February 2019

Cover articles

    1. Evolutionary Biology
    2. Genetics and Genomics

    Long-term balancing selection in plants

    Daniel Koenig, Jörg Hagmann ... Detlef Weigel
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology

    Venomous snails, insulin and diabetes

    Peter Ahorukomeye, Maria M Disotuar ... Helena Safavi-Hemami
    1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression
    2. Genetics and Genomics

    Noncoding RNAs and aging in mice

    Florian Kopp, Mahmoud M Elguindy ... Joshua T Mendell
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Plant Biology

    Modulating the stress response in plants

    M Görkem Patir-Nebioglu, Zaida Andrés ... Karin Schumacher

Highlights controls:

Research articles

    1. Neuroscience

    Control of entropy in neural models of environmental state

    Timothy H Muller, Rogier B Mars ... Jill X O'Reilly
    Evidence for neuromodulatory control of flexibility in human neural models.
    1. Neuroscience
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Membrane bridging by Munc13-1 is crucial for neurotransmitter release

    Bradley Quade, Marcial Camacho ... Josep Rizo
    Cryo-electron tomography, reconstitution, and electrophysiological data show that a fundamental function of Munc13-1 is to bridge synaptic vesicles to the presynaptic plasma membrane.
    1. Neuroscience

    Coding of whisker motion across the mouse face

    Kyle S Severson, Duo Xu ... Daniel H O'Connor
    Electrophysiology and information theory show that diverse classes of mechanoreceptors in the face inform the mouse brain about whisking.
    1. Cell Biology

    Two distinct mechanisms target the autophagy-related E3 complex to the pre-autophagosomal structure

    Kumi Harada, Tetsuya Kotani ... Hitoshi Nakatogawa
    How the autophagy-related E3 complex localizes to pre-autophagosomal structures and a non-E3 function of the complex were revealed, significantly advancing our understanding of the nucleation step in autophagosome formation.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Neuroscience

    EFHC1, implicated in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, functions at the cilium and synapse to modulate dopamine signaling

    Catrina M Loucks, Kwangjin Park ... Michel R Leroux
    C. elegans EFHC1 influences neuronal transmission through the cilium and the synapse.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    TMEM266 is a functional voltage sensor regulated by extracellular Zn2+

    Ferenc Papp, Suvendu Lomash ... Kenton Jon Swartz
    Transmembrane protein 266 contains a functional S1-S4 voltage-sensing domain that is regulated by extracellular Zn2+ ions.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Functional instability allows access to DNA in longer transcription Activator-Like effector (TALE) arrays

    Kathryn Geiger-Schuller, Jaba Mitra ... Doug Barrick
    Single molecule DNA-binding trajectories and deterministic modeling analyses demonstrate a functional role for high energy partly folded states in Transcription Activator-Like Effectors that could improve future TALEN design.
    1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression
    2. Developmental Biology

    Amplification of a broad transcriptional program by a common factor triggers the meiotic cell cycle in mice

    Mina L Kojima, Dirk G de Rooij, David C Page
    The switch from mitotic cell cycles to the one meiotic cell cycle in each generation is triggered through dramatic upregulation of a broad gene expression program by transcriptional regulator STRA8.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Basalin is an evolutionarily unconstrained protein revealed via a conserved role in flagellum basal plate function

    Samuel Dean, Flavia Moreira-Leite, Keith Gull
    Basalins are intrinsically disordered proteins with astonishingly high-sequence divergence that are essential for building the transition zone basal plate and for proper central pair nucleation.
    1. Cancer Biology
    2. Computational and Systems Biology

    Somatic mutations in early metazoan genes disrupt regulatory links between unicellular and multicellular genes in cancer

    Anna S Trigos, Richard B Pearson ... David L Goode
    Cancer is a consequence of the release of basal cellular functions inherited from our unicellular ancestors from the control of regulatory networks that evolved during the emergence of multicellularity.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    The molecular basis for an allosteric inhibition of K+-flux gating in K2P channels

    Susanne Rinné, Aytug K Kiper ... Niels Decher
    A combined systematic alanine scanning and molecular modelling approach reveals the molecular basis for an allosteric inhibition mechanism of K+-flux gating in K2P channels.
    1. Evolutionary Biology
    2. Genetics and Genomics

    Long-term balancing selection drives evolution of immunity genes in Capsella

    Daniel Koenig, Jörg Hagmann ... Detlef Weigel
    Retention of genetic diversity at immune-related loci drives the pattern of genetic variation in selfing Capsella.
    1. Immunology and Inflammation

    Synergy and remarkable specificity of antimicrobial peptides in vivo using a systematic knockout approach

    Mark Austin Hanson, Anna Dostálová ... Bruno Lemaitre
    While antimicrobial cocktails are highly effective for defence against pathogenic microbes, the innate immune response may instead employ highly specific peptidic antibiotics to combat certain natural enemies.
    1. Physics of Living Systems

    Adaptation of olfactory receptor abundances for efficient coding

    Tiberiu Teşileanu, Simona Cocco ... Vijay Balasubramanian
    A model of efficient coding by olfactory neurons explains context-dependence observed in the effect of perturbations to the olfactory environment.
    1. Neuroscience

    Impaired voice processing in reward and salience circuits predicts social communication in children with autism

    Daniel Arthur Abrams, Aarthi Padmanabhan ... Vinod Menon
    Children with autism often 'tune out' the voices in their environment and new results show that impaired processing of voices in the brain's reward system may underlie this social behavior.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Developmental Biology

    Motion sensing superpixels (MOSES) is a systematic computational framework to quantify and discover cellular motion phenotypes

    Felix Y Zhou, Carlos Ruiz-Puig ... Xin Lu
    A new computational framework provides a flexible and general approach for single and collective biological motion characterisation and phenotyping ideally suited for high-throughput timelapse screens.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Neuroscience

    Bumblebee visual allometry results in locally improved resolution and globally improved sensitivity

    Gavin J Taylor, Pierre Tichit ... Emily Baird
    Bigger bumblebee eyes have better vision, yet their field of view, sensitivity, and resolution do not all simply scale up with eye size, being improved locally instead.
    1. Cell Biology

    Kinesin-6 regulates cell-size-dependent spindle elongation velocity to keep mitosis duration constant in fission yeast

    Lara Katharina Krüger, Jérémie-Luc Sanchez ... Phong Thanh Tran
    The scaling of spindle elongation velocity with cell size is regulated by the amounts of Kinesin-6 molecules and the number of binding sites for the motor to the mitotic spindle.
    1. Neuroscience

    Heterodimerization of UNC-13/RIM regulates synaptic vesicle release probability but not priming in C. elegans

    Haowen Liu, Lei Li ... Zhitao Hu
    RIM binding UNC-13L C2A domain releases UNC-13L from an autoinhibitory homodimeric complex to become fusion-competent, and regulates probability of synaptic vesicle release in the post-priming process.
    1. Physics of Living Systems

    Upper bound on the biological effects of 50/60 Hz magnetic fields mediated by radical pairs

    PJ Hore
    Any effects of environmental 50/60 Hz magnetic fields on human biology due to a radical pair mechanism should be no more dangerous than those incurred by travelling a few kilometres.
    1. Neuroscience

    Discriminative stimuli are sufficient for incubation of cocaine craving

    Rajtarun Madangopal, Brendan J Tunstall ... Bruce T Hope
    Stimuli signaling reward availability potentiate and control relapse for up to 300 days of abstinence following cocaine, but not food, self-administration in rats.
    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Neuroscience

    Chronology-based architecture of descending circuits that underlie the development of locomotor repertoire after birth

    Avinash Pujala, Minoru Koyama
    Newly forming descending pathways are arranged to function in parallel to existing ones and contribute to increasingly sophisticated locomotor behaviors that emerge postnatally with suitable connectivity patterns and biophysical properties.
    1. Neuroscience

    Neuronal reactivation during post-learning sleep consolidates long-term memory in Drosophila

    Ugur Dag, Zhengchang Lei ... Krystyna Keleman
    Consolidation of long-term courtship memory in Drosophila is mediated by a novel class of sleep promoting neurons that reactivates dopaminergic neurons engaged earlier in memory acquisition during post-learning sleep.
    1. Cell Biology

    Aurora A depletion reveals centrosome-independent polarization mechanism in Caenorhabditis elegans

    Kerstin Klinkert, Nicolas Levernier ... Pierre Gönczy
    Experiments reveal mechanisms through which Caenorhabditis elegans zygotes depleted of Aurora A or lacking centrosomes spontaneously establish two posterior PAR-2 domains, one at each pole, in a curvature-dependent manner.
    1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Cellular entry and uncoating of naked and quasi-enveloped human hepatoviruses

    Efraín E Rivera-Serrano, Olga González-López ... Stanley M Lemon
    Quasi-enveloped hepatitis A virions undergo clathrin-mediated endocytosis, followed by ALIX-dependent trafficking to lysosomes where the quasi-envelope is degraded, triggering uncoating of the RNA genome in association with lysosomal membrane rupture.
    1. Neuroscience

    Optogenetically induced low-frequency correlations impair perception

    Anirvan Nandy, Jonathan J Nassi ... John Reynolds
    Low-frequency correlations among neurons in monkey visual area V4 impair the animal's ability to perform an attention-demanding task, suggesting a causal role of these fluctuations in perception.
    1. Genetics and Genomics
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Panton–Valentine leucocidin is the key determinant of Staphylococcus aureus pyomyositis in a bacterial GWAS

    Bernadette C Young, Sarah G Earle ... Catrin E Moore
    Genome-wide association studies have established staphylococcal pyomyositis as a disease whose pathogenesis depends critically on expression of a single toxin, Panton–Valentine leukocidin.
    1. Neuroscience

    The impact of pathological high-frequency oscillations on hippocampal network activity in rats with chronic epilepsy

    Laura A Ewell, Kyle B Fischer ... Jill K Leutgeb
    A novel framework for separating normal and pathological high-frequency oscillations in animals with epilepsy uncovers new mechanisms for impaired hippocampal network function.
    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    The proneural wave in the Drosophila optic lobe is driven by an excitable reaction-diffusion mechanism

    David J Jörg, Elizabeth E Caygill ... Benjamin D Simons
    A model of signalling pathways interacting with proneural gene expression explains the sequential patterning of the largest visual processing centre in the developing Drosophila brain.
    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Neuroscience

    The cellular basis of mechanosensory Merkel-cell innervation during development

    Blair A Jenkins, Natalia M Fontecilla ... Ellen A Lumpkin
    Touch-sensitive neurons are patterned during mammalian skin development by placode-derived keratinocytes and Bone Morphogenetic Protein signaling.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Chromosomes and Gene Expression

    MYOD1 functions as a clock amplifier as well as a critical co-factor for downstream circadian gene expression in muscle

    Brian A Hodge, Xiping Zhang ... Karyn A Esser
    The myogenic lineage transcription factor, MYOD1, amplifies and works with the core clock factors to support a daily muscle gene expression program.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Activation mechanism of ATP-sensitive K+ channels explored with real-time nucleotide binding

    Michael Puljung, Natascia Vedovato ... Frances Ashcroft
    A combined FRET- and electrophysiology-based approach is used to study ATP/ADP ADP binding to the stimulatory nucleotide binding site of ATP-sensitive K+ channels and investigate their activation mechanism.
    1. Evolutionary Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    An updated phylogeny of the Alphaproteobacteria reveals that the parasitic Rickettsiales and Holosporales have independent origins

    Sergio A Muñoz-Gómez, Sebastian Hess ... Andrew J Roger
    Diverse sophisticated phylogenetic analyses update the phylogeny of the Alphaproteobacteria and show that the parasitic Holosporales is a derived group within the Rhodospirillales order which comprises primarily free-living alphaproteobacteria.
    1. Neuroscience

    Ephrin-B3 controls excitatory synapse density through cell-cell competition for EphBs

    Nathan T Henderson, Sylvain J Le Marchand ... Matthew B Dalva
    Competition between neurons for postsynaptic ephrin-B3 controls distribution of a limited pool of synapses and defines a novel trans-synaptic mechanism enabling neurons to set the number of synapses they receive.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Structural insights into SETD3-mediated histidine methylation on β-actin

    Qiong Guo, Shanhui Liao ... Chao Xu
    Structural research, supplemented by biochemical experiments and enzymatic assays, unravels the sequence-dependent molecular mechanism by which SETD3 recognizes β-actin and methylates His73 of β-actin.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Cell Biology

    Schnyder corneal dystrophy-associated UBIAD1 inhibits ER-associated degradation of HMG CoA reductase in mice

    Youngah Jo, Jason S Hamilton ... Russell A DeBose-Boyd
    UBIAD1 mediates a unique geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate-sensing mechanism that when disrupted, inhibits degradation of HMG CoA reductase and triggers overproduction of corneal cholesterol that characterizes the eye disease Schnyder Corneal Dystrophy.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Cryo-EM structures and functional characterization of the murine lipid scramblase TMEM16F

    Carolina Alvadia, Novandy K Lim ... Cristina Paulino
    While activated by a common mechanism, both functions in TMEM16F - lipid scrambling and ion conduction - are likely mediated by alternate protein conformations that are at equilibrium in the ligand-bound state.
    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine

    Programmed conversion of hypertrophic chondrocytes into osteoblasts and marrow adipocytes within zebrafish bones

    Dion Giovannone, Sandeep Paul ... J Gage Crump
    Cartilage cells transition through a proliferative intermediate to give rise to bone and marrow fat cells in long bones.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Stepwise activation mechanism of the scramblase nhTMEM16 revealed by cryo-EM

    Valeria Kalienkova, Vanessa Clerico Mosina ... Cristina Paulino
    cryo-EM reveals the properties of distinct conformations occupied during activation of the lipid scramblase nhTMEM16 and provides new insights into its interactions with the lipid environment.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Plant Biology

    RETRACTED: Pyrophosphate modulates plant stress responses via SUMOylation

    M Görkem Patir-Nebioglu, Zaida Andrés ... Karin Schumacher
    In vivo inhibition of SUMO activating E1-enzymes by pyrophosphate reveals a mode of integrating metabolism and stress tolerance that is conserved across kingdoms.
    1. Developmental Biology

    Compensatory growth renders Tcf7l1a dispensable for eye formation despite its requirement in eye field specification

    Rodrigo M Young, Thomas A Hawkins ... Stephen W Wilson
    Disruptions to eye field size have little impact on final eye size due to tissue compensatory mechanisms.
    1. Plant Biology

    Multiple pairs of allelic MLA immune receptor-powdery mildew AVRA effectors argue for a direct recognition mechanism

    Isabel ML Saur, Saskia Bauer ... Paul Schulze-Lefert
    Allelic MLA immune receptors have an exceptional propensity to directly detect sequence-unrelated pathogen effectors and this feature might have facilitated functional diversification of the receptor in the host population.
    1. Neuroscience
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Cryo-EM structures of the DCPIB-inhibited volume-regulated anion channel LRRC8A in lipid nanodiscs

    David M Kern, SeCheol Oh ... Stephen G Brohawn
    The basis for small-molecule block, insights into gating, and an unexpected architectural role for the lipid membrane are revealed in structures of the volume regulated anion channel LRRC8A.
    1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease
    2. Physics of Living Systems

    Mechanics and dynamics of translocating MreB filaments on curved membranes

    Felix Wong, Ethan C Garner, Ariel Amir
    Principal curvature-dependent motion of bacterial actin MreB results in localization consistent with all known literature.
    1. Developmental Biology

    Generation of the squamous epithelial roof of the 4th ventricle

    Florent Campo-Paysaa, Jonathan DW Clarke, Richard JT Wingate
    A new cell type at the border of the fourth ventricle is the exclusive source of roof plate.
    1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression
    2. Genetics and Genomics

    Nuclear genetic regulation of the human mitochondrial transcriptome

    Aminah T Ali, Lena Boehme ... Alan Hodgkinson
    Common nuclear genetic variants are associated with fundamental biological processes occurring in human mitochondria and potentially point to novel roles for nuclear genes in transcriptional regulation of the mitochondrial genome.
    1. Cell Biology

    Mitochondrial biogenesis is transcriptionally repressed in lysosomal lipid storage diseases

    King Faisal Yambire, Lorena Fernandez-Mosquera ... Nuno Raimundo
    Transcription factors KLF2 and ETV1 repress the transcriptional program of mitochondrial biogenesis, resulting in impaired mitochondrial function in lysosomal storage diseases.
    1. Neuroscience

    A multicellular rosette-mediated collective dendrite extension

    Li Fan, Ismar Kovacevic ... Zhirong Bao
    Migrating skin carries the amphid rosette vertex anteriorly to extrude and position dendrites.
    1. Ecology
    2. Neuroscience

    Combined transcriptome and proteome profiling reveals specific molecular brain signatures for sex, maturation and circalunar clock phase

    Sven Schenk, Stephanie C Bannister ... Kristin Tessmar-Raible
    A molecular profiling approach to quantify transcripts and proteins from identical samples allows study of molecular effects of maturation, sexual differentiation and the endogenous circalunar clock in a marine worm.
    1. Plant Biology

    Arabidopsis RCD1 coordinates chloroplast and mitochondrial functions through interaction with ANAC transcription factors

    Alexey Shapiguzov, Julia P Vainonen ... Jaakko Kangasjärvi
    Signalling and metabolic interactions of the plant energy organelles, chloroplasts and mitochondria, depend on the nuclear regulatory protein RCD1.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Genetics and Genomics

    A Y-chromosome shredding gene drive for controlling pest vertebrate populations

    Thomas AA Prowse, Fatwa Adikusuma ... Joshua V Ross
    A Y-chromosome shredding gene drive that depletes the pool of XY males and effects mate limitation could be a viable tool for vertebrate pest control.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    The structure of the Ctf19c/CCAN from budding yeast

    Stephen M Hinshaw, Stephen C Harrison
    Reconstitution and cryo-EM reconstruction of the yeast Ctf19 complex (constitutive centromere associated network, or CCAN, in other organisms) shows how inner kinetochore proteins assemble.
    1. Physics of Living Systems

    Negative reciprocity, not ordered assembly, underlies the interaction of Sox2 and Oct4 on DNA

    John W Biddle, Maximilian Nguyen, Jeremy Gunawardena
    Rigorous reanalysis of single-molecule data yields evidence for energy expenditure in the interaction of transcription factors on DNA.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Architectural principles for Hfq/Crc-mediated regulation of gene expression

    Xue Yuan Pei, Tom Dendooven ... Ben F Luisi
    Structural insights show how RNA chaperones cooperate to recognise defined target transcripts and suppress gene expression.
    1. Cancer Biology
    2. Genetics and Genomics

    Mismatch repair-signature mutations activate gene enhancers across human colorectal cancer epigenomes

    Stevephen Hung, Alina Saiakhova ... Peter C Scacheri
    Non-coding mutations in microsatellite-instable (MSI) colorectal tumors are prevalent and activate cancer-specific enhancers, thereby disrupting gene expression control.
    1. Neuroscience

    Dystroglycan is a scaffold for extracellular axon guidance decisions

    L Bailey Lindenmaier, Nicolas Parmentier ... Kevin M Wright
    Dystroglycan interacts with multiple partners, including the transmembrane receptor Celsr3, to regulate axon tract formation throughout the developing nervous system.
    1. Cell Biology

    Microtubule plus-ends act as physical signaling hubs to activate RhoA during cytokinesis

    Vikash Verma, Thomas J Maresca
    MT plus-end-mediated recruitment of a cortical pool of ECT2 trigger RhoA activation upon contact, which results in localized contractility during cytokinesis.
    1. Developmental Biology

    Macrophages restrict the nephrogenic field and promote endothelial connections during kidney development

    David AD Munro, Yishay Wineberg ... Jamie A Davies
    Embryonic macrophages encourage early kidney development, interact with developing renal blood vessels, are enriched for mRNAs linked to vascular development, and promote endothelial cross-connections.
    1. Ecology
    2. Evolutionary Biology

    Quorums enable optimal pooling of independent judgements in biological systems

    James AR Marshall, Ralf HJM Kurvers ... Max Wolf
    Consideration of signal detection theory shows how decision ecology relates to optimal collective decisions, helping explain the prevalence of quorum-sensing in even the simplest collective systems, such as bacterial communities.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology

    Fish-hunting cone snail venoms are a rich source of minimized ligands of the vertebrate insulin receptor

    Peter Ahorukomeye, Maria M Disotuar ... Helena Safavi-Hemami
    The unique modus operandi of cone snail venom insulins provides new insight into insulin receptor activation and informs on the design of insulin analogs for the treatment of diabetes.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Defining host–pathogen interactions employing an artificial intelligence workflow

    Daniel Fisch, Artur Yakimovich ... Eva Frickel
    The application of deep learning fills a major gap in host–pathogen research providing for unbiased, multi-module high-throughput image analysis.
    1. Genetics and Genomics
    2. Neuroscience

    CNTN5-/+or EHMT2-/+human iPSC-derived neurons from individuals with autism develop hyperactive neuronal networks

    Eric Deneault, Muhammad Faheem ... Stephen W Scherer
    Autism-associated iPSC-derived neurons mutant in CNTN5 or EHMT2 are hyperactive.
    1. Neuroscience

    Offline impact of transcranial focused ultrasound on cortical activation in primates

    Lennart Verhagen, Cécile Gallea ... Jerome Sallet
    A new application of transcranial ultrasound safely modulates brain activation in primates for up to 2 hours after 40 seconds of stimulation.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Extensive transmission of microbes along the gastrointestinal tract

    Thomas SB Schmidt, Matthew R Hayward ... Peer Bork
    Microbial populations are continuous along the gastrointestinal tract, with increased transmission in colorectal cancer and rheumatoid arthritis patients.
    1. Neuroscience

    Regional complexity in enteric neuron wiring reflects diversity of motility patterns in the mouse large intestine

    Zhiling Li, Marlene M Hao ... Pieter Vanden Berghe
    Calcium response profiling of large populations of enteric neurons reveals hard-wired neural circuits that reflect the motility program portfolio of the intestinal region they occupy.
    1. Neuroscience

    Individuals physically interacting in a group rapidly coordinate their movement by estimating the collective goal

    Atsushi Takagi, Masaya Hirashima ... Etienne Burdet
    A computational model of collective physical interaction reveals that individuals infer the collective's movement goal in order to enhance the group's overall performance and coordinate with several partners in seconds.
    1. Neuroscience

    Overriding FUS autoregulation in mice triggers gain-of-toxic dysfunctions in RNA metabolism and autophagy-lysosome axis

    Shuo-Chien Ling, Somasish Ghosh Dastidar ... Don W Cleveland
    Elevating FUS level by saturating autoregulation loop in mice causes aggressive motor neuron disease via disrupting protein and RNA homeostasis.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Three F-actin assembly centers regulate organelle inheritance, cell-cell communication and motility in Toxoplasma gondii

    Nicolò Tosetti, Nicolas Dos Santos Pacheco ... Damien Jacot
    Toxoplasma gondii formins have several non-overlapping roles including generating an apico-basal flux of F-actin that is controlled by phosphorylation and methylation and is essential for motility.
    1. Cell Biology

    Human VPS13A is associated with multiple organelles and influences mitochondrial morphology and lipid droplet motility

    Wondwossen M Yeshaw, Marianne van der Zwaag ... Ody CM Sibon
    VPS13A is associated with the endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria and lipid droplets and is required for cellular processes that require interaction between these organells.
    1. Cell Biology

    Electron cryo-tomography provides insight into procentriole architecture and assembly mechanism

    Sam Li, Jose-Jesus Fernandez ... David A Agard
    A detailed description of the structure of procentriole MT triplet by cryoET, along with its associated non-tubulin proteins and its assembly intermediates, reveals possible molecular mechanism for the procentriole assembly.
    1. Neuroscience

    A causal role for the precuneus in network-wide theta and gamma oscillatory activity during complex memory retrieval

    Melissa Hebscher, Jed A Meltzer, Asaf Gilboa
    Inhibitory noninvasive stimulation to the precuneus disrupts theta and gamma oscillatory coupling between medial temporal lobes and neocortical regions during complex personal memory retrieval.
    1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression
    2. Developmental Biology

    The modular mechanism of chromocenter formation in Drosophila

    Madhav Jagannathan, Ryan Cummings, Yukiko M Yamashita
    Cell biological study reveals the mechanism by which multiple satellite-DNA-binding proteins cooperate to form chromocenter to encapsulate the full complement of chromosomes.
    1. Neuroscience

    High-order thalamic inputs to primary somatosensory cortex are stronger and longer lasting than cortical inputs

    Wanying Zhang, Randy M Bruno
    Secondary thalamic nuclei may provide stronger, longer-lasting input to superficial layers of primary sensory cortex than other cortical areas can.
    1. Developmental Biology

    LncEGFL7OS regulates human angiogenesis by interacting with MAX at the EGFL7/miR-126 locus

    Qinbo Zhou, Bo Yu ... Shusheng Wang
    lncEGFL7OS is a lncRNA located at the EGFL7/miR-126 locus that is critical for angiogenesis in humans.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Developmental Biology

    JNK-dependent cell cycle stalling in G2 promotes survival and senescence-like phenotypes in tissue stress

    Andrea Cosolo, Janhvi Jaiswal ... Anne-Kathrin Classen
    Tissue damage induces a reversible cell cycle arrest in G2, which promotes survival and mitogenic signals to facilitate tissue regeneration but drives senescence-like phenotypes under chronic stress conditions.
    1. Neuroscience

    Parallel pathways for sound processing and functional connectivity among layer 5 and 6 auditory corticofugal neurons

    Ross S Williamson, Daniel B Polley
    Targeted recordings from subcortical projection neurons in the auditory cortex reveal two cell classes with distinct signatures of sensory processing and different patterns of local and long-range connectivity.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Developmental Biology

    zGrad is a nanobody-based degron system that inactivates proteins in zebrafish

    Naoya Yamaguchi, Tugba Colak-Champollion, Holger Knaut
    The F-box/anti-GFP nanobody fusion protein zGrad depletes GFP-tagged proteins with spatial and temporal control in zebrafish.
    1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    The genetic requirements of fatty acid import by Mycobacterium tuberculosis within macrophages

    Evgeniya V Nazarova, Christine R Montague ... Brian C VanderVen
    An unbiased forward genetic screen identified genes in Mycobacterium tuberculosis that are required for fatty acid import when the bacterium is residing within macrophages.
    1. Immunology and Inflammation
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Connexin-43-dependent ATP release mediates macrophage activation during sepsis

    Michel Dosch, Joël Zindel ... Guido Beldi
    Autocrine activation of macrophages is modulated by Connexin-43-mediated ATP release in response to TLR-4 and -2 agonists in a P2Y1-dependent manner, ultimately determining sepsis survival.
    1. Neuroscience

    Leave-One-Trial-Out, LOTO, a general approach to link single-trial parameters of cognitive models to neural data

    Sebastian Gluth, Nachshon Meiran
    Leave-One-Trial-Out (LOTO) is a general, efficient and easily implementable approach for inferring trial-by-trial measures of computational model parameters in order to link these measures to neural mechanisms.
    1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression
    2. Genetics and Genomics

    PUMILIO hyperactivity drives premature aging of Norad-deficient mice

    Florian Kopp, Mahmoud M Elguindy ... Joshua T Mendell
    Long noncoding RNA Norad performs an essential function in mammalian physiology by inhibiting the activity of PUMILIO RNA binding proteins, thereby suppressing a multi-system degenerative phenotype resembling premature aging.
    1. Developmental Biology

    Specification of diverse cell types during early neurogenesis of the mouse cerebellum

    John W Wizeman, Qiuxia Guo ... James YH Li
    Single-cell RNA sequencing resolves inter- and intra-population heterogeneity, identifies rare cell types, and reconstructs specification trajectories during early neurogenesis of the mouse cerebellum.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Developmental Biology

    Reactivation of a developmental Bmp2 signaling center is required for therapeutic control of the murine periosteal niche

    Valerie S Salazar, Luciane P Capelo ... Vicki Rosen
    A periosteal Bmp2 signaling center couples bone length to bone width during development and must be reactivated by clinical bone anabolic therapies to reduce fracture risk and accelerate fracture repair.
    1. Neuroscience

    Brain-wide cellular resolution imaging of Cre transgenic zebrafish lines for functional circuit-mapping

    Kathryn M Tabor, Gregory D Marquart ... Harold A Burgess
    A new resource of transgenic zebrafish lines facilitates precise targeting of neuronal cell-types within the brain, supported by online software for visualizing transgene expression patterns.
    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Neuroscience

    Venous endothelin modulates responsiveness of cardiac sympathetic axons to arterial semaphorin

    Denise M Poltavski, Pauline Colombier ... Takako Makita
    Second-order guidance, a novel mechanism by which an initial guidance cue controls expression of a second guidance receptor, is required for precise refinement of axon trajectories during PNS development.
    1. Immunology and Inflammation

    MicroRNA-122 supports robust innate immunity in hepatocytes by targeting the RTKs/STAT3 signaling pathway

    Hui Xu, Shi-Jun Xu ... Liang-Hu Qu
    The liver-specific miRNA microRNA-122 plays a previously unknown role in hepatocyte intrinsic innate immunity by targeting the RTKs/STAT3 signaling pathway.
    1. Neuroscience

    Emotional faces guide the eyes in the absence of awareness

    Petra Vetter, Stephanie Badde ... Marisa Carrasco
    When emotional faces are rendered invisible, our eyes look towards fearful faces and away from angry faces.
    1. Neuroscience

    Real-time experimental control using network-based parallel processing

    Byounghoon Kim, Shobha Channabasappa Kenchappa ... Ari Rosenberg
    The Real-Time Experimental Control with Graphical User Interface (REC-GUI) framework can facilitate cutting-edge neuroscience research by providing precise experimental control using high-level programming environments familiar to many experimentalists.
    1. Developmental Biology

    Species-specific maturation profiles of human, chimpanzee and bonobo neural cells

    Maria C Marchetto, Branka Hrvoj-Mihic ... Fred H Gage
    Using iPSCs as a model to study neurodevelopmental differences between human and nonhuman primates lays the groundwork for understanding aspects of human brain evolution and neurological disease susceptibility.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Chromosomes and Gene Expression

    A systematically-revised ribosome profiling method for bacteria reveals pauses at single-codon resolution

    Fuad Mohammad, Rachel Green, Allen R Buskirk
    With the removal of confounding artifacts, ribosome profiling can yield insight into the mechanism of protein synthesis in bacteria at high resolution.
    1. Neuroscience

    Humans strategically shift decision bias by flexibly adjusting sensory evidence accumulation

    Niels A Kloosterman, Jan Willem de Gee ... Johannes Jacobus Fahrenfort
    Decision-makers are able to intentionally control neural excitability to strategically bias sensory evidence accumulation towards the decision bound that maximizes reward within a given ecological context.
    1. Neuroscience

    Rapid task-dependent tuning of the mouse olfactory bulb

    Anzhelika Koldaeva et al.
    Sensory representation in the primary olfactory area is rapidly modulated when mice switch between easy and difficult discrimination tasks, optimising the sensory representation for the task at hand.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Structure of a bacterial ATP synthase

    Hui Guo, Toshiharu Suzuki, John L Rubinstein
    Construction of a first atomic model for an intact bacterial ATP synthase allows for a structural understanding of the roles of individual amino acids in the mechanism of ATP synthesis.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology

    Delayed inhibition mechanism for secondary channel factor regulation of ribosomal RNA transcription

    Sarah K Stumper, Harini Ravi ... Jeff Gelles
    Single-molecule observations reveal a mechanism that may be used by multiple competing regulatory proteins to control ribosomal RNA production during rapid bacterial cell growth.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology

    Optical manipulation of sphingolipid biosynthesis using photoswitchable ceramides

    Matthijs Kol, Ben Williams ... James A Frank
    Photoswitchable ceramides containing an azobenzene photoswitch behave as light-controllable substrates for both sphingomyelin synthase and glucosylceramide synthase.
    1. Ecology

    The cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of honey bee workers develop via a socially-modulated innate process

    Cassondra L Vernier, Joshua J Krupp ... Yehuda Ben-Shahar
    Chemical nestmate recognition in honey bee colonies depends on an innate, socially modulated developmental process.
    1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Heparin-induced tau filaments are polymorphic and differ from those in Alzheimer’s and Pick’s diseases

    Wenjuan Zhang, Benjamin Falcon ... Sjors HW Scheres
    Cryo-EM structures of heparin-induced tau filaments differ from those observed in neurodegenerative disease, illustrating their structural versatility, and prompting questions about the relevance of in vitro amyloid models.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Listeria monocytogenes cell-to-cell spread in epithelia is heterogeneous and dominated by rare pioneer bacteria

    Fabian E Ortega, Elena F Koslover, Julie A Theriot
    The pathogenic bacterium Listeria monocytogenes spreads infection using a two-tiered strategy, where most bacteria spread locally but a few 'pioneers' move further, increasing the likelihood of a persistent infection.
    1. Neuroscience

    A high-throughput neurohistological pipeline for brain-wide mesoscale connectivity mapping of the common marmoset

    Meng Kuan Lin, Yeonsook Shin Takahashi ... Partha Mitra
    A systematic high-throughput neurohistological and computational pipeline for marmoset which establishes a foundational setup in brain mapping and circuit tracing to support current and emerging research in primate studies.
    1. Neuroscience

    Unsupervised discovery of temporal sequences in high-dimensional datasets, with applications to neuroscience

    Emily L Mackevicius, Andrew H Bahle ... Michale S Fee
    Building on simple unsupervised matrix factorization techniques, the seqNMF algorithm successfully recovers neural sequences in a wide range of simulated and real datasets.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Neuroscience

    Time preferences are reliable across time-horizons and verbal versus experiential tasks

    Evgeniya Lukinova, Yuyue Wang ... Jeffrey C Erlich
    People have stable time-preferences regardless of whether they are measured using a non-verbal experiential task, as is typical in animal experiments, or using a more traditional verbal task.
    1. Cancer Biology

    FGF2-FGFR1 signaling regulates release of Leukemia-Protective exosomes from bone marrow stromal cells

    Nathalie Javidi-Sharifi, Jacqueline Martinez ... Elie Traer
    Inhibition of FGF2-FGFR1 signaling in bone marrow stroma attenuates secretion of FGF2-laden exosomes and subsequent protection of leukemia cells.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Evolutionary Biology

    Cryptic genetic variation shapes the adaptive evolutionary potential of enzymes

    Florian Baier, Nansook Hong ... Nobuhiko Tokuriki
    Genetic change among enzyme orthologous with similar phenotypic properties can cause substantial differences in evolutionary response to a new enzyme function in terms of their molecular and fitness outcomes.
    1. Cancer Biology
    2. Chromosomes and Gene Expression

    Cellular acidosis triggers human MondoA transcriptional activity by driving mitochondrial ATP production

    Blake R Wilde, Zhizhou Ye ... Donald E Ayer
    The MondoA transcription factor localizes to the outer mitochondrial membrane where it coordinates an adaptive transcriptional response to elevated cellular energy represented by high cytoplasmic glucose and high mitochondrial ATP.
    1. Physics of Living Systems
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Spatial and temporal organization of RecA in the Escherichia coli DNA-damage response

    Harshad Ghodke, Bishnu P Paudel ... Antoine M van Oijen
    Phase separated DNA-free stored forms of RecA dissolve in response to DNA damage to make RecA available for repair and recombination reactions as part of the bacterial (Escherichia coli) SOS response.
    1. Neuroscience

    Obtaining and maintaining cortical hand representation as evidenced from acquired and congenital handlessness

    Daan B Wesselink, Fiona MZ van den Heiligenberg ... Tamar R Makin
    fMRI results show that despite arm amputation, and varying degrees of phantom sensations, canonical hand representation in primary somatosensory cortex is largely maintained.
    1. Neuroscience

    Cold-inducible RNA-binding protein (CIRBP) adjusts clock-gene expression and REM-sleep recovery following sleep deprivation

    Marieke MB Hoekstra, Yann Emmenegger ... Paul Franken
    The temperature-sensitive protein CIRBP contributes to the effect of sleep loss on the molecular circadian clock.
    1. Immunology and Inflammation
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    HIV-1 Vpu is a potent transcriptional suppressor of NF-κB-elicited antiviral immune responses

    Simon Langer, Christian Hammer ... Daniel Sauter
    By inhibiting the activation of NF-κB, HIV-1 Vpu exerts much broader immunosuppressive effects than previously anticipated and may be an important determinant of chronic inflammation in HIV-1 infected individuals.
    1. Neuroscience

    Atypical intrinsic neural timescale in autism

    Takamitsu Watanabe, Geraint Rees, Naoki Masuda
    Atypical intrinsic neural timescales in the sensory cortex and caudate were associated with local grey matter volume, and linked with the severity of autism.
    1. Neuroscience

    Differential regulation of the Drosophila sleep homeostat by circadian and arousal inputs

    Jinfei D Ni, Adishthi S Gurav ... Craig Montell
    Functional imaging and circuit mapping in the Drosophila brain identifies neuropils where sleep-promoting and arousal-promoting neuronal networks converge.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Molecular and topological reorganizations in mitochondrial architecture interplay during Bax-mediated steps of apoptosis

    Nicholas R Ader, Patrick C Hoffmann ... Wanda Kukulski
    Correlative microscopy and electron cryo-tomography on apoptotic HeLa cells reveal remodeling of outer and inner mitochondrial membranes, Bax cluster ultrastructure and ATP synthase reorganization in ruptured mitochondria.
    1. Neuroscience

    Retinal direction selectivity in the absence of asymmetric starburst amacrine cell responses

    Laura Hanson, Santhosh Sethuramanujam ... Gautam B Awatramani
    Experimental and computational models reveal how parallel 'core' mechanisms shape direction selectivity at the dendrites of starburst amacrine cells and ganglion cells in the mouse retina.
    1. Cell Biology
    2. Neuroscience

    Transsynaptic interactions between IgSF proteins DIP-α and Dpr10 are required for motor neuron targeting specificity

    James Ashley, Violet Sorrentino ... Robert A Carrillo
    Synaptic partner recognition in the Drosophila neuromuscular circuit requires interactions between the Dpr and DIP subfamilies of immunoglobulin cell-surface proteins.
    1. Physics of Living Systems

    A first order phase transition mechanism underlies protein aggregation in mammalian cells

    Arjun Narayanan, Anatoli Meriin ... Ibrahim I Cisse
    Quantitative single molecule and super resolution imaging in mammalian cells reveal a population of precursor aggregates describable by first order phase transition theory.
    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Neuroscience

    Stereotyped terminal axon branching of leg motor neurons mediated by IgSF proteins DIP-α and Dpr10

    Lalanti Venkatasubramanian, Zhenhao Guo ... Richard S Mann
    Ig domain family members DIP-alpha and Dpr10 are required in a subset of Drosophila leg motor neurons and muscles, respectively, to establish their fine terminal branching pattern and synapses.
    1. Neuroscience

    Brain signatures of a multiscale process of sequence learning in humans

    Maxime Maheu, Stanislas Dehaene, Florent Meyniel
    Evidence for multiple brain systems for sequence processing involving statistical inferences at multiple scales.
    1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Structures in multiple conformations reveal distinct transition metal and proton pathways in an Nramp transporter

    Aaron T Bozzi, Christina M Zimanyi ... Rachelle Gaudet
    Nramp-family transporters adapt a common fold to a novel mechanism in which the spatial and temporal separation of like-charge transition metal and proton co-substrates circumvents the expected electrostatic repulsion.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Quantitative insights into the cyanobacterial cell economy

    Tomáš Zavřel, Marjan Faizi ... Jan Červený
    Phototrophic growth laws are elucidated by combining computational modeling and experiments for quantitative evaluation of cellular physiology, morphology and proteome allocation across a wide range of light conditions.
    1. Neuroscience

    Surface color and predictability determine contextual modulation of V1 firing and gamma oscillations

    Alina Peter, Cem Uran ... Martin Vinck
    Colored surfaces induce strong gamma-synchronization yet sparse firing in V1 when receptive field inputs are predicted from the surrounding spatial context.
    1. Evolutionary Biology

    Expansion of the fatty acyl reductase gene family shaped pheromone communication in Hymenoptera

    Michal Tupec, Aleš Buček ... Iva Pichová
    A fatty acyl reductase gene family expansion in the Hymenoptera crown group led to recruitment of novel pheromone-biosynthetic enzymes and is linked to evolution of pheromone marking behavior.
    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Neuroscience

    Temporal identity establishes columnar neuron morphology, connectivity, and function in a Drosophila navigation circuit

    Luis F Sullivan, Timothy L Warren, Chris Q Doe
    The Eyeless/Pax6 temporal transcription factor generates neuronal identity, connectivity, and flight navigation behavior within the conserved adult brain structure called the central complex.
    1. Ecology
    2. Evolutionary Biology

    Emergence of trait variability through the lens of nitrogen assimilation in Prochlorococcus

    Paul M Berube, Anna Rasmussen ... Sallie W Chisholm
    In the context of an organism's ecology, physiology, and macroevolutionary history, inheritance and gene loss can yield emergent patterns of trait variability that give the appearance of gene acquisition.

Magazine

    1. Neuroscience

    Human Intelligence: What single neurons can tell us

    Elaine N Miller, Chet C Sherwood