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| | Let researchers try new paths
Demand for steady output stymies discovery. To pursue the most important research, scientists must be allowed to shift their focus, say Tolu Oni and colleagues.
Tolu Oni, Fabio Sciarrino, Gerardo Adesso et al. | Fewer numbers, better science
Scientific quality is hard to define, and numbers are easy to look at. But bibliometrics are warping science — encouraging quantity over quality. Leaders at two research institutions describe how they do things differently.
Rinze Benedictus, Frank Miedema, Mark W. J. Ferguson | | | | |
| | Cancer: Bad neighbours cause bad blood
Expression of a blood-cancer-associated genetic mutation in the non-blood cells of the bone marrow is sufficient to cause blood cancer in mice. This finding could point to new approaches to treating an often-fatal disease.
| Molecular biology: Mature proteins braced by a chaperone
Hsp70 chaperone molecules help other proteins to fold, and were thought to bind mainly to unfolded proteins. Single-molecule experiments now suggest that Hsp70s can also stabilize almost fully folded proteins.
| In retrospect: Eighty years of stress
The discovery in 1936 that rats respond to various damaging stimuli with a general response that involves alarm, resistance and exhaustion launched the discipline of stress research.
| Linguistics: Sound and meaning in the world's languages
The sounds of words that represent particular meanings are usually thought to vary arbitrarily across languages. However, a large-scale study of languages finds that some associations between sound and meaning are widespread.
| Transplanted embryonic neurons integrate into adult neocortical circuits
Transplanted embryonic neurons in mice mature and achieve adult-like properties within 4–8 weeks, receiving appropriate inputs and establishing stimulus-selective responses.
| Defining synonymous codon compression schemes by genome recoding
REXER, a new method that allows long sections of DNA to be inserted or replaced in the genome of the bacterium Escherichia coli, is used to investigate codon replacement schemes for the generation of synthetic genomes.
| Correcting mitochondrial fusion by manipulating mitofusin conformations
| S-2-hydroxyglutarate regulates CD8+ T-lymphocyte fate
| Amazon boundary layer aerosol concentration sustained by vertical transport during rainfall
Rapid vertical transport of small aerosol particles from the free troposphere to the atmospheric boundary layer occurs during precipitation and maintains the population of aerosol particles over Amazonia.
| Olfactory receptor pseudo-pseudogenes
Drosophila sechellia, a species closely related to the model species Drosophila melanogaster, bypasses a premature stop codon in neuronal cells to express a functional olfactory receptor protein from an assumed pseudogene template.
| 1970s and 'Patient 0' HIV-1 genomes illuminate early HIV/AIDS history in North America
A study of the early genetic diversity and history of the HIV-1 epidemic in North America through sequencing of eight full-length viral genomes from the 1970s.
| Nanoscale thermal imaging of dissipation in quantum systems
A cryogenic thermal imaging technique that uses a superconducting quantum interference device fabricated on the tip of a sharp pipette can be used to image the thermal signature of extremely low power nanometre-scale dissipation processes.
| Transcription of the non-coding RNA upperhand controls Hand2 expression and heart development
Transcription of a long non-coding RNA, known as upperhand (Uph) located upstream of the HAND2 transcription factor is required to maintain transcription of the Hand2 gene by RNA polymerase, and blockade of Uph expression leads to heart defects and embryonic lethality in mice.
| Leukaemogenic effects of Ptpn11 activating mutations in the stem cell microenvironment
Mutations in the protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP2 affect cells in the bone marrow environment, which leads to aberrant activation of resident haematopoietic stem cells and thereby contributes to the development of leukaemia.
| Alternative modes of client binding enable functional plasticity of Hsp70
Hsp70 binds unfolded protein segments in its groove, but can also bind and stabilize folded protein structures, owing to its moveable lid, with ATP hydrolysis and co-chaperones allowing control of these contrasting effects.
| Local regulation of gene expression by lncRNA promoters, transcription and splicing
Various cis-regulatory functions of genomic loci that produce long non-coding RNAs are revealed, including instances where their promoters have enhancer-like activity and the lncRNA transcripts themselves are not required for activity.
| Mechanism of super-assembly of respiratory complexes III and IV
| Atomic model for the membrane-embedded VO motor of a eukaryotic V-ATPase
The structure of the VO subcomplex of yeast V-ATPase, solved by electron cryomicroscopy, reveals a new subunit and suggests a mechanism for the translocation of protons across membranes.
| Corrigendum: Synergistic, ultrafast mass storage and removal in artificial mixed conductors
| | | Brief Communications Arising | | | | Quantum dynamics of simultaneously measured non-commuting observables
Simultaneous measurement of two incompatible observables in a superconducting qubit placed in a cavity shows that the quantum dynamics of the system is governed by the uncertainty principle and that the wavefunction collapse is replaced by persistent diffusion.
Shay Hacohen-Gourgy, Leigh S. Martin, Emmanuel Flurin et al. | Fossil evidence of the avian vocal organ from the Mesozoic
Birds make sound in the syrinx, a unique vocal organ situated deep in the chest, but little is known about the evolution of this structure; a fossilized Cretaceous age syrinx from Antarctica is described from a species that might have been capable of making a goose-like honking sound.
Julia A. Clarke, Sankar Chatterjee, Zhiheng Li et al. | A triple protostar system formed via fragmentation of a gravitationally unstable disk
Observations of the triple protostar system L1448 IRS3B support the hypothesis that companion stars can form because of gravitational instability in a protostellar disk.
John J. Tobin, Kaitlin M. Kratter, Magnus V. Persson et al. | Potassium isotopic evidence for a high-energy giant impact origin of the Moon
The potassium isotope signature of lunar rocks supports the model of a high-energy giant impact as the origin of the Moon.
Kun Wang, Stein B. Jacobsen | Atom-at-a-time laser resonance ionization spectroscopy of nobelium
Resonance ionization spectroscopy of nobelium (atomic number 102) reveals its ground-state transition and an upper limit for its ionization potential, paving the way to characterizing even heavier elements via optical spectroscopy.
Mustapha Laatiaoui, Werner Lauth, Hartmut Backe et al. | Projected land photosynthesis constrained by changes in the seasonal cycle of atmospheric CO2
Analysis of observations and model projections provides large-scale emergent constraints on the extent of CO2 fertilization, with estimated increases in gross primary productivity for both high-latitude and extratropical ecosystems under elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
Sabrina Wenzel, Peter M. Cox, Veronika Eyring et al. | Changing cultural attitudes towards female genital cutting
Entertaining movies addressing both individual values and marriageability can provide a way to change cultural attitudes towards female genital cutting within certain cultures.
Sonja Vogt, Nadia Ahmed Mohmmed Zaid, Hilal El Fadil Ahmed et al. | Genomic insights into the peopling of the Southwest Pacific
Analysis of ancient DNA from four individuals who lived in Vanuatu and Tonga between 2,300 and 3,100 years ago suggests that the Papuan ancestry seen in present-day occupants of this region was introduced at a later date.
Pontus Skoglund, Cosimo Posth, Kendra Sirak et al. | Synchronous long-term oscillations in a synthetic gene circuit
The first synthetic genetic oscillator or 'repressilator' is simplified using insights from stochastic theory, thus achieving remarkably precise and robust oscillations and informing current debates about the next generation of synthetic circuits and their potential applications in cell-based therapies.
Laurent Potvin-Trottier, Nathan D. Lord, Glenn Vinnicombe et al. | T-cell acute leukaemia exhibits dynamic interactions with bone marrow microenvironments
Here, leukaemia cells are followed by intravital microscopy as they infiltrate mouse bone marrow and respond to chemotherapy, revealing that at all stages analysed they are highly motile and do not display any associations with particular bone marrow sub-compartments.
Edwin D. Hawkins, Delfim Duarte, Olufolake Akinduro et al. | Chromosome conformation elucidates regulatory relationships in developing human brain
High-resolution three-dimensional maps of chromatin contacts in the developing human brain help to identify enhancer–promoter contacts, many of which are associated with human cognitive function and disease.
Hyejung Won, Luis de la Torre-Ubieta, Jason L. Stein et al. | TET-mediated DNA demethylation controls gastrulation by regulating Lefty–Nodal signalling
Inactivation of three Tet genes in mice leads to gastrulation phenotypes similar to those in embryos with increased Nodal signalling, revealing a functional redundancy of Tet genes and showing balanced and dynamic DNA methylation and demethylation is crucial to regulate key signalling pathways in early body plan formation.
Hai-Qiang Dai, Bang-An Wang, Lu Yang et al. | Mechanism for DNA transposons to generate introns on genomic scales
The observations that introns are acquired in bursts and that exons are often nucleosome-sized can be explained by the generation of introns from DNA transposons, which insert between nucleosomes.
Jason T. Huff, Daniel Zilberman, Scott W. Roy | Pore architecture of TRIC channels and insights into their gating mechanism
X-ray structures of C. elegans TRIC-B subtype channels reveal that the membrane proteins form a symmetrical homotrimeric complex, and a mechanistic model to explain the complex gating mechanism of TRIC channels is proposed.
Hanting Yang, Miaohui Hu, Jianli Guo et al. | | | | |
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