methyltransferases confer antimicrobial drug resistance and their expression is induced by macrolides. Gupta et al. show that Erm-catalysed modification of rRNA affects synthesis of some proteins and reduces cell fitness, explaining why expression of Erm is deleterious in the absence of antibiotics. 10 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2984 Biological Sciences  Microbiology  Molecular biology  Haemodynamically dependent valvulogenesis of zebrafish heart is mediated by flow-dependent expression of miR-21 OPEN Toshihiro Banjo, Janin Grajcarek, Daisuke Yoshino, Hideto Osada, Kota Y. Miyasaka, Yasuyuki S. Kida, Yosuke Ueki, Kazuaki Nagayama, Koichi Kawakami, Takeo Matsumoto, Masaaki Sato and Toshihiko Ogura microRNAs rapidly regulate gene expression and are implicated in cardiogenesis and angiogenesis. Banjo and colleagues show that the microRNA mir-21 is activated by the physical forces generated by blood flow, and that this regulates the development of heart valves in zebrafish. 10 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2978 Biological Sciences  Developmental biology  Persistent infection with Crohn’s disease-associated adherent-invasive Escherichia coli leads to chronic inflammation and intestinal fibrosis Cherrie-Lee N. Small, Sarah A. Reid-Yu, Joseph B. McPhee and Brian K. Coombes Intestinal infection with adherent-invasive Escherichia coli is associated with Crohn’s disease in humans; however, its functional role remains unclear, in part due to a lack of animal models, which sustain chronic disease. Here the authors establish such a model in mice and show that it shares features with human Crohn’s disease. 10 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2957 Biological Sciences  Immunology  Medical research  Microbiology  Caspase-2 is required for dendritic spine and behavioural alterations in J20 APP transgenic mice Julio Pozueta, Roger Lefort, Elena M. Ribe, Carol M. Troy, Ottavio Arancio and Michael Shelanski Aberrant caspase signalling is implicated in Alzheimer’s disease. Pozueta et al. study a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease that is deficient in caspase-2 and find that surprisingly, these mice don’t display impaired cognitive function, or the reduced dendritic spine density normally associated with the disease. 10 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2927 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Medical research  Neuroscience  The orphan receptor Gpr83 regulates systemic energy metabolism via ghrelin-dependent and ghrelin-independent mechanisms OPEN Timo D. Müller, Anne Müller, Chun-Xia Yi, Kirk M Habegger, Carola W. Meyer, Bruce D. Gaylinn, Brian Finan, Kristy Heppner, Chitrang Trivedi, Maximilian Bielohuby, William Abplanalp, Franziska Meyer, Carolin L. Piechowski, Juliane Pratzka, Kerstin Stemmer, Jenna Holland, Jazzmin Hembree, Nakul Bhardwaj, Christine Raver, Nickki Ottaway et al. The murine G protein-coupled receptor 83 (Gpr83) is expressed widely in the brain, but its physiological role is largely unknown. Here Müller et al. show that Gpr83 regulates systemic energy metabolism in part by modulating ghrelin signalling in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. 07 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2968 Biological Sciences  Medical research  Neuroscience  Brillouin cavity optomechanics with microfluidic devices Gaurav Bahl, Kyu Hyun Kim, Wonsuk Lee, Jing Liu, Xudong Fan and Tal Carmon Light–sound interactions in microcavities are used for optomechanical excitation and cooling, but have previously only been shown in solid-state devices. Here, Bahl et al. generate acoustic oscillations in microfluidic resonators to enable novel optomechanical interactions with liquid-phase materials. 07 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2994 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Optical physics  Collagen VI regulates satellite cell self-renewal and muscle regeneration Anna Urciuolo, Marco Quarta, Valeria Morbidoni, Francesca Gattazzo, Sibilla Molon, Paolo Grumati, Francesca Montemurro, Francesco Saverio Tedesco, Bert Blaauw, Giulio Cossu, Giovanni Vozzi, Thomas A. Rando and Paolo Bonaldo Satellite cells have important roles in homeostasis and regeneration of skeletal muscles. Urciuolo et al. show that the extracellular matrix protein collagen VI is required for preserving satellite cell self-renewal and muscle regeneration in vitro and in vivo by modulating muscle mechanical properties. 07 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2964 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Medical research  A scanning transmon qubit for strong coupling circuit quantum electrodynamics W. E. Shanks, D. L. Underwood and A. A. Houck Superconducting circuits may be useful as quantum simulators, but new tools are needed to fully characterize their behaviour. Shanks et al. present a scanning transmon qubit, map its coupling strength to a separate resonator, and propose its use to probe photon number in a superconducting resonator lattice. 07 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2991 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Condensed matter  Tailorable stimulated Brillouin scattering in nanoscale silicon waveguides OPEN Heedeuk Shin, Wenjun Qiu, Robert Jarecki, Jonathan A. Cox, Roy H. Olsson III, Andrew Starbuck, Zheng Wang and Peter T. Rakich Exploiting photon–phonon coupling in nanoscale silicon waveguides could enable a host of powerful features in photonic devices. Using a hybrid photonic–phononic waveguide structure, Shin et al. show stimulated Brillouin scattering nonlinearities and gain, which offers new on-chip signal-processing abilities. 06 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2943 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Nanotechnology  Optical physics  Rates of speciation and morphological evolution are correlated across the largest vertebrate radiation Daniel L. Rabosky, Francesco Santini, Jonathan Eastman, Stephen A. Smith, Brian Sidlauskas, Jonathan Chang and Michael E. Alfaro Evolutionary theories predict that rates of morphological change should be positively associated with the rate at which new species arise. Here Raboski et al. demonstrate that rates of species diversification are highly correlated with the rate of body size evolution across ray-finned fish species. 06 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2958 Biological Sciences  Evolution  HSV-1 exploits the innate immune scavenger receptor MARCO to enhance epithelial adsorption and infection Daniel T. MacLeod, Teruaki Nakatsuji, Kenshi Yamasaki, Lester Kobzik and Richard L. Gallo Herpes simplex virus type 1 infects human skin and mucous membranes. MacLeod and colleagues identify MARCO as a novel cell-surface receptor bound by herpes simplex virus type 1, and show that this interaction enhances infection of keratinocytes and promotes the development of skin lesions in mice. 06 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2963 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Virology  Zscan4 restores the developmental potency of embryonic stem cells Tomokazu Amano, Tetsuya Hirata, Geppino Falco, Manuela Monti, Lioudmila V. Sharova, Misa Amano, Sarah Sheer, Hien G. Hoang, Yulan Piao, Carole A. Stagg, Kohei Yamamizu, Tomohiko Akiyama and Minoru S. H. Ko Mouse embryonic stem cells gradually lose their developmental potency in long-term culture. Here the authors show that the deteriorating developmental potency can be restored by transient activation of the Zscan4 gene. 06 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2966 Biological Sciences  Developmental biology  Engineering three-dimensional topological insulators in Rashba-type spin-orbit coupled heterostructures OPEN Tanmoy Das and A. V. Balatsky Presently, the design of 3D topological insulators is limited to single-compound synthesis with appropriate symmetries. Here, the authors propose a new design principle for 3D topological insulators based on stacked 2D Fermi gases, which may allow for better control of topological properties. 06 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2972 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Materials science  Theoretical physics  Sensitive magnetic control of ensemble nuclear spin hyperpolarization in diamond Hai-Jing Wang, Chang S. Shin, Claudia E. Avalos, Scott J. Seltzer, Dmitry Budker, Alexander Pines and Vikram S. Bajaj The transfer of spin polarization from electrons to nuclei is important for nuclear spin-based techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance. Here Wang and colleagues achieve sensitive magnetic control of the hyperpolarization of nuclei near optically polarized nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond. 05 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2930 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Atomic and molecular physics  The basis for limited specificity and MHC restriction in a T cell receptor interface Kurt H. Piepenbrink, Sydney J. Blevins, Daniel R. Scott and Brian M. Baker Although structural insights into antigen recognition by T cell receptors are increasingly available, the thermodynamic underpinnings are less well understood. Here the authors deconstruct the energetics of a representative interface and discover that peptide specificity, cross-reactivity and MHC restriction can be inextricably linked. 05 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2948 Biological Sciences  Immunology  TRF1 is a stem cell marker and is essential for the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells Ralph P. Schneider, Ianire Garrobo, Miguel Foronda, Jose A. Palacios, Rosa M. Marión, Ignacio Flores, Sagrario Ortega and Maria A. Blasco TRF-1 is a telomere-binding protein that protects chromosome ends from degradation. Schneider and colleagues show that TRF1 is a marker of adult stem cell compartments and of induced pluripotent stem cells, and that TRF1 is essential for the induction and maintenance of pluripotency. 05 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2946 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Developmental biology  Spectral non-uniform temperature and non-local heat transfer in the spin Seebeck effect Konstantin S. Tikhonov, Jairo Sinova and Alexander M. Finkel’stein The spin Seebeck effect, which refers to a spin current induced by a temperature gradient, is experimentally well established but a comprehensive theoretical framework is still missing. Here the authors succeed in explaining the non-locality and in predicting a non-magnon origin of the effect. 05 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2945 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Theoretical physics  Hypothalamic proteoglycan syndecan-3 is a novel cocaine addiction resilience factor OPEN Jihuan Chen, Vez Repunte-Canonigo, Tomoya Kawamura, Celine Lefebvre, William Shin, Leonard L. Howell, Scott E. Hemby, Brandon K. Harvey, Andrea Califano, Marisela Morales, George F. Koob and Pietro Paolo Sanna The lateral hypothalamus is implicated in drug reward and addiction. Chen and colleagues find that in the lateral hypothalamus of mice, the proteoglycan syndecan-3 negatively regulates cocaine-seeking behaviour by modulating the effects of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor. 05 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2955 Biological Sciences  Medical research  Neuroscience  All-solution processed polymer light-emitting diode displays Hua Zheng, Yina Zheng, Nanliu Liu, Na Ai, Qing Wang, Sha Wu, Junhong Zhou, Diangang Hu, Shufu Yu, Shaohu Han, Wei Xu, Chan Luo, Yanhong Meng, Zhixiong Jiang, Yawen Chen, Dongyun Li, Fei Huang, Jian Wang, Junbiao Peng and Yong Cao Polymer light-emitting diodes promise cheap and flexible lighting and displays, but their fabrication is hindered by high-vacuum methods for creating cathodes. Zheng et al. show an all-solution processing approach to polymer diodes that removes this obstacle, offering roll-to-roll fabrication of devices. 05 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2971 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Materials science  Optical physics  Nonvolatile liquid anthracenes for facile full-colour luminescence tuning at single blue-light excitation OPEN Sukumaran Santhosh Babu, Martin J. Hollamby, Junko Aimi, Hiroaki Ozawa, Akinori Saeki, Shu Seki, Kenji Kobayashi, Keita Hagiwara, Michito Yoshizawa, Helmuth Möhwald and Takashi Nakanishi Nonvolatile luminescent liquids are solvent-free fluids with a range of flexible electronic applications. Here, the authors show that anthracenes enveloped in branched aliphatic compounds are stable emissive liquids, with emissive and thermoresponsive properties that may be tuned by addition of dopants. 05 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms2969 Chemical Sciences  Materials science  Organic chemistry  Physical chemistry    Nature Communications JOBS of the week Postdoctoral Scientist Wisconsin Institute for Discovery Research Technician UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX Scientific Officer EMBL (European Molecular Biology Laboratory) Postdoctoral Fellow Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) Postdoctoral Scientist Institute of Food Research PhD-student (f / m) Helmholtz Center Berlin for Materials and Energy Laboratory Manager Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute (IJC) TB Immunologist Medical Research Council Senior Research Technologist St. Jude Children's Research Hospital PhD student Patrizia Agostinis (KULeuven, Belgium) More Science jobs from Nature Communications EVENT qPCR & Digital PCR Congress 09.-10.09.13 Lyon, France More science events from       Latest Errata     Erratum: Non-equilibrium dynamics of an unstable quantum pendulum explored in a spin-1 Bose–Einstein condensate C. 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