Health sciences articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article |

    Encephalization—increase of brain size relative to body size—has occurred in two distinct evolutionary lineages; Neanderthals and modern humans. However, the 3D endocranial surface shape analysis reported here reveals unique structures at the base of the brain inHomo sapiens, which may have contributed to learning and social capacities.

    • Markus Bastir
    • , Antonio Rosas
    •  & Jean-Jacques Hublin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    New approaches are required to combatPlasmodium falciparuminfection. In this proteome-wide study, 1305 phosphorylation sites are identified and 36 kinases are shown to have crucial roles in parasite survival, providing new insights into parasite biology and potential new drug targets for anti-malarial chemotherapy.

    • Lev Solyakov
    • , Jean Halbert
    •  & Christian Doerig

  • Article |

    The processes that regulate melanoblast migration during development are also thought to be involved in melanoma metastasis. Here, Prex1 null mice are shown to have a melanoblast migration defect and, when crossed to a mouse model of melanoma, are resistant to metastasis, suggesting a role for Prex1 in metastatic melanoma.

    • Colin R. Lindsay
    • , Samuel Lawn
    •  & Owen J. Sansom

  • Article |

    Erythropoietin circulates in the blood and is essential for erythropoiesis but its role in metabolic homeostasis has not been examined. Tenget al. show that when the erythropoietin receptor is only expressed in erthyroid cells, mice develop obesity and insulin resistance, suggesting that the receptor has a key role in fat mass accumulation.

    • Ruifeng Teng
    • , Oksana Gavrilova
    •  & Constance Tom Noguchi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    MicroRNAs bind to the 3′-untranslated region of genes to regulate expression. In this study, an RNA-binding protein, RMB38, is shown to selectively regulate the access of some microRNAs to their targets, and control the expression of some p53 target genes.

    • Nicolas Léveillé
    • , Ran Elkon
    •  & Reuven Agami

  • Article
    | Open Access

    During cell division, a cytoplasmic bridge—the midbody—forms between the nascent daughter cells, but it has been unclear under which conditions this is retained by a daughter cell or released. Now, Ettinger and colleagues show that midbody-release occurs more frequently in stem cells compared with cancer cells.

    • Andreas W. Ettinger
    • , Michaela Wilsch-Bräuninger
    •  & Wieland B. Huttner

  • Article |

    The fusion of satellite cells to muscle fibres during adult life is required for both muscle growth and regeneration but it is unknown whether non-muscle cells contribute to this process. Now, Dellavalle and colleagues show that pericytes, cells associated with the vasculature can contribute to both growth and regeneration of muscle fibres.

    • A. Dellavalle
    • , G. Maroli
    •  & G. Cossu

  • Article |

    The generation of human cell lines using somatic cell nuclear transfer has been difficult to achieve. In this study, Egliet al. show that while mouse eggs reprogram somatic cells within hours, human eggs arrest after nuclear transfer which may be due to a lack of genome transcription.

    • Dieter Egli
    • , Alice E. Chen
    •  & Kevin Eggan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The risk factors associated with both ischemic and haemorrhagic stroke are not fully understood. Here a certain strain of the bacteria,Streptococcus mutans, which expresses a collagen-binding protein, is shown to be associated with haemorrhagic stroke in both animal models and human patients.

    • Kazuhiko Nakano
    • , Kazuya Hokamura
    •  & Takashi Ooshima

  • Article |

    Cellular senescence is characterized by the cessation of cell growth and the expression of the p16 protein. In this study, inhibition or loss of p300, a histone acetyltransferase, is shown to result in senescence that occurs independently of p16 and is associated with histone hypoacetylation and altered replication timing.

    • Alexandre Prieur
    • , Emilie Besnard
    •  & Jean-Marc Lemaitre

  • Article |

    Protein microarrays are useful both in basic research and also in disease monitoring and diagnosis, but their dynamic range is limited. By using plasmonic gold substrates with near-infrared fluorescent enhancement, Tabakman et al. demonstrate a multiplexed protein array with improved detection limits and dynamic range.

    • Scott M. Tabakman
    • , Lana Lau
    •  & Hongjie Dai

  • Article |

    Recent technological advances have allowed the expansion of spermatogonial stem cellsin vitro; however, in vivo conditions are required for the full differentiation of the cells. In this study, an in vitroorgan culture system is developed that allows the differentiation of the germ cells in the laboratory.

    • Takuya Sato
    • , Kumiko Katagiri
    •  & Takehiko Ogawa

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Many mammals are born with an immature intestinal epithelium, which adapts to a changing diet during the weaning period. Muncanet al. show that the transcriptional repressor Blimp1is expressed in the intestine of mice at birth, and that expression is lost at the transition to the weaning stage.

    • Vanesa Muncan
    • , Jarom Heijmans
    •  & Gijs R. van den Brink

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pluripotent stem cells can be generated from the somatic cells of humans and are a useful model to study disease. Here, pluripotent stem cells are made from a patient with familial Parkinson's disease, and the resulting neurons exhibit elevated levels of α-synuclein, recapitulating the molecular features of the patient's disease.

    • Michael J. Devine
    • , Mina Ryten
    •  & Tilo Kunath

  • Article |

    MITF is a transcription factor required for melanocyte development, which is activated in some melanomas. Zhao and colleagues show that USP13 removes ubiquitin from MITF, stabilizes MITF protein levels and enhances colony formation, suggesting that USP13 may be a therapeutic target in melanoma.

    • Xiansi Zhao
    • , Brian Fiske
    •  & David E Fisher

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chk2 is a kinase that is a potential chemotherapeutic target. Here, Chk2 and the kinase ERK are shown to functionally interact, and are elevated in expression in human diffuse B-cell lymphomas. Combinatorial inhibition of the kinases was also shown to block tumour growth in anin vivomouse model.

    • Bojie Dai
    • , X. Frank Zhao
    •  & Ronald B. Gartenhaus

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Polo-like kinase 1 is a key regulator of mitosis and is a candidate for drug development to treat cancer. Here, reduced expression of polo-like kinase 1 in adult mice has a minor impact on animal physiology, suggesting that polo-like kinase 1 inhibitors may be useful in the killing of tumour cells while sparing normal cells.

    • Monika Raab
    • , Sven Kappel
    •  & Klaus Strebhardt

  • Article |

    The torsinA protein localizes to the endoplasmic reticulum and, when mutated, causes early onset torsion dystonia. The authors reveal a new role for torsinA in proteosome-mediated degradation of misfolded proteins, and relate this to endoplasmic reticulum stress, in aCaenorhabditis elegansmodel and patient fibroblasts.

    • Flávia C. Nery
    • , Ioanna A. Armata
    •  & Xandra O. Breakefield

  • Article |

    Mutations in the DNA helicaseBLM cause Bloom syndrome, which is characterized by slow replication fork progression and genetic instability. Here, cells lacking BLMare shown to have a defect in cytidine deaminase, which alters the pyrimidine pool and results in replication fork progression with altered velocity.

    • Pauline Chabosseau
    • , Géraldine Buhagiar-Labarchède
    •  & Mounira Amor-Guéret

  • Article |

    Class I anti-arrhythmic drugs act at cardiac sodium channels and are subdivided into classes Ia-c based on their effects on the electrocardiogram. Here, class Ib drugs are found to rely on cation–pi interactions for their activity, whereas class Ib and Ic drugs rely significantly less on this interaction.

    • Stephan A. Pless
    • , Jason D. Galpin
    •  & Christopher A. Ahern

  • Article |

    Vocal communication is relatively common among fish: the midshipman being an example with a particularly wide dynamic range. In this paper, the authors demonstrate that different populations of hindbrain neurons are responsible for the frequency and duration of these calls.

    • Boris P. Chagnaud
    • , Robert Baker
    •  & Andrew H. Bass

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The ability of synthetic amyloid β-protein to bind to prion proteins and alter synaptic plasticity has been previously reported. Here the relevance of this binding is investigated in brains of Alzheimer's disease patients and the interaction is shown to be blocked by antibodies to two distinct regions of prion proteins.

    • Darragh B. Freir
    • , Andrew J. Nicoll
    •  & John Collinge

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Complex diseases such as multiple sclerosis have both genetic and environmental components. This study demonstrates that variants of genes implicated in multiple sclerosis, and alterations in cellular metabolism and vitamin D3 levels, alterN-glycosylation, a post-translational modification causal of the disease in mice.

    • Haik Mkhikian
    • , Ani Grigorian
    •  & Michael Demetriou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Circadian rhythm is controlled by the suprachiasmatic nucleus and the mechanisms that control the rhythm are largely undiscovered. In this study, a G protein regulator, RGS16, is shown to be involved in the production of cyclic AMP that is required for the suprachiasmatic nucleus to maintain rhythm

    • Masao Doi
    • , Atsushi Ishida
    •  & Hitoshi Okamura

  • Article |

    Phylogenetic analysis is used to identify transmission chains, but no software is available for the automated partition of large phylogenies. Prosperiet al. apply a new search algorithm to identify transmission clusters within the phylogeny of HIV-1gene sequences linking molecular and epidemiological data.

    • Mattia C.F. Prosperi
    • , Massimo Ciccozzi
    •  & Andrea De Luca

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The molecular mechanisms that regulate TH17 cell diversity are poorly understood. Ouyang et al. show that the transcription factor interferon regulatory factor-8 is required for TH17-cell differentiation and that its absence increases the severity of an experimental model of colitis.

    • Xinshou Ouyang
    • , Ruihua Zhang
    •  & Huabao Xiong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    IKK kinases activate nuclear factor-κB, and the activated form of this transcription factor is found in endothelial cells in diseased tissue. In this study, mice lacking IKKβ in the endothelium are generated, and it is shown that defects in endothelial cell function are both IKK kinase activity dependent and independent.

    • Noboru Ashida
    • , Sucharita SenBanerjee
    •  & Anthony Rosenzweig

  • Article |

    Calorie restriction has been associated with increased life span and delayed decline of memory in animals, suggesting a role in neuronal plasticity. In this study, food restriction is demonstrated to enhance plasticity in the central nervous system and trigger the recovery from ocular deprivation in adulthood.

    • Maria Spolidoro
    • , Laura Baroncelli
    •  & Lamberto Maffei

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Duchenne muscular dystrophy is caused by a loss of thedystrophin gene, and control of dystrophin mRNA splicing could aid treatment of the disease. Nishida et al. show that a small molecule promotes skipping of exon 31 and increases production of a functional dystrophin protein in a patient.

    • Atsushi Nishida
    • , Naoyuki Kataoka
    •  & Masafumi Matsuo

  • Article |

    PTEN is a phosphatase that regulates the phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase signalling pathway and is inactivated in many tumour types. Heet al.show that a mannosidase, α-mannosidase 2C1, can inactivate PTEN in prostate cancer cells, and that PTEN-positive human prostate tumours overexpress α-mannosidase 2C1.

    • Lizhi He
    • , Catherine Fan
    •  & Damu Tang

  • Article |

    Pair-wise electrophysiology is difficult inCaenorhabditis elegansbecause the recordings are relatively short-lived. In this study, the authors investigate the synaptic currents associated with escape responses by immobilizing worms on a micropatterned agar substrate and stimulating neurons using channelrhodopsin-2.

    • Theodore H. Lindsay
    • , Tod R. Thiele
    •  & Shawn R. Lockery

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The study of prion diseases has been hampered as there is no method to distinguish newly formed abnormal prion protein conformers. Here, the authors describe a method to study newly formed abnormal prion protein and demonstrate that it is produced within 1 minute of cell exposure to prions.

    • R. Goold
    • , S. Rabbanian
    •  & S.J. Tabrizi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In vitrostudies have suggested that the ubiquitin ligase, Nedd4-2, regulates several proteins, including the epithelial sodium channel. Here by examining Nedd4-2-deficient mice, the authors demonstrate that Nedd4-2 is essential for epithelial sodium channel regulation, fetal and postnatal lung function and animal survival.

    • Natasha A. Boase
    • , Grigori Y. Rychkov
    •  & Sharad Kumar

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Exosomes released from cells can transfer RNA to recipient cells. In this study, the authors demonstrate that microRNAs in exosomes from T cells can be transferred to antigen-presenting cells during immune synapsis, and that this can alter gene expression, suggesting a new form of cellular communication.

    • María Mittelbrunn
    • , Cristina Gutiérrez-Vázquez
    •  & Francisco Sánchez-Madrid

  • Article |

    The spinal V2a interneurons control left–right limb alternation during mouse locomotion, but only at high frequencies. In this study, the authors show that only half of these neurons are active during locomotion, and that they receive increasing synaptic drive to increase their activity as locomotion accelerates.

    • Guisheng Zhong
    • , Kamal Sharma
    •  & Ronald M. Harris-Warrick

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In the developing eye, the lens and retina are derived from different embryonic tissues, and how these two structures develop next to each other is of interest. In this study, the authors show that transforming growth factor-β secreted by neural crest cells is critical for the positioning of the lens next to the retina.

    • Timothy Grocott
    • , Samuel Johnson
    •  & Andrea Streit

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The global prevalence of the Duffy blood group variants is important due to the resistance that the Duffy-negative phenotype generally confers uponPlasmodium vivax infection. Hay et al.generate global frequency maps of the common Duffy alleles to show transmission patterns of the malaria parasite.

    • Rosalind E. Howes
    • , Anand P. Patil
    •  & Simon I. Hay

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