| | Antibiotics: Homed to the hideout
Some Staphylococcus aureus bacteria are thought to survive standard antibiotic treatment by 'hiding' in host cells. But an antibody–antibiotic conjugate has been developed that targets these bacteria in mouse models.
| Brain cancer: Tumour cells on neighbourhood watch
The discovery of microtube structures that link tumour cells in some invasive brain tumours reveals how these cancers spread, and how they resist treatment.
| Climate change: A rewired food web
Climate change is causing large fish species to move into arctic marine environments. A network analysis finds that these fishes, with their generalist diets, add links to the existing food web that may alter biodiversity and web stability.
| Basomedial amygdala mediates top-down control of anxiety and fear
Activation of the ventral medial prefrontal cortex–basomedial amygdala pathway is shown to suppress anxiety and fear-related freezing in mice, thus identifying the basomedial amygdala (and not intercalated cells, as posited by earlier models) as a novel target of top-down control.
| Novel antibody–antibiotic conjugate eliminates intracellular S. aureus
Antibiotic-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, such as MRSA, are proving increasingly difficult to treat; here, one reason for this is confirmed to be the fact that S. aureus bacteria can reside in intracellular reservoirs where they are protected from antibiotics, but a new strategy—based on an antibody–antibiotic conjugate—can specifically target these reservoirs.
| Brain tumour cells interconnect to a functional and resistant network
Brain tumours are difficult to treat because of their propensity to infiltrate brain tissue; here long processes, or tumour microtubes, extended by astrocytomas are shown to promote brain infiltration and to create an interconnected network that enables multicellular communication and that protects the tumours from radiotherapy-induced cell death, suggesting that disruption of the network could be a new therapeutic approach.
| The effects of life history and sexual selection on male and female plumage colouration
By quantifying the colouration of all approximately 6,000 species of passerine birds, certain life-history traits such as large body size and tropical distribution are found to increase ornamentation in both male and female birds, whereas cooperative breeding increases it in females only, and sexual selection diminishes it in females more than it increases it in males.
| Endoperoxide formation by an α-ketoglutarate-dependent mononuclear non-haem iron enzyme
The X-ray crystal structures of FtmOx1, the first known α-ketoglutarate-dependent mononuclear non-haem iron enzyme that can catalyse an endoperoxide formation reaction, are presented, along with further biochemical analyses which reveal the catalytic versatility of mononuclear non-haem iron enzymes, and help to unravel the mechanisms of endoperoxide biosyntheses.
| Resensitizing daclatasvir-resistant hepatitis C variants by allosteric modulation of NS5A
The drug daclatasvir (DCV), which inhibits the hepatitis C virus (HCV) non-structural protein 5A (NS5A), can successfully reduce viral load in patients; here, a combination of DCV and an NS5A analogue is shown to enhance DCV potency on multiple genotypes and overcome resistance in vitro and in a mouse model.
| Measurement of interaction between antiprotons
The interaction between antiprotons, produced by colliding high-energy gold ions, is shown to be attractive, and two important parameters of this interaction are measured, namely the scattering length and the effective range.
| Sex-dependent dominance at a single locus maintains variation in age at maturity in salmon
Age at maturity in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) is governed to a substantial extent by a locus showing dominance reversal, providing a resolution for sexual conflict in this trait, for which selection favours different ages in the two sexes.
| Entangling two transportable neutral atoms via local spin exchange
Spin-entangled states between two neutral atoms in different optical tweezers are prepared by combining them in the same optical tweezer and allowing for controlled interactions, after which the particles are dynamically separated in space and their entanglement is maintained.
| | | | | 
See why BlotCycler is the next big thing in life science research...
Western blot processing with precise results, automatically!
Run 12 blots simultaneously with no wasted time - simply set it up and run blots. 100% satisfaction guaranteed!
Detailed application note here - and a $500 discount! | | | | | | | | | | | | | Australia is 'free to choose' economic growth and falling environmental pressures
A multi-model framework that accounts for climate, water, energy, food, biodiversity and economic activity in Australia reveals that a sustainable society that enjoys economic improvement without ecological deterioration is possible, but that specific political and economic choices need to be made to achieve this.
Steve Hatfield-Dodds, Heinz Schandl, Philip D. Adams et al. | Architecture of the mammalian mechanosensitive Piezo1 channel
Piezo1, a mechanosensitive cation channel, senses shear stress of blood flow for proper blood vessel development, regulates red blood cell function and controls cell migration and differentiation; here a trimeric architecture of this novel class of ion channel is reported, suggesting that Piezo1 may use its peripheral propeller-like 'blades' as force sensors to gate the central ion-conducting pore.
Jingpeng Ge, Wanqiu Li, Qiancheng Zhao et al. | Combinatorial gene regulation by modulation of relative pulse timing
Many gene-regulatory proteins have been shown to activate in pulses, but whether cells exploit the dynamic interaction between pulses of different regulatory proteins has remained unexplored; here single-cell videos show that yeast cells modulate the relative timing between the pulsatile transcription factors Msn2 and Mig1—a gene activator and a repressor, respectively—to control the expression of target genes in response to diverse environmental conditions.
Yihan Lin, Chang Ho Sohn, Chiraj K. Dalal et al. | Ion channels enable electrical communication in bacterial communities
Ion channels in bacterial biofilms are shown to conduct long-range electrical signals within the biofilm community through the propagation of potassium ions; as predicted by a simple mathematical model, potassium channel gating is shown to coordinate metabolic states between distant cells via electrical communication.
Arthur Prindle, Jintao Liu, Munehiro Asally et al. | | An aqueous, polymer-based redox-flow battery using non-corrosive, safe, and low-cost materials
An affordable, safe, and scalable battery system is presented, which uses organic polymers as the charge-storage material in combination with inexpensive dialysis membranes and an aqueous sodium chloride solution as the electrolyte.
Tobias Janoschka, Norbert Martin, Udo Martin et al. | The genetic sex-determination system predicts adult sex ratios in tetrapods
An analysis of 344 species of tetrapods (birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians) shows that taxa in which the female is heterogametic tend to have a more male-biased sex ratio; the mechanisms driving the association are unclear, but sex-determination systems are likely to have important consequences for the social behaviour and demography of tetrapods.
Ivett Pipoly, Veronika Bókony, Mark Kirkpatrick et al. | Structural insight into substrate preference for TET-mediated oxidation
In DNA demethylation, human TET proteins are evolutionarily tuned to be less reactive towards 5hmC and facilitate its generation as a potentially stable mark for regulatory functions.
Lulu Hu, Junyan Lu, Jingdong Cheng et al. | Autophagy mediates degradation of nuclear lamina
In response to cancer-associated stress, autophagy machinery mediates degradation of nuclear lamina components in mammals, suggesting that cells might degrade nuclear components to prevent tumorigenesis.
Zhixun Dou, Caiyue Xu, Greg Donahue et al. | Hong–Ou–Mandel interference of two phonons in trapped ions
The Hong–Ou–Mandel effect is a quantum phenomenon that involves the interference of bosonic particles and demonstrates their indistinguishability; this effect has been demonstrated previously for photons and neutral atoms, and is now demonstrated for phonons, using a system of trapped ions that are promising building blocks for quantum computers.
Kenji Toyoda, Ryoto Hiji, Atsushi Noguchi et al. | Spontaneous droplet trampolining on rigid superhydrophobic surfaces
Spontaneous levitation and trampoline-like bouncing behaviour of water droplets on rigid superhydrophobic surfaces in a low-pressure environment are observed, and are due to a build-up of overpressure in the surface texture beneath the droplets.
Thomas M. Schutzius, Stefan Jung, Tanmoy Maitra et al. | Rhodium-catalysed syn-carboamination of alkenes via a transient directing group
Chemical methods for adding carbon-based or nitrogen-based functional groups to alkenes are well established, but strategies for adding both to the same double bond have limitations; here, a method for the carboamination of alkenes at the same double bond is described.
Tiffany Piou, Tomislav Rovis | Episodic molecular outflow in the very young protostellar cluster Serpens South
A study of 12CO outflow emission from the protostellar source CARMA-7 in the cluster Serpens South suggests that episodic ejections of mass by the protostar begin in the earliest phase of protostellar evolution, probably providing a mechanism for driving the turbulence that is necessary for star formation in clusters.
Adele L. Plunkett, Héctor G. Arce, Diego Mardones et al. | Conformational control of DNA target cleavage by CRISPR–Cas9
A fluorescence-based approach defines new features of Cas9 that control the specificity of RNA-guided DNA cleavage in CRISPR genome editing technology.
Samuel H. Sternberg, Benjamin LaFrance, Matias Kaplan et al. | Differential responses to lithium in hyperexcitable neurons from patients with bipolar disorder
A neuronal model of bipolar disorder based on induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology finds hyperactive action-potential firing and differential responsiveness to lithium in iPSC-derived neurons from patients with bipolar disorder.
Jerome Mertens, Qiu-Wen Wang, Yongsung Kim et al. | Microenvironment-induced PTEN loss by exosomal microRNA primes brain metastasis outgrowth
Expression of the tumour suppressor PTEN in disseminated primary tumour cells is lost after tumour cells metastasize to the brain, with downregulation instigated by microRNAs from astrocytes, which are transferred from cell to cell by exosomes; these findings reveal the dynamic nature of metastatic cancer cells when adapting to a new tissue environment.
Lin Zhang, Siyuan Zhang, Jun Yao et al. | Crystal structure of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase from influenza C virus
The X-ray crystal structure of influenza C virus polymerase, captured in a closed, pre-activation confirmation, is solved at 3.9 Å resolution; comparison with previous RNA-bound structures reveals large conformational changes associated with RNA binding and activation, and illustrates the notable flexibility of the influenza virus RNA polymerase.
Narin Hengrung, Kamel El Omari, Itziar Serna Martin et al. | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment