Nature Communications - 1 October 2013

Weekly Content Alert 01 October 2013  Featured image: Miljkovic et al. find that the trajectories of droplets leaping from a superhydrophic surface can be controlled by an electric field. Latest content: Articles Errata Journal homepage Recommend to library Web feed   Advertisement nature.com webcasts   Macmillan Science Communication presents a custom webcast: Investigation of chromosomal microarray analysis as the successor to prenatal karyotyping   October 8th 8am PDT/11am EDT/4pm BST/5pm CEST   Register for free    Sponsored by:       Latest Articles View all Articles     Regional population collapse followed initial agriculture booms in mid-Holocene Europe OPEN Stephen Shennan, Sean S. Downey, Adrian Timpson, Kevan Edinborough, Sue Colledge, Tim Kerig, Katie Manning and Mark G. Thomas Between 8000 and 4000 BP, agriculture spread throughout Europe changing consumption patterns and increasing populations. Shennan et al. analyse radiocarbon date distributions and paleoclimate proxies to show that agriculture also triggered regional population oscillations and that climate forcing is an unlikely cause. 01 October 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3486 Biological Sciences  Evolution  Palaeontology  Angiotensin inhibition enhances drug delivery and potentiates chemotherapy by decompressing tumour blood vessels OPEN Vikash P. Chauhan, John D. Martin, Hao Liu, Delphine A. Lacorre, Saloni R. Jain, Sergey V. Kozin, Triantafyllos Stylianopoulos, Ahmed S. Mousa, Xiaoxing Han, Pichet Adstamongkonkul, Zoran Popović, Peigen Huang, Moungi G. Bawendi, Yves Boucher and Rakesh K. Jain Hyaluronan is a component of the tumour extracellular matrix. Here, Chauhan et al. show that hyaluronan increases blood pressure in collagen-rich tumours by compressing vessel walls, and that reducing the level of hyaluranon with an angiotensin II inhibitor increases blood flow and drug penetrance in tumours. 01 October 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3516 Biological Sciences  Cancer  Medical research  Functional salivary gland regeneration by transplantation of a bioengineered organ germ OPEN Miho Ogawa, Masamitsu Oshima, Aya Imamura, Yurie Sekine, Kentaro Ishida, Kentaro Yamashita, Kei Nakajima, Masatoshi Hirayama, Tetsuhiko Tachikawa and Takashi Tsuji Salivary gland dysfunction as a result of diseases or ageing reduces the quality of life and causes various oral health problems. Here, the authors show that the salivary gland function of mice can be recovered by orthotopic transplantation of a bioengineered salivary gland germ. 01 October 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3498 Biological Sciences  Bioengineering  Biotechnology  Developmental biology  Functional lacrimal gland regeneration by transplantation of a bioengineered organ germ OPEN Masatoshi Hirayama, Miho Ogawa, Masamitsu Oshima, Yurie Sekine, Kentaro Ishida, Kentaro Yamashita, Kazutaka Ikeda, Shigeto Shimmura, Tetsuya Kawakita, Kazuo Tsubota and Takashi Tsuji Lacrimal glands maintain a healthy corneal epithelium but are dysfunctional for example in dry-eye disease. Here, the authors transplant bioengineered lacrimal and harderian gland germs into mice, where they connect to the host duct and nervous system and restore lacrimal gland function. 01 October 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3497 Biological Sciences  Bioengineering  Biotechnology  Developmental biology  Medical research  The landscape of viral expression and host gene fusion and adaptation in human cancer OPEN Ka-Wei Tang, Babak Alaei-Mahabadi, Tore Samuelsson, Magnus Lindh and Erik Larsson Viruses contribute to the pathogenesis of certain cancers. Using massively parallel sequencing data from The Cancer Genome Atlas to analyse viral expression in 19 tumour types, Tang et al. both confirm and reject previously described viral associations and present new information on viral integration and host interaction. 01 October 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3513 Biological Sciences  Cancer  Virology  Advancing plant phenology and reduced herbivore production in a terrestrial system associated with sea ice decline Jeffrey T. Kerby and Eric Post The effect of lower Arctic sea ice levels on local terrestrial ecosystems is not well studied. Here, Kerby and Post find that decreasing Arctic sea ice levels are associated with the early emergence of plant growth, which decouples plant growth from the birth of Caribou calves, and may be associated with increased calf mortality. 01 October 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3514 Biological Sciences  Climate science  Ecology  Model studies of force-dependent kinetics of multi-barrier reactions Yancong Tian, Timothy J. Kucharski, Qing-Zheng Yang and Roman Boulatov In chemical reactions, inner barriers, which precede the rate-determining transition state, are kinetically invisible but mechanistically significant. On an example of reduction of macrocyclic disulphides, the authors quantify these inner barriers by studying the reaction rate as a function of applied force. 30 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3538 Chemical Sciences  Organic chemistry  Physical chemistry  Non-wetting droplets on hot superhydrophilic surfaces Solomon Adera, Rishi Raj, Ryan Enright and Evelyn N. Wang Manipulating droplet morphology on surfaces is important for engineering applications such as thermal management and microfluidics. Adera et al. show a control strategy where non-wetting droplets are formed by mild heating superhydrophilic surfaces beyond the saturation temperature of the liquid. 30 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3518 Physical Sciences  Fluids and plasma physics  Nanotechnology  Mn(II) deposition on anodes and its effects on capacity fade in spinel lithium manganate–carbon systems Chun Zhan, Jun Lu, A. Jeremy Kropf, Tianpin Wu, Andrew N. Jansen, Yang-Kook Sun, Xinping Qiu and Khalil Amine Lithium manganate is an important cathode material for lithium-ion batteries; however, its capacity-fading mechanism is unclear. Zhan et al. identify the oxidation state of manganese deposited on the anode, which leads to an irreversible rising in anode resistance and consequently a shortened battery life. 30 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3437 Chemical Sciences  Materials science  Physical chemistry  Rapid and quantitative one-pot synthesis of sequence-controlled polymers by radical polymerization Guillaume Gody, Thomas Maschmeyer, Per B. Zetterlund and Sébastien Perrier Sequence control of multiblock copolymers is a difficult task for polymer chemistry. Here, the authors report a simple radical method that allows the synthesis of well-defined block copolymers with a wide range of functional groups, including a 20-unit multiblock copolymer. 30 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3505 Chemical Sciences  Materials science  Organic chemistry  Brief hearing loss disrupts binaural integration during two early critical periods of auditory cortex development Daniel B. Polley, John H. Thompson and Wei Guo Auditory cortical circuits are shaped by the experience of sound. By inducing reversible hearing loss at key milestones in cortical development, Polley et al. identify two critical periods occurring shortly after hearing onset that regulate the maturation of coordinated binaural sound representations. 30 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3547 Biological Sciences  Neuroscience  Pair distribution function computed tomography Simon D. M. Jacques, Marco Di Michiel, Simon A. J. Kimber, Xiaohao Yang, Robert J. Cernik, Andrew M. Beale and Simon J. L. Billinge Determining the nanostructure within complex composites may lead to greater understanding of their properties. Here, the authors demonstrate the application of X-ray atomic pair distribution function computed tomography to resolve the physicochemical properties of palladium nanoparticles on an alumina catalyst. 30 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3536 Chemical Sciences  Catalysis  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Arthropod fossil data increase congruence of morphological and molecular phylogenies David A. Legg, Mark D. Sutton and Gregory D. Edgecombe The phylogenetic relationship among different arthropod groups remains unclear. Here, Legg et al. present a refined Arthropoda phylogeny based on extinct and extant data, in which Crustacea is paraphyletic with respect to Hexapoda. 30 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3485 Biological Sciences  Evolution  Palaeontology  Demonstration of a novel focusing small-angle neutron scattering instrument equipped with axisymmetric mirrors Dazhi Liu, Boris Khaykovich, Mikhail V. Gubarev, J. Lee Robertson, Lowell Crow, Brian D. Ramsey and David E. Moncton Small-angle neutron scattering is an important technique for a number of fields, but most instruments are inefficient in terms of neutron flux. Using a design based on axisymmetric focussing mirrors, Liu et al. build a compact small-angle neutron-scattering setup that could overcome the present limitations. 30 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3556 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Optical physics  miRNAs confer phenotypic robustness to gene networks by suppressing biological noise Velia Siciliano, Immacolata Garzilli, Chiara Fracassi, Stefania Criscuolo, Simona Ventre and Diego di Bernardo MicroRNAs are thought to confer robustness to biological processes, but clear experimental evidence is still needed. Here, Siciliano et al. construct a toggle-switch in mammalian cells to show that microRNAs buffer fluctuations in protein levels, thereby providing phenotypic robustness to gene regulatory networks. 30 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3364 Biological Sciences  Genetics  Systems biology  Electrostatic charging of jumping droplets Nenad Miljkovic, Daniel J. Preston, Ryan Enright and Evelyn N. Wang When two droplets on a superhydrophobic surface coalesce, the excess surface energy causes the merged droplet to jump away from the surface. Miljkovic et al. find that this process also causes the droplets to become charged, enabling them to be manipulated with an electric field. 27 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3517 Physical Sciences  Fluids and plasma physics  CARMIL leading edge localization depends on a non-canonical PH domain and dimerization Adam Zwolak, Changsong Yang, Elizabeth A. Feeser, E. Michael Ostap, Tatyana Svitkina and Roberto Dominguez CARMIL regulates actin capping proteins at the leading edge of migrating cells. By solving the crystal structure of the CARMIL N-terminal region, Zwolak et al. discover that this region encodes a cryptic pleckstrin homology domain, and show that it mediates association with the plasma membrane. 27 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3523 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Strong Casimir force reduction through metallic surface nanostructuring OPEN Francesco Intravaia, Stephan Koev, Il Woong Jung, A. Alec Talin, Paul S. Davids, Ricardo S. Decca, Vladimir A. Aksyuk, Diego A. R. Dalvit and Daniel López The Casimir force between two objects in close distance to each other can be an important yet undesirable force for nanoscale devices. Here, Intravaia et al. observe that nanostructured metal surfaces show a Casimir force that is reduced even further than suggested by existing theoretical models. 27 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3515 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Optical physics  OTUB1 enhances TGFβ signalling by inhibiting the ubiquitylation and degradation of active SMAD2/3 OPEN Lina Herhaus, Mazin Al-Salihi, Thomas Macartney, Simone Weidlich and Gopal P. Sapkota TGFβ signalling through SMAD proteins controls many different processes, both during embryonic development and in adult tissues. Herhaus et al. show that the deubiquitinase OTUB1 promotes TGFβ signalling by binding specifically to activated SMAD2/3 complexes and inhibiting their ubiquitiylation. 27 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3519 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Gene regulation and priming by topoisomerase IIα in embryonic stem cells Sudhir Thakurela, Angela Garding, Johannes Jung, Dirk Schübeler, Lukas Burger and Vijay K. Tiwari Topoisomerase 2α (Top2α) has essential roles during DNA replication, whereas its isoform Top2β is implicated in gene expression. Thakurela et al. show that Top2α is also required for stem-cell transcriptome regulation and primes developmental genes for activation by Top2β upon terminal differentiation. 27 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3478 Biological Sciences  Developmental biology  Molecular biology  Species differences and molecular determinant of TRPA1 cold sensitivity OPEN Jun Chen, Dawon Kang, Jing Xu, Marc Lake, James O. Hogan, Chaohong Sun, Karl Walter, Betty Yao and Donghee Kim TRPA1 ion channels act as thermosensors across different species; however, studies on their role in noxious cold sensation have provided conflicting results in mammals. Chen et al. show that these discrepancies arise because cold activates rat and mouse TRPA1 but not human or rhesus monkey TRPA1. 27 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3501 Biological Sciences  Neuroscience  Direct measurement of the absolute absorption spectrum of individual semiconducting single-wall carbon nanotubes Jean-Christophe Blancon, Matthieu Paillet, Huy Nam Tran, Xuan Tinh Than, Samuel Aberra Guebrou, Anthony Ayari, Alfonso San Miguel, Ngoc-Minh Phan, Ahmed-Azmi Zahab, Jean-Louis Sauvajol, Natalia Del Fatti and Fabrice Vallée A detailed knowledge of the properties of carbon nanotubes is required for their utilization in practical devices. Here, the measurement of the absorption spectra of individual carbon nanotubes by Blancon et al. provides an important feedback to the modelling of their intrinsic properties. 27 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3542 Physical Sciences  Nanotechnology  Optical physics  Oxygen consumption rates in subseafloor basaltic crust derived from a reaction transport model Beth N. Orcutt, C. Geoffrey Wheat, Olivier Rouxel, Samuel Hulme, Katrina J. Edwards and Wolfgang Bach Deep oceanic crust could host a wealth of microbial life, but biogeochemical reactions therein are poorly understood. Orcutt et al. combine measurements of sedimentary oxygen and pore water chemistry from basement crust with a reactive transport box model to shed light on oxygen consumption in basaltic crust. 27 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3539 Earth Sciences  Biogeochemistry  Oceanography  Control of the spin geometric phase in semiconductor quantum rings OPEN Fumiya Nagasawa, Diego Frustaglia, Henri Saarikoski, Klaus Richter and Junsaku Nitta The quantum phase of a magnetic spin carrier can be electrically controlled via the Aharonov–Casher effect. Here, the authors isolate and handle the geometric-phase component independently from the dynamical one, allowing geometric manipulation of electron spins in a semiconductor ring array. 26 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3526 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Nanotechnology  Mobility transition from ballistic to diffusive transport in non-Hermitian lattices T. Eichelkraut, R. Heilmann, S. Weimann, S. Stützer, F. Dreisow, D. N. Christodoulides, S. Nolte and A. Szameit Transport of particles in the presence of disorder is of interest for applications in electronics as well as photonics. Here, the authors show theoretically and experimentally that based on dissipation alone, transport of light undergoes a change from ballistic to diffusive transport even in the absence of disorder. 26 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3533 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Optical physics  Plant immune response to pathogens differs with changing temperatures Cheng Cheng, Xiquan Gao, Baomin Feng, Jen Sheen, Libo Shan and Ping He Plants have two mechanisms to respond to infection; pattern-triggered immunity detects conserved microbial compounds, whereas effector-triggered immunity recognizes proteins secreted by pathogens. In this study, Cheng et al. report that temperature determines which of these immune systems is preferentially induced. 26 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3530 Biological Sciences  Immunology  Plant sciences  Direct visualization of a guest-triggered crystal deformation based on a flexible ultramicroporous framework Hao-Long Zhou, Rui-Biao Lin, Chun-Ting He, Yue-Biao Zhang, Ningdong Feng, Qiang Wang, Feng Deng, Jie-Peng Zhang and Xiao-Ming Chen Host–guest materials open up the possibility of tuning physical properties based on the addition of appropriate guests. Here, a flexible, porous coordination polymer is reported, in which the addition of guest molecules significantly alters the thermal expansion properties as well as deforming the crystal lattice. 26 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3534 Chemical Sciences  Materials science  Molecular determinants of common gating of a ClC chloride channel Brett Bennetts and Michael W. Parker The ClC family of chloride channels are homodimeric and contain two pores that are gated simultaneously. Bennetts and Parker combine homology modelling and mutant-cycle analysis to reveal structural linkages important for coordination of gating between subunits. 25 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3507 Biological Sciences  Biochemistry  Biophysics  Functional evaluation of autism-associated mutations in NHE9 Kalyan C. Kondapalli, Anniesha Hack, Maya Schushan, Meytal Landau, Nir Ben-Tal and Rajini Rao Mutations in the gene that encodes the endosomal cation/proton antiporter NHE9 are implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders. In this study, the authors screen autism-associated variants in the human population and identify specific variants of NHE9 that are characterized by a loss of function in astrocytes. 25 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3510 Biological Sciences  Genetics  Neuroscience  Stable platinum nanoparticles on specific MgAl2O4 spinel facets at high temperatures in oxidizing atmospheres Wei-Zhen Li, Libor Kovarik, Donghai Mei, Jun Liu, Yong Wang and Charles H. F. Peden Supported platinum nanoparticles are highly active catalysts, but often gradually degrade under standard reaction conditions. Here, a well-defined spinel material is used as a support, resulting in a catalyst capable of maintaining performance even after severe thermal aging in oxidizing atmospheres. 25 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3481 Chemical Sciences  Inorganic chemistry  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Performance enhancement of metal nanowire transparent conducting electrodes by mesoscale metal wires Po-Chun Hsu, Shuang Wang, Hui Wu, Vijay K. Narasimhan, Desheng Kong, Hye Ryoung Lee and Yi Cui Decreasing sheet resistance and increasing light transmission are critical in transparent conducting electrodes. Here, a network of mesoscale metal nanowires are included in an array of metal nanowires, resulting in a low sheet resistance of 0.36 Ω sq-1 and a high transmittance of 92%. 25 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3522 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Super liquid-repellent gas membranes for carbon dioxide capture and heart–lung machines OPEN Maxime Paven, Periklis Papadopoulos, Susanne Schöttler, Xu Deng, Volker Mailänder, Doris Vollmer and Hans-Jürgen Butt Membranes allowing transfer of a gas between a liquid and gas layer have applications in areas such as blood oxygenation and carbon dioxide capture. Here, a super liquid repellent membrane is fabricated, allowing high gas transfer and also avoiding wetting and clogging of the membrane pores. 25 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3512 Chemical Sciences  Materials science  Physical chemistry    Nature Communiactions JOBS of the week Postdoctoral Fellow Johns Hopkins Hospital Postdoctoral Research Assistant University of Edinburgh PhD Scholarship NUI Galway PhD Student Position University of Geneva Research Scientist University of Oxford Chair of Pediatrics Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center Bioinformatician The Pirbright Institute Post Doctoral Associate Kansas State University Doctoral Researcher Position Jena School for Microbial Communication (JSMC) at the University of Jena, Germany Tenure-Track Assistant Professorship University of Minnesota More Science jobs from Nature Communiactions EVENT NanoBio-Europe Congress 2014 02.06.14 Münster, Germany More science events from       Latest Errata     Erratum: European origin of placodont marine reptiles and the evolution of crushing dentition in Placodontia James M. Neenan, Nicole Klein and Torsten M. Scheyer 01 October 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3284 Biological Sciences  Evolution  Palaeontology      Erratum: Prostaglandin E2 promotes Th1 differentiation via synergistic amplification of IL-12 signalling by cAMP and PI3-kinase Chengcan Yao, Takako Hirata, Kitipong Soontrapa, Xiaojun Ma, Hiroshi Takemori and Shuh Narumiya 26 September 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3315 Biological Sciences  Immunology      Advertisement LEARNING IN THE DIGITAL AGE Nature and Scientific American collaborate to probe the revolution underway in education and discuss what it means for learning, teaching and research.  Access the Special online or via specials in the NatureJournals app    Natureevents is a fully searchable, multi-disciplinary database designed to maximise exposure for events organisers. The contents of the Natureevents Directory are now live. The digital version is available here. 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