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      • Microbe-dependent CD11b+ IgA+ plasma cells mediate robust early-phase intestinal IgA responses in mice Open

        Jun Kunisawa, Masashi Gohda, Eri Hashimoto, Izumi Ishikawa, Morio Higuchi, Yuji Suzuki, Yoshiyuki Goto, Casandra Panea, Ivaylo I. Ivanov, Risa Sumiya, Lamichhane Aayam, Taichi Wake, So Tajiri, Yosuke Kurashima, Shiori Shikata, Shizuo Akira, Kiyoshi Takeda, Hiroshi Kiyono
        Intestinal plasma cells contribute to the delicate balance between immunity against pathogens and tolerance of intestinal microflora. Kunisawa et al. identify a subpopulation of plasma cells whose proliferation depends on stimulation by microbes and IL-10, and which mediate early-phase responses to oral antigens.
        23 Apr
        Nat. Commun. 4 : 1772
        doi:
        10.1038/ncomms2718 (2013)

      • Nanobatteries in redox-based resistive switches require extension of memristor theory Open

        I. Valov, E. Linn, S. Tappertzhofen, S. Schmelzer, J. van den Hurk, F. Lentz, R. Waser
        The original definition of a memristor envisions a two-terminal memory device with a pinched, zero-crossing hysteresis loop. As the authors show here, an electromotive force leads to non-zero-crossing characteristics in nanoionic-type memristors, implying that the memristor definition must be amended.
        23 Apr
        Nat. Commun. 4 : 1771
        doi:
        10.1038/ncomms2784 (2013)

      • Visualization and genetic modification of resident brain microglia using lentiviral vectors regulated by microRNA-9

        Malin Åkerblom, Rohit Sachdeva, Luis Quintino, Erika Elgstrand Wettergren, Katie Z. Chapman, Giuseppe Manfre, Olle Lindvall, Cecilia Lundberg, Johan Jakobsson
        Microglia are specialized immune cells in the brain. Here Åkerblom and colleagues use a microRNA-9-regulated lentiviral vector for the targeted genetic modification of microglia in the rodent brain, presenting a tool that may facilitate functional studies of resident microglia.
        23 Apr
        Nat. Commun. 4 : 1770
        doi:
        10.1038/ncomms2801 (2013)

      • miR-155 regulates differentiation of brown and beige adipocytes via a bistable circuit Open

        Yong Chen, Franziska Siegel, Stefanie Kipschull, Bodo Haas, Holger Fröhlich, Gunter Meister, Alexander Pfeifer
        Brown fat can dissipate energy as heat and has an important role in energy homoeostasis of rodents and possibly humans. Chen et al. show that microRNA 155 regulates the differentiation of brown adipocytes as well as the 'browning' of white fat cells in mice.
        23 Apr
        Nat. Commun. 4 : 1769
        doi:
        10.1038/ncomms2742 (2013)

      • Trapping red blood cells in living animals using optical tweezers

        Min-Cheng Zhong, Xun-Bin Wei, Jin-Hua Zhou, Zi-Qiang Wang, Yin-Mei Li
        Optical tweezers based on focused laser beams are widely used for biophysical measurements of single molecules in vitro. Here Zhong et al. use infrared optical tweezers to trap and manipulate red blood cells within subdermal capillaries in living mice.
        23 Apr
        Nat. Commun. 4 : 1768
        doi:
        10.1038/ncomms2786 (2013)

      • Genomic deletions disrupt nitrogen metabolism pathways of a cyanobacterial diatom symbiont Open

        Jason A. Hilton, Rachel A. Foster, H. James Tripp, Brandon J. Carter, Jonathan P. Zehr, Tracy A. Villareal
        Cyanobacterial symbionts of marine diatoms can localize intracellularly or externally to their host partners. Here Hilton et al. describe the genomes of two diazotroph cyanobacterial symbionts of diatoms and show that the location of the symbiont affects expression of nitrogen assimilation genes.
        23 Apr
        Nat. Commun. 4 : 1767
        doi:
        10.1038/ncomms2748 (2013)

      • The four-transmembrane protein IP39 of Euglena forms strands by a trimeric unit repeat Open

        Hiroshi Suzuki, Yasuyuki Ito, Yuji Yamazaki, Katsuhiko Mineta, Masami Uji, Kazuhiro Abe, Kazutoshi Tani, Yoshinori Fujiyoshi, Sachiko Tsukita
        IP39 is an abundant protozoan protein known to form highly-ordered striations in Euglena gracilis’ plasma membrane. Here, Suzuki et al. determine its three-dimensional structure by electron crystallography revealing that IP39 polymerises to form trimeric longitudinal units arranged in a molecular strand of antiparallel double-rows.
        23 Apr
        Nat. Commun. 4 : 1766
        doi:
        10.1038/ncomms2731 (2013)

      • Referential gestures in fish collaborative hunting

        Alexander L. Vail, Andrea Manica, Redouan Bshary
        Referential gestures such as pointing direct attention towards an object and have only been observed in apes and ravens. Vail et al. show that fish signal to indicate the location of hidden prey to hunting partners, demonstrating that referential gestures are not restricted to large-brained species.
        23 Apr
        Nat. Commun. 4 : 1765
        doi:
        10.1038/ncomms2781 (2013)

      • Neolithic mitochondrial haplogroup H genomes and the genetic origins of Europeans

        Paul Brotherton, Wolfgang Haak, Jennifer Templeton, Guido Brandt, Julien Soubrier, Christina Jane Adler, Stephen M. Richards, Clio Der Sarkissian, Robert Ganslmeier, Susanne Friederich, Veit Dresely, Mannis van Oven, Rosalie Kenyon, Mark B. Van der Hoek, Jonas Korlach, Khai Luong, Simon Y.W. Ho, Lluis Quintana-Murci, Doron M. Behar, Harald Meller, Kurt W. Alt, Alan Cooper, The Genographic Consortium, Syama Adhikarla, Arun Kumar Ganesh Prasad, Ramasamy Pitchappan, Arun Varatharajan Santhakumari, Elena Balanovska, Oleg Balanovsky, Jaume Bertranpetit, David Comas, Begoña Martínez-Cruz, Marta Melé, Andrew C. Clarke, Elizabeth A. Matisoo-Smith, Matthew C. Dulik, Jill B. Gaieski, Amanda C. Owings, Theodore G. Schurr, Miguel G. Vilar, Angela Hobbs, Himla Soodyall, Asif Javed, Laxmi Parida, Daniel E. Platt, Ajay K. Royyuru, Li Jin, Shilin Li, Matthew E. Kaplan, Nirav C. Merchant, R John Mitchell, Colin Renfrew, Daniela R. Lacerda, Fabrício R Santos, David F. Soria Hernanz, R Spencer Wells, Pandikumar Swamikrishnan, Chris Tyler-Smith, Pedro Paulo Vieira, Janet S. Ziegle
        Here, Brotherton and colleagues sequence 39 mitochondrial genomes from ancient human remains. They track population changes across Central Europe and find that the foundations of the European mitochondrial DNA pool were formed during the Neolithic rather than the post-glacial period.
        23 Apr
        Nat. Commun. 4 : 1764
        doi:
        10.1038/ncomms2656 (2013)

      • Relativistic electron mirrors from nanoscale foils for coherent frequency upshift to the extreme ultraviolet Open

        D. Kiefer, M. Yeung, T. Dzelzainis, P.S. Foster, S.G. Rykovanov, C.LS. Lewis, R.S. Marjoribanks, H. Ruhl, D. Habs, J. Schreiber, M. Zepf, B. Dromey
        By reflecting light from a relativistically moving mirror, its frequency can be changed, which could create X-rays from visible light. Kiefer et al. make such a mirror from relativistic electrons formed by an intense laser striking a nanofoil, and shift a laser pulse from the infrared to the extreme ultraviolet.
        23 Apr
        Nat. Commun. 4 : 1763
        doi:
        10.1038/ncomms2775 (2013)

      • Compact designer TALENs for efficient genome engineering Open

        Marine Beurdeley, Fabian Bietz, Jin Li, Severine Thomas, Thomas Stoddard, Alexandre Juillerat, Feng Zhang, Daniel F. Voytas, Philippe Duchateau, George H. Silva
        Transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) are dimeric 'molecular scissors' that can be readily engineered for gene-targeting applications. Beurdeley et al. develop a single-chain TALEN architecture having significant in vivo activity in yeast, plant and mammalian systems.
        23 Apr
        Nat. Commun. 4 : 1762
        doi:
        10.1038/ncomms2782 (2013)

      • Dual role of myosin II during Drosophila imaginal disc metamorphosis

        Silvia Aldaz, Luis M. Escudero, Matthew Freeman
        The motor protein myosin II is implicated in three-dimensional organ development. In this study, the authors apply live imaging techniques to describe the dynamics of the developing Drosophila wing and the involvement of myosin II in this process.
        23 Apr
        Nat. Commun. 4 : 1761
        doi:
        10.1038/ncomms2763 (2013)

      • Identity of endogenous NMDAR glycine site agonist in amygdala is determined by synaptic activity level

        Yan Li, Silvia Sacchi, Loredano Pollegioni, Alo C. Basu, Joseph T. Coyle, Vadim Y. Bolshakov
        NMDA receptor activation requires the occupation of binding sites by glutamate and a glycine site agonist. Li and colleagues study this in synapses of the lateral nucleus of the amygdala and find that the identity of the NMDAR glycine site agonist depends on the level of synaptic activation.
        23 Apr
        Nat. Commun. 4 : 1760
        doi:
        10.1038/ncomms2779 (2013)

      • Control of lung vascular permeability and endotoxin-induced pulmonary oedema by changes in extracellular matrix mechanics

        Akiko Mammoto, Tadanori Mammoto, Mathumai Kanapathipillai, Chong Wing Yung, Elisabeth Jiang, Amanda Jiang, Kristopher Lofgren, Elaine P.S. Gee, Donald E. Ingber
        Vascular permeability is increased by inflammation and in disorders such as acute respiratory distress syndrome. Mammoto et al. show that lung vascular permeability is controlled by the stiffness of the extracellular matrix and identify lysyl oxidase as a regulator of vascular leakage in pulmonary oedema in mice.
        23 Apr
        Nat. Commun. 4 : 1759
        doi:
        10.1038/ncomms2774 (2013)

      • Ligand binding and aggregation of pathogenic SOD1 Open

        Gareth S.A. Wright, Svetlana V. Antonyuk, Neil M. Kershaw, Richard W. Strange, S Samar Hasnain
        Mutations of the SOD1 gene are implicated in neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Wright and colleagues find that SOD1 aggregation in cells is arrested by compounds that bind at the core of SOD1 aggregates, rather than at the dimer interface site.
        23 Apr
        Nat. Commun. 4 : 1758
        doi:
        10.1038/ncomms2750 (2013)

      • Auto-production of biosurfactants reverses the coffee ring effect in a bacterial system Open

        Wouter Sempels, Raf De Dier, Hideaki Mizuno, Johan Hofkens, Jan Vermant
        The coffee ring effect is commonly observed in drying droplets containing suspended matter leading to a deposition at the droplet edge. Sempels et al. show that self-generated biosurfactants in living bacterial systems reverse the coffee ring effect and result in a homogeneous deposition.
        23 Apr
        Nat. Commun. 4 : 1757
        doi:
        10.1038/ncomms2746 (2013)

      • Topological quantum computing with a very noisy network and local error rates approaching one percent Open

        Naomi H. Nickerson, Ying Li, Simon C. Benjamin
        One approach to build a scalable quantum computer is to connect many smaller cells into a larger whole, but for realistic systems this quickly becomes prone to errors. Nickerson et al. present a noisy network protocol that can withstand high error rates within each cell but still perform stable purification.
        23 Apr
        Nat. Commun. 4 : 1756
        doi:
        10.1038/ncomms2773 (2013)

      • Characterizing the interplay between multiple levels of organization within bacterial sigma factor regulatory networks

        Yu Qiu, Harish Nagarajan, Mallory Embree, Wendy Shieu, Elisa Abate, Katy Juárez, Byung-Kwan Cho, James G. Elkins, Kelly P. Nevin, Christian L. Barrett, Derek R. Lovley, Bernhard O. Palsson, Karsten Zengler
        Sigma factors are proteins controlling gene expression that allow bacteria to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Qiu and colleagues investigate sigma factor regulatory networks in Geobacter sulfurreducens, providing insights into how sigma factors regulate bacterial growth and energy metabolism.
        23 Apr
        Nat. Commun. 4 : 1755
        doi:
        10.1038/ncomms2743 (2013)

      • Max is a repressor of germ cell-related gene expression in mouse embryonic stem cells

        Ikuma Maeda, Daiji Okamura, Yuko Tokitake, Makiko Ikeda, Hiroko Kawaguchi, Nathan Mise, Kuniya Abe, Toshiaki Noce, Akihiko Okuda, Yasuhisa Matsui
        Even though both embryonic stem cells and primordial germ cells express pluripotency markers, they differ in their developmental potential. Maeda et al. show that, in embryonic stem cells, the Myc family member Max mediates epigenetic repression of genes involved in germ cell development.
        23 Apr
        Nat. Commun. 4 : 1754
        doi:
        10.1038/ncomms2780 (2013)

      • Probing relaxation times in graphene quantum dots Open

        Christian Volk, Christoph Neumann, Sebastian Kazarski, Stefan Fringes, Stephan Engels, Federica Haupt, André Müller, Christoph Stampfer
        The experimental investigation of relaxation times in graphene quantum dots has long been hindered by the limited tunability of these devices. Here Volk et. al. employ a device design to study this problem and report charge relaxation times of around 60–100 ns.
        23 Apr
        Nat. Commun. 4 : 1753
        doi:
        10.1038/ncomms2738 (2013)
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