Nature Communications - 11 December 2013

Advertisement "We are at the beginning of the largest revolution in scientific publishing since Gutenberg invented printing."   Read our special interview with Alex Hansen, professor of theoretical physics at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and Field Chief Editor of Frontiers in Physics     Weekly Content Alert 11 December 2013  Featured image: Hara et al. create tunable X-ray pulses to study ultrafast electronic transitions and states for a range of materials. Latest content: Articles Corrigenda Journal homepage Recommend to library Web feed   Advertisement Nature Clinical Collection: Slowing down neurodegeneration As the articles in this Clinical Collection illustrate, approaches to preventing or arresting neurodegeneration can take many forms, from lifestyle changes aimed at preserving the integrity of the brain, to pharmacological treatments and immunological interventions targeted at specific neurodegenerative disease mechanisms.  Access the collection FREE online  Produced with support of a grant from Teva Pharmaceuticals      Latest Articles View all Articles     Low paternal dietary folate alters the mouse sperm epigenome and is associated with negative pregnancy outcomes OPEN R. Lambrot, C. Xu, S. Saint-Phar, G. Chountalos, T. Cohen, M. Paquet, M. Suderman, M. Hallett and S. Kimmins Paternal diet has been shown to influence the metabolism of offspring in rats and mice. Here, Lambrot et al. report DNA and histone methylation changes in the sperm of male mice on a folate-deficient diet and observe developmental defects in their offspring. 10 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3889 Biological Sciences  Developmental biology  Molecular biology  Whole exome sequencing of insulinoma reveals recurrent T372R mutations in YY1 Yanan Cao, Zhibo Gao, Lin Li, Xiuli Jiang, Aijing Shan, Jie Cai, Ying Peng, Yanli Li, Xiaohua Jiang, Xuanlin Huang, Jiaqian Wang, Qing Wei, Guijun Qin, Jiajun Zhao, Xiaolong Jin, Li Liu, Yingrui Li, Weiqing Wang, Jun Wang and Guang Ning Insulinomas develop from pancreatic β-cells and secrete insulin, but the underlying genetic defects are largely unknown. In this study, Cao et al. identify recurrent T372R mutations in the transcription factor YY1, and validate this hotspot mutation in 30% of insulinomas. 10 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3810 Biological Sciences  Cancer  Genetics  Influenza A(H7N9) virus gains neuraminidase inhibitor resistance without loss of in vivo virulence or transmissibility OPEN Rong Hai, Mirco Schmolke, Victor H. Leyva-Grado, Rajagowthamee R. Thangavel, Irina Margine, Eric L. Jaffe, Florian Krammer, Alicia Solórzano, Adolfo García-Sastre, Peter Palese and Nicole M. Bouvier Some clinical isolates of influenza A(H7N9) virus encode a mutation within neuraminidase that could confer resistance to the only class of drugs active against H7N9. Here, the authors show that this mutation does not affect viral replication and pathogenicity while mediating resistance to antivirals in vivo. 10 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3854 Biological Sciences  Virology  An integrated approach to realizing high-performance liquid-junction quantum dot sensitized solar cells OPEN Hunter McDaniel, Nobuhiro Fuke, Nikolay S. Makarov, Jeffrey M. Pietryga and Victor I. Klimov Although quantum dots are a promising alternative to dyes in sensitised solar cells, most are based on toxic heavy metals. McDaniel et al. demonstrate devices made with low-cost copper-based quantum dots that achieve certified efficiencies unprecedented for quantum dot sensitized solar cells. 10 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3887 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Materials science  High-capacity antimony sulphide nanoparticle-decorated graphene composite as anode for sodium-ion batteries Denis Y. W. Yu, Petr V. Prikhodchenko, Chad W. Mason, Sudip K. Batabyal, Jenny Gun, Sergey Sladkevich, Alexander G. Medvedev and Ovadia Lev Anode materials used for sodium-ion batteries often suffer from poor stability and rate capability in electrochemical reactions. Yu et al. report a nanocomposite anode consisting of stibnite and reduced graphene oxide, which exhibits excellent cycle stability and rate performance. 10 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3922 Chemical Sciences  Applied physics  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Supramolecular high-aspect ratio assemblies with strong antifungal activity Kazuki Fukushima, Shaoqiong Liu, Hong Wu, Amanda C. Engler, Daniel J. Coady, Hareem Maune, Jed Pitera, Alshakim Nelson, Nikken Wiradharma, Shrinivas Venkataraman, Yuan Huang, Weimin Fan, Jackie Y. Ying, Yi Yan Yang and James L. Hedrick Efficient and pathogen-specific antifungal agents are required to mitigate drug resistance problems. Here, the authors present a series of cationic small molecules, which are easy to isolate and characterize, and which can self-assemble to give polymer-like antifungal activity and specificity. 09 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3861 Chemical Sciences  Medicinal chemistry  Organic chemistry  Erythropoietin production in neuroepithelial and neural crest cells during primitive erythropoiesis Norio Suzuki, Ikuo Hirano, Xiaoqing Pan, Naoko Minegishi and Masayuki Yamamoto The kidney and liver are the sources of erythropoietin required for definitive erythropoiesis, the second wave of erythrocyte formation for later embryonic and adult usage. Here, the authors show that mouse embryonic neuroepithelial cells produce erythropoietin during mid-gestation, when primitive erythropoiesis occurs in the yolk sac. 06 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3902 Biological Sciences  Developmental biology  Rapid interhemispheric climate links via the Australasian monsoon during the last deglaciation Linda K. Ayliffe, Michael K. Gagan, Jian-xin Zhao, Russell N. Drysdale, John C. Hellstrom, Wahyoe S. Hantoro, Michael L. Griffiths, Heather Scott-Gagan, Emma St Pierre, Joan A. Cowley and Bambang W. Suwargadi The global monsoon is considered to have provided an important interhemispheric climate link during deglaciation, but direct evidence is lacking. Here, climate evidence from speleothems suggests that rapid latitudinal displacements of the Australasian monsoon play a key role in deglacial warming. 06 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3908 Earth Sciences  Climate science  Adaptive strong-field control of chemical dynamics guided by three-dimensional momentum imaging E. Wells, C.E. Rallis, M. Zohrabi, R. Siemering, Bethany Jochim, P.R. Andrews, U. Ablikim, B. Gaire, S. De, K.D. Carnes, B. Bergues, R. de Vivie-Riedle, M.F. Kling and I. Ben-Itzhak Shaped femtosecond laser pulses can control the dynamics of chemical reactions but understanding the underlying control process is difficult. Towards this end, Wells et al. show that feedback from rapid inversion of velocity map images of photofragment ions can target specific adaptive control outcomes. 06 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3895 Physical Sciences  Atomic and molecular physics  Physical chemistry  Coal as an abundant source of graphene quantum dots Ruquan Ye, Changsheng Xiang, Jian Lin, Zhiwei Peng, Kewei Huang, Zheng Yan, Nathan P. Cook, Errol L.G. Samuel, Chih-Chau Hwang, Gedeng Ruan, Gabriel Ceriotti, Abdul-Rahman O. Raji, Angel A. Martí and James M. Tour Coal is widely used for energy generation, but has not been considered for possible functional materials. Here, the authors report the one-step formation of graphene quantum dots from coal at yields of up to 20%, which is advantageous when compared with their syntheses from sp 2-type carbon structures. 06 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3943 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Nanotechnology  miRNomes of haematopoietic stem cells and dendritic cells identify miR-30b as a regulator of Notch1 OPEN Xiaoping Su, Cheng Qian, Qian Zhang, Jin Hou, Yan Gu, Yanmei Han, Yongjian Chen, Minghong Jiang and Xuetao Cao Several microRNAs have been implicated in the differentiation of immune cells. Here, the authors analyse the global microRNA expression profiles of mouse haematopoietic stem cells and different stages of dendritic cell development and identify Notch1 as a target of miR-30b in regulatory dendritic cells. 06 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3903 Biological Sciences  Developmental biology  Immunology  Strain induced superconductivity in the parent compound BaFe2As2 J. Engelmann, V. Grinenko, P. Chekhonin, W. Skrotzki, D.V. Efremov, S. Oswald, K. Iida, R. Hühne, J. Hänisch, M. Hoffmann, F. Kurth, L. Schultz and B. Holzapfel It is well known that strain can modify the critical temperature below which a material becomes superconducting. Engelmann et al. show that strain does not just modify the critical temperature of iron pnictides but can induce superconductivity in the otherwise non-superconducting undoped phase of BaFe2As2. 06 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3877 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Mechanisms of molecular transport through the urea channel of Helicobacter pylori OPEN Reginald McNulty, Jakob P. Ulmschneider, Hartmut Luecke and Martin B. Ulmschneider Helicobacter pylori survives in the acidic environment of the stomach by taking up urea and converting it to ammonia and carbon dioxide, which buffer the bacterial periplasm. Using molecular dynamics simulations, McNulty et al. provide insight into the mechanism of urea uptake through the H. pylori urea transporter. 05 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3900 Biological Sciences  Biochemistry  Biophysics  Microbiology  Mechanisms of leading edge protrusion in interstitial migration OPEN Kerry Wilson, Alexandre Lewalle, Marco Fritzsche, Richard Thorogate, Tom Duke and Guillaume Charras Much of our understanding of the role of actin in cell migration is based on studies of cells moving across two-dimensional surfaces. Wilson et al. show that cells crawling in three dimensions through a narrow channel form two functionally distinct actin networks at the leading edge. 05 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3896 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Essential regulation of cell bioenergetics in Trypanosoma brucei by the mitochondrial calcium uniporter Guozhong Huang, Anibal E. Vercesi and Roberto Docampo The mitochondrial calcium uniporter supports oxidative phosphorylation in mammals; however, it is also present in blood-stage trypanosomes, which lack a functional respiratory chain. Huang et al. show that the mitochondrial calcium uniporter is essential for blood-stage survival and metabolism in Trypanosoma brucei. 05 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3865 Biological Sciences  Biochemistry  Cell biology  Microbiology  KaiC intersubunit communication facilitates robustness of circadian rhythms in cyanobacteria OPEN Yohko Kitayama, Taeko Nishiwaki-Ohkawa, Yukiko Sugisawa and Takao Kondo The cyanobacterial circadian oscillator comprises an autoregulatory loop that is driven by phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of the hexameric kinase KaiC. Kitayama et al. reveal how interactions between KaiC subunits regulate its catalytic activities and ensure robust circadian behaviour. 05 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3897 Biological Sciences  Biochemistry  Activation and characterization of a cryptic polycyclic tetramate macrolactam biosynthetic gene cluster Yunzi Luo, Hua Huang, Jing Liang, Meng Wang, Lu Lu, Zengyi Shao, Ryan E. Cobb and Huimin Zhao Polycyclic tetramate macrolactams (PTMs) are natural products with important antifungal, antibiotic and antioxidant properties. Here, the authors apply a synthetic biology strategy to activate a cryptic PTM biosynthetic gene cluster from Streptomyces griseus and identify three putative PTMs. 05 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3894 Biological Sciences  Biotechnology  Lasing from individual GaAs-AlGaAs core-shell nanowires up to room temperature Benedikt Mayer, Daniel Rudolph, Joscha Schnell, Stefanie Morkötter, Julia Winnerl, Julian Treu, Kai Müller, Gregor Bracher, Gerhard Abstreiter, Gregor Koblmüller and Jonathan J. Finley Semiconductor nanowires are of practical interest as some of the smallest laser sources available. Here, Mayer et al. demonstrate GaAs/AlGaAs core-shell nanowire lasers at infrared wavelengths that operate up to room temperature. 05 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3931 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Optical physics  Focused plasmonic trapping of metallic particles OPEN Changjun Min, Zhe Shen, Junfeng Shen, Yuquan Zhang, Hui Fang, Guanghui Yuan, Luping Du, Siwei Zhu, Ting Lei and Xiaocong Yuan Focused light beams can be used as optical tweezers for manipulating small dielectric particles, but they normally repel metallic ones. By exploiting surface plasmons excited by a radially polarized beam, Min et al. show that it is possible to trap metallic particles with diameters up to 2.2 μm. 05 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3891 Physical Sciences  Nanotechnology  Optical physics  Quantum replication at the Heisenberg limit Giulio Chiribella, Yuxiang Yang and Andrew Chi-Chih Yao The quantum no-cloning theorem forbids the creation of perfect copies of an unknown quantum state. Even so, Chiribella et al. show the existence of physical processes that replicate quantum information at high rates and vanishing error, and are constrained only by the precision limits of quantum metrology. 05 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3915 Physical Sciences  Theoretical physics  Observed thinning of Totten Glacier is linked to coastal polynya variability A. Khazendar, M.P. Schodlok, I. Fenty, S.R.M. Ligtenberg, E. Rignot and M.R. van den Broeke Totten Glacier discharges the largest volume of ice in East Antarctica, but the mechanisms causing its recent thinning are relatively unknown. Khazendar et al. combine remote-sensing data with high-resolution ice–ocean modelling to link this recent thinning to reduced sea ice production in polynyas. 05 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3857 Earth Sciences  Climate science  Oceanography  Bio-inspired nanocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction Doris Grumelli, Benjamin Wurster, Sebastian Stepanow and Klaus Kern The oxygen reduction reaction requires a significant overpotential, which can limit the efficiency of fuel cells. Here, inspired by enzymes, the authors show that earth-abundant elements, localized in well-organized organic coordination surface networks, can efficiently catalyse oxygen reduction. 05 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3904 Chemical Sciences  Catalysis  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Physical chemistry  Optical sinc-shaped Nyquist pulses of exceptional quality OPEN Marcelo A. Soto, Mehdi Alem, Mohammad Amin Shoaie, Armand Vedadi, Camille-Sophie Brès, Luc Thévenaz and Thomas Schneider The rectangular spectral shape of sinc Nyquist pulses are ideal for data transmission as they make optimal use of the available frequency spectrum. Here, Soto et al. develop a scheme for the optical generation of sinc-shaped Nyquist pulses with very high quality, based on the direct synthesis of rectangular, phase-locked frequency combs. 04 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3898 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Optical physics  Doping dependence of spin excitations and its correlations with high-temperature superconductivity in iron pnictides OPEN Meng Wang, Chenglin Zhang, Xingye Lu, Guotai Tan, Huiqian Luo, Yu Song, Miaoyin Wang, Xiaotian Zhang, E.A. Goremychkin, T.G. Perring, T.A. Maier, Zhiping Yin, Kristjan Haule, Gabriel Kotliar and Pengcheng Dai Spin excitations are believed by many to play an important role in the emergence of superconductivity in the iron pnictides. Neutron scattering results collected by Wang et al. suggest that strong coupling between itinerant electrons and spin excitations is necessary for superconductivity in these materials. 04 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3874 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  The neuropeptide NLP-22 regulates a sleep-like state in Caenorhabditis elegans M.D. Nelson, N.F. Trojanowski, J.B. George-Raizen, C.J. Smith, C.-C. Yu, C. Fang-Yen and D.M. Raizen The Caenorhabditis elegans neuropeptide NLP-22 is regulated by a larval circadian clock that is similar to circadian clocks in mammals. Nelson et al. show that NLP-22, expressed in Caenorhabditis elegans RIA interneurons, regulates a sleep-like behavioural quiescence. 04 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3846 Biological Sciences  Neuroscience  The APC/C cofactor Cdh1 prevents replicative stress and p53-dependent cell death in neural progenitors Manuel Eguren, Eva Porlan, Eusebio Manchado, Irene García-Higuera, Marta Cañamero, Isabel Fariñas and Marcos Malumbres The E3-ubiquitin ligase APC/C and its cofactor Cdh1 have been shown to play important roles in axonal growth and synaptic plasticity. In this study, Eguren et al. show that elimination of Cdh1 in the developing nervous system results in defects in the neural progenitor compartment, hydrocephalus and reduced lifespan. 04 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3880 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Developmental biology  Neuroscience  Overcoming ultraviolet light instability of sensitized TiO2 with meso-superstructured organometal tri-halide perovskite solar cells Tomas Leijtens, Giles E. Eperon, Sandeep Pathak, Antonio Abate, Michael M. Lee and Henry J. Snaith Although the performance of sensitized TiO2 solar cells has increased considerably over recent years, Leijtens et al. show that they are susceptible to a light-driven instability that degrades their performance over time. They go on to show that this instability can be overcome in mesoporous TiO2-free devices. 04 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3885 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Materials science  APC/C-Cdh1 coordinates neurogenesis and cortical size during development Maria Delgado-Esteban, Irene García-Higuera, Carolina Maestre, Sergio Moreno and Angeles Almeida The E3 ubiquitin ligase APC/C plays a critical role in cell cycle progression. In this study, Delgado-Esteban et al. show that APC/C bound to the co-factor Cdh1 is necessary for neural progenitor cell maintenance and neuronal differentiation. 04 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3879 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Developmental biology  Neuroscience  Structural analysis and mapping of individual protein complexes by infrared nanospectroscopy OPEN Iban Amenabar, Simon Poly, Wiwat Nuansing, Elmar H. Hubrich, Alexander A. Govyadinov, Florian Huth, Roman Krutokhvostov, Lianbing Zhang, Mato Knez, Joachim Heberle, Alexander M. Bittner and Rainer Hillenbrand Mid-infrared spectroscopy offers important chemical and structural information about biological samples but diffraction prevents nanoscale studies. Amenabar et al. demonstrate Fourier transform infrared nanospectroscopy for analysing the secondary structure of protein complexes with 30 nm spatial resolution. 04 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3890 Chemical Sciences  Analytical chemistry  Applied physics  Optical physics  Two-colour hard X-ray free-electron laser with wide tunability Toru Hara, Yuichi Inubushi, Tetsuo Katayama, Takahiro Sato, Hitoshi Tanaka, Takashi Tanaka, Tadashi Togashi, Kazuaki Togawa, Kensuke Tono, Makina Yabashi and Tetsuya Ishikawa To study the dynamics of materials and biological samples at ultrafast time scales it is beneficial to use two short laser pulses, ideally at different energies. Here, the authors demonstrate the generation of two femtosecond hard X-ray laser pulses in a free electron laser, with more than 30% energy separation. 04 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3919 Physical Sciences  Optical physics    Nature Communications JOBS of the week Postdoctoral Associate University of Illinois Postdoctoral Scientist Laboratory of Molecular Biology Postdoctoral Research Assistant University of Oxford Lecturers / Senior Lecturers (open call) Imperial College London Research Associate Cardiff University Computational Biologist / Bioinformatician Universitat Heidelberg Tenured or Tenure Track Faculty Position Johns Hopkins University Research Associate University of British Columbia Postdoctoral Scientist Medical Research Council - National Institute for Medical Research More Science jobs from Nature Communications EVENT Alzheimer's Research UK Drug Discovery Institute 14.02.14 UK More science events from       Latest Corrigenda     Corrigendum: Glycogen shortage during fasting triggers liver–brain–adipose neurocircuitry to facilitate fat utilization Yoshihiko Izumida, Naoya Yahagi, Yoshinori Takeuchi, Makiko Nishi, Akito Shikama, Ayako Takarada, Yukari Masuda, Midori Kubota, Takashi Matsuzaka, Yoshimi Nakagawa, Yoko Iizuka, Keiji Itaka, Kazunori Kataoka, Seiji Shioda, Akira Niijima, Tetsuya Yamada, Hideki Katagiri, Ryozo Nagai, Nobuhiro Yamada, Takashi Kadowaki et al. 04 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3930 Biological Sciences  Medical research  Neuroscience      Corrigendum: Endogenous fructose production and metabolism in the liver contributes to the development of metabolic syndrome Miguel A. Lanaspa, Takuji Ishimoto, Nanxing Li, Christina Cicerchi, David J. Orlicky, Philip Ruzycki, Christopher Rivard, Shinichiro Inaba, Carlos A. Roncal-Jimenez, Elise S. Bales, Christine P. Diggle, Aruna Asipu, J Mark Petrash, Tomoki Kosugi, Shoichi Maruyama, Laura G. Sanchez-Lozada, James L. McManaman, David T. Bonthron, Yuri Y. Sautin and Richard J. Johnson et al. 04 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3929 Biological Sciences  Medical research        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. Find the latest scientific conferences, courses, meetings and symposia on natureevents.com. For event advertising opportunities across the Nature Publishing Group portfolio please contact natureevents@nature.com  More Nature Events You have been sent this Table of Contents Alert because you have opted in to receive it. 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