EMBO reports Table of Contents for January 2016; Vol. 17, No. 1

January 2016 | Volume 17, Number 1 Submit Table of Contents Science & Society Scientific Reports Articles Volume 17, Number 1 Science & Society Risk communication in times of crisis: Pitfalls and challenges in ensuring preparedness instead of hysterics The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is an instructive lesson on the difficulties of risk communication in times of crisis. The most effective strategy to improve communication during a crisis is to build public trust in officials and academics long before disaster strikes. Gaby‐Fleur Böl Published online 09.12.2015 The meaningless pseudo‐category of “GMOs”: The trouble with the “new techniques” for genetically modifying crops demonstrates the illogical process‐based definition of GMOs in EU regulation With the advent of new technologies for gene editing and genetic manipulation, it becomes increasingly clear that the EU's legislation of agricultural biotechnologies is hopelessly out of date. A more rational regulatory system for GM crops should be based on the features of the product, instead of the process of engineering it. Giovanni Tagliabue Published online 11.11.2015 Data donation after death: A proposal to prevent the waste of medical research data Biological data from deceased persons could be a rich resource for research, but is difficult to use owing to privacy and consent concerns. A Data Donation Card and registry would enable people to contribute their medical data to future research, even after their death. David M Shaw, Juliane V Gross, and Thomas C Erren Published online 10.12.2015 Sex, health and behaviour: Sexual reproduction might have emerged to provide better immunity against pathogens and further evolved to select for behaviour Sex might be more about defending against parasites and pathogens than about love. Sexual selection has evolved to select for specific behavioural traits and might therefore have driven human social and cultural evolution. Philip Hunter Published online 08.12.2015 Biometrics' new identity—measuring more physical and biological traits: Research into the characteristics that are unique to an individual is addressing the need to correctly identify people in a variety of medical, social and security contexts Biometric measurements have the potential to improve both security and convenience in many areas of our daily lives, including in health care and social services. Researchers are exploring new biometric characteristics that could be used to develop full‐proof methods to assess and validate someone's identity. Andrea Rinaldi Published online 14.12.2015 Scientific Reports ApoE4 upregulates the activity of mitochondria‐associated ER membranes The reason why ApoE4 is a risk factor in Alzheimer's disease is unknown. This study shows that lipoproteins containing ApoE4, but not those containing ApoE3, upregulate the communication between ER and mitochondria at mitochondria‐associated ER membranes (MAM), and may help explain, in part, the role of ApoE4 as a risk factor in the disease. Marc D Tambini, Marta Pera, Ellen Kanter, Hua Yang, Cristina Guardia‐Laguarta, David Holtzman, David Sulzer, Estela Area‐Gomez, and Eric A Schon Published online 12.11.2015 Dead end1 is an essential partner of NANOS2 for selective binding of target RNAs in male germ cell development The NANOS2–Dead end1 (DND1) complex is required for the differentiation of mouse male germ cells. DND1 associates with the CCR4–NOT deadenylase complex via NANOS2 and promotes the degradation of specific NANOS2‐associated mRNAs. Atsushi Suzuki, Yuki Niimi, Kaori Shinmyozu, Zhi Zhou, Makoto Kiso, and Yumiko Saga Published online 20.11.2015 Articles Synaptotagmin‐11 inhibits clathrin‐mediated and bulk endocytosis This study identifies Syt11 as an inhibitory regulator for neuronal endocytosis. Syt11 inhibits both clathrin‐mediated and bulk endocytosis probably at the stage of membrane invagination. Changhe Wang, Yeshi Wang, Meiqin Hu, Zuying Chai, Qihui Wu, Rong Huang, Weiping Han, Claire Xi Zhang, and Zhuan Zhou Published online 20.11.2015 Role of Angiomotin‐like 2 mono‐ubiquitination on YAP inhibition This study reports a new regulatory mechanism of the Hippo signaling governed by mono‐ubiquitination of AMOTL2. AMOTL2 mono‐ubiquitination is required to bind and activate LATS kinase and to inhibit YAP activity and is regulated by the USP9X deubiquitinase. Miju Kim, Minchul Kim, Seong‐Jun Park, Cheolju Lee, and Dae‐Sik Lim Published online 23.11.2015 Abo1, a conserved bromodomain AAA‐ATPase, maintains global nucleosome occupancy and organisation Loss of Abo1 function—a bromodomain AAA‐ATPase—results in global perturbations to nucleosome occupancy and organisation with effects on transcription and heterochromatin function. Csenge Gal, Heather E Murton, Lakxmi Subramanian, Alex J Whale, Karen M Moore, Konrad Paszkiewicz, Sandra Codlin, Jürg Bähler, Kevin M Creamer, Janet F Partridge, Robin C Allshire, Nicholas A Kent, and Simon K Whitehall Published online 18.11.2015 SLFN11 inhibits checkpoint maintenance and homologous recombination repair High levels of SLFN11 sensitize cancer cell lines to DNA‐damaging agents by inhibiting checkpoint maintenance and homologous recombination repair. SLFN11 expression might serve as a biomarker to predict responses to DNA‐damaging therapeutic agents. Yanhua Mu, Jiangman Lou, Mrinal Srivastava, Bin Zhao, Xin‐hua Feng, Ting Liu, Junjie Chen, and Jun Huang Published online 09.12.2015 Ral GTPase and the exocyst regulate autophagy in a tissue‐specific manner Contrary to current data, Ral is dispensable for starvation‐induced autophagy in Drosophila. Ral regulates autophagy specifically during cell death indicating a context‐dependent role for Ral in physiological autophagy. Kirsten Tracy, Panagiotis D Velentzas, and Eric H Baehrecke Published online 23.11.2015   Unsubscribe from or edit your subscription for this service. Or by mail: Customer Service * 425 Broadway St * Redwood City, CA 94063 * U.S.A. Copyright © 2016 by the European Molecular Biology Organisation.