Nature Communications - 11 March 2015

Advertisement Live Webinar: Gene Knockout with CRISPR, a Complete and Simple Kit. March 11th Wed New to CRISPR? No worries. Register and learn how to knock out any gene with a pre-designed CRISPR kit.  Register the webinar and view a 4-min youtube video.     Weekly Content Alert 11 March 2015  Featured image: Guillod et al. show that while positive soil-moisture–precipitation feedbacks dominate temporally, negative feedbacks dominate spatially. Latest content: Articles Corrigenda Erratum Advertisement   Trouble with donor vector cloning or design approaches? Donor clone applications—new tech note.   Reliably edit more than 4 alleles at once Fast delivery: bacterial stock or ready-to-transfect purified plasmid Genome-CRISP™ CRISPR Products and Services: Search gene specific CRISPRs—click to buy!   Journal homepage Recommend to library Web feed   Advertisement Nature Index 2014 China The Nature Index 2014 China supplement examines a snapshot of results from the Nature Index, comparing the cities and institutions within the country that contributed to some of the highest quality research during the previous calendar year. Access the Index free online.     Latest Articles View all Articles     Photonic crystals cause active colour change in chameleons OPEN Jérémie Teyssier, Suzanne V. Saenko, Dirk van der Marel and Michel C. Milinkovitch Colour change in many vertebrates originates from pigment dispersion or aggregation. Here, Teyssier et al. show that chameleons rapidly shift colour through a physical mechanism involving a lattice of nanocrystals in dermal iridophores, a second and deeper iridophore layer strongly reflects near-infrared light. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7368 Physical Sciences  Biophysics  Optical physics  Housing temperature-induced stress drives therapeutic resistance in murine tumour models through β2-adrenergic receptor activation Jason W.-L. Eng, Chelsey B. Reed, Kathleen M. Kokolus, Rosemarie Pitoniak, Adam Utley, Mark J. Bucsek, Wen Wee Ma, Elizabeth A. Repasky and Bonnie L. Hylander Anticancer treatments are tested in mice housed below thermoneutrality which represents chronic cold-stress. Here Eng et al. show that these mice have activated stress responses leading to therapeutic resistance and that inhibiting adrenergic signaling increases efficacy of anticancer therapies. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7426 Biological Sciences  Cancer  Condensed matter  Alendronate inhalation ameliorates elastase-induced pulmonary emphysema in mice by induction of apoptosis of alveolar macrophages Manabu Ueno, Toshitaka Maeno, Satoshi Nishimura, Fusa Ogata, Hiroaki Masubuchi, Kenichiro Hara, Kouichi Yamaguchi, Fumiaki Aoki, Tatsuo Suga, Ryozo Nagai and Masahiko Kurabayashi Macrophages have a role in the pathogenesis of pulmonary emphysema. Here the authors show that inhalation—but not oral delivery—of the anti-osteoporosis drug alendronate attenuates lung damage in a mouse model of emphysema by inducing apoptosis of alveolar macrophages. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7332 Biological Sciences  Medical research  Bird–flower visitation networks in the Galápagos unveil a widespread interaction release Anna Traveset, Jens M. Olesen, Manuel Nogales, Pablo Vargas, Patricia Jaramillo, Elena Antolín, María Mar Trigo and Ruben Heleno Vertebrate species on islands may display broader feeding niches than their mainland counterparts in response to poorer diets. Here, Traveset et al. show that almost all Galápagos land birds exploit floral resources across the archipelago in an extensive generalized network. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7376 Biological Sciences  Ecology  Chiral recognition and selection during the self-assembly process of protein-mimic macroanions Panchao Yin, Zhi-Ming Zhang, Hongjin Lv, Tao Li, Fadi Haso, Lang Hu, Baofang Zhang, John Bacsa, Yongge Wei, Yanqing Gao, Yu Hou, Yang-Guang Li, Craig L. Hill, En-Bo Wang and Tianbo Liu Certain chiral macroions have previously been shown to self-assemble into spherical structures. Here, the authors observe self-sorting of racemic macroions into enantiomeric ‘blackberry’-shaped structures, and furthermore show that the addition of chiral co-anions allows the formation of a single enantiomer. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7475 Chemical Sciences  Inorganic chemistry  Physical chemistry  Mesoporous bismuth ferrite with amplified magnetoelectric coupling and electric field-induced ferrimagnetism Thomas E. Quickel, Laura T. Schelhas, Richard A. Farrell, Nikolay Petkov, Van H. Le and Sarah H. Tolbert Bismuth ferrite is an important room temperature multiferroic material where magnetism and ferroelectricity are coupled. Here, the authors utilize a wet chemical synthesis method to create strained nanoporous bismuth ferrite with enhanced magnetoelectric coupling and elevated magnetic moments. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7562 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Materials science  High-performance hybrid oxide catalyst of manganese and cobalt for low-pressure methanol synthesis Cheng-Shiuan Li, Gérôme Melaet, Walter T. Ralston, Kwangjin An, Christopher Brooks, Yifan Ye, Yi-Sheng Liu, Junfa Zhu, Jinghua Guo, Selim Alayoglu and Gabor A. Somorjai The conversion of carbon dioxide to higher-value chemicals is an industrially important reaction. Here, the authors report a hybrid catalyst manganese oxide nanoparticle supported on mesoporous cobalt oxide, which catalyses the conversion of carbon dioxide to methanol at high yields. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7538 Chemical Sciences  Catalysis  Materials science  Empowering a transition-metal-free coupling between alkyne and alkyl iodide with light in water Wenbo Liu, Lu Li and Chao-Jun Li Coupling between alkyl halides and alkynes is commonly performed via the Sonogoshira reaction or variants thereof, but unactivated tertiary alkyl halides have proven to be elusive partners. Here, the authors report the metal-free coupling of tertiary alkyl halides and terminal alkynes taking place in water. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7526 Chemical Sciences  Organic chemistry  Supramolecular synergy in the boundary lubrication of synovial joints OPEN Jasmine Seror, Linyi Zhu, Ronit Goldberg, Anthony J. Day and Jacob Klein Interacting cartilage surfaces in synovial joints experience very low levels of friction, allowing unhindered mechanical motion. Here, the authors propose how a synergistic interaction of hyaluronan, lubricin and phospholipids, molecules that are ubiquitous in joints, may lead to this high level of lubrication. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7497 Biological Sciences  Chemical biology  Materials science  Defective podocyte insulin signalling through p85-XBP1 promotes ATF6-dependent maladaptive ER-stress response in diabetic nephropathy OPEN Thati Madhusudhan, Hongjie Wang, Wei Dong, Sanchita Ghosh, Fabian Bock, Veera Raghavan Thangapandi, Satish Ranjan, Juliane Wolter, Shrey Kohli, Khurrum Shahzad, Florian Heidel, Martin Krueger, Vedat Schwenger, Marcus J. Moeller, Thomas Kalinski, Jochen Reiser, Triantafyllos Chavakis and Berend Isermann Diabetic kidney disease is associated with ER stress in podocytes. Here the authors use various genetically modified mouse models to study ER-stress-related signalling pathways and propose a mechanistic framework that links insulin signalling with ER stress in podocytes of diabetic mice. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7496 Biological Sciences  Medical research  Neutral particle mass spectrometry with nanomechanical systems OPEN Eric Sage, Ariel Brenac, Thomas Alava, Robert Morel, Cécilia Dupré, Mehmet Selim Hanay, Michael L. Roukes, Laurent Duraffourg, Christophe Masselon and Sébastien Hentz Mass spectrometry (MS) involves ionization of analytes with spectra dependent upon the mass-to-charge ratio. Here, the authors demonstrate that MS based on nanoelectromechanical systems gives results that are independent of the charge state and allow the mass spectrum of neutral species to be obtained. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7482 Physical Sciences  Analytical chemistry  Applied physics  Nanotechnology  Pop-out in visual search of moving targets in the archer fish Mor Ben-Tov, Opher Donchin, Ohad Ben-Shahar and Ronen Segev In mammals, rapid identification of visual targets is facilitated by differences between the target and the surrounding visual scene. Here the authors demonstrate behavioural and neural correlates of visual pop-out in archer fish, suggesting it is a fundamental component of all vertebrate visual systems. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7476 Biological Sciences  Neuroscience  Cenpj/CPAP regulates progenitor divisions and neuronal migration in the cerebral cortex downstream of Ascl1 OPEN Patricia P. Garcez, Javier Diaz-Alonso, Ivan Crespo-Enriquez, Diogo Castro, Donald Bell and François Guillemot The proneural factor Ascl1/Mash1 is an important regulator of embryonic neurogenesis. Here the authors identify that the microcephaly protein Cenpj/CPAP is essential for several microtubule-dependent steps in the neurogenic program driven by Ascl1 in the developing cerebral cortex. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7474 Biological Sciences  Developmental biology  Neuroscience  Identification of FOXM1 as a therapeutic target in B-cell lineage acute lymphoblastic leukaemia OPEN Maike Buchner, Eugene Park, Huimin Geng, Lars Klemm, Johanna Flach, Emmanuelle Passegué, Hilde Schjerven, Ari Melnick, Elisabeth Paietta, Dragana Kopanja, Pradip Raychaudhuri and Markus Müschen FOXM1, a transcription factor with roles in cell cycle progression, is highly expressed in the majority of solid tumours. Here the authors show that FOXM1 is an ideal therapeutic target in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) due to its dispensability for normal B-cell development. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7471 Biological Sciences  Cancer  Cell biology  Cobalt-catalysed site-selective intra- and intermolecular dehydrogenative amination of unactivated sp3 carbons OPEN Xuesong Wu, Ke Yang, Yan Zhao, Hao Sun, Guigen Li and Haibo Ge Functionalizing unactivated carbon–hydrogen bonds is challenging, especially when using non-precious metals and dealing with sp3 hybridized carbons. Here, the authors report an intramolecular cobalt catalysed amination of C–H bonds of sp3 carbons, giving access to β- and γ-lactams. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7462 Chemical Sciences  Catalysis  Organic chemistry  How intermolecular geometrical disorder affects the molecular doping of donor–acceptor copolymers Daniele Di Nuzzo, Claudio Fontanesi, Rebecca Jones, Sybille Allard, Ines Dumsch, Ullrich Scherf, Elizabeth von Hauff, Stefan Schumacher and Enrico Da Como Doping of conjugated polymers is an important strategy for the development of organic electronics. Here, the authors study the spatial organization of dopants in donor–acceptor polymers, indicating that charge transfer is improved when the dopant and donor moiety are in close proximity. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7460 Chemical Sciences  Condensed matter  Materials science  Physical chemistry  Beating beats mixing in heterodyne detection schemes G.J. Verbiest and M.J. Rost Heterodyne detectors can measure and analyse high-frequency signals inaccessible to conventional methods. Here the authors analyse heterodyne signal generation and show that, contrary to the common interpretation, both mixing and beating of the target and reference signals are important. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7444 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Integrin β1 controls VE-cadherin localization and blood vessel stability Hiroyuki Yamamoto, Manuel Ehling, Katsuhiro Kato, Kenichi Kanai, Max van Lessen, Maike Frye, Dagmar Zeuschner, Masanori Nakayama, Dietmar Vestweber and Ralf H. Adams The role of integrin β1 in angiogenesis is poorly understood. Here, the authors show that integrin β1 regulates murine angiogenesis and adherens junction integrity by controlling VE-cadherin localization, myosin light chain phosphorylation and the function of the Rap1/MRCK and Rho/Rho-kinase pathways. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7429 Biological Sciences  Developmental biology  Molecular biology  Abiotic ligation of DNA oligomers templated by their liquid crystal ordering OPEN Tommaso P. Fraccia, Gregory P. Smith, Giuliano Zanchetta, Elvezia Paraboschi, Yougwooo Yi, David M. Walba, Giorgio Dieci, Noel A. Clark and Tommaso Bellini Some oligomers exhibit liquid-crystal-like ordering in concentrated aqueous solutions. Here, Fraccia et al. show that this kind of ordering can further facilitate DNA ligation in a way similar to a catalytic process that arises from a hierarchical self-assembly, namely liquid crystal autocatalysis. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7424 Biological Sciences  Biochemistry  Biotechnology  Materials science  Self-assembling knots of controlled topology by designing the geometry of patchy templates Guido Polles, Davide Marenduzzo, Enzo Orlandini and Cristian Micheletti Self-assembling of complex molecular structures with a target topology is of importance to design and synthesize functional materials. Here, Polles et al. demonstrate the spontaneous formation of closed knotted structures from simple helical building blocks with sticky ends in simulations. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7423 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Materials science  Use of the CRISPR/Cas9 system as an intracellular defense against HIV-1 infection in human cells Hsin-Kai Liao, Ying Gu, Arturo Diaz, John Marlett, Yuta Takahashi, Mo Li, Keiichiro Suzuki, Ruo Xu, Tomoaki Hishida, Chan-Jung Chang, Concepcion Rodriguez Esteban, John Young and Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte The CRISPR/Cas9 system can be used for genome editing. Here, Liao et al. show that the system can be adapted to inhibit HIV expression and replication, excise the integrated HIV genome and provide long-term protection against new infections in human cells, including pluripotent stem cells. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7413 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Microbiology  Virology  The autism-associated chromatin modifier CHD8 regulates other autism risk genes during human neurodevelopment OPEN Justin Cotney, Rebecca A. Muhle, Stephan J. Sanders, Li Liu, A. Jeremy Willsey, Wei Niu, Wenzhong Liu, Lambertus Klei, Jing Lei, Jun Yin, Steven K. Reilly, Andrew T. Tebbenkamp, Candace Bichsel, Mihovil Pletikos, Nenad Sestan, Kathryn Roeder, Matthew W. State, Bernie Devlin and James P. Noonan Autism genes converge in midfetal cortical co-expression networks, and chromatin regulators such as CHD8 are increasingly associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Here the authors map CHD8 targets in developing brain, and find that CHD8 directly regulates other ASD risk genes during human neurodevelopment. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7404 Biological Sciences  Developmental biology  Genetics  Neuroscience  Description of quantum coherence in thermodynamic processes requires constraints beyond free energy OPEN Matteo Lostaglio, David Jennings and Terry Rudolph The statistical nature of standard thermodynamics provides an incomplete picture for individual processes at the nanoscale, and new relations have been developed to extend it. Here, the authors show that by quantifying time-asymmetry it is also possible to characterize how quantum coherence is modified in such processes. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7383 Physical Sciences  Theoretical physics  Brown fat activation reduces hypercholesterolaemia and protects from atherosclerosis development OPEN Jimmy F. P. Berbée, Mariëtte R Boon, P. Padmini S. J. Khedoe, Alexander Bartelt, Christian Schlein, Anna Worthmann, Sander Kooijman, Geerte Hoeke, Isabel M. Mol, Clara John, Caroline Jung, Nadia Vazirpanah, Linda P.J. Brouwers, Philip L.S.M. Gordts, Jeffrey D. Esko, Pieter S. Hiemstra, Louis M. Havekes, Ludger Scheja, Joerg Heeren and Patrick C.N. Rensen et al. Brown adipose tissue (BAT) produces heat by burning lipid triglycerides. Here, Berbée et al. show that pharmacological BAT activation protects hyperlipidemic mice from atherosclerosis, provided mice retain the metabolic capacity to clear cholesterol-enriched lipoprotein remnants by the liver. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7356 Biological Sciences  Medical research  Topological states in multi-orbital HgTe honeycomb lattices OPEN W. Beugeling, E. Kalesaki, C. Delerue, Y.-M. Niquet, D. Vanmaekelbergh and C. Morais Smith The observation of the quantum spin Hall effect in graphene is hindered by weak spin–orbit coupling. Here, Beugeling et al. demonstrate how topological phases may be realized in analogous artificial HgTe nanocrystal honeycomb lattices with strong spin–orbit coupling and multi-orbital ordering. 10 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7316 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Materials science  Theoretical physics  Genome of the Netherlands population-specific imputations identify an ABCA6 variant associated with cholesterol levels OPEN Elisabeth M. van Leeuwen, Lennart C. Karssen, Joris Deelen, Aaron Isaacs, Carolina Medina-Gomez, Hamdi Mbarek, Alexandros Kanterakis, Stella Trompet, Iris Postmus, Niek Verweij, David J. van Enckevort, Jennifer E. Huffman, Charles C. White, Mary F. Feitosa, Traci M. Bartz, Ani Manichaikul, Peter K. Joshi, Gina M. Peloso, Patrick Deelen, Freerk van Dijk et al. Frequencies of rare variants fluctuate over populations, hampering gene discovery. Here the authors use a population-specific reference panel, the Genome of the Netherlands, to discover four novel loci involved in lipid metabolism, including an exonic variant in ABCA6. 09 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7065 Biological Sciences  Genetics  The reverse evolution from multicellularity to unicellularity during carcinogenesis Han Chen, Fangqin Lin, Ke Xing and Xionglei He Multicellularity relies on molecular mechanisms that promote cooperation of individual cells and limit their inappropriate expansion. Here Chen et al. show that genes unique to multicellular organisms are preferentially inactivated during tumour evolution. 09 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7367 Biological Sciences  Cancer  Evolution  TLR9 signalling in microglia attenuates seizure-induced aberrant neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus OPEN Taito Matsuda, Naoya Murao, Yuki Katano, Berry Juliandi, Jun Kohyama, Shizuo Akira, Taro Kawai and Kinichi Nakashima Epileptic seizures generate aberrant neurogenesis in the adult mouse hippocampal region but how animals cope with abnormal neurogenesis remains unknown. Here the authors show that microglia are activated through TLR9 signaling and that this leads to sustained expression of TNF-α which attenuates induced aberrant neurogenesis. 09 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7514 Biological Sciences  Neuroscience  Triggering HIV polyprotein processing by light using rapid photodegradation of a tight-binding protease inhibitor OPEN Jiří Schimer, Marcela Pávová, Maria Anders, Petr Pachl, Pavel Šácha, Petr Cígler, Jan Weber, Pavel Majer, Pavlína Řezáčová, Hans-Georg Kräusslich, Barbara Müller and Jan Konvalinka The study of HIV proteolysis during maturation and replication can be difficult since different steps in these processes occur simultaneously. Here, the authors present a photolabile HIV protease inhibitor which can be deactivated by light irradiation, allowing synchronized induction of viral maturation. 09 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7461 Biological Sciences  Chemical biology  Medicinal chemistry  Virology  Structure of CPV17 polyhedrin determined by the improved analysis of serial femtosecond crystallographic data OPEN Helen M. Ginn, Marc Messerschmidt, Xiaoyun Ji, Hanwen Zhang, Danny Axford, Richard J. Gildea, Graeme Winter, Aaron S. Brewster, Johan Hattne, Armin Wagner, Jonathan M. Grimes, Gwyndaf Evans, Nicholas K. Sauter, Geoff Sutton and David I. Stuart Serial femtosecond crystallography and the use of X-ray free-electron lasers (XFEL) promise to revolutionize structural biology. Here, the authors describe refinements that reduce the redundancy required to obtain quality XFEL data and report a 1.75-Å structure—not obtainable by synchrotron radiation—using less than 6,000 crystals. 09 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7435 Biological Sciences  Biophysics  Virology  Demonstration of asymmetric electron conduction in pseudosymmetrical photosynthetic reaction centre proteins in an electrical circuit OPEN Muhammad Kamran, Vincent M. Friebe, Juan D. Delgado, Thijs J. Aartsma, Raoul N. Frese and Michael R. Jones Photosynthetic reaction centres have been proposed for applications in bioelectronics. Here, the authors examine electron transport through the reaction centre from R. sphaeroides using conductive AFM, observing asymmetric conductance along only one cofactor wire under an applied bias. 09 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7530 Biological Sciences  Biophysics  Materials science  Nanotechnology  PW1/Peg3 expression regulates key properties that determine mesoangioblast stem cell competence OPEN Chiara Bonfanti, Giuliana Rossi, Francesco Saverio Tedesco, Monica Giannotta, Sara Benedetti, Rossana Tonlorenzi, Stefania Antonini, Giovanna Marazzi, Elisabetta Dejana, David Sassoon, Giulio Cossu and Graziella Messina Mesoangioblasts are mesodermal stem cells with a therapeutic potential for treatment of muscular dystrophy due to their ability to differentiate into skeletal muscle. This study shows that the PW1/Peg3 protein is crucial for mesoangioblast myogenic and migratory potency and is a therapeutically relevant biomarker. 09 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7364 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Medical research  Upward synaptic scaling is dependent on neurotransmission rather than spiking OPEN Ming-fai Fong, Jonathan P. Newman, Steve M. Potter and Peter Wenner Synaptic upscaling is characterized by an increase in the strength of excitatory inputs to a neuron as a compensatory response to chronic reductions in spiking activity. Here, the authors demonstrate that reduced glutamatergic transmission, rather than reduced spiking activity, directly triggers upscaling. 09 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7339 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Neuroscience  Bmi1 limits dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure by inhibiting cardiac senescence I. Gonzalez-Valdes, I. Hidalgo, A. Bujarrabal, E. Lara-Pezzi, L. Padron-Barthe, P. Garcia-Pavia, P. Gomez, J.M. Redondo, J.M. Ruiz-Cabello, L.J. Jimenez-Borreguero, J.A. Enriquez, J.L. de la Pompa, A. Hidalgo and S. Gonzalez The epigenetic factor Bmi1 regulates self-renewal of many adult stem cells, but its role in heart function is unknown. Here the authors show that Bmi1 prevents cardiac senescence by inhibiting the tumor suppressor protein p16INK4a in adult mice, protecting them from dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure. 09 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7473 Biological Sciences  Medical research  A 150-million-year-old crab larva and its implications for the early rise of brachyuran crabs Joachim T. Haug, Joel W. Martin and Carolin Haug True crabs are successful crustaceans with a life history that includes two specialized larval forms, zoea and megalopa. Here, the authors report a 150 million-years-old fossil megalopa with a very modern morphology, suggesting that modern larval morphologies were established early on. 09 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7417 Biological Sciences  Evolution  Palaeontology  Zoology  MtDNA mutagenesis impairs elimination of mitochondria during erythroid maturation leading to enhanced erythrocyte destruction K.J. Ahlqvist, S. Leoncini, A. Pecorelli, S.B. Wortmann, S. Ahola, S. Forsström, R. Guerranti, C. De Felice, J. Smeitink, L. Ciccoli, R.H. Hämäläinen and A. Suomalainen Accumulation of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations is linked to severe anaemia by an unknown mechanism. Here the authors show that excessive mtDNA mutations impair mitochondrial expulsion during erythropoiesis leading to augmented erythrocyte clearance and anaemia in mice and humans. 09 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7494 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Medical research  Onset of sediment transport is a continuous transition driven by fluid shear and granular creep OPEN Morgane Houssais, Carlos P. Ortiz, Douglas J. Durian and Douglas J. Jerolmack The onset of sediment transport is commonly believed to be an abrupt process, which influences our understanding of river erosion and landscape dynamics. Houssais et al. show instead a continuous transition from a creeping to a granular-flow regime by monitoring internal motion in a sediment bed. 09 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7527 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Fluids and plasma physics  Genomic analysis of ADAR1 binding and its involvement in multiple RNA processing pathways Jae Hoon Bahn, Jaegyoon Ahn, Xianzhi Lin, Qing Zhang, Jae-Hyung Lee, Mete Civelek and Xinshu Xiao ADAR1 is an adenosine deaminase that converts adenosine to inosine (A-to-I) mostly on Alu repeats in human RNA. Here by analysing transcriptome-wide ADAR1–RNA interactions, the authors show that ADAR1 also binds non-Alu sequences to regulate alternative 3′ UTR usage and miRNA biogenesis in the nucleus. 09 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7355 Biological Sciences  Genetics  Molecular biology  Incipient charge order observed by NMR in the normal state of YBa2Cu3Oy OPEN Tao Wu, Hadrien Mayaffre, Steffen Krämer, Mladen Horvatić, Claude Berthier, W.N. Hardy, Ruixing Liang, D.A. Bonn and Marc-Henri Julien The nature and universality of the ordering phenomena observed in the normal state of high-temperature superconductors remain unclear. Here, Wu et al. observe several aspects of incipient charge ordering in YBCO via NMR measurements, clarifying the role of quenched disorder in their emergence. 09 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7438 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Densified network glasses and liquids with thermodynamically reversible and structurally adaptive behaviour M. Bauchy and M. Micoulaut Degrees of freedom can be frozen in glassy material, which results in a hysteresis in heat capacity under cooling or heating. Here, the authors show that the hysteresis can be minimized at selected thermodynamic conditions, leading to thermally reversible glasses that are isostatically rigid. 09 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7398 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Materials science  Origin of pressure-induced crystallization of Ce75Al25 metallic glass Min Wu, John S. Tse, S.Y. Wang, C.Z. Wang and J.Z. Jiang It is commonly believed that pressure-induced crystallization in Ce-Al amorphous alloy is caused by Ce 4f orbital delocalization. Here, Wu et al. propose an alternative mechanism, whereby the crystallization is driven by a steric effect of dominant packing of cerium atoms at high pressure. 09 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7493 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Reading out a spatiotemporal population code by imaging neighbouring parallel fibre axons in vivo OPEN Christian D. Wilms and Michael Häusser The spatiotemporal pattern of synaptic inputs is critical for synaptic integration and plasticity in neurons but whether these inputs are structured or random is not clear. Here the authors use in vivo calcium imaging to monitor the presynaptic activity of cerebellar parallel fibre axons and find clustered patterns of axonal activity during sensory processing. 09 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7464 Biological Sciences  Neuroscience  Visually induced initiation of Drosophila innate courtship-like following pursuit is mediated by central excitatory state Soh Kohatsu and Daisuke Yamamoto Male Drosophila exhibit a complex suite of courtship behaviours in response to a variety of sensory stimuli. Here, the authors demonstrate the involvement of specific, genetically defined clusters of central neurons in visually induced initiation and maintenance of courtship behaviours. 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7457 Biological Sciences  Genetics  Molecular biology  Neuroscience  Partially coherent ultrafast spectrography OPEN C. Bourassin-Bouchet and M.-E. Couprie Ultrafast metrology typically relies on pulse coherence, but full coherence is not always possible in emerging attosecond and ultrashort X-ray technologies. Here, Bourassin-Bouchet and Couprie adapt frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG) to measure partially coherent optical pulses in the attosecond scale. 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7465 Physical Sciences  Atomic and molecular physics  Optical physics  Phonon hydrodynamics in two-dimensional materials Andrea Cepellotti, Giorgia Fugallo, Lorenzo Paulatto, Michele Lazzeri, Francesco Mauri and Nicola Marzari Heat flow in nanoscale structures varies dramatically from that in bulk materials. Here, the authors use density-functional perturbation theory and the Boltzmann transport equation to study heat conductivity in two dimensions, with applications to graphene, boron nitride, molybdenum disulphide, graphane and fluorographene. 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7400 Physical Sciences  Materials science  CCM-3/STRIPAK promotes seamless tube extension through endocytic recycling Benjamin Lant, Bin Yu, Marilyn Goudreault, Doug Holmyard, James D.R. Knight, Peter Xu, Linda Zhao, Kelly Chin, Evan Wallace, Mei Zhen, Anne-Claude Gingras and W Brent Derry Mutations in the CCM3 gene in humans lead to severe forms of cerebral cavernous malformation. Here, Lant et al. shed light on the mechanism of CCM-3 function in C. elegans, and show that CCM-3 ablation leads to defects in excretory canal extension and the formation of cysts reminiscent of human malformations. 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7449 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Developmental biology  Stereochemical bias introduced during RNA synthesis modulates the activity of phosphorothioate siRNAs OPEN Hartmut Jahns, Martina Roos, Jochen Imig, Fabienne Baumann, Yuluan Wang, Ryan Gilmour and Jonathan Hall Therapeutic oligonucleotides can be made more stable by substituting their achiral phosphodiester groups for chiral phosphorothioate linkages. Here, the authors present a synthesis of phosphorothioated RNAs, where the activator controls strand stereochemistry, and also the activity of assembled siRNAs. 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7317 Biological Sciences  Chemical biology  Medicinal chemistry  High-intensity double-pulse X-ray free-electron laser OPEN A. Marinelli, D. Ratner, A.A. Lutman, J. Turner, J. Welch, F.-J. Decker, H. Loos, C. Behrens, S. Gilevich, A.A. Miahnahri, S. Vetter, T.J. Maxwell, Y. Ding, R. Coffee, S. Wakatsuki and Z. Huang Two-colour X-ray pulses from free-electron lasers can be used to probe ultrafast dynamics, but the total power is a fraction of the saturation power. Here, Marinelli et al. use twin electron bunches to reach full saturation power and increase the two-colour intensity by an order of magnitude at hard-X-ray energies. 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7369 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Optical physics  Chromokinesin Kid and kinetochore kinesin CENP-E differentially support chromosome congression without end-on attachment to microtubules Kenji Iemura and Kozo Tanaka Alignment of chromosomes at the spindle equator involves two kinesin family molecular motors, Kid and CENP-C. Here, Iemura and Tanaka show differential contributions of these motors, whereby Kid promotes partial alignment before end-on microtubule attachment to chromosomes, and CENP-C promotes alignment when microtubules are stabilized. 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7447 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Two linked pairs of Arabidopsis TNL resistance genes independently confer recognition of bacterial effector AvrRps4 Simon B. Saucet, Yan Ma, Panagiotis F. Sarris, Oliver J. Furzer, Kee Hoon Sohn and Jonathan D.G. Jones Plant immunity requires recognition of pathogen effector proteins by specific intracellular immune receptors. Here, Saucet et al. identify an additional pair of Arabidopsis receptors that act together to trigger defence responses upon recognition of the AvrRps4 effector from the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7338 Biological Sciences  Plant sciences  Spatial extent of a Landauer residual-resistivity dipole in graphene quantified by scanning tunnelling potentiometry Philip Willke, Thomas Druga, Rainer G. Ulbrich, M. Alexander Schneider and Martin Wenderoth Electron transport at the atom-level scale cannot be described by spatially averaged electric fields as it is in macroscopic systems. Here, the authors experimentally demonstrate the spatial extent of an atomically local scattering process that gives rise to resistivity in nanoscale devices. 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7399 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Nitrogenated holey two-dimensional structures OPEN Javeed Mahmood, Eun Kwang Lee, Minbok Jung, Dongbin Shin, In-Yup Jeon, Sun-Min Jung, Hyun-Jung Choi, Jeong-Min Seo, Seo-Yoon Bae, So-Dam Sohn, Noejung Park, Joon Hak Oh, Hyung-Joon Shin and Jong-Beom Baek There is currently interest in two-dimensional graphene-like materials incorporating heteroatoms. Here, the authors synthesize a solution-processable, holey two-dimensional network with C2N stoichiometry containing evenly distributed holes and nitrogen atoms, and use it to fabricate a field effect transistor. 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7486 Chemical Sciences  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Whole-genome sequence-based analysis of thyroid function OPEN Peter N. Taylor, Eleonora Porcu, Shelby Chew, Purdey J. Campbell, Michela Traglia, Suzanne J. Brown, Benjamin H. Mullin, Hashem A. Shihab, Josine Min, Klaudia Walter, Yasin Memari, Jie Huang, Michael R. Barnes, John P. Beilby, Pimphen Charoen, Petr Danecek, Frank Dudbridge, Vincenzo Forgetta, Celia Greenwood, Elin Grundberg et al. Levels of circulating thyrotropin and free thyroxine reflect thyroid function, however, their genetic underpinnings remain poorly understood. Taylor et al. take advantage of whole-genome sequence data from cohorts within the UK10K project to identify novel variants associated with these traits. 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms6681 Biological Sciences  Genetics  Medical research  A surface curvature oscillation model for vapour–liquid–solid growth of periodic one-dimensional nanostructures Hui Wang, Jian-Tao Wang, Ze-Xian Cao, Wen-Jun Zhang, Chun-Sing Lee, Shuit-Tong Lee and Xiao-Hong Zhang Vapour-liquid-solid process is widely used to prepare a variety of one-dimensional nanostructures, but a quantitative understanding of the growth mechanism is missing. Here, Wang et al. show that the surface curvature oscillation of the liquid tip determines the growing process and thus the morphology. 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7412 Chemical Sciences  Nanotechnology  Thermal conductance of metal–diamond interfaces at high pressure Gregory T. Hohensee, R.B. Wilson and David G. Cahill The thermal conductance of interfaces between metal and diamond at high pressure is often greater than can be accounted for by two-phonon processes. Here, the authors present a new experimental system, suggesting that the ‘extra’ thermal conductance seen is controlled by Raman-like three-phonon processes. 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7578 Physical Sciences  Materials science  A large family of filled skutterudites stabilized by electron count Huixia Luo, Jason W. Krizan, Lukas Muechler, Neel Haldolaarachchige, Tomasz Klimczuk, Weiwei Xie, Michael K. Fuccillo, Claudia Felser and Robert J. Cava Skutterudites are a family of materials whose properties make them appealing for studying thermoelectric, magnetic, heavy-fermion and superconducting effects, among many others. Through a combination of theoretical and experimental approaches, this study identifies 43 new skutterudite compounds. 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7489 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Inorganic chemistry  Materials science  Genomic landscape of paediatric adrenocortical tumours Emilia M. Pinto, Xiang Chen, John Easton, David Finkelstein, Zhifa Liu, Stanley Pounds, Carlos Rodriguez-Galindo, Troy C. Lund, Elaine R. Mardis, Richard K. Wilson, Kristy Boggs, Donald Yergeau, Jinjun Cheng, Heather L. Mulder, Jayanthi Manne, Jesse Jenkins, Maria J. Mastellaro, Bonald C. Figueiredo, Michael A. Dyer, Alberto Pappo et al. Pediatric adrenocortical carcinoma is a rare malignancy with poor prognosis. Here the authors analyse the genomes, exomes and transcriptomes of 37 such tumours and identify genetic alterations whose nature, timing and potential interactions are key events with prognostic significance in pediatric adrenocortical tumorigenesis. 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7302 Biological Sciences  Cancer  Genetics  MicroRNA-146a regulates ICOS–ICOSL signalling to limit accumulation of T follicular helper cells and germinal centres OPEN Alvin Pratama, Monika Srivastava, Naomi J. Williams, Ilenia Papa, Sau K. Lee, Xuyen T. Dinh, Andreas Hutloff, Margaret A. Jordan, Jimmy L. Zhao, Rafael Casellas, Vicki Athanasopoulos and Carola G. Vinuesa Maturation of antibody-producing B cells in germinal centers is orchestrated by T follicular helper cells. Here Pratama et al. show that miR-146a negatively regulates T follicular helper cells by targeting ICOS-ICOS ligand signaling in germinal centers. 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7436 Biological Sciences  Immunology  Mitochondrial function and lifespan of mice with controlled ubiquinone biosynthesis Ying Wang, Daniella Oxer and Siegfried Hekimi Ubiquinone is a redox-active molecule that is involved in mitochondrial electron transfer. Here, Wang et al. report a mouse model that allows for temporarily controlled ubiquinone synthesis, and show that shortened lifespan associated with lack of ubiquinone can be reversed if ubiquinone biosynthesis is restored. 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7393 Biological Sciences  Medical research  Evidence for a nematic component to the hidden-order parameter in URu2Si2 from differential elastoresistance measurements Scott C. Riggs, M.C. Shapiro, Akash V Maharaj, S. Raghu, E.D. Bauer, R.E. Baumbach, P. Giraldo-Gallo, Mark Wartenbe and I.R. Fisher The heavy fermion material URu2Si2 exhibits a hidden-order phase transition that remains poorly understood. Using differential elastoresistance measurements, Riggs et al. show that this phase has a nematic component and that it spontaneously breaks fourfold lattice symmetry. 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7425 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Chromatin organization at the nuclear pore favours HIV replication OPEN Mickaël Lelek, Nicoletta Casartelli, Danilo Pellin, Ermanno Rizzi, Philippe Souque, Marco Severgnini, Clelia Di Serio, Thomas Fricke, Felipe Diaz-Griffero, Christophe Zimmer, Pierre Charneau and Francesca Di Nunzio Retroviruses such as HIV integrate into the host genome as an essential step prior to their replication. Here Lelek et al. identify nuclear pore complex proteins that are essential for HIV nuclear import and productive integration, and show that the intranuclear protein Tpr influences integration into transcriptionally active chromatin. 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7483 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Virology  Bacterial killing via a type IV secretion system Diorge P. Souza, Gabriel U. Oka, Cristina E. Alvarez-Martinez, Alexandre W. Bisson-Filho, German Dunger, Lise Hobeika, Nayara S. Cavalcante, Marcos C. Alegria, Leandro R.S. Barbosa, Roberto K. Salinas, Cristiane R. Guzzo and Chuck S. Farah Bacterial secretion systems deliver proteins to the extracellular milieu or directly into the cytoplasm of other cells. Here Souza et al. show that a type IV secretion system (T4SS) allows Xanthomonas citri to kill other Gram-negative bacterial species in a contact-dependent manner. 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7453 Biological Sciences  Biochemistry  Microbiology  Visualizing real-time influenza virus infection, transmission and protection in ferrets OPEN Erik A. Karlsson, Victoria A. Meliopoulos, Chandra Savage, Brandi Livingston, Andrew Mehle and Stacey Schultz-Cherry Ferrets are the main animal model used for research on influenza transmission. Here, the authors investigate the dynamics of infection and transmission in ferrets using a replication-competent influenza reporter virus and real-time bioluminescence imaging. 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7378 Biological Sciences  Microbiology  Virology  Remodelling of a homeobox gene cluster by multiple independent gene reunions in Drosophila Carolus Chan, Suvini Jayasekera, Bryant Kao, Moisés Páramo, Marcin von Grotthuss and José M. Ranz Gene clusters of paralogous genes are thought to result from tandem gene duplications. Here, the authors show two independent reunions of homeobox genes in Drosophila, which suggests that large-scale chromosomal rearrangements play a role in reshaping paralogous gene clustering. 05 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7509 Biological Sciences  Evolution  Genetics  Direct mechanochemical cleavage of functional groups from graphene Jonathan R. Felts, Andrew J. Oyer, Sandra C. Hernández, Keith E. Whitener Jr, Jeremy T. Robinson, Scott G. Walton and Paul E. Sheehan Breaking chemical bonds with mechanical force can be a useful route to modify chemical species, but studying the process in detail can be challenging. Here, the authors use atomic force microscopy to apply pressure and monitor bond cleavage on chemically modified graphene. 05 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7467 Chemical Sciences  Analytical chemistry  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Reconciling spatial and temporal soil moisture effects on afternoon rainfall OPEN Benoit P. Guillod, Boris Orlowsky, Diego G. Miralles, Adriaan J. Teuling and Sonia I. Seneviratne The sign of soil moisture–precipitation feedback has been strongly debated. Here, the authors show that rain tends to fall where soils are drier than their surroundings, but on days with overall wet and heterogeneous conditions, explaining the apparent contradictions between recent studies. 05 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7443 Earth Sciences  Atmospheric science  Climate science  Mesoporous monoliths of inverse bicontinuous cubic phases of block copolymer bilayers Chiyoung Park, Yunju La, Tae Hyun An, Hu Young Jeong, Sebyung Kang, Sang Hoon Joo, Hyungju Ahn, Tae Joo Shin and Kyoung Taek Kim Solution self-assembly of block copolymers is one approach for creating porous materials with highly organized bicontinuous mesoporous networks. Here, the authors use copolymers with branched hydrophilic blocks to fabricate mesoporous monoliths with large-pore networks weaved in crystalline lattices. 05 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7392 Chemical Sciences  Materials science  Spanning the scales of granular materials through microscopic force imaging OPEN Nicolas Brodu, Joshua A. Dijksman and Robert P. Behringer One major challenge for granular materials is how their microscopic contact forces respond to applied stress or strains at the macroscopic scale. Here, Brodu et al. map the contact forces of deformable hydrogel particles in three-dimensions and identify nonlinear stiffening of packing under compression. 05 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7361 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Materials science  Highly specific in vivo gene delivery for p53-mediated apoptosis and genetic photodynamic therapies of tumour OPEN S.-Ja Tseng, Zi-Xian Liao, Shih-Han Kao, Yi-Fang Zeng, Kuo-Yen Huang, Hsin-Jung Li, Chung-Lin Yang, Yu-Fan Deng, Chi-Feng Huang, Shuenn-Chen Yang, Pan-Chyr Yang and Ivan M. Kempson Alterations of p53 are associated with more than half of all human cancers. Here the authors present a new pH-sensitive nanoparticle that is delivered via systemic circulation and combines gene delivery to restore p53 with expression of Killerred protein to induce photosensitization. 05 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7456 Biological Sciences  Cancer  Interferon-λ rs12979860 genotype and liver fibrosis in viral and non-viral chronic liver disease OPEN Mohammed Eslam, Ahmed M. Hashem, Reynold Leung, Manuel Romero-Gomez, Thomas Berg, Gregory J. Dore, Henry L.K. Chan, William L. Irving, David Sheridan, Maria L. Abate, Leon A. Adams, Alessandra Mangia, Martin Weltman, Elisabetta Bugianesi, Ulrich Spengler, Olfat Shaker, Janett Fischer, Lindsay Mollison, Wendy Cheng, Elizabeth Powell et al. Tissue fibrosis is a major contributor to mortality in the developed world. Here, the authors identify a genetic variant in the intronic region of interferon-λ4 that is a strong predictor of hepatic inflammation and fibrosis, independent of liver disease aetiology 05 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7422 Biological Sciences  Genetics  Accelerated exploration of multi-principal element alloys with solid solution phases OPEN O.N. Senkov, J.D. Miller, D.B. Miracle and C. Woodward In high entropy alloys a mix of a large number of five or more principal atomic elements is used to tune the properties. Here, the authors present a solution to the problem of predicting the properties of the huge number of potential alloys by developing an efficient screening approach based on automated calculations. 05 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7529 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Control of coherent information via on-chip photonic–phononic emitter–receivers OPEN Heedeuk Shin, Jonathan A. Cox, Robert Jarecki, Andrew Starbuck, Zheng Wang and Peter T. Rakich Integrated photonics hold potential for signal processing but some operations are difficult to perform in all-optical devices. Here, Shin et al. use the coupling between coherent photons and phonons in nanophotonic waveguides to demonstrate frequency-selective, narrow-linewidth radiofrequency photonic filters. 05 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7427 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Optical physics  Metal organic framework-mediated synthesis of highly active and stable Fischer-Tropsch catalysts Vera P. Santos, Tim A. Wezendonk, Juan José Delgado Jaén, A. Iulian Dugulan, Maxim A. Nasalevich, Husn-Ubayda Islam, Adam Chojecki, Sina Sartipi, Xiaohui Sun, Abrar A. Hakeem, Ard C.J. Koeken, Matthijs Ruitenbeek, Thomas Davidian, Garry R. Meima, Gopinathan Sankar, Freek Kapteijn, Michiel Makkee and Jorge Gascon Iron-based catalysts are desirable for Fischer–Tropsch synthesis but are often hindered by deactivation arising from sintering or phase change. Here, the authors report the metal-organic framework-mediated synthesis of dispersed iron carbide catalysts and demonstrate their activity and stability. 05 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7451 Chemical Sciences  Catalysis  Materials science  Optically switchable transistors by simple incorporation of photochromic systems into small-molecule semiconducting matrices Mirella El Gemayel, Karl Börjesson, Martin Herder, Duc T. Duong, James A. Hutchison, Christian Ruzié, Guillaume Schweicher, Alberto Salleo, Yves Geerts, Stefan Hecht, Emanuele Orgiu and Paolo Samorì Organic thin-film transistors can be photomodulated by incorporating photochromic molecules, but the state-of-the-art suffers from poor charge transport. Here, the authors improve charge mobility by three orders of magnitude by blending small conjugated molecules into diarylethene. 05 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7330 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Glycine decarboxylase deficiency causes neural tube defects and features of non-ketotic hyperglycinemia in mice OPEN Yun Jin Pai, Kit-Yi Leung, Dawn Savery, Tim Hutchin, Helen Prunty, Simon Heales, Margaret E. Brosnan, John T. Brosnan, Andrew J. Copp and Nicholas D.E. Greene Mutations in the enzyme glycine decarboxylase (GLDC) are associated with neural tube closure defects and non-ketotic hyperglycinemia in humans. Here the authors generate a mouse model with reduced Gldc expression and activity and study the direct effect of the enzyme in these diseases and the mechanisms responsible for neural tube closure defects. 04 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7388 Biological Sciences  Developmental biology  Neuroscience  Limited role of functional differentiation in early diversification of animals OPEN M.L. Knope, N.A. Heim, L.O. Frishkoff and J.L. Payne Functional differentiation and taxonomic diversity are related in modern ecosystems. Here, the authors show that functional differentiation lags behind taxonomic diversification early in the evolutionary history of marine animals and that important shifts in this relationship occur at major mass extinction events. 04 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7455 Biological Sciences  Ecology  Evolution  Palaeontology  Enhancing and inhibiting stimulated Brillouin scattering in photonic integrated circuits OPEN Moritz Merklein, Irina V. Kabakova, Thomas F. S. Büttner, Duk-Yong Choi, Barry Luther-Davies, Stephen J. Madden and Benjamin J. Eggleton On-chip nonlinear optics can be used to manipulate classical or quantum signals but enhancement of competing nonlinear processes can cause signal distortion. Here, Merklein et al. enhance and inhibit nonlinear scattering on a chip by tailoring the optical density-of-states at the edge of a photonic bandgap. 04 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7396 Physical Sciences  Optical physics  Direct growth of large-area graphene and boron nitride heterostructures by a co-segregation method Chaohua Zhang, Shuli Zhao, Chuanhong Jin, Ai Leen Koh, Yu Zhou, Weigao Xu, Qiucheng Li, Qihua Xiong, Hailin Peng and Zhongfan Liu Direct growth of graphene on h-BN is desired to improve device performance. Here, the authors demonstrate the direct growth of large-area and continuous graphene/h-BN vertical heterostructures via a co-segregation approach. 04 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7519 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Adiponectin receptor 1 conserves docosahexaenoic acid and promotes photoreceptor cell survival OPEN Dennis S. Rice, Jorgelina M. Calandria, William C. Gordon, Bokkyoo Jun, Yongdong Zhou, Claire M. Gelfman, Songhua Li, Minghao Jin, Eric J. Knott, Bo Chang, Alex Abuin, Tawfik Issa, David Potter, Kenneth A. Platt and Nicolas G. Bazan Docosahexaenoic acid is a major and important retinal fatty acid that is recruited and retained in the photoreceptor membrane via an unknown mechanism. Here, Rice et al. show that adiponectin receptor 1 is a key molecular switch for docosahexaenoic acid membrane homeostasis and photoreceptor cell function. 04 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7228 Biological Sciences  Medical research  Ocean currents generate large footprints in marine palaeoclimate proxies Erik van Sebille, Paolo Scussolini, Jonathan V. Durgadoo, Frank J. C. Peeters, Arne Biastoch, Wilbert Weijer, Chris Turney, Claire B. Paris and Rainer Zahn An underlying assumption of palaeoceanographic proxies is that they are representative of the water properties directly above their site of deposition. Here, the authors combine high-resolution particle tracking simulations and sedimentary proxy data to challenge this assumption. 04 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7521 Earth Sciences  Climate science  Oceanography  Polaron pair mediated triplet generation in polymer/fullerene blends OPEN Stoichko D. Dimitrov, Scot Wheeler, Dorota Niedzialek, Bob C. Schroeder, Hendrik Utzat, Jarvist M. Frost, Jizhong Yao, Alexander Gillett, Pabitra S. Tuladhar, Iain McCulloch, Jenny Nelson and James R. Durrant The spin dynamics at organic donor–acceptor junctions is critical in determining charge generation and recombination in devices, but the detail is still unclear. Here, Dimitrov et al. observe singlet–triplet spin mixing at nanosecond timescales, which competes directly with free charge separation. 04 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7501 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Analysis of intestinal microbiota in hybrid house mice reveals evolutionary divergence in a vertebrate hologenome OPEN Jun Wang, Shirin Kalyan, Natalie Steck, Leslie M. Turner, Bettina Harr, Sven Künzel, Marie Vallier, Robert Häsler, Andre Franke, Hans-Heinrich Oberg, Saleh M. Ibrahim, Guntram A. Grassl, Dieter Kabelitz and John F. Baines Animal hosts and their associated microbes are largely the outcome of coevolution. Here, the authors show differences in the intestinal microbiome of hybrids compared with pure species of house mice, which suggests that host–microbiome interactions contribute to the evolution of host species. 04 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7440 Biological Sciences  Evolution  Genetics  Microbiology  Ontogenetic asymmetry modulates population biomass production and response to harvest OPEN Birte Reichstein, Lennart Persson and André M. De Roos The effect of intraspecific body size variation on the efficiency with which energy is transferred between trophic levels is not well understood. Here, Reichstein et al. show that biasing resource delivery toward less efficient consumer life stages can lead to a doubling of consumer biomass. 04 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7441 Biological Sciences  Ecology  Dynamic formation of single-atom catalytic active sites on ceria-supported gold nanoparticles OPEN Yang-Gang Wang, Donghai Mei, Vassiliki-Alexandra Glezakou, Jun Li and Roger Rousseau Computational investigation of heterogeneous catalytic systems is fundamentally important. Here, the authors show that, under reaction conditions, reactant-induced structural changes in ceria-supported gold nanoparticle catalysts lead to the dynamic formation of single-atom catalytic sites at the interface. 04 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7511 Chemical Sciences  Catalysis  Inorganic chemistry  Physical chemistry  Controlling superconductivity by tunable quantum critical points S. Seo, E. Park, E.D. Bauer, F. Ronning, J.N. Kim, J.-H. Shim, J.D. Thompson and Tuson Park The heavy fermion system CeRhIn5 has a local quantum critical point, but its role in the onset of superconductivity is unclear. Here, the authors tune the quantum critical point by tin doping and verify that fluctuations from the antiferromagnetic criticality promote this unconventional superconductivity. 04 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7433 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  10.5% efficient polymer and amorphous silicon hybrid tandem photovoltaic cell Jeehwan Kim, Ziruo Hong, Gang Li, Tze-bin Song, Jay Chey, Yun Seog Lee, Jingbi You, Chun-Chao Chen, Devendra K. Sadana and Yang Yang Ultrathin film photovoltaic cells are a promising energy device, but suffer from low power conversion efficiency. Here, the authors construct a double-junction tandem cell using a hydrogenated amorphous silicon and a polymer as the front and back cell, respectively, which achieves 10.5% efficiency. 04 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7391 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Nanotechnology  PRMT9 is a Type II methyltransferase that methylates the splicing factor SAP145 Yanzhong Yang, Andrea Hadjikyriacou, Zheng Xia, Sitaram Gayatri, Daehoon Kim, Cecilia Zurita-Lopez, Ryan Kelly, Ailan Guo, Wei Li, Steven G. Clarke and Mark T. Bedford Protein arginine methylation is an abundant post-translational modification often associated with RNA-binding proteins. Here the authors show that the previously uncharacterized PRMT9 enzyme catalyses the symmetrical methylation of SAP145, which promotes its association with the SMN complex and regulates splicing. 04 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7428 Biological Sciences  Biochemistry  Cell biology  Molecular biology    Nature Communications JOBS of the week Postdoctoral Scientist University of Southern California Research Associate University College London (UCL) MSc / PhD Studentship Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) Postdoctoral Fellow Blood Center of Wisconisn Postdoctoral Research Assistant University of Oxford Postdoctoral Research Fellow University of Leeds Research Fellow University of Sussex Postdoctoral Position German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) Impacts Research Manager Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Postgraduate fellow Yale University School of Medicine More Science jobs from Nature Communications EVENT BIO International Convention 2015 15.06.15 Philadelphia, USA More science events from       Latest Corrigenda     Corrigendum: Megakaryocyte-specific Profilin1-deficiency alters microtubule stability and causes a Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome-like platelet defect Markus Bender, Simon Stritt, Paquita Nurden, Judith M.M. van Eeuwijk, Barbara Zieger, Karim Kentouche, Harald Schulze, Henner Morbach, David Stegner, Katrin G. Heinze, Sebastian Dütting, Shuchi Gupta, Walter Witke, Hervé Falet, Alain Fischer, John H. Hartwig and Bernhard Nieswandt 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7507 Biological Sciences  Medical research      Corrigendum: The immune synapse clears and excludes molecules above a size threshold Adam N.R. Cartwright, Jeremy Griggs and Daniel M. Davis 06 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7109 Biological Sciences  Immunology      Corrigendum: Dark-field X-ray microscopy for multiscale structural characterization H. Simons, A. King, W. Ludwig, C. Detlefs, W. Pantleon, S. Schmidt, F. Stöhr, I. Snigireva, A. Snigirev and H. F. Poulsen 05 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7612 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Optical physics      Corrigendum: Force-dependent conformational switch of α-catenin controls vinculin binding Mingxi Yao, Wu Qiu, Ruchuan Liu, Artem K. Efremov, Peiwen Cong, Rima Seddiki, Manon Payre, Chwee Teck Lim, Benoit Ladoux, René-Marc Mège and Jie Yan 04 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7568 Biological Sciences  Biophysics        Latest Erratum     Erratum: Flow damping due to stochastization of the magnetic field K. Ida, M. Yoshinuma, H. Tsuchiya, T. Kobayashi, C. Suzuki, M. Yokoyama, A. Shimizu, K. Nagaoka, S. Inagaki and K. Itoh 05 March 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms7531 Physical Sciences  Fluids and plasma physics      Advertisement Nature Communications is now fully open access All new submissions if accepted, will be published open access and an article processing charge will apply. For more information visit the website. 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