| | | Brief Communications Arising | | | | Perimortem fractures in Lucy suggest mortality from fall out of tall tree
Careful study of the famous fossil ‘Lucy’, a hominin who died over 3 million years ago, suggests that she died as a result of multiple injuries sustained in a fall–probably out of a tall tree.
John Kappelman, Richard A. Ketcham, Stephen Pearce et al. | High-throughput discovery of novel developmental phenotypes
Identification and characterization, using a comprehensive embryonic phenotyping pipeline, of 410 lethal alleles during the generation of the first 1,751 of 5,000 unique gene knockouts produced by the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium.
Mary E. Dickinson, Ann M. Flenniken, Xiao Ji et al. | | A partially differentiated interior for (1) Ceres deduced from its gravity field and shape
Gravity and shape measurements for Ceres obtained from the Dawn spacecraft mission show that it is in hydrostatic equilibrium with its inferred normalized mean moment of inertia of 0.37, suggesting that Ceres has a rocky chondritic core overlaid by a volatile-rich icy shell.
R. S. Park, A. S. Konopliv, B. G. Bills et al. | Holograms for acoustics
Holograms for sound waves, encoded in a 3D printed plate, are used to shape sound fields that can be used for the contactless manipulation of objects.
Kai Melde, Andrew G. Mark, Tian Qiu et al. | Molecular-scale evidence of aerosol particle formation via sequential addition of HIO3
Field data from an iodine-rich, coastal environment point to the molecular steps involved in the formation of new aerosol particles from iodine vapours over coastal regions.
Mikko Sipilä, Nina Sarnela, Tuija Jokinen et al. | Atomically engineered ferroic layers yield a room-temperature magnetoelectric multiferroic
A single-phase multiferroic material is constructed, in which ferroelectricity and strong magnetic ordering are coupled near room temperature, enabling direct electric-field control of magnetism.
Julia A. Mundy, Charles M. Brooks, Megan E. Holtz et al. | Switching on electrocatalytic activity in solid oxide cells
A new way of activating the electrodes in solid oxide cells involves applying an electrical potential to trigger the exsolution of metal catalysts to the electrode surface; the success of this technique raises the possibility of regenerating the electrodes during operation.
Jae-ha Myung, Dragos Neagu, David N. Miller et al. | Fumarate is an epigenetic modifier that elicits epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition
Accumulation of fumarate resulting from mutations in fumarate hydratase,which are associated with renal and other cancers, is shown to induce epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition—a process associated with cancer initiation.
Marco Sciacovelli, Emanuel Gonçalves, Timothy Isaac Johnson et al. | Rapid emergence of life shown by discovery of 3,700-million-year-old microbial structures
Stromatolite fossils formed around 3,700 million years ago in what is now Greenland predate the previous oldest fossil evidence for life on Earth by more than 200 million years.
Allen P. Nutman, Vickie C. Bennett, Clark R. L. Friend et al. | Ionic immune suppression within the tumour microenvironment limits T cell effector function
Potassium ions released by necrotic cells in tumours impair T cell function by increasing the intracellular potassium concentration in vitro and in vivo.
Robert Eil, Suman K. Vodnala, David Clever et al. | Broad histone H3K4me3 domains in mouse oocytes modulate maternal-to-zygotic transition
Three papers in this issue of Nature use highly sensitive ChIP–seq assays to describe the dynamic patterns of histone modifications during early mouse embryogenesis, showing that oocytes have a distinctive epigenome and providing insights into how the maternal gene expression program transitions to the zygotic program.
John Arne Dahl, Inkyung Jung, Håvard Aanes et al. | Allelic reprogramming of the histone modification H3K4me3 in early mammalian development
Three papers in this issue of Nature use highly sensitive ChIP–seq assays to describe the dynamic patterns of histone modifications during early mouse embryogenesis, showing that oocytes have a distinctive epigenome and providing insights into how the maternal gene expression program transitions to the zygotic program.
Bingjie Zhang, Hui Zheng, Bo Huang et al. | Distinct features of H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 chromatin domains in pre-implantation embryos
Three papers in this issue of Nature use highly sensitive ChIP–seq assays to describe the dynamic patterns of histone modifications during early mouse embryogenesis, showing that oocytes have a distinctive epigenome and providing insights into how the maternal gene expression program transitions to the zygotic program.
Xiaoyu Liu, Chenfei Wang, Wenqiang Liu et al. | A blue-light photoreceptor mediates the feedback regulation of photosynthesis
Algae rely on blue-light-sensitive phototropin to trigger induction of LHCRS3, allowing it to dissipate energy from excess light that would otherwise compromise the fitness of the organism.
Dimitris Petroutsos, Ryutaro Tokutsu, Shinichiro Maruyama et al. | Structural basis of kainate subtype glutamate receptor desensitization
The high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy structure of the kainate receptor GluK2 subtype in its desensitized state is reported, which reveals that desensitization is attained by establishing a ring-like structure in the ligand-binding domains.
Joel R. Meyerson, Sagar Chittori, Alan Merk et al. | | | | |
