February 2017

Cover articles

    1. Neuroscience

    Modeling electric fields in the brain

    Yu Huang, Anli A Liu ... Lucas C Parra
    1. Plant Biology

    How fluctuations lead to giant cells

    Heather M Meyer, José Teles ... Adrienne H K Roeder
    1. Ecology

    Mimicry complex deters predators

    Stano Pekár, Lenka Petráková ... Marie E Herberstein
    1. Developmental Biology

    Form and function in the vocal apparatus

    Jacqueline M Tabler, Maggie M Rigney ... John B Wallingford

Highlights controls:

Research articles

    1. Physics of Living Systems
    2. Cell Biology

    27 T ultra-high static magnetic field changes orientation and morphology of mitotic spindles in human cells

    Lei Zhang, Yubin Hou ... Xin Zhang
    An ultra-high static magnetic field changes mitotic spindle orientation in cells by exerting magnetic torques on both microtubules and chromosomes.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Ecology

    Data-driven identification of potential Zika virus vectors

    Michelle V Evans, Tad A Dallas ... John M Drake
    Data-driven methods predict over 35 mosquitoes are potential vectors of Zika virus, suggesting a larger geographic area and a greater human population is at risk of infection.
    1. Cell Biology

    YOD1/TRAF6 association balances p62-dependent IL-1 signaling to NF-κB

    Gisela Schimmack, Kenji Schorpp ... Daniel Krappmann
    The deubiquitinating enzyme YOD1 binds to the E3 ligase TRAF6 to counteract p62/sequestosome1 mediated pro-inflammatory NF-κB signaling in response to interleukin-1.
    1. Neuroscience

    Neural markers of predictive coding under perceptual uncertainty revealed with Hierarchical Frequency Tagging

    Noam Gordon, Roger Koenig-Robert ... Jakob Hohwy
    The novel neural marker for the integration of top-down predictions and bottom-up signals in perception elucidates uncertainty in perceptual inference and provides evidence for the predictive coding account of perception.
    1. Neuroscience

    Embryonic transcription factor expression in mice predicts medial amygdala neuronal identity and sex-specific responses to innate behavioral cues

    Julieta E Lischinsky, Katie Sokolowski ... Joshua G Corbin
    Studying the development of the medial amygdala in the mouse reveals how the brain may potentially process sex differences in innate behaviors such as mating.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Molecular architecture of the 90S small subunit pre-ribosome

    Qi Sun, Xing Zhu ... Keqiong Ye
    The nearly complete architecture of the gigantic 90S precursor of small ribosomal subunit is determined by cryo-EM.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
    2. Plant Biology

    Kinetics of the LOV domain of ZEITLUPE determine its circadian function in Arabidopsis

    Ashutosh Pudasaini, Jae Sung Shim ... Brian D Zoltowski
    In the plant circadian clock photoreceptor ZEITLUPE, evolutionarily selected residues distinguish photocycle kinetics and allosteric signal transduction pathways to permit proper circadian timing.
    1. Plant Biology

    Autophagy functions as an antiviral mechanism against geminiviruses in plants

    Yakupjan Haxim, Asigul Ismayil ... Yule Liu
    Plant autophagy contributes to antiviral defense against geminiviruses by targeting one or more viral proteins for degradation.
    1. Genetics and Genomics

    Expression of SREBP-1c Requires SREBP-2-mediated Generation of a Sterol Ligand for LXR in Livers of Mice

    Shunxing Rong, Víctor A Cortés ... Jay D Horton
    SREBP-2 directly regulates genes involved in cholesterol homeostasis and indirectly regulates fatty acid synthesis through the production of a ligand responsible for the activation of LXR and SREBP-1c.
    1. Neuroscience

    Analysis of the NK2 homeobox gene ceh-24 reveals sublateral motor neuron control of left-right turning during sleep

    Juliane Schwarz, Henrik Bringmann
    A genetic analysis has identified the cholinergic SIA sublateral motor neurons, which innervate all four body wall muscles separately, as crucial regulators of turning around during sleep in Caenorhabditis elegans.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Evolutionary Biology

    Lipid droplet biology and evolution illuminated by the characterization of a novel perilipin in teleost fish

    James G Granneman, Vickie A Kimler ... Ryan Thummel
    Phylogenetic, biochemical, and genetic techniques reveal a novel and ancient member of the Perilipin family, termed Plin6, that functions to concentrate and traffic lipophilic skin pigment in teleost fish.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Cell Biology

    A PALB2-interacting domain in RNF168 couples homologous recombination to DNA break-induced chromatin ubiquitylation

    Martijn S Luijsterburg, Dimitris Typas ... Haico van Attikum
    A new mechanism is uncovered by which the RNF168 ubiquitin ligase couples PALB2-dependent homologous recombination to H2A ubiquitylation to promote DNA repair and preserve genome integrity.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
    2. Cell Biology

    Electrostatic anchoring precedes stable membrane attachment of SNAP25/SNAP23 to the plasma membrane

    Pascal Weber, Helena Batoulis ... Thorsten Lang
    A step of contact establishment preceding stable membrane attachment by palmitoylation is identified.
    1. Neuroscience

    A saturation hypothesis to explain both enhanced and impaired learning with enhanced plasticity

    TD Barbara Nguyen-Vu, Grace Q Zhao ... Jennifer L Raymond
    Learning capacity depends on a dynamic interplay between the brain’s ability to change the strength of its synapses and the history of activity at those synapses.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Single-molecule FRET unveils induced-fit mechanism for substrate selectivity in flap endonuclease 1

    Fahad Rashid, Paul D Harris ... Samir M Hamdan
    Structure specific nucleases that act in DNA replication, repair and recombination actively mold their DNA while transforming their own structure to achieve precise cleavage of their cognate DNA and avoid the deleterious cleavage of noncognate DNA.
    1. Plant Biology

    Phloem unloading in Arabidopsis roots is convective and regulated by the phloem-pole pericycle

    Timothy J Ross-Elliott, Kaare H Jensen ... Karl J Oparka
    A study of solute and macromolecule trafficking in plants reveals a previously undescribed route for carbon distribution in growing root tissues.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Neuroscience

    Biologically plausible learning in recurrent neural networks reproduces neural dynamics observed during cognitive tasks

    Thomas Miconi
    A biologically plausible learning rule allows recurrent neural networks to learn nontrivial tasks, using only sparse, delayed rewards, and the neural dynamics of trained networks exhibit complex dynamics observed in animal frontal cortices.
    1. Neuroscience

    Transient oxytocin signaling primes the development and function of excitatory hippocampal neurons

    Silvia Ripamonti, Mateusz C Ambrozkiewicz ... JeongSeop Rhee
    Perturbation of oxytocin signaling causes alterations that may be causally involved in the etiology of oxytocin-related neurobehavioral disorders.
    1. Physics of Living Systems

    Distinct contributions of the thin and thick filaments to length-dependent activation in heart muscle

    Xuemeng Zhang, Thomas Kampourakis ... Yin-Biao Sun
    The Frank–Starling law of the heart and its underlying mechanism of length-dependent activation involve distinctive structural changes in both the thin and thick filaments of cardiac muscle cells.
    1. Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine

    Transient inflammatory response mediated by interleukin-1β is required for proper regeneration in zebrafish fin fold

    Tomoya Hasegawa, Christopher J Hall ... Atsushi Kawakami
    The Interleukin 1 beta signaling and tissue inflammation act as a double-edged sword: they are required for regeneration, but when in excess, they impair tissue regeneration and induce apoptosis.
    1. Neuroscience

    Sensitivity to image recurrence across eye-movement-like image transitions through local serial inhibition in the retina

    Vidhyasankar Krishnamoorthy, Michael Weick, Tim Gollisch
    The encoding of visual images by certain retinal ganglion cells is fundamentally altered in the context of eye-movement-like image transitions; the transitions trigger inhibitory interactions, which make these cells particularly sensitive to recurring images.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Neuroscience

    Bottom-up and top-down computations in word- and face-selective cortex

    Kendrick N Kay, Jason D Yeatman
    A computational model reveals how response properties of category-selective regions in the visual cortex reflect both bottom-up stimulus-driven signals and top-down attentional signals from the parietal cortex.
    1. Developmental Biology

    Position- and Hippo signaling-dependent plasticity during lineage segregation in the early mouse embryo

    Eszter Posfai, Sophie Petropoulos ... Janet Rossant
    Lineage specification and commitment are synchronized in the developing trophectoderm lineage of the mouse embryo, but are asynchronous events in the maturing inner cell mass, revealing a window of plasticity in this lineage.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
    2. Cell Biology

    CatSperζ regulates the structural continuity of sperm Ca2+ signaling domains and is required for normal fertility

    Jean-Ju Chung, Kiyoshi Miki ... David E Clapham
    A new component, CatSper zeta, is required for continuous alignment of the calcium channel along the sperm's tail and is crucial for normal sperm swimming behavior and fertility.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Structural basis for the hijacking of endosomal sorting nexin proteins by Chlamydia trachomatis

    Blessy Paul, Hyun Sung Kim ... Brett M Collins
    Chlamydia hijacks membrane trafficking proteins of the human host via the cytoplasmic domain of a secreted transmembrane protein.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Plasmodium falciparum ligand binding to erythrocytes induce alterations in deformability essential for invasion

    Xavier Sisquella, Thomas Nebl ... Alan F Cowman
    Interaction of P. falciparum with the erythrocyte activates a phosphorylation cascade altering the viscoelastic properties of this area of the host membrane conditioning it for successful invasion.
    1. Neuroscience

    Perceptual decisions are biased by the cost to act

    Nobuhiro Hagura, Patrick Haggard, Jörn Diedrichsen
    When choosing between stimuli, the effort required to act on the resulting decision influences the processing of the stimuli themselves.
    1. Evolutionary Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Ribosomal mutations promote the evolution of antibiotic resistance in a multidrug environment

    James E Gomez, Benjamin B Kaufmann-Malaga ... Deborah T Hung
    Mutations in several components of a bacterial ribosome are shown to broadly decrease antibiotic and stress sensitivity, and readily accessible reversion mutations allow these ribosomal mutations to serve as stepping stones to high level antibiotic resistance.
    1. Cancer Biology
    2. Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine

    De-repression of the RAC activator ELMO1 in cancer stem cells drives progression of TGFβ-deficient squamous cell carcinoma from transition zones

    Heather A McCauley, Véronique Chevrier ... Géraldine Guasch
    A new mechanism connects the loss of TGFβ signaling with invasion and metastasis in highly malignant transition zone tumors.
    1. Cell Biology

    Human Nup98 regulates the localization and activity of DExH/D-box helicase DHX9

    Juliana S Capitanio, Ben Montpetit, Richard W Wozniak
    Mechanistic insight into the role of intranuclear Nup98 in gene expression is revealed by functional interactions with the helicase DHX9.
    1. Medicine
    2. Neuroscience

    High performance communication by people with paralysis using an intracortical brain-computer interface

    Chethan Pandarinath, Paul Nuyujukian ... Jaimie M Henderson
    New computer algorithms have allowed people with paralysis to achieve the highest reported typing performance using a brain-computer interface.
    1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Impaired respiration elicits SrrAB-dependent programmed cell lysis and biofilm formation in Staphylococcus aureus

    Ameya A Mashruwala, Adriana van de Guchte, Jeffrey M Boyd
    The absence of oxygen prompts Staphylococcus aureus cells to rupture resulting in increased formation of biofilms, which are the etiological agents of recurrent infections.
    1. Cell Biology

    The AP-2 complex has a specialized clathrin-independent role in apical endocytosis and polar growth in fungi

    Olga Martzoukou, Sotiris Amillis ... George Diallinas
    In filamentous fungi the AP-2 complex, which in mammals is an adaptor of clathrin-mediated endocytosis, is recruited to specific clathrin-independent apical endocytosis necessary for proper lipid maintenance and polar growth.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    An essential dual-function complex mediates erythrocyte invasion and channel-mediated nutrient uptake in malaria parasites

    Daisuke Ito, Marc A Schureck, Sanjay A Desai
    Gene knockdowns reveal that the conserved RhopH protein complex functions in both host cell invasion and channel-mediated nutrient uptake in malaria.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Neuroscience

    Blood transcriptome based biomarkers for human circadian phase

    Emma E Laing, Carla S Möller-Levet ... Derk-Jan Dijk
    An unbiased modelling approach shows that only a few blood transcriptome samples are required to accurately assess the human circadian melatonin phase, even during altered sleep schedules.
    1. Neuroscience

    The cortical connectivity of the periaqueductal gray and the conditioned response to the threat of breathlessness

    Olivia K Faull, Kyle TS Pattinson
    Building on previous work (Faull et al, 2016), it shown that the different connectivity profiles of the individual columns of the human periaqueductal gray support their proposed roles in human threat behaviours, such as freezing or fight/flight.
    1. Neuroscience

    Motor control of Drosophila feeding behavior

    Olivia Schwarz, Ali Asgar Bohra ... Jan Pielage
    The neuroanatomical and functional analysis of genetically-identified motoneurons controlling all major steps of Drosophila proboscis extension provides new insights into the architecture of a motor circuitry controlling a reaching-like behavior.
    1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression
    2. Neuroscience

    FlpStop, a tool for conditional gene control in Drosophila

    Yvette E Fisher, Helen H Yang ... Thomas R Clandinin
    FlpStop is a generalizable tool for conditional gene disruption and rescue and enables critical experiments examining the interactions between genes, circuits, and computation.
    1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Longitudinal imaging of HIV-1 spread in humanized mice with parallel 3D immunofluorescence and electron tomography

    Collin Kieffer, Mark S Ladinsky ... Pamela J Bjorkman
    Combined tissue clearing, 3D-immunofluorescence, and electron tomography spatially revealed the dynamics of early HIV-1 spread within lymphoid tissues of humanized mice at the resolution of single cells and individual virions.
    1. Genetics and Genomics
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    A phylogenetic transform enhances analysis of compositional microbiota data

    Justin D Silverman, Alex D Washburne ... Lawrence A David
    The PhILR transform uses an evolutionary model to overcome statistical challenges associated with microbiota surveys.
    1. Neuroscience

    A role for cerebellum in the hereditary dystonia DYT1

    Rachel Fremont, Ambika Tewari ... Kamran Khodakhah
    The most common inherited dystonia, DYT1, is likely caused primarily by the dysfunction of the cerebellum rather than the basal ganglia.
    1. Cancer Biology
    2. Cell Biology

    One reporter for in-cell activity profiling of majority of protein kinase oncogenes

    Iva Gudernova, Silvie Foldynova-Trantirkova ... Pavel Krejci
    A new luciferase and fluorescent reporter system enables rapid and efficient in-cell profiling of the majority of protein kinase oncogenes known to date.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Cell Biology

    Multiplex image-based autophagy RNAi screening identifies SMCR8 as ULK1 kinase activity and gene expression regulator

    Jennifer Jung, Arnab Nayak ... Christian Behrends
    An image-based multiplex autophagosome RNAi screen targeting all Rab GTPases as well as their GAPs and GEFs identifies the Rab GEF SMCR8 as multifaceted autophagy modulator, which regulates kinase activity and gene expression of ULK1.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS)5 ameliorates influenza infection via inhibition of EGFR signaling

    Lukasz Kedzierski, Michelle D Tate ... Sandra E Nicholson
    The intracellular SOCS5 protein has a unique and key role in restraining influenza A infection by regulating epidermal growth factor receptor signaling in airway epithelial cells.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Neuroscience

    Speed and segmentation control mechanisms characterized in rhythmically-active circuits created from spinal neurons produced from genetically-tagged embryonic stem cells

    Matthew J Sternfeld, Christopher A Hinckley ... Samuel L Pfaff
    Stem cell derived ventral-spinal cord excitatory neurons self-assemble into a rhythmically bursting neural network whose speed and intercellular coordination are both instructively modulated by cell-type specific interactions with inhibitory neurons.
    1. Neuroscience

    Transient inhibition and long-term facilitation of locomotion by phasic optogenetic activation of serotonin neurons

    Patrícia A Correia, Eran Lottem ... Zachary F Mainen
    Phasic activation of dorsal raphe serotonin neurons transiently inhibits locomotion without influencing anxiety or producing reinforcement, but when repeated over many days a long-term facilitation of locomotion is produced.
    1. Neuroscience

    Generalizable knowledge outweighs incidental details in prefrontal ensemble code over time

    Mark D Morrissey, Nathan Insel, Kaori Takehara-Nishiuchi
    Neuron ensembles in the medial prefrontal cortex gradually develop codes for relevant, latent variables common across multiple experiences while – apparently independently – losing information about irrelevant, contextual variables unique to each experience.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Structure of the malaria vaccine candidate antigen CyRPA and its complex with a parasite invasion inhibitory antibody

    Paola Favuzza, Elena Guffart ... Markus G Rudolph
    The structure of the promising malaria blood-stage vaccine candidate antigen PfCyRPA and the characterization of a protective epitope are facilitating research on its essential role in parasite invasion, and will guide future epitope-focused vaccine design.
    1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression

    Paternal nicotine exposure alters hepatic xenobiotic metabolism in offspring

    Markus P Vallaster, Shweta Kukreja ... Oliver J Rando
    A novel paternal effect based on nicotine exposure reveals that offspring exhibit an adaptive, yet nonspecific, resistance to multiple toxins.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Structural basis for inhibition of erythrocyte invasion by antibodies to Plasmodium falciparum protein CyRPA

    Lin Chen, Yibin Xu ... Alan F Cowman
    The crystal structures of the key vaccine candidate CyRPA alone and in complex with antibody Fab fragment was solved and this will be important information for designing a vaccine.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    A conformational switch regulates the ubiquitin ligase HUWE1

    Bodo Sander, Wenshan Xu ... Sonja Lorenz
    The cancer-associated human ubiquitin ligase HUWE1 can adopt an auto-inhibited dimeric state, whose occupancy is regulated by competing intra- and intermolecular interactions of the dimerization region and by the tumor suppressor p14ARF.
    1. Cancer Biology

    Horizontal transfer of whole mitochondria restores tumorigenic potential in mitochondrial DNA-deficient cancer cells

    Lan-Feng Dong, Jaromira Kovarova ... Jiri Neuzil
    A genetic approach documents that mitochondrial DNA moves from donor cells to recipient mtDNA-depleted cells in whole mitochondria and that this restores mitochondrial respiration and the capacity of the cells to form tumours.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Cell Biology

    The Ndc80 complex bridges two Dam1 complex rings

    Jae ook Kim, Alex Zelter ... Trisha N Davis
    The ability of the Ndc80 complex to bind two Dam1 complex rings is important for chromosome attachment, and the distance between the two rings is vital for supporting growth.
    1. Neuroscience

    Spatiotemporal correlation of spinal network dynamics underlying spasms in chronic spinalized mice

    Carmelo Bellardita, Vittorio Caggiano ... Ole Kiehn
    Spinal excitatory interneurons trigger persistent neural activity in spinal network to generate muscle spasms after spinal cord injury.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Cancer Biology

    Aberrant corticosteroid metabolism in tumor cells enables GR takeover in enzalutamide resistant prostate cancer

    Jianneng Li, Mohammad Alyamani ... Nima Sharifi
    Prostate cancer resistance to androgen receptor antagonist therapy occurs by way of tumors impeding local glucocorticoid metabolism and inactivation and thereby permitting sustained glucocorticoids to stimulate up-regulated glucocorticoid receptor.
    1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression

    Distinct modes of SMAD2 chromatin binding and remodeling shape the transcriptional response to NODAL/Activin signaling

    Davide M Coda, Tessa Gaarenstroom ... Caroline S Hill
    NODAL/Activin-induced SMAD2 binding directly drives remodeling of both open and closed chromatin and does not directly correlate with temporal patterns of gene expression upon prolonged signaling.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Folding behavior of a T-shaped, ribosome-binding translation enhancer implicated in a wide-spread conformational switch

    My-Tra Le, Wojciech K Kasprzak ... Anne E Simon
    Folding and unfolding pathways are described for a ribosome-binding 3' cap-independent translation enhancer at the center of a conformational rearrangement that is implicated in the transition from translation to replication of an RNA virus.
    1. Immunology and Inflammation
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Control of immune ligands by members of a cytomegalovirus gene expansion suppresses natural killer cell activation

    Ceri A Fielding, Michael P Weekes ... Gavin W G Wilkinson
    The human cytomegalovirus US12 gene family work co-operatively to degrade large numbers of immune ligands and prevent recognition by natural killer cells.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Atomistic simulations indicate the c-subunit ring of the F1Fo ATP synthase is not the mitochondrial permeability transition pore

    Wenchang Zhou, Fabrizio Marinelli ... José D Faraldo-Gómez
    The notion that the lumen of the ATP synthase membrane rotor is the long-sought megachannel that triggers the onset of the mitochondrial permeability transition is found to be inconsistent with its actual structural and functional properties.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Chromosomes and Gene Expression

    Combinatorial bZIP dimers display complex DNA-binding specificity landscapes

    José A Rodríguez-Martínez, Aaron W Reinke ... Aseem Z Ansari
    Cognate site identification uncovers the impact of combinatorial dimerization in specifying new DNA binding sites for human bZIP transcription factors and comprehensive specificity landscapes predict the impact of SNPs on bZIP binding at previously unannotated regulatory loci.
    1. Neuroscience

    Spontaneous activation of visual pigments in relation to openness/closedness of chromophore-binding pocket

    Wendy Wing Sze Yue, Rikard Frederiksen ... King-Wai Yau
    Visual pigments with a longer peak-absorption wavelength or an open chromophore-binding pocket are generally noisier, being more prone to spontaneous activity.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine

    Requirement of myomaker-mediated stem cell fusion for skeletal muscle hypertrophy

    Qingnian Goh, Douglas P Millay
    Myomaker is activated on muscle stem cells to promote their fusion with myofibers, which is essential for induction of pro-growth signaling pathways and physiological muscle hypertrophy.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Developmental Biology

    The interplay of stiffness and force anisotropies drives embryo elongation

    Thanh Thi Kim Vuong-Brender, Martine Ben Amar ... Michel Labouesse
    Elongation of C. elegans embryos requires stiffness and force to be specifically oriented in a coordinated manner in different cells.
    1. Cancer Biology

    Copy-number and gene dependency analysis reveals partial copy loss of wild-type SF3B1 as a novel cancer vulnerability

    Brenton R Paolella, William J Gibson ... Rameen Beroukhim
    Partial copy loss of spliceosome genes are common non-driver gene dependencies in cancer.
    1. Developmental Biology

    Cilia-mediated Hedgehog signaling controls form and function in the mammalian larynx

    Jacqueline M Tabler, Maggie M Rigney ... John B Wallingford
    Genetic studies in mice reveal the molecular and embryological mechanisms of vocal fold development and function, thereby informing our understanding of vocal communication and congenital voice defects.
    1. Neuroscience

    Hippocampal activation is associated with longitudinal amyloid accumulation and cognitive decline

    Stephanie L Leal, Susan M Landau ... William J Jagust
    Cognitively normal older adults show a positive relationship between neural activity during memory encoding and brain β-amyloid deposition rate over the subsequent 3-4 years, supporting preclinical data that associates neural activity with β-amyloid deposition.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Target DNA bending by the Mu transpososome promotes careful transposition and prevents its reversal

    James R Fuller, Phoebe A Rice
    Biochemical data demonstrate that the conformation of the target site DNA can dramatically modulate the kinetics and directionality of the otherwise isoenergetic transposition reaction of DDE transposases.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
    2. Neuroscience

    Mechanistic insights into neurotransmitter release and presynaptic plasticity from the crystal structure of Munc13-1 C1C2BMUN

    Junjie Xu, Marcial Camacho ... Josep Rizo
    The crystal structure of a large C-terminal fragment of Munc13-1 provides a key framework to understand how Munc13-1 mediates neurotransmitter release and presynaptic plasticity.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Chromosomes and Gene Expression

    Cap-proximal nucleotides via differential eIF4E binding and alternative promoter usage mediate translational response to energy stress

    Ana Tamarkin-Ben-Harush, Jean-Jacques Vasseur ... Rivka Dikstein
    Differential eIF4E binding to transcription initiation nucleotides and alternative promoter usage of eIF1A, PABP and other genes are involved in the response of the translation machinery to energy stress.
    1. Neuroscience

    Sloppy morphological tuning in identified neurons of the crustacean stomatogastric ganglion

    Adriane G Otopalik, Marie L Goeritz ... Eve Marder
    Reliable neuronal physiology can arise from variable and inefficient morphologies.
    1. Neuroscience

    Measurements and models of electric fields in the in vivo human brain during transcranial electric stimulation

    Yu Huang, Anli A Liu ... Lucas C Parra
    Direct in-vivo measurements in the human brain test validity of detailed computational models of trancranial electric stimulation and show that electric fields in the brain are weaker than currently assumed.
    1. Neuroscience

    Functional double dissociation within the entorhinal cortex for visual scene-dependent choice behavior

    Seung-Woo Yoo, Inah Lee
    The medial and lateral subdivisions of the entorhinal cortex are important for deciding "where to go from here" and "what to do to this object" in a visual context, respectively.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Neuroscience

    Genetic control of encoding strategy in a food-sensing neural circuit

    Giovanni Diana, Dhaval S Patel ... QueeLim Ch'ng
    Building on previous work (Entchev et al, 2015), computational analyses reveal that the choice between redundant versus synergistic encoding in a gene expression code for food abundance is controlled by cross-talk and auto-regulation among TGF-beta and serotonin pathways.
    1. Cell Biology

    Phosphorylation of β-arrestin2 at Thr383 by MEK underlies β-arrestin-dependent activation of Erk1/2 by GPCRs

    Elisabeth Cassier, Nathalie Gallay ... Franck Vandermoere
    Phosphoproteomics identifies β-arrestin 2 phosphorylation at Thr383 by MEK as a key step of GPCR-induced Erk½ activation, thus providing new insight into the molecular mechanism underlying β-arrestin-dependent GPCR-operated signaling.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Chromosomes and Gene Expression

    Interface between 40S exit channel protein uS7/Rps5 and eIF2α modulates start codon recognition in vivo

    Jyothsna Visweswaraiah, Alan G Hinnebusch
    The small subunit ribosomal protein uS7/Rps5 interacts with translation initiation factor eIF2α to stabilize first the open, and then the closed conformation of the pre-initiation complex to promote accurate start codon selection in vivo.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology

    Variability of cholesterol accessibility in human red blood cells measured using a bacterial cholesterol-binding toxin

    Rima S Chakrabarti, Sally A Ingham ... Helen H Hobbs
    Accessible cholesterol levels in human red blood cells were found to be stable within individuals but vary >10-fold among individuals and this variability may contribute to differences in cholesterol trafficking among tissues.
    1. Ecology

    The golden mimicry complex uses a wide spectrum of defence to deter a community of predators

    Stano Pekár, Lenka Petráková ... Marie E Herberstein
    A mimetic complex composed of at least 140 species of ants, wasps, spiders, true bugs and treehoppers, all with conspicuous golden bodies, has been discovered.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    A long-term epigenetic memory switch controls bacterial virulence bimodality

    Irine Ronin, Naama Katsowich ... Nathalie Q Balaban
    Hysteretic switching between virulence states has been observed in a human pathogen.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology

    Design principles of autocatalytic cycles constrain enzyme kinetics and force low substrate saturation at flux branch points

    Uri Barenholz, Dan Davidi ... Ron Milo
    The stability of metabolic autocatalytic cycles that are widespread in central metabolism limits the affinities of enzymes at flux branch points and explains excess expression of these enzymes.
    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Plant Biology

    Generation of shape complexity through tissue conflict resolution

    Alexandra B Rebocho, Paul Southam ... Enrico Coen
    Genetic modulation in patterns of tissue conflict play a major role in the development and evolution of shape diversity.
    1. Neuroscience

    ERG-28 controls BK channel trafficking in the ER to regulate synaptic function and alcohol response in C. elegans

    Kelly H Oh, James J Haney ... Hongkyun Kim
    An endoplasmic reticulum membrane protein regulates synaptic transmission, alcohol sensitivity, and gene expression by controlling the trafficking of a calcium-activated potassium channel.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Elucidation of a four-site allosteric network in fibroblast growth factor receptor tyrosine kinases

    Huaibin Chen, William M Marsiglia ... Moosa Mohammadi
    A four-switch long-range allosteric network controls FGF receptor kinase conformational dynamics as well as activity and is applicable to other receptor tyrosine kinases.
    1. Ecology

    A fitness trade-off between seasons causes multigenerational cycles in phenotype and population size

    Gustavo S Betini, Andrew G McAdam ... D Ryan Norris
    Seasonal variation in resources causes opposing episodes of selection on body size, which interact with density dependence to influence population dynamics.
    1. Cell Biology

    Disordered clusters of Bak dimers rupture mitochondria during apoptosis

    Rachel T Uren, Martin O’Hely ... Ruth M Kluck
    Dimers of Bak assemble into clusters without using a distinct protein-protein interface, which may explain the apparent difficulties in obtaining high resolution structures of the pore complex and in targeting dimer-dimer interactions to regulate apoptosis.
    1. Neuroscience

    Long-range projection neurons in the taste circuit of Drosophila

    Heesoo Kim, Colleen Kirkhart, Kristin Scott
    Taste pathways to higher brain are critical for learned responses to taste compounds.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Cell Biology

    Role of Tim17 in coupling the import motor to the translocation channel of the mitochondrial presequence translocase

    Keren Demishtein-Zohary, Umut Günsel ... Dejana Mokranjac
    First two transmembrane segments of Tim17 are involved in interaction with the channel and the second two with the motor of the presequence translocase suggesting how proteins are handed over during their translocation into mitochondria.
    1. Neuroscience

    When complex neuronal structures may not matter

    Adriane G Otopalik, Alexander C Sutton ... Eve Marder
    Animal-to-animal variability in neuronal geometry may be compensated for by compact electrotonic structure.
    1. Neuroscience

    Inhibitory peptidergic modulation of C. elegans serotonin neurons is gated by T-type calcium channels

    Kara E Zang, Elver Ho, Niels Ringstad
    Genetic analysis of how neuropeptides control C. elegans reproductive behavior shows how T-type calcium channels engage and disengage target neurons from these critical regulators of neural circuits and behavior.
    1. Neuroscience

    Mapping cortical mesoscopic networks of single spiking cortical or sub-cortical neurons

    Dongsheng Xiao, Matthieu P Vanni ... Timothy H Murphy
    Mesoscale cortical calcium activity correlating with single cortical and thalamic cell spiking reveal rich dynamics and support a novel approach for investigating in vivo functional networks in the mammalian brain.
    1. Genetics and Genomics

    Codon optimization underpins generalist parasitism in fungi

    Thomas Badet, Remi Peyraud ... Sylvain Raffaele
    Codon optimization through biased synonymous substitutions is a characteristic feature of the genomes of generalist fungal parasites and is associated with the colonization of multiple hosts.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Epidemiology and Global Health

    Modelling primaquine-induced haemolysis in G6PD deficiency

    James Watson, Walter RJ Taylor ... Nicholas J White
    In silico modelling of all available data shows that a twenty-day ascending-dose primaquine regimen could be safe to administer to G6PD deficient patients for the radical cure of vivax malaria.
    1. Neuroscience

    Similar synapse elimination motifs at successive relays in the same efferent pathway during development in mice

    Shu-Hsien Sheu, Juan Carlos Tapia ... Jeff W Lichtman
    A similar pattern of developmental synaptic refinement leads two consecutive synaptic relays to have the same organization suggesting that some general principle of neural organization is at play.
    1. Neuroscience

    Epigenetic regulation of lateralized fetal spinal gene expression underlies hemispheric asymmetries

    Sebastian Ocklenburg, Judith Schmitz ... Onur Güntürkün
    Gene expression asymmetries in fetal spinal cord are triggered by epigenetic mechanisms suggesting that handedness has a spinal instead of a cortical origin.
    1. Cancer Biology

    KEAP1 loss modulates sensitivity to kinase targeted therapy in lung cancer

    Elsa B Krall, Belinda Wang ... William C Hahn
    Loss of KEAP1 modulates sensitivity to targeted therapies in lung cancer.
    1. Immunology and Inflammation

    Protein sorting by lipid phase-like domains supports emergent signaling function in B lymphocyte plasma membranes

    Matthew B Stone, Sarah A Shelby ... Sarah L Veatch
    Clustering the B cell receptor generates a membrane domain analogous to the liquid-ordered phase, localizing proteins involved in early receptor activation.
    1. Plant Biology

    Fluctuations of the transcription factor ATML1 generate the pattern of giant cells in the Arabidopsis sepal

    Heather M Meyer, José Teles ... Adrienne H K Roeder
    Fluctuations of a transcription factor that coincide with the G2 phase of the cell cycle pattern two interspersed cell fates in a multicellular system.