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Neuroscience: Virtual
reality explored
Neuroscientists
are increasingly using virtual reality to facilitate
studies of animal behaviour, but whether behaviour in
the virtual world mimics that in real life is a matter
for debate. Here, scientists discuss the strengths and
limitations of the approach. |
Cell biology:
Choreography of protein synthesis
Both nuclear
genes and genes in organelles called mitochondria are
involved in the assembly of the cellular
energy-producing machinery. RNA-translation programs
that coordinate the two systems have now been
identified. |
Structural biology:
Snapshots of transcription initiation
The
enzyme RNA polymerase II, along with several
transcription factors, initiates DNA transcription.
Analyses reveal the structures involved in this process
in human and yeast cells at
high-resolution. |
Near-atomic resolution
visualization of human transcription promoter
opening
Cryo-electron
microscopy structural models of the human pre-initiation
complex at all major steps of transcription initiation
at near atomic-level resolution are presented, providing
new mechanistic insights into the processes of promoter
melting and transcription-bubble formation, as well as
an almost complete proposed structural model of all of
the pre-initiation complex components and their
interactions with DNA. |
Transcription
initiation complex structures elucidate DNA
opening
The
cryo-electron microscopy structures of yeast initiation
complexes containing the transcription factors TBP,
TFIIA, TFIIB, TFIIE, and TFIIF and containing either
closed or open promoter DNA are reported, providing
mechanistic insights into DNA opening and
template-strand loading. |
Synchronized
mitochondrial and cytosolic translation
programs
The genes
encoding the subunits of oxidative phosphorylation
complexes are split between the nuclear and
mitochondrial genomes, but their translation is
synchronized by signalling from the cytosol to the
mitochondria. |
A resonant chain of
four transiting, sub-Neptune planets
Transit timing
variations of the four-planet system Kepler-223 are used
to compute the long-term stability of the system, which
has a chain of resonances; the results suggest that
inward planetary migration, rather than in situ
assembly, is responsible for the formation of some
close-in sub-Neptune systems. |
Regulation of
black-hole accretion by a disk wind during a violent
outburst of V404 Cygni
A sustained,
neutral wind from the outer accretion disk is observed
in the transient black hole V404 Cygni during a violent
outburst; this unusual wind, which expands at one per
cent of the speed of light and triggers a nebular phase
once accretion drops sharply and the ejecta become
optically thin, probably regulates the outburst
evolution of the black hole. |
A high-temperature
ferromagnetic topological insulating phase by proximity
coupling
Coupling a
ferromagnetic insulator to a topological insulator
induces a robust magnetic state at the interface,
resulting from the large spin-orbit interaction and the
spin-momentum locking property of Dirac fermions, and
leads to an extraordinary enhancement of the magnetic
ordering (Curie) temperature. |
An obligatory role for
neurotensin in high-fat-diet-induced obesity
Neurotensin, a
peptide expressed in the enteroendocrine cells of the
small intestine that is released upon fat ingestion, is
shown to increase fatty acid absorption, with
neurotensin-deficient mice being protected from obesity
induced by a high-fat diet. |
Genome-wide
association study identifies 74 loci associated with
educational attainment
A genome-wide
association study in 293,723 individuals identifies 74
genetic variants associated with educational attainment,
which, although only explaining a small proportion of
the variation in educational attainment, highlights
candidate genes and pathways for further
study. |
Feedback modulation of
cholesterol metabolism by the lipid-responsive
non-coding RNA LeXis
The activation
of lipid X receptors (LXRs) in mouse liver not only
promotes cholesterol efflux but also inhibits
cholesterol synthesis simultaneously; this is mediated
by the lipid-responsive long non-coding RNA
LeXis, which is induced by a Western diet and
orchestrates crosstalk between LXRs and the cholesterol
biosynthetic pathway. |
Ribosome-dependent
activation of stringent control
The structure of
a bacterial ribosome–RelA complex reveals that RelA, a
protein recruited to the ribosome in the case of scarce
amino acids, binds in a different location to
translation factors, and that this binding event
suppresses auto-inhibition to activate synthesis of the
(p)ppGpp secondary messenger, thus initiating stringent
control. |
Deep-sea diversity
patterns are shaped by energy availability
Depth-dependent
patterns in ocean species diversity can be explained by
latitudinal variations in energy availability, with
shelf and upper-slope diversity increasing with thermal
energy availability, and deep-sea diversity increasing
with chemical energy availability; the discovery of
these distinct patterns could help to guide the
conservation and management of these remote
ecosystems. |
Local fitness
landscape of the green fluorescent protein
Comprehensive
genotype–phenotype mapping of the green fluorescent
protein shows that the local fitness peak is narrow,
shaped by a high prevalence of epistatic interactions,
providing for the loss of fluorescence when the joint
effect of mutations exceeds a threshold. |
| Corrigendum: A
receptor heteromer mediates the male perception of
female attractants in plants |
| Corrigendum:
Mycocerosic acid synthase exemplifies the architecture
of reducing polyketide
synthases | |
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Open for Submissions
npj Precision Oncology is a new
open access, online-only, peer-reviewed journal
committed to publishing cutting-edge scientific
research in all aspects of precision oncology
from basic science to translational
applications, to clinical medicine. The journal
is part of the Nature Partner Journals series
and published in partnership with The Hormel
Institute, University of Minnesota.
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Palaeoclimatic
insights into forcing and response of monsoon
rainfall
Palaeoclimatic
evidence of monsoon rainfall dynamics across different
regions and timescales suggests that monsoon systems
exhibit substantial regional variation; meridional
temperature gradients are a major driver of monsoon
variability, but these gradients are influenced by
other, interacting forcing mechanisms, making
predictions of future changes in monsoon rainfall highly
uncertain.
Mahyar
Mohtadi, Matthias Prange, Stephan
Steinke | |
The Atlantic salmon
genome provides insights into
rediploidization
OPEN
The genome
sequence is presented for the Atlantic salmon (Salmo
salar), providing information about a
rediploidization following a salmonid-specific
whole-genome duplication event that resulted in an
autotetraploidization.
Sigbjørn
Lien, Ben F. Koop, Simen R. Sandve et
al. |
Sex-specific pruning
of neuronal synapses in Caenorhabditis
elegans
How sex-specific
neuronal circuits are generated during development is
poorly understood; here, sensory neurons are identified
in the round worm Caenorhabditis elegans, which
initially connect in both male- and
hermaphrodite-specific patterns, but a specific subset
of these connections is pruned by each sex upon sexual
maturation to produce sex-specific connectivity patterns
and dimorphic behaviours.
Meital
Oren-Suissa, Emily A. Bayer, Oliver Hobert |
Interconnected
microbiomes and resistomes in low-income human
habitats
An analysis of
bacterial community structure and antibiotic resistance
gene content of interconnected human faecal and
environmental samples from two low-income communities in
Latin America was carried out using a combination of
functional metagenomics, 16S sequencing and shotgun
sequencing; resistomes across habitats are generally
structured along ecological gradients, but key
resistance genes can cross these boundaries, and the
authors assessed the usefulness of excreta management
protocols in the prevention of resistance gene
dissemination.
Erica
C. Pehrsson, Pablo Tsukayama, Sanket Patel et
al. | |
The evolution of
cooperation within the gut microbiota
Little
is known about cooperative behaviour among the gut
microbiota; here, limited cooperation is demonstrated
for Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, but
Bacteroides ovatus is found to extracellularly
digest a polysaccharide not for its own use, but to
cooperatively feed other species such as Bacteroides
vulgatus from which it receives return
benefits.
Seth
Rakoff-Nahoum, Kevin R. Foster, Laurie E.
Comstock |
Restoring cortical
control of functional movement in a human with
quadriplegia
Signals recorded
from motor cortex—through an intracortical implant—can
be linked in real-time to activation of forearm muscles
to restore movement in a paralysed
human.
Chad
E. Bouton, Ammar Shaikhouni, Nicholas V. Annetta et
al. |
Site-selective and
stereoselective functionalization of unactivated C–H
bonds
The idea of
carbon–hydrogen functionalization, in which C–H bonds
are modified at will, represents a paradigm shift in the
standard logic of organic synthesis; here, dirhodium
catalysts are used to achieve highly site-selective,
diastereoselective and enantioselective C–H
functionalization of n-alkanes and terminally
substituted n-alkyl compounds.
Kuangbiao
Liao, Solymar Negretti, Djamaladdin G. Musaev et
al. |
Ancient
micrometeorites suggestive of an oxygen-rich Archaean
upper atmosphere
Evidence in
support of low atmospheric oxygen concentrations on
early Earth relates to the composition of the lower
Archaean atmosphere; now the composition of fossil
micrometeorites preserved in 2.7-billion-year-old rocks
in Australia suggests that they were oxidized in an
oxygen-rich Archaean upper atmosphere.
Andrew
G. Tomkins, Lara Bowlt, Matthew Genge et
al. |
Extra-helical binding
site of a glucagon receptor antagonist
The
X-ray crystal structure of the transmembrane portion of
the human glucagon receptor, a class B G-protein-coupled
receptor (GPCR), is solved in the presence of the
antagonist MK-0893, with potential implications for the
development of therapeutics that target other class B
GPCRs.
Ali
Jazayeri, Andrew S. Doré, Daniel Lamb et
al. |
Self-organization of
the in vitro attached human embryo
An
in vitro model to study the early events that
direct human embryo development after formation of the
blastocyst and implantation in the uterine
wall.
Alessia
Deglincerti, Gist F. Croft, Lauren N. Pietila et
al. |
Temperate Earth-sized
planets transiting a nearby ultracool dwarf
star
Three
Earth-sized planets—receiving similar irradiation to
Venus and Earth, and ideally suited for atmospheric
study—have been found transiting a nearby ultracool
dwarf star that has a mass of only eight per cent of
that of the Sun.
Michaël
Gillon, Emmanuël Jehin, Susan M. Lederer et
al. |
Activation of the
A2A adenosine G-protein-coupled receptor by
conformational selection
The adenosine
A2A receptor, a class A G-protein-coupled
receptor, exists as an ensemble of two inactive and two
active states in equilibrium and is activated by
conformational selection rather than induced
fit.
Libin
Ye, Ned Van Eps, Marco Zimmer et
al. |
First North American
fossil monkey and early Miocene tropical biotic
interchange
Here,
21-million-year-old fossils of a New World monkey from
Panama are described, constituting the earliest known
evidence for mammalian interchange between North and
South America.
Jonathan
I. Bloch, Emily D. Woodruff, Aaron R. Wood et
al. |
No Sun-like dynamo on
the active star ζ Andromedae from starspot
asymmetry
Infrared
interferometry imaging of the old, magnetically active
star ζ Andromedae reveals an asymmetric distribution of
starspots, unlike the north–south starspot symmetry
observed on the Sun, meaning the underlying dynamo
mechanisms must be different.
R.
M. Roettenbacher, J. D. Monnier, H. Korhonen et
al. |
Lightwave-driven
quasiparticle collisions on a subcycle
timescale
A quasiparticle
collider is developed that uses femtosecond optical
pulses to create electron–hole pairs in the layered
dichalcogenide tungsten diselenide, and a strong
terahertz field to accelerate and collide the electrons
with the holes.
F.
Langer, M. Hohenleutner, C. P. Schmid et
al. |
A rapid burst in
hotspot motion through the interaction of tectonics and
deep mantle flow
Models of
thermochemical convection reveal flow patterns in the
deep lower mantle under the north Pacific since 100
million years ago that explain how the enigmatic bend in
the Hawaiian–Emperor hotspot track
arose.
Rakib
Hassan, R. Dietmar Müller, Michael Gurnis et
al. |
Molecular mechanism of
APC/C activation by mitotic phosphorylation
Phosphorylation
of the anaphase-promoting complex (APC/C) allows for its
control by the co-activator Cdc20; a mechanism that has
relevance to understanding the control of other large
multimeric complexes by phosphorylation.
Suyang
Zhang, Leifu Chang, Claudio Alfieri et
al. |
Architecture of the
mitochondrial calcium uniporter
The structure of
the core region of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter
(MCU) is determined by NMR and electron microscopy,
revealing that MCU is a homo-pentamer with a specific
transmembrane helix forming a hydrophilic pore across
the membrane, and representing one of the largest
membrane protein structures characterized by NMR
spectroscopy.
Kirill
Oxenoid, Ying Dong, Chan Cao et
al. | |
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