EMBO reports Table of Contents for 1 May 2014; Vol. 15, No. 5

May 2014 | Volume 15, Number 5 Submit Table of Contents Editorial Opinions Correspondences Hot off the Press Science & Society Reviews Scientific Reports Volume 15, Number 5 Editorial Bored teenagers How could we help students overcome their reticence to ask questions in seminars? Here are a few suggestions. Howy Jacobs Published online 02.05.2014 Opinions Homo artefactus The evolution of our ability to manipulate objects with our hands triggered the expansion of the human brain, human culture and the creation of ever more complex artefacts. Is there a risk now that humans have now become dependent on and addicted to their artefacts? Ladislav Kováč Published online 02.04.2014 Tumor microenvironment revisited It is becoming increasingly clear that the microenvironment of a tumor can affect many tumor characteristics including the response to therapeutical intervention. Therefore, to fully understand tumor development and progression, a deeper knowledge of the communication between cancer cells and their stroma is needed and some of the open questions in this field will be discussed at an EMBO/EMBL symposium held in the beginning of May 2014 in Heidelberg. Anton Berns and Pier Paolo Pandolfi Published online 14.04.2014 New genes important for development The genomic revolution and new sequencing technologies are allowing scientists to pick apart the origin of new genes and how they assume vital roles in development, despite their absence from perfectly viable ancestral species. Claus Kemkemer and Manyuan Long Published online 10.04.2014 Correspondences The epiknowledge of socially responsible innovation A comment on “The DNA of Socially Responsible Innovation” Edward S Dove and Vural Özdemir Published online 02.05.2014 The wicked problem of Socially Responsible Innovation The response by Flipse et al Steven M Flipse, Johannes H De Winde, Patricia Osseweijer, and Maarten C A van der Sanden Published online 02.05.2014 Why we still need grant peer review A comment on “From funding agencies to scientific agency”. Shahar Avin Published online 02.05.2014 Response: “Why we still need grant peer review” A response by Bollen et al. Johan Bollen, David Crandall, Damion Junk, Ying Ding, and Katy Börner Published online 02.05.2014 Hot off the Press Toll‐like receptors hit calcium TLR9 signaling in cardiomyocytes and neurons protects cells from stress‐induced cell death by modulating energy metabolism. Upon ligand binding, TLR9 inhibits SERCA2 at the ER and thus Ca2+ handling to mitochondria, resulting in cell survival. Marina de Bernard and Rosario Rizzuto Published online 01.04.2014 The two‐faced progeria gene and its implications in aging and metabolism A study in this issue shows that the LMNA gene encodes functionally distinct isoforms that have opposite effects on energy metabolism and lifespan. Mice expressing lamin C only are obese and have an extended lifespan, whereas mice expressing progerin are lean and die early. Iliana A Chatzispyrou and Riekelt H Houtkooper Published online 10.04.2014 Science & Society Key challenges for next‐generation pharmacogenomics: Science & Society series on Science and Drugs Recent advances in genomics and sequencing technology herald the advent of pharmacogenomics in routine clinical practice. Yet, while science and technology have progressed rapidly, legal, social and ethical challenges remain to be resolved. Kostas Kampourakis, Effy Vayena, Christina Mitropoulou, Ron H van Schaik, David N Cooper, Joseph Borg, and George P Patrinos Published online 10.04.2014 More than beef and tango: An interview with Lino Barañao, the Minister of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation in Argentina An interview with Lino Barañao about the challenges and successes so far to create a solid research base in Argentina and improve the country's potential for innovation. Howy Jacobs and Holger Breithaupt Published online 10.04.2014 Revisiting “Is the scientific paper a fraud?”: The way textbooks and scientific research articles are being used to teach undergraduate students could convey a misleading image of scientific research Scientific papers and textbooks fulfill an important purpose but provide only a sanitized account of how research works in practice. To understand the nature of research itself, undergraduate and graduate students need to be exposed to a more realistic view of research. Susan M Howitt and Anna N Wilson Published online 10.04.2014 Vaccines against cancer: Despite setbacks, attempts to harness the patient's immune system to fight tumor cells show promise in clinical trials New knowledge and new technologies could bring a much‐needed breakthrough for the development of therapeutic vaccines to fight cancer. Philip Hunter Published online 17.04.2014 Reviews Elements and machinery of non‐coding RNAs: toward their taxonomy This review compares the RNA elements, processing proteins, RNP machineries, and ncRNA functions of siRNA, miRNA, piRNA, crRNA, and lncRNA classes and proposes that knowledge of the relationship between these elements might enable the systematic classification of ncRNAs. Tetsuro Hirose, Yuichiro Mishima, and Yukihide Tomari Published online 14.04.2014 Some like it cold: understanding the survival strategies of psychrophiles Eighty percent of the Earth's surface is extremely cold. Microorganisms that live in such habitats have evolved various strategies to cope with growth and survival in adverse conditions. These strategies, as well as the approaches used to identify them, are discussed here. Pieter De Maayer, Dominique Anderson, Craig Cary, and Don A Cowan Published online 26.03.2014 Nuclear receptors rock around the clock This review discusses the role of nuclear receptors as key integral regulators of the core circadian clock, and how they coordinate and integrate circadian and metabolic rhythms. Xuan Zhao, Han Cho, Ruth T Yu, Annette R Atkins, Michael Downes, and Ronald M Evans Published online 15.04.2014 Scientific Reports Antagonistic functions of LMNA isoforms in energy expenditure and lifespan The LMNA gene encodes functionally distinct isoforms that have opposite effects on energy metabolism and lifespan. Mice expressing lamin C only are obese and have an extended lifespan, whereas mice expressing progerin are lean and die early. Isabel C Lopez‐Mejia, Marion de Toledo, Carine Chavey, Laure Lapasset, Patricia Cavelier, Celia Lopez‐Herrera, Karim Chebli, Philippe Fort, Guillaume Beranger, Lluis Fajas, Ez Z Amri, François Casas, and Jamal Tazi Published online 17.03.2014 Somatic and axonal LIGHT signaling elicit degenerative and regenerative responses in motoneurons, respectively Activation of the LIGHT receptor LT‐βR in the somatic compartment of motoneurons elicits death, while activation in the axonal compartment stimulates axon outgrowth and branching. LIGHT also promotes functional recovery following peripheral nerve lesion. Belkacem Otsmane, Anice Moumen, Julianne Aebischer, Emmanuelle Coque, Chamroeun Sar, Claire Sunyach, Céline Salsac, Jean Valmier, Sara Salinas, Melissa Bowerman, and Cédric Raoul Published online 24.03.2014 PICK1 links Argonaute 2 to endosomes in neuronal dendrites and regulates miRNA activity The BAR‐ and PDZ‐domain protein PICK1 is shown to interact with and inhibit Ago2, the catalytic component of the RISC, on endosomes. Specific neuronal stimulation reduces the interaction resulting in enhanced Ago2‐dependent gene silencing. Anna Antoniou, Marcio Baptista, Nicholas Carney, and Jonathan G Hanley Published online 10.04.2014 Structural determinants in GABARAP required for the selective binding and recruitment of ALFY to LC3B‐positive structures This study shows that ALFY binds selectively to the GABARAPs and residues outside the LIR‐binding pockets confer this specificity. The ALFY‐GABARAP interaction is required for autophagic clearance of certain p62‐bound aggregates. Alf Håkon Lystad, Yoshinobu Ichimura, Kenji Takagi, Yinjie Yang, Serhiy Pankiv, Yumi Kanegae, Shun Kageyama, Mariko Suzuki, Izumu Saito, Tsunehiro Mizushima, Masaaki Komatsu, and Anne Simonsen Published online 25.03.2014 ULK1 translocates to mitochondria and phosphorylates FUNDC1 to regulate mitophagy This study shows that ULK1 translocates to damaged mitochondria and phosphorylates FUNDC1, which is crucial for organelle elimination through mitophagy. ULK1‐induced phosphorylation enhances FUNDC1 interaction with LC3. Wenxian Wu, Weili Tian, Zhe Hu, Guo Chen, Lei Huang, Wen Li, Xingli Zhang, Peng Xue, Changqian Zhou, Lei Liu, Yushan Zhu, Xingliang Zhang, Longxuan Li, Liangqing Zhang, Senfang Sui, Bin Zhao, and Du Feng Published online 26.03.2014 Membrane depolarization activates the mitochondrial protease OMA1 by stimulating self‐cleavage The dynamin‐related GTPase OPA1 regulates mitochondrial inner membrane fusion and is activated by Yme1L‐ and OMA1‐mediated proteolytic cleavage. This study reveals that OMA1 undergoes self‐cleavage upon mitochondrial membrane depolarization under cellular stress conditions. The processing of OMA1 is positively correlated with its activity toward OPA1 cleavage. Kuan Zhang, Huihui Li, and Zhiyin Song Published online 09.04.2014 UCP4C mediates uncoupled respiration in larvae of Drosophila melanogaster Larvae of Drosophila melanogaster kept in the cold are warmer than the surrounding medium. In keeping with dissipation of energy, respiration of larvae is uncoupled. Caterina Da‐Ré, Cristiano De Pittà, Mauro A Zordan, Giordano Teza, Fabrizio Nestola, Massimo Zeviani, Rodolfo Costa, and Paolo Bernardi Published online 17.03.2014 p120‐catenin differentially regulates cell migration by Rho‐dependent intracellular and secreted signals The adherens junction protein p120‐catenin differentially regulates the migratory behavior of primary epidermal cells via RhoA‐GTPase‐mediated signaling. Loss of p120‐catenin restricts single cell migration intrinsically and at the same time increases the migratory behavior of neighboring cells during wound repair. Carolina Epifano, Diego Megias, and Mirna Perez‐Moreno Published online 17.03.2014 RNF4 interacts with both SUMO and nucleosomes to promote the DNA damage response RNF4 is an important ubiquitin ligase in the DNA damage response (DDR) that targets SUMOylated proteins. This study shows that it also contains a nucleosome‐targeting motif that crucially supports the DDR genome‐wide. Lynda M Groocock, Minghua Nie, John Prudden, Davide Moiani, Tao Wang, Anton Cheltsov, Robert P Rambo, Andrew S Arvai, Chiharu Hitomi, John A Tainer, Karolin Luger, J Jefferson P Perry, Eros Lazzerini‐Denchi, and Michael N Boddy Published online 08.04.2014 The cohesin acetyltransferase Eco1 coordinates rDNA replication and transcription Cohesin affects gene expression and DNA replication genome‐wide by controlling processes at the rDNA region. Replication defects at the rDNA in a cohesin acetyltransferase mutant lead to global defects that could contribute to human disease. Shuai Lu, Kenneth K Lee, Bethany Harris, Bo Xiong, Tania Bose, Anita Saraf, Gaye Hattem, Laurence Florens, Chris Seidel, and Jennifer L Gerton Published online 14.03.2014   Unsubscribe from or edit your subscription for this service. Or by mail: Customer Service * 425 Broadway St * Redwood City, CA 94063 * U.S.A. Copyright © 2014 by the European Molecular Biology Organisation.