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Cell biology: Bulky tether proteins aid membrane fusion
The energy source that drives vesicle fusion with a target organelle in vivo has been unclear. It emerges that proteins that tether fusing structures together also decrease the energy needed for the final fusion step. |
Chemical biology: Organic dyes for deep bioimaging
Small-molecule organic dyes that fluoresce in the short-wave infrared region of the spectrum could improve the resolution of in vivo bioimaging methods. Such dyes have now been made by adapting those that fluoresce visible light. |
Microbiology: Crowdsourcing Earth's microbes
A large-scale study has been assessing microbial diversity by analysing DNA sequences from samples submitted by scientists around the globe. The initial results are now being used to create an open-access resource. |
Structures of transcription pre-initiation complex with TFIIH and Mediator
Cryo-electron microscopy structures of the yeast pre-initiation complex (PIC) and its complex with core Mediator provide insights into the opening of promoter DNA and the initiation of transcription. |
Creation of forest edges has a global impact on forest vertebrates
Fragmentation of forest ecosystems produces forest edges, which affect the distribution of many analysed vertebrate species; smaller-bodied amphibians, larger reptiles and medium-sized mammals experience a larger reduction in suitable habitat than other forest-core species. |
A communal catalogue reveals Earth’s multiscale microbial diversity OPEN
As phase 1 of the Earth Microbiome Project, analysis of 16S ribosomal RNA sequences from more than 27,000 environmental samples delivers a global picture of the basic structure and drivers of microbial distribution. |
| Structure of PINK1 in complex with its substrate ubiquitin |
Granular materials flow like complex fluids
The relaxation dynamics of granular materials is more like that of complex fluids than that of thermal glass-forming systems, owing to the absence of the ‘cage effect’. |
Nutrient co-limitation at the boundary of an oceanic gyre
Nutrient amendment experiments at the boundary of the South Atlantic gyre reveal extensive regions in which nitrogen and iron are co-limiting, with other micronutrients also approaching co-deficiency; such limitations potentially increase phytoplankton community diversity. |
History-independent cyclic response of nanotwinned metals
In copper components containing highly oriented nanotwins, correlated ‘necklace’ dislocations moving back and forth offer an unusually fatigue-resistant response to engineering stress. |
Drug-tolerant persister cancer cells are vulnerable to GPX4 inhibition
Cancer persister cells, which survive cytotoxic treatments, are shown to be sensitive to inhibition of the lipid hydroperoxidase GPX4. |
Detecting evolutionary forces in language change
Analyses of digital corpora of annotated texts reveal the influence of stochastic drift versus selection in grammatical shifts in English and provide a general method for quantitatively testing theories of language change. |
A tethering complex drives the terminal stage of SNARE-dependent membrane fusion
Tethering proteins, known to mediate initial recognition and attachment during membrane fusion, are essential for driving the transition from the hemifused state to fusion pore formation. |
Kctd13 deletion reduces synaptic transmission via increased RhoA
Experimental evidence that global Kctd13 reduction leads to increased RhoA levels that reduce synaptic transmission, implicating RhoA as a potential therapeutic target for neuropsychiatric disorders associated with copy-number variants that include KCTD13. |
Synaptotagmin 7 confers frequency invariance onto specialized depressing synapses
The calcium-sensing protein synaptotagmin 7 mediates facilitation that is masked by depression, but supports frequency-invariant transmission in mouse cerebellar and vestibular synapses. |
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The dynamics of molecular evolution over 60,000 generations
Using data from sixty thousand generations of the E. coli long-term evolution experiment, the authors shed new light on the processes that govern molecular evolution.
Benjamin H. Good, Michael J. McDonald, Jeffrey E. Barrick et al. |
Two independent modes of chromatin organization revealed by cohesin removal
Depletion of chromosome-associated cohesin leads to loss of topologically associating domains in interphase chromosomes, without affecting segregation into compartments, and instead, it unmasks a finer compartment structure that reflects local chromatin and transcriptional activity.
Wibke Schwarzer, Nezar Abdennur, Anton Goloborodko et al. |
Structure of phycobilisome from the red alga Griffithsia pacifica
Single-particle cryo-electron microscopy is used to resolve the structure of the phycobilisome, a 16.8-megadalton light-harvesting megacomplex, from the red alga Griffithsia pacifica at a resolution of 3.5 Å.
Jun Zhang, Jianfei Ma, Desheng Liu et al. |
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IL-1R8 is a checkpoint in NK cells regulating anti-tumour and anti-viral activity
Interleukin-1 receptor 8 (IL-1R8), a negative regulator of the IL-1 family of cytokines, restrains the activity of natural killer (NK) cells, suggesting that IL-1R8 acts as a checkpoint regulator of NK cell activation and that its blockade may be of use in cancer therapy.
Martina Molgora, Eduardo Bonavita, Andrea Ponzetta et al. |
A global resource allocation strategy governs growth transition kinetics of Escherichia coli
A new approach to modelling bacterial growth removes the need to know kinetic parameters for metabolic and regulatory processes and can be used to model adaptive processes such as antibiotic responses and ecological dynamics.
David W. Erickson, Severin J. Schink, Vadim Patsalo et al. |
Embryonic epigenetic reprogramming by a pioneer transcription factor in plants
The seed-specific transcription factor LEC1 promotes an active chromatin state at the floral repressor FLC and activates its expression in the Arabidopsis pro-embryo, thus reversing the winter cold-induced silenced state that is inherited from gametes.
Zeng Tao, Lisha Shen, Xiaofeng Gu et al. |
The X-ray counterpart to the gravitational-wave event GW170817
Detection of X-ray emission at a location coincident with the kilonova transient of the gravitational-wave event GW170817 provides the missing observational link between short γ-ray bursts and gravitational waves from neutron-star mergers.
E. Troja, L. Piro, H. van Eerten et al. |
Reversing SKI–SMAD4-mediated suppression is essential for TH17 cell differentiation
TGFβ signalling regulates T helper 17 (TH17) cell differentiation by reversing SKI–SMAD4-mediated suppression of RORγt, revealing a potential therapeutic target for treating TH17-related diseases.
Song Zhang, Motoki Takaku, Liyun Zou et al. |
Quark-level analogue of nuclear fusion with doubly heavy baryons
Two singly charmed baryons can fuse into the recently discovered doubly charmed baryon and a neutron through an exothermic reaction analogous to the nuclear fusion between deuterium and tritium.
Marek Karliner, Jonathan L. Rosner |
Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals a signature of sexual commitment in malaria parasites
Highly parallel single-cell transcriptome profiling of Plasmodium falciparum blood stages provides insight into the role AP2-G plays in early sexual development of this eukaryotic pathogen.
Asaf Poran, Christopher Nötzel, Omar Aly et al. |
Single-cell transcriptomics reconstructs fate conversion from fibroblast to cardiomyocyte
Single-cell transcriptomics analyses of cell intermediates during the reprogramming from fibroblast to cardiomyocyte were used to reconstruct the reprogramming trajectory and to uncover intermediate cell populations, gene pathways and regulators involved in this process.
Ziqing Liu, Li Wang, Joshua D. Welch et al. |
Optical emission from a kilonova following a gravitational-wave-detected neutron-star merger
Optical to near-infrared observations of a transient coincident with the detection of the gravitational-wave signature of a binary neutron-star merger and a low-luminosity short-duration γ-ray burst are presented and modelled.
Iair Arcavi, Griffin Hosseinzadeh, D. Andrew Howell et al. |
Spectroscopic identification of r-process nucleosynthesis in a double neutron-star merger
Observations of the transient associated with the gravitational-wave event GW170817 and γ-ray burst GRB 170817A reveal a bright kilonova with fast-moving ejecta, including lanthanides synthesized by rapid neutron capture.
E. Pian, P. D’Avanzo, S. Benetti et al. |
Glucose feeds the TCA cycle via circulating lactate
Metabolic flux analysis in mice reveals that lactate often acts as the primary carbon source for the tricarboxylic acid cycle both in normal tissues and in tumour microenvironments.
Sheng Hui, Jonathan M. Ghergurovich, Raphael J. Morscher et al. |
A kilonova as the electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational-wave source
Observations and modelling of an optical transient counterpart to a gravitational-wave event and γ-ray burst reveal that neutron-star mergers produce gravitational waves and radioactively powered kilonovae, and are a source of heavy elements.
S. J. Smartt, T.-W. Chen, A. Jerkstrand et al. |
Origin of the heavy elements in binary neutron-star mergers from a gravitational-wave event
Modelling the electromagnetic emission of kilonovae enables the mass, velocity and composition (with some heavy elements) of the ejecta from a neutron-star merger to be derived from the observations.
Daniel Kasen, Brian Metzger, Jennifer Barnes et al. |
A gravitational-wave standard siren measurement of the Hubble constant
The astronomical event GW170817, detected in gravitational and electromagnetic waves, is used to determine the expansion rate of the Universe, which is consistent with and independent of existing measurements.
The LIGO Scientific Collaboration and The Virgo Collaboration, and other consortia |
Association analysis identifies 65 new breast cancer risk loci
Association analysis identifies 65 new breast cancer risk loci, predicts target genes for known risk loci and demonstrates a strong overlap with somatic driver genes in breast tumours.
Kyriaki Michailidou, Sara Lindström, Joe Dennis et al. |
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