Research Communication

A Research Communication is an article that has been through an editorial process in which the authors decide how to respond to the issues raised during peer review.

Latest articles

    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Genetics and Genomics

    Disparate expression specificities coded by a shared Hox-C enhancer

    Steve W Miller, James W Posakony
    Tucked within a well-known story of diverging gene function is a single enhancer encoding two inseparable specificities that regulates two adjacent genes, each with different spatiotemporal expression patterns.
    1. Neuroscience

    Neural precursors of decisions that matter—an ERP study of deliberate and arbitrary choice

    Uri Maoz, Gideon Yaffe ... Liad Mudrik
    The readiness potential—a long-established neural precursor of voluntary action claimed to precede the onset of the conscious decision to move—is absent, or at least significantly reduced, for deliberate decisions.
    1. Computational and Systems Biology
    2. Developmental Biology

    Size control of the inner ear via hydraulic feedback

    Kishore R Mosaliganti, Ian A Swinburne ... Sean G Megason
    Size regulation of the otic vesicle, the progenitor of the inner ear, is mediated by mechanical feedback involving fluid influx, hydraulic pressure, and tissue mechanics.
    1. Evolutionary Biology

    Molecular function limits divergent protein evolution on planetary timescales

    Mariam M Konaté, Germán Plata ... Dennis Vitkup
    Orthologous proteins that continuously maintain the same molecular function do not usually diverge beyond a certain level of sequence and structural similarity.
    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. Genetics and Genomics
    2. Neuroscience

    Sleep-promoting effects of threonine link amino acid metabolism in Drosophila neuron to GABAergic control of sleep drive

    Yoonhee Ki, Chunghun Lim
    Threonine promotes sleep via down-regulation of metabotropic GABA transmission in the ellipsoid body R2 neurons that generate homeostatic sleep drive in Drosophila.
    1. Neuroscience

    Maintenance of homeostatic plasticity at the Drosophila neuromuscular synapse requires continuous IP3-directed signaling

    Thomas D James, Danielle J Zwiefelhofer, C Andrew Frank
    Synapses employ distinct acute and chronic signaling processes in order to maintain physiologically appropriate levels of function.
    1. Cancer Biology
    2. Cell Biology

    Human pancreatic cancer cell exosomes, but not human normal cell exosomes, act as an initiator in cell transformation

    Karoliina Stefanius, Kelly Servage ... Kim Orth
    Exosomes secreted from pancreatic cancer cells can function as a classic initiator in the multi-step cellular transformation process.
    1. Epidemiology and Global Health

    Estimating the burden of α-thalassaemia in Thailand using a comprehensive prevalence database for Southeast Asia

    Carinna Hockham, Supachai Ekwattanakit ... Frédéric B Piel
    The incorporation of as yet underused local epidemiological data on α-thalassaemia in Southeast Asia within a geostatistical model suggests that the burden of severe α-thalassaemia forms may have been underestimated.
    1. Neuroscience

    Elevated synaptic vesicle release probability in synaptophysin/gyrin family quadruple knockouts

    Mathan K Raja, Julia Preobraschenski ... John F Wesseling
    Synaptophysins and gyrins dampen synaptic strength selectively at low frequencies, hinting that synaptic transmission may play a frequency filtering role in biological computation that is more general than currently envisioned.