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COG complexes are thought to be involved in tethering of intra-Golgi vesicles. Here the authors show that individual COG complex subunits direct the assembly of distinct vesicle-tethering platforms, suggesting that COG subunits have a role in the specificity of vesicular sorting.
Chromatin templates can act as barriers against cellular reprogramming. Gaspar-Maia and colleagues use mouse models deficient in the histone variants macroH2A1 and macroH2A2, and find that macroH2A functions as an epigenetic barrier against induced pluripotency by silencing Utx target genes.
Camels originated in North America during the Eocene period ~45 million years ago. This study reports evidence of a High Arctic camel from Ellesmere Island, which extends the range of North American camels northward by ~1,200 km to a lineage of giant camels that were well established in a forested Arctic.
Shigella triggers an increase in intracellular calcium during invasion of host cells. Here the authors show that increased actin polymerization at the invasion site slows the diffusion of signalling mediators, thus sustaining localized calcium influx at invasion sites.
The energy-sensing kinase AMPK is regulated by phosphorylation, however, the identity of AMPK phosphatases remains uncertain. Here the authors show that α-SNAP, a protein previously known for its role in membrane fusion, can dephosphorylate AMPK despite lacking a recognizable phosphatase domain.
The emotional state of humans depends on the temporal concentration of neurochemicals. Blouin et al. measure temporal changes in two neuropeptides, hypocretin and melanin-concentrating hormone, and find that hypocretin but not melanin-concentrating hormone is linked to positive emotions and social interaction.
Deubiquitinases regulate protein stability, localization and activity, and yet the mechanisms controlling their activity remain poorly understood. Lee et al. show that these enzymes are reversibly inhibited by reactive oxygen species through oxidation of catalytic cysteine residues.
Ovarian tumour deubiquitinases are cysteine proteases that cleave polyubiquitin chains. Here the authors show that these enzymes are susceptible to reversible oxidation, and present crystal structures which reveal how the reversibly oxidized catalytic cysteine residue is stabilized by the active site.
Reorganization of the sensorimotor cortex due to loss of sensory input is implicated in phantom pain. Makin and colleagues use functional MRI to show that phantom pain experience is instead associated with maintained local functional and structural cortical representations but disrupted inter-regional connectivity.
Parkinson’s disease is associated with the accumulation of abnormal aggregates of α-synuclein and microglial neuroinflammation. Kim et al. show that α-synuclein oliogomers released by neurons activate microglia by stimulating Toll-like receptor 2 signalling in these cells.
Cardiac and endocardial/endothelial cells arise from progenitor cells expressing multiple haematopoietic transcription factors. Nakano and colleagues find that Nkx2–5-positive endocardial cells serve as a de novosource for definitive haematopoietic progenitors during mammalian embryogenesis.
Tillering is a multigenic complex trait that influences grain yield in cereal; however, the molecular network for its regulation remains unclear. Guo et al.show that OsMADS57, a transcription factor controlled by miR444a, interacts with OsTEOSINTE BRANCHED1 and targets DWARF14 to control tillering in rice.
The hardness and incompressibility of diamond makes it an ideal material for high-pressure anvil cells. Here, a method for generating static pressure is described in which graphene-coated diamond is heated, forming graphene nanobubbles that trap water at pressures sufficient to etch the surface of diamond.
Patient-specific induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells hold great potential for regenerative cell therapies. Here Filareto et al. genetically correct iPS cells from mice with muscular dystrophy and use these cells to treat the same animals, providing a proof-of-principle for autologous iPS cell therapy.
Alkali vapours are increasingly useful in photonic research and metrology applications, and they provide a useful test bed for investigating light–matter interaction. Stern et al. integrate silicon nitride waveguides with alkali vapours to study light–matter interactions on a chip-scale platform.
Epigenetic inheritance of DNA methylation requires the recruitment of DNA methyltransferase activity to the replication fork by UHRF1. Liu et al. show that optimal association of UHRF1 with the replication fork and resulting DNA methylation requires two domains that bind hemi-methylated DNA and methylated histones, respectively.
The skin cancer treatment Aldara generates psoriasis-like symptoms in mice, which are thought to be due to stimulation of TLR7 by the active ingredient imiquimod. The authors show that some of these inflammatory effects are independent of both imiquimod and TLR7, implicating an unexpected role for the vehicle.
The proapoptotic protein Siva1 has been shown to inhibit the tumour suppressor p53, however, it remains unclear how this activity is mediated. Here the authors show that Siva1 is an E3 ubiquitin ligase which inhibits p53 by promoting the degradation of ARF.