Nature Communications - 28 August 2013

Weekly Content Alert 28 August 2013  Featured image: Shen et al. fabricate arrays of gold-capped nanopillars and show their suitability has high-sensitivity biosensors. Latest content: Articles Corrigendum Journal homepage Recommend to library Web feed   Advertisement Nature Reviews Neuroscience Article Series on Neuroscience and the law This Article Series explores the interaction between neuroscience and the legal system. Read discussions on issues pertaining to criminal responsibility, drug policy, memory and the dissemination of neuroscientific findings in the courtroom. Follow the series here: www.nature.com/nrn/series/neurosciencelaw     Latest Articles View all Articles     Whole-genome sequencing reveals untapped genetic potential in Africa’s indigenous cereal crop sorghum OPEN Emma S. Mace, Shuaishuai Tai, Edward K. Gilding, Yanhong Li, Peter J. Prentis, Lianle Bian, Bradley C. Campbell, Wushu Hu, David J. Innes, Xuelian Han, Alan Cruickshank, Changming Dai, Céline Frère, Haikuan Zhang, Colleen H. Hunt, Xianyuan Wang, Tracey Shatte, Miao Wang, Zhe Su, Jun Li et al. Sorghum is a drought-resistant food and feed cereal crop used by over half a billion of the world's poorest people. Here, the authors present high-coverage resequencing genome data of 44 sorghum lines of varying geographic and taxonomic origin, which include a number of sorghum wild relatives. 27 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3320 Biological Sciences  Genetics  Plant sciences  Use of domesticated pigs by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in northwestern Europe OPEN Ben Krause-Kyora, Cheryl Makarewicz, Allowen Evin, Linus Girdland Flink, Keith Dobney, Greger Larson, Sönke Hartz, Stefan Schreiber, Claus von Carnap-Bornheim, Nicole von Wurmb-Schwark and Almut Nebel It is still not clear when the introduction of animal domestication in northwestern Europe occurred. Here, the authors provide evidence that Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in Northern Germany already possessed domestic pigs, and pigs were present in the region ~500 years earlier than previously thought. 27 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3348 Biological Sciences  Palaeontology  Nitrogen-doped carbon nanomaterials as non-metal electrocatalysts for water oxidation Yong Zhao, Ryuhei Nakamura, Kazuhide Kamiya, Shuji Nakanishi and Kazuhito Hashimoto Efficient and economical water splitting is desirable for energy conversion, but it is limited by high overpotential and the need for noble metals. Zhao et al. report that nitrogen-doped graphite materials function as a promising electrocatalyst, with efficiency comparable to that of benchmark metal oxides. 27 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3390 Chemical Sciences  Catalysis  Physical chemistry  Plasmonic gold mushroom arrays with refractive index sensing figures of merit approaching the theoretical limit Yang Shen, Jianhua Zhou, Tianran Liu, Yuting Tao, Ruibin Jiang, Mingxuan Liu, Guohui Xiao, Jinhao Zhu, Zhang-Kai Zhou, Xuehua Wang, Chongjun Jin and Jianfang Wang Plasmonic resonances in nanostructures are useful for high-performance biosensors. Shen et al. build arrays of nanoscale gold mushrooms with a high figure of merit close to the predicted upper limit and show their use for detecting low concentrations of cytochrome c and alpha-fetoprotein. 27 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3381 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Optical physics  In vivo imaging and histochemistry are combined in the cryosection labelling and intravital microscopy technique Laila Ritsma, Nienke Vrisekoop and Jacco van Rheenen Imaging cells within live animals is important in biomedical research, but this process is limited by the availability of probes. Ritsma et al. combine intravital microscopy with immunohistochemistry to increase the panel of available reagents and examine the role of T cells in the migration of breast cancer cells. 27 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3366 Biological Sciences  Cancer  Cell biology  Immunology  A zero-strain layered metal oxide as the negative electrode for long-life sodium-ion batteries Yuesheng Wang, Xiqian Yu, Shuyin Xu, Jianming Bai, Ruijuan Xiao, Yong-Sheng Hu, Hong Li, Xiao-Qing Yang, Liquan Chen and Xuejie Huang Anode materials in sodium-ion batteries can undergo significant volume change upon sodium insertion and extraction, leading to deteriorated cycling performance. Wang et al. report a layered metal oxide anode with zero-strain characteristics, which may lead to extended battery cycle life. 27 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3365 Chemical Sciences  Materials science  Physical chemistry  Correlation between spin structure oscillations and domain wall velocities OPEN André Bisig, Martin Stärk, Mohamad-Assaad Mawass, Christoforos Moutafis, Jan Rhensius, Jakoba Heidler, Felix Büttner, Matthias Noske, Markus Weigand, Stefan Eisebitt, Tolek Tyliszczak, Bartel Van Waeyenberge, Hermann Stoll, Gisela Schütz and Mathias Kläui A prerequisite for using domain walls in logic or sensing devices is a thorough knowledge of the properties and precise control. Here, the authors monitor the domain wall motion in curved nanowires by stroboscopic imaging and find a regime of oscillating velocity and spin structure below the Walker breakdown. 27 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3328 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Nanotechnology  Role of motor cortex NMDA receptors in learning-dependent synaptic plasticity of behaving mice OPEN Mazahir T. Hasan, Samuel Hernández-González, Godwin Dogbevia, Mario Treviño, Ilaria Bertocchi, Agnès Gruart and José M. Delgado-García Motor cortex NMDA receptors have a key role in the acquisition of associative memories. Hasan et al. generate mice lacking NMDA receptor activity in the motor cortex and find that this impairs LTP, strengthening of synapses between somatosensory and motor cortices, and associative learning. 27 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3258 Biological Sciences  Neuroscience  Dynamic optimization identifies optimal programmes for pathway regulation in prokaryotes Martin Bartl, Martin Kötzing, Stefan Schuster, Pu Li and Christoph Kaleta The ability to induce metabolic pathways in response to a changing environment is an important component of bacterial fitness. Bartl et al. identify optimal programmes for metabolic pathway activation depending on protein synthesis capacity constraints, and demonstrate their impact on operonic organization. 27 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3243 Biological Sciences  Biochemistry  Systems biology  Extraordinary phylogenetic diversity and metabolic versatility in aquifer sediment OPEN Cindy J. Castelle, Laura A. Hug, Kelly C. Wrighton, Brian C. Thomas, Kenneth H. Williams, Dongying Wu, Susannah G. Tringe, Steven W. Singer, Jonathan A. Eisen and Jillian F. Banfield Turnover of sediment organic matter contributes to global carbon cycling, yet the microorganisms involved are largely unknown. Castelle et al. reveal that an aquifer sediment core hosts a 'zoo' of organisms, including representatives of a previously undescribed phylum (Zixibacteria). 27 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3120 Biological Sciences  Microbiology  A strained organic field-effect transistor with a gate-tunable superconducting channel Hiroshi M. Yamamoto, Masaki Nakano, Masayuki Suda, Yoshihiro Iwasa, Masashi Kawasaki and Reizo Kato External strain is a versatile tool to enhance charge carrier mobility in transistor devices. Here, Hiroshi et al. demonstrate that at low temperatures strain in an organic transistor device can be used to induce a superconducting state. 23 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3379 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Materials science  Single-mode tunable laser emission in the single-exciton regime from colloidal nanocrystals OPEN Christos Grivas, Chunyong Li, Peristera Andreakou, Pengfei Wang, Ming Ding, Gilberto Brambilla, Liberato Manna and Pavlos Lagoudakis Semiconductor nanocrystals are of interest for microlasers that, for example, can be used for integrated photonics applications. Here, Grivas et al. demonstrate single-mode lasing in the single-exciton regime from core/shell CdSe/CdS quantum rods deposited on a single silica microsphere. 23 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3376 Physical Sciences  Nanotechnology  Optical physics  Environmental impact on direct neuronal reprogramming in vivo in the adult brain Andrew Grande, Kyoko Sumiyoshi, Alejandro López-Juárez, Jennifer Howard, Bhuvaneswari Sakthivel, Bruce Aronow, Kenneth Campbell and Masato Nakafuku A combination of growth factors and the transcription factor Neurogenin2 has been shown to enhance the production of new neurons from endogenous cells. Here, Grande et al. demonstrate in a rat brain injury model that these factors reprogramme non-neuronal cells into different neuronal phenotypes at distinct efficiencies depending on the environment the cells reside in. 23 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3373 Biological Sciences  Developmental biology  Neuroscience  Genetic integration of local dispersal and exploratory behaviour in a wild bird Peter Korsten, Thijs van Overveld, Frank Adriaensen and Erik Matthysen The distance that individuals disperse to between birth and first breeding determines the dynamics and genetic composition of natural populations. Here, the authors show that in great tits (Parus major), the distance of local dispersal is genetically coupled with exploratory behaviour measured in the lab. 23 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3362 Biological Sciences  Ecology  Zoology  High charge-carrier mobility enables exploitation of carrier multiplication in quantum-dot films OPEN C. S. Suchand Sandeep, Sybren ten Cate, Juleon M. Schins, Tom J. Savenije, Yao Liu, Matt Law, Sachin Kinge, Arjan J. Houtepen and Laurens D. A. Siebbeles Carrier multiplication effects are of promise for enhancement of solar cells, but have been difficult to exploit in such devices. Here, the authors demonstrate how carrier multiplication in quantum-dot films can be considerably enhanced by appropriate tuning of the charge-carrier mobility. 23 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3360 Physical Sciences  Nanotechnology  Optical physics  Particle correlations and evidence for dark state condensation in a cold dipolar exciton fluid Yehiel Shilo, Kobi Cohen, Boris Laikhtman, Ken West, Loren Pfeiffer and Ronen Rapaport Cold dipolar excitons, created optically in a semiconductor bilayer structure, have been predicted to show new and interesting correlation regimes and collective quantum phases. Shilo et al. provide experimental evidence for such regimes and for a possible transition to a collective dark state. 23 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3335 Physical Sciences  Condensed matter  Optical physics  Genome architecture is a selectable trait that can be maintained by antagonistic pleiotropy Ana Teresa Avelar, Lília Perfeito, Isabel Gordo and Miguel Godinho Ferreira The contribution of chromosomal rearrangements to fitness remains to be directly quantified. By constructing rearrangements in fission yeast, the authors show that the resulting defects in meiosis may be compensated for by a strong growth advantage in mitosis. 23 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3235 Biological Sciences  Evolution  Genetics  p53 increases MHC class I expression by upregulating the endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidase ERAP1 OPEN Bei Wang, Dandan Niu, Liyun Lai and Ee Chee Ren The protein p53 is an important tumour suppressor. Here, Wang et al. show that p53 can induce expression of MHC class I on the cell surface by promoting expression of the aminopeptidase ERAP1, and that this mechanism operates in cancer cells as well as those infected with influenza virus. 22 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3359 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Immunology  MG53-induced IRS-1 ubiquitination negatively regulates skeletal myogenesis and insulin signalling Jae-Sung Yi, Jun Sub Park, Young-Mi Ham, Nga Nguyen, Na-Rae Lee, Jin Hong, Bong-Woo Kim, Hyun Lee, Chang-Seok Lee, Byung-Cheon Jeong, Hyun Kyu Song, Hana Cho, Yoon Ki Kim, Jae-Seon Lee, Kyong Soo Park, Haksub Shin, Inho Choi, Seung Hee Lee, Woo Jin Park, Shi-Young Park et al. The protein MG53 is known to inhibit myogenesis. Here, Ko et al. show that MG53 is an E3 ubiquitin ligase that mediates degradation of insulin receptor substrate 1 in skeletal muscle, thereby regulating myogenesis and insulin sensitivity in vitro and in vivo. 22 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3354 Biological Sciences  Cell biology  Medical research  LaAlO3 stoichiometry is key to electron liquid formation at LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces M. P. Warusawithana, C. Richter, J. A. Mundy, P. Roy, J. Ludwig, S. Paetel, T. Heeg, A. A. Pawlicki, L. F. Kourkoutis, M. Zheng, M. Lee, B. Mulcahy, W. Zander, Y. Zhu, J. Schubert, J. N. Eckstein, D. A. Muller, C. Stephen Hellberg, J. Mannhart and D. G. Schlom The origin of the two-dimensional electron liquid between LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 has been a matter of debate. The authors' investigation of stoichiometry reveals that only Al-rich LaAlO3 leads to electron liquid formation, which points to the much discussed polar catastrophe mechanism as its origin. 22 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3351 Physical Sciences  Applied physics  Condensed matter  Wall teichoic acid structure governs horizontal gene transfer between major bacterial pathogens OPEN Volker Winstel, Chunguang Liang, Patricia Sanchez-Carballo, Matthias Steglich, Marta Munar, Barbara M. Bröker, Jose R. Penadés, Ulrich Nübel, Otto Holst, Thomas Dandekar, Andreas Peschel and Guoqing Xia Horizontal gene transfer of mobile genetic elements contributes to bacterial evolution and emergence of new pathogens. Here, the authors demonstrate that the highly diverse structure of wall teichoic acid polymers governs horizontal gene transfer among Gram-positive pathogens, even across long phylogenetic distances. 22 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3345 Biological Sciences  Microbiology  Reductive assembly of cyclobutadienyl and diphosphacyclobutadienyl rings at uranium Dipti Patel, Jonathan McMaster, William Lewis, Alexander J. Blake and Stephen T. Liddle Despite their prevalence in the d-block, f-block cyclobutadienyl complexes are hitherto unknown. Here, the authors report the syntheses of inverted sandwich cyclobutadienyl dianion uranium(IV) complexes and show computational analysis that suggests the bonding is predominantly electrostatic. 22 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3323 Chemical Sciences  Inorganic chemistry  In vivo formation of double-stranded T-DNA molecules by T-strand priming Zhuobin Liang and Tzvi Tzfira Agrobacterium uses a single-stranded DNA molecule–T-strand–to transform host plants, but the mechanism of insertion into the host genome is unclear. Here, the authors find that T-strand to double-stranded T-DNA conversion, which precedes integration into the genome, may be initiated by the host DNA repair machinery. 21 August 2013 | doi: 10.1038/ncomms3253 Biological Sciences  Molecular biology  Plant sciences    Nature Communications JOBS of the week PhD Position Heidelberg University, Institute of Physiology and Pathophysiology Postdoctoral Research Assistant University of Oxford Postdoctoral Scientist Medical Research Council - Laboratory of Molecular Biology Postdoctoral Fellow Icahn School of Medcine at Mount Sinai Post-doctoral Researcher The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) Post-doctoral Fellow University of Maryland, Institute for Genome Sciences Assistant Professor of Biology Albright College Laboratory Technician The Biozentrum of the University of Basel Research Fellow University of Texas - Medical Branch Post-Doc Position University of Konstanz More Science jobs from Nature Communications EVENT Foundations for cellular experiments 27.11.13 Cologne, Germany More science events from       Latest Corrigendum     Corrigendum: Polariton condensation in solitonic gap states in a one-dimensional periodic potential D. 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