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Systems biology: Defiant daughters and coordinated cousins
Genetically identical cells can have many variable properties. A study of correlations between cells in a lineage explains paradoxical inheritance laws, in which mother and daughter cells seem less similar than cousins. |
Cancer immunotherapy: Dendritic-cell vaccines on the move
Vaccines that induce an antitumour immune response are disappointingly ineffective in treating patients with cancer. Pre-conditioning the vaccination site to induce inflammation might provide a way to improve this therapy. |
Materials chemistry: Cooperative carbon capture
Enzymes bind carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in a highly precise way, whereas synthetic materials just passively adsorb it. Or do they? A study of compounds called metal–organic frameworks now challenges this picture. |
Visualizing transient Watson–Crick-like mispairs in DNA and RNA duplexes
dG•dT and rG•rU ‘wobble’ mispairs in DNA and RNA transiently form base pairs with Watson–Crick geometry via tautomerization and ionization with probabilities that correlate with misincorporation probabilities during replication and translation. |
Crystal structure of the eukaryotic origin recognition complex
The crystal structure of the heterohexameric origin recognition complex (ORC), essential for coordinating DNA replication onset in eukaryotes, is resolved at 3.5 Å resolution. |
Cooperative insertion of CO2 in diamine-appended metal-organic frameworks
A cooperative insertion mechanism for CO2 adsorption is shown to generate highly efficient adsorbents for carbon capture applications. |
Clinical improvement in psoriasis with specific targeting of interleukin-23
A proof-of-concept phase I clinical trial demonstrates that targeting interleukin (IL)-23 with an antibody that binds to the p19 subunit leads to clinical improvement of disease in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis. |
Ligand-enabled meta-C–H activation using a transient mediator
A combination of norbornene and pyridine-type ligand enables commonly used ortho-directing groups to directmeta-C–H activation with palladium catalysts. |
Anomalocaridid trunk limb homology revealed by a giant filter-feeder with paired flaps
New anomalocaridid specimens from the Early Ordovician Fezouata Biota of Morocco show well-preserved trunk anatomy, revealing evidence for the evolution of arthropod limbs. |
Vapour-mediated sensing and motility in two-component droplets
Droplets of mixed water and propylene glycol deposited on clean glass exhibit a contact angle but do not suffer from contact line pinning; their motion can be controlled by the vapour emitted from neighbouring droplets to create a variety of autonomous fluidic machines with integrated sensing and motility capabilities. |
Radiation and dual checkpoint blockade activate non-redundant immune mechanisms in cancer
In this study, involving melanoma patients and a mouse model for melanoma, an optimal anti-tumour response was induced by using a combination of radiation with anti-CTLA4 and anti-PD-L1 antibody therapies, each attacking the tumour from a different angle. |
Lineage correlations of single cell division time as a probe of cell-cycle dynamics
Precise measurement of cell-cycle duration in thousands of mammalian cells reveals correlations among cousin cells, but no such correlations between mother and daughter cells; recapitulating this finding using a deterministic model suggests that observed cellular heterogeneities in cell-cycle duration may be attributable to deterministic processes, and eventually be controlled. |
Disruption of DNA-methylation-dependent long gene repression in Rett syndrome
Rett syndrome is caused by mutation of the MECP2 gene that codes for a protein that binds methylated DNA; this study reveals that MeCP2 affects the expression of long genes, which often serve neuronal functions. |
Tetanus toxoid and CCL3 improve dendritic cell vaccines in mice and glioblastoma patients
A clinical trial in patients with glioblastoma shows increased immune and anti-tumour responses to dendritic cell vaccination after pre-conditioning the site of vaccination with tetanus toxoid (Td); similar results are also seen in mice in part due to the actions of the chemokine CCL3, and the findings may represent new ways to improve the efficacy of anti-cancer vaccines. |
Dissemination, divergence and establishment of H7N9 influenza viruses in China
Influenza surveillance over 15 cities across 5 provinces in China from October 2013 to July 2014 shows that the virus has diverged into distinct clades, becoming established in chickens and also disseminating to wider geographic regions. |
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Defining the Anthropocene
Formal criteria must be met to define a new human-driven epoch; the geological evidence appears to do so, with 1610 and 1964 both likely to satisfy the requirements for the start of the Anthropocene.
Simon L. Lewis, Mark A. Maslin |
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Notum deacylates Wnt proteins to suppress signalling activity
The biochemical activity of Notum as a carboxylesterase that removes an essential lipid moiety from Wnt proteins is uncovered; the interaction of Notum with glypicans is required to ensure localization at the cell surface, and Notum may provide a new target for therapeutic development in diseases with defective Wnt signalling.
Satoshi Kakugawa, Paul F. Langton, Matthias Zebisch et al. |
Quantitative evolutionary dynamics using high-resolution lineage tracking
Random DNA barcodes were used to simultaneously track hundreds of thousands of lineages in large cell populations, revealing deterministic dynamics early in their evolution.
Sasha F. Levy, Jamie R. Blundell, Sandeep Venkataram et al. |
Integrase-mediated spacer acquisition during CRISPR–Cas adaptive immunity
The bacterial CRISPR/Cas system acquires short phage sequences known as spacers that integrate between CRISPR repeats and constitute a record of phage infection; this study shows that the Cas1–Cas2 complex is the minimal machinery required for spacer acquisition and the complex integrates oligonucleotide DNA substrates into acceptor DNA in a manner similar to retroviral integrases and DNA transposases with Cas 1 as the catalytic subunit and Cas2 acting to increase integration activity.
James K. Nuñez, Amy S. Y. Lee, Alan Engelman et al. |
Cas9 specifies functional viral targets during CRISPR–Cas adaptation
Bacterial CRISPR–Cas loci acquire short phage sequences called spacers that integrate between DNA repeats and how these viral sequences are chosen was unknown; in these studies of the type II CRISPR–Cas system ofStreptococcus pyogenes, the Cas9 nuclease known to inactivate invading viral DNA was found to be required for the selection of functional spacers during CRISPR immunity.
Robert Heler, Poulami Samai, Joshua W. Modell et al. |
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Regulation of star formation in giant galaxies by precipitation, feedback and conduction
Observations confirm models of galaxy cooling in which cold clouds precipitate out of hot gas via thermal instability, and the precipitation threshold is incorporated into a theoretical framework that explains how precipitation and thermal conduction regulate star formation.
G. M. Voit, M. Donahue, G. L. Bryan et al. |
Identification of a mast-cell-specific receptor crucial for pseudo-allergic drug reactions
Cationic substances, including some drugs, can activate mast cells in an IgE-independent manner, leading to histamine release, inflammation and airway contraction; here, the G-protein-coupled receptor MrgprB2, the orthologue of human MRGPRX2, is shown to be the sole mast cell receptor for these substances in mice.
Benjamin D. McNeil, Priyanka Pundir, Sonya Meeker et al. |
Orientation columns in the mouse superior colliculus
Population recordings reveal that neurons in the mouse superior colliculus are grouped according to their preferred orientations or movement axes for visual line stimuli, similar to the columnar arrangement in visual cortex of higher mammals; this functional architecture suggests that the superior colliculus samples the visual world unevenly for stimulus orientations.
Evan H. Feinberg, Markus Meister |
Group 2 innate lymphoid cells promote beiging of white adipose tissue and limit obesity
Group 2 innate lymphoid cells are shown to have a critical role in energy homeostasis by producing methionine-enkephalin peptides in response to interleukin 33, thus promoting the beiging of white adipose tissue; increased numbers of beige (also known as brown-like or brite) fat cells in white adipose tissue leads to increased energy expenditure and decreased adiposity.
Jonathan R. Brestoff, Brian S. Kim, Steven A. Saenz et al. |
Mechanosensory interactions drive collective behaviour in Drosophila
Collective behaviour in animal groups can improve individual perception and decision-making, but the neural mechanisms involved have been hard to access in classic models for these phenomena; here it is shown thatDrosophila’s olfactory responses are enhanced in groups of flies, through mechanosensory neuron-dependent touch interactions.
Pavan Ramdya, Pawel Lichocki, Steeve Cruchet et al. |
Observation of antiferromagnetic correlations in the Hubbard model with ultracold atoms
Ultracold atomic gases in optical lattices potentially offer simulations of condensed-matter phenomena beyond what theory and computations can access; compensated optical lattice techniques applied to the Hubbard model now enable unprecedented low temperatures to be reached for fermions — only 1.4 times that of the antiferromagnetic phase transition, approaching the limits of present modelling techniques.
Russell A. Hart, Pedro M. Duarte, Tsung-Lin Yang et al. |
Spatiotemporal transcriptomics reveals the evolutionary history of the endoderm germ layer
Studies of gene-expression levels in embryos of Caenorhabditis elegans and of other phyla reveal the timing and location of expression of all genes and support a model in which the endoderm program dates back to the origin of multicellularity while the ectoderm originated as a secondary germ layer freed from ancestral feeding functions.
Tamar Hashimshony, Martin Feder, Michal Levin et al. |
Ongoing hydrothermal activities within Enceladus
Analysis of silicon-rich, nanometre-sized dust particles near Saturn shows them to consist of silica, which was initially embedded in icy grains emitted from Enceladus’ subsurface waters and released by sputter erosion in Saturn’s E ring; their properties indicate their ongoing formation and transport by high-temperature hydrothermal reactions from the ocean floor and up into the plume of Enceladus.
Hsiang-Wen Hsu, Frank Postberg, Yasuhito Sekine et al. |
Decrease in CO2 efflux from northern hardwater lakes with increasing atmospheric warming
Atmospheric warming may reduce CO2 emissions from hardwater lakes by reducing the duration of ice cover, increasing lake water pH and favouring CO2 sequestration.
Kerri Finlay, Richard J. Vogt, Matthew J. Bogard et al. |
Large-scale discovery of novel genetic causes of developmental disorders
Up to half of children with severe developmental disorders of probable genetic origin remain without a genetic diagnosis; here, in a systematic and nationwide study of 1,133 children with severe, undiagnosed developmental disorders, and their parents, exome sequencing and array-based detection of chromosomal rearrangements reveals novel genes causing developmental disorders, increasing the proportion of children that can now be diagnosed to 31%.
The Deciphering Developmental Disorders Study, T. W. Fitzgerald, S. S. Gerety et al. |
Crystal structure of the human OX2 orexin receptor bound to the insomnia drug suvorexant
The orexin system regulates sleep and arousal in humans, with orexin receptor antagonists becoming promising therapeutics for insomnia; now, the X-ray crystal structure of the human OX2 receptor in the presence of the insomnia drug suvorexant is solved.
Jie Yin, Juan Carlos Mobarec, Peter Kolb et al. |
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