ALBERT

Description: The current outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa is unprecedented, causing more cases and fatalities than all previous outbreaks combined, and has yet to be controlled. Several post-exposure interventions have been employed under compassionate use to treat patients repatriated to Europe and the United States. However, the in vivo efficacy of these interventions against the new outbreak strain of Ebola virus is unknown. Here we show that lipid-nanoparticle-encapsulated short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) rapidly adapted to target the Makona outbreak strain of Ebola virus are able to protect 100% of rhesus monkeys against lethal challenge when treatment was initiated at 3 days after exposure while animals were viraemic and clinically ill. Although all infected animals showed evidence of advanced disease including abnormal haematology, blood chemistry and coagulopathy, siRNA-treated animals had milder clinical features and fully recovered, while the untreated control animals succumbed to the disease. These results represent the first, to our knowledge, successful demonstration of therapeutic anti-Ebola virus efficacy against the new outbreak strain in nonhuman primates and highlight the rapid development of lipid-nanoparticle-delivered siRNA as a countermeasure against this highly lethal human disease.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4467030/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4467030/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Thi, Emily P -- Mire, Chad E -- Lee, Amy C H -- Geisbert, Joan B -- Zhou, Joy Z -- Agans, Krystle N -- Snead, Nicholas M -- Deer, Daniel J -- Barnard, Trisha R -- Fenton, Karla A -- MacLachlan, Ian -- Geisbert, Thomas W -- U19 AI109711/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U19AI109711/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 May 21;521(7552):362-5. doi: 10.1038/nature14442. Epub 2015 Apr 22.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, Burnaby, British Columbia V5J 5J8, Canada. ; 1] Galveston National Laboratory, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77550, USA [2] Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77550, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25901685" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Multicellularity is often considered a prerequisite for morphological complexity, as seen in the camera-type eyes found in several groups of animals. A notable exception exists in single-celled eukaryotes called dinoflagellates, some of which have an eye-like 'ocelloid' consisting of subcellular analogues to a cornea, lens, iris, and retina. These planktonic cells are uncultivated and rarely encountered in environmental samples, obscuring the function and evolutionary origin of the ocelloid. Here we show, using a combination of electron microscopy, tomography, isolated-organelle genomics, and single-cell genomics, that ocelloids are built from pre-existing organelles, including a cornea-like layer made of mitochondria and a retinal body made of anastomosing plastids. We find that the retinal body forms the central core of a network of peridinin-type plastids, which in dinoflagellates and their relatives originated through an ancient endosymbiosis with a red alga. As such, the ocelloid is a chimaeric structure, incorporating organelles with different endosymbiotic histories. The anatomical complexity of single-celled organisms may be limited by the components available for differentiation, but the ocelloid shows that pre-existing organelles can be assembled into a structure so complex that it was initially mistaken for a multicellular eye. Although mitochondria and plastids are acknowledged chiefly for their metabolic roles, they can also be building blocks for greater structural complexity.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Gavelis, Gregory S -- Hayakawa, Shiho -- White, Richard A 3rd -- Gojobori, Takashi -- Suttle, Curtis A -- Keeling, Patrick J -- Leander, Brian S -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jul 9;523(7559):204-7. doi: 10.1038/nature14593. Epub 2015 Jul 1.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada. ; 1] Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada [2] Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada [3] Center for Information Biology, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan. ; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada. ; 1] Center for Information Biology, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan [2] Computational Bioscience Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia. ; 1] Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada [2] Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada [3] Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada [4] Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1Z8, Canada. ; 1] Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada [2] Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1Z8, Canada. ; 1] Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada [2] Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada [3] Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1Z8, Canada.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26131935" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Geddes, Linda -- England -- Nature. 2015 Nov 5;527(7576):22-5. doi: 10.1038/527022a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26536940" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉England -- Nature. 2015 May 28;521(7553):394. doi: 10.1038/521394a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26017406" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉de Oliveira, Joao Ricardo Mendes -- England -- Nature. 2015 Oct 22;526(7574):506. doi: 10.1038/526506e.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26490608" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Surface polysaccharides are important for bacterial interactions with multicellular organisms, and some are virulence factors in pathogens. In the legume-rhizobium symbiosis, bacterial exopolysaccharides (EPS) are essential for the development of infected root nodules. We have identified a gene in Lotus japonicus, Epr3, encoding a receptor-like kinase that controls this infection. We show that epr3 mutants are defective in perception of purified EPS, and that EPR3 binds EPS directly and distinguishes compatible and incompatible EPS in bacterial competition studies. Expression of Epr3 in epidermal cells within the susceptible root zone shows that the protein is involved in bacterial entry, while rhizobial and plant mutant studies suggest that Epr3 regulates bacterial passage through the plant's epidermal cell layer. Finally, we show that Epr3 expression is inducible and dependent on host perception of bacterial nodulation (Nod) factors. Plant-bacterial compatibility and bacterial access to legume roots is thus regulated by a two-stage mechanism involving sequential receptor-mediated recognition of Nod factor and EPS signals.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Kawaharada, Y -- Kelly, S -- Nielsen, M Wibroe -- Hjuler, C T -- Gysel, K -- Muszynski, A -- Carlson, R W -- Thygesen, M B -- Sandal, N -- Asmussen, M H -- Vinther, M -- Andersen, S U -- Krusell, L -- Thirup, S -- Jensen, K J -- Ronson, C W -- Blaise, M -- Radutoiu, S -- Stougaard, J -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jul 16;523(7560):308-12. doi: 10.1038/nature14611. Epub 2015 Jul 8.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Centre for Carbohydrate Recognition and Signalling. Aarhus University, Aarhus 8000 C, Denmark [2] Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Aarhus 8000 C, Denmark. ; 1] Centre for Carbohydrate Recognition and Signalling. Aarhus University, Aarhus 8000 C, Denmark [2] Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Aarhus 8000 C, Denmark [3] Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Otago, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand. ; 1] Centre for Carbohydrate Recognition and Signalling. Aarhus University, Aarhus 8000 C, Denmark [2] Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg 1871 C, Denmark. ; Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA. ; 1] Centre for Carbohydrate Recognition and Signalling. Aarhus University, Aarhus 8000 C, Denmark [2] Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Otago, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26153863" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Robots have transformed many industries, most notably manufacturing, and have the power to deliver tremendous benefits to society, such as in search and rescue, disaster response, health care and transportation. They are also invaluable tools for scientific exploration in environments inaccessible to humans, from distant planets to deep oceans. A major obstacle to their widespread adoption in more complex environments outside factories is their fragility. Whereas animals can quickly adapt to injuries, current robots cannot 'think outside the box' to find a compensatory behaviour when they are damaged: they are limited to their pre-specified self-sensing abilities, can diagnose only anticipated failure modes, and require a pre-programmed contingency plan for every type of potential damage, an impracticality for complex robots. A promising approach to reducing robot fragility involves having robots learn appropriate behaviours in response to damage, but current techniques are slow even with small, constrained search spaces. Here we introduce an intelligent trial-and-error algorithm that allows robots to adapt to damage in less than two minutes in large search spaces without requiring self-diagnosis or pre-specified contingency plans. Before the robot is deployed, it uses a novel technique to create a detailed map of the space of high-performing behaviours. This map represents the robot's prior knowledge about what behaviours it can perform and their value. When the robot is damaged, it uses this prior knowledge to guide a trial-and-error learning algorithm that conducts intelligent experiments to rapidly discover a behaviour that compensates for the damage. Experiments reveal successful adaptations for a legged robot injured in five different ways, including damaged, broken, and missing legs, and for a robotic arm with joints broken in 14 different ways. This new algorithm will enable more robust, effective, autonomous robots, and may shed light on the principles that animals use to adapt to injury.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Cully, Antoine -- Clune, Jeff -- Tarapore, Danesh -- Mouret, Jean-Baptiste -- England -- Nature. 2015 May 28;521(7553):503-7. doi: 10.1038/nature14422.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Sorbonne Universites, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), Paris 06, UMR 7222, Institut des Systemes Intelligents et de Robotique (ISIR), F-75005, Paris, France [2] CNRS, UMR 7222, Institut des Systemes Intelligents et de Robotique (ISIR), F-75005, Paris, France. ; Department of Computer Science, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming 82071, USA. ; 1] Sorbonne Universites, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), Paris 06, UMR 7222, Institut des Systemes Intelligents et de Robotique (ISIR), F-75005, Paris, France [2] CNRS, UMR 7222, Institut des Systemes Intelligents et de Robotique (ISIR), F-75005, Paris, France [3] Inria, Team Larsen, Villers-les-Nancy, F-54600, France [4] CNRS, Loria, UMR 7503, Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, F-54500, France [5] Universite de Lorraine, Loria, UMR 7503, Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, F-54500, France.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26017452" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Tollefson, Jeff -- England -- Nature. 2015 Sep 24;525(7570):434-5. doi: 10.1038/525434a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26399805" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Wing polyphenism is an evolutionarily successful feature found in a wide range of insects. Long-winged morphs can fly, which allows them to escape adverse habitats and track changing resources, whereas short-winged morphs are flightless, but usually possess higher fecundity than the winged morphs. Studies on aphids, crickets and planthoppers have revealed that alternative wing morphs develop in response to various environmental cues, and that the response to these cues may be mediated by developmental hormones, although research in this area has yielded equivocal and conflicting results about exactly which hormones are involved. As it stands, the molecular mechanism underlying wing morph determination in insects has remained elusive. Here we show that two insulin receptors in the migratory brown planthopper Nilaparvata lugens, InR1 and InR2, have opposing roles in controlling long wing versus short wing development by regulating the activity of the forkhead transcription factor Foxo. InR1, acting via the phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase (PI(3)K)-protein kinase B (Akt) signalling cascade, leads to the long-winged morph if active and the short-winged morph if inactive. InR2, by contrast, functions as a negative regulator of the InR1-PI(3)K-Akt pathway: suppression of InR2 results in development of the long-winged morph. The brain-secreted ligand Ilp3 triggers development of long-winged morphs. Our findings provide the first evidence of a molecular basis for the regulation of wing polyphenism in insects, and they are also the first demonstration--to our knowledge--of binary control over alternative developmental outcomes, and thus deepen our understanding of the development and evolution of phenotypic plasticity.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Xu, Hai-Jun -- Xue, Jian -- Lu, Bo -- Zhang, Xue-Chao -- Zhuo, Ji-Chong -- He, Shu-Fang -- Ma, Xiao-Fang -- Jiang, Ya-Qin -- Fan, Hai-Wei -- Xu, Ji-Yu -- Ye, Yu-Xuan -- Pan, Peng-Lu -- Li, Qiao -- Bao, Yan-Yuan -- Nijhout, H Frederik -- Zhang, Chuan-Xi -- England -- Nature. 2015 Mar 26;519(7544):464-7. doi: 10.1038/nature14286. Epub 2015 Mar 18.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology and Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory of Agricultural Entomology, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China. ; Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25799997" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Gene expression is regulated by transcription factors (TFs), proteins that recognize short DNA sequence motifs. Such sequences are very common in the human genome, and an important determinant of the specificity of gene expression is the cooperative binding of multiple TFs to closely located motifs. However, interactions between DNA-bound TFs have not been systematically characterized. To identify TF pairs that bind cooperatively to DNA, and to characterize their spacing and orientation preferences, we have performed consecutive affinity-purification systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (CAP-SELEX) analysis of 9,400 TF-TF-DNA interactions. This analysis revealed 315 TF-TF interactions recognizing 618 heterodimeric motifs, most of which have not been previously described. The observed cooperativity occurred promiscuously between TFs from diverse structural families. Structural analysis of the TF pairs, including a novel crystal structure of MEIS1 and DLX3 bound to their identified recognition site, revealed that the interactions between the TFs were predominantly mediated by DNA. Most TF pair sites identified involved a large overlap between individual TF recognition motifs, and resulted in recognition of composite sites that were markedly different from the individual TF's motifs. Together, our results indicate that the DNA molecule commonly plays an active role in cooperative interactions that define the gene regulatory lexicon.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Jolma, Arttu -- Yin, Yimeng -- Nitta, Kazuhiro R -- Dave, Kashyap -- Popov, Alexander -- Taipale, Minna -- Enge, Martin -- Kivioja, Teemu -- Morgunova, Ekaterina -- Taipale, Jussi -- England -- Nature. 2015 Nov 19;527(7578):384-8. doi: 10.1038/nature15518. Epub 2015 Nov 9.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, SE 141 83, Sweden. ; European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, 38043 Grenoble, France. ; Genome-Scale Biology Program, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 63, FI-00014, Finland.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26550823" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Jones, Dan -- England -- Nature. 2015 Mar 12;519(7542):148-50. doi: 10.1038/519148a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25762265" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Continuing degradation of coral reef ecosystems has generated substantial interest in how management can support reef resilience. Fishing is the primary source of diminished reef function globally, leading to widespread calls for additional marine reserves to recover fish biomass and restore key ecosystem functions. Yet there are no established baselines for determining when these conservation objectives have been met or whether alternative management strategies provide similar ecosystem benefits. Here we establish empirical conservation benchmarks and fish biomass recovery timelines against which coral reefs can be assessed and managed by studying the recovery potential of more than 800 coral reefs along an exploitation gradient. We show that resident reef fish biomass in the absence of fishing (B0) averages approximately 1,000 kg ha(-1), and that the vast majority (83%) of fished reefs are missing more than half their expected biomass, with severe consequences for key ecosystem functions such as predation. Given protection from fishing, reef fish biomass has the potential to recover within 35 years on average and less than 60 years when heavily depleted. Notably, alternative fisheries restrictions are largely (64%) successful at maintaining biomass above 50% of B0, sustaining key functions such as herbivory. Our results demonstrate that crucial ecosystem functions can be maintained through a range of fisheries restrictions, allowing coral reef managers to develop recovery plans that meet conservation and livelihood objectives in areas where marine reserves are not socially or politically feasible solutions.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉MacNeil, M Aaron -- Graham, Nicholas A J -- Cinner, Joshua E -- Wilson, Shaun K -- Williams, Ivor D -- Maina, Joseph -- Newman, Steven -- Friedlander, Alan M -- Jupiter, Stacy -- Polunin, Nicholas V C -- McClanahan, Tim R -- England -- Nature. 2015 Apr 16;520(7547):341-4. doi: 10.1038/nature14358. Epub 2015 Apr 8.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB 3 Townsville MC, Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia [2] Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 3J5, Canada [3] Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia. ; Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia. ; 1] Department of Parks and Wildlife, Kensington, Perth, Western Australia 6151, Australia [2] Oceans Institute, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia. ; Coral Reef Ecosystems Division, NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, Honolulu, Hawaii 96818, USA. ; 1] Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CEED), University of Queensland, Brisbane, St Lucia, Queensland 4074, Australia [2] Wildlife Conservation Society, Marine Programs, Bronx, New York 10460, USA. ; School of Marine Science and Technology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK. ; 1] Fisheries Ecology Research Lab, Department of Biology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA [2] Pristine Seas-National Geographic, Washington DC 20036, USA. ; Wildlife Conservation Society, Marine Programs, Bronx, New York 10460, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25855298" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Gong, Zhaohui -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jan 8;517(7533):145. doi: 10.1038/517145c.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Ningbo University School of Medicine, Ningbo, China.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25567273" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Somaclonal variation arises in plants and animals when differentiated somatic cells are induced into a pluripotent state, but the resulting clones differ from each other and from their parents. In agriculture, somaclonal variation has hindered the micropropagation of elite hybrids and genetically modified crops, but the mechanism responsible remains unknown. The oil palm fruit 'mantled' abnormality is a somaclonal variant arising from tissue culture that drastically reduces yield, and has largely halted efforts to clone elite hybrids for oil production. Widely regarded as an epigenetic phenomenon, 'mantling' has defied explanation, but here we identify the MANTLED locus using epigenome-wide association studies of the African oil palm Elaeis guineensis. DNA hypomethylation of a LINE retrotransposon related to rice Karma, in the intron of the homeotic gene DEFICIENS, is common to all mantled clones and is associated with alternative splicing and premature termination. Dense methylation near the Karma splice site (termed the Good Karma epiallele) predicts normal fruit set, whereas hypomethylation (the Bad Karma epiallele) predicts homeotic transformation, parthenocarpy and marked loss of yield. Loss of Karma methylation and of small RNA in tissue culture contributes to the origin of mantled, while restoration in spontaneous revertants accounts for non-Mendelian inheritance. The ability to predict and cull mantling at the plantlet stage will facilitate the introduction of higher performing clones and optimize environmentally sensitive land resources.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Ong-Abdullah, Meilina -- Ordway, Jared M -- Jiang, Nan -- Ooi, Siew-Eng -- Kok, Sau-Yee -- Sarpan, Norashikin -- Azimi, Nuraziyan -- Hashim, Ahmad Tarmizi -- Ishak, Zamzuri -- Rosli, Samsul Kamal -- Malike, Fadila Ahmad -- Bakar, Nor Azwani Abu -- Marjuni, Marhalil -- Abdullah, Norziha -- Yaakub, Zulkifli -- Amiruddin, Mohd Din -- Nookiah, Rajanaidu -- Singh, Rajinder -- Low, Eng-Ti Leslie -- Chan, Kuang-Lim -- Azizi, Norazah -- Smith, Steven W -- Bacher, Blaire -- Budiman, Muhammad A -- Van Brunt, Andrew -- Wischmeyer, Corey -- Beil, Melissa -- Hogan, Michael -- Lakey, Nathan -- Lim, Chin-Ching -- Arulandoo, Xaviar -- Wong, Choo-Kien -- Choo, Chin-Nee -- Wong, Wei-Chee -- Kwan, Yen-Yen -- Alwee, Sharifah Shahrul Rabiah Syed -- Sambanthamurthi, Ravigadevi -- Martienssen, Robert A -- R01 GM067014/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Sep 24;525(7570):533-7. doi: 10.1038/nature15365. Epub 2015 Sep 9.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Malaysian Palm Oil Board, 6, Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia. ; Orion Genomics, 4041 Forest Park Avenue, St Louis, Missouri 63108, USA. ; United Plantations Berhad, Jendarata Estate, 36009 Teluk Intan, Perak, Malaysia. ; Applied Agricultural Resources Sdn Bhd, No. 11, Jalan Teknologi 3/6, Taman Sains Selangor 1, 47810 Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. ; FELDA Global Ventures R&D Sdn Bhd, c/o FELDA Biotechnology Centre, PT 23417, Lengkuk Teknologi, 71760 Bandar Enstek, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. ; Howard Hughes Medical Institute-Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26352475" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Yang, Hong -- Thompson, Julian R -- Flower, Roger J -- England -- Nature. 2015 Sep 24;525(7570):455. doi: 10.1038/525455e.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉University of Oslo, Norway. ; University College London, UK.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26399818" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Gould, Julie -- England -- Nature. 2015 Dec 3;528(7580):22-5. doi: 10.1038/528022a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26632571" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Growing evidence demonstrates that climatic conditions can have a profound impact on the functioning of modern human societies, but effects on economic activity appear inconsistent. Fundamental productive elements of modern economies, such as workers and crops, exhibit highly non-linear responses to local temperature even in wealthy countries. In contrast, aggregate macroeconomic productivity of entire wealthy countries is reported not to respond to temperature, while poor countries respond only linearly. Resolving this conflict between micro and macro observations is critical to understanding the role of wealth in coupled human-natural systems and to anticipating the global impact of climate change. Here we unify these seemingly contradictory results by accounting for non-linearity at the macro scale. We show that overall economic productivity is non-linear in temperature for all countries, with productivity peaking at an annual average temperature of 13 degrees C and declining strongly at higher temperatures. The relationship is globally generalizable, unchanged since 1960, and apparent for agricultural and non-agricultural activity in both rich and poor countries. These results provide the first evidence that economic activity in all regions is coupled to the global climate and establish a new empirical foundation for modelling economic loss in response to climate change, with important implications. If future adaptation mimics past adaptation, unmitigated warming is expected to reshape the global economy by reducing average global incomes roughly 23% by 2100 and widening global income inequality, relative to scenarios without climate change. In contrast to prior estimates, expected global losses are approximately linear in global mean temperature, with median losses many times larger than leading models indicate.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Burke, Marshall -- Hsiang, Solomon M -- Miguel, Edward -- England -- Nature. 2015 Nov 12;527(7577):235-9. doi: 10.1038/nature15725. Epub 2015 Oct 21.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Earth System Science, Stanford University, California 94305, USA. ; Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford University, California 94305, USA. ; Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. ; National Bureau of Economic Research. ; Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26503051" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The human lens is comprised largely of crystallin proteins assembled into a highly ordered, interactive macro-structure essential for lens transparency and refractive index. Any disruption of intra- or inter-protein interactions will alter this delicate structure, exposing hydrophobic surfaces, with consequent protein aggregation and cataract formation. Cataracts are the most common cause of blindness worldwide, affecting tens of millions of people, and currently the only treatment is surgical removal of cataractous lenses. The precise mechanisms by which lens proteins both prevent aggregation and maintain lens transparency are largely unknown. Lanosterol is an amphipathic molecule enriched in the lens. It is synthesized by lanosterol synthase (LSS) in a key cyclization reaction of a cholesterol synthesis pathway. Here we identify two distinct homozygous LSS missense mutations (W581R and G588S) in two families with extensive congenital cataracts. Both of these mutations affect highly conserved amino acid residues and impair key catalytic functions of LSS. Engineered expression of wild-type, but not mutant, LSS prevents intracellular protein aggregation of various cataract-causing mutant crystallins. Treatment by lanosterol, but not cholesterol, significantly decreased preformed protein aggregates both in vitro and in cell-transfection experiments. We further show that lanosterol treatment could reduce cataract severity and increase transparency in dissected rabbit cataractous lenses in vitro and cataract severity in vivo in dogs. Our study identifies lanosterol as a key molecule in the prevention of lens protein aggregation and points to a novel strategy for cataract prevention and treatment.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Zhao, Ling -- Chen, Xiang-Jun -- Zhu, Jie -- Xi, Yi-Bo -- Yang, Xu -- Hu, Li-Dan -- Ouyang, Hong -- Patel, Sherrina H -- Jin, Xin -- Lin, Danni -- Wu, Frances -- Flagg, Ken -- Cai, Huimin -- Li, Gen -- Cao, Guiqun -- Lin, Ying -- Chen, Daniel -- Wen, Cindy -- Chung, Christopher -- Wang, Yandong -- Qiu, Austin -- Yeh, Emily -- Wang, Wenqiu -- Hu, Xun -- Grob, Seanna -- Abagyan, Ruben -- Su, Zhiguang -- Tjondro, Harry Christianto -- Zhao, Xi-Juan -- Luo, Hongrong -- Hou, Rui -- Perry, J Jefferson P -- Gao, Weiwei -- Kozak, Igor -- Granet, David -- Li, Yingrui -- Sun, Xiaodong -- Wang, Jun -- Zhang, Liangfang -- Liu, Yizhi -- Yan, Yong-Bin -- Zhang, Kang -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jul 30;523(7562):607-11. doi: 10.1038/nature14650. Epub 2015 Jul 22.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Molecular Medicine Research Center, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China [2] State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China [3] Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. ; State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. ; 1] Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA [2] Department of Ophthalmology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China. ; BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518083, China. ; 1] State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China [2] Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. ; Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. ; 1] Molecular Medicine Research Center, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China [2] Guangzhou KangRui Biological Pharmaceutical Technology Company, Guangzhou 510005, China. ; Molecular Medicine Research Center, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China. ; State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China. ; 1] Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA [2] CapitalBio Genomics Co., Ltd., Dongguan 523808, China. ; 1] Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA [2] Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai First People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai JiaoTong University, Shanghai 20080, China. ; Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. ; Guangzhou KangRui Biological Pharmaceutical Technology Company, Guangzhou 510005, China. ; Department of Biochemistry, University of California Riverside, Riverside, California 92521, USA. ; 1] Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA [2] Department of Nanoengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. ; King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. ; Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai First People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai JiaoTong University, Shanghai 20080, China. ; Department of Ophthalmology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China. ; 1] Molecular Medicine Research Center, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China [2] State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China [3] Department of Ophthalmology and Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA [4] Department of Nanoengineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA [5] Veterans Administration Healthcare System, San Diego, California 92093, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26200341" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The cave infills at Sterkfontein contain one of the richest assemblages of Australopithecus fossils in the world, including the nearly complete skeleton StW 573 ('Little Foot') in its lower section, as well as early stone tools in higher sections. However, the chronology of the site remains controversial owing to the complex history of cave infilling. Much of the existing chronology based on uranium-lead dating and palaeomagnetic stratigraphy has recently been called into question by the recognition that dated flowstones fill cavities formed within previously cemented breccias and therefore do not form a stratigraphic sequence. Earlier dating with cosmogenic nuclides suffered a high degree of uncertainty and has been questioned on grounds of sediment reworking. Here we use isochron burial dating with cosmogenic aluminium-26 and beryllium-10 to show that the breccia containing StW 573 did not undergo significant reworking, and that it was deposited 3.67 +/- 0.16 million years ago, far earlier than the 2.2 million year flowstones found within it. The skeleton is thus coeval with early Australopithecus afarensis in eastern Africa. We also date the earliest stone tools at Sterkfontein to 2.18 +/- 0.21 million years ago, placing them in the Oldowan at a time similar to that found elsewhere in South Africa at Swartkans and Wonderwerk.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Granger, Darryl E -- Gibbon, Ryan J -- Kuman, Kathleen -- Clarke, Ronald J -- Bruxelles, Laurent -- Caffee, Marc W -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jun 4;522(7554):85-8. doi: 10.1038/nature14268. Epub 2015 Apr 1.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA. ; Department of Anthropology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5A3, Canada. ; 1] Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa [2] School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa. ; Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa. ; 1] School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa [2] French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap), 561 rue Etienne Lenoir, km delta, 30900 Nimes, France [3] University of Toulouse Jean Jaures, UMR 5608 du CNRS (TRACES), Maison de la Recherche, 5 Allees Antonio Matchado, F-31058 Toulouse, France. ; 1] Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA [2] Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25830884" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Butler, Declan -- England -- Nature. 2015 May 21;521(7552):269. doi: 10.1038/nature.2015.17560.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25993935" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Plant genomes, and eukaryotic genomes in general, are typically repetitive, polyploid and heterozygous, which complicates genome assembly. The short read lengths of early Sanger and current next-generation sequencing platforms hinder assembly through complex repeat regions, and many draft and reference genomes are fragmented, lacking skewed GC and repetitive intergenic sequences, which are gaining importance due to projects like the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE). Here we report the whole-genome sequencing and assembly of the desiccation-tolerant grass Oropetium thomaeum. Using only single-molecule real-time sequencing, which generates long (〉16 kilobases) reads with random errors, we assembled 99% (244 megabases) of the Oropetium genome into 625 contigs with an N50 length of 2.4 megabases. Oropetium is an example of a 'near-complete' draft genome which includes gapless coverage over gene space as well as intergenic sequences such as centromeres, telomeres, transposable elements and rRNA clusters that are typically unassembled in draft genomes. Oropetium has 28,466 protein-coding genes and 43% repeat sequences, yet with 30% more compact euchromatic regions it is the smallest known grass genome. The Oropetium genome demonstrates the utility of single-molecule real-time sequencing for assembling high-quality plant and other eukaryotic genomes, and serves as a valuable resource for the plant comparative genomics community.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉VanBuren, Robert -- Bryant, Doug -- Edger, Patrick P -- Tang, Haibao -- Burgess, Diane -- Challabathula, Dinakar -- Spittle, Kristi -- Hall, Richard -- Gu, Jenny -- Lyons, Eric -- Freeling, Michael -- Bartels, Dorothea -- Ten Hallers, Boudewijn -- Hastie, Alex -- Michael, Todd P -- Mockler, Todd C -- England -- Nature. 2015 Nov 26;527(7579):508-11. doi: 10.1038/nature15714. Epub 2015 Nov 11.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St Louis, Missouri 63132, USA. ; Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. ; Department of Horticulture, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48823, USA. ; iPlant Collaborative, School of Plant Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA. ; Center for Genomics and Biotechnology, Haixia Institute of Science and Technology (HIST), Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China. ; IMBIO, University of Bonn, Kirschallee 1, D-53115 Bonn, Germany. ; Pacific Biosciences, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA. ; BioNano Genomics, San Diego, California 92121, USA. ; Ibis Biosciences, Carlsbad, California 92008, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26560029" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Low-molecular-mass thiols in organisms are well known for their redox-relevant role in protection against various endogenous and exogenous stresses. In eukaryotes and Gram-negative bacteria, the primary thiol is glutathione (GSH), a cysteinyl-containing tripeptide. In contrast, mycothiol (MSH), a cysteinyl pseudo-disaccharide, is dominant in Gram-positive actinobacteria, including antibiotic-producing actinomycetes and pathogenic mycobacteria. MSH is equivalent to GSH, either as a cofactor or as a substrate, in numerous biochemical processes, most of which have not been characterized, largely due to the dearth of information concerning MSH-dependent proteins. Actinomycetes are able to produce another thiol, ergothioneine (EGT), a histidine betaine derivative that is widely assimilated by plants and animals for variable physiological activities. The involvement of EGT in enzymatic reactions, however, lacks any precedent. Here we report that the unprecedented coupling of two bacterial thiols, MSH and EGT, has a constructive role in the biosynthesis of lincomycin A, a sulfur-containing lincosamide (C8 sugar) antibiotic that has been widely used for half a century to treat Gram-positive bacterial infections. EGT acts as a carrier to template the molecular assembly, and MSH is the sulfur donor for lincomycin maturation after thiol exchange. These thiols function through two unusual S-glycosylations that program lincosamide transfer, activation and modification, providing the first paradigm for EGT-associated biochemical processes and for the poorly understood MSH-dependent biotransformations, a newly described model that is potentially common in the incorporation of sulfur, an element essential for life and ubiquitous in living systems.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Zhao, Qunfei -- Wang, Min -- Xu, Dongxiao -- Zhang, Qinglin -- Liu, Wen -- England -- Nature. 2015 Feb 5;518(7537):115-9. doi: 10.1038/nature14137. Epub 2015 Jan 14.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉State Key Laboratory of Bioorganic and Natural Products Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 345 Lingling Road, Shanghai 200032, China. ; Huzhou Center of Bio-Synthetic Innovation, 1366 Hongfeng Road, Huzhou 313000, China. ; 1] State Key Laboratory of Bioorganic and Natural Products Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 345 Lingling Road, Shanghai 200032, China [2] Huzhou Center of Bio-Synthetic Innovation, 1366 Hongfeng Road, Huzhou 313000, China.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25607359" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Most present-generation climate models simulate an increase in global-mean surface temperature (GMST) since 1998, whereas observations suggest a warming hiatus. It is unclear to what extent this mismatch is caused by incorrect model forcing, by incorrect model response to forcing or by random factors. Here we analyse simulations and observations of GMST from 1900 to 2012, and show that the distribution of simulated 15-year trends shows no systematic bias against the observations. Using a multiple regression approach that is physically motivated by surface energy balance, we isolate the impact of radiative forcing, climate feedback and ocean heat uptake on GMST--with the regression residual interpreted as internal variability--and assess all possible 15- and 62-year trends. The differences between simulated and observed trends are dominated by random internal variability over the shorter timescale and by variations in the radiative forcings used to drive models over the longer timescale. For either trend length, spread in simulated climate feedback leaves no traceable imprint on GMST trends or, consequently, on the difference between simulations and observations. The claim that climate models systematically overestimate the response to radiative forcing from increasing greenhouse gas concentrations therefore seems to be unfounded.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Marotzke, Jochem -- Forster, Piers M -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jan 29;517(7536):565-70. doi: 10.1038/nature14117.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Bundesstrasse 53, 20146 Hamburg, Germany. ; School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25631444" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉England -- Nature. 2015 Jan 1;517(7532):5. doi: 10.1038/517005a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25557694" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Knight, Rob -- England -- Nature. 2015 Feb 26;518(7540):S5. doi: 10.1038/518S5a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉University of California, San Diego.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25715279" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Appropriate responses to an imminent threat brace us for adversities. The ability to sense and predict threatening or stressful events is essential for such adaptive behaviour. In the mammalian brain, one putative stress sensor is the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT), an area that is readily activated by both physical and psychological stressors. However, the role of the PVT in the establishment of adaptive behavioural responses remains unclear. Here we show in mice that the PVT regulates fear processing in the lateral division of the central amygdala (CeL), a structure that orchestrates fear learning and expression. Selective inactivation of CeL-projecting PVT neurons prevented fear conditioning, an effect that can be accounted for by an impairment in fear-conditioning-induced synaptic potentiation onto somatostatin-expressing (SOM(+)) CeL neurons, which has previously been shown to store fear memory. Consistently, we found that PVT neurons preferentially innervate SOM(+) neurons in the CeL, and stimulation of PVT afferents facilitated SOM(+) neuron activity and promoted intra-CeL inhibition, two processes that are critical for fear learning and expression. Notably, PVT modulation of SOM(+) CeL neurons was mediated by activation of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) receptor tropomysin-related kinase B (TrkB). As a result, selective deletion of either Bdnf in the PVT or Trkb in SOM(+) CeL neurons impaired fear conditioning, while infusion of BDNF into the CeL enhanced fear learning and elicited unconditioned fear responses. Our results demonstrate that the PVT-CeL pathway constitutes a novel circuit essential for both the establishment of fear memory and the expression of fear responses, and uncover mechanisms linking stress detection in PVT with the emergence of adaptive behaviour.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4376633/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4376633/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Penzo, Mario A -- Robert, Vincent -- Tucciarone, Jason -- De Bundel, Dimitri -- Wang, Minghui -- Van Aelst, Linda -- Darvas, Martin -- Parada, Luis F -- Palmiter, Richard D -- He, Miao -- Huang, Z Josh -- Li, Bo -- R01 MH082808/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- R01 MH094705/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- R01 MH101214/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- R01 NS082266/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Mar 26;519(7544):455-9. doi: 10.1038/nature13978. Epub 2015 Jan 19.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724, USA. ; 1] Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724, USA [2] Ecole Normale Superieure de Cachan, 94230 Cachan, France. ; 1] Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724, USA [2] Medical Scientist Training Program &Program in Neuroscience, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11790, USA. ; CNRS, UMR-5203, INSERM U661, Institut de Genomique Fonctionnelle, 34090 Montpellier, France. ; Department of Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98104, USA. ; Department of Developmental Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390, USA. ; Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA. ; Institutes of Brain Science and State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25600269" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Marris, Emma -- England -- Nature. 2015 Apr 23;520(7548):415. doi: 10.1038/nature.2015.17263.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25903602" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Zhou, Yingying -- England -- Nature. 2015 Dec 17;528(7582):S170-3. doi: 10.1038/528S170a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26673023" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Dolgin, Elie -- England -- Nature. 2015 Mar 19;519(7543):276-8. doi: 10.1038/519276a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25788077" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Fear memories allow animals to avoid danger, thereby increasing their chances of survival. Fear memories can be retrieved long after learning, but little is known about how retrieval circuits change with time. Here we show that the dorsal midline thalamus of rats is required for the retrieval of auditory conditioned fear at late (24 hours, 7 days, 28 days), but not early (0.5 hours, 6 hours) time points after learning. Consistent with this, the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT), a subregion of the dorsal midline thalamus, showed increased c-Fos expression only at late time points, indicating that the PVT is gradually recruited for fear retrieval. Accordingly, the conditioned tone responses of PVT neurons increased with time after training. The prelimbic (PL) prefrontal cortex, which is necessary for fear retrieval, sends dense projections to the PVT. Retrieval at late time points activated PL neurons projecting to the PVT, and optogenetic silencing of these projections impaired retrieval at late, but not early, time points. In contrast, silencing of PL inputs to the basolateral amygdala impaired retrieval at early, but not late, time points, indicating a time-dependent shift in retrieval circuits. Retrieval at late time points also activated PVT neurons projecting to the central nucleus of the amygdala, and silencing these projections at late, but not early, time points induced a persistent attenuation of fear. Thus, the PVT may act as a crucial thalamic node recruited into cortico-amygdalar networks for retrieval and maintenance of long-term fear memories.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4376623/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4376623/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Do-Monte, Fabricio H -- Quinones-Laracuente, Kelvin -- Quirk, Gregory J -- G12 MD007600/MD/NIMHD NIH HHS/ -- K99 MH105549/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- P50 MH086400/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- P50-MH086400/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- R01-MH058883/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- R25 GM061838/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R25-GM061838/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R37 MH058883/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Mar 26;519(7544):460-3. doi: 10.1038/nature14030. Epub 2015 Jan 19.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Department of Psychiatry, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, PO Box 365067, San Juan 00936, Puerto Rico [2] Department of Anatomy &Neurobiology, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, P.O. Box 365067, San Juan 00936, Puerto Rico.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25600268" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Victor, David G -- England -- Nature. 2015 Apr 2;520(7545):27-9. doi: 10.1038/520027a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Laboratory on International Law and Regulation, University of California, San Diego, USA. He is also chairman of the Global Agenda Council on Governance for Sustainability at the World Economic Forum.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25832390" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Victor, David G -- Leape, James P -- England -- Nature. 2015 Nov 26;527(7579):439-41. doi: 10.1038/527439a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26607527" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Theory and climate modelling suggest that the sensitivity of Earth's climate to changes in radiative forcing could depend on the background climate. However, palaeoclimate data have thus far been insufficient to provide a conclusive test of this prediction. Here we present atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) reconstructions based on multi-site boron-isotope records from the late Pliocene epoch (3.3 to 2.3 million years ago). We find that Earth's climate sensitivity to CO2-based radiative forcing (Earth system sensitivity) was half as strong during the warm Pliocene as during the cold late Pleistocene epoch (0.8 to 0.01 million years ago). We attribute this difference to the radiative impacts of continental ice-volume changes (the ice-albedo feedback) during the late Pleistocene, because equilibrium climate sensitivity is identical for the two intervals when we account for such impacts using sea-level reconstructions. We conclude that, on a global scale, no unexpected climate feedbacks operated during the warm Pliocene, and that predictions of equilibrium climate sensitivity (excluding long-term ice-albedo feedbacks) for our Pliocene-like future (with CO2 levels up to maximum Pliocene levels of 450 parts per million) are well described by the currently accepted range of an increase of 1.5 K to 4.5 K per doubling of CO2.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Martinez-Boti, M A -- Foster, G L -- Chalk, T B -- Rohling, E J -- Sexton, P F -- Lunt, D J -- Pancost, R D -- Badger, M P S -- Schmidt, D N -- England -- Nature. 2015 Feb 5;518(7537):49-54. doi: 10.1038/nature14145.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre Southampton, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK. ; 1] Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre Southampton, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK [2] Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia. ; Centre for Earth, Planetary, Space and Astronomical Research, The Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK. ; 1] School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Road, Bristol, BS8 1SS, UK [2] The Cabot Institute, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UJ, UK. ; 1] The Cabot Institute, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UJ, UK [2] Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK. ; 1] The Cabot Institute, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UJ, UK [2] School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Bristol, BS8 1RJ, UK.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25652996" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Perkel, Jeffrey M -- England -- Nature. 2015 Apr 2;520(7545):119-20. doi: 10.1038/520119a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25832406" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The sudden appearance of the neural crest and neurogenic placodes in early branching vertebrates has puzzled biologists for over a century. These embryonic tissues contribute to the development of the cranium and associated sensory organs, which were crucial for the evolution of the vertebrate "new head". A previous study suggests that rudimentary neural crest cells existed in ancestral chordates. However, the evolutionary origins of neurogenic placodes have remained obscure owing to a paucity of embryonic data from tunicates, the closest living relatives to those early vertebrates. Here we show that the tunicate Ciona intestinalis exhibits a proto-placodal ectoderm (PPE) that requires inhibition of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) and expresses the key regulatory determinant Six1/2 and its co-factor Eya, a developmental process conserved across vertebrates. The Ciona PPE is shown to produce ciliated neurons that express genes for gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), a G-protein-coupled receptor for relaxin-3 (RXFP3) and a functional cyclic nucleotide-gated channel (CNGA), which suggests dual chemosensory and neurosecretory activities. These observations provide evidence that Ciona has a neurogenic proto-placode, which forms neurons that appear to be related to those derived from the olfactory placode and hypothalamic neurons of vertebrates. We discuss the possibility that the PPE-derived GnRH neurons of Ciona resemble an ancestral cell type, a progenitor to the complex neuronal circuit that integrates sensory information and neuroendocrine functions in vertebrates.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Abitua, Philip Barron -- Gainous, T Blair -- Kaczmarczyk, Angela N -- Winchell, Christopher J -- Hudson, Clare -- Kamata, Kaori -- Nakagawa, Masashi -- Tsuda, Motoyuki -- Kusakabe, Takehiro G -- Levine, Michael -- NS076542/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Aug 27;524(7566):462-5. doi: 10.1038/nature14657. Epub 2015 Aug 10.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Center for Integrative Genomics, Division of Genetics, Genomics and Development, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. ; Sorbonne Universites, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire de Biologie du Developpement de Villefranche-sur-mer, Observatoire Oceanologique, 06230 Villefranche-sur-mer, France. ; Graduate School of Life Science, University of Hyogo, Kamigori, Hyogo 678-1297, Japan. ; Institute for Integrative Neurobiology and Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Konan University, Kobe 658-8501, Japan.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26258298" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Zuidema, Pieter A -- Frank, David -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jul 30;523(7562):531. doi: 10.1038/523531c.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Wageningen University, the Netherlands. ; Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26223617" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Callaway, Ewen -- England -- Nature. 2015 Apr 30;520(7549):598-9. doi: 10.1038/520598a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25925455" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Polyploidy is observed across the tree of life, yet its influence on evolution remains incompletely understood. Polyploidy, usually whole-genome duplication, is proposed to alter the rate of evolutionary adaptation. This could occur through complex effects on the frequency or fitness of beneficial mutations. For example, in diverse cell types and organisms, immediately after a whole-genome duplication, newly formed polyploids missegregate chromosomes and undergo genetic instability. The instability following whole-genome duplications is thought to provide adaptive mutations in microorganisms and can promote tumorigenesis in mammalian cells. Polyploidy may also affect adaptation independently of beneficial mutations through ploidy-specific changes in cell physiology. Here we perform in vitro evolution experiments to test directly whether polyploidy can accelerate evolutionary adaptation. Compared with haploids and diploids, tetraploids undergo significantly faster adaptation. Mathematical modelling suggests that rapid adaptation of tetraploids is driven by higher rates of beneficial mutations with stronger fitness effects, which is supported by whole-genome sequencing and phenotypic analyses of evolved clones. Chromosome aneuploidy, concerted chromosome loss, and point mutations all provide large fitness gains. We identify several mutations whose beneficial effects are manifest specifically in the tetraploid strains. Together, these results provide direct quantitative evidence that in some environments polyploidy can accelerate evolutionary adaptation.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4497379/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4497379/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Selmecki, Anna M -- Maruvka, Yosef E -- Richmond, Phillip A -- Guillet, Marie -- Shoresh, Noam -- Sorenson, Amber L -- De, Subhajyoti -- Kishony, Roy -- Michor, Franziska -- Dowell, Robin -- Pellman, David -- R01 GM081617/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R37 GM061345/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R37 GM61345/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- U54CA143798/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Mar 19;519(7543):349-52. doi: 10.1038/nature14187. Epub 2015 Mar 2.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 450 Brookline Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA [2] Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA [3] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 4000 Jones Bridge Road, Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815, USA. ; 1] Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 450 Brookline Avenue Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA [2] Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, 158 Longwood Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA. ; 1] BioFrontiers Institute, University of Colorado at Boulder, 3415 Colorado Avenue, Boulder, Colorado 80303, USA [2] Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado at Boulder, 347 UCB, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA. ; Broad Institute, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. ; 1] Department of Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine, 13001 East 17th Place, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA [2] Department of Biostatistics and Informatics, Colorado School of Public Health, 13001 East 17th Place, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA [3] Molecular Oncology Program, University of Colorado Cancer Center, 13001 East 17th Place, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA. ; 1] Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Ave, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA [2] Department of Biology, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, 32000, Israel. ; 1] Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 450 Brookline Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA [2] Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA [3] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 4000 Jones Bridge Road, Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815, USA [4] Department of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25731168" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Adult stem cells occur in niches that balance self-renewal with lineage selection and progression during tissue homeostasis. Following injury, culture or transplantation, stem cells outside their niche often display fate flexibility. Here we show that super-enhancers underlie the identity, lineage commitment and plasticity of adult stem cells in vivo. Using hair follicle as a model, we map the global chromatin domains of hair follicle stem cells and their committed progenitors in their native microenvironments. We show that super-enhancers and their dense clusters ('epicentres') of transcription factor binding sites undergo remodelling upon lineage progression. New fate is acquired by decommissioning old and establishing new super-enhancers and/or epicentres, an auto-regulatory process that abates one master regulator subset while enhancing another. We further show that when outside their niche, either in vitro or in wound-repair, hair follicle stem cells dynamically remodel super-enhancers in response to changes in their microenvironment. Intriguingly, some key super-enhancers shift epicentres, enabling their genes to remain active and maintain a transitional state in an ever-changing transcriptional landscape. Finally, we identify SOX9 as a crucial chromatin rheostat of hair follicle stem cell super-enhancers, and provide functional evidence that super-enhancers are dynamic, dense transcription-factor-binding platforms which are acutely sensitive to pioneer master regulators whose levels define not only spatial and temporal features of lineage-status but also stemness, plasticity in transitional states and differentiation.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4482136/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4482136/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Adam, Rene C -- Yang, Hanseul -- Rockowitz, Shira -- Larsen, Samantha B -- Nikolova, Maria -- Oristian, Daniel S -- Polak, Lisa -- Kadaja, Meelis -- Asare, Amma -- Zheng, Deyou -- Fuchs, Elaine -- R01 AR031737/AR/NIAMS NIH HHS/ -- R01-AR31737/AR/NIAMS NIH HHS/ -- R21 MH099452/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- R21MH099452/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM066699/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 May 21;521(7552):366-70. doi: 10.1038/nature14289. Epub 2015 Mar 18.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Laboratory of Mammalian Cell Biology &Development, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10065, USA. ; Department of Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA. ; 1] Department of Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA [2] Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25799994" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Callaway, Ewen -- England -- Nature. 2015 Mar 12;519(7542):139-40. doi: 10.1038/519139a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25762261" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Callaway, Ewen -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jan 29;517(7536):541. doi: 10.1038/517541a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25631427" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Stochastic processes in cells are associated with fluctuations in mRNA, protein production and degradation, noisy partition of cellular components at division, and other cell processes. Variability within a clonal population of cells originates from such stochastic processes, which may be amplified or reduced by deterministic factors. Cell-to-cell variability, such as that seen in the heterogeneous response of bacteria to antibiotics, or of cancer cells to treatment, is understood as the inevitable consequence of stochasticity. Variability in cell-cycle duration was observed long ago; however, its sources are still unknown. A central question is whether the variance of the observed distribution originates from stochastic processes, or whether it arises mostly from a deterministic process that only appears to be random. A surprising feature of cell-cycle-duration inheritance is that it seems to be lost within one generation but to be still present in the next generation, generating poor correlation between mother and daughter cells but high correlation between cousin cells. This observation suggests the existence of underlying deterministic factors that determine the main part of cell-to-cell variability. We developed an experimental system that precisely measures the cell-cycle duration of thousands of mammalian cells along several generations and a mathematical framework that allows discrimination between stochastic and deterministic processes in lineages of cells. We show that the inter- and intra-generation correlations reveal complex inheritance of the cell-cycle duration. Finally, we build a deterministic nonlinear toy model for cell-cycle inheritance that reproduces the main features of our data. Our approach constitutes a general method to identify deterministic variability in lineages of cells or organisms, which may help to predict and, eventually, reduce cell-to-cell heterogeneity in various systems, such as cancer cells under treatment.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Sandler, Oded -- Mizrahi, Sivan Pearl -- Weiss, Noga -- Agam, Oded -- Simon, Itamar -- Balaban, Nathalie Q -- England -- Nature. 2015 Mar 26;519(7544):468-71. doi: 10.1038/nature14318. Epub 2015 Mar 11.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, IMRIC, The Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem 91120, Israel. ; 1] Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, IMRIC, The Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem 91120, Israel [2] Racah Institute of Physics, Edmond J. Safra Campus, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel. ; Racah Institute of Physics, Edmond J. Safra Campus, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25762143" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Nitrification, the oxidation of ammonia via nitrite to nitrate, has always been considered to be a two-step process catalysed by chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms oxidizing either ammonia or nitrite. No known nitrifier carries out both steps, although complete nitrification should be energetically advantageous. This functional separation has puzzled microbiologists for a century. Here we report on the discovery and cultivation of a completely nitrifying bacterium from the genus Nitrospira, a globally distributed group of nitrite oxidizers. The genome of this chemolithoautotrophic organism encodes the pathways both for ammonia and nitrite oxidation, which are concomitantly activated during growth by ammonia oxidation to nitrate. Genes affiliated with the phylogenetically distinct ammonia monooxygenase and hydroxylamine dehydrogenase genes of Nitrospira are present in many environments and were retrieved on Nitrospira-contigs in new metagenomes from engineered systems. These findings fundamentally change our picture of nitrification and point to completely nitrifying Nitrospira as key components of nitrogen-cycling microbial communities.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Daims, Holger -- Lebedeva, Elena V -- Pjevac, Petra -- Han, Ping -- Herbold, Craig -- Albertsen, Mads -- Jehmlich, Nico -- Palatinszky, Marton -- Vierheilig, Julia -- Bulaev, Alexandr -- Kirkegaard, Rasmus H -- von Bergen, Martin -- Rattei, Thomas -- Bendinger, Bernd -- Nielsen, Per H -- Wagner, Michael -- England -- Nature. 2015 Dec 24;528(7583):504-9. doi: 10.1038/nature16461. Epub 2015 Nov 26.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Division of Microbial Ecology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria. ; Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, Research Center of Biotechnology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky Ave. 33, bld. 2, 119071 Moscow, Russia. ; Center for Microbial Communities, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Fredrik Bajers Vej 7H, 9220 Aalborg, Denmark. ; Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Proteomics, Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany. ; Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Metabolomics, Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany. ; Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Division of Computational Systems Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria. ; DVGW-Forschungsstelle TUHH, Hamburg University of Technology, 21073 Hamburg, Germany.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26610024" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Earlier spring leaf unfolding is a frequently observed response of plants to climate warming. Many deciduous tree species require chilling for dormancy release, and warming-related reductions in chilling may counteract the advance of leaf unfolding in response to warming. Empirical evidence for this, however, is limited to saplings or twigs in climate-controlled chambers. Using long-term in situ observations of leaf unfolding for seven dominant European tree species at 1,245 sites, here we show that the apparent response of leaf unfolding to climate warming (ST, expressed in days advance of leaf unfolding per degrees C warming) has significantly decreased from 1980 to 2013 in all monitored tree species. Averaged across all species and sites, ST decreased by 40% from 4.0 +/- 1.8 days degrees C(-1) during 1980-1994 to 2.3 +/- 1.6 days degrees C(-1) during 1999-2013. The declining ST was also simulated by chilling-based phenology models, albeit with a weaker decline (24-30%) than observed in situ. The reduction in ST is likely to be partly attributable to reduced chilling. Nonetheless, other mechanisms may also have a role, such as 'photoperiod limitation' mechanisms that may become ultimately limiting when leaf unfolding dates occur too early in the season. Our results provide empirical evidence for a declining ST, but also suggest that the predicted strong winter warming in the future may further reduce ST and therefore result in a slowdown in the advance of tree spring phenology.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Fu, Yongshuo H -- Zhao, Hongfang -- Piao, Shilong -- Peaucelle, Marc -- Peng, Shushi -- Zhou, Guiyun -- Ciais, Philippe -- Huang, Mengtian -- Menzel, Annette -- Penuelas, Josep -- Song, Yang -- Vitasse, Yann -- Zeng, Zhenzhong -- Janssens, Ivan A -- England -- Nature. 2015 Oct 1;526(7571):104-7. doi: 10.1038/nature15402. Epub 2015 Sep 23.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Sino-French Institute for Earth System Science, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. ; Centre of Excellence PLECO (Plant and Vegetation Ecology), Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Wilrijk, Belgium. ; Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology and Biodiversity, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China. ; Center for Excellence in Tibetan Earth Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China. ; Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, CEA CNRS UVSQ, Gif-sur-Yvette 91190, France. ; School of Resources and Environment, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China. ; Ecoclimatology, Technische Universitat Munchen, Freising 85354, Germany. ; Technische Universitat Munchen, Institute for Advanced Study, Lichtenbergstrasse 2a, 85748 Garching, Germany. ; CREAF, Cerdanyola del Valles, Barcelona 08193, Catalonia, Spain. ; CSIC, Global Ecology Unit CREAF-CSIC-UAB, Cerdanyola del Valles, Barcelona 08193, Catalonia, Spain. ; Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA. ; University of Neuchatel, Institute of Geography, Neuchatel 2000, Switzerland. ; WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Neuchatel 2000, Switzerland. ; WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Group Mountain Ecosystems, Davos 7260, Switzerland.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26416746" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The first step in the biogenesis of microRNAs is the processing of primary microRNAs (pri-miRNAs) by the microprocessor complex, composed of the RNA-binding protein DGCR8 and the type III RNase DROSHA. This initial event requires recognition of the junction between the stem and the flanking single-stranded RNA of the pri-miRNA hairpin by DGCR8 followed by recruitment of DROSHA, which cleaves the RNA duplex to yield the pre-miRNA product. While the mechanisms underlying pri-miRNA processing have been determined, the mechanism by which DGCR8 recognizes and binds pri-miRNAs, as opposed to other secondary structures present in transcripts, is not understood. Here we find in mammalian cells that methyltransferase-like 3 (METTL3) methylates pri-miRNAs, marking them for recognition and processing by DGCR8. Consistent with this, METTL3 depletion reduced the binding of DGCR8 to pri-miRNAs and resulted in the global reduction of mature miRNAs and concomitant accumulation of unprocessed pri-miRNAs. In vitro processing reactions confirmed the sufficiency of the N(6)-methyladenosine (m(6)A) mark in promoting pri-miRNA processing. Finally, gain-of-function experiments revealed that METTL3 is sufficient to enhance miRNA maturation in a global and non-cell-type-specific manner. Our findings reveal that the m(6)A mark acts as a key post-transcriptional modification that promotes the initiation of miRNA biogenesis.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4475635/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4475635/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Alarcon, Claudio R -- Lee, Hyeseung -- Goodarzi, Hani -- Halberg, Nils -- Tavazoie, Sohail F -- T32 CA009673/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Mar 26;519(7544):482-5. doi: 10.1038/nature14281. Epub 2015 Mar 18.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Laboratory of Systems Cancer Biology, Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25799998" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) loci and their associated (Cas) proteins provide adaptive immunity against viral infection in prokaryotes. Upon infection, short phage sequences known as spacers integrate between CRISPR repeats and are transcribed into small RNA molecules that guide the Cas9 nuclease to the viral targets (protospacers). Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 cleavage of the viral genome requires the presence of a 5'-NGG-3' protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) sequence immediately downstream of the viral target. It is not known whether and how viral sequences flanked by the correct PAM are chosen as new spacers. Here we show that Cas9 selects functional spacers by recognizing their PAM during spacer acquisition. The replacement of cas9 with alleles that lack the PAM recognition motif or recognize an NGGNG PAM eliminated or changed PAM specificity during spacer acquisition, respectively. Cas9 associates with other proteins of the acquisition machinery (Cas1, Cas2 and Csn2), presumably to provide PAM-specificity to this process. These results establish a new function for Cas9 in the genesis of prokaryotic immunological memory.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4385744/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4385744/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Heler, Robert -- Samai, Poulami -- Modell, Joshua W -- Weiner, Catherine -- Goldberg, Gregory W -- Bikard, David -- Marraffini, Luciano A -- 1DP2AI104556-01/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- DP2 AI104556/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Mar 12;519(7542):199-202. doi: 10.1038/nature14245. Epub 2015 Feb 18.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Laboratory of Bacteriology, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, USA. ; 1] Laboratory of Bacteriology, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, USA [2] Synthetic Biology Group, Institut Pasteur, 28 Rue du Dr. Roux, 75015 Paris, France.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25707807" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The mammalian hippocampus is crucial for episodic memory formation and transiently retains information for about 3-4 weeks in adult mice and longer in humans. Although neuroscientists widely believe that neural synapses are elemental sites of information storage, there has been no direct evidence that hippocampal synapses persist for time intervals commensurate with the duration of hippocampal-dependent memory. Here we tested the prediction that the lifetimes of hippocampal synapses match the longevity of hippocampal memory. By using time-lapse two-photon microendoscopy in the CA1 hippocampal area of live mice, we monitored the turnover dynamics of the pyramidal neurons' basal dendritic spines, postsynaptic structures whose turnover dynamics are thought to reflect those of excitatory synaptic connections. Strikingly, CA1 spine turnover dynamics differed sharply from those seen previously in the neocortex. Mathematical modelling revealed that the data best matched kinetic models with a single population of spines with a mean lifetime of approximately 1-2 weeks. This implies approximately 100% turnover in approximately 2-3 times this interval, a near full erasure of the synaptic connectivity pattern. Although N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor blockade stabilizes spines in the neocortex, in CA1 it transiently increased the rate of spine loss and thus lowered spine density. These results reveal that adult neocortical and hippocampal pyramidal neurons have divergent patterns of spine regulation and quantitatively support the idea that the transience of hippocampal-dependent memory directly reflects the turnover dynamics of hippocampal synapses.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4648621/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4648621/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Attardo, Alessio -- Fitzgerald, James E -- Schnitzer, Mark J -- R21 AG038771/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- R21 MH092809/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jul 30;523(7562):592-6. doi: 10.1038/nature14467. Epub 2015 Jun 22.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] James H. Clark Center for Biomedical Engineering &Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA [2] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA. ; James H. Clark Center for Biomedical Engineering &Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA. ; 1] James H. Clark Center for Biomedical Engineering &Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA [2] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA [3] CNC Program, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26098371" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Cesare, Chris -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jul 30;523(7562):513-4. doi: 10.1038/523513a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26223606" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) with sulfate controls the emission of the greenhouse gas methane from the ocean floor. In marine sediments, AOM is performed by dual-species consortia of anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (ANME) and sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) inhabiting the methane-sulfate transition zone. The biochemical pathways and biological adaptations enabling this globally relevant process are not fully understood. Here we study the syntrophic interaction in thermophilic AOM (TAOM) between ANME-1 archaea and their consortium partner SRB HotSeep-1 (ref. 6) at 60 degrees C to test the hypothesis of a direct interspecies exchange of electrons. The activity of TAOM consortia was compared to the first ANME-free culture of an AOM partner bacterium that grows using hydrogen as the sole electron donor. The thermophilic ANME-1 do not produce sufficient hydrogen to sustain the observed growth of the HotSeep-1 partner. Enhancing the growth of the HotSeep-1 partner by hydrogen addition represses methane oxidation and the metabolic activity of ANME-1. Further supporting the hypothesis of direct electron transfer between the partners, we observe that under TAOM conditions, both ANME and the HotSeep-1 bacteria overexpress genes for extracellular cytochrome production and form cell-to-cell connections that resemble the nanowire structures responsible for interspecies electron transfer between syntrophic consortia of Geobacter. HotSeep-1 highly expresses genes for pili production only during consortial growth using methane, and the nanowire-like structures are absent in HotSeep-1 cells isolated with hydrogen. These observations suggest that direct electron transfer is a principal mechanism in TAOM, which may also explain the enigmatic functioning and specificity of other methanotrophic ANME-SRB consortia.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Wegener, Gunter -- Krukenberg, Viola -- Riedel, Dietmar -- Tegetmeyer, Halina E -- Boetius, Antje -- England -- Nature. 2015 Oct 22;526(7574):587-90. doi: 10.1038/nature15733.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Max-Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, 28359 Bremen, Germany. ; MARUM, Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany. ; Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, 37077 Gottingen, Germany. ; Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany. ; Center for Biotechnology, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26490622" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The origin of the eukaryotic cell remains one of the most contentious puzzles in modern biology. Recent studies have provided support for the emergence of the eukaryotic host cell from within the archaeal domain of life, but the identity and nature of the putative archaeal ancestor remain a subject of debate. Here we describe the discovery of 'Lokiarchaeota', a novel candidate archaeal phylum, which forms a monophyletic group with eukaryotes in phylogenomic analyses, and whose genomes encode an expanded repertoire of eukaryotic signature proteins that are suggestive of sophisticated membrane remodelling capabilities. Our results provide strong support for hypotheses in which the eukaryotic host evolved from a bona fide archaeon, and demonstrate that many components that underpin eukaryote-specific features were already present in that ancestor. This provided the host with a rich genomic 'starter-kit' to support the increase in the cellular and genomic complexity that is characteristic of eukaryotes.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4444528/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4444528/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Spang, Anja -- Saw, Jimmy H -- Jorgensen, Steffen L -- Zaremba-Niedzwiedzka, Katarzyna -- Martijn, Joran -- Lind, Anders E -- van Eijk, Roel -- Schleper, Christa -- Guy, Lionel -- Ettema, Thijs J G -- 310039/European Research Council/International -- England -- Nature. 2015 May 14;521(7551):173-9. doi: 10.1038/nature14447. Epub 2015 May 6.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, SE-75123 Uppsala, Sweden. ; Department of Biology, Centre for Geobiology, University of Bergen, N-5020 Bergen, Norway. ; 1] Department of Biology, Centre for Geobiology, University of Bergen, N-5020 Bergen, Norway [2] Division of Archaea Biology and Ecogenomics, Department of Ecogenomics and Systems Biology, University of Vienna, A-1090 Vienna, Austria. ; 1] Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, SE-75123 Uppsala, Sweden [2] Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, SE-75123 Uppsala, Sweden.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25945739" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Stress is considered a potent environmental risk factor for many behavioural abnormalities, including anxiety and mood disorders. Animal models can exhibit limited but quantifiable behavioural impairments resulting from chronic stress, including deficits in motivation, abnormal responses to behavioural challenges, and anhedonia. The hippocampus is thought to negatively regulate the stress response and to mediate various cognitive and mnemonic aspects of stress-induced impairments, although the neuronal underpinnings sufficient to support behavioural improvements are largely unknown. Here we acutely rescue stress-induced depression-related behaviours in mice by optogenetically reactivating dentate gyrus cells that were previously active during a positive experience. A brain-wide histological investigation, coupled with pharmacological and projection-specific optogenetic blockade experiments, identified glutamatergic activity in the hippocampus-amygdala-nucleus-accumbens pathway as a candidate circuit supporting the acute rescue. Finally, chronically reactivating hippocampal cells associated with a positive memory resulted in the rescue of stress-induced behavioural impairments and neurogenesis at time points beyond the light stimulation. Together, our data suggest that activating positive memories artificially is sufficient to suppress depression-like behaviours and point to dentate gyrus engram cells as potential therapeutic nodes for intervening with maladaptive behavioural states.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Ramirez, Steve -- Liu, Xu -- MacDonald, Christopher J -- Moffa, Anthony -- Zhou, Joanne -- Redondo, Roger L -- Tonegawa, Susumu -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jun 18;522(7556):335-9. doi: 10.1038/nature14514.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Biology and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. ; 1] RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Biology and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [2] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26085274" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Check Hayden, Erika -- England -- Nature. 2015 May 28;521(7553):405-6. doi: 10.1038/521405a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26017422" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The brain has an extraordinary capacity for memory storage, but how it stores new information without disrupting previously acquired memories remains unknown. Here we show that different motor learning tasks induce dendritic Ca(2+) spikes on different apical tuft branches of individual layer V pyramidal neurons in the mouse motor cortex. These task-related, branch-specific Ca(2+) spikes cause long-lasting potentiation of postsynaptic dendritic spines active at the time of spike generation. When somatostatin-expressing interneurons are inactivated, different motor tasks frequently induce Ca(2+) spikes on the same branches. On those branches, spines potentiated during one task are depotentiated when they are active seconds before Ca(2+) spikes induced by another task. Concomitantly, increased neuronal activity and performance improvement after learning one task are disrupted when another task is learned. These findings indicate that dendritic-branch-specific generation of Ca(2+) spikes is crucial for establishing long-lasting synaptic plasticity, thereby facilitating information storage associated with different learning experiences.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4476301/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4476301/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Cichon, Joseph -- Gan, Wen-Biao -- P01 NS074972/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- R01 NS047325/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Apr 9;520(7546):180-5. doi: 10.1038/nature14251. Epub 2015 Mar 30.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Skirball Institute, Department of Neuroscience and Physiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25822789" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Nelson, Bryn -- England -- Nature. 2015 Apr 30;520(7549):711-3.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25932490" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Roberts, Richard G -- Lian, Olav B -- England -- Nature. 2015 Apr 23;520(7548):438-9. doi: 10.1038/520438a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia. ; Department of Geography and the Environment, University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford, British Columbia V2S 7M8, Canada.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25903619" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for all organisms that must have been available since the origin of life. Abiotic processes including hydrothermal reduction, photochemical reactions, or lightning discharge could have converted atmospheric N2 into assimilable NH4(+), HCN, or NOx species, collectively termed fixed nitrogen. But these sources may have been small on the early Earth, severely limiting the size of the primordial biosphere. The evolution of the nitrogen-fixing enzyme nitrogenase, which reduces atmospheric N2 to organic NH4(+), thus represented a major breakthrough in the radiation of life, but its timing is uncertain. Here we present nitrogen isotope ratios with a mean of 0.0 +/- 1.2 per thousand from marine and fluvial sedimentary rocks of prehnite-pumpellyite to greenschist metamorphic grade between 3.2 and 2.75 billion years ago. These data cannot readily be explained by abiotic processes and therefore suggest biological nitrogen fixation, most probably using molybdenum-based nitrogenase as opposed to other variants that impart significant negative fractionations. Our data place a minimum age constraint of 3.2 billion years on the origin of biological nitrogen fixation and suggest that molybdenum was bioavailable in the mid-Archaean ocean long before the Great Oxidation Event.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Stueken, Eva E -- Buick, Roger -- Guy, Bradley M -- Koehler, Matthew C -- England -- Nature. 2015 Apr 30;520(7549):666-9. doi: 10.1038/nature14180. Epub 2015 Feb 16.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Earth &Space Sciences and Astrobiology Program, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1310, USA. ; Department of Geology, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25686600" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Reardon, Sara -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jan 8;517(7533):130-1. doi: 10.1038/517130a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25567262" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Time is divided by geologists according to marked shifts in Earth's state. Recent global environmental changes suggest that Earth may have entered a new human-dominated geological epoch, the Anthropocene. Here we review the historical genesis of the idea and assess anthropogenic signatures in the geological record against the formal requirements for the recognition of a new epoch. The evidence suggests that of the various proposed dates two do appear to conform to the criteria to mark the beginning of the Anthropocene: 1610 and 1964. The formal establishment of an Anthropocene Epoch would mark a fundamental change in the relationship between humans and the Earth system.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Lewis, Simon L -- Maslin, Mark A -- England -- Nature. 2015 Mar 12;519(7542):171-80. doi: 10.1038/nature14258.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Department of Geography, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK [2] School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK. ; Department of Geography, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25762280" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Sedimentary rocks deposited across the Proterozoic-Phanerozoic transition record extreme climate fluctuations, a potential rise in atmospheric oxygen or re-organization of the seafloor redox landscape, and the initial diversification of animals. It is widely assumed that the inferred redox change facilitated the observed trends in biodiversity. Establishing this palaeoenvironmental context, however, requires that changes in marine redox structure be tracked by means of geochemical proxies and translated into estimates of atmospheric oxygen. Iron-based proxies are among the most effective tools for tracking the redox chemistry of ancient oceans. These proxies are inherently local, but have global implications when analysed collectively and statistically. Here we analyse about 4,700 iron-speciation measurements from shales 2,300 to 360 million years old. Our statistical analyses suggest that subsurface water masses in mid-Proterozoic oceans were predominantly anoxic and ferruginous (depleted in dissolved oxygen and iron-bearing), but with a tendency towards euxinia (sulfide-bearing) that is not observed in the Neoproterozoic era. Analyses further indicate that early animals did not experience appreciable benthic sulfide stress. Finally, unlike proxies based on redox-sensitive trace-metal abundances, iron geochemical data do not show a statistically significant change in oxygen content through the Ediacaran and Cambrian periods, sharply constraining the magnitude of the end-Proterozoic oxygen increase. Indeed, this re-analysis of trace-metal data is consistent with oxygenation continuing well into the Palaeozoic era. Therefore, if changing redox conditions facilitated animal diversification, it did so through a limited rise in oxygen past critical functional and ecological thresholds, as is seen in modern oxygen minimum zone benthic animal communities.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Sperling, Erik A -- Wolock, Charles J -- Morgan, Alex S -- Gill, Benjamin C -- Kunzmann, Marcus -- Halverson, Galen P -- Macdonald, Francis A -- Knoll, Andrew H -- Johnston, David T -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jul 23;523(7561):451-4. doi: 10.1038/nature14589.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA [2] Integrative Oceanography Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California 90089, USA. ; Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. ; Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. ; Department of Geosciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA. ; Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences/GEOTOP, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 0E8, Canada. ; 1] Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA [2] Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26201598" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉England -- Nature. 2015 Sep 24;525(7570):425. doi: 10.1038/525425a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26399790" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Reardon, Sara -- England -- Nature. 2015 Dec 3;528(7580):19. doi: 10.1038/nature.2015.18870.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26632568" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Monastersky, Richard -- England -- Nature. 2015 Nov 5;527(7576):26-9. doi: 10.1038/527026a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26536941" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉England -- Nature. 2015 Aug 27;524(7566):387. doi: 10.1038/524387a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26310730" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The climatic impact of CO2 and other greenhouse gases is usually quantified in terms of radiative forcing, calculated as the difference between estimates of the Earth's radiation field from pre-industrial and present-day concentrations of these gases. Radiative transfer models calculate that the increase in CO2 since 1750 corresponds to a global annual-mean radiative forcing at the tropopause of 1.82 +/- 0.19 W m(-2) (ref. 2). However, despite widespread scientific discussion and modelling of the climate impacts of well-mixed greenhouse gases, there is little direct observational evidence of the radiative impact of increasing atmospheric CO2. Here we present observationally based evidence of clear-sky CO2 surface radiative forcing that is directly attributable to the increase, between 2000 and 2010, of 22 parts per million atmospheric CO2. The time series of this forcing at the two locations-the Southern Great Plains and the North Slope of Alaska-are derived from Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer spectra together with ancillary measurements and thoroughly corroborated radiative transfer calculations. The time series both show statistically significant trends of 0.2 W m(-2) per decade (with respective uncertainties of +/-0.06 W m(-2) per decade and +/-0.07 W m(-2) per decade) and have seasonal ranges of 0.1-0.2 W m(-2). This is approximately ten per cent of the trend in downwelling longwave radiation. These results confirm theoretical predictions of the atmospheric greenhouse effect due to anthropogenic emissions, and provide empirical evidence of how rising CO2 levels, mediated by temporal variations due to photosynthesis and respiration, are affecting the surface energy balance.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Feldman, D R -- Collins, W D -- Gero, P J -- Torn, M S -- Mlawer, E J -- Shippert, T R -- England -- Nature. 2015 Mar 19;519(7543):339-43. doi: 10.1038/nature14240. Epub 2015 Feb 25.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division, 1 Cyclotron Road, MS 74R-316C, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. ; 1] Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division, 1 Cyclotron Road, MS 74R-316C, Berkeley, California 94720, USA [2] University of California-Berkeley, Department of Earth and Planetary Science, 307 McCone Hall, MC 4767, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. ; University of Wisconsin-Madison, Space Science and Engineering Center, 1225 W. Dayton Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA. ; 1] Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division, 1 Cyclotron Road, MS 74R-316C, Berkeley, California 94720, USA [2] University of California-Berkeley, Energy and Resources Group, Berkeley, 310 Barrows Hall, MC 3050, California 94720, USA. ; Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc., 131 Hartwell Avenue, Lexington, Massachusetts 02141, USA. ; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Fundamental and Computational Sciences, 902 Battelle Boulevard, Richland, Washington 99354, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25731165" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: In a warming climate, surface meltwater production on large ice sheets is expected to increase. If this water is delivered to the ice sheet base it may have important consequences for ice dynamics. For example, basal water distributed in a diffuse network can decrease basal friction and accelerate ice flow, whereas channelized basal water can move quickly to the ice margin, where it can alter fjord circulation and submarine melt rates. Less certain is whether surface meltwater can be trapped and stored in subglacial lakes beneath large ice sheets. Here we show that a subglacial lake in Greenland drained quickly, as seen in the collapse of the ice surface, and then refilled from surface meltwater input. We use digital elevation models from stereo satellite imagery and airborne measurements to resolve elevation changes during the evolution of the surface and basal hydrologic systems at the Flade Isblink ice cap in northeast Greenland. During the autumn of 2011, a collapse basin about 70 metres deep and about 0.4 cubic kilometres in volume formed near the southern summit of the ice cap as a subglacial lake drained into a nearby fjord. Over the next two years, rapid uplift of the floor of the basin (which is approximately 8.4 square kilometres in area) occurred as surface meltwater flowed into crevasses around the basin margin and refilled the subglacial lake. Our observations show that surface meltwater can be trapped and stored at the bed of an ice sheet. Sensible and latent heat released by this trapped meltwater could soften nearby colder basal ice and alter downstream ice dynamics. Heat transport associated with meltwater trapped in subglacial lakes should be considered when predicting how ice sheet behaviour will change in a warming climate.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Willis, Michael J -- Herried, Bradley G -- Bevis, Michael G -- Bell, Robin E -- England -- Nature. 2015 Feb 12;518(7538):223-7. doi: 10.1038/nature14116. Epub 2015 Jan 21.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA [2] Department of Geological Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA. ; Polar Geospatial Center, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55108, USA. ; School of Earth Sciences, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA. ; Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25607355" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Abrupt climate change is a ubiquitous feature of the Late Pleistocene epoch. In particular, the sequence of Dansgaard-Oeschger events (repeated transitions between warm interstadial and cold stadial conditions), as recorded by ice cores in Greenland, are thought to be linked to changes in the mode of overturning circulation in the Atlantic Ocean. Moreover, the observed correspondence between North Atlantic cold events and increased iceberg calving and dispersal from ice sheets surrounding the North Atlantic has inspired many ocean and climate modelling studies that make use of freshwater forcing scenarios to simulate abrupt change across the North Atlantic region and beyond. On the other hand, previous studies identified an apparent lag between North Atlantic cooling events and the appearance of ice-rafted debris over the last glacial cycle, leading to the hypothesis that iceberg discharge may be a consequence of stadial conditions rather than the cause. Here we further establish this relationship and demonstrate a systematic delay between pronounced surface cooling and the arrival of ice-rafted debris at a site southwest of Iceland over the past four glacial cycles, implying that in general icebergs arrived too late to have triggered cooling. Instead we suggest that--on the basis of our comparisons of ice-rafted debris and polar planktonic foraminifera--abrupt transitions to stadial conditions should be considered as a nonlinear response to more gradual cooling across the North Atlantic. Although the freshwater derived from melting icebergs may provide a positive feedback for enhancing and or prolonging stadial conditions, it does not trigger northern stadial events.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Barker, Stephen -- Chen, James -- Gong, Xun -- Jonkers, Lukas -- Knorr, Gregor -- Thornalley, David -- England -- Nature. 2015 Apr 16;520(7547):333-6. doi: 10.1038/nature14330.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK. ; Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bussestrasse 24, D-27570 Bremerhaven, Germany. ; 1] Department of Geography, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK. [2] Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25877202" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: In Drosophila, rapid temperature changes are detected at the periphery by dedicated receptors forming a simple sensory map for hot and cold in the brain. However, flies show a host of complex innate and learned responses to temperature, indicating that they are able to extract a range of information from this simple input. Here we define the anatomical and physiological repertoire for temperature representation in the Drosophila brain. First, we use a photolabelling strategy to trace the connections that relay peripheral thermosensory information to higher brain centres, and show that they largely converge onto three target regions: the mushroom body, the lateral horn (both of which are well known centres for sensory processing) and the posterior lateral protocerebrum, a region we now define as a major site of thermosensory representation. Next, using in vivo calcium imaging, we describe the thermosensory projection neurons selectively activated by hot or cold stimuli. Fast-adapting neurons display transient ON and OFF responses and track rapid temperature shifts remarkably well, while slow-adapting cell responses better reflect the magnitude of simple thermal changes. Unexpectedly, we also find a population of broadly tuned cells that respond to both heating and cooling, and show that they are required for normal behavioural avoidance of both hot and cold in a simple two-choice temperature preference assay. Taken together, our results uncover a coordinated ensemble of neural responses to temperature in the Drosophila brain, demonstrate that a broadly tuned thermal line contributes to rapid avoidance behaviour, and illustrate how stimulus quality, temporal structure, and intensity can be extracted from a simple glomerular map at a single synaptic station.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4554763/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4554763/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Frank, Dominic D -- Jouandet, Genevieve C -- Kearney, Patrick J -- Macpherson, Lindsey J -- Gallio, Marco -- 1R01NS086859-01/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- 2T32MH067564/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- R01 NS076774/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- R01 NS086859/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- T32 MH067564/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Mar 19;519(7543):358-61. doi: 10.1038/nature14284. Epub 2015 Mar 4.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA. ; Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25739506" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Evolution of large asexual cell populations underlies approximately 30% of deaths worldwide, including those caused by bacteria, fungi, parasites, and cancer. However, the dynamics underlying these evolutionary processes remain poorly understood because they involve many competing beneficial lineages, most of which never rise above extremely low frequencies in the population. To observe these normally hidden evolutionary dynamics, we constructed a sequencing-based ultra high-resolution lineage tracking system in Saccharomyces cerevisiae that allowed us to monitor the relative frequencies of approximately 500,000 lineages simultaneously. In contrast to some expectations, we found that the spectrum of fitness effects of beneficial mutations is neither exponential nor monotonic. Early adaptation is a predictable consequence of this spectrum and is strikingly reproducible, but the initial small-effect mutations are soon outcompeted by rarer large-effect mutations that result in variability between replicates. These results suggest that early evolutionary dynamics may be deterministic for a period of time before stochastic effects become important.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4426284/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4426284/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Levy, Sasha F -- Blundell, Jamie R -- Venkataram, Sandeep -- Petrov, Dmitri A -- Fisher, Daniel S -- Sherlock, Gavin -- 5-T32-HG-44-17/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HG003328/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- R25 GM067110/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- T32 HG000044/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Mar 12;519(7542):181-6. doi: 10.1038/nature14279. Epub 2015 Feb 25.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-5120, USA [2] Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794-5252, USA [3] Department of Biochemistry and Cellular Biology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794-5215, USA. ; 1] Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA [2] Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA. ; Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA. ; Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-5120, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25731169" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Atmospheric methane is the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, and is responsible for about 20% of the global warming effect since pre-industrial times. Rice paddies are the largest anthropogenic methane source and produce 7-17% of atmospheric methane. Warm waterlogged soil and exuded nutrients from rice roots provide ideal conditions for methanogenesis in paddies with annual methane emissions of 25-100-million tonnes. This scenario will be exacerbated by an expansion in rice cultivation needed to meet the escalating demand for food in the coming decades. There is an urgent need to establish sustainable technologies for increasing rice production while reducing methane fluxes from rice paddies. However, ongoing efforts for methane mitigation in rice paddies are mainly based on farming practices and measures that are difficult to implement. Despite proposed strategies to increase rice productivity and reduce methane emissions, no high-starch low-methane-emission rice has been developed. Here we show that the addition of a single transcription factor gene, barley SUSIBA2 (refs 7, 8), conferred a shift of carbon flux to SUSIBA2 rice, favouring the allocation of photosynthates to aboveground biomass over allocation to roots. The altered allocation resulted in an increased biomass and starch content in the seeds and stems, and suppressed methanogenesis, possibly through a reduction in root exudates. Three-year field trials in China demonstrated that the cultivation of SUSIBA2 rice was associated with a significant reduction in methane emissions and a decrease in rhizospheric methanogen levels. SUSIBA2 rice offers a sustainable means of providing increased starch content for food production while reducing greenhouse gas emissions from rice cultivation. Approaches to increase rice productivity and reduce methane emissions as seen in SUSIBA2 rice may be particularly beneficial in a future climate with rising temperatures resulting in increased methane emissions from paddies.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Su, J -- Hu, C -- Yan, X -- Jin, Y -- Chen, Z -- Guan, Q -- Wang, Y -- Zhong, D -- Jansson, C -- Wang, F -- Schnurer, A -- Sun, C -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jul 30;523(7562):602-6. doi: 10.1038/nature14673. Epub 2015 Jul 22.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Institute of Biotechnology, Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Fuzhou 350003, China [2] Department of Plant Biology, Uppsala BioCenter, Linnean Center for Plant Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 7080, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden. ; Department of Plant Biology, Uppsala BioCenter, Linnean Center for Plant Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 7080, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden. ; 1] Department of Plant Biology, Uppsala BioCenter, Linnean Center for Plant Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 7080, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden [2] Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Crop Germplasm Innovation and Utilization, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China. ; Institute of Biotechnology, Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Fuzhou 350003, China. ; The Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, PO Box 999, K8-93 Richland, Washington 99352, USA. ; Department of Microbiology, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26200336" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Adiponectin stimulation of its receptors, AdipoR1 and AdipoR2, increases the activities of 5' AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR), respectively, thereby contributing to healthy longevity as key anti-diabetic molecules. AdipoR1 and AdipoR2 were predicted to contain seven transmembrane helices with the opposite topology to G-protein-coupled receptors. Here we report the crystal structures of human AdipoR1 and AdipoR2 at 2.9 and 2.4 A resolution, respectively, which represent a novel class of receptor structure. The seven-transmembrane helices, conformationally distinct from those of G-protein-coupled receptors, enclose a large cavity where three conserved histidine residues coordinate a zinc ion. The zinc-binding structure may have a role in the adiponectin-stimulated AMPK phosphorylation and UCP2 upregulation. Adiponectin may broadly interact with the extracellular face, rather than the carboxy-terminal tail, of the receptors. The present information will facilitate the understanding of novel structure-function relationships and the development and optimization of AdipoR agonists for the treatment of obesity-related diseases, such as type 2 diabetes.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4477036/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4477036/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Tanabe, Hiroaki -- Fujii, Yoshifumi -- Okada-Iwabu, Miki -- Iwabu, Masato -- Nakamura, Yoshihiro -- Hosaka, Toshiaki -- Motoyama, Kanna -- Ikeda, Mariko -- Wakiyama, Motoaki -- Terada, Takaho -- Ohsawa, Noboru -- Hato, Masakatsu -- Ogasawara, Satoshi -- Hino, Tomoya -- Murata, Takeshi -- Iwata, So -- Hirata, Kunio -- Kawano, Yoshiaki -- Yamamoto, Masaki -- Kimura-Someya, Tomomi -- Shirouzu, Mikako -- Yamauchi, Toshimasa -- Kadowaki, Takashi -- Yokoyama, Shigeyuki -- 062164/Z/00/Z/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 089809/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- BB/G02325/1/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council/United Kingdom -- BB/G023425/1/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council/United Kingdom -- England -- Nature. 2015 Apr 16;520(7547):312-6. doi: 10.1038/nature14301. Epub 2015 Apr 8.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] RIKEN Systems and Structural Biology Center, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan [2] Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry and Laboratory of Structural Biology, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan [3] Division of Structural and Synthetic Biology, RIKEN Center for Life Science Technologies, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan [4] RIKEN Structural Biology Laboratory, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan. ; 1] RIKEN Systems and Structural Biology Center, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan [2] RIKEN Structural Biology Laboratory, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan. ; 1] Department of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan [2] Department of Integrated Molecular Science on Metabolic Diseases, 22nd Century Medical and Research Center, The University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan. ; 1] Department of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan [2] Department of Integrated Molecular Science on Metabolic Diseases, 22nd Century Medical and Research Center, The University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan [3] PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012, Japan. ; 1] RIKEN Systems and Structural Biology Center, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan [2] Division of Structural and Synthetic Biology, RIKEN Center for Life Science Technologies, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan [3] RIKEN Structural Biology Laboratory, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan. ; 1] RIKEN Systems and Structural Biology Center, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan [2] Division of Structural and Synthetic Biology, RIKEN Center for Life Science Technologies, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan. ; RIKEN Systems and Structural Biology Center, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan. ; Department of Cell Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Konoe-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan. ; 1] Department of Cell Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Konoe-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan [2] JST, Research Acceleration Program, Membrane Protein Crystallography Project, Yoshida-Konoe-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan. ; 1] RIKEN Systems and Structural Biology Center, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan [2] Department of Cell Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Konoe-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan [3] JST, Research Acceleration Program, Membrane Protein Crystallography Project, Yoshida-Konoe-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan [4] Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Chiba University, Yayoi-cho, Inage, Chiba 263-8522, Japan. ; 1] RIKEN Systems and Structural Biology Center, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan [2] Department of Cell Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Konoe-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan [3] JST, Research Acceleration Program, Membrane Protein Crystallography Project, Yoshida-Konoe-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan [4] Division of Molecular Biosciences, Membrane Protein Crystallography Group, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK [5] Diamond Light Source, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Chilton, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0DE, UK [6] RIKEN SPring-8 Center, Harima Institute, Kouto, Sayo, Hyogo 679-5148, Japan. ; RIKEN SPring-8 Center, Harima Institute, Kouto, Sayo, Hyogo 679-5148, Japan. ; 1] Department of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan [2] Department of Integrated Molecular Science on Metabolic Diseases, 22nd Century Medical and Research Center, The University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan [3] CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012, Japan. ; 1] RIKEN Systems and Structural Biology Center, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan [2] Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry and Laboratory of Structural Biology, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan [3] RIKEN Structural Biology Laboratory, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25855295" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Dopamine neurons are thought to facilitate learning by comparing actual and expected reward. Despite two decades of investigation, little is known about how this comparison is made. To determine how dopamine neurons calculate prediction error, we combined optogenetic manipulations with extracellular recordings in the ventral tegmental area while mice engaged in classical conditioning. Here we demonstrate, by manipulating the temporal expectation of reward, that dopamine neurons perform subtraction, a computation that is ideal for reinforcement learning but rarely observed in the brain. Furthermore, selectively exciting and inhibiting neighbouring GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) neurons in the ventral tegmental area reveals that these neurons are a source of subtraction: they inhibit dopamine neurons when reward is expected, causally contributing to prediction-error calculations. Finally, bilaterally stimulating ventral tegmental area GABA neurons dramatically reduces anticipatory licking to conditioned odours, consistent with an important role for these neurons in reinforcement learning. Together, our results uncover the arithmetic and local circuitry underlying dopamine prediction errors.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4567485/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4567485/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Eshel, Neir -- Bukwich, Michael -- Rao, Vinod -- Hemmelder, Vivian -- Tian, Ju -- Uchida, Naoshige -- F30 MH100729/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- F30MH100729/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- R01 MH095953/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- R01 MH101207/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- R01MH095953/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- R01MH101207/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM007753/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- T32GM007753/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Sep 10;525(7568):243-6. doi: 10.1038/nature14855. Epub 2015 Aug 31.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Center for Brain Science, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26322583" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Non-invasive imaging deep into organs at microscopic scales remains an open quest in biomedical imaging. Although optical microscopy is still limited to surface imaging owing to optical wave diffusion and fast decorrelation in tissue, revolutionary approaches such as fluorescence photo-activated localization microscopy led to a striking increase in resolution by more than an order of magnitude in the last decade. In contrast with optics, ultrasonic waves propagate deep into organs without losing their coherence and are much less affected by in vivo decorrelation processes. However, their resolution is impeded by the fundamental limits of diffraction, which impose a long-standing trade-off between resolution and penetration. This limits clinical and preclinical ultrasound imaging to a sub-millimetre scale. Here we demonstrate in vivo that ultrasound imaging at ultrafast frame rates (more than 500 frames per second) provides an analogue to optical localization microscopy by capturing the transient signal decorrelation of contrast agents--inert gas microbubbles. Ultrafast ultrasound localization microscopy allowed both non-invasive sub-wavelength structural imaging and haemodynamic quantification of rodent cerebral microvessels (less than ten micrometres in diameter) more than ten millimetres below the tissue surface, leading to transcranial whole-brain imaging within short acquisition times (tens of seconds). After intravenous injection, single echoes from individual microbubbles were detected through ultrafast imaging. Their localization, not limited by diffraction, was accumulated over 75,000 images, yielding 1,000,000 events per coronal plane and statistically independent pixels of ten micrometres in size. Precise temporal tracking of microbubble positions allowed us to extract accurately in-plane velocities of the blood flow with a large dynamic range (from one millimetre per second to several centimetres per second). These results pave the way for deep non-invasive microscopy in animals and humans using ultrasound. We anticipate that ultrafast ultrasound localization microscopy may become an invaluable tool for the fundamental understanding and diagnostics of various disease processes that modify the microvascular blood flow, such as cancer, stroke and arteriosclerosis.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Errico, Claudia -- Pierre, Juliette -- Pezet, Sophie -- Desailly, Yann -- Lenkei, Zsolt -- Couture, Olivier -- Tanter, Mickael -- England -- Nature. 2015 Nov 26;527(7579):499-502. doi: 10.1038/nature16066.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉INSERM, Institut Langevin, 1 rue Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France. ; Institut Langevin, ESPCI-ParisTech, PSL Research University, 1 rue Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France. ; CNRS UMR 7587, 1 rue Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France. ; CNRS, UMR 8249, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005 Paris, France. ; Brain Plasticity Unit, ESPCI-ParisTech, PSL Research University, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005 Paris, France.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26607546" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Michel-Kerjan, Erwann -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jan 22;517(7535):413. doi: 10.1038/517413a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25612017" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Structural variants are implicated in numerous diseases and make up the majority of varying nucleotides among human genomes. Here we describe an integrated set of eight structural variant classes comprising both balanced and unbalanced variants, which we constructed using short-read DNA sequencing data and statistically phased onto haplotype blocks in 26 human populations. Analysing this set, we identify numerous gene-intersecting structural variants exhibiting population stratification and describe naturally occurring homozygous gene knockouts that suggest the dispensability of a variety of human genes. We demonstrate that structural variants are enriched on haplotypes identified by genome-wide association studies and exhibit enrichment for expression quantitative trait loci. Additionally, we uncover appreciable levels of structural variant complexity at different scales, including genic loci subject to clusters of repeated rearrangement and complex structural variants with multiple breakpoints likely to have formed through individual mutational events. Our catalogue will enhance future studies into structural variant demography, functional impact and disease association.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4617611/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4617611/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Sudmant, Peter H -- Rausch, Tobias -- Gardner, Eugene J -- Handsaker, Robert E -- Abyzov, Alexej -- Huddleston, John -- Zhang, Yan -- Ye, Kai -- Jun, Goo -- Hsi-Yang Fritz, Markus -- Konkel, Miriam K -- Malhotra, Ankit -- Stutz, Adrian M -- Shi, Xinghua -- Paolo Casale, Francesco -- Chen, Jieming -- Hormozdiari, Fereydoun -- Dayama, Gargi -- Chen, Ken -- Malig, Maika -- Chaisson, Mark J P -- Walter, Klaudia -- Meiers, Sascha -- Kashin, Seva -- Garrison, Erik -- Auton, Adam -- Lam, Hugo Y K -- Jasmine Mu, Xinmeng -- Alkan, Can -- Antaki, Danny -- Bae, Taejeong -- Cerveira, Eliza -- Chines, Peter -- Chong, Zechen -- Clarke, Laura -- Dal, Elif -- Ding, Li -- Emery, Sarah -- Fan, Xian -- Gujral, Madhusudan -- Kahveci, Fatma -- Kidd, Jeffrey M -- Kong, Yu -- Lameijer, Eric-Wubbo -- McCarthy, Shane -- Flicek, Paul -- Gibbs, Richard A -- Marth, Gabor -- Mason, Christopher E -- Menelaou, Androniki -- Muzny, Donna M -- Nelson, Bradley J -- Noor, Amina -- Parrish, Nicholas F -- Pendleton, Matthew -- Quitadamo, Andrew -- Raeder, Benjamin -- Schadt, Eric E -- Romanovitch, Mallory -- Schlattl, Andreas -- Sebra, Robert -- Shabalin, Andrey A -- Untergasser, Andreas -- Walker, Jerilyn A -- Wang, Min -- Yu, Fuli -- Zhang, Chengsheng -- Zhang, Jing -- Zheng-Bradley, Xiangqun -- Zhou, Wanding -- Zichner, Thomas -- Sebat, Jonathan -- Batzer, Mark A -- McCarroll, Steven A -- 1000 Genomes Project Consortium -- Mills, Ryan E -- Gerstein, Mark B -- Bashir, Ali -- Stegle, Oliver -- Devine, Scott E -- Lee, Charles -- Eichler, Evan E -- Korbel, Jan O -- P01HG007497/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- R01 CA166661/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HG002385/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HG002898/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- R01CA166661/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01GM59290/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01HG002898/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- R01HG007068/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- RR029676-01/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- RR19895/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM008666/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- U41 HG007497/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U41HG007497/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- WT085532/Z/08/Z/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- WT104947/Z/14/Z/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- England -- Nature. 2015 Oct 1;526(7571):75-81. doi: 10.1038/nature15394.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, 3720 15th Avenue NE, Seattle, Washington 98195-5065, USA. ; European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Genome Biology Unit, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany. ; Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 801 W Baltimore Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, USA. ; Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 25 Shattuck Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. ; Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. ; Department of Health Sciences Research, Center for Individualized Medicine, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA. ; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA. ; Program in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Yale University, BASS 432 &437, 266 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA. ; Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Yale University, 266 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA. ; The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, 4444 Forest Park Avenue, St Louis, Missouri 63108, USA. ; Department of Genetics, Washington University in St Louis, 4444 Forest Park Avenue, St Louis, Missouri 63108, USA. ; Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan, 1415 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA. ; Human Genetics Center, School of Public Health, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 1200 Pressler St., Houston, Texas 77030, USA. ; Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, 202 Life Sciences Building, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA. ; The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, 10 Discovery 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, Connecticut 06030, USA. ; Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte, North Carolina 28223, USA. ; European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK. ; Integrated Graduate Program in Physical and Engineering Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA. ; Department of Computational Medicine &Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, 500 S. State Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA. ; The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. ; The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK. ; Department of Biology, Boston College, 355 Higgins Hall, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467, USA. ; Department of Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1301 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, New York 10461, USA. ; Bina Technologies, Roche Sequencing, 555 Twin Dolphin Drive, Redwood City, California 94065, USA. ; Cancer Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. ; Department of Computer Engineering, Bilkent University, 06800 Ankara, Turkey. ; University of California San Diego (UCSD), 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. ; National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892 USA. ; Department of Medicine, Washington University in St Louis, 4444 Forest Park Avenue, St Louis, Missouri 63108, USA. ; Siteman Cancer Center, 660 South Euclid Avenue, St Louis, Missouri 63110, USA. ; Department of Human Genetics, University of Michigan, 1241 Catherine Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA. ; Molecular Epidemiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden 2300RA, The Netherlands. ; Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. ; The Department of Physiology and Biophysics and the HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, 1305 York Avenue, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York 10065, USA. ; The Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute, 413 East 69th St, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York 10065, USA. ; University of Oxford, 1 South Parks Road, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK. ; Department of Medical Genetics, Center for Molecular Medicine, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, 3584 CG, The Netherlands. ; Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine, New York School of Natural Sciences, 1428 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10029, USA. ; Institute for Virus Research, Kyoto University, 53 Shogoin Kawahara-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan. ; Center for Biomarker Research and Precision Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1112 East Clay Street, McGuire Hall, Richmond, Virginia 23298-0581, USA. ; Zentrum fur Molekulare Biologie, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 282, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. ; Department of Computer Science, Yale University, 51 Prospect Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA. ; Department of Graduate Studies - Life Sciences, Ewha Womans University, Ewhayeodae-gil, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-750, South Korea.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26432246" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Grid cells are neurons with periodic spatial receptive fields (grids) that tile two-dimensional space in a hexagonal pattern. To provide useful information about location, grids must be stably anchored to an external reference frame. The mechanisms underlying this anchoring process have remained elusive. Here we show in differently sized familiar square enclosures that the axes of the grids are offset from the walls by an angle that minimizes symmetry with the borders of the environment. This rotational offset is invariably accompanied by an elliptic distortion of the grid pattern. Reversing the ellipticity analytically by a shearing transformation removes the angular offset. This, together with the near-absence of rotation in novel environments, suggests that the rotation emerges through non-coaxial strain as a function of experience. The systematic relationship between rotation and distortion of the grid pattern points to shear forces arising from anchoring to specific geometric reference points as key elements of the mechanism for alignment of grid patterns to the external world.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Stensola, Tor -- Stensola, Hanne -- Moser, May-Britt -- Moser, Edvard I -- England -- Nature. 2015 Feb 12;518(7538):207-12. doi: 10.1038/nature14151.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and Centre for Neural Computation, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Olav Kyrres gate 9, 7491 Trondheim, Norway.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25673414" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Sex determination in animals is amazingly plastic. Vertebrates display contrasting strategies ranging from complete genetic control of sex (genotypic sex determination) to environmentally determined sex (for example, temperature-dependent sex determination). Phylogenetic analyses suggest frequent evolutionary transitions between genotypic and temperature-dependent sex determination in environmentally sensitive lineages, including reptiles. These transitions are thought to involve a genotypic system becoming sensitive to temperature, with sex determined by gene-environment interactions. Most mechanistic models of transitions invoke a role for sex reversal. Sex reversal has not yet been demonstrated in nature for any amniote, although it occurs in fish and rarely in amphibians. Here we make the first report of reptile sex reversal in the wild, in the Australian bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps), and use sex-reversed animals to experimentally induce a rapid transition from genotypic to temperature-dependent sex determination. Controlled mating of normal males to sex-reversed females produces viable and fertile offspring whose phenotypic sex is determined solely by temperature (temperature-dependent sex determination). The W sex chromosome is eliminated from this lineage in the first generation. The instantaneous creation of a lineage of ZZ temperature-sensitive animals reveals a novel, climate-induced pathway for the rapid transition between genetic and temperature-dependent sex determination, and adds to concern about adaptation to rapid global climate change.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Holleley, Clare E -- O'Meally, Denis -- Sarre, Stephen D -- Marshall Graves, Jennifer A -- Ezaz, Tariq -- Matsubara, Kazumi -- Azad, Bhumika -- Zhang, Xiuwen -- Georges, Arthur -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jul 2;523(7558):79-82. doi: 10.1038/nature14574.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia. ; 1] Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia [2] School of Life Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26135451" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Most cancers in humans are large, measuring centimetres in diameter, and composed of many billions of cells. An equivalent mass of normal cells would be highly heterogeneous as a result of the mutations that occur during each cell division. What is remarkable about cancers is that virtually every neoplastic cell within a large tumour often contains the same core set of genetic alterations, with heterogeneity confined to mutations that emerge late during tumour growth. How such alterations expand within the spatially constrained three-dimensional architecture of a tumour, and come to dominate a large, pre-existing lesion, has been unclear. Here we describe a model for tumour evolution that shows how short-range dispersal and cell turnover can account for rapid cell mixing inside the tumour. We show that even a small selective advantage of a single cell within a large tumour allows the descendants of that cell to replace the precursor mass in a clinically relevant time frame. We also demonstrate that the same mechanisms can be responsible for the rapid onset of resistance to chemotherapy. Our model not only provides insights into spatial and temporal aspects of tumour growth, but also suggests that targeting short-range cellular migratory activity could have marked effects on tumour growth rates.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Waclaw, Bartlomiej -- Bozic, Ivana -- Pittman, Meredith E -- Hruban, Ralph H -- Vogelstein, Bert -- Nowak, Martin A -- CA43460/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- CA62924/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Sep 10;525(7568):261-4. doi: 10.1038/nature14971. Epub 2015 Aug 26.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, JCMB, Peter Guthrie Tait Road, Edinburgh EH9 3FD, UK. ; Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Harvard University, One Brattle Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. ; Department of Mathematics, Harvard University, One Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. ; The Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center, Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 401 North Broadway, Weinberg 2242, Baltimore, Maryland 21231, USA. ; Ludwig Center and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, 1650 Orleans Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21287, USA. ; Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26308893" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Multicellular assemblages of microorganisms are ubiquitous in nature, and the proximity afforded by aggregation is thought to permit intercellular metabolic coupling that can accommodate otherwise unfavourable reactions. Consortia of methane-oxidizing archaea and sulphate-reducing bacteria are a well-known environmental example of microbial co-aggregation; however, the coupling mechanisms between these paired organisms is not well understood, despite the attention given them because of the global significance of anaerobic methane oxidation. Here we examined the influence of interspecies spatial positioning as it relates to biosynthetic activity within structurally diverse uncultured methane-oxidizing consortia by measuring stable isotope incorporation for individual archaeal and bacterial cells to constrain their potential metabolic interactions. In contrast to conventional models of syntrophy based on the passage of molecular intermediates, cellular activities were found to be independent of both species intermixing and distance between syntrophic partners within consortia. A generalized model of electric conductivity between co-associated archaea and bacteria best fit the empirical data. Combined with the detection of large multi-haem cytochromes in the genomes of methanotrophic archaea and the demonstration of redox-dependent staining of the matrix between cells in consortia, these results provide evidence for syntrophic coupling through direct electron transfer.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉McGlynn, Shawn E -- Chadwick, Grayson L -- Kempes, Christopher P -- Orphan, Victoria J -- England -- Nature. 2015 Oct 22;526(7574):531-5. doi: 10.1038/nature15512. Epub 2015 Sep 16.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA. ; Exobiology Branch, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California 94035, USA. ; Control and Dynamical Systems, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA. ; SETI Institute, Mountain View, California 94034, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26375009" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The source of new hepatocytes in the uninjured liver has remained an open question. By lineage tracing using the Wnt-responsive gene Axin2 in mice, we identify a population of proliferating and self-renewing cells adjacent to the central vein in the liver lobule. These pericentral cells express the early liver progenitor marker Tbx3, are diploid, and thereby differ from mature hepatocytes, which are mostly polyploid. The descendants of pericentral cells differentiate into Tbx3-negative, polyploid hepatocytes, and can replace all hepatocytes along the liver lobule during homeostatic renewal. Adjacent central vein endothelial cells provide Wnt signals that maintain the pericentral cells, thereby constituting the niche. Thus, we identify a cell population in the liver that subserves homeostatic hepatocyte renewal, characterize its anatomical niche, and identify molecular signals that regulate its activity.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4589224/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4589224/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Wang, Bruce -- Zhao, Ludan -- Fish, Matt -- Logan, Catriona Y -- Nusse, Roel -- F32DK091005/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- K08 DK101603/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Aug 13;524(7564):180-5. doi: 10.1038/nature14863. Epub 2015 Aug 5.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Department of Developmental Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA [2] Department of Medicine and Liver Center, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143, USA. ; Department of Developmental Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26245375" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Sex determination in the mosquito Aedes aegypti is governed by a dominant male-determining factor (M factor) located within a Y chromosome-like region called the M locus. Here, we show that an M-locus gene, Nix, functions as an M factor in A. aegypti. Nix exhibits persistent M linkage and early embryonic expression, two characteristics required of an M factor. Nix knockout with clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas9 resulted in largely feminized genetic males and the production of female isoforms of two key regulators of sexual differentiation: doublesex and fruitless. Ectopic expression of Nix resulted in genetic females with nearly complete male genitalia. Thus, Nix is both required and sufficient to initiate male development. This study provides a foundation for mosquito control strategies that convert female mosquitoes into harmless males.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Hall, Andrew Brantley -- Basu, Sanjay -- Jiang, Xiaofang -- Qi, Yumin -- Timoshevskiy, Vladimir A -- Biedler, James K -- Sharakhova, Maria V -- Elahi, Rubayet -- Anderson, Michelle A E -- Chen, Xiao-Guang -- Sharakhov, Igor V -- Adelman, Zach N -- Tu, Zhijian -- AI113643/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jun 12;348(6240):1268-70. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa2850. Epub 2015 May 21.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA, USA. Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA. Fralin Life Science Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA. ; Fralin Life Science Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA. Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA. Fralin Life Science Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA. ; School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangdong, People's Republic of China. ; Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA, USA. Fralin Life Science Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA. Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA. ; Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA, USA. Fralin Life Science Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA. Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA. jaketu@vt.edu zachadel@vt.edu. ; Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA, USA. Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA. Fralin Life Science Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA. jaketu@vt.edu zachadel@vt.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25999371" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: When Staphylococcus aureus undergoes cytokinesis, it builds a septum, generating two hemispherical daughters whose cell walls are only connected via a narrow peripheral ring. We found that resolution of this ring occurred within milliseconds ("popping"), without detectable changes in cell volume. The likelihood of popping depended on cell-wall stress, and the separating cells split open asymmetrically, leaving the daughters connected by a hinge. An elastostatic model of the wall indicated high circumferential stress in the peripheral ring before popping. Last, we observed small perforations in the peripheral ring that are likely initial points of mechanical failure. Thus, the ultrafast daughter cell separation in S. aureus appears to be driven by accumulation of stress in the peripheral ring and exhibits hallmarks of mechanical crack propagation.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Zhou, Xiaoxue -- Halladin, David K -- Rojas, Enrique R -- Koslover, Elena F -- Lee, Timothy K -- Huang, Kerwyn Casey -- Theriot, Julie A -- 1S10OD01227601/OD/NIH HHS/ -- DP2OD006466/OD/NIH HHS/ -- P50-GM107615/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 AI036929/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R01-AI36929/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- R37 AI036929/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM007276/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- T32-GM007276/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- U54-GM072970/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 May 1;348(6234):574-8. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa1511.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. ; Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. ; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. theriot@stanford.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25931560" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Extremophiles, microorganisms thriving in extreme environmental conditions, must have proteins and nucleic acids that are stable at extremes of temperature and pH. The nonenveloped, rod-shaped virus SIRV2 (Sulfolobus islandicus rod-shaped virus 2) infects the hyperthermophilic acidophile Sulfolobus islandicus, which lives at 80 degrees C and pH 3. We have used cryo-electron microscopy to generate a three-dimensional reconstruction of the SIRV2 virion at ~4 angstrom resolution, which revealed a previously unknown form of virion organization. Although almost half of the capsid protein is unstructured in solution, this unstructured region folds in the virion into a single extended alpha helix that wraps around the DNA. The DNA is entirely in the A-form, which suggests a common mechanism with bacterial spores for protecting DNA in the most adverse environments.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉DiMaio, Frank -- Yu, Xiong -- Rensen, Elena -- Krupovic, Mart -- Prangishvili, David -- Egelman, Edward H -- GM035269/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 May 22;348(6237):914-7. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa4181.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA. ; Institut Pasteur, Department of Microbiology, 25 rue du Dr. Roux, Paris 75015, France. ; Institut Pasteur, Department of Microbiology, 25 rue du Dr. Roux, Paris 75015, France. egelman@virginia.edu david.prangishvili@pasteur.fr. ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA. egelman@virginia.edu david.prangishvili@pasteur.fr.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25999507" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Strigolactones are naturally occurring signaling molecules that affect plant development, fungi-plant interactions, and parasitic plant infestations. We characterized the function of 11 strigolactone receptors from the parasitic plant Striga hermonthica using chemical and structural biology. We found a clade of polyspecific receptors, including one that is sensitive to picomolar concentrations of strigolactone. A crystal structure of a highly sensitive strigolactone receptor from Striga revealed a larger binding pocket than that of the Arabidopsis receptor, which could explain the increased range of strigolactone sensitivity. Thus, the sensitivity of Striga to strigolactones from host plants is driven by receptor sensitivity. By expressing strigolactone receptors in Arabidopsis, we developed a bioassay that can be used to identify chemicals and crops with altered strigolactone levels.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Toh, Shigeo -- Holbrook-Smith, Duncan -- Stogios, Peter J -- Onopriyenko, Olena -- Lumba, Shelley -- Tsuchiya, Yuichiro -- Savchenko, Alexei -- McCourt, Peter -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Oct 9;350(6257):203-7. doi: 10.1126/science.aac9476.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto M5S 3B2, Canada. ; Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, Banting and Best Department of Medical Research, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto M5S 3E5, Canada. Center for Structural Genomics of Infectious Diseases, contracted by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. ; Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, Banting and Best Department of Medical Research, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto M5S 3E5, Canada. ; Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules, Nagoya University, Japan, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8602, Japan. ; Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto M5S 3B2, Canada. peter.mccourt@utoronto.ca.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26450211" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Immunosuppression after measles is known to predispose people to opportunistic infections for a period of several weeks to months. Using population-level data, we show that measles has a more prolonged effect on host resistance, extending over 2 to 3 years. We find that nonmeasles infectious disease mortality in high-income countries is tightly coupled to measles incidence at this lag, in both the pre- and post-vaccine eras. We conclude that long-term immunologic sequelae of measles drive interannual fluctuations in nonmeasles deaths. This is consistent with recent experimental work that attributes the immunosuppressive effects of measles to depletion of B and T lymphocytes. Our data provide an explanation for the long-term benefits of measles vaccination in preventing all-cause infectious disease. By preventing measles-associated immune memory loss, vaccination protects polymicrobial herd immunity.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Mina, Michael J -- Metcalf, C Jessica E -- de Swart, Rik L -- Osterhaus, A D M E -- Grenfell, Bryan T -- T32 GM008169/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 May 8;348(6235):694-9. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa3662. Epub 2015 May 7.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA. Medical Scientist Training Program, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA. michael.j.mina@gmail.com. ; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA. Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. ; Department of Viroscience, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25954009" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: TREK-2 (KCNK10/K2P10), a two-pore domain potassium (K2P) channel, is gated by multiple stimuli such as stretch, fatty acids, and pH and by several drugs. However, the mechanisms that control channel gating are unclear. Here we present crystal structures of the human TREK-2 channel (up to 3.4 angstrom resolution) in two conformations and in complex with norfluoxetine, the active metabolite of fluoxetine (Prozac) and a state-dependent blocker of TREK channels. Norfluoxetine binds within intramembrane fenestrations found in only one of these two conformations. Channel activation by arachidonic acid and mechanical stretch involves conversion between these states through movement of the pore-lining helices. These results provide an explanation for TREK channel mechanosensitivity, regulation by diverse stimuli, and possible off-target effects of the serotonin reuptake inhibitor Prozac.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Dong, Yin Yao -- Pike, Ashley C W -- Mackenzie, Alexandra -- McClenaghan, Conor -- Aryal, Prafulla -- Dong, Liang -- Quigley, Andrew -- Grieben, Mariana -- Goubin, Solenne -- Mukhopadhyay, Shubhashish -- Ruda, Gian Filippo -- Clausen, Michael V -- Cao, Lishuang -- Brennan, Paul E -- Burgess-Brown, Nicola A -- Sansom, Mark S P -- Tucker, Stephen J -- Carpenter, Elisabeth P -- 084655/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 092809/Z/10/Z/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council/United Kingdom -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Mar 13;347(6227):1256-9. doi: 10.1126/science.1261512.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Structural Genomics Consortium, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7DQ, UK. ; Structural Genomics Consortium, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7DQ, UK. Clarendon Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK. ; Clarendon Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK. OXION Initiative in Ion Channels and Disease, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PN, UK. ; Clarendon Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK. OXION Initiative in Ion Channels and Disease, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PN, UK. Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QU, UK. ; Structural Genomics Consortium, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7DQ, UK. Target Discovery Institute, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7FZ, UK. ; Clarendon Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK. ; Pfizer Neusentis, Granta Park, Cambridge CB21 6GS, UK. ; OXION Initiative in Ion Channels and Disease, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PN, UK. Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QU, UK. ; Clarendon Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK. OXION Initiative in Ion Channels and Disease, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PN, UK. liz.carpenter@sgc.ox.ac.uk stephen.tucker@physics.ox.ac.uk. ; Structural Genomics Consortium, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7DQ, UK. OXION Initiative in Ion Channels and Disease, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PN, UK. liz.carpenter@sgc.ox.ac.uk stephen.tucker@physics.ox.ac.uk.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25766236" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Understanding the evolution of sex determination in plants requires identifying the mechanisms underlying the transition from monoecious plants, where male and female flowers coexist, to unisexual individuals found in dioecious species. We show that in melon and cucumber, the androecy gene controls female flower development and encodes a limiting enzyme of ethylene biosynthesis, ACS11. ACS11 is expressed in phloem cells connected to flowers programmed to become female, and ACS11 loss-of-function mutants lead to male plants (androecy). CmACS11 represses the expression of the male promoting gene CmWIP1 to control the development and the coexistence of male and female flowers in monoecious species. Because monoecy can lead to dioecy, we show how a combination of alleles of CmACS11 and CmWIP1 can create artificial dioecy.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Boualem, Adnane -- Troadec, Christelle -- Camps, Celine -- Lemhemdi, Afef -- Morin, Halima -- Sari, Marie-Agnes -- Fraenkel-Zagouri, Rina -- Kovalski, Irina -- Dogimont, Catherine -- Perl-Treves, Rafael -- Bendahmane, Abdelhafid -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Nov 6;350(6261):688-91. doi: 10.1126/science.aac8370.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Institute of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Universite Paris-Sud, Universite d'Evry, Universite Paris-Diderot, Batiment 630, 91405, Orsay, France. ; Laboratoire de Chimie et Biochimie Pharmacologiques et Toxicologiques, CNRS, UMR 8601, Universite Rene Descartes, Paris, France. ; The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel. ; INRA, UR 1052, Unite de Genetique et d'Amelioration des Fruits et Legumes, BP 94, F-84143 Montfavet, France. ; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Institute of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Universite Paris-Sud, Universite d'Evry, Universite Paris-Diderot, Batiment 630, 91405, Orsay, France. bendahm@evry.inra.fr.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26542573" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Elucidating the signaling mechanism of strigolactones has been the key to controlling the devastating problem caused by the parasitic plant Striga hermonthica. To overcome the genetic intractability that has previously interfered with identification of the strigolactone receptor, we developed a fluorescence turn-on probe, Yoshimulactone Green (YLG), which activates strigolactone signaling and illuminates signal perception by the strigolactone receptors. Here we describe how strigolactones bind to and act via ShHTLs, the diverged family of alpha/beta hydrolase-fold proteins in Striga. Live imaging using YLGs revealed that a dynamic wavelike propagation of strigolactone perception wakes up Striga seeds. We conclude that ShHTLs function as the strigolactone receptors mediating seed germination in Striga. Our findings enable access to strigolactone receptors and observation of the regulatory dynamics for strigolactone signal transduction in Striga.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Tsuchiya, Yuichiro -- Yoshimura, Masahiko -- Sato, Yoshikatsu -- Kuwata, Keiko -- Toh, Shigeo -- Holbrook-Smith, Duncan -- Zhang, Hua -- McCourt, Peter -- Itami, Kenichiro -- Kinoshita, Toshinori -- Hagihara, Shinya -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Aug 21;349(6250):864-8. doi: 10.1126/science.aab3831.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (WPI-ITbM), Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan. Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B2, Canada. yuichiro@itbm.nagoya-u.ac.jp hagi@itbm.nagoya-u.ac.jp. ; Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (WPI-ITbM), Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan. Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan. ; Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (WPI-ITbM), Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan. ; Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B2, Canada. ; Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (WPI-ITbM), Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan. Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan. Japan Science and Technology Agency-Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology, Itami Molecular Nanocarbon Project, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan. ; Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (WPI-ITbM), Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan. Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan. yuichiro@itbm.nagoya-u.ac.jp hagi@itbm.nagoya-u.ac.jp.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26293962" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Cyclic guanosine monophosphate-adenosine monophosphate synthase (cGAS) detects intracellular DNA and signals through the adapter protein STING to initiate the antiviral response to DNA viruses. Whether DNA viruses can prevent activation of the cGAS-STING pathway remains largely unknown. Here, we identify the oncogenes of the DNA tumor viruses, including E7 from human papillomavirus (HPV) and E1A from adenovirus, as potent and specific inhibitors of the cGAS-STING pathway. We show that the LXCXE motif of these oncoproteins, which is essential for blockade of the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor, is also important for antagonizing DNA sensing. E1A and E7 bind to STING, and silencing of these oncogenes in human tumor cells restores the cGAS-STING pathway. Our findings reveal a host-virus conflict that may have shaped the evolution of viral oncogenes.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Lau, Laura -- Gray, Elizabeth E -- Brunette, Rebecca L -- Stetson, Daniel B -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Oct 30;350(6260):568-71. doi: 10.1126/science.aab3291. Epub 2015 Sep 24.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Immunology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA 98109, USA. ; Department of Immunology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA 98109, USA. stetson@uw.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26405230" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Podophyllotoxin is the natural product precursor of the chemotherapeutic etoposide, yet only part of its biosynthetic pathway is known. We used transcriptome mining in Podophyllum hexandrum (mayapple) to identify biosynthetic genes in the podophyllotoxin pathway. We selected 29 candidate genes to combinatorially express in Nicotiana benthamiana (tobacco) and identified six pathway enzymes, including an oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase that closes the core cyclohexane ring of the aryltetralin scaffold. By coexpressing 10 genes in tobacco-these 6 plus 4 previously discovered-we reconstitute the pathway to (-)-4'-desmethylepipodophyllotoxin (the etoposide aglycone), a naturally occurring lignan that is the immediate precursor of etoposide and, unlike podophyllotoxin, a potent topoisomerase inhibitor. Our results enable production of the etoposide aglycone in tobacco and circumvent the need for cultivation of mayapple and semisynthetic epimerization and demethylation of podophyllotoxin.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Lau, Warren -- Sattely, Elizabeth S -- DP2 AT008321/AT/NCCIH NIH HHS/ -- R00 GM089985/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Sep 11;349(6253):1224-8. doi: 10.1126/science.aac7202.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. ; Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. sattely@stanford.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26359402" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The occurrence of Ebola virus (EBOV) in West Africa during 2013-2015 is unprecedented. Early reports suggested that in this outbreak EBOV is mutating twice as fast as previously observed, which indicates the potential for changes in transmissibility and virulence and could render current molecular diagnostics and countermeasures ineffective. We have determined additional full-length sequences from two clusters of imported EBOV infections into Mali, and we show that the nucleotide substitution rate (9.6 x 10(-4) substitutions per site per year) is consistent with rates observed in Central African outbreaks. In addition, overall variation among all genotypes observed remains low. Thus, our data indicate that EBOV is not undergoing rapid evolution in humans during the current outbreak. This finding has important implications for outbreak response and public health decisions and should alleviate several previously raised concerns.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Hoenen, T -- Safronetz, D -- Groseth, A -- Wollenberg, K R -- Koita, O A -- Diarra, B -- Fall, I S -- Haidara, F C -- Diallo, F -- Sanogo, M -- Sarro, Y S -- Kone, A -- Togo, A C G -- Traore, A -- Kodio, M -- Dosseh, A -- Rosenke, K -- de Wit, E -- Feldmann, F -- Ebihara, H -- Munster, V J -- Zoon, K C -- Feldmann, H -- Sow, S -- Intramural NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Apr 3;348(6230):117-9. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa5646. Epub 2015 Mar 26.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Laboratory of Virology, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Hamilton, MT 59840, USA. ; Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch, NIAID, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. ; Center of Research and Training for HIV and Tuberculosis, University of Science, Technique and Technologies of Bamako, Mali. ; World Health Organization Office, Bamako, Mali. ; Centre des Operations d'Urgence, Centre pour le Developpement des Vaccins (CVD-Mali), Centre National d'Appui a la lutte contre la Maladie, Ministere de la Sante et de l'Hygiene Publique, Bamako, Mali. ; World Health Organization Inter-Country Support Team, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. ; Rocky Mountain Veterinary Branch, Division of Intramural Research, NIAID, NIH, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA. ; Office of the Scientific Director, NIAID, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20895, USA. ; Laboratory of Virology, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Hamilton, MT 59840, USA. feldmannh@niaid.nih.gov ssow@medicine.umaryland.edu. ; Centre des Operations d'Urgence, Centre pour le Developpement des Vaccins (CVD-Mali), Centre National d'Appui a la lutte contre la Maladie, Ministere de la Sante et de l'Hygiene Publique, Bamako, Mali. feldmannh@niaid.nih.gov ssow@medicine.umaryland.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25814067" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: DNA strand exchange plays a central role in genetic recombination across all kingdoms of life, but the physical basis for these reactions remains poorly defined. Using single-molecule imaging, we found that bacterial RecA and eukaryotic Rad51 and Dmc1 all stabilize strand exchange intermediates in precise three-nucleotide steps. Each step coincides with an energetic signature (0.3 kBT) that is conserved from bacteria to humans. Triplet recognition is strictly dependent on correct Watson-Crick pairing. Rad51, RecA, and Dmc1 can all step over mismatches, but only Dmc1 can stabilize mismatched triplets. This finding provides insight into why eukaryotes have evolved a meiosis-specific recombinase. We propose that canonical Watson-Crick base triplets serve as the fundamental unit of pairing interactions during DNA recombination.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4580133/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4580133/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Lee, Ja Yil -- Terakawa, Tsuyoshi -- Qi, Zhi -- Steinfeld, Justin B -- Redding, Sy -- Kwon, YoungHo -- Gaines, William A -- Zhao, Weixing -- Sung, Patrick -- Greene, Eric C -- CA146940/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- GM074739/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 CA146940/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- R01 ES015252/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM074739/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01ES015252/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM007367/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Aug 28;349(6251):977-81. doi: 10.1126/science.aab2666.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. Department of Biophysics, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto, Japan. ; Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. ; Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. ecg2108@cumc.columbia.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26315438" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉