Hormones articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Endocrinologists have traditionally focused on studying one hormone or organ system at a time. Here the authors use transcriptomic data from the mouse lemur to globally characterize primate hormonal signaling, describing hormone sources and targets, identifying conserved and primate specific regulation, and elucidating principles of the network.

    • Shixuan Liu
    • , Camille Ezran
    •  & James E. Ferrell Jr.

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Amino acids modulate insulin secretion via amino acid transporters expressed on β cells. Here, the authors show a VGF-derived peptide NERP-4 acts as a positive allosteric modulator on the amino acid transporter SNAT2/SLC38A2, thereby contributing to β-cell maintenance and function.

    • Weidong Zhang
    • , Ayako Miura
    •  & Masamitsu Nakazato

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Gibberellins (GA) negatively regulate UVB-mediated suppression of plant height in plants. Here, the authors show that GmILPA1-mediated degradation of GmGA2ox-like protein counteract the UV-B-mediated reduction of bioactive GAs contributing to the linkage between the affection of UV-B and GA on plant height of soybean.

    • Jiaqi Sun
    • , Shiyu Huang
    •  & Fengning Xiang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Insulin hormones and their receptors regulate key life processes in animals: from metabolism to life span. Human insulin receptor has been studied extensively. Here, the authors show remarkable structural similarity of fruit fly and human insulin receptors, indicating their universal functioning.

    • Cristina M. Viola
    • , Orsolya Frittmann
    •  & Andrzej M. Brzozowski

  • Article
    | Open Access

    α1-adrenergic receptors (α1- AR) play critical roles in the cardiovascular and nervous systems. Here, the authors report molecular insights into the mechanisms underlying the discrimination between α1A-AR and α1B-AR by the agonist A61603.

    • Minfei Su
    • , Jinan Wang
    •  & Xin-Yun Huang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Monoamines act as neuromodulators in the nervous system, but their evolutionary origins are unclear. Here, the authors examine the evolution of genes involved in monoamine production, and processing suggesting that the monoaminergic system evolved in the bilaterian stem-group.

    • Matthew Goulty
    • , Gaelle Botton-Amiot
    •  & Roberto Feuda

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Leptin is a master regulator of body weight and energy homeostasis that is dysregulated in obesity. Here, authors determined the cryo-EM structure of the activated Leptin receptor complex, revealing insights into the mechanism of Leptin signaling

    • Robert A. Saxton
    • , Nathanael A. Caveney
    •  & K. Christopher Garcia

  • Article
    | Open Access

    PELP1 is a large scaffolding protein implicated in many cellular activities, including ribosome assembly as part of the Rix1 complex, comprising PELP1, WDR18, TEX10 and other components. Here, authors present the cryo-EM structure of PELP1 in complex with its binding partner WDR18, revealing the architecture of PELP1's numerous signaling motifs.

    • Jacob Gordon
    • , Fleur L. Chapus
    •  & Robin E. Stanley

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, Waltenspühl et al. report the cryo-EM structure of active human oxytocin receptor in complex with oxytocin and with a heterotrimeric G protein, providing insights into this hormone system critically involved in the regulation of social behaviour and reproduction.

    • Yann Waltenspühl
    • , Janosch Ehrenmann
    •  & Andreas Plückthun

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The iodinated thyroglobulin functions as iodine storage and carrier protein and a precursor for thyroid hormone (TH) biogenesis. Here, the authors report the structure of native, fully glycosylated human thyroglobulin, revealing the location of the hTg hormonogenic and glycosylation sites.

    • Ricardo Adaixo
    • , Eva M. Steiner
    •  & Nicholas M. I. Taylor

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ghrelin is a gastric peptide hormone and its acylation is required for binding to and activation of the ghrelin receptor in the brain, which initiates appetite. Here, the authors present cryo-EM structures of the Gq-coupled ghrelin receptor bound to ghrelin and the synthetic agonist GHRP-6 and they describe how the acylated peptide hormone is recognised by the receptor, which is of interest for drug design.

    • Yue Wang
    • , Shimeng Guo
    •  & Yi Jiang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Glucocorticoid receptors (GR) are thought to bind DNA as dimers or monomers, to regulate different transcription pathways. Here, the authors perform genome-wide studies on GRs with mutations that impair dimerization and provide evidence that monomeric GRs do not play a significant physiologic role.

    • Thomas A. Johnson
    • , Ville Paakinaho
    •  & Diego M. Presman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The human neuropeptide Y receptor Y2 (Y2R) is a drug target for the treatment of obesity and anxiety. Crystal structure of Y2R bound to a selective antagonist and accompanying mutagenesis provide insights into ligand recognition and subtype specificity of NPY receptors.

    • Tingting Tang
    • , Christin Hartig
    •  & Beili Wu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Human steroid 5α-reductase 2 (SRD5A2) is an integral membrane enzyme and catalyzes 5α-reduction of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone. Structural analysis accompanied by computational and mutagenesis studies reveal the mechanisms of catalysis and inhibition by clinically relevant drugs targeting SRD5A2.

    • Qingpin Xiao
    • , Lei Wang
    •  & Cheng Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    O-glycosylation is an abundant post-translational modification but its relevance for bioactive peptides is unclear. Here, the authors detect O-glycans on almost one third of the classified peptide hormones and show that O-glycosylation can modulate peptide half-lives and receptor activation properties.

    • Thomas D. Madsen
    • , Lasse H. Hansen
    •  & Katrine T. Schjoldager

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ghrelin is a gastric peptide hormone with important physiological functions, including growth hormone release and appetite-stimulating activity. Here, authors solved the crystal structure of the ghrelin receptor bound to antagonist and suggested a possible mechanism of activation by acyl-modified ghrelin.

    • Yuki Shiimura
    • , Shoichiro Horita
    •  & Masayasu Kojima

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Enzymatic inactivation of gibberellins and auxin, via GA2ox3 and DAO respectively, contributes to hormone homeostasis in plants. Here Takehara et al. show that both enzymes multimerize in a substrate-concentration-dependent manner, and that this multimerization leads to increased enzyme activity.

    • Sayaka Takehara
    • , Shun Sakuraba
    •  & Miyako Ueguchi-Tanaka

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Glucocorticoids (GCs) are widely used anti-inflammatory drugs; however, long-term treatment causes metabolic side effects. Here, the authors show that E47 is a modulator of glucocorticoid receptor activity for a subset of target genes in mouse liver, and that loss of E47 protects mice from hyperglycemia and hepatic steatosis in response to GCs.

    • M. Charlotte Hemmer
    • , Michael Wierer
    •  & N. Henriette Uhlenhaut

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Insulin-like polypeptide binding proteins (IBPs) from insects can bind diverse insulin-like proteins (ILPs) including human insulin and IGFs. Here, the authors present structures of a Drosophila IBP in its free and ILP-bound forms, providing insights into the regulation of ILP bioavailability by insect IBPs.

    • Nikolaj Kulahin Roed
    • , Cristina M. Viola
    •  & Andrzej M. Brzozowski

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The structures of amyloid fibres are currently primarily studied through solid state NMR and cryo-EM. Here the authors present a free-standing graphene support device that allows diffraction imaging of non-crystalline amyloid fibrils with single X-ray pulses from an X-ray free-electron laser.

    • Carolin Seuring
    • , Kartik Ayyer
    •  & Henry N. Chapman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    How human labour is initiated in the presence of high circulating progesterone is still unclear. Here, the authors show that during a reduction in myometrial nuclear progesterone levels, there is an increased transcription of the key labour gene, Cx43, mediated by unliganded progesterone receptor A.

    • Lubna Nadeem
    • , Oksana Shynlova
    •  & Stephen Lye

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hypothalamic neurons expressing melanin-concentrating-hormone (MCH) maintain body weight by orchestrating behaviour and metabolism, but little is known about their intrinsic regulation. Here, Gonzalez and colleagues reveal their behaviour-related dynamics during wakefulness, and map their brain-wide neural inputs.

    • J. Antonio González
    • , Panagiota Iordanidou
    •  & Denis Burdakov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The mechanism by which relaxin activates the relaxin family peptide receptor-1 is poorly understood. Here, Sethi et al.identify a relaxin binding site in an extracellular linker between the LDLa and LRR domains and propose that relaxin binding stabilizes a helical conformation that leads to receptor activation.

    • Ashish Sethi
    • , Shoni Bruell
    •  & Paul R. Gooley

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Autotaxin generates the bioactive lipid lysophosphatidic acid to regulate diverse biological processes. Here, the authors identify a role for bile salts as direct allosteric inhibitors of autotaxin activity, suggesting that steroids may function as regulators of lysophosphatidic acid signalling.

    • Willem-Jan Keune
    • , Jens Hausmann
    •  & Anastassis Perrakis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Males are less susceptible to autoimmune diseases due to immunomodulatory effects of androgen. Here the authors show that androgen receptor upregulates Aire and Aire-dependent transcription in the thymic epithelium, and that Aire is required for androgen-mediated suppression of experimental autoimmune encephalitis.

    • Meng-Lei Zhu
    • , Pearl Bakhru
    •  & Maureen A. Su

  • Article
    | Open Access

    How the parathyroid hormone-related protein receptor (PPR) and its ligand act in root formation and tooth eruption is unclear. Here, the authors identify osterix-expressing dental mesenchymal cells as progenitors for root formation and that PPR signalling mediates their differentiation and tooth eruption.

    • Wanida Ono
    • , Naoko Sakagami
    •  & Henry M. Kronenberg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    mTORC1 is crucial for chondrocyte proliferation and bone growth, but the downstream signalling is not clear. Here, the authors use rapamycin and chondrocyte-specific Tsc1 knockout mice to show that S6K1 can cause nuclear accumulation of Gli2, thus driving PTHrP expression and preventing terminal differentiation of prehypertrophic chondrocytes.

    • Bo Yan
    • , Zhongmin Zhang
    •  & Xiaochun Bai

  • Article
    | Open Access

    High aldosterone levels cause heart damage independently of its well-known effect on blood pressure. Here, Cannavo et al. show that aldosterone-mediated cardiac pathology involves G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) kinase 2 (GRK2) and GRK5 that integrate signals from angiotensin II receptor (AT1R).

    • Alessandro Cannavo
    • , Daniela Liccardo
    •  & Walter J. Koch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies identifies four genetic loci associated with circulating leptin levels independent of adiposity. Examination in mouse adipose tissue explants provides functional support for the leptin-associated loci.

    • Tuomas O. Kilpeläinen
    • , Jayne F. Martin Carli
    •  & Ruth J. F. Loos

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Levels of circulating thyrotropin and free thyroxine reflect thyroid function, however, their genetic underpinnings remain poorly understood. Taylor et al. take advantage of whole-genome sequence data from cohorts within the UK10K project to identify novel variants associated with these traits.

    • Peter N. Taylor
    • , Eleonora Porcu
    •  & Pingbo Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The regulatory role of calcitonin in bone homeostasis is well studied, yet its molecular activity is poorly understood. The authors show that calcitonin regulates bone cells function by inhibiting the osteoclast secretion of sphingosine 1-phosphate, a lipid mediator of osteoclast–osteoblast crosstalk.

    • Johannes Keller
    • , Philip Catala-Lehnen
    •  & Michael Amling

  • Article |

    Thyroid hormone synthesis requires import of iodide ions through the Na+/I− symporter, however its affinity for iodide is surprisingly low. Using a statistical thermodynamics approach, Nicola et al. show that sodium ion binding enhances iodide affinity, revealing a mechanism for iodide transport.

    • Juan P. Nicola
    • , Nancy Carrasco
    •  & L. Mario Amzel

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