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This interview in our series highlighting early-career researchers is with Gregory Lavieu, INSERM investigator at Institut Curie in Paris, France. In this series, we aim to bring attention to the diversity and individual stories of early-career researchers (defined as postdoctoral scientists through to tenure, or the equivalent). Gregory joined the institute as a permanent researcher in October 2017 to unlock the mysteries of extracellular vesicles. Here he discusses the many unanswered questions in the field as well as his unconventional path to his current position.
Keita Muro et al. identify PICALM5a and PICALM5b as key proteins involved in pollen tube growth in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plants deficient in these two proteins exhibit decreased fertility, with impaired pollen tube integrity.
Debra Van Egeren et al. present a stochastic computational model of the dynamics of an asexually reproducing population, such as somatic or cancer cells, crossing a fitness valley. They find that fitness variation persisting across generations promotes weaker selection against deleterious intermediates, thereby increasing the rate of valley crossing.
Fujinami et al. show that an antimicrobial peptide Nukacin ISK-1 exists in an equilibrium between two states, only one of which can bind to the ISK-1’s target lipid-II, an important bacterial cell wall precursor. This study provides unexpected insights into the action modes of antibiotics.
Sanna Vattulainen-Collanus et al. report that mutations in the BMPR2 gene, which is associated with pulmonary arterial hypertension, result in a deficit of RAD51 and altered DNA repair and replication. They were able to rescue the RAD51-deficient phenotype by restoring BMPR2 activity in cell culture.
Qianting Zhang et al. characterized the role of the mammalian ortholog of Zip2 in meiotic crossovers. Loss-of-function of MZIP2 leads to defects in DNA double-strand break repair, halting meiosis and causing sterility in both male and female mice.
Yoshitaro Akiyama et al. report the use of innovative behavioral assays in planarian flatworms to investigate the mechanism by which they efficiently respond to light. They find that binocular vision and spontaneous self-motion are key factors for accurately detecting the direction of a light source.
Tania Rowley et al. present multivalent Fc molecules with enhanced avidity for Fc gamma receptors in order to improve the treatment of autoantibody-mediated human diseases. They found several key amino acids involved in Fc receptor binding interactions.
Monica Tulstrup et al. show that antibiotic treatment of female rats during pregnancy leads to altered intestinal colonization in early life and lower body weight in adulthood. They find that this effect correlates with lower feed intake and increased expression of satiety hormone at weaning.
Helen Schwerdt et al. report micro-invasive probes capable of monitoring chemical signaling in the rat brain for over a year. The probes have diameters as small as single neuronal cell bodies and can monitor sub-second fluctuations in chemical signaling without significant induction of inflammation or tissue damage.
Liran Samuni et al. examined meat sharing behavior and oxytocin in wild chimpanzees, elucidating the mechanism facilitating cooperation. They find that hunters are more likely to receive food independent of begging, suggesting that prosocial behaviors are rewarded in primates, likely facilitated by oxytocin.
Giuseppe Antonacci et al. present a method for non-contact and label-free imaging using Brillouin microscopy to examine intracellular biomechanics at the sub-micron level. They use this approach in an analysis of stress granules containing ALS-related FUS protein mutants.
Julia Jehn et al. report a phylogenetic analysis and expression studies of PIWI genes in 11 mollusk species. They find that PIWI genes and piRNAs are expressed in both the germline and soma, as in arthropods, suggesting that somatic expression of the piRNA system represents the ancestral state in animals.
A year has passed since Communications Biology opened for submissions. We’d like to take this opportunity to look back on the past year and thank all those who have contributed to the journal.
Araujo et al. investigate the soil microbiome across four major vegetation zones of the Brazilian Cerrado and find that protist taxon richness increases towards the tree-dominated climax vegetation. Their findings suggest that increased microbiome complexity might enhance system stability towards climax vegetation.
Yingrou Tan et al. present a method streamlining surface creation in 3D imaging by applying the hue-saturation-brightness transformed channels simultaneously. They show the utility of this approach by imaging ear skin following needlestick injury, observing immune cell infiltration.
Maria Blasi et al. report the anti-HIV-1 humoral response elicited in rhesus macaques following vaccination with an SIV-based integrase-defective lentiviral vector (IDLV). They find that a single IDLV-Env immunization induces continuous antibody avidity maturation and boosting with a heterologous HIV-1 Env results in lower peak antibody titers than autologous boost.
Lyons and Kolter describe a single-point mutation in the plasmid-borne gene rapP of Bacillus subtilis that optimizes surfactin transcription to express the minimum required for cooperation. The decrease in the production of this public good significantly prevented the exploitation of cooperative traits by cheaters.
Gerrit Maus began his independent career at Nanyang Technological University in October 2015. In this short interview, part of our series highlighting early-career researchers (https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-018-0061-3), he tells us about his experience as an early-career researcher, the advice he would give to his younger self, and the amazing superpowers of our eyes.