Nature Communications - 27 May 2015

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For more information visit the website.   Visit our open access funding page or contact openaccess@nature.com to learn more on APC funding. Journal homepage Recommend to library Web feed       Nature Communications - now fully open access All new submissions, if accepted, will be published open access and an article processing charge (APC) will apply. For more information visit the website. Visit our open access funding page or contact openaccess@nature.com to learn more about APC funding.       Latest Articles View all Articles     Strong coronal channelling and interplanetary evolution of a solar storm up to Earth and Mars OPEN Christian Möstl, Tanja Rollett, Rudy A. Frahm, Ying D. Liu, David M. Long, Robin C. Colaninno, Martin A. Reiss, Manuela Temmer, Charles J. Farrugia, Arik Posner, Mateja Dumbović, Miho Janvier, Pascal Démoulin, Peter Boakes, Andy Devos, Emil Kraaikamp, Mona L. Mays and Bojan Vršnak Coronal mass ejections from the Sun play an important role in space weather, yet a full understanding of their behaviour remains elusive. Towards this aim, Möstl et al. present a suite of observations showing that an ejection was channelled away from its source region, explaining incorrect forecasts. 26 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8135 Physical Sciences  Astronomy  Stimulation of soluble guanylyl cyclase protects against obesity by recruiting brown adipose tissue OPEN Linda S. Hoffmann, Jennifer Etzrodt, Lena Willkomm, Abhishek Sanyal, Ludger Scheja, Alexander W.C. Fischer, Johannes-Peter Stasch, Wilhelm Bloch, Andreas Friebe, Joerg Heeren and Alexander Pfeifer The enzyme soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC) regulates differentiation of brown fat. Here, Hoffman et al. show that a small molecule sGC stimulator increases brown fat activity and browning of white fat, thereby inducing energy expenditure, weight loss and partial protection from diet-induced obesity in mice. 26 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8235 Biological Sciences  Medical research  Quantifying the ozone and ultraviolet benefits already achieved by the Montreal Protocol OPEN M. P. Chipperfield, S. S. Dhomse, W. Feng, R. L. McKenzie, G.J.M. Velders and J. A. Pyle Ozone-depleting substances have been controlled by the 1987 Montreal Protocol, ensuring atmospheric concentrations are now in decline. Here, the authors use a 3D model and suggest that these controls have already had significant benefits, with much larger ozone depletion than previously thought avoided by the protocol. 26 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8233 Earth Sciences  Atmospheric science  Climate science  Birth of two volcanic islands in the southern Red Sea OPEN Wenbin Xu, Joël Ruch and Sigurjón Jónsson How new volcanic islands form is not well understood, particularly those along mid-ocean ridge systems. Here, the authors present observations of two new islands that were formed in the southern Red Sea, using high-resolution satellite imagery to quantify their growth and subsequent erosion. 26 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8104 Earth Sciences  Piezo1 ion channel pore properties are dictated by C-terminal region OPEN Bertrand Coste, Swetha E. Murthy, Jayanti Mathur, Manuela Schmidt, Yasmine Mechioukhi, Patrick Delmas and Ardem Patapoutian Piezo ion channels function as mechanotransducers involved in vascular development and touch sensing, but their structural features remain unknown. Here the authors find that the C-terminal region of Piezo protein encompasses the pore and identify a glutamate residue within this region involved in ion conduction properties. 26 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8223 Biological Sciences  Biophysics  Molecular biology  Neuroscience  Design and synthesis of digitally encoded polymers that can be decoded and erased OPEN Raj Kumar Roy, Anna Meszynska, Chloé Laure, Laurence Charles, Claire Verchin and Jean-François Lutz DNA and other biopolymers encode information based on a sequence of monomers. Here, the authors report a synthetic polymer capable of storing simple binary information which can subsequently be decoded by tandem mass spectroscopy, or permanently erased by heating. 26 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8237 Chemical Sciences  Materials science  Organic chemistry  Chemical synthesis of a two-photon-activatable chemokine and photon-guided lymphocyte migration in vivo OPEN Xin Chen, Shan Tang, Ji-Shen Zheng, Ruozhu Zhao, Zhi-Peng Wang, Wen Shao, Hao-Nan Chang, Jing-Yuan Cheng, Hui Zhao, Lei Liu and Hai Qi The precise spatiotemporal control of chemokine exposure would be an advantageous tool for immune cell research. Here, Chen et al. develop a two-photon-activatable chemokine CCL5 and use it to direct lymphocyte migration in vivo and to show that PI3-kinase is not required to sense a gradient in vitro. 26 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8220 Biological Sciences  Biotechnology  Cell biology  Immunology  Variants in ELL2 influencing immunoglobulin levels associate with multiple myeloma OPEN Bhairavi Swaminathan, Guðmar Thorleifsson, Magnus Jöud, Mina Ali, Ellinor Johnsson, Ram Ajore, Patrick Sulem, Britt-Marie Halvarsson, Guðmundur Eyjolfsson, Vilhelmina Haraldsdottir, Christina Hultman, Erik Ingelsson, Sigurður Y. Kristinsson, Anna K. Kähler, Stig Lenhoff, Gisli Masson, Ulf-Henrik Mellqvist, Robert Månsson, Sven Nelander, Isleifur Olafsson et al. Multiple myeloma is an incurable and fatal disease characterized by uninhibited growth of plasma cells in the bone marrow. Here, Swaminathan et al. conduct a genome-wide association study and identify a novel risk locus at ELL2, which encodes a key component of the super-elongation complex. 26 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8213 Biological Sciences  Cancer  Genetics  Comprehensive survey of condition-specific reproductive isolation reveals genetic incompatibility in yeast OPEN Jing Hou, Anne Friedrich, Jean-Sebastien Gounot and Joseph Schacherer Chromosomal rearrangements may hamper intraspecific hybrid fertility. Here the authors show that environment-specific genetic incompatibility segregates readily within intermating populations and leads to intrinsic reproductive isolation within a yeast species. 26 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8214 Biological Sciences  Evolution  Genetics  High-performance green flexible electronics based on biodegradable cellulose nanofibril paper OPEN Yei Hwan Jung, Tzu-Hsuan Chang, Huilong Zhang, Chunhua Yao, Qifeng Zheng, Vina W. Yang, Hongyi Mi, Munho Kim, Sang June Cho, Dong-Wook Park, Hao Jiang, Juhwan Lee, Yijie Qiu, Weidong Zhou, Zhiyong Cai, Shaoqin Gong and Zhenqiang Ma The rapid evolution of consumer electronics means that out-of-date devices quickly end up in the scrap heap. Here, the authors fabricate electrical components using biodegradable and flexible cellulose nanofibril paper—a natural sustainable resource derived from wood. 26 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8170 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Materials science  Intracellular signalling and intercellular coupling coordinate heterogeneous contractile events to facilitate tissue folding OPEN Shicong Xie and Adam C. Martin Epithelial sheet migration proceeds via a series of actomyosin contractions, called pulses, that are stabilized, or ratcheted. Here, Xie and Martin develop a computational framework to determine how pulses are coordinated, and show that ratcheting of pulses allows collective migration by preventing competition with neighbouring pulses. 26 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8161 Biological Sciences  Biophysics  Cell biology  An incompressible state of a photo-excited electron gas OPEN Alexei D. Chepelianskii, Masamitsu Watanabe, Kostyantyn Nasyedkin, Kimitoshi Kono and Denis Konstantinov Two-dimensional phases of electrons exhibit interesting phenomena under magnetic fields. Chepelianskii et al. show that electrons on liquid helium exhibit an incompressible state when they are excited by a microwave field at particular frequencies related with the Landau level spacing. 26 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8210 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Real-time intermembrane force measurements and imaging of lipid domain morphology during hemifusion OPEN Dong Woog Lee, Kai Kristiansen, Stephen H. Donaldson, Jr., Nicholas Cadirov, Xavier Banquy and Jacob N. Israelachvili During membrane fusion, lipid bilayers come into direct contact but rearrangements of lipid domains during fusion have not been thoroughly examined. Here the authors observe and correlate membrane morphology, interaction forces and domain rearrangements during hemifusion of two model membranes. 26 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8238 Biological Sciences  Biophysics  Translational regulation shapes the molecular landscape of complex disease phenotypes OPEN Sebastian Schafer, Eleonora Adami, Matthias Heinig, Katharina E. Costa Rodrigues, Franziska Kreuchwig, Jan Silhavy, Sebastiaan van Heesch, Deimante Simaite, Nikolaus Rajewsky, Edwin Cuppen, Michal Pravenec, Martin Vingron, Stuart A. Cook and Norbert Hubner To what extent translational control can contribute to global gene expression patterns in the disease state is poorly defined. Here the authors conduct genome-wide RNA-seq and ribosome profiling in a rat model of hypertension and uncover altered translation patterns in disease associated genes. 26 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8200 Biological Sciences  Genetics  Loss of polarity protein AF6 promotes pancreatic cancer metastasis by inducing Snail expression Yi Xu, Renxu Chang, Zhiyong Peng, Yanmei Wang, Weiwei Ji, Jingyu Guo, Lele Song, Cheng Dai, Wei Wei, Yanjun Wu, Xinjian Wan, Chenghao Shao and Lixing Zhan AF6, an essential protein for the organization of cell-to-cell junctions and development, is aberrantly expressed in several tumors but its role in pancreatic cancer is not clear. Here the authors show that in pancreatic cancer, loss of AF6 expression leads to induction of the EMT transcription factor Snail. 26 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8184 Biological Sciences  Cancer  Medical research  Unexpected edge conduction in mercury telluride quantum wells under broken time-reversal symmetry OPEN Eric Yue Ma, M. Reyes Calvo, Jing Wang, Biao Lian, Mathias Mühlbauer, Christoph Brüne, Yong-Tao Cui, Keji Lai, Worasom Kundhikanjana, Yongliang Yang, Matthias Baenninger, Markus König, Christopher Ames, Hartmut Buhmann, Philipp Leubner, Laurens W. Molenkamp, Shou-Cheng Zhang, David Goldhaber-Gordon, Michael A. Kelly and Zhi-Xun Shen et al. Quantum spin Hall edge states are protected by time-reversal symmetry and are expected to disappear in a strong magnetic field. Here, the authors use microwave impedance microscopy and find, surprisingly, edge conduction in mercury telluride quantum wells that survives up to 9 T with little change. 26 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8252 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Membrane tension controls the assembly of curvature-generating proteins OPEN Mijo Simunovic and Gregory A. Voth BAR domain proteins are known to reshape cell membranes. Using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations, Simunovic and Voth demonstrate that membrane tension strongly affects the association of BAR proteins, in turn controlling their recruitment to membrane-remodelling sites. 26 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8219 Biological Sciences  Biophysics  Cell biology  Maintenance of protein synthesis reading frame by EF-P and m1G37-tRNA Howard B. Gamper, Isao Masuda, Milana Frenkel-Morgenstern and Ya-Ming Hou Slippery mRNA sequences CC[C/U]-[C/U] are prone to +1 frameshift (+1FS) errors during mRNA translation. Here, the authors show that +1FS errors occur predominantly when CC[C/U]-[C/U] are placed at the second sense codon, and that error suppression requires m1G37-tRNA and the translation factor EF-P. 26 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8226 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Molecular biology  Acetylation of Beclin 1 inhibits autophagosome maturation and promotes tumour growth OPEN Ting Sun, Xuan Li, Peng Zhang, Wen-Dan Chen, Hai-liang Zhang, Dan-Dan Li, Rong Deng, Xiao-Jun Qian, Lin Jiao, Jiao Ji, Yun-Tian Li, Rui-Yan Wu, Yan Yu, Gong-Kan Feng and Xiao-Feng Zhu Beclin 1 is an essential autophagy effector, necessary to form the autophagosome. Here Sun et al. show that Beclin 1 acetylation regulated by p300 and SIRT1 inhibits autophagosome maturation, and mutation of the acetylation sites leads to tumour growth suppression in vivo. 26 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8215 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  LAPTM4b recruits the LAT1-4F2hc Leu transporter to lysosomes and promotes mTORC1 activation OPEN Ruth Milkereit, Avinash Persaud, Liviu Vanoaica, Adriano Guetg, Francois Verrey and Daniela Rotin Essential amino acids such as leucine activate mTORC1 signalling after entering the lysosome, but the molecular basis for lysosomal amino-acid uptake is unclear. Here Milkereit et al. show that LAPTM4b, a lysosomal membrane protein, recruits a leucine transporter to the lysosome and promotes amino-acid influx and mTORC1 signalling. 22 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8250 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  PI3K/mTORC2 regulates TGF-β/Activin signalling by modulating Smad2/3 activity via linker phosphorylation OPEN Jason S. L. Yu, Thamil Selvee Ramasamy, Nick Murphy, Marie K. Holt, Rafal Czapiewski, Shi-Khai Wei and Wei Cui Although crosstalk between the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and transforming growth factor-β pathways is important, the mechanism is obscure. Here, Yu et al. show that activation of mTORC2 downstream of PI3K leads to the linker phosphorylation of Smad2/3 and their ubiquitin-dependent degradation. 22 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8212 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  The evolution of spatial ordering of oil drops fast spreading on a water surface OPEN Daigo Yamamoto, Chika Nakajima, Akihisa Shioi, Marie Pierre Krafft and Kenichi Yoshikawa The spreading of liquids on water can lead to complex drop assemblies, but none of them so far exhibits coordinated dynamics. Here, Yamamoto et al. observe a dance of insoluble oil drops on a water surface evolving from linear to hexagonal arrays, due to dewetting transition and evaporation of oil. 22 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8189 Physical Sciences  Fluids and plasma physics  Experimental demonstration of a non-resonant hyperlens in the visible spectral range OPEN Jingbo Sun, Mikhail I. Shalaev and Natalia M. Litchinitser Metamaterial hyperlenses convert evanescent waves into propagating ones, thereby beating the diffraction limit. Sun et al. present a non-resonant waveguide-integrated hyperlens designed around a radial fan structure that provides imaging at visible wavelengths with low losses. 22 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8201 Physical Sciences  Optical physics  TRPM8 is a neuronal osmosensor that regulates eye blinking in mice OPEN Talisia Quallo, Nisha Vastani, Elisabeth Horridge, Clive Gentry, Andres Parra, Sian Moss, Felix Viana, Carlos Belmonte, David A. Andersson and Stuart Bevan Specific peripheral sensory neurons respond to increases in extracellular osmolality but the mechanism responsible for the neuronal excitation is unknown. Here the authors show that the cold-activated ion channel, TRPM8, also acts as an osmosensor in vivo, in cultured mouse sensory neurons and when heterologously expressed in cells. 22 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8150 Biological Sciences  Neuroscience  Antimony-doped graphene nanoplatelets OPEN In-Yup Jeon, Min Choi, Hyun-Jung Choi, Sun-Min Jung, Min-Jung Kim, Jeong-Min Seo, Seo-Yoon Bae, Seonyoung Yoo, Guntae Kim, Hu Young Jeong, Noejung Park and Jong-Beom Baek Heteroatom doping of graphitic networks has been shown to modify electrocatalytic performance. Here, the authors fabricate semimetal antimony doped graphene nanoplatelet based catalysts and demonstrate their enhanced stability for oxygen reduction, due to the multiple accessible antimony oxidation states. 22 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8123 Chemical Sciences  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Physical chemistry  Self-assembly of dynamic orthoester cryptates OPEN René-Chris Brachvogel, Frank Hampel and Max von Delius Cryptands and related molecules are macrocyclic polyethers capable of strongly binding cations. Here, the authors use orthoester exchange for the dynamic one-pot synthesis of crypates, which can bind cations and, given their constitutionally dynamic nature, can also be decomposed to release their guest. 22 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8129 Chemical Sciences  Inorganic chemistry  Organic chemistry  Photoswitchable fatty acids enable optical control of TRPV1 OPEN James Allen Frank, Mirko Moroni, Rabih Moshourab, Martin Sumser, Gary R. Lewin and Dirk Trauner Fatty acids are ancient lipids with numerous functions, from metabolic processes as a source of energy to structural and signalling roles within cell membranes. Here, the authors present azobenzene-modified fatty acids and their application as photoswitchable agonists of the Vanilloid Receptor 1. 22 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8118 Biological Sciences  Medicinal chemistry  Neuroscience  Organic chemistry  Dissecting the role of aberrant DNA methylation in human leukaemia Giovanni Amabile, Annalisa Di Ruscio, Fabian Müller, Robert S. Welner, Henry Yang, Alexander K. Ebralidze, Hong Zhang, Elena Levantini, Lihua Qi, Giovanni Martinelli, Thijn Brummelkamp, Michelle M. Le Beau, Maria E. Figueroa, Christoph Bock and Daniel G. Tenen Chronic myeloid leukaemia is characterized by the genetic translocation t(9;22) encoding for BCR-ABL oncogene; however, the molecular mechanisms of disease progression are poorly understood. Here Amabile et al. show that aberrant methylation is promoted by BCR-ABL, driving the evolution of the disease. 22 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8091 Biological Sciences  Cancer  Genetics  Evolutionary-guided de novo structure prediction of self-associated transmembrane helical proteins with near-atomic accuracy Y. Wang and P. Barth While the transmembrane regions of single-pass transmembrane proteins play critical roles in receptor signalling, they remain difficult to characterize structurally. Here the authors present a computational approach for accurate structure prediction of associated single-pass transmembrane helical proteins. 21 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8196 Bioinformatics  Biophysics  Single-molecule imaging of a three-component ordered actin disassembly mechanism OPEN Silvia Jansen, Agnieszka Collins, Samantha M. Chin, Casey A. Ydenberg, Jeff Gelles and Bruce L. Goode The roles of Coronin, Cofilin and AIP1 in promoting actin disassembly have not been well understood. Here using single-molecule fluorescence imaging, Jansen et al. show that the three proteins act together in a coordinated, temporal pathway to induce rapid severing and disassembly of actin filaments. 21 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8202 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Total synthesis of (+)-gelsemine via an organocatalytic Diels–Alder approach OPEN Xiaoming Chen, Shengguo Duan, Cheng Tao, Hongbin Zhai and Fayang G. Qiu Gelsamine is a naturally occurring alkaloid, whose complex structure makes it an interesting target for total synthesis. Here, the authors report an enantioselective synthesis of (+)-Gelsemine in 5% overall yield, with an enantioselective organocatalytic Diels–Alder reaction as one of the key steps. 21 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8204 Chemical Sciences  Organic chemistry  Three-dimensional positioning and control of colloidal objects utilizing engineered liquid crystalline defect networks OPEN H. Yoshida, K. Asakura, J. Fukuda and M. Ozaki Topological defects can be used not only to modify the properties of liquid crystals but also as scaffolds to build new structures by trapping particles. Here, Yoshida et al. construct three-dimensional colloidal superstructures in a nematic host, which are reconfigurable in an electric field. 21 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8180 Physical Sciences  Microscopic dynamics of synchronization in driven colloids OPEN Michael P.N. Juniper, Arthur V. Straube, Rut Besseling, Dirk G.A.L. Aarts and Roel P.A. Dullens Synchronization may occur when naturally oscillating systems are driven by an external modulation, for example, in charge density waves. Here, Juniper et al. visualize the locked modes of synchronization at a microscopic level using a colloidal system. 21 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8187 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Perturbative optical parametric amplification in the extreme ultraviolet L V. Dao, K B. Dinh and P Hannaford The generation of coherent X-ray radiation using a perturbative approach holds benefits over non-perturbative methods. Here, Dao et al. use high-intensity pulses at 800 and 1,400 nm to demonstrate an order-of-magnitude flux enhancement of extreme ultraviolet radiation by perturbative parametric amplification. 21 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8175 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Optical physics  New peptide architectures through C–H activation stapling between tryptophan–phenylalanine/tyrosine residues OPEN Lorena Mendive-Tapia, Sara Preciado, Jesús García, Rosario Ramón, Nicola Kielland, Fernando Albericio and Rodolfo Lavilla Macrocyclic, constrained peptides show promise in therapeutic applications due to the stable and defined conformations that can be produced. Here, the authors report a method to form macrocyclic peptides through C–H activation on tryptophan and coupling with iodo-substituted aryl amino acids 21 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8160 Chemical Sciences  Chemical biology  Medicinal chemistry  Organic chemistry  Large-scale spatiotemporal spike patterning consistent with wave propagation in motor cortex OPEN Kazutaka Takahashi, Sanggyun Kim, Todd P. Coleman, Kevin A. Brown, Aaron J. Suminski, Matthew D. Best and Nicholas G. Hatsopoulos Aggregate signals in cortex are spatiotemporally organized as propagating waves across the cortical surface. Here the authors demonstrate that neurons in primary motor cortex of monkeys spatially coordinate their spiking activity in a manner that closely matches wave propagation. 21 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8169 Biological Sciences  Neuroscience  Three-dimensional patterning of solid microstructures through laser reduction of colloidal graphene oxide in liquid-crystalline dispersions Bohdan Senyuk, Natnael Behabtu, Angel Martinez, Taewoo Lee, Dmitri E. Tsentalovich, Gabriel Ceriotti, James M. Tour, Matteo Pasquali and Ivan I. Smalyukh Existing lithographic methods for the micropatterning of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) are limited by mask production. Here, the authors fabricate fully 3D rGO microstructures in an aqueous nematic liquid crystal of two-dimensional GO flakes via a scalable, mask-free pulsed near-infrared laser approach. 21 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8157 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Major histocompatibility complex associations of ankylosing spondylitis are complex and involve further epistasis with ERAP1 OPEN Adrian Cortes, Sara L. Pulit, Paul J. Leo, Jenny J. Pointon, Philip C. Robinson, Michael H. Weisman, Michael Ward, Lianne S. Gensler, Xiaodong Zhou, Henri-Jean Garchon, Gilles Chiocchia, Johannes Nossent, Benedicte A. Lie, Øystein Førre, Jaakko Tuomilehto, Kari Laiho, Linda A. Bradbury, Dirk Elewaut, Ruben Burgos-Vargas, Simon Stebbings et al. Ankylosing spondylitis is a common, highly inheritable inflammatory arthritis with poorly understood biology. Here Brown, Cortes and colleagues use fine mapping of the major histocompatibility complex and identify novel associations, and identify other HLA alleles that like HLA-B27 interact with ERAP1 variants to influence disease risk. 21 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8146 Biological Sciences  Genetics  A common assembly module in injectisome and flagellar type III secretion sorting platforms OPEN Ryan Q. Notti, Shibani Bhattacharya, Mirjana Lilic and C. Erec Stebbins In bacteria, type III secretion systems (T3SS) allow the direct transport of protein across membranes, and related elements of a sorting platform facilitate hierarchical secretion of protein substrates. Here, the authors illustrate the mechanism of selective assembly of the T3SS sorting platforms in injectisome and flagellar systems. 21 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8125 Biological Sciences  Biochemistry  Biophysics  Microbiology  Drosophila glucome screening identifies Ck1alpha as a regulator of mammalian glucose metabolism OPEN Rupali Ugrankar, Eric Berglund, Fatih Akdemir, Christopher Tran, Min Soo Kim, Jungsik Noh, Rebekka Schneider, Benjamin Ebert and Jonathan M. Graff Diabetes is associated with aberrations in glucose metabolism. Here the authors perform a genomic screen in fruit flies to identify new regulators of fly glucose metabolism, and show that mice lacking the murine homologue of one of their hits, the protein kinase CK1alpha, in the adipose lineage develop diabetes. 21 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8102 Biological Sciences  Medical research  Constructing minimal models for complex system dynamics Baruch Barzel, Yang-Yu Liu and Albert-László Barabási In statistical physics, the observable macroscopic behaviour of a system is obtained from a microscopic model of its components. Here, the authors extend this approach to systems with no known microscopic dynamics, by looking at the system’s response to external perturbations. 20 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8186 Physical Sciences  Theoretical physics  Proteins that bind regulatory regions identified by histone modification chromatin immunoprecipitations and mass spectrometry OPEN Erik Engelen, Johannes H. Brandsma, Maaike J. Moen, Luca Signorile, Dick H. W. Dekkers, Jeroen Demmers, Christel E. M. Kockx, Zehila Ozgür, Wilfred F. J. van IJcken, Debbie L. C. van den Berg and Raymond A. Poot The protein factors that bind to regulatory regions in the genome have not been systematically mapped. Here the authors performed chromatin immunoprecipitations for histone modifications associated with promoters, enhancers or heterochromatin in mouse embryonic stem cells and assigned a genome location to many factors important for pluripotency. 20 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8155 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Developmental biology  Genetics  Recent decrease in typhoon destructive potential and global warming implications OPEN I-I Lin and Johnny C.L. Chan Typhoon destructive potential has decreased by ∼35% in the last decade, despite an increase in typhoon intensity and ocean temperatures. Here, the authors combine observational and numerical modelling results to investigate this apparent paradox. 20 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8182 Earth Sciences  Atmospheric science  Climate science  Anomalous magnetoresistance in the spinel superconductor LiTi2O4 K. Jin, G. He, X. Zhang, S. Maruyama, S. Yasui, R. Suchoski, J. Shin, Y. Jiang, H. S. Yu, J. Yuan, L. Shan, F. V. Kusmartsev, R. L. Greene and I. Takeuchi LiTi2O4 is the only known spinel oxide superconductor, but systematic investigations of its transport properties have been lacking so far. Here, the authors' analyses detect an unusual magnetoresistance, revealing spin-orbit fluctuations similar to those in high-temperature superconductors. 20 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8183 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  The oncogenic microRNA miR-21 promotes regulated necrosis in mice Xiaodong Ma, Daniel J. Conklin, Fenge Li, Zhongping Dai, Xiang Hua, Yan Li, Zijun Y. Xu-Monette, Ken H. Young, Wei Xiong, Marcin Wysoczynski, Srinivas D. Sithu, Sanjay Srivastava, Aruni Bhatnagar and Yong Li The microRNA miR-21 is overexpressed in cancer and is thought to function through anti-apoptotic activity. Here, Ma et al. show that deleting or blocking miR-21 in mice protects against acute pancreatitis and TNF-α-induced tissue damage by inhibiting RIP3-dependent regulated necrosis (necroptosis). 20 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8151 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Medical research  Dynamical origin of near- and below-threshold harmonic generation of Cs in an intense mid-infrared laser field OPEN Peng-Cheng Li, Yae-Lin Sheu, Cecil Laughlin and Shih-I Chu High harmonic generation (HHG) above the HHG threshold is understood using the three-step model, but the near- and below-threshold regimes are largely unexplored. Here, Li et al. shed light on the dynamic origin of the near- and below-threshold harmonic generation of caesium atoms in an intense mid-infrared laser field. 20 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8178 Physical Sciences  Atomic and molecular physics  Optical physics  Carbonization of a stable β-sheet-rich silk protein into a pseudographitic pyroprotein OPEN Se Youn Cho, Young Soo Yun, Sungho Lee, Dawon Jang, Kyu-Young Park, Jae Kyung Kim, Byung Hoon Kim, Kisuk Kang, David L. Kaplan and Hyoung-Joon Jin The strength and stability of silk proteins is thought to be related to the high content of β-sheets within their structures. Here, the authors show that when heated at high temperature, and above that of thermal degradation, these β-sheets are transformed into an ordered hexagonal graphitic structure. 20 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8145 Chemical Sciences  Materials science  Widespread disruption of host transcription termination in HSV-1 infection OPEN Andrzej J. Rutkowski, Florian Erhard, Anne L’Hernault, Thomas Bonfert, Markus Schilhabel, Colin Crump, Philip Rosenstiel, Stacey Efstathiou, Ralf Zimmer, Caroline C. Friedel and Lars Dölken Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) efficiently shuts down host gene expression in infected cells. Here Rutkowski et al. analyse the genome-wide changes in transcription and translation in infected cells, and show that HSV-1 triggers an extensive disruption of transcription termination of cellular genes. 20 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8126 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Genetics  Virology  Plasmonic cavity-apertures as dynamic pixels for the simultaneous control of colour and intensity OPEN Hansik Yun, Seung-Yeol Lee, Keehoon Hong, Jiwoon Yeom and Byoungho Lee The increased miniaturization of optical technologies necessitates ever smaller pixels, but most routes fix pixel colours upon fabrication. Yun et al. show that combined plasmonic cavities and nanoapertures offer a route to nanoscale pixels whose colour and intensity can be dynamically tuned via polarization. 20 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8133 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Nanotechnology  Optical physics  The fission yeast MTREC complex targets CUTs and unspliced pre-mRNAs to the nuclear exosome OPEN Yang Zhou, Jianguo Zhu, Géza Schermann, Corina Ohle, Katja Bendrin, Rie Sugioka-Sugiyama, Tomoyasu Sugiyama and Tamás Fischer The evolutionarily conserved MTREC complex promotes degradation of meiotic mRNAs and regulatory ncRNAs. Here the authors show that MTREC also targets cryptic unstable transcripts and unspliced pre-mRNAs for degradation by the nuclear exosome, while the TRAMP complex has only a minor role in this process. 20 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8050 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Molecular biology  Coherent perfect absorption in deeply subwavelength films in the single-photon regime OPEN Thomas Roger, Stefano Vezzoli, Eliot Bolduc, Joao Valente, Julius J. F. Heitz, John Jeffers, Cesare Soci, Jonathan Leach, Christophe Couteau, Nikolay I. Zheludev and Daniele Faccio Understanding the nature of coherent absorption is essential for exploiting it in new technologies. Here, the authors show that a metamaterial can deterministically absorb photons from a travelling wave with nearly unitary probability, down to the single-photon level. 20 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8031 Physical Sciences  Nanotechnology  Optical physics    Nature Communications JOBS of the week Postdoctoral fellow Lund University Postdoctoral Fellow Duke University School of Medicine Post-Doc Position Universität Konstanz Programme Leader Medical Research Council Post-Doctoral Fellow University of Massachusetts Research Assistant University of Bristol Chief Scientist National Cancer Institute Research Fellow (Microneedle-Based Systems) Queen's University Belfast In Vivo Research Assistant- Tumor Biology RCSI Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Postdoctoral Scientist BBSRC-BBR grant The Pirbright Institute More Science jobs from Nature Communications EVENT The 15th International Conference on Progress in Vaccination Against Cancer (PIVAC-15) 06.10.15 Tübingen, Germany More science events from       Latest Corrigendum     Corrigendum: The NCA sodium leak channel is required for persistent motor circuit activity that sustains locomotion Shangbang Gao, Lin Xie, Taizo Kawano, Michelle D. Po, Jennifer K. Pirri, Sihui Guan, Mark J. Alkema and Mei Zhen 21 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8191 Biological Sciences  Neuroscience        Latest Errata     Erratum: Distinct metabolomic signatures are associated with longevity in humans Susan Cheng, Martin G. Larson, Elizabeth L. McCabe, Joanne M. Murabito, Eugene P. Rhee, Jennifer E. Ho, Paul F. Jacques, Anahita Ghorbani, Martin Magnusson, Amanda L. Souza, Amy A. Deik, Kerry A. Pierce, Kevin Bullock, Christopher J. O’Donnell, Olle Melander, Clary B. Clish, Ramachandran S. Vasan, Robert E. Gerszten and Thomas J. Wang 21 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8317 Biological Sciences  Medical research      Erratum: Whole-genome sequence-based analysis of thyroid function 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. 20 May 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms8172 Biological Sciences  Genetics  Medical research      Natureevents is a fully searchable, multi-disciplinary database designed to maximise exposure for events organisers. The contents of the Natureevents Directory are now live. The digital version is available here. Find the latest scientific conferences, courses, meetings and symposia on natureevents.com. For event advertising opportunities across the Nature Publishing Group portfolio please contact natureevents@nature.com  More Nature Events You have been sent this Table of Contents Alert because you have opted in to receive it. 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