Articles in 2015

Whether basal bodies are pre-committed to form 9+2 motile or 9+0 sensory axonemes and whether interconversion occurs between the two types of axonemes is not clear. Here, the authors used the unicellular eukaryote Leishmania as a model system to demonstrate that 9+0 axonemes can be formed de novoor by restructuring of 9+2 axonemes.

Decidual natural killer (NK) cells from the pregnant uterus play an important role in the physiology of pregnancy and differ functionally from peripheral blood NK cells. Siewiera et al. reveal that this is partly due to the differential expression of splice variants of natural cytotoxicity receptors by these two cell subsets.

The Set8-Set7 methyltransferase plays a critical role in cell cycle progression and tumorigenesis, and is degraded through modification by the E3 ubiquitin ligase CRL4^Cdt2. Here Wang et al. identify SCF^β-TRCPas an additional E3 ubiquitin ligase that marks Set8 for degradation in response to DNA damage.

Donor-acceptor molecules are important components for molecular electronics applications. Here, the authors show that donor-acceptor molecular wires exhibit changes in conductivity under the influence of small changes in the environment.

Ex situ conservation breeding programmes for endangered species are expensive, and not always guaranteed to succeed. Here, Martin-Wintle et al.show that when captive giant pandas are given the opportunity to choose their preferred mate, copulation and birth rates increase significantly.

The nuclear farnesoid X receptor (FXR) is activated by bile acids and influences energy metabolism. Here, the authors report a small molecule inhibitor of FXR, glycine-ß-muricholic acid, which inhibits FXR in the intestine and improves metabolic homeostasis by repressing intestinal ceramide synthesis.

Carcinoma-associated fibroblasts are key components of solid tumours and associated with poor clinical outcome. Here the authors show that the cytokine LIF initiates an epigenetic switch which results in the sustained invasive activity of the tumour cells.

Sepsis patients often develop muscle atrophy that can last for years. Here the authors show in a mouse model that sepsis causes long-term impairment of the satellite cells, affecting mitochondrial function and energy metabolism, and that injection of mesenchymal stem cells restores satellite cell metabolism and muscle regeneration.

The ventral hippocampus connects to the hypothalamus and has been implicated in feeding behaviours. Here, the authors use a combination of optogenetics and DREADD strategies to dissect the underlying circuit, showing that projections from the vHC to the lateral septum work to regulate feeding suppression.

Smoking tobacco is known to alter DNA methylation. Here, the authors show that hypomethylation of smoke-related genes is associated with future increase in lung cancer risk.

The percolation transition has been regarded as model-independent, namely determined by the geometry of a system but otherwise identical for bond or site percolation models. Here, the authors show the violation of this assumption both analytically and numerically for networks with null percolation thresholds.

Authors of papers submitted from January 2016 will be given the option to publish the peer review history of their paper

Graphene nanoribbons have potential applications as nanoscale wires, though experimentally studied ribbons display wide bandgaps. Here, the authors synthesise the narrowest armchair graphene nanoribbon predicted to have metallic behaviour and show these ribbons—5 carbon atoms wide—indeed display almost metallic behaviour.

Single atomic layers of transition metal dichalcogenides are semiconductors with possible applications in spintronics. Here, the authors demonstrate tuning of the spin-orbit splitting in molybdenum tungsten diselenide by altering the alloy’s composition, impacting valley polarization and light emission yield.

Drug seeking behaviour has habitual neural substrates. Here, Murray et al. show that the basolateral amygdala and central nucleus of the amygdala are necessary to recruit and maintain, respectively, the intrastriatal functional transition that underlies cocaine seeking habits.

The surfaces of noble metals possess Shockley states which exhibit Rashba-type spin splitting and spin-momentum locking. Here, the authors use ab initiomethods and photoemission spectroscopy to demonstrate how such Shockley states may be reinterpreted as topologically protected surface states.

Efficient steam generation under solar irradiation is of interest for energy harvesting applications. Here, Bae et al. develop a plasmonic nanofocusing film consisting of metal coated alumina nanowires to efficiently generate solar vapour with an efficiency up to 57% at 20 kWm⁻².