| | Cancer: Oncogene brought into the loop
Analysis of the 3D structure of DNA in tumour cells reveals how mutations in the IDH1 gene, and associated changes in methyl groups attached to DNA, elevate the expression of cancer-promoting genes. | Ecology: A trail map for trait-based studies
Global assessments of variation in plant functional traits and the way that these traits influence competitive interactions provide a launching pad for future ecological studies. | Archaeology: Sources of Chaco wood
Tree rings can pinpoint the source of wood as well as how old it is. This method has now been used to identify the sources of timber used by the Native Americans who constructed the pre-Columbian 'great houses' of Chaco Canyon. | 2015 Editors' choice
Extracts from selected News & Views articles published this year. | Structure of the voltage-gated two-pore channel TPC1 from Arabidopsis thaliana
The X-ray crystal structure of a two-pore channel from Arabidopsis thaliana reveals the structure and the mechanism of voltage gating of this class of ubiquitous cation-selective ion channels. | SMN and symmetric arginine dimethylation of RNA polymerase II C-terminal domain control termination
Symmetric dimethylation of the human RNA polymerase II C-terminal domain residue R1810 by the protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) directly recruits the protein survival of motor neuron (SMN) and indirectly recruits the helicase senataxin to resolve R-loops and promote transcription termination. | The global spectrum of plant form and function
The authors found that the key elements of plant form and function, analysed at global scale, are largely concentrated into a two-dimensional plane indexed by the size of whole plants and organs on the one hand, and the construction costs for photosynthetic leaf area, on the other. | Four-electron deoxygenative reductive coupling of carbon monoxide at a single metal site
The environmental and geopolitical problems associated with fossil fuels might be alleviated if it were possible to produce synthetic multicarbon fuels efficiently from single-carbon feedstocks; here, a molybdenum compound supported by a terphenyl–diphosphine ligand is used to convert carbon monoxide into a metal-free C2O1 fragment, with the ligand both serving as an electron reservoir and stabilizing the different intermediate species. | Controlling many-body states by the electric-field effect in a two-dimensional material
To be able to control the properties of a system that has strong electron–electron interactions using only an external electric field would be ideal, but the material must be thin enough to avoid shielding of the electric field in the bulk material; here pure electric-field control of the charge-density wave and superconductivity transition temperatures is achieved by electrolyte gating through an electric-field double layer transistor in the two-dimensional material 1T-TiSe2. | Rapid removal of organic micropollutants from water by a porous β-cyclodextrin polymer
An alternative material to activated carbon for water remediation is reported: a porous material based on crosslinked cyclodextrins that is better than activated carbons at adsorbing a range of pharmaceuticals, pesticides and other anthropogenic pollutants. | A LAIR1 insertion generates broadly reactive antibodies against malaria variant antigens
Monoclonal antibodies with broad reactivity against antigens on the parasite that causes malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, are isolated from two subjects and are found to have an unusual insertion of an immunoglobulin-like domain from a different chromosome, illustrating a new mechanism of antibody diversification. | Targeting PTPRK-RSPO3 colon tumours promotes differentiation and loss of stem-cell function
Antibody-mediated inhibition of R-spondin-3 in colorectal tumours decreases tumour growth and promotes differentiation—these effects are associated with a decrease in expression of genes associated with stem-cell function. | Plant functional traits have globally consistent effects on competition
Data from millions of trees in thousands of locations are used to show that certain key traits affect competitive ability in predictable ways, and that there are trade-offs between traits that favour growth with and without competition. | Insulator dysfunction and oncogene activation in IDH mutant gliomas
An epigenetic mechanism in which gain-of-function IDH mutations promote gliomagenesis by disrupting chromosomal topology is presented, with IDH mutations causing the binding sites of the methylation-sensitive insulator CTCF to become hypermethylated; disruption of a CTCF boundary near the glioma oncogene PDGFRA allows a constitutive enhancer to contact and activate the oncogene aberrantly. | | Corrigendum: Hypoxia fate mapping identifies cycling cardiomyocytes in the adult heart | | | Brief Communications Arising | | | | Complete nitrification by Nitrospira bacteria
Until now, the oxidation steps necessary for complete nitrification have always been observed to occur in two separate microorganisms in a cross-feeding interaction; here, together with the study by van Kessel et al., Daims et al. report the enrichment and characterization of Nitrospira species that encode all of the enzymes necessary to catalyse complete nitrification, a phenotype referred to as “comammox” (for complete ammonia oxidation).
Holger Daims, Elena V. Lebedeva, Petra Pjevac et al. | DDX5 and its associated lncRNA Rmrp modulate TH17 cell effector functions
The ability of the DEAD-box RNA helicase DDX5 to interact with master transcription factor RORγt is dependent on binding of the long noncoding RNA Rmrp; the DDX5–RORγt complex coordinates transcription of selective TH17 genes and is required for the pathogenicity of TH17 cells.
Wendy Huang, Benjamin Thomas, Ryan A. Flynn et al. | Genome-wide patterns of selection in 230 ancient Eurasians
The first genome-wide scan for selection using ancient DNA, based on data from 230 West Eurasians dating between to 6500 and 300 BC and including new data from 163 individuals among which are 26 Neolithic Anatolians, provides a direct view of selection on loci associated with diet, pigmentation and immunity.
Iain Mathieson, Iosif Lazaridis, Nadin Rohland et al. | Network-analysis-guided synthesis of weisaconitine D and liljestrandinine
Network analysis to determine the maximally bridged ring (or rings) of molecules is used as part of a strategy for the syntheses of architecturally complex natural chemicals; this strategy is demonstrated via the synthesis of the diterpenoid alkaloids weisaconitine D and liljestrandinine.
C. J. Marth, G. M. Gallego, J. C. Lee et al. | ∆F508 CFTR interactome remodelling promotes rescue of cystic fibrosis
A new deep proteomic analysis method is used to identify proteins that interact with wild-type cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) and its mutant version that is the major cause of cystic fibrosis.
Sandra Pankow, Casimir Bamberger, Diego Calzolari et al. | | Quantum superposition at the half-metre scale
Matter-wave interferometers provide an opportunity to measure whether quantum superpositions exist at macroscopic length scales or only at microscopically small scales; now such instruments have demonstrated quantum interference of wave packets separated by 54 cm.
T. Kovachy, P. Asenbaum, C. Overstreet et al. | Processing and properties of magnesium containing a dense uniform dispersion of nanoparticles
Magnesium is light but not very strong; here the addition of silicon carbide nanoparticles uniformly dispersed to 14 per cent by volume, achieved through a nanoparticle self-stabilization mechanism in a molten metal alloy, yields improved strength, stiffness, plasticity and high-temperature stability.
Lian-Yi Chen, Jia-Quan Xu, Hongseok Choi et al. | Neonicotinoid pesticide exposure impairs crop pollination services provided by bumblebees
Despite substantial evidence that neonicotinoid pesticides can have negative effects on bees, there have been no reports that this leads to problems with pollination; here bumblebee colonies exposed to a neonicotinoid are shown to provide reduced pollination services to apple trees, leading to a reduction in seed number.
Dara A. Stanley, Michael P. D. Garratt, Jennifer B. Wickens et al. | Exploring the repeat protein universe through computational protein design
In this study, 83 proteins containing helix–loop–helix–loop repeats were designed—with sequences unrelated to known repeat proteins—and experimentally characterized; 43 solution X-ray scattering spectra and 15 structures of the designed proteins show that these non-natural repeat proteins have a broad range of curvatures and that their overall structures are in close agreement with design models.
TJ Brunette, Fabio Parmeggiani, Po-Ssu Huang et al. | Dense magnetized plasma associated with a fast radio burst
Fast radio burst FRB 110523, discovered in archival data, reveals Faraday rotation and scattering that suggests dense magnetized plasma near the source; this means that to infer the source of the burst, models should involve young stellar populations such as magnetars.
Kiyoshi Masui, Hsiu-Hsien Lin, Jonathan Sievers et al. | A dynamic magnetic tension force as the cause of failed solar eruptions
Coronal mass ejections are driven by a sudden release of magnetic energy stored in flux ropes in the Sun’s corona, but when the ambient magnetic field that runs toroidally along an unstable flux rope is strong enough to prevent the flux rope from kinking, a dynamic magnetic tension force halts the eruption.
Clayton E. Myers, Masaaki Yamada, Hantao Ji et al. | Thermal vesiculation during volcanic eruptions
A textural examination of volcanic ash erupted from Santiaguito volcano in Guatemala coupled with an analysis of the geophysical signals indicates that rapid heating during fault friction can cause melting and vesiculation (development of bubbles) of hydrated silicic magma, thus strongly affecting magma strength and eruptive behaviour.
Yan Lavallée, Donald B. Dingwell, Jeffrey B. Johnson et al. | Rational design of α-helical tandem repeat proteins with closed architectures
The development and validation of computational methods for geometry-guided de novo design of tandem repeat protein architectures.
Lindsey Doyle, Jazmine Hallinan, Jill Bolduc et al. | Single-chip microprocessor that communicates directly using light
An electronic–photonic microprocessor chip manufactured using a conventional microelectronics foundry process is demonstrated; the chip contains 70 million transistors and 850 photonic components and directly uses light to communicate to other chips.
Chen Sun, Mark T. Wade, Yunsup Lee et al. | Complete nitrification by a single microorganism
Until now, the oxidation steps necessary for complete nitrification had always been observed to occur in two separate microorganisms in a cross-feeding interaction; here, together with the study by Daims et al., van Kessel et al. report the enrichment and characterization of Nitrospira species that encode all of the enzymes necessary to catalyse complete nitrification, a phenotype referred to as ‘comammox’ (for complete ammonia oxidation).
Maartje A. H. J. van Kessel, Daan R. Speth, Mads Albertsen et al. | Exceptional preservation of tiny embryos documents seed dormancy in early angiosperms
The discovery of embryos and their associated nutrient storage tissues in exceptionally well-preserved angiosperm seeds from the Early Cretaceous period.
Else Marie Friis, Peter R. Crane, Kaj Raunsgaard Pedersen et al. | Interleukin-22 promotes intestinal-stem-cell-mediated epithelial regeneration
Innate lymphoid cells increase the growth of mouse intestinal organoids via IL-22 production; recombinant IL-22 promotes growth of both mouse and human organoids, and promotes mouse intestinal stem cell (ISC) expansion and ISC-driven organoid growth via a STAT3-dependent pathway and independently of Paneth cells; IL-22 treatment in vivo enhances the recovery of ISCs from intestinal injury.
Caroline A. Lindemans, Marco Calafiore, Anna M. Mertelsmann et al. | Unique role for ATG5 in neutrophil-mediated immunopathology during M. tuberculosis infection
Genetic engineering in mice reveals that autophagy is not an essential mechanism in myeloid cells for controlling Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, and that autophagy factor ATG5 protects organisms by regulating neutrophil influx and tissue damage.
Jacqueline M. Kimmey, Jeremy P. Huynh, Leslie A. Weiss et al. | Germline variant FGFR4 p.G388R exposes a membrane-proximal STAT3 binding site
A gain-of-function effect of the cancer-associated rs351855 single-nucleotide polymorphism encoding the FGFR4 Arg388 allele in humans.
Vijay K. Ulaganathan, Bianca Sperl, Ulf R. Rapp et al. | Competition between DNA methylation and transcription factors determines binding of NRF1
The relationship between DNA methylation and transcription factor binding was studied across the genome in mouse embryonic stem cells—the study reveals that the transcription factor NRF1 is methylation-sensitive and how physiological binding of NRF1 relies on local removal of DNA methylation.
Silvia Domcke, Anaïs Flore Bardet, Paul Adrian Ginno et al. | | | | |
