July 2014

Research articles

    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Structural basis of nucleoside and nucleoside drug selectivity by concentrative nucleoside transporters

    Zachary Lee Johnson, Jun-Ho Lee ... Seok-Yong Lee
    Studies of the substrate selectivity of concentrative nucleoside transporters provide proof of principle for structure-based improvement of drug delivery by these transporters.
    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Chromosomes and Gene Expression

    H3K27 modifications define segmental regulatory domains in the Drosophila bithorax complex

    Sarah K Bowman, Aimee M Deaton ... Welcome Bender
    Segment-specific boundaries of histone modifications reveal the regulatory logic of a classic developmental control region.
    1. Neuroscience

    Integrated action of pheromone signals in promoting courtship behavior in male mice

    Sachiko Haga-Yamanaka, Limei Ma ... C Ron Yu
    Identification of two classes of mouse vomeronasal receptors for female pheromone cues suggests distinct gating mechanisms in pheromone-triggered reproductive behaviors.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
    2. Immunology and Inflammation

    Serum amyloid A is a retinol binding protein that transports retinol during bacterial infection

    Mehabaw G Derebe, Clare M Zlatkov ... Lora V Hooper
    Serum amyloid A proteins bind retinol with nanomolar affinity, and do so by forming oligomers that create a hydrophobic pocket that shields retinol from the aqueous environment.
    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Neuroscience

    GSK-3 signaling in developing cortical neurons is essential for radial migration and dendritic orientation

    Meghan Morgan-Smith, Yaohong Wu ... William D Snider
    The kinase GSK-3 regulates cortical neuronal migration and dendritic orientation by phosphorylating key cytoskeletal proteins.
    1. Physics of Living Systems
    2. Cell Biology

    Flagellar synchronization through direct hydrodynamic interactions

    Douglas R Brumley, Kirsty Y Wan ... Raymond E Goldstein
    A combination of experiment and theory shows that pairs of eukaryotic flagella can achieve robust synchronization solely through the action of the fluid that surrounds them.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Chromosomes and Gene Expression

    Quantitative proteomic analysis reveals posttranslational responses to aneuploidy in yeast

    Noah Dephoure, Sunyoung Hwang ... Eduardo M Torres
    Aneuploidy produces a protein expression signature characteristic of altered metabolism and redox homeostasis, and the loss of UBP6 ameliorates several aneuploidy-associated phenotypes.
    1. Cell Biology

    Intact protein folding in the glutathione-depleted endoplasmic reticulum implicates alternative protein thiol reductants

    Satoshi Tsunoda, Edward Avezov ... David Ron
    Adapting a cytosolic enzyme that breaks down glutathione to function in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum challenges the long-held view that reduced glutathione fuels disulfide rearrangements during protein folding.
    1. Neuroscience

    Enhancement of encoding and retrieval functions through theta phase-specific manipulation of hippocampus

    Joshua H Siegle, Matthew A Wilson
    The ability of mice to encode new memories or retrieve existing ones can be selectively manipulated by using optogenetics to inhibit hippocampal activity at specific phases of the theta cycle.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
    2. Cell Biology

    Bidirectional helical motility of cytoplasmic dynein around microtubules

    Sinan Can, Mark A Dewitt, Ahmet Yildiz
    Unlike other cytoskeletal motors that produce torque in a specific direction, cytoplasmic dynein generates torque in either direction, resulting in bidirectional helical motility along microtubules.
    1. Neuroscience

    Adult-born granule cells mature through two functionally distinct states

    János Brunner, Máté Neubrandt ... János Szabadics
    3-10 weeks old adult-born granule cells provide two temporally overlapping but functionally distinct neuronal cell populations by being sensitive to distinct aspects of their inputs.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Cell Biology

    Calmodulin-controlled spatial decoding of oscillatory Ca2+ signals by calcineurin

    Sohum Mehta, Nwe-Nwe Aye-Han ... Jin Zhang
    The ability of calcium waves to exert different effects on calcineurin activity depending on subcellular location is mediated by the distribution of calmodulin.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Cell Biology

    LARP7 suppresses P-TEFb activity to inhibit breast cancer progression and metastasis

    Xiaodan Ji, Huasong Lu ... Kunxin Luo
    Transcription elongation by the elongation factor P-TEFb promotes the epithelial–mesenchymal transition and metastasis of breast cancer cells, implicating inhibition of this factor as a potential treatment for the late stages of this cancer.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Cell Biology

    Redox signaling via the molecular chaperone BiP protects cells against endoplasmic reticulum-derived oxidative stress

    Jie Wang, Kristeen A Pareja ... Carolyn S Sevier
    Direct modification by endogenous peroxide of a conserved cysteine in the molecular chaperone BiP decouples its ATPase and peptide-binding activities, allowing for enhanced polypeptide holdase activity during oxidative stress.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Quantitative analysis of mammalian GIRK2 channel regulation by G proteins, the signaling lipid PIP2 and Na+ in a reconstituted system

    Weiwei Wang, Matthew R Whorton, Roderick MacKinnon
    The G protein subunits Gβγ and the signaling lipid PIP2 are simultaneously needed to activate the potassium ion channel GIRK2 to control the voltage across a lipid bilayer, while sodium ions modulate these molecules' effects.
    1. Neuroscience

    Orbitofrontal neurons acquire responses to ‘valueless’ Pavlovian cues during unblocking

    Michael A McDannald, Guillem R Esber ... Geoffrey Schoenbaum
    Orbitofrontal cortex neurons fire in response to cues with no value independent of what can be inferred through features of the predicted outcome.
    1. Genetics and Genomics
    2. Neuroscience

    Lhx1 maintains synchrony among circadian oscillator neurons of the SCN

    Megumi Hatori, Shubhroz Gill ... Satchidananda Panda
    A transcription factor called Lhx1 coordinates the activity of the brain's master circadian clock, the suprachiasmatic nucleus, by controlling communication between its constituent cells.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    High temperature sensitivity is intrinsic to voltage-gated potassium channels

    Fan Yang, Jie Zheng
    Highly temperature-sensitive behavior of voltage-gated potassium channels provides a mechanistic model for how heat-activated TRP channels serve as temperature and pain sensors.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Cell Biology

    Large-scale filament formation inhibits the activity of CTP synthetase

    Rachael M Barry, Anne-Florence Bitbol ... Zemer Gitai
    The accumulation of its product, cytidine triphosphate, encourages the enzyme CTP synthetase (CtpS) to form large-scale polymers and inhibits the enzyme's activity.
    1. Developmental Biology

    The Hippo effector Yorkie activates transcription by interacting with a histone methyltransferase complex through Ncoa6

    Yun Qing, Feng Yin ... Duojia Pan
    Elucidating the molecular mechanism by which the Hippo signaling effector Yorkie (Yki) functions as a transcriptional coactivator in growth control reveals the importance of a histone-modifying enzyme for this process.
    1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Insect endosymbiont proliferation is limited by lipid availability

    Jeremy K Herren, Juan C Paredes ... Bruno Lemaitre
    The endosymbiont Spiroplasma can only proliferate if it can acquire sufficient hemolymph lipids from its insect host.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Designed α-sheet peptides inhibit amyloid formation by targeting toxic oligomers

    Gene Hopping, Jackson Kellock ... Valerie Daggett
    Novel designed alpha-sheet peptides inhibit amyloidosis in two different systems and preferentially bind the toxic oligomer.
    1. Cell Biology

    The quantitative architecture of centromeric chromatin

    Dani L Bodor, João F Mata ... Lars ET Jansen
    The number of CENP-A molecules at human centromeres helps to explain how this structure is built and epigenetically inherited.
    1. Neuroscience

    Laser ablation of Dbx1 neurons in the pre-Bötzinger complex stops inspiratory rhythm and impairs output in neonatal mice

    Xueying Wang, John A Hayes ... Christopher A Del Negro
    Laser-ablating neurons of a single genetic class reveals that Dbx1-derived interneurons comprise core respiratory rhythmogenic and premotor circuits and provides quantitative cellular parameters that govern network functionality
    1. Neuroscience

    Disparate substrates for head gaze following and face perception in the monkey superior temporal sulcus

    Karolina Marciniak, Artin Atabaki ... Peter Thier
    A distinct cortical region serves head gaze following, and is needed to establish joint attention with others and to ultimately develop a theory of others' mind.
    1. Neuroscience

    Nucleus reuniens of the thalamus contains head direction cells

    Maciej M Jankowski, Md Nurul Islam ... Shane M O'Mara
    Neurons that provide information about the direction of the head are present in nucleus reuniens and can potentially directly influence spatial processing in the hippocampus.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
    2. Cell Biology

    A structural model of the active ribosome-bound membrane protein insertase YidC

    Stephan Wickles, Abhishek Singharoy ... Roland Beckmann
    A cryo-EM structure combined with bioinformatics provide a structural view on a conserved co-translational membrane protein biogenesis pathway.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology

    Quantitative determinants of aerobic glycolysis identify flux through the enzyme GAPDH as a limiting step

    Alexander A Shestov, Xiaojing Liu ... Jason W Locasale
    A new computational model of the Warburg Effect reveals that the rate-limiting step of glycolysis is variable, identifies new control mechanisms, and could help to predict the responses to targeting glycolysis to treat cancer.
    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Chromosomes and Gene Expression

    Core promoter factor TAF9B regulates neuronal gene expression

    Francisco J Herrera, Teppei Yamaguchi ... Robert Tjian
    An orphan TBP-associated factor, TAF9B, works in conjunction with the histone acetyl-transferase PCAF as transcriptional co-regulators of neuronal differentiation.
    1. Evolutionary Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    The inherent mutational tolerance and antigenic evolvability of influenza hemagglutinin

    Bargavi Thyagarajan, Jesse D Bloom
    Deep mutational scanning was used to comprehensively quantify the effects of mutations to influenza hemagglutinin and shows that the virus possesses a high inherent mutational tolerance at key antigenic sites.
    1. Cell Biology

    The metal transporter ZIP13 supplies iron into the secretory pathway in Drosophila melanogaster

    Guiran Xiao, Zhihui Wan ... Bing Zhou
    Drosophila ZIP13 (Slc39a13), a presumed zinc importer, is responsible for iron delivery to the secretory pathway.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Immunology and Inflammation

    Induction of homologous recombination between sequence repeats by the activation induced cytidine deaminase (AID) protein

    Jean-Marie Buerstedde, Noel Lowndes, David G Schatz
    Intra- and intergenic deletions by repeat recombination broaden the mutagenic potential of the activation induced cytidine deaminase (AID) protein.
    1. Neuroscience

    Loss of Cdc42 leads to defects in synaptic plasticity and remote memory recall

    Il Hwan Kim, Hong Wang ... Ryohei Yasuda
    Conditional knockout of the small GTPase Cdc42 in excitatory neurons of the mouse forebrain leads to impaired long-term synaptic plasticity and impaired retrieval of remote memory.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
    2. Cell Biology

    The pseudo GTPase CENP-M drives human kinetochore assembly

    Federica Basilico, Stefano Maffini ... Andrea Musacchio
    Centromeric protein M (CENP-M) is required for the stabilization of a quaternary complex that plays a crucial role in kinetochore organization and function.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Developmental Biology

    Specific polar subpopulations of astral microtubules control spindle orientation and symmetric neural stem cell division

    Felipe Mora-Bermúdez, Fumio Matsuzaki, Wieland B Huttner
    Mammalian neural stem cells specifically regulate a subset of astral microtubules to govern the subtle changes in spindle orientation that underlie symmetric vs asymmetric cell division during embryonic cortical neurogenesis.
    1. Genetics and Genomics
    2. Plant Biology

    Natural epigenetic polymorphisms lead to intraspecific variation in Arabidopsis gene imprinting

    Daniela Pignatta, Robert M Erdmann ... Mary Gehring
    Individual scientists, scientific communities and scientific journals can do more to assess the publication of irreproducible results, to promote good science, and to increase the efficiency with which the scientific community self-corrects.
    1. Neuroscience

    Contribution of correlated noise and selective decoding to choice probability measurements in extrastriate visual cortex

    Yong Gu, Dora E Angelaki, Gregory C DeAngelis
    Addressing the controversy regarding the interpretation of choice probabilities demonstrates that both readout strategy and noise correlations contribute to the link between neural activity and perceptual decisions.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Chromosomes and Gene Expression

    Interactions with RNA direct the Polycomb group protein SCML2 to chromatin where it represses target genes

    Roberto Bonasio, Emilio Lecona ... Danny Reinberg
    The Polycomb group protein SCML2 contributes to the assembly and gene silencing function of Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 (PRC1) and requires an RNA-binding region to reach chromatin targets.