Nature Communications - 13 June 2018

Advertisement   Advanced Imaging with Proven Optics Olympus is dedicated to your work, vision, and science. Through innovation and service, we seek to aide in your discoveries, advance your research, and inspire you to explore new possibilities. Our wide range of microscopes are built with the optical excellence and proven application expertise you can depend on. Your Science Matters™. > Learn more about Olympus microscopes     Weekly Content Alert Nature Communications is fully open access. Read more. 13 June 2018  Latest content: Articles Correspondence Author Corrections Publisher Corrections Advertisement Nature Outlook: Cancer immunotherapy   Drugs that mobilize our immune systems against cancer are dramatically improving care for many people, and research is rapidly moving ahead in the lab and the clinic.   Access this Outlook free >>   Produced with support from  F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd   Medimmune    Produced with support of a grant from Merck & Co., Inc. Journal homepage Recommend to library Web feed   Advertisement Princeton University, Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM), Nature Communications, Nature Materials, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology present: Princeton — Nature Conference: Frontiers in Electron Microscopy for the Physical and Life Sciences July 11-13, 2018, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA  Register now to secure your place.     Advertisement nature.com webcasts Nature Research Custom Media presents a webcast on: Ultra-Sensitive Immunoassays: Beyond Biomarkers and into PK and Immunogenicity Date: Thursday, June 21, 2018 Dr. Daniel Sikkema, Vice President of Quanterix will present the latest advances in biomarker testing and how to solve drug tolerance and characterization issues for immunogenicity. This webcast has been produced on behalf of the sponsor who retains sole responsibility for content  Register for FREE  Sponsored by: Quanterix        Nature Communications - 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.           Nature Communications JOBS of the week Chair holder for the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Machine Learning for Artificial Intelligence (ML4AI) University of Montréal Lecturer / Senior Lecturer in Organic Chemistry Monash University Postdoctoral Research Scientist Columbia University Medical Center Assistant / Associate Professor in Medicine (Cardiology) and Systems Biology Columbia University Medical Center Photonics Laboratory Facility Manager CUNY Graduate Center Postdoc scholarship in Cancer Research Lund University Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Genomics and Bioinformatics, Genentech Research Genentech Research Associate Professor or Professor Columbia University Sr. Scientist / Group Leader, Bioinformatics Genentech, Inc. Postdoctoral fellow (Immune Screening) - Experimental Cancer Genetics Wellcome Sanger Institute More Science jobs from Nature Communications EVENT 2018 Symposium on Cancer Evolution and Heterogeneity 24.08.18 Shanghai, China More science events from     Latest Articles View all Articles     Innovation and cumulative culture through tweaks and leaps in online programming contests OPEN Elena Miu, Ned Gulley, Kevin N. Laland & Luke Rendell The cumulative development of culture has proven difficult to study in the laboratory. Here, the authors examine entries to a series of large programming contests to show that successful entries are usually ‘tweaks’ of existing solutions, but occasional ‘leaps’ can bring larger benefits. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04494-0 Cultural evolution  Human behaviour  A new interhemispheric teleconnection increases predictability of winter precipitation in southwestern US OPEN Antonios Mamalakis, Jin-Yi Yu, James T. Randerson, Amir AghaKouchak & Efi Foufoula-Georgiou ENSO is losing predictive power of west US coast precipitation. Here the authors identify a new inter-hemispheric teleconnection that promises earlier and more accurate prediction. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04722-7 Atmospheric dynamics  Climate change  Hydrology  Projection and prediction  Deducing the presence of proteins and proteoforms in quantitative proteomics OPEN Casimir Bamberger, Salvador Martínez-Bartolomé, Miranda Montgomery, Sandra Pankow, John D. Hulleman, Jeffery W. Kelly & John R. Yates III An accurate quantitation of different proteoforms remains challenging due to incomplete protein sequence coverage in mass spectrometry datasets. Here the authors describe a method to facilitate the discovery of proteoforms that may otherwise not be considered due to incomplete protein coverage or ambiguities in mapping peptides back to proteins. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04411-5 Proteomic analysis  Proteomics  Hot-electron transfer in quantum-dot heterojunction films OPEN Gianluca Grimaldi, Ryan W. Crisp, Stephanie ten Brinck, Felipe Zapata, Michiko van Ouwendorp, Nicolas Renaud, Nicholas Kirkwood, Wiel H. Evers, Sachin Kinge, Ivan Infante, Laurens D. A. Siebbeles & Arjan J. Houtepen Efficient use of high-energy, or “hot”, carriers could increase the efficiency of solar cells, provided efficient extraction of electrons at a specific energy. Here, the authors show the presence of hot-electron transfer between two quantum dot species, allowing facile optimization of the extraction energy. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04623-9 Electronic properties and materials  Quantum dots  Solar cells  Implementation of multilayer perceptron network with highly uniform passive memristive crossbar circuits OPEN F. Merrikh Bayat, M. Prezioso, B. Chakrabarti, H. Nili, I. Kataeva & D. Strukov Memristive devices used in neuromorphic computing typically need to be accessed using transistors, adding circuit complexity and size. In this work, the authors demonstrate a neural network using a transistor-free passive memristor crossbar array, offering potential circuit miniaturisation and energy savings. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04482-4 Electrical and electronic engineering  Electronic devices  Coherent exciton-vibrational dynamics and energy transfer in conjugated organics OPEN Tammie R. Nelson, Dianelys Ondarse-Alvarez, Nicolas Oldani, Beatriz Rodriguez-Hernandez, Laura Alfonso-Hernandez, Johan F. Galindo, Valeria D. Kleiman, Sebastian Fernandez-Alberti, Adrian E. Roitberg & Sergei Tretiak Interference patterns in photoexcited dynamics of many materials have historically been attributed to electronic and vibrational coherences. Here, the authors demonstrate a simple model based on wavefunction symmetry suggesting these coherences originate from non-adiabatic transitions for optically active molecules. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04694-8 Devices for energy harvesting  Solar cells  A quantitative mass spectrometry-based approach to monitor the dynamics of endogenous chromatin-associated protein complexes OPEN Evangelia K. Papachristou, Kamal Kishore, Andrew N. Holding, Kate Harvey, Theodoros I. Roumeliotis, Chandra Sekhar Reddy Chilamakuri, Soleilmane Omarjee, Kee Ming Chia, Alex Swarbrick, Elgene Lim, Florian Markowetz, Matthew Eldridge, Rasmus Siersbaek, Clive S. D’Santos & Jason S. Carroll Chromatin-associated protein complexes play a critical role in the regulation of gene expression in health and disease. Here, the authors describe a sensitive mass spectrometry-based method to monitor the dynamic interactions of endogenous chromatin-associated protein complexes in clinical samples. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04619-5 Breast cancer  Immunoprecipitation  Mass spectrometry  Protein–protein interaction networks  Structural and functional analysis of mRNA export regulation by the nuclear pore complex OPEN Daniel H. Lin, Ana R. Correia, Sarah W. Cai, Ferdinand M. Huber, Claudia A. Jette & André Hoelz The export of mRNA to the cytosol depends on the nuclear pore complex (NPC) and the activation of the helicase DDX19, but their interplay in humans remains poorly understood. Here, the authors present a structural and functional analysis of DDX19 activation, revealing how the human NPC regulates mRNA export. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04459-3 Neurodegeneration  Nuclear pore complex  RNA transport  X-ray crystallography  Hydrophobic pore gates regulate ion permeation in polycystic kidney disease 2 and 2L1 channels OPEN Wang Zheng, Xiaoyong Yang, Ruikun Hu, Ruiqi Cai, Laura Hofmann, Zhifei Wang, Qiaolin Hu, Xiong Liu, David Bulkey, Yong Yu, Jingfeng Tang, Veit Flockerzi, Ying Cao, Erhu Cao & Xing-Zhen Chen Mutations in the cation channel PKD2 cause human autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease but its channel function and gating mechanism are poorly understood. Here authors study PKD2 using electrophysiology and cryo-EM, which identifies hydrophobic gates and proposes a gating mechanism for PKD2. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04586-x Cryoelectron microscopy  Molecular conformation  Polycystic kidney disease  Controlled synthesis of highly-branched plasmonic gold nanoparticles through peptoid engineering OPEN Feng Yan, Lili Liu, Tiffany R. Walsh, Yu Gong, Patrick Z. El-Khoury, Yanyan Zhang, Zihua Zhu, James J. De Yoreo, Mark H. Engelhard, Xin Zhang & Chun-Long Chen Peptoids are promising crystallization agents, as they offer the molecular recognition capabilities of proteins and peptides but with higher stability and synthetic tunability. Here, the authors show that sequence-defined peptoids can controllably template the formation and shape evolution of gold nanostructures with defined morphologies. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04789-2 Bioinspired materials  Biomimetic synthesis  Biomineralization  Nanophotonics and plasmonics  NEK7 regulates dendrite morphogenesis in neurons via Eg5-dependent microtubule stabilization OPEN Francisco Freixo, Paula Martinez Delgado, Yasmina Manso, Carlos Sánchez-Huertas, Cristina Lacasa, Eduardo Soriano, Joan Roig & Jens Lüders NEK7 is a kinase known for its role in mitotic spindle assembly, driving centrosome separation in prophase through regulation of the kinesin Eg5. Here, the authors show that NEK7 and Eg5 also control dendrite morphogenesis in postmitotic neurons. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04706-7 Cellular neuroscience  Microtubules  Inferring collective dynamical states from widely unobserved systems OPEN Jens Wilting & Viola Priesemann From infectious diseases to brain activity, complex systems can be approximated using autoregressive models. Here, the authors show that incomplete sampling can bias estimates of the stability of such systems, and introduce a novel, unbiased metric for use in such situations. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04725-4 Computational neuroscience  Statistical methods  Statistical physics, thermodynamics and nonlinear dynamics  Statistics  Crossover from lattice to plasmonic polarons of a spin-polarised electron gas in ferromagnetic EuO OPEN J. M. Riley, F. Caruso, C. Verdi, L. B. Duffy, M. D. Watson, L. Bawden, K. Volckaert, G. van der Laan, T. Hesjedal, M. Hoesch, F. Giustino & P. D. C. King Many-body interactions in solids offer opportunities to realize striking physical properties. Here the authors demonstrate the formation of plasmonic polarons in Eu1-xGd x O and their tunability with charge carrier doping, providing a route to tailoring quantum many-body interactions in solid. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04749-w Electronic properties and materials  Magnetic properties and materials  Surfaces, interfaces and thin films  High energy-density and reversibility of iron fluoride cathode enabled via an intercalation-extrusion reaction OPEN Xiulin Fan, Enyuan Hu, Xiao Ji, Yizhou Zhu, Fudong Han, Sooyeon Hwang, Jue Liu, Seongmin Bak, Zhaohui Ma, Tao Gao, Sz-Chian Liou, Jianming Bai, Xiao-Qing Yang, Yifei Mo, Kang Xu, Dong Su & Chunsheng Wang Poor electrochemical reversibility of the conversion-type cathode materials remains an important challenge for their practical applications. Here, the authors report a highly reversible fluoride cathode material with low hysteresis through concerted doping of cobalt and oxygen into iron fluoride. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04476-2 Batteries  Ocean acidification conditions increase resilience of marine diatoms OPEN Jacob J. Valenzuela, Adrián López García de Lomana, Allison Lee, E. V. Armbrust, Mónica V. Orellana & Nitin S. Baliga Diatoms account for 40% of marine primary production and their sensitivity to ocean acidification could have ecosystem-wide consequences. Here, the authors developed and applied a stress test, demonstrating that resilience of diatoms increases significantly in ocean acidification conditions. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04742-3 Marine biology  Population dynamics  Robustness  Systems analysis  Thermo-responsive gels that absorb moisture and ooze water OPEN Kazuya Matsumoto, Nobuki Sakikawa & Takashi Miyata Most smart hydrogels are used in their wet state and determination of their phase transition behaviour in the dried state is lacking. Here the authors investigate the thermo-responsive behaviour of an interpenetrating polymer network gel comprising of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) and sodium alginate networks in their dried states. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04810-8 Gels and hydrogels  Polymers  Helicase promotes replication re-initiation from an RNA transcript OPEN Bo Sun, Anupam Singh, Shemaila Sultana, James T. Inman, Smita S. Patel & Michelle D. Wang During DNA replication, replicative helicases play an essential role for DNA unwinding to occur. Here the authors find that bacteriophage T7 helicase is also involved in replication re-initiation by interacting with a non-replicating DNAP and increasing unwinding rate. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04702-x Replisome  Single-molecule biophysics  Stalled forks  The role of water in fault lubrication OPEN Yijue Diao & Rosa M. Espinosa-Marzal Friction plays a key role in fault slip between tectonic plates. Here, the authors demonstrate through friction experiments on calcite in brines that pressure solution at high stresses and slow sliding velocities leads to a prominent decrease in friction and therefore is a weakening mechanism in fault strength. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04782-9 Chemical physics  Geophysics  Physical chemistry  UBXN3B positively regulates STING-mediated antiviral immune responses OPEN Long Yang, Leilei Wang, Harshada Ketkar, Jinzhu Ma, Guang Yang, Shuang Cui, Tingting Geng, Dana G. Mordue, Toyoshi Fujimoto, Gong Cheng, Fuping You, Rongtuan Lin, Erol Fikrig & Penghua Wang The UBXN proteins are likely involved in a diverse range of biological processes, but their physiological functions remain largely unknown. Here the authors show that UBXN3B positively regulates STING-mediated immune responses in the context of viral infections. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04759-8 Infection  Innate immunity  Viral host response  Viral infection  On-surface synthesis of poly(p-phenylene ethynylene) molecular wires via in situ formation of carbon-carbon triple bond OPEN Chen-Hui Shu, Meng-Xi Liu, Ze-Qi Zha, Jin-Liang Pan, Shao-Ze Zhang, Yu-Li Xie, Jian-Le Chen, Ding-Wang Yuan, Xiao-Hui Qiu & Pei-Nian Liu Incorporating carbon-carbon triple bonds into conjugated chains typically requires acetylenic precursors. Here, the authors synthesize poly(p-phenylene ethynylene) molecular wires on Cu(111) by directly coupling trichloromethyl-containing precursors, forming C-C triple bonds in situ 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04681-z Materials chemistry  Nanoscale materials  Chemical synthesis  FGF signalling controls the specification of hair placode-derived SOX9 positive progenitors to Merkel cells OPEN Minh Binh Nguyen, Idan Cohen, Vinod Kumar, Zijian Xu, Carmit Bar, Katherine L. Dauber-Decker, Pai-Chi Tsai, Pauline Marangoni, Ophir D. Klein, Ya-Chieh Hsu, Ting Chen, Marja L. Mikkola & Elena Ezhkova Merkel cells are mechanoreceptors located in the epidermis whose developmental origin is unclear. Here the authors show that Merkel cells originate from SOX9 positive cells inside hair follicles and that FGFR2-mediated epithelial signalling is required for their specification. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04399-y Differentiation  Skin stem cells  Stem-cell differentiation  Tuneable near white-emissive two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks OPEN Xing Li, Qiang Gao, Juefan Wang, Yifeng Chen, Zhi-Hui Chen, Hai-Sen Xu, Wei Tang, Kai Leng, Guo-Hong Ning, Jishan Wu, Qing-Hua Xu, Su Ying Quek, Yixin Lu & Kian Ping Loh Encoding functionalities in covalent organic frameworks (COFs) is important for widening their application field but the development of fluorescent COFs is hampered by a lack of guiding design principles. Here the authors demonstrate tuning and switching of the photoluminescence in 2D COFs made of non-emissive building blocks. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04769-6 Organic molecules in materials science  Structural properties  Supramolecular polymers  The TRPV4 channel links calcium influx to DDX3X activity and viral infectivity OPEN P. Doñate-Macián, J. Jungfleisch, G. Pérez-Vilaró, F. Rubio-Moscardo, A. Perálvarez-Marín, J. Diez & M. A. Valverde The ion channel TRPV4 senses many environmental cues, but its role in virus infection is not known. Here, Doñate-Macián et al. show that Zika virus induces TRPV4-mediated Ca2+ influx into cells, resulting in the nuclear accumulation of the DDX3X RNA helicase, which increases virus replication. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04776-7 Ion channel signalling  Viral infection  Network biology discovers pathogen contact points in host protein-protein interactomes OPEN Hadia Ahmed, T. C. Howton, Yali Sun, Natascha Weinberger, Youssef Belkhadir & M. Shahid Mukhtar Nodes with high centrality in protein–protein interaction (PPI) networks are known to be essential in some organisms. Here, the authors in contrast find that in the interactome of A. thaliana central nodes are enriched in conditional and immune phenotypes and are preferred targets of pathogens. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04632-8 Plant immunity  Systems analysis  Lipid vesicles chaperone an encapsulated RNA aptamer OPEN Ranajay Saha, Samuel Verbanic & Irene A. Chen So far little is known about how encapsulation affects the activity and folding of RNA, which is of interest for understanding the origin of cellular life. Here the authors show that encapsulation of functional RNA in vesicles increases RNA activity and improves RNA folding through a biophysical confinement effect. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04783-8 Biophysics  Chemical origin of life  RNA  Genetic inactivation of ANGPTL4 improves glucose homeostasis and is associated with reduced risk of diabetes OPEN Viktoria Gusarova , Colm O’Dushlaine, Tanya M. Teslovich, Peter N. Benotti, Tooraj Mirshahi, Omri Gottesman, Cristopher V. Van Hout, Michael F. Murray, Anubha Mahajan, Jonas B. Nielsen, Lars Fritsche, Anders Berg Wulff, Daniel F. Gudbjartsson, Marketa Sjögren, Connor A. Emdin, Robert A. Scott, Wen-Jane Lee, Aeron Small, Lydia C. Kwee, Om Prakash Dwivedi et al. Genetic variation in ANGPTL4 is associated with lipid traits. Here, the authors find that predicted loss-of-function variants in ANGPTL4 are associated with glucose homeostasis and reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and that Angptl4−/− mice on a high-fat diet show improved insulin sensitivity. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04611-z Diabetes  Genetic association study  Genetics research  Type 2 diabetes  Near infrared light induced plasmonic hot hole transfer at a nano-heterointerface OPEN Zichao Lian, Masanori Sakamoto, Hironori Matsunaga, Junie Jhon M. Vequizo, Akira Yamakata, Mitsutaka Haruta, Hiroki Kurata, Wataru Ota, Tohru Sato & Toshiharu Teranishi Hot hole transfer has applications in plasmonics, photocatalysis, and light harvesting, but is often limited by low quantum yields and short-lived charge separation times. Here, Lian et al. overcome these limitations in heterostructured nanocrystals and proposed a new hot hole transfer mechanism. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04630-w Energy transfer  Light harvesting  Nanoparticles  Nanophotonics and plasmonics  Soft transparent graphene contact lens electrodes for conformal full-cornea recording of electroretinogram OPEN Rongkang Yin, Zheng Xu, Ming Mei, Zhaolong Chen, Kai Wang, Yanlin Liu, Tao Tang, Manish Kr. Priydarshi, Xuejuan Meng, Siyuan Zhao, Bing Deng, Hailin Peng, Zhongfan Liu & Xiaojie Duan The electrical response of the eye to optical stimulus is important in disease diagnosis but current electrodes used have limitations. Here, the authors report on the development of soft transparent graphene-based contact lens electrodes for electroretinogram recording and test the device in vivo. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04781-w Biomedical engineering  Electrophysiology  Sensors and biosensors  A surface-modified antiperovskite as an electrocatalyst for water oxidation OPEN Yanping Zhu, Gao Chen, Yijun Zhong, Yubo Chen, Nana Ma, Wei Zhou & Zongping Shao Splitting water into its component elements, oxygen and hydrogen gas, provides a carbon-neutral fuel source, although the availability of cheap, earth-abundant catalysts is lacking. Here, the authors demonstrate antiperovskite-derived materials as high-performance water oxidation electrocatalysts. 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04682-y Electrocatalysis  Nanoscale materials  Solid-state chemistry  A photoelectrochemical platform for the capture and release of rare single cells OPEN Stephen G. Parker, Ying Yang, Simone Ciampi, Bakul Gupta, Kathleen Kimpton, Friederike M. Mansfeld, Maria Kavallaris, Katharina Gaus & J. Justin Gooding Many cell capture systems exist but the characterisation and controlled release of single cells is a challenge. Here, the authors report on the development of a duel trigger release system using a combination of photo and electro triggers to allow for light based analysis without unwanted release. 12 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04701-y Bionanoelectronics  Cellular imaging  Isolation, separation and purification  Surface chemistry  Reliance upon ancestral mutations is maintained in colorectal cancers that heterogeneously evolve during targeted therapies OPEN Mariangela Russo, Simona Lamba, Annalisa Lorenzato, Alberto Sogari, Giorgio Corti, Giuseppe Rospo, Benedetta Mussolin, Monica Montone, Luca Lazzari, Sabrina Arena, Daniele Oddo, Michael Linnebacher, Andrea Sartore-Bianchi, Filippo Pietrantonio, Salvatore Siena, Federica Di Nicolantonio & Alberto Bardelli The emergence of sub-clones that are resistant to targeted agents is a major therapeutic obstacle in oncology. Here, using colorectal cancer as a model system, the authors show that interfering with ancestral oncogenic events present in all subclones-like APC-WNT pathway alterations—can restrain the emergence of drug-resistant populations. 12 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04506-z Cancer genomics  Cancer therapeutic resistance  Colorectal cancer  Targeted therapies  Tumour heterogeneity  Tolerance to ambiguous uncertainty predicts prosocial behavior OPEN Marc-Lluís Vives & Oriel FeldmanHall Ambiguous uncertainty refers to situations where the likelihood of specific outcomes are not known. Here, the authors show that people tolerant to ambiguous uncertainty are more likely to make costly decisions to cooperate with or trust others. 12 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04631-9 Human behaviour  Psychology  Social behaviour  The global flood protection savings provided by coral reefs OPEN Michael W. Beck, Iñigo J. Losada, Pelayo Menéndez, Borja G. Reguero, Pedro Díaz-Simal & Felipe Fernández Coral reefs provide significant coastal protection from storms but they have experienced significant losses. Here the authors show that the annual damages from flooding would double globally without reefs and they quantify where reefs provide the most protection to people and property. 12 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04568-z Engineering  Natural hazards  Ocean sciences  Thermally triggered polyrotaxane translational motion helps proton transfer OPEN Xiaolin Ge, Yubin He, Xian Liang, Liang Wu, Yuan Zhu, Zhengjin Yang, Min Hu & Tongwen Xu Proton exchange is critical in many applications, such as in conductive proton exchange membranes, but achieving fast proton exchange still remains a challenge. Here the authors report fast proton exchange in a rotaxane based polymer by exploiting thermally triggered translational motion of the mechanically bonded rotaxane. 12 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04733-4 Electronic properties and materials  Interlocked molecules  Molecular machines and motors  α-synuclein oligomers interact with ATP synthase and open the permeability transition pore in Parkinson’s disease OPEN Marthe H. R. Ludtmann , Plamena R. Angelova, Mathew H. Horrocks, Minee L. Choi, Margarida Rodrigues, Artyom Y. Baev, Alexey V. Berezhnov, Zhi Yao, Daniel Little, Blerida Banushi, Afnan Saleh Al-Menhali, Rohan T. Ranasinghe, Daniel R. Whiten, Ratsuda Yapom, Karamjit Singh Dolt, Michael J. Devine, Paul Gissen, Tilo Kunath, Morana Jaganjac, Evgeny V. Pavlov et al. How toxic aggregated forms of α-synuclein lead to neurodegeneration is unclear. Here authors use biophysical and cellular imaging methods to show that specific oligomers of α-synuclein exert effects on mitochondria to induce opening of the permeability transition pore, leading to cell death in Parkinson’s disease. 12 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04422-2 Cellular neuroscience  Mechanisms of disease  Neurological disorders  Dishevelled has a YAP nuclear export function in a tumor suppressor context-dependent manner OPEN Yoonmi Lee, Nam Hee Kim, Eunae Sandra Cho, Ji Hye Yang, Yong Hoon Cha, Hee Eun Kang, Jun Seop Yun, Sue Bean Cho, Seon-Hyeong Lee, Petra Paclikova, Tomasz W. Radaszkiewicz, Vitezslav Bryja, Chi Gu Kang, Young Soo Yuk, So Young Cha, Soo-Youl Kim, Hyun Sil Kim & Jong In Yook Hippo and Wnt pathways are important for cancer development, and they can cross talk; however, the mechanisms behind this connection are unknown. Here the authors show that DVL (a scaffold protein in the Wnt pathway) regulates the shuttling of YAP (a key component of the Hippo pathway) between cytoplasm and nucleus in specific tumor suppressor contexts. 12 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04757-w Growth factor signalling  Morphogen signalling  Oncogenes  Computational design of high-performance ligand for enantioselective Markovnikov hydroboration of aliphatic terminal alkenes OPEN Hiroaki Iwamoto, Tsuneo Imamoto & Hajime Ito Trial-and-error methods to identify suitable ligands for transition metal catalysis are time-consuming and costly. Here, the authors developed a combined experimental and computational approach to design chiral ligands for the enantioselective Markovnikov hydroboration of aliphatic terminal alkenes. 12 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04693-9 Asymmetric catalysis  Computational chemistry  Organic chemistry  Caspr1 is a host receptor for meningitis-causing Escherichia coli OPEN Wei-Dong Zhao, Dong-Xin Liu, Jia-Yi Wei, Zi-Wei Miao, Ke Zhang, Zheng-Kang Su, Xue-Wei Zhang, Qiang Li, Wen-Gang Fang, Xiao-Xue Qin, De-Shu Shang, Bo Li, Qing-Chang Li, Liu Cao, Kwang Sik Kim & Yu-Hua Chen Penetration of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) is crucial for development of E. coli-caused meningitis. Here, the authors show that a host membrane protein, Caspr1, acts as a receptor for a bacterial virulence factor to facilitate BBB penetration and entry of E. coli into brain neurons. 12 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04637-3 Mechanisms of disease  Pathogens  Spatio-temporal relays control layer identity of direction-selective neuron subtypes in Drosophila OPEN Holger Apitz & Iris Salecker Direction-selective T4/T5 neurons show layer-specific projections in the fly visual circuit. Examining the mechanisms behind their development, the authors found that a relay of Wnt and Bmp signaling across neuroepithelial domains and transcription factor interactions specify T4/T5 subtype identity. 12 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04592-z Development of the nervous system  Neurogenesis  Achieving high permeability and enhanced selectivity for Angstrom-scale separations using artificial water channel membranes OPEN Yue-xiao Shen, Woochul C. Song, D. Ryan Barden, Tingwei Ren, Chao Lang, Hasin Feroz, Codey B. Henderson, Patrick O. Saboe, Daniel Tsai, Hengjing Yan, Peter J. Butler, Guillermo C. Bazan, William A. Phillip, Robert J. Hickey, Paul S. Cremer, Harish Vashisth & Manish Kumar Synthetic polymeric membranes used for separations suffer from permeability-selectivity trade-offs. Here the authors demonstrate how a bioinspired pillar[5]arene artificial water channel embedded in a copolymer membrane can improve selectivity while still achieving high permeability. 12 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04604-y Molecular self-assembly  Self-assembly  Two-dimensional materials  Oxidized phospholipids regulate amino acid metabolism through MTHFD2 to facilitate nucleotide release in endothelial cells OPEN Juliane Hitzel , Eunjee Lee, Yi Zhang, Sofia Iris Bibli, Xiaogang Li, Sven Zukunft, Beatrice Pflüger, Jiong Hu, Christoph Schürmann, Andrea Estefania Vasconez, James A. Oo, Adelheid Kratzer, Sandeep Kumar, Flávia Rezende, Ivana Josipovic, Dominique Thomas, Hector Giral, Yannick Schreiber, Gerd Geisslinger, Christian Fork et al. During atherosclerosis, endothelial cells release purines in response to oxidized phospholipids. Here, Hitzel et al. show that oxidized phospholipids activate an MTHFD2-regulated gene network in endothelial cells which reprograms amino acid metabolism towards production of purines and thus compensates for their loss. 12 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04602-0 Atherosclerosis  Bayesian inference  Phospholipids  Regulatory networks  Spatially confined lignin nanospheres for biocatalytic ester synthesis in aqueous media OPEN Mika Henrikki Sipponen, Muhammad Farooq, Jari Koivisto, Alessandro Pellis, Jani Seitsonen & Monika Österberg Development of biocatalysts that mimic compartmentalized reactions in cells has been cumbersome due to the lack of low-cost materials and associated technologies. Here the authors show that cationic lignin nanospheres function as activating anchors for hydrolases, and enable aqueous ester synthesis by forming spatially confined biocatalysts. 12 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04715-6 Biocatalysis  Bioinspired materials  Enzymes  Green chemistry  Molecular self-assembly  Estimating geological CO2 storage security to deliver on climate mitigation OPEN Juan Alcalde, Stephanie Flude, Mark Wilkinson, Gareth Johnson, Katriona Edlmann, Clare E. Bond, Vivian Scott, Stuart M. V. Gilfillan, Xènia Ogaya & R. Stuart Haszeldine Carbon capture and storage can help reduce CO2 emissions but the confidence in geologic CO2 storage security is uncertain. Here the authors present a numerical programme to estimate leakage from wells and find that under appropriate regulation 98% of injected CO2 will be retained over 10,000 years. 12 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04423-1 Carbon capture and storage  Climate-change mitigation  Energy infrastructure  Projection and prediction  Finding influential nodes for integration in brain networks using optimal percolation theory OPEN Gino Del Ferraro, Andrea Moreno, Byungjoon Min, Flaviano Morone, Úrsula Pérez-Ramírez, Laura Pérez-Cervera, Lucas C. Parra, Andrei Holodny, Santiago Canals & Hernán A. Makse Complex networks can be used to model brain networks. Here the authors identify the essential nodes in a model of a brain network and then validate these predictions by means of in vivo pharmacogenetic interventions. They find that the nucleus accumbens is a central region for brain integration. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04718-3 Complex networks  Hippocampus  Identifying gene targets for brain-related traits using transcriptomic and methylomic data from blood OPEN Ting Qi, Yang Wu, Jian Zeng, Futao Zhang, Angli Xue, Longda Jiang, Zhihong Zhu, Kathryn Kemper, Loic Yengo, Zhili Zheng, Riccardo E. Marioni, Grant W. Montgomery, Ian J. Deary, Naomi R. Wray, Peter M. Visscher, Allan F. McRae & Jian Yang To comprehend the genetic regulatory mechanisms underlying brain-related traits in humans, Qi et al. estimate the correlation of expression and DNA methylation QTL effects in cis between blood and brain and show that using blood eQTL/mQTL data of large sample size  can increase power in gene discovery for brain-related traits and diseases. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04558-1 DNA methylation  Gene regulation  Genetics of the nervous system  Genome-wide association studies  Chronic hepatitis C virus infection irreversibly impacts human natural killer cell repertoire diversity OPEN Benedikt Strunz, Julia Hengst, Katja Deterding, Michael P. Manns, Markus Cornberg, Hans-Gustaf Ljunggren, Heiner Wedemeyer & Niklas K. Björkström Natural killer (NK) cells are important immune cells for mediating antiviral immunity. Here the authors show that chronic hepatitis C virus infection in human can imprint lasting functional phenotypes in NK cells to increase their inter-individual but decrease intra-individual diversity. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04685-9 Hepatitis C  NK cells  Viral infection  Transport regimes of a split gate superconducting quantum point contact in the two-dimensional LaAlO3/SrTiO3 superfluid OPEN Holger Thierschmann, Emre Mulazimoglu, Nicola Manca, Srijit Goswami, Teun M. Klapwijk & Andrea D. Caviglia Quantum transport in superconductors remains difficult to study due to the typically small Fermi wavelength. Here, Thierschmann et al. demonstrate a superconducting quantum point contact with split gate technology at the superconducting LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface and, due to its two-dimensionality, identify three regimes of quantum transport. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04657-z Electronic properties and materials  Superconducting devices  Superconducting properties and materials  Ependymal cilia beating induces an actin network to protect centrioles against shear stress OPEN Alexia Mahuzier, Asm Shihavuddin, Clémence Fournier, Pauline Lansade, Marion Faucourt, Nikita Menezes, Alice Meunier, Meriem Garfa-Traoré, Marie-France Carlier, Raphael Voituriez, Auguste Genovesio, Nathalie Spassky & Nathalie Delgehyr Ependymal ciliary beating contributes to the flow of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain ventricles and these cilia resist the flow forces. Here the authors show that the assembly of a dense actin network around the centrioles is induced by cilia beating to protect centrioles against the shear stress generated by ciliary motility. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04676-w Actin  Centrosome  Cilia  Variations in Dysbindin-1 are associated with cognitive response to antipsychotic drug treatment OPEN Diego Scheggia , Rosa Mastrogiacomo, Maddalena Mereu, Sara Sannino, Richard E. Straub, Marco Armando, Francesca Managò, Simone Guadagna, Fabrizio Piras, Fengyu Zhang, Joel E. Kleinman, Thomas M. Hyde, Sanne S. Kaalund, Maria Pontillo, Genny Orso, Carlo Caltagirone, Emiliana Borrelli, Maria A. De Luca, Stefano Vicari, Daniel R. Weinberger et al. Patients with schizophrenia show varied response to antipsychotics. Here, the authors demonstrate in patients under antipsychotics treatment that a haplotype associated with lower dysbindin-1 expression correlated with better executive functions, providing further mechanistic support from mouse models. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04711-w Molecular medicine  Psychiatric disorders  Schizophrenia  Structural basis for the regulation of human 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase by phosphorylation and S-adenosylmethionine inhibition OPEN D. Sean Froese, Jolanta Kopec, Elzbieta Rembeza, Gustavo Arruda Bezerra, Anselm Erich Oberholzer, Terttu Suormala, Seraina Lutz, Rod Chalk, Oktawia Borkowska, Matthias R. Baumgartner & Wyatt W. Yue The human enzyme MTHFR links the folate and methionine cycles, which are essential for the biosynthesis of nucleotides and proteins. Here, the authors present the crystal structure and biochemical analysis of human MTHFR, providing molecular insights into its function and regulation in higher eukaryotes. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04735-2 Mass spectrometry  Oxidoreductases  SAXS  X-ray crystallography  In situ atomistic insight into the growth mechanisms of single layer 2D transition metal carbides OPEN Xiahan Sang, Yu Xie, Dundar E. Yilmaz, Roghayyeh Lotfi, Mohamed Alhabeb, Alireza Ostadhossein, Babak Anasori, Weiwei Sun, Xufan Li, Kai Xiao, Paul R. C. Kent, Adri C. T. van Duin, Yury Gogotsi & Raymond R. Unocic Understanding bottom-up growth mechanisms of 2D transition metal carbides (MXenes) may enable new synthetic routes to tailor functional properties. Here, the authors use in situ electron microscopy, density functional theory and molecular dynamics simulations to reveal the homoepitaxial growth mechanisms of a single TiC adlayer from a Ti3C2 monolayer substrate. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04610-0 Synthesis and processing  Transmission electron microscopy  Two-dimensional materials  Expansion of a superconducting vortex core into a diffusive metal OPEN Vasily S. Stolyarov, Tristan Cren, Christophe Brun, Igor A. Golovchanskiy, Olga V. Skryabina, Daniil I. Kasatonov, Mikhail M. Khapaev, Mikhail Yu. Kupriyanov, Alexander A. Golubov & Dimitri Roditchev Quantum condensates may penetrate from one material to another due to the proximity effect. Here, Stolyarov et al. report the spatial evolution of quantum vortices from a superconducting Nb layer to a 50 nanometer thick diffusive metallic Cu-film, which is quite thick away from the interface. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04582-1 Superconducting properties and materials  Surfaces, interfaces and thin films  Soluble E-cadherin promotes tumor angiogenesis and localizes to exosome surface OPEN Maggie K. S. Tang, Patrick Y. K. Yue, Philip P. Ip, Rui-Lan Huang, Hung-Cheng Lai, Annie N. Y. Cheung, Ka Yu Tse, Hextan Y. S. Ngan & Alice S. T. Wong A soluble form E-cadherin is highly expressed in ovarian cancer. Here, the authors show that soluble E-cadherin is released by ovarian cancer cells packaged in exosomes and promotes tumor angiogenesis through β-catenin and NFkB signaling activation. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04695-7 Mechanisms of disease  Tumour angiogenesis  Cellular stress alters 3′UTR landscape through alternative polyadenylation and isoform-specific degradation OPEN Dinghai Zheng, Ruijia Wang, Qingbao Ding, Tianying Wang, Bingning Xie, Lu Wei, Zhaohua Zhong & Bin Tian The function and consequences of alternative polyadenylation (APA) in stressed cells are largely unclear. Here, the authors show that stress-induced mRNA degradation depends on 3′UTR length and that APA-mediated 3′UTR shortening is an adaptive stress response mechanism for selective transcript stabilization. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04730-7 RNA-binding proteins  RNA decay  RNA sequencing  Stress signalling  Nanoscale membranes that chemically isolate and electronically wire up the abiotic/biotic interface OPEN Jose A. Cornejo, Hua Sheng, Eran Edri, Caroline M. Ajo-Franklin & Heinz Frei Bioelectrochemical cells have huge potential, yet incompatibilities between the microbe and abiotic catalysts can affect efficiency. Here, the authors report the development of thin silica membranes with bridging molecular wires that chemically separate yet electrically connect the two components. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04707-6 Bioenergetics  Fuel cells  Materials for energy and catalysis  Synthesis and processing  Parallels between experimental and natural evolution of legume symbionts OPEN Camille Clerissi, Marie Touchon, Delphine Capela, Mingxing Tang, Stéphane Cruveiller, Matthew A. Parker, Lionel Moulin, Catherine Masson-Boivin & Eduardo P. C. Rocha It is unclear if experimental evolution is a good model for natural processes. Here, Clerissi et al. find parallels between the evolution of symbiosis in rhizobia after horizontal transfer of a plasmid over 10 million years ago and experimentally evolved symbionts. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04778-5 Comparative genomics  Experimental evolution  Genome evolution  Mobile elements  Diversity and evolution of the emerging Pandoraviridae family OPEN Matthieu Legendre, Elisabeth Fabre, Olivier Poirot, Sandra Jeudy, Audrey Lartigue, Jean-Marie Alempic, Laure Beucher, Nadège Philippe, Lionel Bertaux, Eugène Christo-Foroux, Karine Labadie, Yohann Couté, Chantal Abergel & Jean-Michel Claverie Giant viruses are visible by light microscopy and have unusually long genomes. Here, the authors report three new members of the Pandoraviridae family and investigate their evolution and diversity. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04698-4 Comparative genomics  Genome evolution  Molecular evolution  Viral evolution  Postsynaptic RIM1 modulates synaptic function by facilitating membrane delivery of recycling NMDARs in hippocampal neurons OPEN Jiejie Wang, Xinyou Lv, Yu Wu, Tao Xu, Mingfei Jiao, Risheng Yang, Xia Li, Ming Chen, Yinggang Yan, Changwan Chen, Weifan Dong, Wei Yang, Min Zhuo, Tao Chen, Jianhong Luo & Shuang Qiu Rab3-interacting molecules (RIMs) are a key component of the presynaptic active zone that regulate neurotransmitter release. Here, the authors show that RIM1 also has postsynaptic function to organize NMDA receptors and synaptic response. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04672-0 Exocytosis  Molecular neuroscience  Synaptic transmission  Fine-mapping of prostate cancer susceptibility loci in a large meta-analysis identifies candidate causal variants OPEN Tokhir Dadaev , Edward J. Saunders, Paul J. Newcombe, Ezequiel Anokian, Daniel A. Leongamornlert, Mark N. Brook, Clara Cieza-Borrella, Martina Mijuskovic, Sarah Wakerell, Ali Amin Al Olama, Fredrick R. Schumacher, Sonja I. Berndt, Sara Benlloch, Mahbubl Ahmed, Chee Goh, Xin Sheng, Zhuo Zhang, Kenneth Muir, Koveela Govindasami, Artitaya Lophatananon et al. Prostate cancer (PrCa) involves a large heritable genetic component. Here, the authors perform multivariate fine-mapping of known PrCa GWAS loci, identifying variants enriched for biological function, explaining more familial relative risk, and with potential application in clinical risk profiling. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04109-8 Genetics research  Prostate cancer  Selective manipulation of electronically excited states through strong light–matter interactions OPEN Kati Stranius, Manuel Hertzog & Karl Börjesson Manipulating energy levels in molecules could allow applications such as improving organic LEDs. Here, the authors show evidence that reversed intersystem crossing can be enhanced in Erythrosine B coupled to a cavity by selectively manipulating the energy of the singlet state. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04736-1 Excited states  Fluorescence spectroscopy  Organic molecules in materials science  SKP2- and OTUD1-regulated non-proteolytic ubiquitination of YAP promotes YAP nuclear localization and activity OPEN Fan Yao, Zhicheng Zhou, Jongchan Kim, Qinglei Hang, Zhenna Xiao, Baochau N. Ton, Liang Chang, Na Liu, Liyong Zeng, Wenqi Wang, Yumeng Wang, Peijing Zhang, Xiaoyu Hu, Xiaohua Su, Han Liang, Yutong Sun & Li Ma Regulation of Yes-associated protein (YAP) through the Hippo pathway is well established, but its Hippo-independent regulation remains to be elucidated. Here, the authors show that non-proteolytic ubiquitination presents another means of YAP regulation, promoting its nuclear localization and activity. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04620-y Protein translocation  Ubiquitylated proteins  Ubiquitylation  An anionic phthalocyanine decreases NRAS expression by breaking down its RNA G-quadruplex OPEN Keiko Kawauchi, Wataru Sugimoto, Takatoshi Yasui, Kohei Murata, Katsuhiko Itoh, Kazuki Takagi, Takaaki Tsuruoka, Kensuke Akamatsu, Hisae Tateishi-Karimata, Naoki Sugimoto & Daisuke Miyoshi Hyperactivity of the gene NRAS contributes to the proliferation and metastatic nature of many types of cancer cells. Here, the authors show that NRAS can be controlled by an anionic phthalocyanine coordinating Zn2+ in combination with photo-irradiation. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04771-y Nucleic acids  RNA  Modular cell-internalizing aptamer nanostructure enables targeted delivery of large functional RNAs in cancer cell lines OPEN David Porciani, Leah N. Cardwell, Kwaku D. Tawiah, Khalid K. Alam, Margaret J. Lange, Mark A. Daniels & Donald H. Burke Large RNAs and ribonucleoprotein complexes have shown potential as novel therapeutic agents, but their targeted delivery to cells is still challenging. Here the authors present a modular aptamer nanostructure for intracellular delivery of RNAs up to 250 nucleotides to cancer cells. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04691-x Nucleic acids  Oligo delivery  Top-down feedback controls spatial summation and response amplitude in primate visual cortex OPEN Lauri Nurminen, Sam Merlin, Maryam Bijanzadeh, Frederick Federer & Alessandra Angelucci Feedback modulation of V1 is implicated in functions such as attention yet the precise neural mechanisms are not known. Here the authors report that optogenetic inactivation of V2 projections leads to modulation of V1 receptive field properties such as size, surround suppression and response amplitude. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04500-5 Neural circuits  Striate cortex  Map of synthetic rescue interactions for the Fanconi anemia DNA repair pathway identifies USP48 OPEN Georgia Velimezi, Lydia Robinson-Garcia, Francisco Muñoz-Martínez, Wouter W. Wiegant, Joana Ferreira da Silva, Michel Owusu, Martin Moder, Marc Wiedner, Sara Brin Rosenthal, Kathleen M. Fisch, Jason Moffat, Jörg Menche, Haico van Attikum, Stephen P. Jackson & Joanna I. Loizou Fanconi anemia is a rare disease caused by defective DNA interstrand crosslink repair. Here the authors observe that USP48 deficiencies reduce chromosomal instability in FA-defective cells, suggesting it might be a potential therapeutic target. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04649-z Cell signalling  DNA damage and repair  Genetic interaction  Interplay of the two ancient metabolites auxin and MEcPP regulates adaptive growth OPEN Jishan Jiang, Cecilia Rodriguez-Furlan, Jin-Zheng Wang, Amancio de Souza, Haiyan Ke, Taras Pasternak, Hanna Lasok, Franck A. Ditengou, Klaus Palme & Katayoon Dehesh MEcPP is an evolutionarily conserved plastidial metabolite functioning as a retrograde signal to the nucleus in response to environmental stresses. Here Jiang et al. show that MEcPP can reduce the abundance of auxin and an auxin transporter, providing a mechanistic link between plastids and adaptive growth responses. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04708-5 Chloroplasts  Plant sciences  Plant signalling  Rice actin binding protein RMD controls crown root angle in response to external phosphate OPEN Guoqiang Huang, Wanqi Liang, Craig J. Sturrock, Bipin K. Pandey, Jitender Giri, Stefan Mairhofer, Daoyang Wang, Lukas Muller, Hexin Tan, Larry M. York, Jing Yang, Yu Song, Yu-Jin Kim, Yang Qiao, Jian Xu, Stefan Kepinski, Malcolm J. Bennett & Dabing Zhang The orientation of plant roots responds to gravity and influences nutrient acquisition. Here the authors show that the formin RMD buffers movement of specialized gravity-sensing organelles and report enhanced RMD expression during phosphate deficiency that could alter root angle to improve phosphate uptake. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04710-x Abiotic  Cytoskeleton  Drivers of woody plant encroachment over Africa OPEN Z. S. Venter, M. D. Cramer & H.-J. Hawkins Woody plant encroachment has important implications for habitat conservation and global carbon budgets, but its drivers require quantification. Here, Venter et al. report that encroachment is predominantly driven by human activities, changing weather conditions, fire, and herbivory. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04616-8 Ecosystem ecology  Ecosystem services  Chemical synthesis of perfectly isotactic and high melting bacterial poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) from bio-sourced racemic cyclic diolide OPEN Xiaoyan Tang & Eugene Y.-X. Chen Bacterial poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) possesses physical and mechanical properties suitable for substituting high-performance petroleum plastics but current production is costly and slow. Here the authors produce poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) with similar properties via ring-opening polymerization of bio-derived racemic cyclic diolide. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04734-3 Polymer synthesis  Sustainability  A multiethnic genome-wide association study of primary open-angle glaucoma identifies novel risk loci OPEN Hélène Choquet, Seyyedhassan Paylakhi, Stephen C. Kneeland, Khanh K. Thai, Thomas J. Hoffmann, Jie Yin, Mark N. Kvale, Yambazi Banda, Nicholas G. Tolman, Pete A. Williams, Catherine Schaefer, Ronald B. Melles, Neil Risch, Simon W. M. John, K. Saidas Nair & Eric Jorgenson Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) leads to progressive vision loss. Here, Choquet et al. perform genome-wide association analysis for POAG in a multi-ethnic cohort, identify a total of nine novel genetic loci and show relevant function of FMNL2 and LMX1B using cell line and mouse experiments. 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04555-4 Genetics research  Genome-wide association studies  Glaucoma  Risk factors  Scaling law for excitons in 2D perovskite quantum wells OPEN J.-C. Blancon, A. V. Stier, H. Tsai, W. Nie, C. C. Stoumpos, B. Traoré, L. Pedesseau, M. Kepenekian, F. Katsutani, G. T. Noe, J. Kono, S. Tretiak, S. A. Crooker, C. Katan, M. G. Kanatzidis, J. J. Crochet, J. Even & A. D. Mohite Hybrid 2D layered perovskites are solution-processed quantum wells whose optoelectronic properties are tunable by varying the thickness of the inorganic slab. Here Blancon et al. work out a general behavior for dependence of the excitonic properties in layered 2D perovskites. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04659-x Organic–inorganic nanostructures  Semiconductors  Two-dimensional materials  Topologically frustrated dynamics of crowded charged macromolecules in charged hydrogels OPEN Di Jia & Murugappan Muthukumar Diffusion of molecules in crowded environment is important for various living systems, but the dynamics of charged molecules in charged matrices remains still unexplored. Here the authors report a dynamics of DNA and polyelectrolytes in a charged hydrogel where the guest molecules do not diffuse but experience topologically frustrated dynamics. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04661-3 DNA and RNA  Gels and hydrogels  Polymers  Macrophage migration inhibitory factor is required for NLRP3 inflammasome activation OPEN Tali Lang, Jacinta P. W. Lee, Kirstin Elgass, Anita A. Pinar, Michelle D. Tate, Elizabeth H. Aitken, Huapeng Fan, Sarah J. Creed, Nadia S. Deen, Daouda A. K. Traore, Ivo Mueller, Danielle Stanisic, Francesca S. Baiwog, Colin Skene, Matthew C. J. Wilce, Ashley Mansell, Eric F. Morand & James Harris MIF is a cytokine best known for its modulatory effect on expression of proinflammatory cytokines. Here the authors show that MIF facilitates the NLRP3–vimentin interaction, resulting in Nlrp3 inflammasome activation. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04581-2 Cell biology  Cytokines  Inflammasome  Innate immunity  Analysis of 3800-year-old Yersinia pestis genomes suggests Bronze Age origin for bubonic plague OPEN Maria A. Spyrou, Rezeda I. Tukhbatova, Chuan-Chao Wang, Aida Andrades Valtueña, Aditya K. Lankapalli, Vitaly V. Kondrashin, Victor A. Tsybin, Aleksandr Khokhlov, Denise Kühnert, Alexander Herbig, Kirsten I. Bos & Johannes Krause Yersinia pestis has caused infections (plague) in humans since the Early Bronze Age (5000 years ago). Here, Spyrou et al. reconstruct Y. pestis genomes from Late Bronze Age individuals, and find genomic evidence compatible with flea-mediated transmission causing bubonic plague. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04550-9 Bacterial genetics  Bacterial infection  Phylodynamic assessment of intervention strategies for the West African Ebola virus outbreak OPEN Simon Dellicour, Guy Baele, Gytis Dudas, Nuno R. Faria, Oliver G. Pybus, Marc A. Suchard, Andrew Rambaut & Philippe Lemey During the last Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, a large amount of viral genomic data was obtained. Here, Dellicour et al. use phylodynamic approaches to assess effect of intervention strategies such as border closures. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03763-2 Bayesian inference  Ebola virus  Epidemiology  Phylogeny  Globally asynchronous sulphur isotope signals require re-definition of the Great Oxidation Event OPEN Pascal Philippot, Janaína N. Ávila, Bryan A. Killingsworth, Svetlana Tessalina, Franck Baton, Tom Caquineau, Elodie Muller, Ernesto Pecoits, Pierre Cartigny, Stefan V. Lalonde, Trevor R. Ireland, Christophe Thomazo, Martin J. van Kranendonk & Vincent Busigny The Great Oxidation Event (GOE) is considered to have occurred at 2.33–2.32 Ga based on the last occurrence of MIF-S in South Africa. Here, based on sulphur isotope analysis of samples from Western Australia, the authors show preservation of MIF-S beyond 2.31 Ga and call for a re-evaluation of GOE timing. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04621-x Element cycles  Geochemistry  Ni(II)-catalyzed asymmetric alkenylations of ketimines OPEN Mao Quan, Xiaoxiao Wang, Liang Wu, Ilya D. Gridnev, Guoqiang Yang & Wanbin Zhang Chiral allylic amines are often encountered in bioactive compounds and can be conveniently transformed into other chiral amines. Here, the authors report nickel-catalyzed enantioselective addition and addition/ring-expansion of alkenylboronic acids to ketimines providing a range of valuable chiral azaheterocycles. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04645-3 Asymmetric catalysis  Catalyst synthesis  Synthetic chemistry methodology  Boosting hot electron flux and catalytic activity at metal–oxide interfaces of PtCo bimetallic nanoparticles OPEN Hyosun Lee, Juhyung Lim, Changhwan Lee, Seoin Back, Kwangjin An, Jae Won Shin, Ryong Ryoo, Yousung Jung & Jeong Young Park The real-time quantitative detection of hot electrons provides critical clues to understand the origin of the enhanced catalytic performance of bimetallic nanoparticles (NPs). Here, the authors investigate hot electrons generated on bimetallic PtCo NPs during H2 oxidation by measuring the chemicurrent on a catalytic nanodiode. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04713-8 Nanoparticles  Surface spectroscopy  Dynamically prognosticating patients with hepatocellular carcinoma through survival paths mapping based on time-series data OPEN Lujun Shen, Qi Zeng, Pi Guo, Jingjun Huang, Chaofeng Li, Tao Pan, Boyang Chang, Nan Wu, Lewei Yang, Qifeng Chen, Tao Huang, Wang Li & Peihong Wu Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma require regular follow-up. Here, using Cox-based feature selection to identify key prognostic features, the authors convert time-series follow-up data into a cascading survival map, and show that the approach improves dynamic prognosis prediction for patients. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04633-7 Cancer models  Liver cancer  Synergistic and low adverse effect cancer immunotherapy by immunogenic chemotherapy and locally expressed PD-L1 trap OPEN Wantong Song, Limei Shen, Ying Wang, Qi Liu, Tyler J. Goodwin, Jingjing Li, Olekasandra Dorosheva, Tianzhou Liu, Rihe Liu & Leaf Huang Microsatellite-stable (MSS) colorectal cancer (CRC) has shown poor response to checkpoint blockade immunotherapy. Here, the authors show that the combination of oxaliplatin with anti-PDL1 mAb is specifically efficient in the treatment of MSS CRC. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04605-x Colorectal cancer  Drug delivery  Immunotherapy  Dephosphorylation of the HIV-1 restriction factor SAMHD1 is mediated by PP2A-B55α holoenzymes during mitotic exit OPEN Kerstin Schott, Nina V. Fuchs, Rita Derua, Bijan Mahboubi, Esther Schnellbächer, Janna Seifried, Christiane Tondera, Heike Schmitz, Caitlin Shepard, Alberto Brandariz-Nuñez, Felipe Diaz-Griffero, Andreas Reuter, Baek Kim, Veerle Janssens & Renate König SAMHD1 is a critical restriction factor for HIV-1 and its antiviral activity is regulated by T592 phosphorylation. Here, Schott et al. show that the phosphatase PP2A-B55α dephosphorylates SAMHD1 during mitotic exit, rendering it antivirally active in G1 phase of primary CD4+ T cells. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04671-1 Cell-cycle exit  HIV infections  Innate immunity  Restriction factors  A multi-modal MRI study of the central response to inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis OPEN Andrew Schrepf, Chelsea M. Kaplan, Eric Ichesco, Tony Larkin, Steven E. Harte, Richard E. Harris, Alison D. Murray, Gordon D. Waiter, Daniel J. Clauw & Neil Basu Many diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, are characterized by a chronic inflammatory state, but it is not clear whether or how this affects the brain. Here, the authors show that the severity of on-going inflammation predicts altered functional brain connectivity in people with rheumatoid arthritis. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04648-0 Chronic inflammation  Neural circuits  Neuroimmunology  Rheumatoid arthritis  Solvent-controlled growth of inorganic perovskite films in dry environment for efficient and stable solar cells OPEN Pengyang Wang, Xingwang Zhang, Yuqin Zhou, Qi Jiang, Qiufeng Ye, Zema Chu, Xingxing Li, Xiaolei Yang, Zhigang Yin & Jingbi You Cesium lead iodide inorganic perovskite solar cells have great potential but the phase instability hinders their development. Here Wang et al. show a controlled drying process to make phase stable and highly efficient solar cells with power conversion efficiency of 15.7%. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04636-4 Devices for energy harvesting  Solar cells  Concurrence of form and function in developing networks and its role in synaptic pruning OPEN Ana P. Millán, J. J. Torres, S. Johnson & J Marro How structure and function coevolve in developing brains is little understood. Here, the authors study a coupled model of network development and memory, and find that due to the feedback networks with some initial memory capacity evolve into heterogeneous structures with high memory performance. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04537-6 Complex networks  Computational science  Network models  Gene flow contributes to diversification of the major fungal pathogen Candida albicans OPEN Jeanne Ropars , Corinne Maufrais, Dorothée Diogo, Marina Marcet-Houben, Aurélie Perin, Natacha Sertour, Kevin Mosca, Emmanuelle Permal, Guillaume Laval, Christiane Bouchier, Laurence Ma, Katja Schwartz, Kerstin Voelz, Robin C. May, Julie Poulain, Christophe Battail, Patrick Wincker, Andrew M. Borman, Anuradha Chowdhary, Shangrong Fan et al. The fungal pathogen Candida albicans can undergo a parasexual process that may contribute to genetic diversity, but its actual relevance is unclear. Here, Ropars et al. analyse the genomic sequences of 182 C. albicans isolates collected worldwide and find evidence of gene flow and thus parasexuality in nature. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04787-4 Microbial genetics  Pathogens  Population genetics  CREB controls cortical circuit plasticity and functional recovery after stroke OPEN L. Caracciolo, M. Marosi, J. Mazzitelli, S. Latifi, Y. Sano, L. Galvan, R. Kawaguchi, S. Holley, M. S. Levine, G. Coppola, C. Portera-Cailliau, A. J. Silva & S. T. Carmichael Increasing excitability in the peri-infarct area enhances motor recovery after stroke. Here the authors show that expressing CREB, a transcription factor known for its role in synaptic plasticity, or increasing activity of CREB-expressing cells near the stroke site improves recovery in an effect that is strong enough that it can be used to turn on and off motor recovery after stroke. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04445-9 Stroke  Ultrafast perturbation maps as a quantitative tool for testing of multi-port photonic devices OPEN Kevin Vynck, Nicholas J. Dinsdale, Bigeng Chen, Roman Bruck, Ali Z. Khokhar, Scott A. Reynolds, Lee Crudgington, David J. Thomson, Graham T. Reed, Philippe Lalanne & Otto L. Muskens Advanced photonic probes are important for the development of non-contact wafer-scale testing of photonic chips. Here, Vynck et al. develop a quantitative technique based on mapping of transmittance variations by ultrafast perturbations to analyze arbitrary linear multi-port photonic devices. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04662-2 Imaging and sensing  Integrated optics  Silicon photonics  Optical spectroscopy  Rapid and widespread white matter plasticity during an intensive reading intervention OPEN Elizabeth Huber, Patrick M. Donnelly, Ariel Rokem & Jason D. Yeatman White matter properties correlate with cognitive performance in a number of domains. Here the authors show that altering a child’s educational environment though a targeted intervention program induces rapid, large-scale changes in the white matter, and that these changes track the learning process. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04627-5 Dyslexia  Reading  Nickel-catalyzed reductive thiolation and selenylation of unactivated alkyl bromides OPEN Yi Fang, Torben Rogge, Lutz Ackermann, Shun-Yi Wang & Shun-Jun Ji Chalcogen-containing compounds find broad application in chemical industry. Here, the authors report a nickel-catalyzed reductive chalcogenation of unactivated alkyl bromides with thiosulfonates and selenosulfonates to access a range of unsymmetrical sulfides and selenides under mild conditions. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04646-2 Homogeneous catalysis  Synthetic chemistry methodology  Reaction mechanisms  Cyclophilin A enables specific HIV-1 Tat palmitoylation and accumulation in uninfected cells OPEN Christophe Chopard, Phuoc Bao Viet Tong, Petra Tóth, Malvina Schatz, Hocine Yezid, Solène Debaisieux, Clément Mettling, Antoine Gross, Martine Pugnière, Annie Tu, Jean-Marc Strub, Jean-Michel Mesnard, Nicolas Vitale & Bruno Beaumelle It is not clear whether and how incoming HIV-1 Tat accumulates in uninfected cells. Here, Chopard et al. show that, in uninfected cells, incoming Tat is palmitoylated on Cys31 by DHHC-20, which increases its affinity for PI(4,5)P2 and results in its accumulation at the plasma membrane. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04674-y HIV infections  Mechanisms of disease  Protein translocation  Virus–host interactions  Mitochondrial reactive oxygen species regulate the induction of CD8+ T cells by plasmacytoid dendritic cells OPEN Marine Oberkampf, Camille Guillerey, Juliette Mouriès, Pierre Rosenbaum, Catherine Fayolle, Alexandre Bobard, Ariel Savina, Eric Ogier-Denis, Jost Enninga, Sebastian Amigorena, Claude Leclerc & Gilles Dadaglio Cross-presentation allows exogenous antigens to be presented by the major histocompatibility I pathway. Here the authors show that the inducible cross-presentation by plasmacytoid dendritic cells is modulated by mitochondria-originated reactive oxygen species. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04686-8 Antigen presentation  Cytotoxic T cells  Plasmacytoid dendritic cells  Toll-like receptors  Strong sesquiterpene emissions from Amazonian soils OPEN E. Bourtsoukidis, T. Behrendt, A. M. Yañez-Serrano, H. Hellén, E. Diamantopoulos, E. Catão, K. Ashworth, A. Pozzer, C. A. Quesada, D. L. Martins, M. Sá, A. Araujo, J. Brito, P. Artaxo, J. Kesselmeier, J. Lelieveld & J. Williams Recent measurements in the Amazon rainforest indicate missing sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Here the authors show that soil microorganisms are a strong, unaccounted source of highly reactive sesquiterpenes, a class of VOCs that can regulate ozone chemistry within the forest canopy. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04658-y Atmospheric chemistry  Carbon cycle  Forest ecology  Individuality and convergence of the infant gut microbiota during the first year of life OPEN Eric J. de Muinck & Pål Trosvik Microbial colonization of the gut is a key process in infant development. Here, de Muinck and Trosvik analyze 2,684 fecal specimens sampled from 12 infants during their first year of life, providing detailed insights into the human gut colonization process. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04641-7 Microbial ecology  Microbiome  Experimental realization of a Rydberg optical Feshbach resonance in a quantum many-body system OPEN O. Thomas, C. Lippe, T. Eichert & H. Ott Ultracold Rydberg molecules have characteristic properties that can be exploited for quantum control and applications. Here the authors demonstrate a Rydberg optical Feshbach resonance, which is based on ultra-long-range Rydberg molecules. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04684-w Atomic and molecular collision processes  Bose–Einstein condensates  Quantum simulation  Interplay between spherical confinement and particle shape on the self-assembly of rounded cubes OPEN Da Wang, Michiel Hermes, Ramakrishna Kotni, Yaoting Wu, Nikos Tasios, Yang Liu, Bart de Nijs, Ernest B. van der Wee, Christopher B. Murray, Marjolein Dijkstra & Alfons van Blaaderen Colloidal nanoparticles self-assembled under spherical confinement can form a rich variety of structures. Here, the authors study the self-assembly of sharp and rounded nanocubes under such confinement, revealing the influence of particle and face geometry on positional and orientational behavior. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04644-4 Colloids  Nanoparticles  Self-assembly  Statistical physics  Anomalous Hall magnetoresistance in a ferromagnet OPEN Yumeng Yang, Ziyan Luo, Haijun Wu, Yanjun Xu, Run-Wei Li, Stephen J. Pennycook, Shufeng Zhang & Yihong Wu Magnetoresistance in ferromagnetic materials and heterostructures have been enabling advanced understanding of electron transport in solids, as well as new concepts for applications. Here the authors demonstrate a different type of magnetoresistance arising from anomalous Hall effect associated spin–charge mutual conversion. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04712-9 Ferromagnetism  Spintronics  Surfaces, interfaces and thin films  CRISPR-FRT targets shared sites in a knock-out collection for off-the-shelf genome editing OPEN Toon Swings, David C. Marciano, Benu Atri, Rachel E. Bosserman, Chen Wang, Marlies Leysen, Camille Bonte, Thomas Schalck, Ian Furey, Bram Van den Bergh, Natalie Verstraeten, Peter J. Christie, Christophe Herman, Olivier Lichtarge & Jan Michiels Genome editing requires precise targeting of loci with specific gRNAs. Here the authors introduce CRISPR-FRT, which targets flippase recognition sites, common in bacterial genetic collections, for fast off-the-shelf genome engineering. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04651-5 Biotechnology  CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing  Microbial genetics  Mutation  A transient self-assembling self-replicator OPEN Ignacio Colomer, Sarah M. Morrow & Stephen P. Fletcher Understanding self-replication and persistence in an out-of-equilibrium state is key to designing systems with new properties mimicking “living systems”. Here, the authors developed a synthetic small molecule system in which a transient surfactant replicator is responsible for both an autocatalytic aggregation pathway and a destructive pathway. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04670-2 Homogeneous catalysis  Chemical origin of life  Self-assembly  Diverse populations of local interneurons integrate into the Drosophila adult olfactory circuit OPEN Nan-Fu Liou, Shih-Han Lin, Ying-Jun Chen, Kuo-Ting Tsai, Chi-Jen Yang, Tzi-Yang Lin, Ting-Han Wu, Hsin-Ju Lin, Yuh-Tarng Chen, Daryl M. Gohl, Marion Silies & Ya-Hui Chou Local interneurons (LNs) in the Drosophila olfactory system are highly diverse. Here, the authors labeled different LN types and described how different LN subtypes are integrated into the developing circuit. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04675-x Developmental biology  Neuroscience  Engineering triangular carbon quantum dots with unprecedented narrow bandwidth emission for multicolored LEDs OPEN Fanglong Yuan, Ting Yuan, Laizhi Sui, Zhibin Wang, Zifan Xi, Yunchao Li, Xiaohong Li, Louzhen Fan, Zhan’ao Tan, Anmin Chen, Mingxing Jin & Shihe Yang Carbon quantum dots have promising advantages such as high stability, low cost and environment-friendliness, but their broad emission band limits their application in displays. Here Yuan et al. synthesize these dots showing tunable emission color, high fluorescence and a narrow FWHM of only 30 nanometers. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04635-5 Lasers, LEDs and light sources  Materials for devices  Nanoscale materials  Corticosteroid suppression of antiviral immunity increases bacterial loads and mucus production in COPD exacerbations OPEN Aran Singanayagam , Nicholas Glanville, Jason L. Girkin, Yee Man Ching, Andrea Marcellini, James D. Porter, Marie Toussaint, Ross P. Walton, Lydia J. Finney, Julia Aniscenko, Jie Zhu, Maria-Belen Trujillo-Torralbo, Maria Adelaide Calderazzo, Chris Grainge, Su-Ling Loo, Punnam Chander Veerati, Prabuddha S. Pathinayake, Kristy S. Nichol, Andrew T. Reid, Phillip L. James et al. Corticosteroid therapy is frequently used for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) but its use is associated with increased risk of pneumonia. Here the authors show that corticosteroid use impairs innate and adaptive immunity to rhinovirus infection, which is restored by exogenous IFNβ. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04574-1 Antimicrobial responses  Immunology  Innate immunity  Translational immunology  Emissions mitigation opportunities for savanna countries from early dry season fire management OPEN Geoffrey J. Lipsett-Moore, Nicholas H. Wolff & Edward T. Game The management of fire season has been proposed as a climate mitigation tool but the scope and scale of this action is unclear. Here the authors use global emissions datasets to assess emissions mitigation opportunities for savanna fires, highlighting significant reduction potential in 37 countries. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04687-7 Climate-change mitigation  Fire ecology  An ensemble code in medial prefrontal cortex links prior events to outcomes during learning OPEN Silvia Maggi, Adrien Peyrache & Mark D. Humphries Prefrontal cortex is involved in flexibly learning the correct behavioural strategies but the neural correlates of this process are not well understood. Here the authors show that reinforcement for a correct decision at behavioural transitions evokes ensemble firing patterns related to prior events. 07 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04638-2 Computational neuroscience  Learning and memory  Neural circuits  Semen inhibits Zika virus infection of cells and tissues from the anogenital region OPEN Janis A. Müller , Mirja Harms, Franziska Krüger, Rüdiger Groß, Simone Joas, Manuel Hayn, Andrea N. Dietz, Sina Lippold, Jens von Einem, Axel Schubert, Manuela Michel, Benjamin Mayer, Mirko Cortese, Karen S. Jang, Nathallie Sandi-Monroy, Miriam Deniz, Florian Ebner, Olli Vapalahti, Markus Otto, Ralf Bartenschlager et al. Semen from Zika virus infected individuals can contain high viral loads and can result in sexual transmission. Here, Müller et al. show that semen, and particularly seminal preparations containing extracellular vesicles, inhibit infection of Zika and other flaviviruses. 07 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04442-y Pathogens  Viral transmission  Nature of the metal-insulator transition in few-unit-cell-thick LaNiO3 films OPEN M. Golalikhani, Q. Lei, R. U. Chandrasena, L. Kasaei, H. Park, J. Bai, P. Orgiani, J. Ciston, G. E. Sterbinsky, D. A. Arena, P. Shafer, E. Arenholz, B. A. Davidson, A. J. Millis, A. X. Gray & X. X. Xi The electronic behaviour of complex oxides such as LaNiO3 depends on many intrinsic and extrinsic factors, making it challenging to identify microscopic mechanisms. Here the authors demonstrate the influence of oxygen vacancies on the thickness-dependent metal-insulator transition of LaNiO3 films. 07 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04546-5 Electronic properties and materials  Phase transitions and critical phenomena  Surfaces, interfaces and thin films  A novel atypical sperm centriole is functional during human fertilization OPEN Emily L. Fishman, Kyoung Jo, Quynh P. H. Nguyen, Dong Kong, Rachel Royfman, Anthony R. Cekic, Sushil Khanal, Ann L. Miller, Calvin Simerly, Gerald Schatten, Jadranka Loncarek, Vito Mennella & Tomer Avidor-Reiss The two zygote centrioles are paternally inherited; however, their development is incompletely understood. Here, the authors show that the distal centriole is remodeled into an atypical centriole which functions as the zygote’s second centriole. 07 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04678-8 Centrosome  Spermatogenesis  Chemical warfare between leafcutter ant symbionts and a co-evolved pathogen OPEN Daniel Heine, Neil A. Holmes, Sarah F. Worsley, Ana Carolina A. Santos, Tabitha M. Innocent, Kirstin Scherlach, Elaine H. Patrick, Douglas W. Yu, J. Colin Murrell, Paulo C. Vieria, Jacobus J. Boomsma, Christian Hertweck, Matthew I. Hutchings & Barrie Wilkinson Acromyrmex ants cultivate fungus gardens that can be parasitized by Escovopsis sp., leading to colony collapse. Here, Heine et al. identify two secondary metabolites produced by Escovopsis that accumulate in Acromyrmex tissue, reduce behavioural defenses and suppress symbiotic Pseudonocardia bacteria. 07 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04520-1 Chemical biology  Chemical ecology  Ecology  Symbiosis  Multiple communication mechanisms between sensor kinases are crucial for virulence in Pseudomonas aeruginosa OPEN Vanessa I. Francis, Elaine M. Waters, Sutharsan E. Finton-James, Andrea Gori, Aras Kadioglu, Alan R. Brown & Steven L. Porter Bacteria respond to stresses using two-component systems consisting of sensor kinases (SKs) and response regulators. Here, Francis et al. reveal three specific interaction mechanisms between a pair of SKs that are important for regulation of virulence in the pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. 07 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04640-8 Bacteriology  Infection  Kinases  Pathogens  Regulatory networks  Scanning nuclear resonance imaging of a hyperfine-coupled quantum Hall system OPEN Katsushi Hashimoto, Toru Tomimatsu, Ken Sato & Yoshiro Hirayama Exploring the hyperfine-coupled quantum Hall (QH) system facilitates the nuclear spintronic applications. Here the authors reveal the origin of the nonequilibrium QH phenomena by mapping the spatial distribution of nuclear and electron spin polarization in a GaAs quantum well with scanning probe incorporated nuclear resonance technique. 07 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04612-y Imaging techniques  Solid-state NMR  Parasitic insect-derived miRNAs modulate host development OPEN Zhi-zhi Wang , Xi-qian Ye, Min Shi, Fei Li, Ze-hua Wang, Yue-nan Zhou, Qi-juan Gu, Xiao-tong Wu, Chuan-lin Yin, Dian-hao Guo, Rong-min Hu, Na-na Hu, Ting Chen, Bo-ying Zheng, Jia-ni Zou, Le-qing Zhan, Shu-jun Wei, Yan-ping Wang, Jian-hua Huang, Xiao-dong Fang et al. The moth Plutella xylostella during its larval stage is the host of the endoparasitic wasp Cotesia vestalis. Here the authors show that the parasitoids deliver microRNAs to their hosts through their symbiotic virus and specialized cells leading to induced developmental delay. 07 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04504-1 miRNAs  Post-translational modifications  Early deprivation disruption of associative learning is a developmental pathway to depression and social problems OPEN Margaret A. Sheridan, Katie A. McLaughlin, Warren Winter, Nathan Fox, Charles Zeanah & Charles A. Nelson Early childhood deprivation such as institutionalization can greatly affect early development. Here, the authors study children who were raised in institutions but later randomly placed in foster care vs. not, to understand how early-life deprivation affects associative learning in adolescence. 07 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04381-8 Human behaviour  Operant learning  Stress and resilience  HuR regulates telomerase activity through TERC methylation OPEN Hao Tang , Hu Wang, Xiaolei Cheng, Xiuqin Fan, Fan Yang, Mengmeng Zhang, Yanlian Chen, Yuyang Tian, Cihang Liu, Dongxing Shao, Bin Jiang, Yali Dou, Yusheng Cong, Junyue Xing, Xiaotian Zhang, Xia Yi, Zhou Songyang, Wenbin Ma, Yong Zhao, Xian Wang et al. Mutations in the RNA component TERC can cause telomerase dysfunction but the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. Here, the authors show that RNA-binding protein HuR regulates telomerase function by enhancing the methylation of TERC, which is impaired by several disease-relevant TERC mutations. 07 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04617-7 Non-coding RNAs  RNA-binding proteins  RNA modification  Telomeres  Alternative assembly of respiratory complex II connects energy stress to metabolic checkpoints OPEN Ayenachew Bezawork-Geleta , He Wen, LanFeng Dong, Bing Yan, Jelena Vider, Stepana Boukalova, Linda Krobova, Katerina Vanova, Renata Zobalova, Margarita Sobol, Pavel Hozak, Silvia Magalhaes Novais, Veronika Caisova, Pavel Abaffy, Ravindra Naraine, Ying Pang, Thiri Zaw, Ping Zhang, Radek Sindelka, Mikael Kubista et al. Mitochondrial complex II is normally composed of four subunits. Here the authors show that bioenergetic stress conditions give rise to a partially assembled variant of complex II, which shifts the anabolic pathways to less energy demanding processes. 07 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04603-z Energy metabolism  Metabolic pathways  Mitochondrial proteins  Stress signalling  Visualizing hydrogen-induced reshaping and edge activation in MoS2 and Co-promoted MoS2 catalyst clusters OPEN Signe S. Grønborg, Norberto Salazar, Albert Bruix, Jonathan Rodríguez-Fernández, Sean D. Thomsen, Bjørk Hammer & Jeppe V. Lauritsen Rational design of a hydrodesulfurization catalyst relies on a fundamental understanding of its working principles. Here, the authors use scanning tunneling microscopy to directly visualize and quantify hydrogen-induced reshaping and edge activation in MoS2 and Co-promoted MoS2 catalyst clusters. 07 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04615-9 Catalytic mechanisms  Heterogeneous catalysis  Scanning probe microscopy  Two-dimensional materials  Quantum limit transport and destruction of the Weyl nodes in TaAs OPEN B. J. Ramshaw, K. A. Modic, Arkady Shekhter, Yi Zhang, Eun-Ah Kim, Philip J. W. Moll, Maja D. Bachmann, M. K. Chan, J. B. Betts, F. Balakirev, A. Migliori, N. J. Ghimire, E. D. Bauer, F. Ronning & R. D. McDonald Weyl semimetals should exhibit unusual electronic behaviour but conditions where these effects dominate are difficult to achieve. Ramshaw et al. use high magnetic fields to drive TaAs into the quantum limit, finding evidence for the predicted chiral anomaly and an unanticipated increase in resistivity at the highest fields. 07 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04542-9 Electronic properties and materials  Phase transitions and critical phenomena  Topological matter  Molecular principles underlying dual RNA specificity in the Drosophila SNF protein OPEN Gert Weber, Gregory T. DeKoster, Nicole Holton, Kathleen B. Hall & Markus C. Wahl It remains poorly understood how a single RNA-binding protein recognizes diverse RNA targets. Here the authors use an integrative approach to study the binding of spliceosomal SNF protein to U1 and U2 small nuclear RNAs in the presence or absence of auxiliary protein U2A’ and show how SNF’s conformational dynamics are tuned to recognize different stem-loop structures. 07 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04561-6 Molecular evolution  NMR spectroscopy  RNA  RNA-binding proteins  X-ray crystallography  Specific hippocampal representations are linked to generalized cortical representations in memory OPEN Jai Y. Yu, Daniel F. Liu, Adrianna Loback, Irene Grossrubatscher & Loren M. Frank Memory representations in cortex and hippocampus are reactivated during sharp-wave ripple (SWR) events. Here, the authors show that, in a familiar environment, this activity preferentially links spatially selective hippocampal cells and task general PFC representations, pointing to a potential neural mechanism for generalization of individual experiences. 07 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04498-w Cortex  Hippocampus  Diffusive tail anchorage determines velocity and force produced by kinesin-14 between crosslinked microtubules OPEN Annemarie Lüdecke, Anja-Maria Seidel, Marcus Braun, Zdenek Lansky & Stefan Diez Kinesin-14s, such as Ncd, interact with microtubules with their non-processive motor domains and their diffusive tail domains, but the influence of the tail domains on motor performance is not known. Here the authors show that tail domain slippage limits the velocities and forces generated by Ncd, suggesting it acts as a slippery crosslinker. 07 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04656-0 Kinesin  Motor protein function  Nanoscale biophysics  Non-fluorescent nanoscopic monitoring of a single trapped nanoparticle via nonlinear point sources OPEN Seung Ju Yoon, Jungmin Lee, Sangyoon Han, Chang-Kyu Kim, Chi Won Ahn, Myung-Ki Kim & Yong-Hee Lee Detection of single nanoparticles or molecules often relies on the attachment of fluorescent labels. Here, the authors demonstrate trapping a single nanoparticle on a bowtie nanoantenna and monitoring via second harmonic generation from the particle. 07 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04689-5 Optical manipulation and tweezers  Optical sensors  Modular ssDNA binding and inhibition of telomerase activity by designer PPR proteins OPEN Henrik Spåhr, Tiongsun Chia, James P. Lingford, Stefan J. Siira, Scott B. Cohen, Aleksandra Filipovska & Oliver Rackham Pentatricopeptide repeat proteins bind single-stranded RNA and have been used to study ssRNA biology. Here the authors co-opt these proteins to target ssDNA and demonstrate specific binding of telomere sequences, the structural basis for ssDNA wrapping, and use them as potent telomerase inhibitors. 07 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04388-1 DNA  Protein design  Structural biology  Synthetic biology      Latest Correspondence       Evidence that neutrophils do not promote Echis carinatus venom-induced tissue destruction OPEN Julien Stackowicz, Bianca Balbino, Biliana Todorova, Ophélie Godon, Bruno Iannascoli, Friederike Jönsson, Pierre Bruhns & Laurent L. Reber 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04688-6 Immunology  Inflammation  Innate immunity  Reply to ‘Evidence that neutrophils do not promote Echis carinatus venom-induced tissue destruction’ OPEN Kempaiah Kemparaju, Kesturu S. Girish & Gajanan D. Katkar 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04507-y Immunology  Inflammation      Latest Author Corrections       Author Correction: A comprehensive model for assessment of liver stage therapies targeting Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum OPEN Alison Roth , Steven P. Maher, Amy J. Conway, Ratawan Ubalee, Victor Chaumeau, Chiara Andolina, Stephen A. Kaba, Amélie Vantaux, Malina A. Bakowski, Richard Thomson-Luque, Swamy Rakesh Adapa, Naresh Singh, Samantha J. Barnes, Caitlin A. Cooper, Mélanie Rouillier, Case W. McNamara, Sebastian A. Mikolajczak, Noah Sather, Benoît Witkowski, Brice Campo et al. 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04817-1 Drug screening  High-throughput screening  Malaria  Vaccines  Author Correction: Ultrafast probes of electron–hole transitions between two atomic layers OPEN 07 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04751-2 Electron transfer  Surfaces, interfaces and thin films  Two-dimensional materials  Ultrafast photonics      Latest Publisher Corrections       Publisher Correction: A multistage rotational speed changing molecular rotor regulated by pH and metal cations OPEN Yingying Wu, Guangxia Wang, Qiaolian Li, Junfeng Xiang, Hua Jiang & Ying Wang 13 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04902-5 Interlocked molecules  Molecular machines and motors  Solution-state NMR  Publisher Correction: Elementary steps in electrical doping of organic semiconductors OPEN Max L. Tietze, Johannes Benduhn, Paul Pahner, Bernhard Nell, Martin Schwarze, Hans Kleemann, Markus Krammer, Karin Zojer, Koen Vandewal & Karl Leo 12 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04275-9 Electronic materials  Electronic properties and materials  Semiconductors  Publisher Correction: Precisely printable and biocompatible silk fibroin bioink for digital light processing 3D printing OPEN Soon Hee Kim, Yeung Kyu Yeon, Jung Min Lee, Janet Ren Chao, Young Jin Lee, Ye Been Seo, Md. Tipu Sultan, Ok Joo Lee, Ji Seung Lee, Sung-il Yoon, In-Sun Hong, Gilson Khang, Sang Jin Lee, James J. Yoo & Chan Hum Park 11 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04517-w Biomaterials – cells  Tissue engineering  Publisher Correction: Studying light-harvesting models with superconducting circuits OPEN Anton Potočnik, Arno Bargerbos, Florian A. Y. N. Schröder, Saeed A. Khan, Michele C. Collodo, Simone Gasparinetti, Yves Salathé, Celestino Creatore, Christopher Eichler, Hakan E. Türeci, Alex W. Chin & Andreas Wallraff 08 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04655-1 Biological physics  Quantum simulation  Publisher Correction: Probing the strongly driven spin-boson model in a superconducting quantum circuit OPEN L. Magazzù, P. Forn-Díaz, R. Belyansky, J.-L. Orgiazzi, M. A. Yurtalan, M. R. Otto, A. Lupascu, C. M. Wilson & M. Grifoni 07 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04348-9 Quantum physics  Superconducting devices  Publisher Correction: Solvent-assisted programming of flat polymer sheets into reconfigurable and self-healing 3D structures OPEN Yang Yang, Eugene M. Terentjev, Yen Wei & Yan Ji 07 June 2018 | doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04835-z Polymer chemistry  Polymers      Advertisement Calls for nominations 2018 John Maddox Prize for Standing up for Science Recognising the work of individuals who promote science in the face of hostility   Natureevents is a fully searchable, multi-disciplinary database designed to maximise exposure for events organisers. 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