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Infectious diseases:
Predictions of virus spillover across species
Most
human infectious diseases are initially transmitted from
animals. An analysis of all known mammalian viruses
improves our understanding of such cross-species
spillover, with potential benefits for public
health. |
Molecular biology: A
liquid reservoir for silent chromatin
The
protein HP1 mediates compaction of DNA into a repressive
structure called heterochromatin. Analysis reveals that
HP1 has liquid-like properties, offering a fresh
perspective on genome organization. |
Immunology: Gut sensor
halts viral attack
Intestinal
infection with rotavirus is a major cause of diarrhoea
in infants, and can be fatal. The identification of
immune sensor proteins that detect and restrict this
viral infection now illuminates the body's defence
system. |
Immunology: The
patterns of T-cell target recognition
The
binding of T-cell receptors to peptide molecules not
normally present in the body can trigger an immune
response. Predicting which peptide a T-cell receptor
will bind to — a difficult feat — has now been
achieved. |
Astrophysics: Stellar
siblings grow closer with age
High-mass stars
often pair up to form binary systems. Observations
reveal that the stars in such systems are born farther
apart than was formerly thought, casting fresh light on
an enduring debate about star formation. |
Quantifiable
predictive features define epitope-specific T cell
receptor repertoires
The authors
characterize epitope-specific T cell repertoires,
identify shared and recognizable features of TCRs, and
develop tools to classify antigen specificity on the
basis of sequence analysis. |
Observation of
three-component fermions in the topological semimetal
molybdenum phosphide
A new type of
fermion, corresponding to a three-fold degeneracy in the
electronic band structure of crystalline molybdenum
phosphide, is observed, which lies conceptually between
Dirac and Weyl fermions. |
Catalytic allylic
oxidation of internal alkenes to a multifunctional
chiral building block
Non-symmetric
internal alkenes are selectively converted into allylic
functionalized products with high stereoselectivity and
regioselectivity. |
Surface tension
prevails over solute effect in organic-influenced cloud
droplet activation
A
phase-separation mechanism is proposed for the dominance
of the surface tension effect over the solute effect in
the observed activation of ultrafine cloud condensation
nuclei. |
Selective
sp3 C–H alkylation via
polarity-match-based cross-coupling
Using a triple
catalytic approach, a selective sp 3
C–H alkylation is demonstrated that is applicable in
late-stage functionalization of pharmaceutical
compounds. |
Trans-kingdom mimicry
underlies ribosome customization by a poxvirus
kinase
The poxvirus
vaccinia virus phosphorylates serine/threonine residues
in the human small ribosomal subunit RACK1, converting
it to a plant-like state to favour translation of
poxvirus mRNAs. |
T cells from patients
with Parkinson’s disease recognize α-synuclein
peptides
Epitopes derived
from two regions of α-synuclein elicit immune responses
in patients with Parkinson’s disease, involving
IL-5-secreting CD4+ T cells, as well as
IFNγ-secreting CD8+ cytotoxic T
cells. |
Liquid droplet
formation by HP1α suggests a role for phase separation
in heterochromatin
Phosphorylation
or DNA binding promotes the physical partitioning of
HP1α out of a soluble aqueous phase into droplets,
suggesting that the repressive action of heterochromatin
may in part be mediated by the phase separation of
HP1. |
Hidden morphological
diversity among early tetrapods
Detailed
micro-computed tomography analysis of the skull of
Lethiscus stocki places it much earlier in the
tetrapod lineage that was previously thought, showing
that early tetrapods were more morphologically diverse
than has been believed. |
Nlrp9b inflammasome
restricts rotavirus infection in intestinal epithelial
cells
The inflammasome
receptor Nlrp9b defends against enteric viruses by
interacting with double-stranded viral RNA-bound
helicase Dhx9, triggering gasdermin-D-dependent
pyroptotic cell death of infected cells and secretion of
Il-18. |
Crystal structure of
the potassium-importing KdpFABC membrane
complex
The crystal
structure of the bacterial potassium import complex
KdpFABC shows how ATP hydrolysis is coupled to potassium
transport to maintain cellular homeostasis under low
potassium conditions. |
Host and viral traits
predict zoonotic spillover from mammals
Analysis of a
comprehensive database of mammalian host–virus
relationships reveals that both the total number of
viruses that infect a given species and the proportion
likely to be zoonotic are predictable and that this
enables identification of mammalian species and
geographic locations where novel zoonoses are likely to
be found. |
Identifying
specificity groups in the T cell receptor
repertoire
The authors
devise an algorithm that can cluster T cell receptor
(TCR) sequences sharing the same specificity, predict
the HLA restriction of these TCR clusters on the basis
of subjects’ genotypes and help to identify specific
peptide major histocompatibility complex
ligands. |
Phase separation
drives heterochromatin domain formation
HP1a
can nucleate into foci that display liquid properties
during the early stages of heterochromatin domain
formation in Drosophila embryos, suggesting that
the repressive action of heterochromatin may be mediated
in part by emergent properties of phase
separation. | |
| Brief
Communications Arising |
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Exosomes facilitate
therapeutic targeting of oncogenic KRAS in pancreatic
cancer
Exosomes improve
the delivery of siRNA to mutant KRAS in the pancreatic
tumours and bypass immune clearance better than
artificial liposomes, probably owing to enhanced
macropinocytocis and presence of CD47 on exosomes,
respectively.
Sushrut
Kamerkar, Valerie S. LeBleu, Hikaru Sugimoto et
al. |
Strong constraints on
aerosol–cloud interactions from volcanic
eruptions
Investigations
of an Icelandic volcanic eruption confirm that sulfate
aerosols caused a discernible yet transient brightening
effect, as predicted, but their effect on the liquid
water path was unexpectedly negligible.
Florent
F. Malavelle, Jim M. Haywood, Andy Jones et
al. |
A retinal code for
motion along the gravitational and body axes
Global
mapping shows that mouse retinal neurons prefer visual
motion produced when the animal moves along two
behaviourally relevant axes, allowing the encoding of
the animal’s every translation and
rotation.
Shai
Sabbah, John A. Gemmer, Ananya Bhatia-Lin et
al. |
Structure of the human
multidrug transporter ABCG2
The structure of
human ABCG2 bound to an inhibitory antibody using
cryo-electron microscopy, representing the first
high-resolution structural data of a human multidrug
transporter.
Nicholas
M. I. Taylor, Ioannis Manolaridis, Scott M. Jackson
et
al. | |
A giant planet
undergoing extreme-ultraviolet irradiation by its hot
massive-star host
The giant planet
KELT-9b has a dayside temperature of about 4,600 K,
which is sufficiently high to dissociate molecules and
to evaporate its atmosphere, owing to its hot stellar
host.
B.
Scott Gaudi, Keivan G. Stassun, Karen A. Collins et
al. |
A massive, dead disk
galaxy in the early Universe
When the
Universe was just 3 billion years old, half of the most
massive galaxies had already ceased star formation, and
such a galaxy has now been observed using gravitational
lensing, unexpectedly turning out to be a compact,
fast-spinning disk galaxy rather than a proto-bulge
galaxy.
Sune
Toft, Johannes Zabl, Johan Richard et
al. |
Microglia-dependent
synapse loss in type I interferon-mediated
lupus
Abnormal
behavioural phenotypes and synapse loss in the brain of
lupus-prone mice are prevented by blocking type I
interferon signalling, which is further shown to
stimulate microglial phagocytosis of neuronal material
in the brains of these mice.
Allison
R. Bialas, Jessy Presumey, Abhishek Das et
al. |
PTEN counteracts FBXL2
to promote IP3R3- and Ca2+-mediated apoptosis
limiting tumour growth
PTEN, a known
tumour suppressor, inhibits the FXBL2-dependent
degradation of IP3R3, an IP3 receptor, thus augmenting
IP3R3-mediated calcium release from the endoplasmic
reticulum to mitochondria and inducing apoptosis;
inhibiting FXBL2 sensitizes PTEN-deficient tumours to
photodynamic therapy.
Shafi
Kuchay, Carlotta Giorgi, Daniele Simoneschi et
al. |
Structure of the Cpf1
endonuclease R-loop complex after target DNA
cleavage
The structure of
Cpf1, a CRISPR–Cas/RNA-guided nuclease, is presented
with a three-stranded RNA–DNA loop after cleavage,
providing insight into its working
mechanism.
Stefano
Stella, Pablo Alcón, Guillermo Montoya |
Multilineage
communication regulates human liver bud development from
pluripotency
Single-cell RNA
sequencing analysis of two- and three-dimensional
hepatic differentiation reveals that both systems
recapitulate certain transcriptomic features of human
hepatogenesis.
J.
Gray Camp, Keisuke Sekine, Tobias Gerber et
al. |
Histone deacetylase 3
prepares brown adipose tissue for acute thermogenic
challenge
Histone
deacetylase 3 (HDAC3) is required to activate brown
adipose tissue enhancers to ensure thermogenic
aptitude.
Matthew
J. Emmett, Hee-Woong Lim, Jennifer Jager et
al. |
Selective depletion of
uropathogenic E. coli from the gut by a FimH
antagonist
Both F17-like
and type 1 pili promote intestinal colonization in mouse
colonic crypts, and the high-affinity mannoside M4284
reduces intestinal colonization of uropathogenic
Escherichia coli while simultaneously treating
urinary tract infections without disrupting the
composition of the gut microbiota.
Caitlin
N. Spaulding, Roger D. Klein, Ségolène Ruer et
al. |
Improved maize
reference genome with single-molecule
technologies
OPEN
An improved
reference genome for maize, using single-molecule
sequencing and high-resolution optical mapping, enables
characterization of structural variation and repetitive
regions, and identifies lineage expansions of
transposable elements that are unique to
maize.
Yinping
Jiao, Paul Peluso, Jinghua Shi et
al. |
BAP1 regulates
IP3R3-mediated Ca2+ flux to mitochondria
suppressing cell transformation
BRCA1-associated
protein 1 (BAP1) regulates calcium flux in the
endoplasmic reticulum to facilitate the execution of
apoptosis, unveiling a new facet of the role of BAP1 as
an environmental tumour suppressor.
Angela
Bononi, Carlotta Giorgi, Simone Patergnani et
al. |
Microscopy of the
interacting Harper–Hofstadter model in the two-body
limit
The combination
of interparticle interactions and a synthetic gauge
field leads to chirality in the propagation dynamics of
particles in a ladder-like lattice.
M.
Eric Tai, Alexander Lukin, Matthew Rispoli et
al. | |
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