Nature Communications - 18 December 2013

Weekly Content Alert 18 December 2013  Featured image: Wang et al. develop a 'sugar blowing' technique to synthesize three-dimensional graphene networks for energy storage applications. Latest content: Articles Corrigenda Journal homepage Recommend to library Web feed   Advertisement 8th annual Salk Institute, Fondation IPSEN, and Nature Symposium on Biological Complexity: Genes and Physiology January 29-31, 2014 Salk Institute for Biological Studies La Jolla, CA, USA  Click here for more information or to register for this conference today!       Latest Articles View all Articles     Mobile uranium(IV)-bearing colloids in a mining-impacted wetland Yuheng Wang, Manon Frutschi, Elena Suvorova, Vannapha Phrommavanh, Michael Descostes, Alfatih A. A. Osman, Gerhard Geipel and Rizlan Bernier-Latmani The radioactive element uranium tends to accumulate in wetland soils in the insoluble and immobile tetravalent form. Wang et al. show that uranium(IV) can associate with highly mobile organic- and iron(II)-bearing colloids and that its mobility in organic-rich environments may be severely underestimated. 17 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3942 Earth Sciences  Biochemistry  Activation of TREK-1 by morphine results in analgesia without adverse side effects Maïly Devilliers, Jérôme Busserolles, Stéphane Lolignier, Emmanuel Deval, Vanessa Pereira, Abdelkrim Alloui, Marine Christin, Bruno Mazet, Patrick Delmas, Jacques Noel, Michel Lazdunski and Alain Eschalier Opioid analgesic drugs act at opioid receptors to exert analgesic effects, but they also exert adverse side effects. In this study, the authors show that the TREK-1 potassium channel is responsible for mediating the analgesic effects of morphine but not the adverse side effects. 17 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3941 Biological Sciences  Medical research  Neuroscience  Distinguishing between yield advances and yield plateaus in historical crop production trends OPEN Patricio Grassini, Kent M. Eskridge and Kenneth G. Cassman Food security and the conservation of natural ecosystems largely rely on the increase in crop yields. Here, the authors examine global crop yield trends since 1960, and establish a robust statistical framework for estimating historical trajectories and identifying yield plateaus. 17 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3918 Biological Sciences  Ecology  The discovery of kimberlites in Antarctica extends the vast Gondwanan Cretaceous province Gregory M. Yaxley, Vadim S. Kamenetsky, Geoffrey T. Nichols, Roland Maas, Elena Belousova, Anja Rosenthal and Marc Norman Kimberlite, an igneous rock in which the majority of the world's diamonds are found, has been reported on all major continents barring Antarctica. Yaxley et al. present mineralogical and chemical data that confirms the first bona fide discovery of kimberlite in the Antarctic. 17 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3921 Earth Sciences  Geology and geophysics  Phylogenetic applications of whole Y-chromosome sequences and the Near Eastern origin of Ashkenazi Levites OPEN Siiri Rootsi, Doron M. Behar, Mari Järve, Alice A. Lin, Natalie M. Myres, Ben Passarelli, G. David Poznik, Shay Tzur, Hovhannes Sahakyan, Ajai Kumar Pathak, Saharon Rosset, Mait Metspalu, Viola Grugni, Ornella Semino, Ene Metspalu, Carlos D. Bustamante, Karl Skorecki, Richard Villems, Toomas Kivisild and Peter A. Underhill Population genetics studies continue to debate whether Ashkenazi Levites originated in Europe or the Near East. Here, Rootsi et al. use whole Y-chromosome DNA sequences to unravel the phylogenetic origin of the Ashkenazi Levite and suggest an origin for the Levite founder lineage in the Near East. 17 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3928 Biological Sciences  Evolution  Genetics  HipA-mediated antibiotic persistence via phosphorylation of the glutamyl-tRNA-synthetase Ilana Kaspy, Eitan Rotem, Noga Weiss, Irine Ronin, Nathalie Q. Balaban and Gad Glaser Bacterial persistence is one of the major causes of failure of antibiotic treatment, and several toxin–antitoxin modules have been linked to the persistent phenotype. Here, the authors show that HipA toxin causes growth arrest and persistence via phosphorylation of the glutamyl-tRNA-synthetase. 17 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms4001 Biological Sciences  Microbiology  Robust antiferromagnetic coupling in hard-soft bi-magnetic core/shell nanoparticles M. Estrader, A. López-Ortega, S. Estradé, I. V. Golosovsky, G. Salazar-Alvarez, M. Vasilakaki, K. N. Trohidou, M. Varela, D. C. Stanley, M. Sinko, M. J. Pechan, D. J. Keavney, F. Peiró, S. Suriñach, M. D. Baró and J. Nogués Magnetic nanoparticles are studied for their potential use in nanomagnetic devices. Here the realization of antiferromagnetic coupling in core-shell nanoparticles adds a new possibility to tune their magnetic properties even without changing the structure or morphology. 17 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3960 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Nanotechnology  Transdifferentiation of parathyroid cells into cervical thymi promotes atypical T-cell development Jie Li, Zhijie Liu, Shiyun Xiao and Nancy R. Manley Cervical thymi are secondary sites of T-cell development in mice. Here, the authors investigate previously unknown origin of cervical thymi and show that they develop as a by-product of the normal separation of thymic and parathyroid tissue. 17 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3959 Biological Sciences  Developmental biology  Immunology  Spin-to-charge conversion using Rashba coupling at the interface between non-magnetic materials J. C. Rojas Sánchez, L. Vila, G. Desfonds, S. Gambarelli, J. P. Attané, J. M. De Teresa, C. Magén and A. Fert The inverse spin-Hall effect is important in spintronics as it converts a spin current into charge current in nonmagnetic materials. Here, the authors show signatures of the inverse Rashba–Edelstein effect, a similar effect in two-dimensional interfacial states, in an Ag/Bi bilayer. 17 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3944 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Tumour-associated mutant p53 drives the Warburg effect Cen Zhang, Juan Liu, Yingjian Liang, Rui Wu, Yuhan Zhao, Xuehui Hong, Meihua Lin, Haiyang Yu, Lianxin Liu, Arnold J. Levine, Wenwei Hu and Zhaohui Feng Many cancers harbour mutations in the tumour suppressor p53, which often then gains oncogenic functions. Here, the authors show that mutant p53 enhances glycolysis in tumour cells by promoting glucose uptake via a mechanism involving GLUT1, RhoA and ROCK. 17 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3935 Biological Sciences  Cancer  Cell biology  Human-induced nitrogen–phosphorus imbalances alter natural and managed ecosystems across the globe Josep Peñuelas, Benjamin Poulter, Jordi Sardans, Philippe Ciais, Marijn van der Velde, Laurent Bopp, Olivier Boucher, Yves Godderis, Philippe Hinsinger, Joan Llusia, Elise Nardin, Sara Vicca, Michael Obersteiner and Ivan A. Janssens Bioavailable nitrogen is increasing due to human activity, rapidly outpacing increases in another essential nutrient, phosphorous. Peñuelas et al. show that this increasing imbalance between these nutrients is likely to significantly affect life and limit carbon storage in this century. 17 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3934 Earth Sciences  Biogeochemistry  Climate science  A rare functional cardioprotective APOC3 variant has risen in frequency in distinct population isolates OPEN Ioanna Tachmazidou, George Dedoussis, Lorraine Southam, Aliki-Eleni Farmaki, Graham R. S. Ritchie, Dionysia K. Xifara, Angela Matchan, Konstantinos Hatzikotoulas, Nigel W. Rayner, Yuan Chen, Toni I. Pollin, Jeffrey R. O'Connell, Laura M. Yerges-Armstrong, Chrysoula Kiagiadaki, Kalliope Panoutsopoulou, Jeremy Schwartzentruber, Loukas Moutsianas, Emmanouil Tsafantakis, Chris Tyler-Smith, Gil McVean et al. Isolated populations may empower genetic association studies of complex traits. Here, the authors identify a rare cardioprotective APOC3 variant in a Greek population isolate and highlight the value of using population isolates to detect rare variants that confer disease risk. 17 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3872 Biological Sciences  Genetics  RNA sequencing reveals the complex regulatory network in the maize kernel Junjie Fu, Yanbing Cheng, Jingjing Linghu, Xiaohong Yang, Lin Kang, Zuxin Zhang, Jie Zhang, Cheng He, Xuemei Du, Zhiyu Peng, Bo Wang, Lihong Zhai, Changmin Dai, Jiabao Xu, Weidong Wang, Xiangru Li, Jun Zheng, Li Chen, Longhai Luo, Junjie Liu et al. Determining the link between gene polymorphisms and phenotypic traits is the subject of intense research in agricultural plant science. In this study, Fu et al. conduct RNA sequencing in maize kernels to determine gene polymorphisms, which may aid future research aiming to improve the nutritional value of maize. 17 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3832 Biological Sciences  Genetics  Plant sciences  Determining the optimum morphology in high-performance polymer-fullerene organic photovoltaic cells OPEN Gordon J. Hedley, Alexander J. Ward, Alexander Alekseev, Calvyn T. Howells, Emiliano R. Martins, Luis A. Serrano, Graeme Cooke, Arvydas Ruseckas and Ifor D. W. Samuel The morphology of organic solar cells is crucial to their performance but is difficult to measure. Using a variety of probes, Hedley et al. map the morphology of polymer-fullerene solar cells and find that elongated fibre-like polymer- and fullerene-rich domains are desirable for high performance. 17 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3867 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Optical physics  A facile soft-template synthesis of mesoporous polymeric and carbonaceous nanospheres Jian Liu, Tianyu Yang, Da-Wei Wang, Gao Qing (Max) Lu, Dongyuan Zhao and Shi Zhang Qiao The controlled synthesis of monodisperse nanospheres faces a number of difficulties, such as extensive crosslinking during hydrothermal processes. Here, the authors show a route for the controlled synthesis of mesoporous polymer nanospheres, which can be further converted into carbon nanospheres through carbonization. 17 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3798 Chemical Sciences  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Physical chemistry  Determination of in vivo RNA structure in low-abundance transcripts Chun Kit Kwok, Yiliang Ding, Yin Tang, Sarah M. Assmann and Philip C Bevilacqua RNA is central to many cellular functions, but in vivo structures of most RNAs are unknown. Here Kwok et al. present a universally applicable method, DMS/SHAPE-LMPCR, to identify structures of low-abundance transcripts in living cells, which reveals important features that are uniquely present in vivo. 16 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3971 Biological Sciences  Molecular biology  Dampened regulates the activating potency of Bicoid and the embryonic patterning outcome in Drosophila Junbo Liu and Jun Ma The morphogen Bicoid regulates anterior–posterior patterning in the early Drosophila embryo by locally activating its target genes such as hunchback. Here, the authors identify the F-box protein Dampened as a regulator of Bicoid-dependent transcriptional activation of hunchback. 16 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3968 Biological Sciences  Developmental biology  Ionization of Rydberg atoms by standing-wave light fields Sarah E. Anderson and Georg Raithel Rydberg atoms can have sizes similar to the wavelength of near-infrared light, yet the electric dipole approximation – in which spatial variations of the light-field phase are ignored – remains valid. Anderson and Raithel explain this by measuring that photoionization of such atoms occurs near the nucleus. 16 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3967 Physical Sciences  Atomic and molecular physics  Optical physics  Quantum coherence induces pulse shape modification in a semiconductor optical amplifier at room temperature OPEN Mirco Kolarczik, Nina Owschimikow, Julian Korn, Benjamin Lingnau, Yücel Kaptan, Dieter Bimberg, Eckehard Schöll, Kathy Lüdge and Ulrike Woggon Quantum coherence effects are often only visible at low temperatures, where dephasing times are not too short. Here Kolarczik et al. show that quantum coherence effects can appear in the reshaping of ultrafast laser pulses passing through quantum dots even at room temperature. 16 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3953 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Optical physics  A general approach to crystalline and monomodal pore size mesoporous materials Altug S. Poyraz, Chung-Hao Kuo, Sourav Biswas, Cecil K. King'ondu and Steven L. Suib Mesoporous oxides are important materials with a range of tunable structural properties. Here, the authors report a general, inverse micelle-based method to produce crystalline mesoporous materials with monomodal pore sizes from a range of elements. 16 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3952 Chemical Sciences  Inorganic chemistry  Materials science  Ginzburg–Landau-type theory of spin superconductivity Zhi-qiang Bao, X.C. Xie and Qing-feng Sun Ginzburg–Landau theory provides a powerful framework for describing the behaviour of conventional superconductors without detailed microscopic information about them. Bao et al. construct a similar framework for describing spin superconductivity, a recently proposed analogue of conventional superconductivity. 16 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3951 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Theoretical physics  All-back-contact ultra-thin silicon nanocone solar cells with 13.7% power conversion efficiency Sangmoo Jeong, Michael D. McGehee and Yi Cui Nanostructured solar cells should be designed to balance the photonic and electronic effects together to be highly efficient. Cui et al. demonstrate a solar cell with the all-back-contact design and nanocone structure that uses just 10-μm-thick silicon while achieving efficiencies up to 13.7%. 16 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3950 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Materials science  Optical physics  A hyperpolarized equilibrium for magnetic resonance OPEN Jan-Bernd Hövener, Niels Schwaderlapp, Thomas Lickert, Simon B. Duckett, Ryan E. Mewis, Louise A. R. Highton, Stephen M. Kenny, Gary G. R. Green, Dieter Leibfritz, Jan G. Korvink, Jürgen Hennig and Dominik von Elverfeldt Nuclear magnetic resonance is vital for analysis and diagnostics but suffers from insensitivity as only a small fraction of all NMR-active nuclei are spin-polarized and contribute to the signal. Here Hövener et al. describe an effect that replenishes nuclear spin polarization continuously for a considerably enhanced performance at low field. 16 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3946 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Atomic and molecular physics  Three-dimensional strutted graphene grown by substrate-free sugar blowing for high-power-density supercapacitors OPEN Xuebin Wang, Yuanjian Zhang, Chunyi Zhi, Xi Wang, Daiming Tang, Yibin Xu, Qunhong Weng, Xiangfen Jiang, Masanori Mitome, Dmitri Golberg and Yoshio Bando Three-dimensional graphene offers an ideal sheet-to-sheet connectivity of assembled graphenes, but often suffers from poor electrochemical performance. Wang et al. present a sugar-blowing technique to prepare a 3D graphene, which overcomes such problems and shows potential in supercapacitor applications. 16 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3905 Chemical Sciences  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Physical chemistry  Increases in terrestrially derived carbon stimulate organic carbon processing and CO2 emissions in boreal aquatic ecosystems Jean-François Lapierre, François Guillemette, Martin Berggren and Paul A. del Giorgio Recent increases in the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) content of northern aquatic systems are likely to lead to increases in CO2 emissions, yet the mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, evidence from hundreds of Canadian aquatic systems suggests a causal link between DOC concentrations and CO2 flux. 13 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3972 Earth Sciences  Biogeochemistry  Climate science  Signatures of the electronic nature of pairing in high-Tc superconductors obtained by non-equilibrium boson spectroscopy OPEN Vladimir M. Krasnov, Sven-Olof Katterwe and Andreas Rydh The mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity remains a subject of debate. Krasnov et al. describe a technique for measuring the spectra of bosons generated during the formation of Cooper pairs in a cuprate, the results of which suggest that the process is governed by electron–electron interactions. 13 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3970 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Chiral plasmonic DNA nanostructures with switchable circular dichroism OPEN Robert Schreiber, Ngoc Luong, Zhiyuan Fan, Anton Kuzyk, Philipp C. Nickels, Tao Zhang, David M. Smith, Bernard Yurke, Wan Kuang, Alexander O. Govorov and Tim Liedl Plasmonic resonances in nanoparticle helices arranged by the DNA origami method can give rise to strong circular dichroism at visible wavelengths. Schreiber et al. show that aligning and then toggling the orientation of such nanoparticle helices enables reversible switching of the dichroic response. 13 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3948 Physical Sciences  Nanotechnology  Optical physics  Pericyte loss influences Alzheimer-like neurodegeneration in mice OPEN Abhay P. Sagare, Robert D. Bell, Zhen Zhao, Qingyi Ma, Ethan A. Winkler, Anita Ramanathan and Berislav V. Zlokovic Pericytes are cells in the blood–brain barrier that degenerate with the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Here, Sagare et al. show that pericyte loss contributes to disease onset by promoting amyloid-beta accumulation, tau pathology and early loss of neuronal cells. 13 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3932 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Neuroscience  Multiparametric atomic force microscopy imaging of single bacteriophages extruding from living bacteria David Alsteens, Heykel Trabelsi, Patrice Soumillion and Yves F. Dufrêne Force-distance atomic force microscopy enables simultaneous recording of structure and biophysical properties at the nanoscale. Alsteens et al. combine this tool with tips that can recognise specific proteins, allowing them to image bacteriophages extruding from living bacteria. 13 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3926 Biological Sciences  Biophysics  Nanotechnology  A failure in energy metabolism and antioxidant uptake precede symptoms of Huntington's disease in mice OPEN Aníbal I. Acuña, Magdalena Esparza, Carlos Kramm, Felipe A. Beltrán, Alejandra V. Parra, Carlos Cepeda, Carlos A. Toro, René L. Vidal, Claudio Hetz, Ilona I. Concha, Sebastián Brauchi, Michael S. Levine and Maite A. Castro Defective ascorbic acid flux is a sign of metabolic failure associated with Huntington's disease. Here, Acuña et al. show that reduction in ascorbic acid flux from astrocytes precedes the symptoms of Huntington's disease in mice and impairs ascorbic acid uptake in neurons. 13 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3917 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Neuroscience  UTX coordinates steroid hormone-mediated autophagy and cell death Donna Denton, May T. Aung-Htut, Nirmal Lorensuhewa, Shannon Nicolson, Wenying Zhu, Kathryn Mills, Dimitrios Cakouros, Andreas Bergmann and Sharad Kumar Cells in Drosophila salivary glands undergo hormone-dependent apoptosis when larvae pupate. Here, the authors show that the histone methylase dUTX regulates activation of key cell death and autophagy genes leading to the removal of salivary glands during the Drosophila larval–pupal transition. 13 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3916 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  The smooth muscle-selective RhoGAP GRAF3 is a critical regulator of vascular tone and hypertension Xue Bai, Kaitlin C. Lenhart, Kim E. Bird, Alisa A. Suen, Mauricio Rojas, Masao Kakoki, Feng Li, Oliver Smithies, Christopher P. Mack and Joan M. Taylor Variants of the gene encoding the RhoGAP GRAF3 are associated with hypertension; however, the molecular basis for this association is unclear. Here, Bai et al. show that GRAF3 is strongly and specifically expressed in vascular smooth muscle cells, where it regulates blood pressure by inhibiting the GTPase RhoA. 13 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3910 Biological Sciences  Medical research  A phenylalanine rotameric switch for signal-state control in bacterial chemoreceptors Davi R. Ortega, Chen Yang, Peter Ames, Jerome Baudry, John S. Parkinson and Igor B. Zhulin Bacterial chemoreceptors regulate the kinase CheA via ligand-induced conformational changes. Using long molecular dynamics simulations, Ortega et al. show that these changes are associated with flipping of the stacked aromatic rings of highly conserved phenylalanine residues within the kinase-activating domain. 13 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3881 Biological Sciences  Biochemistry  Biophysics  Microbiology  Wnt5a uses CD146 as a receptor to regulate cell motility and convergent extension OPEN Zhongde Ye, Chunxia Zhang, Tao Tu, Min Sun, Dan Liu, Di Lu, Jing Feng, Dongling Yang, Feng Liu and Xiyun Yan Non-canonical Wnt signalling regulates cell migration and convergent extension during embryonic development; however, the mechanisms involved are poorly understood. Ye et al. identify CD146 as a receptor for Wnt5a, and show that this receptor inhibits canonical Wnt signalling pathways. 13 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3803 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Developmental biology  Dual-channel spontaneous emission of quantum dots in magnetic metamaterials Manuel Decker, Isabelle Staude, Ivan I. Shishkin, Kirill B. Samusev, Patrick Parkinson, Varun K. A. Sreenivasan, Alexander Minovich, Andrey E. Miroshnichenko, Andrei Zvyagin, Chennupati Jagadish, Dragomir N. Neshev and Yuri S. Kivshar Understanding the distribution of energy between electric and magnetic channels of a metamaterial remains elusive. Decker et al. study the emission of quantum dots into these channels for a split-ring-resonator metamaterial and differentiate the fundamental behaviour of the two modes. 12 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3949 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Optical physics  A very stable complex of a modified marine cyclopeptide with chloroform Gebhard Haberhauer, Áron Pintér and Sascha Woitschetzki Typically dispersion forces are weak interactions, and host–guest chemistry is dominated by more powerful events such as hydrogen bonding. Here, the authors show extremely high binding between a modified marine peptide and chloroform, driven by dispersion interactions with the chlorine atoms. 12 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3945 Chemical Sciences  Organic chemistry  Physical chemistry  Co-operativity in a nanocrystalline solid-state transition Sarah L. White, Jeremy G. Smith, Mayank Behl and Prashant K. Jain Co-operativity is an effect where initial reaction events influence later events. Here, White et al. find evidence for co-operativity in the cation exchange process of nanocrystals, as cadmium selenide transforms into the copper selenide phase. 12 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3933 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Nanotechnology  An angular fluidic channel for prism-free surface-plasmon-assisted fluorescence capturing Ken-ichi Nomura, Subash C.B. Gopinath, Thangavel Lakshmipriya, Nobuko Fukuda, Xiaomin Wang and Makoto Fujimaki Fluorescence enhancement utilizing surface plasmon excitation is widely used for biomolecular recognition. Here the authors employ a V-shaped trench, incorporating some typical functionalities of a detection system—prism, sensing plate and flow channel—into a single feature. 12 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3855 Physical Sciences  Biophysics  Nanotechnology  Optical physics  A genome-wide regulatory network identifies key transcription factors for memory CD8+ T-cell development Guangan Hu and Jianzhu Chen The establishment of a memory phenotype in T cells requires profound changes in their transcriptional profile, but many components of this profile are still not known. Here, the authors perform a systematic study to identify key transcription factors associated with memory CD8+ T-cell development. 12 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3830 Biological Sciences  Immunology  Scaffold function of long non-coding RNA HOTAIR in protein ubiquitination Je-Hyun Yoon, Kotb Abdelmohsen, Jiyoung Kim, Xiaoling Yang, Jennifer L. Martindale, Kumiko Tominaga-Yamanaka, Elizabeth J. White, Arturo V. Orjalo, John L. Rinn, Stefan G. Kreft, Gerald M. Wilson and Myriam Gorospe The long non-coding RNA HOTAIR acts as a scaffold to bring together chromatin silencing complexes in the nucleus. Here, the authors show that HOTAIR also serves as a scaffold between E3 ubiquitin ligases and their substrates and thereby enhances their ubiquitination. 11 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3939 Biological Sciences  Molecular biology  Tuning gap states at organic-metal interfaces via quantum size effects Meng-Kai Lin, Yasuo Nakayama, Chin-Hung Chen, Chin-Yung Wang, H.-T. Jeng, Tun-Wen Pi, Hisao Ishii and S.-J. Tang The energy alignment at organic-metal interface has a strong influence on the performance of organic-based electronic devices. Lin et al. show this alignment can be tuned by varying the thickness of a uniform metallic thin film, which is confined between organic active layers and the substrate. 11 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3925 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Condensed matter  Early dynamic fate changes in haemogenic endothelium characterized at the single-cell level Gemma Swiers, Claudia Baumann, John O'Rourke, Eleni Giannoulatou, Stephen Taylor, Anagha Joshi, Victoria Moignard, Cristina Pina, Thomas Bee, Konstantinos D. Kokkaliaris, Momoko Yoshimoto, Mervin C. Yoder, Jon Frampton, Timm Schroeder, Tariq Enver, Berthold Göttgens and Marella F. T. R. de Bruijn Haematopoietic stem cells emerge from the haemogenic endothelium via an endothelial-to-haematopoietic transition. Here, the authors show using single cell functional and transcriptional analyses that haemogenic endothelial cells begin to lose their endothelial potential while still located within the haemogenic endothelium. 11 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3924 Biological Sciences  Developmental biology  Synergistic interaction between redox-active electrolyte and binder-free functionalized carbon for ultrahigh supercapacitor performance Li-Qiang Mai, Aamir Minhas-Khan, Xiaocong Tian, Kalele Mulonda Hercule, Yun-Long Zhao, Xu Lin and Xu Xu Using redox-active electrolytes can promote faradaic reactions in supercapactors. Mai et al. report a copper chloride solution electrolyte, which, when combined with a surface-functionalized carbon-based binder-free electrode, exhibits ultrahigh supercapacitor performance. 11 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3923 Chemical Sciences  Applied physics  Materials science  Nanotechnology  5d iridium oxide as a material for spin-current detection Kohei Fujiwara, Yasuhiro Fukuma, Jobu Matsuno, Hiroshi Idzuchi, Yasuhiro Niimi, YoshiChika Otani and Hidenori Takagi The success of spintronics as a new technology hinges on the materials that are suitable for turning a spin current into an electric current. Here, the authors introduce a new material, iridium oxide, for this purpose, which outperforms traditional materials like platinum. 11 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3893 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Materials science  Revealing the properties of Mn2Au for antiferromagnetic spintronics V.M.T.S. Barthem, C.V. Colin, H. Mayaffre, M.-H. Julien and D. Givord Few of the known antiferromagnetic materials are suitable for use in spintronic devices. Here, the authors show that Mn2Au, which was believed to be paramagnetic, is an antiferromagnet, combining high Néel temperature and in-plane anisotropy, thus demonstrating its potential for antiferromagnetic spintronics. 11 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3892 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Materials science  Stabilization of a linear nanomechanical oscillator to its thermodynamic limit Emanuel Gavartin, Pierre Verlot and Tobias J. Kippenberg Micro- and nano-scale oscillators are finding usage in novel sensors, but their performance is limited by their sensitivity to external perturbations. Here, the authors report an optomechanical technique to stabilize a nanomechanical beam to its thermodynamic limit. 11 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3860 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Nanotechnology    Nature Communications JOBS of the week PhD studentships at the Institute of Molecular and Experimental Medicine Cardiff University Head of Bioinformatics (m / f) Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) PhD Placement with the Institute of Neurocience Newcastle University Engineer for Energy Efficient Clusters Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación Senior Laboratory Technician Imprint Analytics GmbH PhD Student in Liver Biology University of Bern / University Hospital (Inselspital) Information Systems Specialist Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM) Research Associate in Computational Modelling of Planar Polarity The University of Sheffield Principal Scientist, ImmunoPharmacology Merck Group Integrative Plant Physiology University of California, Riverside 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: A four-dimensional X-ray tomographic microscopy study of bubble growth in basaltic foam Don R. Baker, Francesco Brun, Cedrick O'Shaughnessy, Lucia Mancini, Julie L. Fife and Mark Rivers 16 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3962 Earth Sciences  Biogeochemistry  Geology and geophysics      Corrigendum: The impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife of the United States Scott R. Loss, Tom Will and Peter P. Marra 12 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3961 Biological Sciences  Ecology  Zoology      Corrigendum: Clusterin and LRP2 are critical components of the hypothalamic feeding regulatory pathway So Young Gil, Byung-Soo Youn, Kyunghee Byun, Hu Huang, Churl Namkoong, Pil-Geum Jang, Joo-Yong Lee, Young-Hwan Jo, Gil Myoung Kang, Hyun-Kyong Kim, Mi-Seon Shin, Claus U Pietrzik, Bonghee Lee, Young-Bum Kim and Min-Seon Kim 11 December 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3912 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Medical research  Neuroscience        Natureevents is a fully searchable, multi-disciplinary database designed to maximise exposure for events organisers. 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