Articles

The activity of the Acid sensing ion channel 1, ASIC1, can be modulated by the gating modifier Psalmotoxin 1 but the molecular mechanism is unclear. Dawsonet al. report the structure of chicken ASIC1 bound to Psalmotoxin 1 and find that the toxin locks two regulatory regions of the channel into a desensitized conformation.

Plant hormones, such as auxin, coordinate plant development. In this study, an auxin transporter—PIN8—that is expressed in the male gametophyte ofArabidopsis thaliana, is found to regulate cellular homoeostasis and maintain optimal levels of auxin for pollen development.

Theory states that sterile worker bees compensate for a lack of direct fitness by contributing to the nest, but testing this has been difficult. Here, for the solitary and eusocial beeL. baleicum, the inclusive fitness of an eusocial worker is higher than that of a solitary female, satisfying the rule in the field.

To describe the biochemical composition of an organism multiple data sets must be combined and this information can then be used forin silico analysis. By combining metabolism and transcription data, Lerman et al. discovered new regulons and improved the gene annotation for the simple organism Thermotoga maritima.

In response to stress, yeast cells selectively translate proteins that can enhance cell survival. In this study, the authors find that tRNA^LEU(CAA)in yeast cells is modified in response to oxidative stress by a methyltransferase and this results in the selective translation of the mRNA for these genes.

The crystallization of a racemate on a surface can lead to crystals with a unit cell containing both enantiomers, or to the separation of enantiomers into crystals of single-handedness. This study shows that manganese co-absorbed with a quinone derivative leads to achiral islands, while co-absorption with caesium gives chiral islands.

Scanning probe microscopy and related techniques rely on the availability of very sharp tips. Here, a sharpening technique based on field-directed sputtering is demonstrated, resulting in ultrasharp metallic tips for use in scanning tunnelling microscopy as well as atomic-scale lithographic experiments.

The interface within heterostructures consisting of LaAlO₃ and SrTiO₃ has been reported to give rise to magnetism, in addition to a two-dimensional electron gas. Kalisky et al. observe that magnetism can occur only above a critical thickness, and that it occurs in heterogeneous patches.

Controlling nuclear spin patterns is important to manage decoherence and control electron spin currents in spintronic devices. This study demonstrates the optical creation of rewritable patterns of nuclear polarization in gallium arsenide without ferromagnets, lithographic patterning or field gradients.

The rice pattern recognition receptor—XA21—confers immunity against the Gram-negative bacterial pathogen,Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae. This study shows that the intracellular kinase domain of XA21 translocates to the nucleus and that this translocation is essential for the XA21-mediated immune response.

Embryonic stem cells have a shortened cell cycle that allows for rapid proliferation, but the exact mechanisms are unclear. Here, a microRNA target, Trim71, is shown to inhibit the expression of a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, thus enabling the G1–S phase cell cycle transition in embryonic stem cells.

Fast rechargeable batteries made from low-cost and abundant electrode materials are attractive for energy storage. Wanget al. develop an ultrafast Ni–Fe battery with carbon/inorganic hybrid electrodes in which the charge and discharge rates are nearly 1,000-fold higher than traditional Ni–Fe batteries.

Ganoderma lucidumis a macrofungus in traditional Chinese medicine known to produce different bioactive compounds. In this study, the genome ofG. lucidumis sequenced, making this organism a potential model system for future studies of secondary metabolic pathways and their regulation in medicinal fungi.

Fluorescence imaging is important for biomedical research and applications, but the turbidity of biological material prohibits deep tissue study. By combining ultrasound-encoding with digital time-reversal, Wanget al.perform focussed fluorescence imaging at a tissue depth of 2.5mm.

In mammalian cells, ABC transporter proteins were thought to exclusively export a range of substrates out of cells. Quazi and colleagues show that, in retinal photoreceptor cells, ABCA4 is acting as an importer of phospholipids and that mutations known to cause Stargardt disease decrease its activity.

Stretchable electronics based on conducting polymers offer new opportunities for designing flexible technologies. Parket al. build three-dimensional nanostructures from elastomers soaked with liquid metal to produce stretchable conductors with greatly improved strain properties over solid films.

Protein L-isoaspartyl methyltransferase (PIMT) is a carboxyl methyltransferase, but its role in regulating the tumour suppressor p53 is unclear. Here, PIMT is shown to methylate p53, obstructing the tumour suppressor function of p53 through reduced protein levels and stability.

The cerebellum has important roles in motor control and sensory perception. Sultan and colleagues use electrical stimulation and functional magnetic resonance imaging to reveal that the cerebellum provides inputs to specialized cortical regions of the brain that modulate cerebro-cortical processing.

Electrical stimulation is used to treat a range of neurological diseases, but there are limitations that reduce its benefits. Bonmassar and colleagues show that magnetic stimulation delivered by small coils, close to the targeted neural tissue, can also be used to activate neurons and with fewer limitations.

Recent investigations of high-temperature superconductors suggest rotational symmetry is broken in the pseudogap and superconducting states. This theoretical study examines experimental data obtained for a cuprate system known as Dy-Bi2212, and concludes the nematic state extends into the bulk.