Articles in 2021

G-protein coupled receptors are regulated by the membrane potential in vitro. Here, the authors show that muscarinic receptor voltage independence causes a strong behavioural effect of increased odour habituation, showing that these receptors are also in vivo modulated by the membrane potential.

Bioenergy crops has been proposed as a climate mitigation measure, but how the biophysical effects of large-scale cultivation would influence the climate is not well known. Here, the authors use models to show that large-scale cultivation could cool the global land by 0.03 to 0.08 °C.

Developmental genes are frequently controlled by multiple enhancers sharing similar specificities, so deletions of such regulatory elements often fail to reveal their full function. Here the authors use the Pitx1 testbed locus to characterize the regulatory and cellular identity alterations following the deletion in vivo of one of its enhancers.

Systems of confined active filaments within a deformable vesicle are of relevance for development of active materials constructed from anisotropic particles. The authors propose a framework to control the transformations of the vesicle shape and filament organization.

‘Here, the authors use dummies of different Morpho butterfly species and sexes to investigate behaviour in patrolling butterflies, finding strong reproductive interference between species despite limited gene flow. They finally show that interference is mitigated by temporal partitioning, hence promoting the coexistence of sympatric Morpho species.’

Repeat-rich sequences play a role in 3D genome architecture in higher eukaryotes; however, this remains unexplored in brain cells. Here, the authors show that upregulation of endogenous retroviral (ERV) sequences is linked to changes in the 3D structure in the brain, which is also observed by comparison of mouse strains with recent retrotransposon expansion.

Establishing the relative transmissibility of emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2 is key for pandemic management. Here, the authors use full-population administrative data from Denmark linked to PCR test results and estimate that the Alpha variant was ~60% higher than other strains circulating in early 2021.

Probing resonance features in a scattering process is of fundamental interest. Here the authors discuss the Fano interference due to different angular momentum components in the angle resolved scattering cross section of He*-D₂ elastic collisions.

The timing and nature of the first plate tectonic processes on Earth is disputed. Here the authors present a seismic reflection image of a suture zone that extends to 60 km depth beneath the ancient Yilgarn region of western Australia, suggesting that plate subduction occurred as early as 2.8 billion years ago

Although the hetero-Diels–Alder reaction is a staple of organic chemistry, catalytic asymmetric versions of the inverse-electron demand variant often require specially engineered substrates for the reaction to work. Here the authors cyclize non-activated alkenes with α,β-unsaturated ketones or aldehydes to form chiral fused heterocycles using a chiral phosphoric acid catalyst.

An isotope synthesis of 1257 global lakes revealed on average 20% of inflow is lost to evaporation, but 10% of Earth’s lakes show extreme evaporative losses. Stable water isotope monitoring is an effective way to detect comparative climatic and catchment-scale impacts on lake water-balance budgets.

The reaction of a conductive ferroelectric matter to external electric field remains largely unknown. Here, the authors reveal the relationship between the electrically-driven crystalline domain transition along the multiple-polar directions and the resistance change.

Acyl radicals represent a reactive species that allow for aldehyde subunits to be nucleophilic instead of their typical electrophilic behavior; however, these species are difficult to access in mild conditions. Here the authors show a method to generate acyl radicals using only an organic photocatalyst and light, and these species are shown as competent nucleophiles in a variety of couplings.

Enzymes involved in the synthesis of nitrogen-nitrogen bond containing molecules have been identified but the processes remain largely unknown. Here, the authors use biochemical characterisation and computer modelling to study the molecular basis of hydrazine bond formation by a family of di-domain enzymes.

The histone demethylase KDM6B is reported to be essential for neuroblastoma cell survival. Here the authors show that KDM6B regulates CDK4/6-pRB-E2F pathway through H3K27me3-dependent enhancer-promoter interactions in neuroblastoma.

Ryanodine receptor type 1 (RyR1) are involved in skeletal muscle contraction. Here, the authors show that a transient calcium leak in response to exercise-induced post translational modifications of RyR1 causes mitochondrial remodeling to improve respiration.

The UK extended the interval until the second COVID-19 vaccine dose up to 12 weeks. Here, the authors show in a cohort of 750 participants aged 50–89 years that the extended schedule results in higher antibody titers and estimate a higher vaccine effectiveness for the extended schedule.

Little is known about the recent population history or the effects of endogamy on the Pakistani population. Here the authors examine the impact of the biraderi social stratification system on the population structure of individuals of British Pakistani ancestry in the Born in Bradford cohort.

Plant roots host diverse fungal communities that affect plant health. Here, Mesny et al. use comparative genomics and transcriptomics of fungal isolates from the Arabidopsis thaliana root mycobiota, together with root colonization assays, to identify genetic determinants of endophytism.

The alignment of three 2D nanosheets leads to the formation of super-moiré atomic lattices, which can influence the electronic properties of van der Waals structures. Here, the authors report evidence of possible correlated insulating states in doubly-aligned hBN/graphene/hBN heterostructures, in a weak-interaction regime.