Nature Communications - 25 November 2015

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Latest content: Review Articles Corrigendum Erratum Advertisement Nature Reviews Drug Discovery Special on targeting the IL-17 pathway in inflammatory disease POSTER - Targeting the IL-17 pathway in inflammatory disease   ANIMATION - Tumour immunology and immunotherapy   Animation and Poster produced with support from Eli Lilly and Company  Journal homepage Recommend to library Web feed   Advertisement Primers in your inbox Nature Reviews Disease Primers launched in April 2015 and publishes Primers — introductory review articles that provide overviews of diseases and disorders. Primer articles describe all aspects of a condition: epidemiology; disease mechanisms; diagnosis, screening and prevention; management; and quality of life.  Stay updated on the latest Primers published.     Advertisement Focus on Telomeres In this special Focus on Telomeres, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology explores how the length of chromosome ends is regulated to limit cell proliferation, and how this mechanism is compromised in human disease or is circumvented by tumor cells, thus permitting unregulated cell growth.  Access the Focus free online for six months. Produced with support from Geron Corporation and Janssen Oncology.         Nature Communications - now fully open access All new submissions, if accepted, will be published open access and an article processing charge (APC) will apply. For more information visit the website. Visit our open access funding page or contact openaccess@nature.com to learn more about APC funding.       Latest Review View all Reviews     Extinction risk of soil biota OPEN Stavros D. Veresoglou, John M. Halley and Matthias C. Rillig Belowground soil biota play key roles in maintaining proper ecosystem functioning, but studies on their extinction ecology are sparse. Here, Veresoglou et al. review the risks to soil biota posed by global change, and highlight the technical challenges involved in identifying extinction events. 23 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9862 Biological Sciences  Biogeochemistry  Ecology  Microbiology        Latest Articles View all Articles     Tracing the fate of carbon and the atmospheric evolution of Mars OPEN Renyu Hu, David M. Kass, Bethany L. Ehlmann and Yuk L. Yung Mars likely evolved from a warmer, wetter early state to the cold, arid current climate, but this evolution is not reflected in recent observations and measurements. Here, the authors derive quantitative constraints on the atmospheric pressure through time, identifying a mechanism that explains the carbon data. 24 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms10003 Earth Sciences  Geology and geophysics  Planetary sciences  SENP1-mediated NEMO deSUMOylation in adipocytes limits inflammatory responses and type-1 diabetes progression OPEN Lan Shao, Huanjiao Jenny Zhou, Haifeng Zhang, Lingfeng Qin, John Hwa, Zhong Yun, Weidong Ji and Wang Min Pro-inflammatory NF-κB signalling is regulated by protein sumoylation. Here the authors show that lack of the desumoylating protease SENP1 in fat tissue induces NF-κB activity and inflammation in peri-pancreatic adipocytes, leading to symptoms of type 1 diabetes in mice. 24 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9917 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Medical research  Eukaryotic opportunists dominate the deep-subsurface biosphere in South Africa OPEN G. Borgonie, B. Linage-Alvarez, A. O. Ojo, S.O.C. Mundle, L B. Freese, C. Van Rooyen, O. Kuloyo, J. Albertyn, C. Pohl, E. D. Cason, J. Vermeulen, C. Pienaar, D. Litthauer, H. Van Niekerk, J. Van Eeden, B. Sherwood. Lollar, T. C. Onstott and E. Van Heerden The extent of diversity in deep subsurface mines is not well documented. Here, Borgonie et al. report the discovery of Protozoa, Fungi, Platyhelminthes, Rotifera, Annelida and Arthropoda from 1.4 km below ground, and conclude that their population growth is limited by food rather than oxygen availability. 24 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9952 Biological Sciences  Ecology  Giant elastic tunability in strained BiFeO3 near an electrically induced phase transition OPEN Q Li, Y. Cao, P. Yu, R. K. Vasudevan, N. Laanait, A. Tselev, F. Xue, L. Q. Chen, P. Maksymovych, S. V. Kalinin and N. Balke Ferroelectric materials possess spontaneous electrical polarization coupled to their underlying lattice structure, which may be utilized technologically. Here, the authors use band-excitation piezoresponse/elastic spectroscopy to study the sub-megahertz dynamics of a structural phase transition in BiFeO3. 24 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9985 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Carbon-depleted outer core revealed by sound velocity measurements of liquid iron–carbon alloy OPEN Yoichi Nakajima, Saori Imada, Kei Hirose, Tetsuya Komabayashi, Haruka Ozawa, Shigehiko Tateno, Satoshi Tsutsui, Yasuhiro Kuwayama and Alfred Q. R. Baron The composition of the Earth's core, particularly the light elements present, is not well constrained. Here, the authors report sound velocities of liquid iron-carbon alloy as measured at very high pressures using inelastic X-ray scattering and suggest that carbon cannot be predominant in the outer core. 24 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9942 Earth Sciences  Geology and geophysics  Planetary sciences  Gekko japonicus genome reveals evolution of adhesive toe pads and tail regeneration OPEN Yan Liu, Qian Zhou, Yongjun Wang, Longhai Luo, Jian Yang, Linfeng Yang, Mei Liu, Yingrui Li, Tianmei Qian, Yuan Zheng, Meiyuan Li, Jiang Li, Yun Gu, Zujing Han, Man Xu, Yingjie Wang, Changlai Zhu, Bin Yu, Yumin Yang, Fei Ding et al. Geckos are small, agile reptiles with nocturnal habits. Here, the authors sequence the genome of the Schlegel’s Japanese Gecko and reveal gene family expansions and reductions associated with formation of adhesive setae, nocturnal vision, tail regeneration, and diversification of olfactory sensation. 24 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms10033 Biological Sciences  Genetics  Zoology  Restoration of skilled locomotion by sprouting corticospinal axons induced by co-deletion of PTEN and SOCS3 OPEN Duo Jin, Yuanyuan Liu, Fang Sun, Xuhua Wang, Xuefeng Liu and Zhigang He A key pathological alteration after brain and spinal cord injury is the disruption of the corticospinal tract (CST) axons that control the voluntary movements. Here the authors show that activating the intrinsic regenerative ability by inhibiting PTEN and SOCS3 expression promotes robust sprouting growth and recovery of skilled locomotion after injury. 24 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9074 Biological Sciences  Neuroscience  PH motifs in PAR1&2 endow breast cancer growth OPEN A. Kancharla, M. Maoz, M. Jaber, D. Agranovich, T. Peretz, S. Grisaru-Granovsky, B. Uziely and R. Bar-Shavit Protease-activated-receptor 1 and 2 (PAR1 and PAR2) are key players in tumor growth. In this study, the authors identify PAR1 and PAR2 domains that bind oncogenic signalling proteins driving breast cancer progression in vivo and placental extravillous trophoblast invasion in vitro. 24 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9853 Biological Sciences  Cancer  Cell biology  Two-photon interference at telecom wavelengths for time-bin-encoded single photons from quantum-dot spin qubits OPEN Leo Yu, Chandra M. Natarajan, Tomoyuki Horikiri, Carsten Langrock, Jason S. Pelc, Michael G. Tanner, Eisuke Abe, Sebastian Maier, Christian Schneider, Sven Höfling, Martin Kamp, Robert H. Hadfield, Martin M. Fejer and Yoshihisa Yamamoto Quantum communication requires quantum correlations between the information processing units and the information carrying units. Here, the authors use time-bin encoding and frequency downconversion to telecom wavelengths to achieve kilometre-scale spin-photon correlations. 24 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9955 Physical Sciences  Nanotechnology  Optical physics  Episodic entrainment of deep primordial mantle material into ocean island basalts OPEN Curtis D. Williams, Mingming Li, Allen K. McNamara, Edward J. Garnero and Matthijs C. van Soest It is unclear why some ocean island basalts at ‘hotspots’ have low 3He/4He ratios similar to mid-ocean ridge basalts. Here, the authors perform convection calculations and show that these isotopic ratios can be reproduced by the episodic entrainment of deep isolated mantle reservoirs into thermal plumes. 24 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9937 Earth Sciences  Geology and geophysics  Tuning magnetotransport in a compensated semimetal at the atomic scale OPEN Lin Wang, Ignacio Gutiérrez-Lezama, Céline Barreteau, Nicolas Ubrig, Enrico Giannini and Alberto F. Morpurgo Semimetallic WTe2 possesses very high magnetoresistance however conflicting pictures of the band structure responsible have emerged. Here, the authors find behaviour consistent with a model of two compensated electron and hold bands in exfoliated WTe2 films with thicknesses down to the atomic scale. 24 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9892 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Three-dimensional magnetic cloak working from d.c. to 250 kHz OPEN Jianfei Zhu, Wei Jiang, Yichao Liu, Ge Yin, Jun Yuan, Sailing He and Yungui Ma The development of invisibility cloaks which function at low frequencies are of practical importance, especially for magnetic fields involved in modern technologies. Here, Zhu et al. develop the bilayer approach to create a three-dimensional magnetic cloak able to work in both static and dynamic fields. 24 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9931 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Materials science  Integrative genomic mining for enzyme function to enable engineering of a non-natural biosynthetic pathway OPEN Wai Shun Mak, Stephen Tran, Ryan Marcheschi, Steve Bertolani, James Thompson, David Baker, James C. Liao and Justin B. Siegel The modification of enzymes to generate desired compounds by non-natural pathways is a useful route for the production of commodity chemicals. Here, the authors show two approaches—genome mining and computational enzyme design—to generate higher alcohols from sugar. 24 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms10005 Chemical Sciences  Biochemistry  Bioinformatics  Chemical biology  Optical focusing inside scattering media with time-reversed ultrasound microbubble encoded light OPEN Haowen Ruan, Mooseok Jang and Changhuei Yang Focusing light inside biological tissue is challenging due to its strong scattering nature. Here, the authors develop a technique that uses ultrasonically destroyed microbubbles to assist in the computation of a wavefront solution which forms optical foci at the microbubble destruction sites. 24 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9968 Physical Sciences  Optical physics  Structure and substrate selectivity of the 750-kDa α6β6 holoenzyme of geranyl-CoA carboxylase OPEN Ashley R. Jurado, Christine S. Huang, Xing Zhang, Z. Hong Zhou and Liang Tong The structures of the biotin-dependent carboxylases have revealed details of their function. Here, the authors describe the first structure of Pseudomonas geranyl-CoA carboxylase, and compare it with the previously characterised homologous 3-methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase. 23 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9986 Biological Sciences  Biochemistry  Microbiology  Scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy with reconstruction of vertical interaction OPEN Le Wang and Xiaoji G. Xu Conventionally, scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy does not provide information on the vertical characteristic of near-field responses. Here, Xu et al. develop a method to reconstruct the vertical interaction response between the tip and the sample using this near-field technique. 23 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9973 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Optical physics  Disinhibition of olfactory bulb granule cells accelerates odour discrimination in mice OPEN Daniel Nunes and Thomas Kuner How odour discrimination is influenced by granule cells in the olfactory bulb is poorly understood. Here, the authors show that disinhibition of granule cells in mice increases mitral cell inhibition and accelerates odour discrimination time, independent of odour similarity. 23 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9950 Biological Sciences  Neuroscience  Active site coupling in Plasmodium falciparum GMP synthetase is triggered by domain rotation OPEN Lionel Ballut, Sébastien Violot, Santosh Shivakumaraswamy, Lakshmi Prasoona Thota, Manu Sathya, Jyothirmai Kunala, Bauke W. Dijkstra, Raphaël Terreux, Richard Haser, Hemalatha Balaram and Nushin Aghajari GMP synthetase, a key enzyme in purine biosynthesis, is of interest for understanding purine metabolism processes and for developing therapeutic applications. Here, the authors propose a molecular mechanism and the structural basis for the catalytic activity of this enzyme. 23 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9930 Biological Sciences  Biochemistry  Migration and horizontal gene transfer divide microbial genomes into multiple niches OPEN Rene Niehus, Sara Mitri, Alexander G. Fletcher and Kevin R. Foster Horizontal gene transfer is central to microbial evolution. Here, the authors develop an eco-evolutionary model and show that migration can greatly promote horizontal gene transfer, which explains how ecologically-important loci can sweep through the species in a microbial community. 23 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9924 Biological Sciences  Ecology  Evolution  Microbiology  Control of developmentally primed erythroid genes by combinatorial co-repressor actions OPEN Ralph Stadhouders, Alba Cico, Tharshana Stephen, Supat Thongjuea, Petros Kolovos, H. Irem Baymaz, Xiao Yu, Jeroen Demmers, Karel Bezstarosti, Alex Maas, Vilma Barroca, Christel Kockx, Zeliha Ozgur, Wilfred van Ijcken, Marie-Laure Arcangeli, Charlotte Andrieu-Soler, Boris Lenhard, Frank Grosveld and Eric Soler Conserved sets of transcription factors (TFs) regulate hematopoiesis. Here, Stadhouders et al. show that IRF2BP2 is a component of the LDB1 TF complex and together with its co-repressor ETO2, enhances transcriptional repression, which plays a crucial role at the erythroid progenitor stage. 23 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9893 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Molecular biology  AF4 uses the SL1 components of RNAP1 machinery to initiate MLL fusion- and AEP-dependent transcription OPEN Hiroshi Okuda, Akinori Kanai, Shinji Ito, Hirotaka Matsui and Akihiko Yokoyama Protein fusions between MLL and AEP (AF4 family/ENL family/P-TEFb) constitutively activate their target genes to immortalize hematopoietic progenitors. Here, Okuda et al. show that MLL-AEP binds SL1, a component of the pre-initiation complex of RNA polymerase (RNAP) I, to initiate RNAP II dependent transcription. 23 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9869 Biological Sciences  Cancer  Molecular biology  TRIM33 switches off Ifnb1 gene transcription during the late phase of macrophage activation OPEN Federica Ferri, Aude Parcelier, Vanessa Petit, Anne-Sophie Gallouet, Daniel Lewandowski, Marion Dalloz, Anita van den Heuvel, Petros Kolovos, Eric Soler, Mario Leonardo Squadrito, Michele De Palma, Irwin Davidson, Germain Rousselet and Paul-Henri Romeo Transcriptional regulation of the interferon-β gene (Ifnb1) in macrophages is a critical immune event. Here, Ferri et al. show that, at late phases of macrophages activation, TRIM33 bound to a distal repressor element suppresses Ifnb1 transcription by preventing recruitment of CBP/p300. 23 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9900 Biological Sciences  Immunology  Molecular biology  Extremely stretchable and conductive water-repellent coatings for low-cost ultra-flexible electronics OPEN Joseph E. Mates, Ilker S. Bayer, John M. Palumbo, Patrick J. Carroll and Constantine M. Megaridis The development of modern flexible electronics calls for new materials with extreme stretchability and high conductivity. Here, Mates et al. show a printable material made of commercially-available elastomers and carbon nanofibres, which exhibits low resistance and water-repellency at strain up to 500%. 23 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9874 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Fluids and plasma physics  Materials science  Rescue of neonatal cardiac dysfunction in mice by administration of cardiac progenitor cells in utero OPEN Xiaoli Liu, Sean R. R. Hall, Zhihong Wang, He Huang, Sailaja Ghanta, Moises Di Sante, Annarosa Leri, Piero Anversa and Mark A. Perrella The protein Speg is expressed in the developing mouse heart, where its absence leads to neonatal cardiac disease. Here the authors trace the cardiomyopathy of Speg KO mice back to defects in cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) and rescue it with injections of wild type CPCs into the foetal heart. 23 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9825 Biological Sciences  Medical research  Saturated fatty acids regulate retinoic acid signalling and suppress tumorigenesis by targeting fatty acid-binding protein 5 Liraz Levi, Zeneng Wang, Mary Kathryn Doud, Stanley L. Hazen and Noa Noy Long chain fatty acids can influence the growth of cancer cells but the mechanisms involved are unclear. Here, the authors show that both saturated and unsaturated long chain fatty acids can influence retinoic acid signalling and suppress tumour growth in mice. 23 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9794 Biological Sciences  Cancer  Medical research  Solution-printed organic semiconductor blends exhibiting transport properties on par with single crystals OPEN Muhammad R. Niazi, Ruipeng Li, Er Qiang Li, Ahmad R. Kirmani, Maged Abdelsamie, Qingxiao Wang, Wenyang Pan, Marcia M. Payne, John E. Anthony, Detlef-M. Smilgies, Sigurdur T. Thoroddsen, Emmanuel P. Giannelis and Aram Amassian There continues to be interest in solution processed organic semiconductor thin films exhibiting transport properties on par with single crystals. Here, Niazi et al. combine solution-printing of a small molecule organic semiconductor with insulating polymer blending and solvent mixtures to demonstrate hole mobility up to 6.7 cm2 V−1 s−1. 23 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9598 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Highly tunable hybrid metamaterials employing split-ring resonators strongly coupled to graphene surface plasmons OPEN Peter Q. Liu, Isaac J. Luxmoore, Sergey A. Mikhailov, Nadja A. Savostianova, Federico Valmorra, Jérôme Faist and Geoffrey R. Nash Realizing tunable metamaterials across a broad spectral range is of great interest. Here, Liu et al. introduce hybrid structures comprising graphene plasmonic resonators strongly coupled to conventional split-ring resonators and reach 60% transmission modulation with an operating speed above 40 MHz. 20 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9969 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Optical physics  Novel RNA- and FMRP-binding protein TRF2-S regulates axonal mRNA transport and presynaptic plasticity OPEN Peisu Zhang, Kotb Abdelmohsen, Yong Liu, Kumiko Tominaga-Yamanaka, Je-Hyun Yoon, Grammatikakis Ioannis, Jennifer L. Martindale, Yongqing Zhang, Kevin G. Becker, In Hong Yang, Myriam Gorospe and Mark P. Mattson The molecular mechanisms regulating axonal mRNA transport are only partially understood. Here, Zhang et al. show a nontelomeric TRF2 splice variant interacts with FMRP to regulate the transport of several axonal mRNAs involved in axonal elongation and neurotransmitter release. 20 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9888 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Neuroscience  Imaging thermal conductivity with nanoscale resolution using a scanning spin probe OPEN Abdelghani Laraoui, Halley Aycock-Rizzo, Yang Gao, Xi Lu, Elisa Riedo and Carlos A. Meriles Many aspects of energy flow in nanostructures are not well understood due to difficulties associated with resolution. Here, Laraoui et al. use a diamond-nanocrystal-hosted nitrogen vacancy centre as a nanoscale probe with atomic force microscopy to image thermal conductivity. 20 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9954 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Condensed matter  Soluble LR11/SorLA represses thermogenesis in adipose tissue and correlates with BMI in humans OPEN Andrew J. Whittle, Meizi Jiang, Vivian Peirce, Joana Relat, Sam Virtue, Hiroyuki Ebinuma, Isamu Fukamachi, Takashi Yamaguchi, Mao Takahashi, Takeyoshi Murano, Ichiro Tatsuno, Masahiro Takeuchi, Chiaki Nakaseko, Wenlong Jin, Zhehu Jin, Mark Campbell, Wolfgang J. Schneider, Antonio Vidal-Puig and Hideaki Bujo Brown adipose tissue (BAT) thermogenesis is an important determinant of organismal energy expenditure in mammals. Here, Whittle et al. report that the protein sLR11 is a negative regulator of BAT activity in mice, repressing thermogenesis by inhibiting BMP/Smad signalling in brown adipocytes. 20 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9951 Biological Sciences  Medical research  C. elegans maximum velocity correlates with healthspan and is maintained in worms with an insulin receptor mutation OPEN Jeong-Hoon Hahm, Sunhee Kim, Race DiLoreto, Cheng Shi, Seung-Jae V. Lee, Coleen T. Murphy and Hong Gil Nam Increases in lifespan do not necessarily translate into prolonged healthspan. Here, the authors devise a simple metric, maximum velocity, to study ageing in C. elegans and, using this metric, show that reduced insulin signalling improves physical healthspan as well as worm lifespan. 20 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9919 Biological Sciences  Medical research  Robust self-cleaning and micromanipulation capabilities of gecko spatulae and their bio-mimics OPEN Quan Xu, Yiyang Wan, Travis Shihao Hu, Tony X. Liu, Dashuai Tao, Peter H. Niewiarowski, Yu Tian, Yue Liu, Liming Dai, Yanqing Yang and Zhenhai Xia A running gecko can adhere to any surfaces at wet or dry conditions, whilst it keeps its toe pads clean. Here, Xu et al. attribute this self-cleaning mechanism to the rate-independent adhesion response between dirt particles and the gecko’s foot and use synthetic microfibers to reproduce the effect. 20 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9949 Physical Sciences  Biophysics  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Superfluidity in topologically nontrivial flat bands OPEN Sebastiano Peotta and Päivi Törmä The critical temperature of superconductors is proportional to the particle coupling energy, but this is different to conventional superfluids where this coupling is small. Here, the authors establish a relation between superconductivity and superfluidity and the topological properties of their band structures. 20 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9944 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Theoretical physics  Photoreactive helical nanoaggregates exhibiting morphology transition on thermal reconstruction OPEN Mitsuaki Yamauchi, Tomonori Ohba, Takashi Karatsu and Shiki Yagai The ability to switch structure or function in response to an external stimulus is highly desirable for many applications. Here, the authors report the guidable supramolecular assembly of photocross-linkable molecules into different complex superstructures, dependant on their exposure to UV light. 20 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9936 Chemical Sciences  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Organic chemistry  Genetic control of morphometric diversity in the maize shoot apical meristem OPEN Samuel Leiboff, Xianran Li, Heng-Cheng Hu, Natalie Todt, Jinliang Yang, Xiao Li, Xiaoqing Yu, Gary J. Muehlbauer, Marja C. P. Timmermans, Jianming Yu, Patrick S. Schnable and Michael J. Scanlon In plants, the shoot apical meristem generates all of the above ground organs and meristem morphology may predict important agricultural traits. Here Leiboff et al. use high throughput phenotyping and a genome-wide association study to uncover genes associated with variation in maize meristem size. 20 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9974 Biological Sciences  Genetics  Plant sciences  Single-cell analysis and stochastic modelling unveil large cell-to-cell variability in influenza A virus infection OPEN Frank S. Heldt, Sascha Y. Kupke, Sebastian Dorl, Udo Reichl and Timo Frensing Cell-to-cell variability in viral infection means that cell population measurements may not be an accurate representation of the process. Using both experimental and modelling approaches the authors confirm this notion showing that influenza virus infections are variable processes affected by intrinsic and extrinsic noise. 20 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9938 Biological Sciences  Virology  ASPM regulates symmetric stem cell division by tuning Cyclin E ubiquitination Mario R. Capecchi and Amir Pozner Mutation of ASPM is associated with spindle orientation defects and microcephaly in humans. Capecchi and Pozner reveal that mice expressing truncated ASPM also display impaired neural stem cell maintenance as a result of a previously unknown requirement for ASPM in cell cycle progression. 19 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9763 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Developmental biology  Neuroscience  Topology-generating interfacial pattern formation during liquid metal dealloying OPEN Pierre-Antoine Geslin, Ian McCue, Bernard Gaskey, Jonah Erlebacher and Alain Karma Liquid metal dealloying produces topologically complex nanoporous structures, however little is known about how they form. Here, the authors use mesoscale phase-field modeling and experiments to show that structure formation is governed by both interfacial spinodal decomposition and diffusion-coupled growth. 19 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9887 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Redistribution of Kv1 and Kv7 enhances neuronal excitability during structural axon initial segment plasticity OPEN Hiroshi Kuba, Rei Yamada, Go Ishiguro and Ryota Adachi Sensory deprivation in the avian brain can lead to structural changes in the axon initial segment. Here, the authors build on their previous work by showing that such homeostatic AIS plasticity also involves changes in Kv channel expression, which contributes to enhanced neuronal excitability. 19 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9815 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Neuroscience  Histone H1-mediated epigenetic regulation controls germline stem cell self-renewal by modulating H4K16 acetylation OPEN Jin Sun, Hui-Min Wei, Jiang Xu, Jian-Feng Chang, Zhihao Yang, Xingjie Ren, Wen-Wen Lv, Lu-Ping Liu, Li-Xia Pan, Xia Wang, Huan-Huan Qiao, Bing Zhu, Jun-Yuan Ji, Dong Yan, Ting Xie, Fang-Lin Sun and Jian-Quan Ni Epigenetics plays critical roles in controlling stem cell self-renewal and differentiation. Here, Sun et al. show that H1 is intrinsically required in the regulation of germline stem cells in the Drosophila ovary by antagonizing MOF, a histone acetyltransferase specific for H4K16. 19 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9856 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Developmental biology  Molecular biology  Lateral forces on circularly polarizable particles near a surface OPEN Francisco J. Rodríguez-Fortuño, Nader Engheta, Alejandro Martínez and Anatoly V. Zayats Some optical forces can direct particles, but only in the direction of light propagation. Here, the authors show theoretically that when the spin of the incident circularly polarized light is converted into lateral electromagnetic momentum, it leads to a lateral optical force associated with a recoil mechanical force. 19 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9799 Physical Sciences  Nanotechnology  Optical physics  Theoretical physics  Carrier-mediated ferromagnetism in the magnetic topological insulator Cr-doped (Sb,Bi)2Te3 OPEN Mao Ye, Wei Li, Siyuan Zhu, Yukiharu Takeda, Yuji Saitoh, Jiajia Wang, Hong Pan, Munisa Nurmamat, Kazuki Sumida, Fuhao Ji, Zhen Liu, Haifeng Yang, Zhengtai Liu, Dawei Shen, Akio Kimura, Shan Qiao and Xiaoming Xie Magnetically doped topological insulators may exhibit exotic transport phenomena such as the quantum anomalous Hall effect, however the underlying mechanisms of ferromagnetic order are currently debated. Here, the authors reveal stabilized ferromagnetism in Cr-doped (Sb,Bi)2Te3 mediated by Te and Sb p-hole carriers. 19 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9913 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Combining Spinach-tagged RNA and gene localization to image gene expression in live yeast OPEN David Guet, Laura T. Burns, Suman Maji, Jérôme Boulanger, Pascal Hersen, Susan R. Wente, Jean Salamero and Catherine Dargemont Measuring single-cell mRNA dynamics is critical to understand gene expression. Here, using RNA Spinach technique to detect very low abundant mRNAs, Guet et al. report an analysis of the osmotic shock response in live yeast by localizing induced transcription factors, target gene loci and corresponding transcripts. 19 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9882 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Molecular biology  SUMOylation of TARBP2 regulates miRNA/siRNA efficiency OPEN Cheng Chen, Changhong Zhu, Jian Huang, Xian Zhao, Rong Deng, Hailong Zhang, Jinzhuo Dou, Qin Chen, Ming Xu, Haihua Yuan, Yanli Wang and Jianxiu Yu As part of the miRNA-generating machinery, TARBP2 stabilizes the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) loading complex (RLC). Here, Chen et al. show that sumoylation of TARBP2 regulates RNAi efficiency by increasing precursor miRNAs loaded on RLC. 19 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9899 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Molecular biology  TRPC6 specifically interacts with APP to inhibit its cleavage by γ-secretase and reduce Aβ production OPEN Junfeng Wang, Rui Lu, Jian Yang, Hongyu Li, Zhuohao He, Naihe Jing, Xiaomin Wang and Yizheng Wang Attempts to treat Alzheimer's disease by targeting γ-secretase cleavage of APP into Aß have been unsuccessful, partially due to off-target effects. Here, the authors identify TRPC6 as a novel γ-secretase modulator, showing that it interacts with APP to regulate Aß levels while sparing Notch cleavage. 19 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9876 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Neuroscience  Two-dimensional membrane as elastic shell with proof on the folds revealed by three-dimensional atomic mapping OPEN Jiong Zhao, Qingming Deng, Thuc Hue Ly, Gang Hee Han, Gorantla Sandeep and Mark H Rümmeli The out-of-plane bending of 2D materials is an important factor to consider for applications, but is challenging to probe experimentally. Here, the authors map the out-of-plane bending in graphene and other 2D materials using high resolution electron microscopy. 19 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9935 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Surface faceting and elemental diffusion behaviour at atomic scale for alloy nanoparticles during in situ annealing OPEN Miaofang Chi, Chao Wang, Yinkai Lei, Guofeng Wang, Dongguo Li, Karren L. More, Andrew Lupini, Lawrence F. Allard, Nenad M. Markovic and Vojislav R. Stamenkovic Post-synthesis annealing can tailor surface configurations of nanoparticles. Here, the authors use in situ aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy to track the evolution of individual alloyed metal nanoparticles at atomic scale and discern five distinct stages of surface rearrangement. 18 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9925 Chemical Sciences  Catalysis  Materials science  Low-temperature-processed efficient semi-transparent planar perovskite solar cells for bifacial and tandem applications OPEN Fan Fu, Thomas Feurer, Timo Jäger, Enrico Avancini, Benjamin Bissig, Songhak Yoon, Stephan Buecheler and Ayodhya N. Tiwari Perovskite solar cells already exhibit large efficiencies above 20%. Here, the authors use a low temperature sputtering process to fabricate semi-transparent perovskite solar cells, demonstrating bifacial operation and a 4-terminal tandem with CIGS solar cells surpassing single junction cells. 18 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9932 Physical Sciences  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Chemical basis for the recognition of trimethyllysine by epigenetic reader proteins OPEN Jos J.A.G. Kamps, Jiaxin Huang, Jordi Poater, Chao Xu, Bas J.G.E. Pieters, Aiping Dong, Jinrong Min, Woody Sherman, Thijs Beuming, F. Matthias Bickelhaupt, Haitao Li and Jasmin Mecinović A structurally diverse set of epigenetic reader proteins can recognize methylated lysine residues on histones. Here the authors show that recognition of trimethyllysine occurs through a combination of favourable cation–π interactions and the release of water molecules occupying the aromatic cages of reader proteins. 18 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9911 Biological Sciences  Biochemistry  Biophysics  Chemical biology  Reliable quantum certification of photonic state preparations OPEN Leandro Aolita, Christian Gogolin, Martin Kliesch and Jens Eisert Photonic quantum technologies rely on the creation and manipulation of continuous variables states whose experimental preparation needs to be verified- a noteworthy impractical task. Here, the authors present a protocol that allows to certify continuous variables states with limited experimental overhead. 18 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9498 Physical Sciences  Optical physics  Theoretical physics  Transcriptional regulation of PIN genes by FOUR LIPS and MYB88 during Arabidopsis root gravitropism OPEN Hong-Zhe Wang, Ke-Zhen Yang, Jun-Jie Zou, Ling-Ling Zhu, Zi Dian Xie, Miyo Terao Morita, Masao Tasaka, Jiří Friml, Erich Grotewold, Tom Beeckman, Steffen Vanneste, Fred Sack and Jie Le Plants respond to reorientation by altering the distribution of the plant hormone auxin causing roots to bend towards gravity. Here Wang et al. find that expression of the PIN3 and PIN7 auxin transporters in gravity sensing cells is controlled by concerted action of the FLP and MYB88 transcription factors. 18 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9822 Biological Sciences  Plant sciences  Patterning two-dimensional free-standing surfaces with mesoporous conducting polymers OPEN Shaohua Liu, Pavlo Gordiichuk, Zhong-Shuai Wu, Zhaoyang Liu, Wei Wei, Manfred Wagner, Nasser Mohamed-Noriega, Dongqing Wu, Yiyong Mai, Andreas Herrmann, Klaus Müllen and Xinliang Feng Solution-state patterning of functional materials on surfaces is important for a number of emerging technologies. Here, the authors demonstrate a bottom-up method of endowing freestanding surfaces with mesoporous conducting polymer coatings for enhanced electrochemical capacitance properties. 18 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9817 Chemical Sciences  Materials science  Nanotechnology  Physical chemistry  A coherent transcriptional feed-forward motif model for mediating auxin-sensitive PIN3 expression during lateral root development OPEN Qian Chen, Yang Liu, Steven Maere, Eunkyoung Lee, Gert Van Isterdael, Zidian Xie, Wei Xuan, Jessica Lucas, Valya Vassileva, Saeko Kitakura, Peter Marhavý, Krzysztof Wabnik, Niko Geldner, Eva Benková, Jie Le, Hidehiro Fukaki, Erich Grotewold, Chuanyou Li, Jiří Friml, Fred Sack et al. Lateral root development is dependent on precise control of the distribution of the plant hormone auxin. Here Chen et al. propose the transcription factors ARF7 and FLP participate in a feed forward motif to mediate expression of the auxin transporter PIN3 and consequently regulate lateral root development. 18 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9821 Biological Sciences  Plant sciences    Nature Communications JOBS of the week Group leader at the CBI Centre for Integrative Biology Postdoctoral Fellow The University of Tennessee Health Science Center PhD student (f / m) German Center for Neurodegenerative Deseases Research Associate University of Glasgow PhD Studentship x 2 (Fixed Term) University of Cambridge Postdoctoral Fellow University of Pennsylvania Research Associate B Dartmouth College Research Assistant University of Bristol Postdoctoral Research Scientist The Babraham Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship Linköping University (LiU) More Science jobs from Nature Communications EVENT Toulouse Onco Week 2016 02.02.16 Toulouse, France More science events from       Latest Corrigendum     Corrigendum: IRAK1 is a therapeutic target that drives breast cancer metastasis and resistance to paclitaxel OPEN Zhen Ning Wee, Siti Maryam J. M. Yatim, Vera K. Kohlabauer, Min Feng, Jian Yuan Goh, Yi Bao, Puay Leng Lee, Songjing Zhang, Pan Pan Wang, Elgene Lim, Wai Leong Tam, Yu Cai, Henrik J. Ditzel, Dave S. B. Hoon, Ern Yu Tan and Qiang Yu 20 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms10054 Biological Sciences  Cancer        Latest Erratum     A deuterostome origin of the Spemann organiser suggested by Nodal and ADMPs functions in Echinoderms OPEN François Lapraz, Emmanuel Haillot and Thierry Lepage 19 November 2015 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms9927 Biological Sciences  Developmental biology  Evolution      Advertisement Nature Index 2015 Collaborations The Nature Index database - with its focus on high-quality science articles - lends itself well to the analysis of collaboration patterns both between institutions and countries. 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