August 2019

Cover articles

    1. Evolutionary Biology

    The secrets of a successful landing

    William RT Roderick, Diana D Chin ... David Lentink
    1. Cancer Biology

    De-differentiation of lung tumors

    J Edward van Veen, Michael Scherzer ... Martin McMahon
    1. Epidemiology and Global Health

    Enteropathogen infections in children

    Benjamin F Arnold, Diana L Martin ... Jeffrey W Priest

Highlights controls:

Research articles

    1. Neuroscience

    Velocity coupling of grid cell modules enables stable embedding of a low dimensional variable in a high dimensional neural attractor

    Noga Mosheiff, Yoram Burak
    The neural representation of position in the medial entorhinal cortex may be stabilized by synaptic connectivity across modules, which enforces coherent updates in their states.
    1. Immunology and Inflammation

    Composition and structure of synaptic ectosomes exporting antigen receptor linked to functional CD40 ligand from helper T cells

    David G Saliba, Pablo F Céspedes-Donoso ... Michael L Dustin
    TCR and CD40L microclusters are linked in synaptic ectosomes (extracellular vesicles) and released in the immunological synapse by helper T cells and induce dendritic cell maturation and cytokine production.
    1. Neuroscience

    The cerebellum is involved in processing of predictions and prediction errors in a fear conditioning paradigm

    Thomas Michael Ernst, Anna Evelina Brol ... Dagmar Timmann
    Pronounced cerebellar activation during unexpected omission of a potentially harmful event suggests that the cerebellum has to be added to the neural network processing prediction errors underlying emotional associative learning.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Homology sensing via non-linear amplification of sequence-dependent pausing by RecQ helicase

    Yeonee Seol, Gábor M Harami ... Keir C Neuman
    The rate of DNA unwinding by RecQ helicases is dramatically modulated by the DNA duplex stability in a geometry-dependent manner, providing an intrinsic mechanism for suppressing illegitimate recombination.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    A structural mechanism for phosphorylation-dependent inactivation of the AP2 complex

    Edward A Partlow, Richard W Baker ... Gunther Hollopeter
    Cryo-EM reveals how a protein called NECAP inactivates the AP2 clathrin adaptor complex through concerted engagement of two domains which confer specificity for membrane-activated and phosphorylated AP2.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Evolutionary Biology

    Evolution of asymmetric gamete signaling and suppressed recombination at the mating type locus

    Zena Hadjivasiliou, Andrew Pomiankowski
    Selection for asymmetric signalling between gametes explains the very origins of sexual asymmetry as seen in mating-types with morphologically similar but self-incompatible gametes.
    1. Neuroscience

    Population response magnitude variation in inferotemporal cortex predicts image memorability

    Andrew Jaegle, Vahid Mehrpour ... Nicole Rust
    Population response magnitude predicts how well an image will be remembered, in both monkey inferotemporal cortex and neural networks trained to categorize objects.
    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Neuroscience

    The adhesion-GPCR BAI1 shapes dendritic arbors via Bcr-mediated RhoA activation causing late growth arrest

    Joseph G Duman, Shalaka Mulherkar ... Kimberley F Tolias
    The adhesion-GPCR BAI1 shapes dendritic arbors in the hippocampus by associating with Bcr late in development and stimulating its RhoA-GEF activity, resulting in dendritic growth arrest.
    1. Physics of Living Systems

    Surface-to-volume scaling and aspect ratio preservation in rod-shaped bacteria

    Nikola Ojkic, Diana Serbanescu, Shiladitya Banerjee
    Rod-shaped bacteria preserve their aspect ratios and surface-to-volume scaling by maintaining a homeostatic balance between the rates of cell elongation and division protein synthesis.
    1. Epidemiology and Global Health
    2. Medicine

    Seasonal variation and etiologic inferences of childhood pneumonia and diarrhea mortality in India

    Daniel S Farrar, Shally Awasthi ... Prabhat Jha
    Nationally-representative verbal autopsies can be linked to seasonal patterns, clinical syndromes, and climate regions to describe novel insights regarding the microbiologic etiologies of childhood pneumonia and diarrhea in India.
    1. Neuroscience

    Increased expression of heme-binding protein 1 early in Alzheimer's disease is linked to neurotoxicity

    Oleksandr Yagensky, Mahdokht Kohansal-Nodehi ... John JE Chua
    Increased levels of brain Hebp1 starting from the presymptomatic stage of Alzheimer’s disease contributes to progressive neuronal loss by triggering mitochondrial-dependent apoptosis in neurons exposed to elevated heme.
    1. Evolutionary Biology

    Adaptive substitutions underlying cardiac glycoside insensitivity in insects exhibit epistasis in vivo

    Andrew M Taverner, Lu Yang ... Peter Andolfatto
    Genome engineering and phenotyping in vivo reveal surprising new features of adaptive amino acid substitutions that were previously inaccessible.
    1. Developmental Biology

    Notch signalling maintains Hedgehog responsiveness via a Gli-dependent mechanism during spinal cord patterning in zebrafish

    Craig T Jacobs, Peng Huang
    Genetic analyses combining photoconvertible cell signalling reporters with gain- and loss-of function manipulations reveal a novel role for Notch signalling in controlling Hedgehog response in neural progenitor cells.
    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Neuroscience

    Lineage does not regulate the sensory synaptic input of projection neurons in the mouse olfactory bulb

    Luis Sánchez-Guardado, Carlos Lois
    Sister projection neurons in the mammalian olfactory system do not share sensory synaptic input indicating that lineage-independent mechanisms regulate their synaptic connectivity with the olfactory sensory neurons.
    1. Medicine
    2. Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine

    Merging organoid and organ-on-a-chip technology to generate complex multi-layer tissue models in a human retina-on-a-chip platform

    Kevin Achberger, Christopher Probst ... Peter Loskill
    A microphysiological system (retina-on-a-chip) shows the potential to promote drug development and provide new insights into the underlying pathology of retinal diseases.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Developmental Biology

    Tailored tetravalent antibodies potently and specifically activate Wnt/Frizzled pathways in cells, organoids and mice

    Yuyong Tao, Monika Mis ... Sachdev S Sidhu
    Modular tetravalent antibodies can be engineered to stimulate signaling through any combination of Frizzled and LRP receptors to drive organoid growth and mobilize endogenous stem cells in vivo.
    1. Cancer Biology
    2. Cell Biology

    Caspase-mediated cleavage of IRE1 controls apoptotic cell commitment during endoplasmic reticulum stress

    Anna Shemorry, Jonathan M Harnoss ... Avi Ashkenazi
    Biochemical and biological studies reveal that caspases feed back onto the Unfolded Protein Response by cleaving the ER-stress sensor IRE1 to produce a cytoprotective N-terminal fragment that inhibits BAX-dependent apoptosis.
    1. Evolutionary Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Mapping person-to-person variation in viral mutations that escape polyclonal serum targeting influenza hemagglutinin

    Juhye M Lee, Rachel Eguia ... Jesse D Bloom
    Single viral mutations can escape polyclonal human immunity to influenza hemagglutinin, but different mutations escape the immunity of different people.
    1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression

    A nuclear role for the DEAD-box protein Dbp5 in tRNA export

    Azra Lari, Arvind Arul Nambi Rajan ... Ben Montpetit
    Within the nucleus, Dbp5p supports tRNA export providing a parallel mechanism by which this conserved DEAD-box protein functions to support eukaryotic gene expression.
    1. Cancer Biology

    Mutationally-activated PI3’-kinase-α promotes de-differentiation of lung tumors initiated by the BRAFV600E oncoprotein kinase

    J Edward van Veen, Michael Scherzer ... Martin McMahon
    Two of the most commonly mutated growth factor pathways induce a deadly feature of lung adenocarcinoma.
    1. Evolutionary Biology
    2. Genetics and Genomics

    The role of structural pleiotropy and regulatory evolution in the retention of heteromers of paralogs

    Axelle Marchant, Angel F Cisneros ... Christian R Landry
    Regulatory evolution allows paralogs to escape from strucural pleiotropy.
    1. Cancer Biology

    Systematic identification of cancer cell vulnerabilities to natural killer cell-mediated immune surveillance

    Matthew F Pech, Linda E Fong ... Jeffrey Settleman
    CRISPR/Cas9 screens reveal a role for the ubiquitin ligase substrate adaptor DCAF15 in the immune surveillance of cancer cells by natural killer cells.
    1. Neuroscience

    Modulation of tonotopic ventral medial geniculate body is behaviorally relevant for speech recognition

    Paul Glad Mihai, Michelle Moerel ... Katharina von Kriegstein
    Ultra-high field neuroimaging dissects the ventral medial geniculate body (vMGB) of the primary auditory pathway from other MGB subregions and reveals that vMGB top-down modulation is relevant for speech recognition.
    1. Neuroscience

    Humans can efficiently look for but not select multiple visual objects

    Eduard Ort, Johannes Jacobus Fahrenfort ... Christian NL Olivers
    During search for multiple targets, individuals can efficiently prepare to select multiple target objects simultaneously, but the actual selection of those objects from the sensory input is limited.
    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine

    Stochastic cell-cycle entry and cell-state-dependent fate outputs of injury-reactivated tectal radial glia in zebrafish

    Shuguang Yu, Jie He
    The analysis of injury-reactivated tectal radial glia in zebrafish reveals a stochastic cell-cycle entry and cell-state-dependent regulation of the balance between neurogenesis and gliogenesis.
    1. Neuroscience

    Statistical learning attenuates visual activity only for attended stimuli

    David Richter, Floris P de Lange
    Prior expectations, induced by statistical learning, affect sensory processing only for attended stimuli, thereby constraining neurocomputational theories that cast perception as an inferential process integrating prior knowledge and sensory evidence.
    1. Developmental Biology

    Two-step regulation of trachealess ensures tight coupling of cell fate with morphogenesis in the Drosophila trachea

    Takefumi Kondo, Shigeo Hayashi
    The Drosophila tracheal fate is stabilized by the combination of transcriptional programs to control tissue architecture and tissue-level input sensitive to tubular geometry, ensuring the robust mechanism of organ determination.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Cancer Biology

    Distinct mechanisms of microRNA sorting into cancer cell-derived extracellular vesicle subtypes

    Morayma M Temoche-Diaz, Matthew J Shurtleff ... Randy Schekman
    Biochemical fractionation of vesicle sub-populations and in vitro reconstitution studies reveal that Lupus La protein mediates the selective sorting of miR-122 into extracellular vesicles in vitro and in vivo.
    1. Evolutionary Biology
    2. Genetics and Genomics

    Sex-specific transcriptomic responses to changes in the nutritional environment

    M Florencia Camus, Matthew DW Piper, Max Reuter
    Male and female Drosophila share core metabolic responses to different nutritional environments, but show opposing patterns of nutrient-dependent reproductive regulation.
    1. Evolutionary Biology
    2. Genetics and Genomics

    A de novo evolved gene in the house mouse regulates female pregnancy cycles

    Chen Xie, Cemalettin Bekpen ... Diethard Tautz
    A female specifically expressed new protein-coding gene that has emerged out of non-coding sequences without detectable signatures of adaptive evolution affects female pregnancy cycles.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Activation mechanism of the insulin receptor revealed by cryo-EM structure of the fully liganded receptor–ligand complex

    Emiko Uchikawa, Eunhee Choi ... Xiao-chen Bai
    The identification of the insulin binding site 2 by high resolution cryo-EM analysis.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Plant Biology

    Two bifunctional inositol pyrophosphate kinases/phosphatases control plant phosphate homeostasis

    Jinsheng Zhu, Kelvin Lau ... Michael Hothorn
    Genetic and biochemical analysis of two enzymes reveals that inositol pyrophosphate signaling molecules allow plants to sense and regulate cellular phosphate levels, and to take up more phosphate when needed.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Cell Biology

    Heparan sulfates are critical regulators of the inhibitory megakaryocyte-platelet receptor G6b-B

    Timo Vögtle, Sumana Sharma ... Yotis A Senis
    Heparan sulfates in the vessel wall bind and regulate signaling from the megakaryocyte/platelet-specific inhibitory receptor G6b-B, a critical regulator of platelet homeostasis.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    A single K+-binding site in the crystal structure of the gastric proton pump

    Kenta Yamamoto, Vikas Dubey ... Kazuhiro Abe
    Crystal structures provide structural rationales for the transport stoichiometry of the gastric proton pump, which suffices the energy requirement for the generation of a million-fold proton gradient across the membrane.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Neuroscience

    Statistical context dictates the relationship between feedback-related EEG signals and learning

    Matthew R Nassar, Rasmus Bruckner, Michael J Frank
    The P300, an electroencephalography (EEG) component known to be evoked by surprising events, predicts learning in a bidirectional manner that depends critically on the surrounding statistical context.
    1. Cell Biology

    Golgi localized β1-adrenergic receptors stimulate Golgi PI4P hydrolysis by PLCε to regulate cardiac hypertrophy

    Craig A Nash, Wenhui Wei ... Alan V Smrcka
    β-adrenergic receptors at the Golgi apparatus activate a local signaling pathway, not accessed by cell surface receptors, to drive cardiac hypertrophy and could represent a target for heart failure therapy.
    1. Neuroscience

    Astrocyte morphogenesis is dependent on BDNF signaling via astrocytic TrkB.T1

    Leanne M Holt, Raymundo D Hernandez ... Michelle L Olsen
    Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)/TrkB.T1 signaling contributes to astrocyte morphological maturation, with implications for neuronal synaptogenesis and function and astrocyte functional maturation.
    1. Neuroscience

    Structural plasticity of dendritic secretory compartments during LTP-induced synaptogenesis

    Yelena D Kulik, Deborah J Watson ... Kristen M Harris
    The secretory and recycling components of neuronal dendrites, smooth endoplasmic reticulum and endosomes, were discovered to support synaptogenesis underlying a cellular mechanism of learning and memory in the developing brain.
    1. Immunology and Inflammation

    TLR induces reorganization of the IgM-BCR complex regulating murine B-1 cell responses to infections

    Hannah P Savage, Kathrin Kläsener ... Nicole Baumgarth
    B-1 cell unresponsiveness to antigen-stimulation is overcome during infections when Toll-like receptor engagement removes negative regulators of B cell receptor signaling, thereby supporting B-1 cell differentiation to IgM-secreting plasmablasts.
    1. Immunology and Inflammation

    B cell receptor and Toll-like receptor signaling coordinate to control distinct B-1 responses to both self and the microbiota

    Lieselotte SM Kreuk, Meghan A Koch ... Gregory M Barton
    Microbial-sensing TLRs drive responses to the microbiota, while nucleic-acid sensing TLRs control responses to endogenous ligands, revealing novel regulation of B-1a responses through integrated BCR/TLR mediated activation.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Subtle selectivity in a pheromone sensor triumvirate desynchronizes competence and predation in a human gut commensal

    Johann Mignolet, Guillaume Cerckel ... Pascal Hols
    A new cell–cell communication system in Streptococcus salivarius, a human gut commensal, discriminates between close signaling molecules to specifically produce bacteriocin-based antimicrobials and disconnects it from foreign DNA acquisition.
    1. Immunology and Inflammation
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Mucosal infection rewires TNFɑ signaling dynamics to skew susceptibility to recurrence

    Lu Yu, Valerie P O'Brien ... Thomas J Hannan
    Polarizing susceptibilities to recurrent bladder infection are shaped by a duality in TNFɑ-mediated inflammation dynamics upon challenge infection that is dictated by the outcome of the initial infection.
    1. Neuroscience

    Rbfox1 up-regulation impairs BDNF-dependent hippocampal LTP by dysregulating TrkB isoform expression levels

    Francesco Tomassoni-Ardori, Gianluca Fulgenzi ... Lino Tessarollo
    RbFox1 upregulation modulates the expression of hundreds of genes but only dysregulation of the TrkB.T1 receptor isoform expression causes BDNF-dependent LTP impairments.
    1. Neuroscience

    Brian 2, an intuitive and efficient neural simulator

    Marcel Stimberg, Romain Brette, Dan FM Goodman
    Brian 2 is a software package for neural simulations that makes it both easy and computationally efficient to define original models for computational experiment.
    1. Developmental Biology

    Suppression of transcytosis regulates zebrafish blood-brain barrier function

    Natasha M O'Brown, Sean G Megason, Chenghua Gu
    The zebrafish has been established as a genetic and molecular model for the blood-brain barrier.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Developmental Biology

    CCN1 interlinks integrin and hippo pathway to autoregulate tip cell activity

    Myo-Hyeon Park, Ae kyung Kim ... You Mie Lee
    Cyr61 autoregulating tip cell activity by interlinking integrin and Hippo pathway and targeting Cyr61 provides promising therapeutic approach for the treatment of pathological angiogenesis, including tumour angiogenesis.
    1. Neuroscience

    Confidence predicts speed-accuracy tradeoff for subsequent decisions

    Kobe Desender, Annika Boldt ... Tobias H Donner
    Neural coding of previous-trial confidence affects current decision policy.
    1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression
    2. Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine

    TERRA regulate the transcriptional landscape of pluripotent cells through TRF1-dependent recruitment of PRC2

    Rosa María Marión, Juan J Montero ... Maria A Blasco
    Telomeric TRF1 controls the transcriptional programmes of pluripotent stem cells by recruiting PRC2 to pluripotency and differentiation genes by controlling the expression of those gene sites and the binding of TERRA RNAs to them.
    1. Epidemiology and Global Health

    Enteropathogen antibody dynamics and force of infection among children in low-resource settings

    Benjamin F Arnold, Diana L Martin ... Jeffrey W Priest
    Among children in low-resource settings, diverse enteropathogens share common, population-level antibody dynamics, which creates a new opportunity to estimate transmission through serologic surveillance.
    1. Cell Biology

    Spatiotemporal control of mitotic exit during anaphase by an aurora B-Cdk1 crosstalk

    Olga Afonso, Colleen M Castellani ... Helder Maiato
    Quantitative live-cell microscopy and molecular perturbations in Drosophila and human cells reveal a crosstalk between molecular 'rulers' (Aurora B) and 'clocks' (Cdk1) that coordinates mitotic exit in space and time.
    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Evolutionary Biology

    The alternative regenerative strategy of bearded dragon unveils the key processes underlying vertebrate tooth renewal

    Lotta Salomies, Julia Eymann ... Nicolas Di-Poï
    Analysis of bearded dragon model reveals a novel tooth replacement strategy that demonstrates the critical importance of epithelial patterning, cell migration, and putative stem cell functional specialization in tissue regeneration.
    1. Neuroscience

    Enrichment drives emergence of functional columns and improves sensory coding in the whisker map in L2/3 of mouse S1

    Amy M LeMessurier, Keven J Laboy-Juárez ... Daniel E Feldman
    Sensory enrichment creates a more columnar, less salt-and-pepper whisker map in somatosensory cortex, showing that impoverished experience contributes to intermixed tuning in rodent sensory maps.
    1. Evolutionary Biology

    Computed tomography shows high fracture prevalence among physically active forager-horticulturalists with high fertility

    Jonathan Stieglitz, Benjamin C Trumble ... Michael D Gurven
    High reproductive effort constrains bone tissue response to physical activity-induced mechanical loading.
    1. Genetics and Genomics
    2. Plant Biology

    Epigenetic silencing of a multifunctional plant stress regulator

    Mark Zander, Björn C Willige ... Joseph R Ecker
    Interplay between histone demethylation and chromatin remodeling shapes the chromatin environment of the essential stress regulator ETHYLENE-INSENSITIVE2.
    1. Evolutionary Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Apicomplexan-like parasites are polyphyletic and widely but selectively dependent on cryptic plastid organelles

    Jan Janouškovec, Gita G Paskerova ... Timur G Simdyanov
    Apicomplexan-like parasites originated several times independently and many of them contain cryptic plastid organelles, which demonstrate that the parasites evolved from photosynthetic algae.
    1. Evolutionary Biology
    2. Genetics and Genomics

    Testis single-cell RNA-seq reveals the dynamics of de novo gene transcription and germline mutational bias in Drosophila

    Evan Witt, Sigi Benjamin ... Li Zhao
    Single-cell RNA-sequencing and germline substitutions provide novel insights into how testis is a hotspot for evolutionary innovation of genes, expression, and mutation at the single-cell level.
    1. Cell Biology

    Accelerated phosphatidylcholine turnover in macrophages promotes adipose tissue inflammation in obesity

    Kasparas Petkevicius, Sam Virtue ... Antonio Vidal-Puig
    Obesity leads to increased phosphatidylcholine turnover in adipose tissue macrophages that makes them susceptible to saturated fatty acid-induced inflammation.
    1. Evolutionary Biology

    Rapid decline of bacterial drug-resistance in an antibiotic-free environment through phenotypic reversion

    Anett Dunai, Réka Spohn ... Csaba Pál
    Drug-resistance declines in the laboratory in an antibiotic stress-free environment, indicating that restricting antimicrobial usage in the clinics could be a useful policy.
    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Genetics and Genomics

    Extensive intraspecies cryptic variation in an ancient embryonic gene regulatory network

    Yamila N Torres Cleuren, Chee Kiang Ewe ... Joel H Rothman
    Quantitative genetic analyses reveal remarkably broad genetic variation underlies the requirement for two critical regulatory inputs into a core embryonic gene regulatory network within one animal species.
    1. Immunology and Inflammation
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Complement and CD4+ T cells drive context-specific corneal sensory neuropathy

    Derek J Royer, Jose Echegaray-Mendez ... Daniel JJ Carr
    The complement pathway can contribute to corneal sensation loss and nerve damage during ocular surface inflammation.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology

    Repression of ferritin light chain translation by human eIF3

    Mia C Pulos-Holmes, Daniel N Srole ... Jamie H Cate
    Human ferritin light chain (FTL) mRNA translation is regulated via its 5'-untranslated region (5'-UTR) by three mechanisms: RNA folding, iron response protein binding, and eukaryotic translation initiation factor eIF3 binding.
    1. Neuroscience

    Molecular and anatomical organization of the dorsal raphe nucleus

    Kee Wui Huang, Nicole E Ochandarena ... Bernardo L Sabatini
    The dorsal raphe nucleus contains transcriptionally diverse cell classes that include subtypes of serotonergic neurons with distinct molecular and anatomical signatures.
    1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression
    2. Genetics and Genomics

    A genetic selection reveals functional metastable structures embedded in a toxin-encoding mRNA

    Sara Masachis, Nicolas J Tourasse ... Fabien Darfeuille
    A genetic selection of toxicity suppressors coupled to high-throughput sequencing has captured metastable RNA structures that co-transcriptionally inhibit the translation of a bacterial toxin.
    1. Neuroscience

    Chronically implanted Neuropixels probes enable high-yield recordings in freely moving mice

    Ashley L Juavinett, George Bekheet, Anne K Churchland
    A new device enables researchers to use and recycle extracellular electrodes (e.g. Neuropixels) for high-yield recordings during freely moving mouse experiments.
    1. Neuroscience

    Activity dynamics of amygdala GABAergic neurons during cataplexy of narcolepsy

    Ying Sun, Carlos Blanco-Centurion ... Meng Liu
    Deep brain calcium imaging reveals the abnormal neuronal activity patterns of the amygdala GABAergic neurons in an animal model of human sleep disorder narcolepsy.
    1. Evolutionary Biology

    Coupling adaptive molecular evolution to phylodynamics using fitness-dependent birth-death models

    David A Rasmussen, Tanja Stadler
    A new model describes how adaptive molecular evolution shapes phylogenetic trees and can be used to estimate the fitness effects of mutations from phylogenies.
    1. Genetics and Genomics

    Neuronal TORC1 modulates longevity via AMPK and cell nonautonomous regulation of mitochondrial dynamics in C. elegans

    Yue Zhang, Anne Lanjuin ... William B Mair
    Modulating the nutrient sensor TORC1 only in neurons in C. elegans is sufficient to regulate systemic longevity via inter-tissue signals that remodel mitochondria networks in non neuronal cells.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    KymoButler, a deep learning software for automated kymograph analysis

    Maximilian AH Jakobs, Andrea Dimitracopoulos, Kristian Franze
    KymoButler is a machine learning approach towards the reliable, quick, and fully automated analysis of the dynamics of fluorescently labelled particles in living cells.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Evolutionary Biology

    Ancestral reconstruction reveals mechanisms of ERK regulatory evolution

    Dajun Sang, Sudarshan Pinglay ... Liam J Holt
    Tight regulation of a central developmental kinase cascade evolved through two key mutations.
    1. Cancer Biology

    Imaging of glucose metabolism by 13C-MRI distinguishes pancreatic cancer subtypes in mice

    Shun Kishimoto, Jeffrey R Brender ... Murali C Krishna
    Using noise suppression, real-time imaging of glucose metabolism is possible by 13C MRI and reveals previously undetected metabolic differences within tumors.
    1. Immunology and Inflammation

    B cells suppress medullary granulopoiesis by an extracellular glycosylation-dependent mechanism

    Eric E Irons, Melissa M Lee-Sundlov ... Joseph TY Lau
    B cells regulate production of neutrophils by a novel mechanism by releasing ST6Gal-1, an active sialyltransferase, that suppresses granulopoiesis.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Immunology and Inflammation

    PHLPP1 counter-regulates STAT1-mediated inflammatory signaling

    Ksenya Cohen Katsenelson, Joshua D Stender ... Alexandra C Newton
    Uncovering a mechanism for how inflammatory signaling is opposed by a phosphatase identifies a potential druggable target to treat E. coli sepsis.
    1. Physics of Living Systems

    Somatosensory neurons integrate the geometry of skin deformation and mechanotransduction channels to shape touch sensing

    Alessandro Sanzeni, Samata Katta ... Massimo Vergassola
    Nonlinear elasticity of skin tissues and somatosensory neural responses are combined to predict and test C. elegans processing of touch stimuli and modifications due to changes in the body mechanics.
    1. Neuroscience

    Region-specific myelin differences define behavioral consequences of chronic social defeat stress in mice

    Valentina Bonnefil, Karen Dietz ... Jia Liu
    Myelination in the medial prefrontal cortex defines behavioral consequences to social stress.
    1. Neuroscience

    Neuropeptide F regulates courtship in Drosophila through a male-specific neuronal circuit

    Weiwei Liu, Anindya Ganguly ... Craig Montell
    Functional dissection of a cluster of male-specific neurons in Drosophila reveals a neuronal circuit regulating male courtship in accordance with the internal drive state.
    1. Neuroscience

    Defined neuronal populations drive fatal phenotype in a mouse model of Leigh syndrome

    Irene Bolea, Alejandro Gella ... Albert Quintana
    Glutamatergic brainstem neurons drive motor and respiratory deficits, and GABAergic basal ganglia neurons cause hypothermia and fatal epileptic events, in a model of mitochondrial disease.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Cell Biology

    A potent voltage-gated calcium channel inhibitor engineered from a nanobody targeted to auxiliary CaVβ subunits

    Travis J Morgenstern, Jinseo Park ... Henry M Colecraft
    A novel engineered protein that uncouples electrical signals from downstream biological responses in excitable cells provides a unique investigative tool with potential therapeutic applications.
    1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Noroviruses subvert the core stress granule component G3BP1 to promote viral VPg-dependent translation

    Myra Hosmillo, Jia Lu ... Ian G Goodfellow
    A key cellular stress granule protein, G3BP1, is critical for efficient norovirus infection, representing the first pan-norovirus, pro-viral factor identified to date.
    1. Cell Biology

    Meiotic cellular rejuvenation is coupled to nuclear remodeling in budding yeast

    Grant A King, Jay S Goodman ... Elçin Ünal
    A meiotic nuclear remodeling event mediates cellular rejuvenation through elimination of senescence factors.
    1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    USP49 potently stabilizes APOBEC3G protein by removing ubiquitin and inhibits HIV-1 replication

    Ting Pan, Zheng Song ... Hui Zhang
    USP49 can increase A3G protein expression and enhance its anti-HIV-1 activity, which is also correlated with hypermutations and affects the HIV-1 latent reservoir.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology

    Structural basis for AcrVA4 inhibition of specific CRISPR-Cas12a

    Gavin J Knott, Brady F Cress ... Jennifer A Doudna
    An ancestral helical bundle governs whether the crRNA-processing nuclease of CRISPR-Cas12a is exploited by a phage-encoded allosteric anti-CRISPR.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    Self-organised segregation of bacterial chromosomal origins

    Andreas Hofmann, Jarno Mäkelä ... Seán M Murray
    The self-organising condensin MukBEF positions chromosomal origins in Escherichia coli..
    1. Neuroscience

    Metacontrol of decision-making strategies in human aging

    Florian Bolenz, Wouter Kool ... Ben Eppinger
    Older adults show reduced adaptation of decision-making strategies to dynamically changing situational demands.
    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    A crystal structure of a collaborative RNA regulatory complex reveals mechanisms to refine target specificity

    Chen Qiu, Vandita D Bhat ... Traci M Tanaka Hall
    A Caenorhabitis elegans RNA-binding protein, FBF-2, modulates RNA sequence motif recognition through conformational change and partner protein interaction.
    1. Neuroscience

    In vivo imaging with a water immersion objective affects brain temperature, blood flow and oxygenation

    Morgane Roche, Emmanuelle Chaigneau ... Serge Charpak
    Brain temperature and oxygenation vary according to the imaging conditions during two-photon microscopy.
    1. Immunology and Inflammation

    Toxoplasma gondii infection drives conversion of NK cells into ILC1-like cells

    Eugene Park, Swapneel Patel ... Wayne M Yokoyama
    Toxoplasma gondii infection leads to conversion of natural killer cells into cells resembling innate lymphoid cells, group 1, that circulate widely, disrupting current notions suggesting that these cells have distinct lineages.
    1. Neuroscience

    Mechanisms underlying sharpening of visual response dynamics with familiarity

    Sukbin Lim
    Changes in neural response dynamics observed with visual learning provide a novel means to dissect synaptic plasticity and its interplay with slow negative feedback via firing rate adaptation.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine

    Generation of human hepatic progenitor cells with regenerative and metabolic capacities from primary hepatocytes

    Takeshi Katsuda, Juntaro Matsuzaki ... Takahiro Ochiya
    Human chemically induced liver progenitors (hCLiPs), which are generated from primary human hepatocytes, exhibit the potential to repopulate injured livers of host mice with efficiency > 90%.
    1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    Pressure-driven release of viral genome into a host nucleus is a mechanism leading to herpes infection

    Alberto Brandariz-Nuñez, Ting Liu ... Alex Evilevitch
    Internal DNA pressure of tens of atmospheres inside a herpesvirus capsid powers ejection of the viral genome into a cell nucleus, causing infection.
    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Neuroscience

    Temporal regulation of axonal repulsion by alternative splicing of a conserved microexon in mammalian Robo1 and Robo2

    Verity Johnson, Harald J Junge, Zhe Chen
    ROBO isoforms with minute sequence variations have significant and distinct functions in axon guidance.
    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine

    A requirement of Polo-like kinase 1 in murine embryonic myogenesis and adult muscle regeneration

    Zhihao Jia, Yaohui Nie ... Shihuan Kuang
    Inhibition of Polo-like kinase that has been shown to exhibit antitumor effect unexpectedly disrupts muscle stem cell function, leading to developmental and regenerative failures.
    1. Developmental Biology

    Cardiac neural crest contributes to cardiomyocytes in amniotes and heart regeneration in zebrafish

    Weiyi Tang, Megan L Martik ... Marianne E Bronner
    Lineage analysis reveals that cardiac neural crest contributes to cardiomyocytes across vertebrates and consistent with this, the neural crest gene regulatory program is reactivated upon heart regeneration in zebrafish.
    1. Neuroscience

    The visual speech head start improves perception and reduces superior temporal cortex responses to auditory speech

    Patrick J Karas, John F Magnotti ... Michael S Beauchamp
    Human perception and brain responses differ between words, in which mouth movements are visible before the voice is heard, and words, for which the reverse is true.
    1. Neuroscience
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    An engineered monomer binding-protein for α-synuclein efficiently inhibits the proliferation of amyloid fibrils

    Emil Dandanell Agerschou, Patrick Flagmeier ... Alexander K Buell
    The high affinity α-synuclein-monomer binder AS69 converts into a strong sub-stoichiometric inhibitor of nucleation processes upon formation of the AS69-α-synuclein complex, achieving reduced aggregation in vitro and in vivo.
    1. Evolutionary Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Dengue genetic divergence generates within-serotype antigenic variation, but serotypes dominate evolutionary dynamics

    Sidney M Bell, Leah Katzelnick, Trevor Bedford
    Each dengue serotype contains moderate antigenic diversity, and population immunity drives clade turnover in a hyperendemic population.
    1. Immunology and Inflammation

    Blood flow guides sequential support of neutrophil arrest and diapedesis by PILR-β1 and PILR-α

    Yu-Tung Li, Debashree Goswami ... Dietmar Vestweber
    Blood flow-driven shear forces guide the sequential signaling of two antagonistic paired receptors, a critical bi-facet step that first supports leukocyte docking, then initiates transmigration through endothelium.
    1. Neuroscience

    Anosognosia for hemiplegia as a tripartite disconnection syndrome

    Valentina Pacella, Chris Foulon ... Michel Thiebaut de Schotten
    High-level disorders, such as motor awareness, are not localised in the brain but emerge from the interaction between brain circuits.
    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Genetics and Genomics

    A Myt1 family transcription factor defines neuronal fate by repressing non-neuronal genes

    Joo Lee, Caitlin A Taylor ... Kang Shen
    First comprehensive genetic analysis of a Myt1 family protein reveals that neurogenesis requires direct repression of non-neuronal identities by the Myt1 family protein through MuvB co-repressor complex.
    1. Evolutionary Biology

    Birds land reliably on complex surfaces by adapting their foot-surface interactions upon contact

    William RT Roderick, Diana D Chin ... David Lentink
    When landing, Pacific parrotlets exhibit stereotyped leg and wing dynamics regardless of perch diameter and texture, but foot and claw kinematics become surface-specific upon touchdown to successfully grasp the perch.
    1. Neuroscience

    Tactile sensory channels over-ruled by frequency decoding system that utilizes spike pattern regardless of receptor type

    Ingvars Birznieks, Sarah McIntyre ... Richard M Vickery
    Perception of vibrotactile frequency depends on the neural discharge pattern rather than the afferent type, thus requiring a reevaluation of the notion of Pacinian/non-Pacinian channels in tactile sensory system.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Ternary structure of the outer membrane transporter FoxA with resolved signalling domain provides insights into TonB-mediated siderophore uptake

    Inokentijs Josts, Katharina Veith, Henning Tidow
    The crystal structure of a ternary complex of a TonB-dependent transporter containing a signalling domain, bound to siderophore as well as TonB, provides mechanistic insights into siderophore uptake and signalling.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology

    Tyr1 phosphorylation promotes phosphorylation of Ser2 on the C-terminal domain of eukaryotic RNA polymerase II by P-TEFb

    Joshua E Mayfield, Seema Irani ... Yan Zhang
    The phosphorylation of tyrosine in the heptad repeat of the C-terminal domain of the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II promotes Ser2 phosphorylation by P-TEFb for pausing release.
    1. Neuroscience

    Neuropeptide B mediates female sexual receptivity in medaka fish, acting in a female-specific but reversible manner

    Towako Hiraki-Kajiyama, Junpei Yamashita ... Kataaki Okubo
    In the brain of medaka fish, neuropeptide B acts directly downstream of estrogen in a female-specific but reversible manner to mediate female receptivity to male courtship.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Chromosomes and Gene Expression

    A conserved Mcm4 motif is required for Mcm2-7 double-hexamer formation and origin DNA unwinding

    Kanokwan Champasa, Caitlin Blank ... Stephen P Bell
    Analysis of an essential motif in Mcm4 provides insights into replicative helicase double-hexamer formation and the first step requiring this intermediate during replication initiation.
    1. Neuroscience

    Neuroanatomy of a hydrothermal vent shrimp provides insights into the evolution of crustacean integrative brain centers

    Julia Machon, Jakob Krieger ... Steffen Harzsch
    A neuroanatomical analysis of Rimicaris exoculata provides insights into these animal’s brain architecture to illustrate possible adaptations to the hydrothermal vent habitat with its extreme physicochemical conditions.
    1. Neuroscience

    Mapping sequence structure in the human lateral entorhinal cortex

    Jacob LS Bellmund, Lorena Deuker, Christian F Doeller
    Mnemonic representations in the human anterior-lateral entorhinal cortex change through learning to reflect an experienced temporal event structure and holistic temporal maps relate to memory recall.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Immunology and Inflammation

    IFN-mediated negative feedback supports bacteria class-specific macrophage inflammatory responses

    Rachel A Gottschalk, Michael G Dorrington ... Ronald N Germain
    Inflammatory dynamics are tailored to bacterial class through macrophage integration of microbial stimuli and cytokine feedback.
    1. Cell Biology

    Type-I myosins promote actin polymerization to drive membrane bending in endocytosis

    Hetty E Manenschijn, Andrea Picco ... Marko Kaksonen
    Monomeric myosins can stimulate growth of actin filaments under load.
    1. Neuroscience
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    A geometric attractor mechanism for self-organization of entorhinal grid modules

    Louis Kang, Vijay Balasubramanian
    The hierarchy of entorhinal grid cell modules with constant scale ratios can self-organize through a new geometrically organized attractor mechanism.
    1. Evolutionary Biology
    2. Plant Biology

    Natural selection and repeated patterns of molecular evolution following allopatric divergence

    Yibo Dong, Shichao Chen ... Qiu-Yun(Jenny) Xiang
    The genomic architecture of allopatric species is a mosaic of many conserved genes and a few adaptive ones, reflecting balance between conservation of ancestral functions and evolution of new features.
    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Neuroscience

    Sox1a mediates the ability of the parapineal to impart habenular left-right asymmetry

    Ingrid Lekk, Véronique Duboc ... Stephen W Wilson
    The sox1a gene is required for a small group on neurons on the left side of the brain to influence the generation and left-sided character of their future synaptic partners.
    1. Neuroscience

    Possible magneto-mechanical and magneto-thermal mechanisms of ion channel activation in magnetogenetics

    Mladen Barbic
    Several new magneto-mechanical and magneto-thermal mechanisms of ion channel activation in magnetogenetics are proposed that may explain some of the mysteries that challenge current understanding of the magnetogenetics experiments.
    1. Neuroscience

    Nedd4 E3 ligase and beta-arrestins regulate ubiquitination, trafficking, and stability of the mGlu7 receptor

    Sanghyeon Lee, Sunha Park ... Young Ho Suh
    β-arrestins recruit Nedd4 ubiquitin E3 ligase to mGlu7 receptor and facilitate ubiquitination, endocytosis, ERK signaling, and stability of mGlu7 at presynaptic terminals.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Neuroscience

    Multivariate stochastic volatility modeling of neural data

    Tung D Phan, Jessica A Wachter ... Michael J Kahana
    Multivariate stochastic volatility models provide insights into understanding the dynamics and connectivity of neural signals during cognitive tasks.
    1. Neuroscience

    Mapping the human subcortical auditory system using histology, postmortem MRI and in vivo MRI at 7T

    Kevin R Sitek, Omer Faruk Gulban ... Federico De Martino
    MRI methods are promising techniques for investigating the human subcortical auditory system, and these publicly available data, atlases, and tools make researching human audition simpler and more reliable.
    1. Immunology and Inflammation

    Multiplexed imaging of immune cells in staged multiple sclerosis lesions by mass cytometry

    Valeria Ramaglia, Salma Sheikh-Mohamed ... Jennifer L Gommerman
    Imaging mass cytometry simultaneously lights up distinct immune cells in the brain.

Magazine

  1. Point of View: Hidden value

    Brooke Morriswood, Oliver Hoeller
  2. Point of View: When it comes to teaching and tenure it is time to walk the walk

    Andrew W Murray, Diane K O'Dowd, Chris D Impey
  3. Point of View: Tell me a story

    Joshua R Sanes
    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Genetics and Genomics

    Neurogenesis: Silencing the alternative

    Priya Sivaramakrishnan, John Isaac Murray