Research articles

Whether plants can remember their transcriptional response to stress is unknown. By repeatedly exposingArabidopsisto drought, we show that the plants remember their transcriptional response to stress and that the altered genes retain the epigenetic mark H3K4me3 and stalled phosphorylated polymerase II.

Aberrant activation of the TGF-β pathway leads to fibrotic disease. Distler and colleagues show that TGF-β-mediated fibrosis requires the decrease of Dickkopf-1, an antagonist of canonical Wnt signalling, suggesting that the two pathways interact for the manifestation of this disease.

Pulsed infrared laser light can directly stimulate nerves and muscles, but the underlying biophysical mechanism has remained enigmatic. This study reveals that infrared pulses depolarize target cells by reversibly altering the electrical capacitance of the plasma membrane.

During development there is a change in the expression of GABA_A receptor subunits. Here, Succol and colleagues show that chloride ions mediate the change in α3-α1 and δ-containing GABA_Areceptors that mediate phasic and tonic inhibition, respectively.

Some animals find the same odorant attractive at low concentrations and repulsive at high concentrations, but how this discrimination occurs is unclear. UsingCaenorhabditis elegans as a model system, Yoshida et al. show that different sets of sensory neurons respond to low and high concentrations of odours.

Accumulation of lysosomal lipids is a feature of Niemann'-Picks (NP) disease, but how these lipids contribute to the disease is unclear. In this study, calcium released via the lysosomal TRPML1 channel is shown to be reduced in NP-type C cells, and sphingomyelins are found to inhibit the channel's activity.

Resistive switching devices are promising candidates for non-volatile memories. Usingin-situ and ex-situ transmission electron microscopy, Yang et al. present an extensive study of the dynamics of filaments forming across the electrodes of resisting switching devices known as electrochemical metallization memories.

The photosynthetic reaction centres, photosystems I and II, have been investigated for the light-induced generation of fuels and electrical power. Now, Yehezkeliet al. report a photobiofuel cell that generates electricity upon irradiation of photosystem II-functionalized electrodes in aqueous solutions.

Tyrosyl DNA phosphodiesterase 1 (TDP1) repairs DNA breaks and is mutated in the disease Spinocerebellar Ataxia with Axonal Neuropathy. Here TDP1 is shown to be post-translationally modified by sumoylation of lysine 111, and cells carrying a mutation at this residue are inefficient at single-strand DNA break repair.

How the sensitivity of biological and pharmacological signalling responses is controlled is poorly understood. Here, computational analyses and cellular experiments show that the sensitivity of a simple biochemical reaction to activators and inhibitors is controlled by negative regulation of cellular signalling.

Ultrafast excitation offers new routes to controlling material properties on short timescales, but probes are needed to better understand the changes. By studying the phonon spectrum of VO₂ in the time domain, Wall et al. find a prompt change in lattice potential after a photoinduced structural transition.

Advances in nanoelectromechanical systems have brought improvements in the quality factor of nanomechanical resonators, yet few low-loss transduction schemes exist at high temperature. Using non-dissipative dielectric coupling to a microwave cavity, Faustet al. present an integrated nanomechanical transducer.

Understanding the environmental controls of past wildfires is difficult due to the lack of records of weather or vegetation. This study shows, using cross-scale analysis, how power laws associated with fire-event time series can identify critical thresholds in landscape dynamics in a rapidly changing climate.

Point defects in diamond in the form of nitrogen vacancy centres are believed to be promising candidates for qubits in quantum computers. Grotzet al. present a method for manipulating the charge state of nitrogen vacancies using an electrolytic gate electrode.

Exchange bias is a technologically relevant effect that occurs when thin ferromagnetic films are placed in direct proximity to antiferromagnets. Raduet al. show that an exchange bias occurs at room temperature in ferrimagnetic trilayers, in which the magnetization is aligned perpendicular to the structures.

Maturation of synaptic junctions is important for proper neuronal connections. Using live cell imaging, Okabeet al. show that interneuron dendrites extend filopodia-like projections and use microtubule-dependent retrograde transport to guide proper synaptic distribution on dendrites.

The pentameric ligand gated ion channel fromErwinia chrysanthemi(ELIC) is similar in structure to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, a member of the Cys-loop receptor family. This study reports the crystal structure of ELIC bound to acetylcholine and shows that acetylcholine is a competitive antagonist of ELIC.

Molecular and oscillations are common in biology, but periodic cell migrations have not been observed. Fraleyet al. report regular, periodic migrations of cells along tracks generated inside 3D matrices, and show that these 1D oscillations are controlled by zyxin and its binding partners α-actinin and p130Cas.

Organic electronic devices are promising for many applications, particularly in biomedical research, but are hindered by thermal instability and low melting points. Now, organic thin-film transistors are shown with excellent thermal properties that can withstand medical sterilization processes.

Teflon is a carbon based polymer that cannot be intrinsically ferromagnetic. This study shows that room temperature ferromagnetism can be induced in Teflon tape by applying mechanical stress such as stretching or cutting, which gives rise to dangling carbon bonds.