Neuroscience articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The volume of subcortical brain structures is known to be heritable. Here, Roshchupkin and colleagues studied seven different subcortical brain structures in the general population and show that the genetic contributions go beyond these volumetric measurements, and also extend to their shapes.

    • Gennady V. Roshchupkin
    • , Boris A. Gutman
    •  & Hieab H. H. Adams

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Part of understanding ageing involves knowing how the brain’s connecting pathways change in healthy aging. Here, authors provide a detailed characterisation of data from 3513 UK Biobank participants, and show that the microstructure of these pathways becomes more similar with age.

    • Simon R. Cox
    • , Stuart J. Ritchie
    •  & Ian J. Deary

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tolerance for risk decreases with age, but it is not known whether this shift can be accounted for by a neurobiological marker. Here, authors show that the age-related decrease in risk tolerance is better accounted for by grey matter decreases in right posterior parietal cortex than by age per se.

    • Michael A. Grubb
    • , Agnieszka Tymula
    •  & Ifat Levy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Brain-machine interfaces (BMI) depend on algorithms to decode neural signals, but these decoders cope poorly with signal variability. Here, authors report a BMI decoder which circumvents these problems by using a large and perturbed training dataset to improve performance with variable neural signals.

    • David Sussillo
    • , Sergey D. Stavisky
    •  & Krishna V. Shenoy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Whole-brain networks of long-range neuronal pathways are characterized by interdependencies between structural features. Here the author shows that module hierarchy and rich club features in these networks are structural byproducts (spandrels) of module and hub constraints, but not of wiring-cost constraints.

    • Mikail Rubinov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Gap junctions have critical roles in maintaining homeostasis in multicellular organisms. Here the authors present cryo-EM structures of the C. elegansinnexin-6 gap junction channel, revealing high structural similarity to human connexin 26 despite a different oligomeric number and lack of sequence similarity.

    • Atsunori Oshima
    • , Kazutoshi Tani
    •  & Yoshinori Fujiyoshi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Previous studies have used fluorescently labelled cells to demonstrate the incorporation of transplanted photoreceptor precursors into the mouse retina. Here, the authors show that fluorescent proteins are passed between the host and transplanted cells rather than migration of donor cells into the retina.

    • Mandeep S. Singh
    • , Jasmin Balmer
    •  & Robert E. MacLaren

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pluripotent stem cells are thought to require a highly active proteostatic machinery. Here, the authors show that CCT8, a subunit of the proteostatic chaperonin complex, is increased in pluripotent stem cells, and that overexpression of CCT8 in worms increases cellular proteostasis and organismal longevity.

    • Alireza Noormohammadi
    • , Amirabbas Khodakarami
    •  & David Vilchez

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Astrocytes monitor and regulate both excitatory and inhibitory synaptic activity. Here, the authors identify a novel form of neuronal-glia communication, by which astrocytes detect rises in GABA via the GABA transporter GAT-3; this results in adenosine release that acts presynaptically to inhibit neural glutamatergic signalling.

    • Kim Boddum
    • , Thomas P. Jensen
    •  & Matthew C. Walker

  • Article
    | Open Access

    mGluRs are known to undergo non-canonical signalling regulation, although the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Here, the authors identify a role for β-arrestin2, but not β-arrestin1, in group I mGluR-mediated plasticity at hippocampal synapses.

    • Andrew G. Eng
    • , Daniel A. Kelver
    •  & Geoffrey T. Swanson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Neurons in the auditory midbrain are known to modify their firing rates in response to changes in sound intensity. Here the authors show that in guinea pigs, such modifications occur faster when neurons re-encounter the same environment, a phenomenon they term meta-adaptation.

    • Benjamin L. Robinson
    • , Nicol S. Harper
    •  & David McAlpine

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Decision-making balances the benefits of additional information with the cost of time, but it is unclear whether humans adjust this balance within individual decisions. Here, authors show that we do make such adjustments to suit contextual demands and suggest that these are driven by modulation of neural gain.

    • Peter R. Murphy
    • , Evert Boonstra
    •  & Sander Nieuwenhuis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Stimulus orientation in the primary visual cortex of primates and carnivores is mapped into a geometrical mosaic but the functional implications of these maps remain debated. Here the authors reveal an association between the structure of cortical orientation maps in cats, and the functions of local cortical circuits in processing patterns and contours.

    • Erin Koch
    • , Jianzhong Jin
    •  & Qasim Zaidi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Experimenter scoring of cellular imaging data can be biased. This study describes an automated and unbiased multidimensional phenotyping method that relies on machine learning and complex feature computation of imaging data, and identifies weak alleles affecting synapse morphology in live C. elegans.

    • Adriana San-Miguel
    • , Peri T. Kurshan
    •  & Hang Lu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Accumulated damage to mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) occurs during the ageing process and neurodegenerative disease. Here, the authors show that mtDNA copy number increases in an age-dependent manner in substantia nigra of healthy individuals, but not in individuals with Parkinson disease.

    • Christian Dölle
    • , Irene Flønes
    •  & Charalampos Tzoulis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Barrel cortex contains a functional map of whiskers but how neuronal activity maps multi-whisker inputs has not been studied. Here the authors show that while uncorrelated multi-whisker stimuli activate barrel neurons, correlated multi-whisker inputs activate neurons in a ring at the barrel-septa boundary

    • Luc Estebanez
    • , Julien Bertherat
    •  & Jean- François Léger

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cerebrovascular accumulation of Aβ is a common feature of Alzheimer’s disease, though it is unclear whether mutant vascular amyloid is capable of Aβ seeding. Here, the authors show microvascular amyloid seeds are capable of driving wild-type Aβ to assemble into distinctive anti-parallel fibrillary structures.

    • Feng Xu
    • , Ziao Fu
    •  & William E. Van Nostrand

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tip-link filaments convey force to activate hair cells, important sensory receptors. Here the authors solve a partial structure of human protocadherin-15, a tip-link component with an unusual Ca2+–free linker that bends and is predicted to confer flexibility to this filament during inner-ear mechanotransduction.

    • Raul Araya-Secchi
    • , Brandon L. Neel
    •  & Marcos Sotomayor

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chloride regulation is important for setting GABAergic reversal potential, though tools to manipulate chloride levels are limited. Here, the authors combine Archaerhodopsin with a chloride channel opsin to generate an optogenetic chloride extrusion strategy, ‘Cl-out’, which they demonstrate in hippocampal slices.

    • Hannah Alfonsa
    • , Jeremy H. Lakey
    •  & Andrew J. Trevelyan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Back-propagating action potentials (bAP) and NMDA dendritic spikes have both been linked to long-term plasticity (LTP) induction, though it is unclear which factors are essential. Here, using electrophysiology and Ca2+imaging, the authors find NMDA spikes are a key initiator of LTP, and that bAP contribution occurs via NMDA spike triggering.

    • Federico Brandalise
    • , Stefano Carta
    •  & Urs Gerber

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Perceiving objects as lifelike is an inferential process but whether it occurs quickly and how it applies to groups of objects is not well understood. Here the authors show that observers’ percepts of crowd lifelikeness are fast and represent the average of the individual objects comprising that crowd.

    • Allison Yamanashi Leib
    • , Anna Kosovicheva
    •  & David Whitney

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Molecular mechanisms that control the division of neural progenitor cells are only partially understood. Here the authors show that Diaph3 is critical for spindle checkpoint activity in cortical progenitor cells as the loss of Diaph3 leads to apoptosis of progenitor cells and eventually results in microcephaly in mice.

    • Devid Damiani
    • , André M. Goffinet
    •  & Fadel Tissir

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dysregulation of mTOR signaling has been implicated in autism spectrum disorders. Here authors show that hyperconnectivity and hyperactivity of the mPFC–BLA circuitry inPten+/−mice underlies their social impairments, and that reducing mTORC1 signaling during early postnatal development rescues these deficits.

    • Wen-Chin Huang
    • , Youjun Chen
    •  & Damon T. Page

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Neuroanatomical shape measurements are multidimensional geometric descriptions of brain structure. This study develops multivariate heritability analysis methods and examines structural brain MRI scans and genetic data to estimate the heritability of neuroanatomical shape.

    • Tian Ge
    • , Martin Reuter
    •  & Mert R. Sabuncu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is not clear how circadian biochemical cascades are encoded into neural electrical signals. Here, using a combination of electrophysiology and modelling approaches in mice, the authors show activation of glycogen synthase kinase 3 modulates neural activity in the suprachiasmatic nuclei via regulation of the persistent sodium current, INaP.

    • Jodi R. Paul
    • , Daniel DeWoskin
    •  & Karen L. Gamble

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Transcriptional regulation is necessary for maintaining long-term memories (LTM) but the mechanistic details are not completely defined. Here the authors identify transcriptional machinery and histone modifiers required for LTM maintenance inDrosophilaand show that transcriptional regulation for LTM maintenance is distinct from that for LTM formation.

    • Yukinori Hirano
    • , Kunio Ihara
    •  & Minoru Saitoe

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In Alzheimer’s disease (AD), neural hyperactivity has been shown to occur in the regions surrounding Aβ plaques. Here, the authors use in vivotwo-photon imaging in mouse models of AD and report abnormal glutamate dynamics in the vicinity of plaques which can be partially restored via GLT-1 upregulation through Ceftriaxone treatment.

    • J. K. Hefendehl
    • , J. LeDue
    •  & B. A. MacVicar

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In neurons and glia, glutamate transporters catalyse the reuptake of this neurotransmitter by coupling it with cation transport. Here the authors combine X-ray crystallography and molecular dynamics simulations of the archeal glutamate transporter GltTkto get insight into the coupled transport mechanism.

    • Albert Guskov
    • , Sonja Jensen
    •  & Dirk Jan Slotboom

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The cGAS–STING pathway is an important immune defence pathway against viral infection, including HSV-1. Here the authors use an HSV-1 encephalitis model and show microglia are the main producers of type 1 interferons that induce antiviral activity in neurons and prime the TLR3-interferon pathway in astrocytes.

    • Line S. Reinert
    • , Katarína Lopušná
    •  & Søren R. Paludan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Working memory is known to improve through adolescence into adulthood, yet the associated changes in neuronal activity are not well understood. Zhou and colleagues report increased delay period activity correlated with changes in performance on working memory tasks in monkeys as they transition into adulthood.

    • Xin Zhou
    • , Dantong Zhu
    •  & Christos Constantinidis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Glutamatergic signalling regulation by Syngap1 has been linked to intellectual disabilities. Here, the authors find Syngap1 also regulates cortical GABAergic synaptic signalling development and that this reduced inhibitory signalling contributes to cognitive deficits in a mouse model.

    • Martin H. Berryer
    • , Bidisha Chattopadhyaya
    •  & Graziella Di Cristo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In addition to light intensity, changes in pupil diameter are correlated with mental effort, attention and levels of arousal. Reimer et al. report that across behavioural states, fluctuations in pupil diameter are highly correlated with activity of noradrenergic and cholinergic projection neurons.

    • Jacob Reimer
    • , Matthew J McGinley
    •  & Andreas S Tolias

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Multi-layered neural architectures that implement learning require elaborate mechanisms for symmetric backpropagation of errors that are biologically implausible. Here the authors propose a simple resolution to this problem of blame assignment that works even with feedback using random synaptic weights.

    • Timothy P. Lillicrap
    • , Daniel Cownden
    •  & Colin J. Akerman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Gephyrin is a cytoplasmic scaffolding protein that selectively forms postsynaptic scaffolds at GABAergic and glycinergic synapses. Here the authors characterize regulatory mechanisms determining gephyrin scaffolding and GABAA receptor synaptic transmission that involve acetylation, SUMOylation and phosphorylation.

    • Himanish Ghosh
    • , Luca Auguadri
    •  & Shiva K. Tyagarajan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Whether Alzheimer’s disease originates in basal forebrain or entorhinal cortex remains highly debated. Here the authors use structural magnetic resonance data from a longitudinal sample of participants stratified by cerebrospinal biomarker and clinical diagnosis to show that tissue volume changes appear earlier in the basal forebrain than in the entorhinal cortex.

    • Taylor W. Schmitz
    • , R. Nathan Spreng
    •  & Ansgar J. Furst

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The stress-reducing effects of social bonds have been hypothesized to accrue either during stressful events or across daily affiliations. Here, Wittiget al. show that the presence of social partners reduces levels of stress hormones in wild chimpanzees beyond stressful contexts, supporting the latter hypothesis.

    • Roman M. Wittig
    • , Catherine Crockford
    •  & Klaus Zuberbühler

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sensory cortices represent stimuli through joint activity of competing neuronal assemblies. Here the authors show that a model of visual cortex with plastic feedforward and recurrent synapses, exposed to natural images, spontaneously develops attractor dynamics between groups of similarly tuned neurons.

    • Thomas Miconi
    • , Jeffrey L. McKinstry
    •  & Gerald M. Edelman

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