| | Evolution: An avian explosion
The genome sequences of 198 bird species provide an unprecedented combination of breadth and depth of data, and allow the most robust resolution so far of the early evolutionary relationships of modern birds.
| Biological techniques: Kidney tissue grown from induced stem cells
Engineered human cells that can give rise to every cell type have been induced to generate structures that resemble an embryonic kidney. This advance charts a course towards growing transplantable kidneys in culture.
| Cryo-electron microscopy structure of the Slo2.2 Na+-activated K+ channel
The structure of the full-length Slo2.2 Na+-activated K+ channel is determined by cryo-electron microscopy, revealing features that explain the high conductance and gating mechanism of the Slo K+ channel family.
| Projections from neocortex mediate top-down control of memory retrieval
Here, a sparse neuronal projection from a part of the prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate, to the hippocampus is identified that, when activated, can elicit memory retrieval in mice.
| Control of REM sleep by ventral medulla GABAergic neurons
Activation of GABAergic neurons in the ventral medulla can reliably induce REM sleep and prolong the duration of REM episodes in mice.
| Hedgehog actively maintains adult lung quiescence and regulates repair and regeneration
It is generally thought that the quiescence of tissue is not actively maintained, but rather a state reflecting the absence of proliferative signal; here the authors find that quiescence is actively maintained by paracrine hedgehog signalling provided by the epithelium in the mouse adult lung, and that hedgehog is dynamically regulated during injury repair and resolution for proper restoration of tissue homeostasis after injury.
| Alternative transcription initiation leads to expression of a novel ALK isoform in cancer
A novel ALK transcript expressed in a subset of human cancers, arising from a de novo alternative transcription initiation site within the ALK gene, is described; the ALK transcript encodes three protein isoforms that stimulate tumorigenesis in vivo in mouse models; resultant tumours are sensitive to treatments with ALK inhibitors, indicating a possible therapeutic avenue for patients expressing these isoforms.
| A two-qubit logic gate in silicon
A high-fidelity two-qubit CNOT logic gate is presented, which is realized by combining single- and two-qubit operations with controlled phase operations in a quantum dot system using the exchange interaction.
| Peptoid nanosheets exhibit a new secondary-structure motif
Some peptoids—synthetic structural relatives of polypeptides—can assemble into two-dimensional nanometre-scale sheets; simulations and experimental measurements show that these nanosheets contain a motif unique to peptoids, namely zigzag Σ-strands, which interlock and enable the nanosheets to extend in two dimensions only.
| The genetic sex-determination system predicts adult sex ratios in tetrapods
An analysis of 344 species of tetrapods (birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians) shows that taxa in which the female is heterogametic tend to have a more male-biased sex ratio; the mechanisms driving the association are unclear, but sex-determination systems are likely to have important consequences for the social behaviour and demography of tetrapods.
| Kidney organoids from human iPS cells contain multiple lineages and model human nephrogenesis
The kidney arises from two types of progenitors; here, the signalling conditions that induce the production of collecting ducts and functional nephrons from human pluripotent stem cells are determined, and organoids that recapitulate the functional regionalization of the kidney are produced.
| A comprehensive phylogeny of birds (Aves) using targeted next-generation DNA sequencing
A phylogeny of birds is presented from targeted genomic sequencing of 198 species of living birds representing all major avian lineages; the results find five major clades forming successive sister taxa to the rest of Neoaves and do not support the recently proposed Neoavian clades of Columbea and Passerea.
| Erratum: Arithmetic and local circuitry underlying dopamine prediction errors
| Erratum: A positional Toll receptor code directs convergent extension in Drosophila
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Detailed application note here - and a $500 discount! | | | | | | | | | | | | | The effect of malaria control on Plasmodium falciparum in Africa between 2000 and 2015
In this study, the authors present an analysis of the malaria burden in sub-Saharan Africa between 2000 and 2015, and quantify the effects of the interventions that have been implemented to combat the disease; they find that the prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum infection has been reduced by 50% since 2000 and the incidence of clinical disease by 40%, and that interventions have averted approximately 663 million clinical cases since 2000, with insecticide-treated bed nets being the largest contributor.
S. Bhatt, D. J. Weiss, E. Cameron et al. | HIV-1 Nef promotes infection by excluding SERINC5 from virion incorporation
The transmembrane protein SERINC5 is identified as a potent inhibitor of HIV-1 particle infectivity that is counteracted by Nef; Nef redirects SERINC5 from the plasma membrane to a Rab7-positive endosomal compartment, thus excluding it from HIV-1 particles, emphasizing the potential of SERINC5 as a potent anti-retroviral factor.
Annachiara Rosa, Ajit Chande, Serena Ziglio et al. | SERINC3 and SERINC5 restrict HIV-1 infectivity and are counteracted by Nef
The transmembrane proteins SERINC3 and SERINC5 are identified as new restriction factors for HIV-1 replication; this restriction is counteracted by Nef and glycoGag, which prevent SERINC3 and SERINC5 from becoming incorporated into HIV-1 virions and from profoundly blocking HIV-1 infectivity, suggesting a potential new therapeutic strategy for immunodeficiency viruses.
Yoshiko Usami, Yuanfei Wu, Heinrich G. Göttlinger | Glycine receptor mechanism elucidated by electron cryo-microscopy
A high-resolution electron cryo-microscopy structure of the zebrafish α1 glycine receptor bound to agonists or antagonists reveals the conformational changes that take place when the channel transitions from closed to open state.
Juan Du, Wei Lü, Shenping Wu et al. | | The genomic landscape of response to EGFR blockade in colorectal cancer
The effect of somatic genetic changes in colorectal cancer on sensitivity to anti-EGFR antibody therapy is analysed.
Andrea Bertotti, Eniko Papp, Siân Jones et al. | Crystal structure of human glycine receptor-α3 bound to antagonist strychnine
The X-ray crystal structure of the human glycine receptor in the presence of strychnine, an antagonist, reveals how antagonist binding leads to closure of the channel pore.
Xin Huang, Hao Chen, Klaus Michelsen et al. | Dilution of the cell cycle inhibitor Whi5 controls budding-yeast cell size
Saccharomyces cerevisiae controls its cell size through the differential size-dependency of the synthesis of the cell cycle activator Cln3 relative to the cell cycle inhibitor Whi5.
Kurt M. Schmoller, J. J. Turner, M. Kõivomägi et al. | Mediator kinase inhibition further activates super-enhancer-associated genes in AML
A small-molecule inhibitor of the Mediator-associated kinases CDK8 and CDK19 inhibits growth of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) cells and induces upregulation of super-enhancer-associated genes with tumour suppressor and lineage-controlling functions; Mediator kinase inhibition therefore represents a promising therapeutic approach for AML.
Henry E. Pelish, Brian B. Liau, Ioana I. Nitulescu et al. | Fast-moving features in the debris disk around AU Microscopii
High-contrast imaging of the nearby, young, active late-type star AU Microscopii reveals five mysterious large-scale features in the southeast side of its debris disk, moving away from the star.
Anthony Boccaletti, Christian Thalmann, Anne-Marie Lagrange et al. | Two-channel Kondo effect and renormalization flow with macroscopic quantum charge states
Zero-temperature quantum phase transitions and their associated quantum critical points are believed to underpin the exotic finite-temperature behaviours of many strongly correlated electronic systems, but identifying the microscopic origins of these transitions can be challenging and controversial; Iftikhar et al. (see also the related paper by Keller et al.) show how such behaviours can be engineered into nanoelectronic quantum dots, which permit both precise experimental control of the quantum critical behaviour and its exact theoretical characterization.
Z. Iftikhar, S. Jezouin, A. Anthore et al. | Palaeomagnetic field intensity variations suggest Mesoproterozoic inner-core nucleation
Analysis of a database of Precambrian palaeomagnetic intensity measurements reveals a clear transition in the Earth's magnetic field that is probably the signature of the inner core first forming, suggesting a modest value of core thermal conductivity and supporting a simple thermal evolution model for the Earth.
A. J. Biggin, E. J. Piispa, L. J. Pesonen et al. | Plasticity-driven individualization of olfactory coding in mushroom body output neurons
Neuronal representations of sensory stimuli tend to become sparse and decorrelated, with different odours giving rise to fewer neuronal spikes in rare neurons, as signal processing moves up to higher brain layers; here comprehensive recording from the Drosophila olfactory processing centre finds instead some highly correlated tuning curves that vary flexibly from animal to animal.
Toshihide Hige, Yoshinori Aso, Gerald M. Rubin et al. | Universal Fermi liquid crossover and quantum criticality in a mesoscopic system
Zero-temperature quantum phase transitions and their associated quantum critical points are believed to underpin the exotic finite-temperature behaviours of many strongly correlated electronic systems, but identifying the microscopic origins of these transitions can be challenging and controversial; Keller et al. (see also the related paper by Iftikhar et al.) show how such behaviours can be engineered into nanoelectronic quantum dots, which permit both precise experimental control of the quantum critical behaviour and its exact theoretical characterization.
A. J. Keller, L. Peeters, C. P. Moca et al. | Identification of carbohydrate anomers using ion mobility–mass spectrometry
The branched structure and stereoisomerism of carbohydrates make them difficult to analyse; here, ion mobility–mass spectrometry is used to distinguish unambiguously between synthetic trisaccharides that differ in connectivity or configuration.
J. Hofmann, H. S. Hahm, P. H. Seeberger et al. | Sex‐specific demography and generalization of the Trivers–Willard theory
The Trivers–Willard theory proposing that maternal condition influences offspring sex ratio is extended by analysing how differences in mortality rates, age‐specific reproduction and life history tactics between males and females may affect adaptive offspring sex ratio adjustment in two systems.
Susanne Schindler, Jean‐Michel Gaillard, André Grüning et al. | A novel locus of resistance to severe malaria in a region of ancient balancing selection
A multi-centre genome-wide association study of severe malaria in African children uncovers a new resistance locus close to a cluster of genes encoding glycophorins, which are receptors used by the malaria-causing parasite to invade red blood cells.
Malaria Genomic Epidemiology Network | | | | |
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