Experimental organisms articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pigment pattern formation in zebrafish depends on the interactions between the pigment cells. Here the authors present a mathematical model based on mutual interaction of pigment cells in the absence of cell motion, revising the current model of the pattern formation that relies on reaction–diffusion Turing patterns.

    • D. Bullara
    •  & Y. De Decker

  • Article |

    Plants have two types of photosystem reaction centres, PSI and PSII, that are traditionally thought to be spatially separate. Here, Yokono et al. show in Arabidopsisthat around half of PSII physically interacts with PSI to efficiently transfer excitation energy between the complexes, and this interaction is regulated by light.

    • M. Yokono
    • , A. Takabayashi
    •  & A. Tanaka

  • Article |

    Maternal molecular resources are invested in an egg so that different parts of the future embryo are specified and scaled in proportion to its size. Here the authors develop and experimentally test a model that evaluates the origins and limits of Bicoid morphogenetic gradient scaling in the fruit fly embryo.

    • Feng He
    • , Chuanxian Wei
    •  & Jun Ma

  • Article |

    Sweet taste plays a key role in promoting ingestion of nutritionally rich sources of carbohydrates. Here, the authors demonstrate that the pharyngeal sense organs in adult Drosophilaare important for directing the sustained consumption of sweet compounds.

    • Emily E. LeDue
    • , Yu-Chieh Chen
    •  & Michael D. Gordon

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In asymmetrically dividing cells, both spindle-dependent and spindle-independent cleavage furrow positioning pathways are involved in cytokinesis. Here the authors find that Survivin and the mitotic spindle are required to stabilize the position of the cleavage furrow and to complete cytokinesis in Drosophilaneuroblasts.

    • Michaela Roth
    • , Chantal Roubinet
    •  & Clemens Cabernard

  • Article |

    Carbon dioxide influences plant–water relations and gas exchange by regulating stomatal aperture. Here, Tian et al. characterize RHC1, a MATE family transporter that under elevated carbon dioxide concentrations promotes stomatal closure via activation of the SLAC1 anion channel.

    • Wang Tian
    • , Congcong Hou
    •  & Sheng Luan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The 18-kDa translocator protein (TSPO) has been implicated in steroid biogenesis and neuroinflammation. Here, the authors create viable and fertile global TSPO knockout mice, challenging the assumption that TSPO is essential for mouse development but suggesting that it may have a role under certain disease conditions.

    • Richard B. Banati
    • , Ryan J. Middleton
    •  & Guo-Jun Liu

  • Article |

    Genetically engineered mice are an important aspect of human disease research. Here, the authors use artificial transcription activator-like effector-nucleases to generate a mouse line with a conditionally targeted allele and suggest that this method can be easily adapted to any gene in the mouse genome.

    • Daniel Sommer
    • , Annika E. Peters
    •  & Marc Beyer

  • Article |

    Kidney diseases often cause anaemia due to damage of renal erythropoietin-producing cells. Yamazaki et al. identify a new population of erythropoietin-producing cells in the renal cortex and outer medulla by establishing a mouse model for adult-onset erythropoietin-deficient anaemia.

    • Shun Yamazaki
    • , Tomokazu Souma
    •  & Masayuki Yamamoto

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mouse models of arthritis generally do not result in both chronic disease and autoantibody production—two key features of the human disease. Here the authors obtain both features by combining two common protocols, and find that disease severity is associated with the presence of a previously unidentified lymph node.

    • Uta Baddack
    • , Sven Hartmann
    •  & Gerd Müller

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Chinese tree shrew, Tupaia belangeri chinensis, has been proposed as a potential animal model in biomedical research and drug safety testing. This study presents the full genome of the Chinese tree shrew, identifying common features between the tree shrew and primates.

    • Yu Fan
    • , Zhi-Yong Huang
    •  & Yong-Gang Yao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hemimetabolous insects comprise many pests but introducing targeted mutations into these species has been difficult. This paper reports efficient targeted mutagenesis, and the generation of homozygous knockouts, in crickets based on zinc finger nucleases or transcription activator-like effector nucleases.

    • Takahito Watanabe
    • , Hiroshi Ochiai
    •  & Taro Mito

  • Article |

    The modification of proteins with O-linked-N-acetylglucosamine causes regulation of multiple cellular processes. In this study, Sakaidani and colleagues identify an endoplasmic reticulum O-linked-N-acetylglucosamine transferase in Drosophilathat regulates the adhesion of epithelial cells to the extracellular matrix.

    • Yuta Sakaidani
    • , Tomoko Nomura
    •  & Tetsuya Okajima

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Drosophila melanogaster larvae demonstrate chemotaxis towards odours but their navigation mechanism is poorly understood. Using computer-vision tracking, Gomez-Marinet al.show that larvae ascend odour gradients using an active sampling strategy that is analogous to sniffing in vertebrates.

    • Alex Gomez-Marin
    • , Greg J. Stephens
    •  & Matthieu Louis

  • Article |

    Studying the physical interaction of stem cells with their niche has previously been difficult. Using a fluorescence-based reporter, Michelet al. are able to show that bone morphogenetic protein signalling occurs between Drosophilatestes germline stem cells and their niche and is via adherens junctions.

    • Marcus Michel
    • , Isabel Raabe
    •  & Christian Bökel

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