Biological sciences articles within Nature Communications

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The pentameric ligand gated ion channel fromErwinia chrysanthemi(ELIC) is similar in structure to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, a member of the Cys-loop receptor family. This study reports the crystal structure of ELIC bound to acetylcholine and shows that acetylcholine is a competitive antagonist of ELIC.

    • Jianjun Pan
    • , Qiang Chen
    •  & Pei Tang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Glutathione's key role as a modulator of reactive oxygen species levels has recently been challenged. Quintana-Cabreraet al. now provide in vivoevidence supporting an antioxidant and neuroprotective function for γ-glutamylcysteine, which replaces glutathione by acting as glutathione peroxidase-1 cofactor.

    • Ruben Quintana-Cabrera
    • , Seila Fernandez-Fernandez
    •  & Juan P. Bolaños

  • Article |

    Understanding the environmental controls of past wildfires is difficult due to the lack of records of weather or vegetation. This study shows, using cross-scale analysis, how power laws associated with fire-event time series can identify critical thresholds in landscape dynamics in a rapidly changing climate.

    • Donald McKenzie
    •  & Maureen C. Kennedy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Barley is an important food crop that has been adapted to grow on acidic soils that often contain toxic soluble aluminium. In this study, an insertion in the upstream region of a citrate transporter is shown to confer resistance of barley to aluminium toxicity and is found in aluminium-tolerant barley accessions.

    • Miho Fujii
    • , Kengo Yokosho
    •  & Jian Feng Ma

  • Article |

    Humans are a network of complex physiological systems, but quantifying these diverse systems is a challenge. This study presents a method to show that each physiological state is characterized by a specific network structure, demonstrating a connection between network topology and function.

    • Amir Bashan
    • , Ronny P. Bartsch
    •  & Plamen Ch. Ivanov

  • Article |

    Perturbation of the cardiac voltage-gated sodium channel, NaV1.5, by drugs or inherited mutation can underlie and trigger cardiac arrhythmias. Here, the role of the NaV1.5 carboxy terminus in channel inactivation is investigated, and structural details of an arrhythmia associated H6 mutant are reported.

    • Ian W. Glaaser
    • , Jeremiah D. Osteen
    •  & Robert S. Kass

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Some animal populations are able to shift their birth sex ratio from the expected unity. This study shows, using fluorescencein situhybridization, that in a captive population of pygmy hippopotamus the males appear to be able to adjust the ratio of X- and Y-chromosome-bearing spermatozoa in their ejaculates.

    • Joseph Saragusty
    • , Robert Hermes
    •  & Thomas B. Hildebrandt

  • Article |

    Imaging and tracking the motion of single molecules on cell plasma membranes requires high spatial resolution in three dimensions. Honget al. develop a plasmonic ruler based on the fluorescence enhancement of carbon nanotubes on a gold plasmonic substrate, allowing the observation of nanotube endocytosis in three dimensions.

    • Guosong Hong
    • , Justin Z. Wu
    •  & Hongjie Dai

  • Article |

    Interpolar microtubules were thought to be indispensable for eukaryotic cell division. Here, Akera and colleagues demonstrate that the second division of meiosis in yeast can occur in the absence of interpolar microtubules, and identify the forespore membrane as a force producing structure in cell division.

    • Takashi Akera
    • , Masamitsu Sato
    •  & Masayuki Yamamoto

  • Article |

    Animals track odour trails to find food, a mate or to steer clear of danger. Bhalla and colleagues combine behavioural and physiological measurements to show that rats can track surface-borne odours with near-optimal sampling and are able to predict the path direction on encountering a bifurcation.

    • Adil Ghani Khan
    • , Manaswini Sarangi
    •  & Upinder Singh Bhalla

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Intracellular temperature mapping has not previously been achieved. Now, a fluorescent polymeric thermometer has been developed that can be used in combination with fluorescence-lifetime imaging microscopy to allow thermometry with spatial and temperature resolutions of 200 nm and 0.18–0.58 ° C.

    • Kohki Okabe
    • , Noriko Inada
    •  & Seiichi Uchiyama

  • Article |

    The exact speed of spoken word processing by our brain is still unknown. Using MEG to compare brain responses to words and pseudowords, MacGregoret al. show that lexical processing occurs 50 ms after acoustic information is presented, suggesting that our brain's access to word information is near-instantaneous.

    • Lucy J MacGregor
    • , Friedemann Pulvermüller
    •  & Yury Shtyrov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Algae show much promise in the production of biofuels owing to their high photoautotrophic biomass and lipid production rates. In this study, the draft genome ofNannochloropsis gaditanaCCMP526 and a method for the transformation of this alga are reported, facilitating the investigation of lipid synthesis and biofuel production.

    • Randor Radakovits
    • , Robert E. Jinkerson
    •  & Matthew C. Posewitz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Testosterone-dependent traits are thought to give an honest signal of male immune function, however, the exact effects remain unclear. This study shows a positive relationship between testosterone, facial attractiveness and the immune response to a hepatitis B vaccine, which is moderated by naturally co-occurring cortisol.

    • Markus J. Rantala
    • , Fhionna R. Moore
    •  & Indrikis Krams

  • Article
    | Open Access

    GALgenes enhance their own transcription via the transcription factor Gal4p, and the number of Galp4 sites in a promoter is expected to strengthen the feedback. In this study, Hsuet al. show that instead the feedback loops are activated by genes that have frequent bursts of expression and fast RNA decay kinetics.

    • Chieh Hsu
    • , Simone Scherrer
    •  & Attila Becskei

  • Article
    | Open Access

    β-Catenin can be oncogenic but finding inhibitors has been a challenge. Here, five compounds are identified, which attenuate transcriptional β-catenin outputs in colorectal cancer cells, and the response to one of them is shown to require an intrinsically labile α-helix next to the BCL9-binding site in β-catenin.

    • Marc de la Roche
    • , Trevor J. Rutherford
    •  & Mariann Bienz

  • Article |

    It is unclear whether pathogens can advantageously exploit the host's immune response. UsingCandida albicans, the authors show that host IL-17A binds to the fungi and induces nutrient starvation and autophagy, which eventually leads to enhanced biofilm formation and resistance to the hosts' defence.

    • Teresa Zelante
    • , Rossana G. Iannitti
    •  & Luigina Romani

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The peripheral stalks of rotary ATPases counteract torque generated by rotation of the central stalk during ATP synthesis or hydrolysis. Stewartet al.report the crystal structure of an A-type ATPase/synthase peripheral stalk and identify bending and twisting motions that permit the radial wobbling of the headgroup.

    • Alastair G. Stewart
    • , Lawrence K. Lee
    •  & Daniela Stock

  • Article |

    Humans understand actions by making inferences about the person's intentions. Comparing humans with chimpanzees, this study shows that humans refer to the actors' faces more than chimpanzees do when observing goal-directed actions, indicating that humans view actions by integrating information from the actor.

    • Masako Myowa-Yamakoshi
    • , Céline Scola
    •  & Satoshi Hirata

  • Article |

    Zonal occludens and claudin form tight junctions near the apical surface of cells and are important in polarized epithelia. In this study, the translational regulatory sequence-specific RNA binding protein CPEB is shown to be required for the correct localization of zona occluden 1 mRNA in mammary epithelial cells.

    • Kentaro Nagaoka
    • , Tsuyoshi Udagawa
    •  & Joel D. Richter

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Na+/K+-ATPase pump exports three Na+ ions for the exchange of two K+ ions, and three transient current components have been associated with Na+ binding and release. Now, these three components are found to be tightly correlated confirming that the binding and release of Na+ions is sequential.

    • David C. Gadsby
    • , Francisco Bezanilla
    •  & Miguel Holmgren

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Detailed analysis of axis development in mouse embryo has been limited. Morriset al. developed an in vitroculture technique that enables the real-time observation of an anterior visceral endoderm formation and show that cell marker asymmetry within the AVE subdomain dictates the direction of the AVE migration.

    • Samantha A. Morris
    • , Seema Grewal
    •  & Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz

  • Article |

    PADI4 is an enzyme that converts arginine residues to citrulline. Here, Tanikawa and colleagues show that, in response to DNA damage, histone H4 and Lamin C are citrullinated in a p53 and PADI4-dependent manner andPadi4-dependent manner and Padi4 null mice are resistant to radiation-induced apoptosis in the thymus.

    • Chizu Tanikawa
    • , Martha Espinosa
    •  & Koichi Matsuda

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Molecular factors, regulating the expression of specific glycolytic enzymes that favour biosynthetic processes, have remained unknown. Panasyuket al. identify PPARγ as a novel transcription factor turning on pyruvate kinase M2 and hexokinase 2, which are frequently upregulated in pathophysiological growth.

    • Ganna Panasyuk
    • , Catherine Espeillac
    •  & Mario Pende

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Myeloid cells are important in the response to severe infection by invasiveStreptococcusGroup A. In this study, a distinct population of immature myeloid cells with ring shaped nuclei that produce interferon-γ are shown to be important for protection of mice against the early stages of invasive infection.

    • Takayuki Matsumura
    • , Manabu Ato
    •  & Kazuo Kobayashi

  • Article |

    Actin filaments are involved in the modulation of nuclear shape and function, but mechanistic understanding of these processes is lacking. Versaevelet al. show that orientation and deformation of the nucleus are regulated by lateral compressive forces driven by tension in central actomyosin fibres.

    • Marie Versaevel
    • , Thomas Grevesse
    •  & Sylvain Gabriele

  • Article |

    Empirical data suggest that species abundance distributions can have multiple modes, which is not predicted by existing theories. This study shows that the multimodal pattern is consistent with emergent neutrality, suggesting this theory could have a role in shaping natural communities.

    • Remi Vergnon
    • , Egbert H. van Nes
    •  & Marten Scheffer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Epitopes presented by MHC-II molecules bind to T-cell receptors to activate CD4+ T cells. In this study, changes in the carboxy-terminal region of the influenza hemagglutinin epitope HA305-320alters the strength of binding to the T-cell receptor, thus modulating T-cell receptor usage and activation.

    • David K. Cole
    • , Kathleen Gallagher
    •  & Andrew Godkin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Beclin1 is a key regulator of VPS34-related processes, including autophagy. Liet al. solve the crystal structure of Beclin 1 CC domain, an antiparallel dimer that is rendered metastable by a series of a-d' pairings, which determines its ability to form distinct heterodimers either with Atg14L or UVRAG.

    • Xiaohua Li
    • , Liqiang He
    •  & Yanxiang Zhao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The loss of flight in some insect lineages may promote allopatric differentiation and result in a high speciation rate. Here, using the carrion beetle, loss of flight is shown to accelerate allopatric speciation with higher genetic differentiation than for flight-capable species.

    • Hiroshi Ikeda
    • , Masaaki Nishikawa
    •  & Teiji Sota

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The signalling cascade involved in lung ischaemia–reperfusion-induced oedema is poorly understood. Using knockout mice, Weissmannet al. propose a model in which reactive oxygen species production by endothelial NOX2 leads to phospholipase C-γ activation, DAG kinase inhibition and subsequent TRPC6 activation.

    • Norbert Weissmann
    • , Akylbek Sydykov
    •  & Alexander Dietrich

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The influenza A virus genome consists of eight RNA segments, which permits genetic reassortment and contributes to the emergence of novel strains with pandemic potential. Here, electron tomography is used to study the three-dimensional structure of ribonucleoprotein complexes within progeny virions.

    • Takeshi Noda
    • , Yukihiko Sugita
    •  & Yoshihiro Kawaoka

  • Article |

    Archaeopteryxcombined features of reptiles and birds, but the colour of its feathers has remained unclear. In this study, based on data from fossilized colour-imparting melanosomes, an isolated feather specimen fromArchaeopteryxis predicted to be black, providing clues to its plumage colour and function.

    • Ryan M. Carney
    • , Jakob Vinther
    •  & Jörg Ackermann

Browse narrower subjects

Browse Biological sciences across other nature.com journals