Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Nature Communications - 07 February 2018

 
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  Latest Correspondence    
 
Correspondence: Reply to ‘Compound 17b and formyl peptide receptor biased agonism in relation to cardioprotective effects in ischaemia-reperfusion injury’ OPEN
Cheng Xue Qin, Lauren T. May, Patrick M. Sexton, Aaron J. DeBono, Jonathan B. Baell, Arthur Christopoulos & Rebecca H. Ritchie
07 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02656-0
High-throughput screening  Myocardial infarction 

Correspondence: Compound 17b and formyl peptide receptor biased agonism in relation to cardioprotective effects in ischaemia-reperfusion injury OPEN
Agostino Cilibrizzi
07 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02654-2
Small molecules  Target validation 
 
  Latest Articles View all Articles  
 

High contiguity Arabidopsis thaliana genome assembly with a single nanopore flow cell OPEN
Todd P. Michael, Florian Jupe, Felix Bemm, S. Timothy Motley, Justin P. Sandoval, Christa Lanz, Olivier Loudet, Detlef Weigel & Joseph R. Ecker

Long-read sequencing technologies facilitate efficient and high quality genome assembly. Here Michael et al. achieve a fast reference assembly for Arabidopsis thaliana KBS-Mac-74 accession using the handheld Oxford Nanopore MinION sequencer and consumer computing hardware, and demonstrate its usefulness in resolving complex structural variation.

07 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03016-2
DNA sequencing  Genome informatics  Natural variation in plants  Structural variation 

A transcriptomic atlas of aged human microglia OPEN

Aging is associated with various changes in the brain, including transcription alteration. Here, Bradshaw and colleagues describe the transcriptome of aged human cortical microglia, and show age-related gene expression as related to neurodegeneration.

07 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02926-5
Microglia  Neuroimmunology 

Drosha drives the formation of DNA:RNA hybrids around DNA break sites to facilitate DNA repair OPEN
Wei-Ting Lu, Ben R. Hawley, George L. Skalka, Robert A. Baldock, Ewan M. Smith, Aldo S. Bader, Michal Malewicz, Felicity Z. Watts, Ania Wilczynska & Martin Bushell

The mechanism through which Drosha and Dicer affect DNA repair is not clear. Here the authors use a high-throughput approach to uncover the role of Drosha in promoting DNA:RNA hybrids at DNA damaged sites.

07 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02893-x
DNA damage and repair  Non-coding RNAs 

A small molecule inhibitor of Rheb selectively targets mTORC1 signaling OPEN
Sarah J. Mahoney, Sridhar Narayan, Lisa Molz, Lauren A. Berstler, Seong A. Kang, George P. Vlasuk & Eddine Saiah

Aberrant mTORC1 signaling is linked to several chronic diseases. Here, the authors develop a small molecule inhibitor that binds the small G-protein Rheb and selectively blocks mTORC1 signaling, holding potential for therapeutic applications.

07 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03035-z
Drug discovery and development  Growth factor signalling  Pharmacodynamics  Target validation 

Walking and rolling of crystals induced thermally by phase transition OPEN
Takuya Taniguchi, Haruki Sugiyama, Hidehiro Uekusa, Motoo Shiro, Toru Asahi & Hideko Koshima

Mechanical motions of molecular crystals have been limited to in-place movement or slow crawling. Here, the authors describe chiral azobenzene crystals that walk or roll quickly forward in response to heating or cooling, offering new modes of material locomotion.

07 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02549-2
Crystal engineering  Materials chemistry 

Supramolecular aptamer nano-constructs for receptor-mediated targeting and light-triggered release of chemotherapeutics into cancer cells OPEN
Deepak K. Prusty, Volker Adam, Reza M. Zadegan, Stephan Irsen & Michael Famulok

Effective therapeutic platforms should combine serum stability, selective targeting, and controlled drug release. Here, the authors self-assemble an aptamer-based nanoscaffold that contains separate cell-targeting and photo-regulated drug-carrying domains, realizing multiple therapeutic functionalities in a single construct.

07 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02929-2
Drug delivery  Nanoparticles  Synthetic biology 

A supramolecular lanthanide separation approach based on multivalent cooperative enhancement of metal ion selectivity OPEN
Xiao-Zhen Li, Li-Peng Zhou, Liang-Liang Yan, Ya-Min Dong, Zhuan-Ling Bai, Xiao-Qi Sun, Juan Diwu, Shuao Wang, Jean-Claude Bünzli & Qing-Fu Sun

Lanthanide ions possess similar chemical properties, making their separation from one another challenging. Here the authors show that a tris-tridentate ligand causes high-precision metal ion self-sorting, leading to the selective assembly of tetrahedral M4L4 cages across the lanthanide series.

07 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02940-7
Coordination chemistry  Inorganic chemistry  Nuclear waste  Self-assembly 

Visualizing heavy fermion confinement and Pauli-limited superconductivity in layered CeCoIn5 OPEN
András Gyenis, Benjamin E. Feldman, Mallika T. Randeria, Gabriel A. Peterson, Eric D. Bauer, Pegor Aynajian & Ali Yazdani

The electronic properties along the out-of-plane direction of layered materials are often inferred indirectly. Here, Gyenis et al. directly probe in cross-section the quasi-two-dimensional correlated electronic states of the heavy fermion superconductor CeCoIn5.

07 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02841-9
Magnetic properties and materials  Superconducting properties and materials 

Structural basis for amino acid transport by the CAT family of SLC7 transporters OPEN
Katharina E. J. Jungnickel, Joanne L. Parker & Simon Newstead

Cationic amino acid transporters (CATs) belong to the physiologically important solute carrier (SLC) 7 family. Here, the authors present the structure of the mammalian CAT transporter homologue Geobacillus kaustophilus GkApcT, which reveals how arginine is recognized, and propose a model for proton-coupled amino acid transport.

07 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03066-6
Biochemistry  X-ray crystallography 

Inhibition of overactive TGF-β attenuates progression of heterotopic ossification in mice OPEN
Xiao Wang, Fengfeng Li, Liang Xie, Janet Crane, Gehua Zhen, Yuji Mishina, Ruoxian Deng, Bo Gao, Hao Chen, Shen Liu, Ping Yang, Manman Gao, Manli Tu, Yiguo Wang, Mei Wan, Cunyi Fan & Xu Cao

Heterotopic ossification (HO) is a painful disease of unknown etiology characterized by extraskeletal bone formation after injury. Here the authors show that TGF-β is increased in HO lesions, where it promotes the early stages of HO pathology, and demonstrate that TGF-β inhibition ameliorates HO in mice.

07 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02988-5
Bone  Mesenchymal stem cells  Transforming growth factor beta 

Stratification of TAD boundaries reveals preferential insulation of super-enhancers by strong boundaries OPEN
Yixiao Gong, Charalampos Lazaris, Theodore Sakellaropoulos, Aurelie Lozano, Prabhanjan Kambadur, Panagiotis Ntziachristos, Iannis Aifantis & Aristotelis Tsirigos

Topologically associating domains (TADs) detected by Hi-C technologies are megabase-scale areas of highly interacting chromatin. Here Gong, Lazaris et al. develop a computational approach to improve the reproducibility of Hi-C contact matrices and stratify TAD boundaries based on their insulating strength.

07 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03017-1
Cancer genomics  Computational biology and bioinformatics  Epigenomics 

Senataxin resolves RNA:DNA hybrids forming at DNA double-strand breaks to prevent translocations OPEN
Sarah Cohen, Nadine Puget, Yea-Lih Lin, Thomas Clouaire, Marion Aguirrebengoa, Vincent Rocher, Philippe Pasero, Yvan Canitrot & Gaëlle Legube

Recent studies suggest key roles of RNA in DNA double-strand breaks repair. Here the authors identify the helicase senataxin to be involved in DNA repair and resolve RNA:DNA hybrids forming at DNA double-strand breaks.

07 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02894-w
Double-strand DNA breaks  Transcription 

Crosstalk in concurrent repeated games impedes direct reciprocity and requires stronger levels of forgiveness OPEN
Johannes G. Reiter, Christian Hilbe, David G. Rand, Krishnendu Chatterjee & Martin A. Nowak

Social interactions among people are often repeated, and yet it is assumed that simultaneous interactions are independent from one another. Here, Reiter and colleagues describe a conceptual framework where an action in one game can influence the decision in another.

07 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02721-8
Applied mathematics  Cooperation  Human behaviour  Social evolution 

α-cell glucokinase suppresses glucose-regulated glucagon secretion OPEN
Davide Basco, Quan Zhang, Albert Salehi, Andrei Tarasov, Wanda Dolci, Pedro Herrera, Ioannis Spiliotis, Xavier Berney, David Tarussio, Patrik Rorsman & Bernard Thorens

Glucagon secretion is promoted during hypoglycemia and inhibited by increased glucose levels. Here, Basco et al. show that glucokinase suppresses glucose-regulated glucagon secretion by modulating the intracellular ATP/ADP ratio and the closure of KATP channels in α-cells.

07 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03034-0
Islets of Langerhans  Nutrient signalling  Pre-diabetes 

Design of ultra-swollen lipidic mesophases for the crystallization of membrane proteins with large extracellular domains OPEN
Alexandru Zabara, Josephine Tse Yin Chong, Isabelle Martiel, Laura Stark, Brett A. Cromer, Chiara Speziale, Calum John Drummond & Raffaele Mezzenga

In meso crystallization of membrane proteins is limited to proteins with small extracellular domains (ECDs). Here, authors combine monoacylglycerols and phospholipids to design stable ultra-swollen bicontinuous cubic phases that allow in meso crystallization of proteins with large ECDs.

07 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02996-5
Lipids  Membrane biophysics  Membrane proteins 

Cdk9 regulates a promoter-proximal checkpoint to modulate RNA polymerase II elongation rate in fission yeast OPEN
Gregory T. Booth, Pabitra K. Parua, Miriam Sansó, Robert P. Fisher & John T. Lis

While post-translational modifications of the RNA polymerase II complex regulate gene expression, the exact mechanism remains unknown. Here, the authors use altered-specificity kinase mutations to examine the role of Cdk9, Mcs6/Cdk7, and Lsk1/Cdk12 on transcription at base-pair resolution in yeast.

07 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03006-4
Molecular biology  Transcription 

Sirtuin5 contributes to colorectal carcinogenesis by enhancing glutaminolysis in a deglutarylation-dependent manner OPEN
Yun-Qian Wang, Hao-Lian Wang, Jie Xu, Juan Tan, Lin-Na Fu, Ji-Lin Wang, Tian-Hui Zou, Dan-Feng Sun, Qin-Yan Gao, Ying-Xuan Chen & Jing-Yuan Fang

Tumour metabolism can be controlled through post-translational modifications. Here the authors show that Sirtuin5 promotes glutaminolysis in colorectal cancer cells via glutamate dehydrogenase-1, a critical regulator of glutaminolysis, inducing its deglutarylation and functional activation.

07 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02951-4
Cancer metabolism  Colorectal cancer  Post-translational modifications 

AhR and SHP regulate phosphatidylcholine and S-adenosylmethionine levels in the one-carbon cycle OPEN
Young-Chae Kim, Sunmi Seok, Sangwon Byun, Bo Kong, Yang Zhang, Grace Guo, Wen Xie, Jian Ma, Byron Kemper & Jongsook Kim Kemper

Methyl metabolites in the one-carbon cycle, such as phosphatidylcholines and S-adenosylmethionine, play a role in hepatic triglyceride regulation. Here Kim et al. show that AhR and SHP are both involved in the expression of several key enzymes of one-carbon metabolism, with the former regulating them early after feeding and the latter inhibiting AhR at later stages.

07 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03060-y
Fat metabolism  Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease  Transcriptional regulatory elements 

BRE/BRCC45 regulates CDC25A stability by recruiting USP7 in response to DNA damage OPEN
Kajal Biswas, Subha Philip, Aditya Yadav, Betty K. Martin, Sandra Burkett, Vaibhav Singh, Anav Babbar, Susan Lynn North, Suhwan Chang & Shyam K. Sharan

Loss of BRCA2 leads to cancer formation. Here, the authors use an insertional mutagenesis approach and identify a multiprotein complex consisting of BRE, USP7 and CDC25A that can support the survival of BRCA2-deficient cells.

07 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03020-6
Breast cancer  Checkpoints 

Cleaner fuels for ships provide public health benefits with climate tradeoffs OPEN
Mikhail Sofiev, James J. Winebrake, Lasse Johansson, Edward W. Carr, Marje Prank, Joana Soares, Julius Vira, Rostislav Kouznetsov, Jukka-Pekka Jalkanen & James J. Corbett

Aerosol pollution from shipping contributes to cooling but also leads to premature mortality and morbidity. Here the authors combine emission inventories, atmospheric models and health risk functions to show how cleaner marine fuels will reduce premature deaths and childhood asthma but results in larger warming.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02774-9
Atmospheric chemistry  Climate-change mitigation  Environmental health 

A chiral selectivity relaxed paralog of DTD for proofreading tRNA mischarging in Animalia OPEN
Santosh Kumar Kuncha, Mohd Mazeed, Raghvendra Singh, Bhavita Kattula, Satya Brata Routh & Rajan Sankaranarayanan

The number of tRNA isodecoders has expanded significantly during evolution, which has resulted in ambiguity in tRNA selection by synthetases. Here the authors identify and characterize a dedicated proofreading factor that eliminates errors caused by ambiguity in tRNA selection by eukaryotic tRNA synthetases.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02204-w
Enzyme mechanisms  tRNAs  X-ray crystallography 

Amorphous martensite in β-Ti alloys OPEN
Long Zhang, Haifeng Zhang, Xiaobing Ren, Jürgen Eckert, Yandong Wang, Zhengwang Zhu, Thomas Gemming & Simon Pauly

Displacive martensitic transformations through lattice distortion usually involve a change from one crystal structure to another. Here however, the authors “melt” metastable Ti alloys during cooling and show that a martensitic transformation can lead to the formation of an intragranular amorphous phase.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02961-2
Glasses  Metals and alloys  Phase transitions and critical phenomena 

A general soft-enveloping strategy in the templating synthesis of mesoporous metal nanostructures OPEN
Jixiang Fang, Lingling Zhang, Jiang Li, Lu Lu, Chuansheng Ma, Shaodong Cheng, Zhiyuan Li, Qihua Xiong & Hongjun You

Metal species are highly mobile within mesoporous silica, making it difficult to template growth of metallic nanocrystals inside the channels. Here, the authors introduce a solid-liquid-solution interfacial strategy to suppress migration of the metal species, achieving control over a variety of mesostructured nanomaterials.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02930-9
Nanoparticles  Porous materials  Synthesis and processing 

Crystal structure reveals vaccine elicited bactericidal human antibody targeting a conserved epitope on meningococcal fHbp OPEN
Jacinto López-Sagaseta, Peter T. Beernink, Federica Bianchi, Laura Santini, Elisabetta Frigimelica, Alexander H. Lucas, Mariagrazia Pizza & Matthew J. Bottomley

Factor H binding protein (fHbp) is a meningococcal virulence factor and a component of vaccines against serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis. Here, the authors characterize the vaccine-elicited human antibody Fab 1A12 and present both the free and the fHbp-bound Fab 1A12 crystal structures.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02827-7
Antimicrobial responses  Meningitis  Protein vaccines  X-ray crystallography 

Bacterial capture efficiency in fluid bloodstream improved by bendable nanowires OPEN
Lizhi Liu, Sheng Chen, Zhenjie Xue, Zhen Zhang, Xuezhi Qiao, Zongxiu Nie, Dong Han, Jianlong Wang & Tie Wang

Bacteria and other pathogens entering the blood stream can have serious consequences, which can even lead to death. Here, the authors developed a sieve containing nano-sized claws that capture and hold these intruders, thus aiding their removal from patient’s blood

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02879-9
Mechanical properties  Nanostructures  Nanowires 

Cryo-EM structure of 5-HT3A receptor in its resting conformation OPEN
Sandip Basak, Yvonne Gicheru, Amrita Samanta, Sudheer Kumar Molugu, Wei Huang, Maria la de Fuente, Taylor Hughes, Derek J. Taylor, Marvin T. Nieman, Vera Moiseenkova-Bell & Sudha Chakrapani

Serotonin receptor (5-HT3AR), a pentameric ligand-gated ion channel, regulates numerous gastrointestinal functions. Here the authors provide a cryo-electron microscopic structure from the full-length 5-HT3AR in the apo-state which corresponds to a resting conformation of the channel.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02997-4
Cryoelectron microscopy  Ion transport 

Selective control of fcc and hcp crystal structures in Au–Ru solid-solution alloy nanoparticles OPEN
Quan Zhang, Kohei Kusada, Dongshuang Wu, Tomokazu Yamamoto, Takaaki Toriyama, Syo Matsumura, Shogo Kawaguchi, Yoshiki Kubota & Hiroshi Kitagawa

The crystal structure of a solid-solution alloy is generally determined by its elemental composition, limiting synthetic control over the alloy’s properties. Here, the authors are able to selectively control the crystal structure of Au–Ru alloy nanoparticles by rationally tuning the reduction speed of the metal precursors.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02933-6
Nanoparticles  Solid-state chemistry  Synthesis and processing 

Unraveling the determinants of microRNA mediated regulation using a massively parallel reporter assay OPEN
Ilya Vainberg Slutskin, Shira Weingarten-Gabbay, Ronit Nir, Adina Weinberger & Eran Segal

MiRNAs are known regulators of gene expression. Here the authors perform a large-scale massively parallel reporter assay to investigate the effect of a large number of designed 3′ UTR sequences on reporter expression and asses how miRNA regulatory elements features affect miRNA mediated repression.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02980-z
Gene regulation  miRNAs  Reporter genes 

Selenide-catalyzed enantioselective synthesis of trifluoromethylthiolated tetrahydronaphthalenes by merging desymmetrization and trifluoromethylthiolation OPEN
Jie Luo, Qingxiang Cao, Xiaohui Cao & Xiaodan Zhao

Catalytic enantioselective synthesis of trifluoromethylthiolated molecules remains a challenge. Here, the authors report a bifunctional selenide-catalyzed approach for the synthesis of structurally complex chiral trifluoromethylthiolated tetrahydronaphthalenes by merging desymmetrization and trifluoromethylthiolation.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02955-0
Asymmetric catalysis  Homogeneous catalysis  Synthetic chemistry methodology  Organocatalysis 

Microkinetics of alcohol reforming for H2 production from a FAIR density functional theory database OPEN
Qiang Li, Rodrigo García-Muelas & Núria López

The production of hydrogen from biomass is of fundamental importance for a sustainable future. Here, the authors present a multiscale method that allows the formulation of scaling relationships and microkinetics of C1-C2 alcohol decomposition based on a density functional theory open database.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02884-y
Density functional theory  Heterogeneous catalysis  Reaction kinetics and dynamics  Reaction mechanisms  Scaling laws 

A microengineered vascularized bleeding model that integrates the principal components of hemostasis OPEN
Yumiko Sakurai, Elaissa T. Hardy, Byungwook Ahn, Reginald Tran, Meredith E. Fay, Jordan C. Ciciliano, Robert G. Mannino, David R. Myers, Yongzhi Qiu, Marcus A. Carden, W. Hunter Baldwin, Shannon L. Meeks, Gary E. Gilbert, Shawn M. Jobe & Wilbur A. Lam

Hemostasis is a complex ensemble of events, but current bleeding assays only analyze single components like coagulation or platelet function. Here the authors present a comprehensive vascularized microfluidic mechanical injury bleeding model that addresses different aspects of the hemostatic process.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02990-x
Biomedical engineering  Haematological diseases  Lab-on-a-chip 

A ligand-specific blockade of the integrin Mac-1 selectively targets pathologic inflammation while maintaining protective host-defense OPEN
Dennis Wolf, Nathaly Anto-Michel, Hermann Blankenbach, Ansgar Wiedemann, Konrad Buscher, Jan David Hohmann, Bock Lim, Marina Bäuml, Alex Marki, Maximilian Mauler, Daniel Duerschmied, Zhichao Fan, Holger Winkels, Daniel Sidler, Philipp Diehl, Dirk M Zajonc, Ingo Hilgendorf, Peter Stachon, Timoteo Marchini, Florian Willecke et al.

Integrin-based therapeutics could block inflammatory processes but they also impair host defence, limiting their usefulness. Here the authors report an anti-Mac1 antibody that blocks its interaction with pro-inflammatory ligand CD40L but not other ligands, and show that it can protect against sepsis in mice.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02896-8
Molecular medicine  Sepsis  Translational immunology  Translational research 

Acetylation accumulates PFKFB3 in cytoplasm to promote glycolysis and protects cells from cisplatin-induced apoptosis OPEN
Fu-Long Li, Jin-Ping Liu, Ruo-Xuan Bao, GuoQuan Yan, Xu Feng, Yan-Ping Xu, Yi-Ping Sun, Weili Yan, Zhi-Qiang Ling, Yue Xiong, Kun-Liang Guan & Hai-Xin Yuan

Enhanced glycolysis in cancer cells has been associated with protection from DNA damage. Here the authors show that DNA damaging signals induce acetylation of PFKFB3 at lysine K472 and promote its cytosolic accumulation, which enhances glycolysis, resulting in protection from cisplatin-induced cell death.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02950-5
Acetylation  Cancer metabolism 

Samarium hexaboride is a trivial surface conductor OPEN
P. Hlawenka, K. Siemensmeyer, E. Weschke, A. Varykhalov, J. Sánchez-Barriga, N. Y. Shitsevalova, A. V. Dukhnenko, V. B. Filipov, S. Gabáni, K. Flachbart, O. Rader & E. D. L. Rienks

Samarium hexahoride is argued to be a topological Kondo insulator, but this claim remains under debate. Here, Hlawenka et al. provide a topologically trivial explanation for the conducting states at the (100) surface of samarium hexaboride; an explanation based on Rashba splitting and a surface shift of the Kondo resonance.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02908-7
Electronic properties and materials  Surfaces, interfaces and thin films  Topological insulators 

Ultrafast current imaging by Bayesian inversion OPEN
S. Somnath, K. J. H. Law, A. N. Morozovska, P. Maksymovych, Y. Kim, X. Lu, M. Alexe, R. Archibald, S. V. Kalinin, S. Jesse & R. K. Vasudevan

Scanning probe microscopy is widely used to characterize material properties with atomic resolution, yet electronic property mapping is normally constrained by slow data acquisition. Somnath et al. show a current–voltage method, which enables fast electronic spectroscopy mapping over micrometer-sized areas.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02455-7
Electronic properties and materials  Scanning probe microscopy 

Optical imaging of strain in two-dimensional crystals OPEN
Lukas Mennel, Marco M. Furchi, Stefan Wachter, Matthias Paur, Dmitry K. Polyushkin & Thomas Mueller

Strain is an effective tool to tune the optoelectronic properties of two-dimensional materials. Here, the authors demonstrate that second harmonic generation can be used to extract the full strain tensor of MoS2 and to spatially image its two-dimensional strain field.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02830-y
Mechanical and structural properties and devices  Optical properties and devices 

Legionella DotM structure reveals a role in effector recruiting to the Type 4B secretion system OPEN
Amit Meir, David Chetrit, Luying Liu, Craig R. Roy & Gabriel Waksman

Legionella pneumophila employs the Type 4B secretion system (T4BSS) to translocate more than 300 effector proteins into the host cell during infection. Here the authors present the crystal structure of the DotM soluble domain and give mechanistic insights into the recruitment of Glu-rich motif-containing effectors to the T4BSS.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02578-x
Bacteriology  Structural biology 

Pro-metastatic collagen lysyl hydroxylase dimer assemblies stabilized by Fe2+-binding OPEN
Hou-Fu Guo, Chi-Lin Tsai, Masahiko Terajima, Xiaochao Tan, Priyam Banerjee, Mitchell D. Miller, Xin Liu, Jiang Yu, Jovita Byemerwa, Sarah Alvarado, Tamer S. Kaoud, Kevin N. Dalby, Neus Bota-Rabassedas, Yulong Chen, Mitsuo Yamauchi, John A. Tainer, George N. Phillips Jr. & Jonathan M. Kurie

Collagen lysyl hydroxylases promote cancer progression. Here the authors present the crystal structure of the lysyl hydroxylase domain of L230 from Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus, which is of interest for LH inhibitor development, and show that ectopic expression of L230 in tumors promotes collagen cross-linking and metastasis.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02859-z
Cancer microenvironment  X-ray crystallography 

Lateral epitaxial heterojunctions in single nanowires fabricated by masked cation exchange OPEN
Sedat Dogan, Stefan Kudera, Zhiya Dang, Francisco Palazon, Urko Petralanda, Sergey Artyukhin, Luca De Trizio, Liberato Manna & Roman Krahne

Lateral structuring of the chemical composition of nanowires can enhance their functionality for photoconductive devices. Here, the authors fabricate CdSe/Cu2Se nanowire heterojunctions with atomically sharp interfaces and epitaxial relationships by a masked cation exchange approach.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02878-w
Chemical physics  Electronic properties and materials 

Creation of a long-acting nanoformulated dolutegravir OPEN
Brady Sillman, Aditya N. Bade, Prasanta K. Dash, Biju Bhargavan, Ted Kocher, Saumi Mathews, Hang Su, Georgette D. Kanmogne, Larisa Y. Poluektova, Santhi Gorantla, JoEllyn McMillan, Nagsen Gautam, Yazen Alnouti, Benson Edagwa & Howard E. Gendelman

Current ART for treatment of HIV-1 infection requires a strict daily regimen adherence. Herein, the authors report the manufacture and characterization of a nanoformulated dolutegravir prodrug with improved cell and tissue penetration, a remarkable apparent half-life and the potential for bimonthly drug administration.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02885-x
Chemical modification  Drug delivery  HIV infections  Pharmacodynamics  Pharmacokinetics 

Biochemical mechanisms determine the functional compatibility of heterologous genes OPEN
Andreas Porse, Thea S. Schou, Christian Munck, Mostafa M. H. Ellabaan & Morten O. A. Sommer

Sequence composition is thought to be a major factor governing the functionality of horizontally transferred genes. In contrast, Porse et al. show that phylogenetic origin, and the type of resistance mechanism, are major factors affecting the functionality of horizontally transferred antibiotic resistance genes.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02944-3
Antimicrobial resistance  Bacterial genetics  Molecular evolution 

Sensory deprivation in Staphylococcus aureus OPEN
Maite Villanueva, Begoña García, Jaione Valle, Beatriz Rapún, Igor Ruiz de los Mozos, Cristina Solano, Miguel Martí, José R. Penadés, Alejandro Toledo-Arana & Iñigo Lasa

Bacteria use two-component systems (TCSs) to sense and respond to environmental changes. Here, the authors show that Staphylococcus aureus can survive in the absence of all its 16 TCSs under growth arrest conditions, and each TCS seems to be sufficient to sense and respond to specific environmental clues.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02949-y
Bacteria  Bacterial genetics  Cell signalling 

Ub-ProT reveals global length and composition of protein ubiquitylation in cells OPEN
Hikaru Tsuchiya, Daocharad Burana, Fumiaki Ohtake, Naoko Arai, Ai Kaiho, Masayuki Komada, Keiji Tanaka & Yasushi Saeki

Ubiquitylation is a dynamic post-translational modification involved in the regulation of numerous cellular processes. Here the authors describe Ub-ProT: a method to measure the length of substrate-attached ubiquitin chains in biological samples, and demonstrate a critical role for chain length in directing substrates to specific cellular pathways.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02869-x
Sensors and probes  Ubiquitylation 

Lymphocyte-specific protein 1 regulates mechanosensory oscillation of podosomes and actin isoform-based actomyosin symmetry breaking OPEN
Pasquale Cervero, Christiane Wiesner, Anais Bouissou, Renaud Poincloux & Stefan Linder

The actomyosin cytoskeleton plays an important role in polarised cell migration. Here the authors identify lymphocyte-specific protein (LSP)-1 as a regulator of actomyosin contractility in macrophages, by competing with supervillin for myosin IIA activators acting specifically on the β-actin isoform.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02904-x
Actin  Cytoskeletal proteins  Myosin  Podosomes 

Afforestation neutralizes soil pH OPEN
Songbai Hong, Shilong Piao, Anping Chen, Yongwen Liu, Lingli Liu, Shushi Peng, Jordi Sardans, Yan Sun, Josep Peñuelas & Hui Zeng

Afforestation is often used to increase terrestrial carbon sequestration and restore ecosystem services. Here, the authors show that afforestation can also neutralize soil pH by lowering pH in alkaline soil but raising pH in acid soil, thus further promoting the restoration of ecosystem functions.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02970-1
Carbon cycle  Element cycles  Forest ecology 

Evidence of a one-dimensional thermodynamic phase diagram for simple glass-formers OPEN
H. W. Hansen, A. Sanz, K. Adrjanowicz, B. Frick & K. Niss

Glass formers show dynamics over a broad range of timescales, presenting a hurdle to understanding the glass transition. Here, the authors find that the dynamics of glass-forming liquids are governed by the same mechanisms over different timescales, effectively reducing the phase diagram from two to one dimension.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02324-3
Chemical physics  Phase transitions and critical phenomena 

Closed-loop stimulation of temporal cortex rescues functional networks and improves memory OPEN
Youssef Ezzyat, Paul A. Wanda, Deborah F. Levy, Allison Kadel, Ada Aka, Isaac Pedisich, Michael R. Sperling, Ashwini D. Sharan, Bradley C. Lega, Alexis Burks, Robert E. Gross, Cory S. Inman, Barbara C. Jobst, Mark A. Gorenstein, Kathryn A. Davis, Gregory A. Worrell, Michal T. Kucewicz, Joel M. Stein, Richard Gorniak, Sandhitsu R. Das et al.

Memory lapses can occur due to ineffective encoding, but it is unclear if targeted brain stimulation can improve memory performance. Here, authors use a closed-loop system to decode and stimulate periods of ineffective encoding, showing that stimulation of lateral temporal cortex can enhance memory.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02753-0
Cognitive neuroscience  Human behaviour  Long-term memory 

Proliferation dynamics of acute myeloid leukaemia and haematopoietic progenitors competing for bone marrow space OPEN
O. Akinduro, T. S. Weber, H. Ang, M. L. R. Haltalli, N. Ruivo, D. Duarte, N. M. Rashidi, E. D. Hawkins, K. R. Duffy & C. Lo Celso

How leukaemia cells invade the bone marrow by outcompeting haematopoietic cells is still unclear. Here, the authors used detailed cell number measurements in conjunction with a dual pulse labelling method to determine proliferation rates and followed the in vivo dynamics of AML disease progression.

06 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02376-5
Acute myeloid leukaemia  Mechanisms of disease 

Higher-generation type III-B rotaxane dendrimers with controlling particle size in three-dimensional molecular switching OPEN
Chak-Shing Kwan, Rundong Zhao, Michel A. Van Hove, Zongwei Cai & Ken Cham-Fai Leung

The complexity of rotaxane dendrimers poses a great synthetic challenge and the synthesis of higher generation rotaxane dendrimers has therefore rarely been reported. Here the authors report the synthesis of acid-base switchable rotaxane dendrimers up to generation 4 and demonstrate the uptake and release of guest molecules.

05 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02902-z
Interlocked molecules  Synthetic chemistry methodology  Structure elucidation 

Elucidation of the origin of chiral amplification in discrete molecular polyhedra OPEN
Yu Wang, Hongxun Fang, Ionut Tranca, Hang Qu, Xinchang Wang, Albert J. Markvoort, Zhongqun Tian & Xiaoyu Cao

The sergeants-and-soldiers effect, in which a few chiral units induce chirality in a large number of achiral molecules, is difficult to quantify at the molecular level. Here, the authors devise an elegant strategy—combining theory and a system of pure organic polyhedra with chiral and achiral vertices—to understand the mechanism of chiral amplification in discrete molecular assemblies.

05 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02605-x
Combinatorial libraries  Method development  Stereochemistry  Supramolecular chemistry 

Cell fate in antiviral response arises in the crosstalk of IRF, NF-κB and JAK/STAT pathways OPEN
Maciej Czerkies, Zbigniew Korwek, Wiktor Prus, Marek Kochańczyk, Joanna Jaruszewicz-Błońska, Karolina Tudelska, Sławomir Błoński, Marek Kimmel, Allan R. Brasier & Tomasz Lipniacki

Innate immunity combines intra- and intercellular signalling to develop responses that limit pathogen spread. Here the authors analyse feedback and feedforward loops connecting IRF3, NF-κB and STAT pathways, and suggest they allow coordinating cell fate decisions in cellular populations in response to the virus-mimicking agent poly(I:C).

05 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02640-8
Cellular signalling networks  Innate immunity  Regulatory networks  Stochastic modelling 

Disentangling entanglements in biopolymer solutions OPEN
Philipp Lang & Erwin Frey

Reptation theory has been widely adopted to describe the dynamics of entangled polymer solution, whereby a polymer follows the curvilinear Brownian motion along a tube. Here, the authors challenge this theory by showing long-time dynamics of semi-flexible polymers modulated by topological constraints.

05 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02837-5
Biological physics  Computational biophysics  Statistical physics, thermodynamics and nonlinear dynamics 

Ventromedial medulla inhibitory neuron inactivation induces REM sleep without atonia and REM sleep behavior disorder OPEN
Sara Valencia Garcia, Frédéric Brischoux, Olivier Clément, Paul-Antoine Libourel, Sébastien Arthaud, Michael Lazarus, Pierre-Hervé Luppi & Patrice Fort

Loss of muscle tone is a distinguishing feature of paradoxical or REM sleep (PS) and is disrupted in REM sleep behavior disorder. Here the authors report that GABA/glycine inhibitory neurons in the ventromedial medulla are essential for producing PS muscle atonia without affecting PS quantity.

05 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02761-0
Parkinson's disease  REM sleep 

BMI1 regulates androgen receptor in prostate cancer independently of the polycomb repressive complex 1 OPEN
Sen Zhu, Dongyu Zhao, Lin Yan, Weihua Jiang, Jung-Sun Kim, Bingnan Gu, Qipeng Liu, Rui Wang, Bo Xia, Jonathan C. Zhao, Gang Song, Wenyi Mi, Rong-Fu Wang, Xiaobing Shi, Hung-Ming Lam, Xuesen Dong, Jindan Yu, Kaifu Chen & Qi Cao

The polycomb group protein BMI1 is highly expressed in prostate cancer. Here, the authors demonstrate that BMI1 directly interacts with AR leading to increased AR signaling independently of PRC1 complex and that targeting BMI1 inhibits tumor growth of castration-resistant prostate cancer tumors.

05 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02863-3
Epigenetics  Prostate cancer 

Target identification of small molecules using large-scale CRISPR-Cas mutagenesis scanning of essential genes OPEN
Jasper Edgar Neggers, Bert Kwanten, Tim Dierckx, Hiroki Noguchi, Arnout Voet, Lotte Bral, Kristien Minner, Bob Massant, Nicolas Kint, Michel Delforge, Thomas Vercruysse, Erkan Baloglu, William Senapedis, Maarten Jacquemyn & Dirk Daelemans

Cancer therapy drugs are designed to target genetic vulnerabilities, but loss-of-function screens often fail to identify essential genes in drug mechanism studies. Here the authors demonstrate CRISPRres, which exploits in-frame variation generated by indel formation to discover gene-drug interactions.

05 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02349-8
CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing  Target identification  Target validation 

No evidence that carotenoid pigments boost either immune or antioxidant defenses in a songbird OPEN
Rebecca E. Koch, Andreas N. Kavazis, Dennis Hasselquist, Wendy R. Hood, Yufeng Zhang, Matthew B. Toomey & Geoffrey E. Hill

Dietary carotenoids have been proposed to have physiological benefits in addition to contributing to coloration. Here, Koch et al. compare immune and antioxidant functions in yellow, carotenoid-rich vs. white, carotenoid-deficient canaries and find no difference, suggesting a limited physiological role of carotenoids.

05 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02974-x
Animal physiology  Evolutionary ecology 

Matched asymptotic solution for crease nucleation in soft solids OPEN
P. Ciarletta

Our understanding of material instabilities in soft solids remains elusive mainly due to the mathematical challenges in capturing localised phenomena within nonlinear elastic materials. Ciarletta develops an analytical theory to describe the nucleation threshold of creases in agreement with experiments.

05 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02979-6
Applied mathematics  Phase transitions and critical phenomena 

Gs- versus Golf-dependent functional selectivity mediated by the dopamine D1 receptor OPEN
Hideaki Yano, Ning-Sheng Cai, Min Xu, Ravi Kumar Verma, William Rea, Alexander F. Hoffman, Lei Shi, Jonathan A. Javitch, Antonello Bonci & Sergi Ferré

D1-like dopamine receptors are coupled to Golf proteins in the dorsal striatum but Gs in cortical and other areas. Here, the authors demonstrate selective agonism of Gs-coupled versus Golf-coupled D1 receptors.

05 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02606-w
Molecular neuroscience  Receptor pharmacology 

Regulation of chitinase-3-like-1 in T cell elicits Th1 and cytotoxic responses to inhibit lung metastasis OPEN
Do-Hyun Kim, Hong-Jai Park, Sangho Lim, Ja-Hyun Koo, Hong-Gyun Lee, Jin Ouk Choi, Ji Hoon Oh, Sang-Jun Ha, Min-Jong Kang, Chang-Min Lee, Chun Geun Lee, Jack A. Elias & Je-Min Choi

Chitinase-3-like-1 (Chi3l1) has been involved in inflammation and pulmonary metastasis. Here the authors show that Chi3l1 inhibits the T cell response by negatively regulating their activation and that, in a mouse model of melanoma, T cell-targeted silencing of Chi3l1 results in reduced lung metastasis.

05 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02731-6
Cancer immunotherapy  Drug delivery  RNAi therapy  Tumour immunology 

Steric exclusion and protein conformation determine the localization of plasma membrane transporters OPEN
Frans Bianchi, Łukasz Syga, Gemma Moiset, Dian Spakman, Paul E. Schavemaker, Christiaan M. Punter, Anne-Bart Seinen, Antoine M. van Oijen, Andrew Robinson & Bert Poolman

The yeast plasma membrane consists of membrane microdomains with distinct protein composition. Here the authors use high-resolution single molecule imaging to observe diffusion of specific transmembrane proteins in and out of these microdomains, and propose features that dictate their inclusion/exclusion from these structures.

05 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02864-2
Membrane proteins  Transport carrier 

Tunable metal-insulator transition, Rashba effect and Weyl Fermions in a relativistic charge-ordered ferroelectric oxide OPEN
Jiangang He, Domenico Di Sante, Ronghan Li, Xing-Qiu Chen, James M. Rondinelli & Cesare Franchini

Many complex oxides combine multiple functionalities that can be manipulated by external fields, providing opportunities for creating devices. Here, He et al. predict that Ag2BiO3 can be tuned between ferroelectric and different topological semimetallic states using electric fields at room temperature.

05 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02814-4
Electronic properties and materials  Ferroelectrics and multiferroics  Topological insulators 

Transcriptional decomposition reveals active chromatin architectures and cell specific regulatory interactions OPEN
Sarah Rennie, Maria Dalby, Lucas van Duin & Robin Andersson

Transcriptional regulation is coupled with chromosomal positioning and chromatin architecture. Here the authors develop a transcriptional decomposition approach to separate expression associated with genome structure from independent effects not directly associated with genomic positioning.

05 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02798-1
Gene regulation  Genome informatics  Machine learning 

A NIN-LIKE PROTEIN mediates nitrate-induced control of root nodule symbiosis in Lotus japonicus OPEN
Hanna Nishida, Sachiko Tanaka, Yoshihiro Handa, Momoyo Ito, Yuki Sakamoto, Sachihiro Matsunaga, Shigeyuki Betsuyaku, Kenji Miura, Takashi Soyano, Masayoshi Kawaguchi & Takuya Suzaki

Leguminous plants host nitrogen-fixing bacteria in root nodules, but cease symbiosis when sufficient nitrogen is available. Here, the authors show that the Lotus japonicus transcription factor NRSYM1 activates the production of CLE-RS2 in nitrogen-sufficient conditions to prevent nodulation

05 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02831-x
Plant development  Rhizobial symbiosis 

Activin-dependent signaling in fibro/adipogenic progenitors causes fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva OPEN
John B. Lees-Shepard, Masakazu Yamamoto, Arpita A. Biswas, Sean J. Stoessel, Sarah-Anne E. Nicholas, Cathy A. Cogswell, Parvathi M. Devarakonda, Michael J. Schneider Jr., Samantha M. Cummins, Nicholas P. Legendre, Shoko Yamamoto, Vesa Kaartinen, Jeffrey W. Hunter & David J. Goldhamer

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva is a severe disorder characterized by heterotopic ossification, and is caused by mutations in ACVR1. Here, the authors show that expression of mutant ACVR1 in fibro/adipogenic progenitors recapitulates disease progression, and that this can be halted by systemic inhibition of activin A in mice.

02 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02872-2
Antibody therapy  Bone  Disease model  Muscle stem cells 

Characterizing steroid hormone receptor chromatin binding landscapes in male and female breast cancer OPEN
Tesa M. Severson, Yongsoo Kim, Stacey E. P. Joosten, Karianne Schuurman, Petra van der Groep, Cathy B. Moelans, Natalie D. ter Hoeve, Quirine F. Manson, John W. Martens, Carolien H. M. van Deurzen, Ellis Barbe, Ingrid Hedenfalk, Peter Bult, Vincent T. H. B. M. Smit, Sabine C. Linn, Paul J. van Diest, Lodewyk Wessels & Wilbert Zwart

Male breast cancer (MBC) is rare and largely hormonally driven. Here, the authors examine the action of steroid hormone receptors in male and female breast cancers and find gender selective hormone receptor action that associates with the survival of MBC patients.

02 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02856-2
Breast cancer  Cancer genomics  Prognostic markers 

Epigenetic modulation of inflammation and synaptic plasticity promotes resilience against stress in mice OPEN
Jun Wang, Georgia E. Hodes, Hongxing Zhang, Song Zhang, Wei Zhao, Sam A. Golden, Weina Bi, Caroline Menard, Veronika Kana, Marylene Leboeuf, Marc Xie, Dana Bregman, Madeline L. Pfau, Meghan E. Flanigan, Adelaida Esteban-Fernández, Shrishailam Yemul, Ali Sharma, Lap Ho, Richard Dixon, Miriam Merad et al.

Polyphenols have partial antidepressant effect without known mechanism. Here, the authors identify two phytochemicals from bioactive dietary polyphenols, show their antidepressant effect in a rodent model of depression, and that this effect is mediated by epigenetic and anti-inflammatory mechanisms.

02 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02794-5
Epigenetics and plasticity  Neuroimmunology  Stress and resilience 

UFD-2 is an adaptor-assisted E3 ligase targeting unfolded proteins OPEN
Doris Hellerschmied, Max Roessler, Anita Lehner, Linn Gazda, Karel Stejskal, Richard Imre, Karl Mechtler, Alexander Dammermann & Tim Clausen

The U-box ubiquitin ligase UFD-2 is one of the most abundant components of the ubiquitin proteasome system in muscle cells. Here the authors perform in vitro and in vivo experiments and show that UFD-2 has E3 ligase activity and that it ubiquitinates unfolded myosin using the C. elegans myosin chaperone UNC-45 as an adaptor protein.

02 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02924-7
Chaperones  Protein quality control  Ubiquitin ligases  X-ray crystallography 

Geometric isotope effect of deuteration in a hydrogen-bonded host–guest crystal OPEN
Chao Shi, Xi Zhang, Chun-Hua Yu, Ye-Feng Yao & Wen Zhang

Deuterating a hydrogen bond can change the bond’s geometry, a phenomenon known as the geometric isotope effect (GIE). Here, the authors find that a hydrogen-bonded host–guest crystal, imidazolium hydrogen terephthalate, exhibits significant GIE on its hydrogen bonds, changing its crystal phases and bulk dielectric properties.

02 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02931-8
Crystal engineering  Ferroelectrics and multiferroics  Phase transitions and critical phenomena 

Replication confers β cell immaturity OPEN
Sapna Puri, Nilotpal Roy, Holger A. Russ, Laura Leonhardt, Esra K. French, Ritu Roy, Henrik Bengtsson, Donald K. Scott, Andrew F. Stewart & Matthias Hebrok

Adult beta cells, which are highly specialised insulin-secreting cells, rarely replicate. Puri et al. demonstrate that beta cell proliferative capacity is inversely correlated with their functionality and differentiation state, by inducing proliferation of adult cells with ectopic overexpression of the cell cycle regulator c-Myc.

02 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02939-0
Cell division  Cell proliferation  Differentiation  Islets of Langerhans 

Revealing hole trapping in zinc oxide nanoparticles by time-resolved X-ray spectroscopy OPEN
Thomas J. Penfold, Jakub Szlachetko, Fabio G. Santomauro, Alexander Britz, Wojciech Gawelda, Gilles Doumy, Anne Marie March, Stephen H. Southworth, Jochen Rittmann, Rafael Abela, Majed Chergui & Christopher J. Milne

Metal-oxide nanostructures are used in a range of light-driven applications, yet the fundamentals behind their properties are poorly understood. Here the authors probe photoexcited zinc oxide nanoparticles using time-resolved X-ray spectroscopy, identifying photocatalytically-active hole traps as oxygen vacancies in the lattice.

02 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02870-4
Nanoparticles  Optical materials  X-rays 

Tuning microtubule dynamics to enhance cancer therapy by modulating FER-mediated CRMP2 phosphorylation OPEN
Yiyan Zheng, Ritika Sethi, Lingegowda S. Mangala, Charlotte Taylor, Juliet Goldsmith, Ming Wang, Kenta Masuda, Mohammad Karaminejadranjbar, David Mannion, Fabrizio Miranda, Sandra Herrero-Gonzalez, Karin Hellner, Fiona Chen, Abdulkhaliq Alsaadi, Ashwag Albukhari, Donatien Chedom Fotso, Christopher Yau, Dahai Jiang, Sunila Pradeep, Cristian Rodriguez-Aguayo et al.

Some anticancer drugs target cell microtubules inhibiting mitosis and cell division. Here, the authors show that CRMP2 induces microtubule bundling and that this activity is regulated by the FER kinase, thus providing a rationale for targeting FER in combination with microtubule-targeting drugs.

02 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02811-7
Kinases  Ovarian cancer 

Mössbauer spectroscopy of a monolayer of single molecule magnets OPEN
Alberto Cini, Matteo Mannini, Federico Totti, Maria Fittipaldi, Gabriele Spina, Aleksandr Chumakov, Rudolf Rüffer, Andrea Cornia & Roberta Sessoli

Deposition of single molecule magnets onto surfaces is a key step for integration in devices exploiting their magnetic bistability and quantum properties. Here, Sessoli and colleagues exploit synchrotron Mössbauer spectroscopy to assess the effects of molecule-surface interactions on the magnetic properties of Fe(III) SMMs.

02 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02840-w
Magnetic materials  Molecular self-assembly  Surface spectroscopy 

Evolving affinity between Coulombic reversibility and hysteretic phase transformations in nano-structured silicon-based lithium-ion batteries OPEN
K. Ogata, S. Jeon, D.-S. Ko, I. S. Jung, J. H. Kim, K. Ito, Y. Kubo, K. Takei, S. Saito, Y.-H. Cho, H. Park, J. Jang, H.-G. Kim, J.-H. Kim, Y. S. Kim, W. Choi, M. Koh, K. Uosaki, S. G. Doo, Y. Hwang et al.

Using silicon electrodes could improve lithium ion battery storage capacities, but irreversible side reactions during cycling rapidly degrade current batteries. Here, the authors studied silicon-rich electrode phase transitions and how such transitions may benefit the rechargeable cell systems.

02 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02824-w
Batteries 

Discordant congenital Zika syndrome twins show differential in vitro viral susceptibility of neural progenitor cells OPEN
Luiz Carlos Caires-Júnior, Ernesto Goulart, Uirá Souto Melo, Bruno Silva Henrique Araujo, Lucas Alvizi, Alessandra Soares-Schanoski, Danyllo Felipe de Oliveira, Gerson Shigeru Kobayashi, Karina Griesi-Oliveira, Camila Manso Musso, Murilo Sena Amaral, Lucas Ferreira daSilva, Renato Mancini Astray, Sandra Fernanda Suárez-Patiño, Daniella Cristina Ventini, Sérgio Gomes da Silva, Guilherme Lopes Yamamoto, Suzana Ezquina, Michel Satya Naslavsky, Kayque Alves Telles-Silva et al.

Zika virus (ZIKV) infection can cause congenital Zika syndrome (CZS), but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, the authors generate neural progenitor cells from dizygotic twins with a discordant phenotype regarding CZS and study their response to ZIKV infection.

02 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02790-9
Neural stem cells  Viral host response 

Direct effects of transcranial electric stimulation on brain circuits in rats and humans OPEN
Mihály Vöröslakos, Yuichi Takeuchi, Kitti Brinyiczki, Tamás Zombori, Azahara Oliva, Antonio Fernández-Ruiz, Gábor Kozák, Zsigmond Tamás Kincses, Béla Iványi, György Buzsáki & Antal Berényi

Though transcranial electric stimulation has been used to influence brain activity, it is debated whether neuronal spiking activity is directly affected by commonly-used protocols. Here, the authors quantify the voltage gradients necessary to instantaneously affect neuronal spiking and show that they are higher than commonly-used protocols.

02 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02928-3
Neurology  Neuroscience 

Desensitized chimeric antigen receptor T cells selectively recognize target cells with enhanced antigen expression OPEN
Chungyong Han, Su-Jung Sim, Seon-Hee Kim, Rohit Singh, Sunhee Hwang, Yu I. Kim, Sang H. Park, Kwang H. Kim, Don G. Lee, Ho S. Oh, Sangeun Lee, Young H. Kim, Beom K. Choi & Byoung S. Kwon

Engineered T cells with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) are emerging as an effective cancer therapy. Here the authors show that CAR T cells recognizing self-MHC can be ‘tuned’ ex vivo via CAR downregulation and CAR T cell death to generate a CAR T pool specifically targeting tumor cells with high MHC expression.

01 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02912-x
Cancer immunotherapy  Clonal selection  Lymphocyte activation  Peripheral tolerance 

A cerebellar mechanism for learning prior distributions of time intervals OPEN
Devika Narain, Evan D. Remington, Chris I. De Zeeuw & Mehrdad Jazayeri

Human timing behavior is biased towards previously encountered intervals and is predicted by Bayesian models. Here, the authors develop a computational model based in properties of the cerebellum to show how we might encode time estimates based on prior experience.

01 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02516-x
Computational neuroscience  Human behaviour  Neural circuits 

Early Cambrian fuxianhuiids from China reveal origin of the gnathobasic protopodite in euarthropods OPEN
Jie Yang, Javier Ortega-Hernández, David A. Legg, Tian Lan, Jin-bo Hou & Xi-guang Zhang

The fuxianhuiids were a group of primitive true arthropods living in the Cambrian period. Here, Yang and colleagues describe a new species of fuxianhuiid, Alacaris mirabilis, from exceptionally-preserved specimens that illustrate the early evolution of specialized arthropod mouthparts.

01 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02754-z
Palaeoecology  Palaeontology  Taxonomy 

Predicting phase behavior of grain boundaries with evolutionary search and machine learning OPEN
Qiang Zhu, Amit Samanta, Bingxi Li, Robert E. Rudd & Timofey Frolov

The atomic structure of grain boundary phases remains unknown and is difficult to investigate experimentally. Here, the authors use an evolutionary algorithm to computationally explore interface structures in higher dimensions and predict low-energy configurations, showing interface phases may be ubiquitous.

01 February 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-02937-2
Metals and alloys  Theory and computation 
 
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