Nature Communications - 26 June 2013

Weekly Content Alert 26 June 2013  Featured image: Fru et al. provide fossilized evidence for the microbial origin of banded iron formations in rocks from ancient ferruginous oceans. Latest content: Articles Journal homepage Recommend to library Web feed   Advertisement Choose Scientific Reports for fast, efficient, open access publishing  93% of authors said they are likely or very likely to recommend Scientific Reports to their colleagues* 92% of authors would publish in Scientific Reports again*  SUBMIT your paper today!   *Nature Publishing Group author survey, data correct as of April 2013     Latest Articles View all Articles     In-vivo single neuron axotomy triggers axon regeneration to restore synaptic density in specific cortical circuits OPEN A. J. Canty, L. Huang, J. S. Jackson, G. E. Little, G. Knott, B. Maco and V. De Paola Unlike the peripheral nervous system, the adult central nervous system is not thought to spontaneously regenerate. Canty et al. use time-lapse imaging for periods of up to a year, to show that some axons in the mouse brain extend into unlesioned areas at speeds comparable to peripheral nerve regeneration. 25 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3038 Biological Sciences  Medical research  Neuroscience  FAK-heterozygous mice display enhanced tumour angiogenesis Vassiliki Kostourou, Tanguy Lechertier, Louise E. Reynolds, Delphine M. Lees, Marianne Baker, Dylan T. Jones, Bernardo Tavora, Antoine R. Ramjaun, Graeme M. Birdsey, Stephen D. Robinson, Maddy Parsons, Anna M. Randi, Ian R. Hart and Kairbaan Hodivala-Dilke Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) regulates angiogenesis and FAK inhibitors are currently developed as anticancer drugs. Here Kostourou and colleagues show that genetic FAK heterozygosity or low doses of a pharmacological FAK inhibitor unexpectedly increase angiogenesis and tumour growth in vitro and in vivo. 25 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3020 Biological Sciences  Cancer  Cell biology  Medical research  Scara1 deficiency impairs clearance of soluble amyloid-β by mononuclear phagocytes and accelerates Alzheimer's-like disease progression Dan Frenkel, Kim Wilkinson, Lingzhi Zhao, Suzanne E. Hickman, Terry K. Means, Lindsay Puckett, Dorit Farfara, Nathan D. Kingery, Howard L. Weiner and Joseph El Khoury The scavenger receptor Scara1, expressed on microglia and macrophages, binds beta amyloid aggregates. In a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease, the authors show that Scara1 deficiency is associated with reduced clearance and increased deposition of aggregates in the brain, which results in early mortality. 25 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3030 Biological Sciences  Medical research  Neuroscience  Electric in-plane polarization in multiferroic CoFe2O4/BaTiO3 nanocomposite tuned by magnetic fields OPEN Carolin Schmitz-Antoniak, Detlef Schmitz, Pavel Borisov, Frank M. F. de Groot, Sven Stienen, Anne Warland, Bernhard Krumme, Ralf Feyerherm, Esther Dudzik, Wolfgang Kleemann and Heiko Wende Multiferroics, materials that exhibit two or more ferroic orders, are potentially useful for data storage if the coupling between these orders can be exploited. Here the authors elucidate how the magnetism in ferrimagnetic nanopillars can control the electric polarization of a surrounding matrix. 25 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3051 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Materials science  Nanotechnology  PHF20 regulates NF-κB signalling by disrupting recruitment of PP2A to p65 Tiejun Zhang, Kyeong Ah Park, Yuwen Li, Hee Sun Byun, Juhee Jeon, Yoonjung Lee, Jang Hee Hong, Jin Man Kim, Song-Mei Huang, Seung-Won Choi, Seon-Hwan Kim, Kyung-Cheol Sohn, Hyunju Ro, Ji Hoon Lee, Tao Lu, George R. Stark, Han-Ming Shen, Zheng-gang Liu, Jongsun Park and Gang Min Hur The protein PHF20 is expressed in various cancers, but little is known about its cellular function. Here, Zhang and colleagues show that PHF20 regulates NF-κB signalling by inhibiting the interaction between its subunit p65 and the phosphatase PP2A, thereby maintaining NF-κB in an active state in the nucleus. 25 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3062 Biological Sciences  Cancer  Cell biology  Promotion of oxygen reduction by a bio-inspired tethered iron phthalocyanine carbon nanotube-based catalyst Ruiguo Cao, Ranjit Thapa, Hyejung Kim, Xiaodong Xu, Min Gyu Kim, Qing Li, Noejung Park, Meilin Liu and Jaephil Cho The rational design of inexpensive and durable oxygen reduction catalysts may lead to enhanced fuel cell performance. Here, the authors report a bio-inspired catalyst in which hybridization of iron 3d electrons with a carbon nanotube alters its electronic structure and improves catalytic performance. 25 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3076 Chemical Sciences  Catalysis  Materials science  Molecular adsorption induces the transformation of rhombohedral- to Bernal-stacking order in trilayer graphene Wenjing Zhang, Jiaxu Yan, Chang-Hsiao Chen, Liu Lei, Jer-Lai Kuo, Zexiang Shen and Lain-Jong Li Although Bernal stacked trilayer graphene is believed to be the stable packing type, at temperatures below 1,000 °C the transformation from rhombohedral packing does not occur. Zhang et al. show that rhombohedral stacking can be converted to Bernal type by evaporating triazine onto graphene at 150 °C. 25 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3074 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Solar spectral conversion for improving the photosynthetic activity in algae reactors OPEN Lothar Wondraczek, Miroslaw Batentschuk, Markus A. Schmidt, Rudolf Borchardt, Simon Scheiner, Benjamin Seemann, Peter Schweizer and Christoph J. Brabec Algae beds are a promising resource for bio-energy and gas production, but their productivity is often limited by solar energy harvesting efficiency. Wondraczek et al. promote algal growth by using photoluminescent phosphor, which shifts the light spectrum to better match the algal adsorption band. 25 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3047 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Optical physics  Pattern classification by memristive crossbar circuits using ex situ and in situ training Fabien Alibart, Elham Zamanidoost and Dmitri B. Strukov Experimental demonstration of memristor circuits in artificial neural networks is challenging. Here, pattern classification by a single-layer perceptron network is realised with a memristive crossbar circuit, and both in situ and ex situ training are applied. 25 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3072 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  A small molecule modulates Jumonji histone demethylase activity and selectively inhibits cancer growth Lei Wang, Jianjun Chang, Diana Varghese, Michael Dellinger, Subodh Kumar, Anne M. Best, Julio Ruiz, Richard Bruick, Samuel Peña-Llopis, Junjie Xu, David J. Babinski, Doug E. Frantz, Rolf A. Brekken, Amy M. Quinn, Anton Simeonov, Johnny Easmon and Elisabeth D. Martinez Epigenetic regulators are promising targets for cancer drugs, as they can modulate a broad range of transcriptional networks simultaneously. Here, the authors identify an inhibitor of Jumonji-family histone demethylases and show that it selectively kills cancer cells in mouse tumour models. 24 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3035 Biological Sciences  Cancer  Medical research  Antagonism between binding site affinity and conformational dynamics tunes alternative cis-interactions within Shp2 Jie Sun, Shaoying Lu, Mingxing Ouyang, Li-Jung Lin, Yue Zhuo, Bo Liu, Shu Chien, Benjamin G. Neel and Yingxiao Wang Competition between inter- and intra-molecular interactions is a commonly observed property of modular signalling proteins. Here, the authors show that in the phosphatase Shp2, this balance is maintained by a trade-off between binding site affinities and conformational stability. 24 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3037 Biological Sciences  Biochemistry  Cell biology  Wheat Mds-1 encodes a heat-shock protein and governs susceptibility towards the Hessian fly gall midge Xuming Liu, Chitvan Khajuria, Jiarui Li, Harold N. Trick, Li Huang, Bikram S. Gill, Gerald R. Reeck, Ginny Antony, Frank F. White and Ming-Shun Chen Hessian flies are wheat parasites that seize control of the metabolic pathways of their hosts. Liu et al. identify the wheat gene, which encodes a small heat-shock protein, as a major susceptibility gene for infestation by the Hessian fly. 24 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3070 Biological Sciences  Genetics  Plant sciences  In vivo assessment of human brain oscillations during application of transcranial electric currents OPEN Surjo R. Soekadar, Matthias Witkowski, Eliana G. Cossio, Niels Birbaumer, Stephen E. Robinson and Leonardo G. Cohen Transcranial brain stimulation is used to treat neurological and psychiatric disorders. Soekadar et al. describe a novel method that allows simultaneous measurements and transcranial brain stimulation of human oscillatory brain activity associated with motor actions in primary cortical brain regions. 21 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3032 Biological Sciences  Neuroscience  Two principles of organization in the prefrontal cortex are cognitive hierarchy and degree of automaticity Hyeon-Ae Jeon and Angela D. Friederici Regional differences in cognitive processing exist in language domains in the brain. Jeon and Friederici study cognitive processing in native German speakers exposed to different languages, and describe the functional and structural features that account for the regional differences. 21 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3041 Biological Sciences  Neuroscience  Fossilized iron bacteria reveal a pathway to the biological origin of banded iron formation Ernest Chi Fru, Magnus Ivarsson, Stephanos P. Kilias, Stefan Bengtson, Veneta Belivanova, Federica Marone, Danielle Fortin, Curt Broman and Marco Stampanoni Debates on the formation of banded iron formations (BIFs) in ancient iron-rich oceans are dominated by contradictions between biological and non-biological iron cycling. This study provides environmental evidence that directly implicates photosynthetic iron-oxidizing microorganisms in vast-scale BIF deposition. 20 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3050 Earth Sciences  Biogeochemistry  Microbiology  Oceanography  Palaeontology  Direct-current voltages in (Ga,Mn)As structures induced by ferromagnetic resonance Lin Chen, Fumihiro Matsukura and Hideo Ohno Spin-pumping- spin current production in a non-magnetic layer adjacent to a magnetic layer- is central to spintronics. Here, the authors separate the spin-pumping signal induced by the inverse spin Hall effect from other effects in (Ga,Mn)As, achieving an accurate measurement of the spin Hall effect. 20 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3055 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Condensed matter  Three-dimensional deep sub-diffraction optical beam lithography with 9 nm feature size OPEN Zongsong Gan, Yaoyu Cao, Richard A. Evans and Min Gu The fabrication of three-dimensional nanoscale structures is important to nanophotonic applications where light is guided and controlled. The optical beam lithography scheme developed by Gan and colleagues enables the fabrication of three-dimensional structures with feature sizes down to 9 nm. 19 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3061 Physical Sciences  Nanotechnology  Optical physics  Magnetoelectric effects and valley-controlled spin quantum gates in transition metal dichalcogenide bilayers Zhirui Gong, Gui-Bin Liu, Hongyi Yu, Di Xiao, Xiaodong Cui, Xiaodong Xu and Wang Yao Exploiting as many degrees of freedom of the electron as possible will make future electronic devices more versatile. Here, the authors show that coupling of spin, layer pseudospin and valley degrees of freedom in transition metal dichalcogenide bilayers makes them a promising platform for this purpose. 19 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3053 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Theoretical physics  Designing a practical high-fidelity long-time quantum memory Kaveh Khodjasteh, Jarrah Sastrawan, David Hayes, Todd J. Green, Michael J. Biercuk and Lorenza Viola Future quantum computers need quantum memories that store arbitrary states for long periods, without incurring significant access latencies. Using high-order dynamical decoupling sequences, this work shows a practical scheme to suppress physical errors and guarantee high-fidelity storage for long times. 19 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3045 Physical Sciences  Quantum information  Quantum physics  Theoretical physics  Dipolar-energy-activated magnetic domain pattern transformation driven by thermal fluctuations M. Kronseder, M. Buchner, H.G. Bauer and C.H. Back Magnetic domain patterns and the capability to control them is important for applications such as information storage. Here, Kronseder and colleagues find a metastable magnetic domain state with a domain width larger than the thermodynamically stable one as a result of reduced thermal fluctuations. 19 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3054 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Condensed matter  B7-H5 costimulates human T cells via CD28H Yuwen Zhu, Sheng Yao, Bettina P. Iliopoulou, Xue Han, Mathew M. Augustine, Haiying Xu, Ryan T. Phennicie, Sarah J. Flies, Megan Broadwater, William Ruff, Janis M. Taube, Linghua Zheng, Liqun Luo, Gefeng Zhu, Jianzhu Chen and Lieping Chen The end-result of stimulation of T-cell receptors by antigen is in part determined by co-signalling pathways such as the B7/CD28 axis. Zhu et al. identify a novel costimulatory CD28-like receptor and ligand pathway in human T cells. 19 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3043 Biological Sciences  Immunology  Rab6a releases LIS1 from a dynein idling complex and activates dynein for retrograde movement OPEN Masami Yamada, Kanako Kumamoto, Shintaro Mikuni, Yoshiyuki Arai, Masataka Kinjo, Takeharu Nagai, Yoshikazu Tsukasaki, Tomonobu M. Watanabe, Mitsuru Fukui, Mingyue Jin, Shiori Toba and Shinji Hirotsune LIS1 has been shown to act as a protein 'clutch', which binds to dynein motor proteins and prevents microtubule detachment without affecting their ATPase activity; this causes dynein to stall. Here the authors show that the GTPase Rab6a releases LIS1 from dynein, thus reactivating the motor. 19 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3033 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Acid sensing by sweet and bitter taste neurons in Drosophila melanogaster Sandhya Charlu, Zev Wisotsky, Adriana Medina and Anupama Dahanukar Taste detection in Drosophila melanogaster has been well characterized for bitter and sweet stimuli. In this study, the authors characterize taste detection for acids and find that they are detected by a subset of bitter taste neurons, and that they inhibit the responses of sweet-sensing neurons to sugar. 19 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3042 Biological Sciences  Neuroscience  Exploring the MHC-peptide matrix of central tolerance in the human thymus OPEN Eleni Adamopoulou, Stefan Tenzer, Nina Hillen, Paula Klug, Ioanna A. Rota, Silvia Tietz, Madlen Gebhardt, Stefan Stevanovic, Hansjörg Schild, Eva Tolosa, Arthur Melms and Christina Stoeckle T cells learn to tolerate self-antigens in the thymus, where self-peptides are presented by thymic antigen-presenting cells. Here, the authors present an ex vivo mass spectrometric analysis of the self-peptide repertoire associated with MHC I and II in human thymic tissue. 19 June 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3039 Biological Sciences  Immunology    Nature Communications JOBS of the week Postdoctoral Researcher University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus Scientific assistant CSCC, Jena University Hospital Post-Doctoral Research Associate Queen Mary University London PhD position The University of Hong Kong Postdoctoral associate University of Louisville School of Medicine Project Coordinator University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy Faculty of Biology University of Duisburg-Essen Postdoctoral Positions Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry Postdoctoral Fellow Saskatchewan Cancer Agency Research Technician Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) More Science jobs from Nature Communications EVENT Cancer Therapeutics 2013: From Bench to Bedside 04.11.13 La Jolla, USA More science events from       Natureevents is a fully searchable, multi-disciplinary database designed to maximise exposure for events organisers. 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