Articles

Self-assembly through molecular recognition events is used in the production of functionalized materials. This study shows that macroscopic gel assembly can be regulated through photoisomerization of an azobenzene moiety that interacts differently with two host molecules.

RNA can be silenced in a sequence-specific manner but whether proteins can silence RNA in this way is unknown. Now, Yamaguchi and colleagues show that an enzyme isolated fromHaloquadra walsbyi cleaves 7-base-pair sequences in Escherichia coli, and this high sequence specificity permits the silencing of targeted genes.

The elastic limit represents the maximum stress and strain a material can withstand and is well characterized in many crystalline solids, yet remains elusive for metallic glasses. Here, this limit is investigated in submicron metallic glass structures and is found to be twice as high as that of bulk samples.

Quantum mechanics predicts that objects can simultaneously exist in a superposition of two states. Kneeet al.propose and demonstrate experimentally a protocol which fully confirms this prediction, by testing the so-called Leggett–Garg inequality in a non-invasive manner.

Fluctuations of the electrical current in nanoscale devices reveal important details of the physical processes occurring inside them. Using a quantum point contact placed in its vicinity, Ubbelohde et al. measure the electrical fluctuations in a single-electron transistor, and determine the dynamical features of the transport.

Metal‐organic framework (MOFs) with metal‐carboxylate cluster vertices and long, branched organic linkers are highly porous. Anet al. develop an alternative route to MOFs in which metal‐biomolecule clusters are used as vertices to construct a mesoporous MOF.

Albumin transport proteins circulate in the blood and are protected from degradation by interaction with the neonatal Fc receptor. Andersenet al. investigate the albumin binding site of the neonatal Fc receptor and find pH sensitive ionic networks at the binding interface.

The function of adult stem cells is diminished with age but the role this dysfunction plays in the aging process is unknown. Here, the injection of muscle-derived stem/progenitor cells from young mice rescues symptoms in progeroid mice and is shown to regenerate tissues independent of engraftment.

Experience-dependent plasticity and functional adaptation are thought to be restricted to the central nervous and immune systems. This study shows that long-lasting experience-dependent plasticity is a key feature of endocrine cell networks, allowing improved tissue function and hormone output following repeat demand.

Engineered biofilms have applications in biorefineries. Here, Honget al. engineer bacteria to produce a combination of dispersal proteins and quorum sensing factors, and show that one dispersing bacterium can eliminate a biofilm formed by a colonizing bacterium.

Studying carrier multiplication in materials is important to understand their transport properties and interaction with light. Hiroriet al. show that intense terahertz pulses can generate electron-hole pairs in GaAs quantum wells that then emit infrared light, contrary to the effect with a DC field.

Ferroelectric materials are characterized by a spontaneous polarization, which in practical applications is manipulated by an electric field. This study examines how defects affect the switching with atomic resolution, by usingin situaberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy.

When materials change temperature as a result of the application of pressure or a change in the magnetization, they are said to display a barocaloric or magnetocaloric effect, respectively. This study reports a substantial barocaloric effect in the giant magnetocaloric material LaFe_11.33Co_0.47Si_1.2.

The habitat where early humans, hominins, lived provides information about the early part of human evolution. In this study, sedimentological and stable carbon and oxygen isotope data suggest homininArdipithecus ramiduslived in a river-margin forest in a wooded grassland landscape at Aramis, Ethiopia.

Membrane repair of myocytes is important to prevent such disease as muscular dystrophy but the properties of this repair are not well characterised. In this study, vitamin E is shown to be important in the repair of myocyte cell membranes in cultured cells and in intact muscle.

The tumour suppressor BRCA1 is mutated in familial breast and ovarian cancer. Now, Shuklaet al.demonstrate that mice lacking BRCA1 in cardiomyocytes are more sensitive to ischaemia than control mice, and that BRCA1 is elevated in human tissues exposed to ischaemia, suggesting a cardioprotective role for BRCA1.

Food availability elicits behavioural and developmental responses. Adamset al. show that, in sea urchin larvae, food availability mediates developmental plasticity by regulating changes in arm length through dopamine signalling, a pathway widely used to mediate food-induced behavioural responses.

G-protein-coupled receptors sense extracellular cues and transmit the signal to distinct trimeric G-proteins. Stefanet al.show that in response to cAMP, a central and conserved component of the Gαs-coupled receptor cascade, the RII subunit of PKA, specifically binds to and participates in Gαi signaling.

The tumour microenvironment is often found to be immunosuppressive. Reppert and colleagues show that human and murine lung tumours harbour IL-17A-producing T cells, and that blocking IL-17A increases survival in mice, suggesting that anti-IL-17A therapy may be useful in treating lung cancer.

At present there are no highly effective vaccines forPlasmodium falciparum. In this study, a vaccine raised against the P. falciparum reticulocyte-binding protein homologue 5 is shown to induce an IgG response in rabbits that could block the proliferation of multiple parasite strains in vitro.