Search

Plasma turbulence is the main driver to deteriorate the performance of fusion power plants. This work presents an unprecedented comparison of plasma turbulence between experiment and simulation, proving that the gyrokinetic model GENE reached a high level of maturity to predict core turbulence.

This study maps global tree composition in forests and assesses the impacts of historical forest cover loss and climate change. The results highlight the need for preserving the remaining large forest biomes, while regenerating degraded forests in a way that provides resilience against climate change.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have become a key tool to discover genetic markers for complex traits; however, environmental factors that interact with genes are rarely considered. Here, the authors conduct a GWAS of obesity traits, and find that smoking may alter genetic susceptibilities.

Edge-localized plasma modes in a tokamak can damage its innermost wall. Simulations now show that fast ions can modify the spatio-temporal structure of these modes. These effects need to be considered in the optimization of control techniques.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) functioning requires a constant supply of ATP, but the exchanger required for ATP uptake into the ER is unknown. Here, the authors report that SLC35B1, here named AXER, or ATP/ADP exchanger into the ER, can transport ATP into the ER.

The suppression of edge-localized modes in tokamak plasmas is crucial to prevent them from damaging the walls of the chamber. Now experiments confirm the role that magnetic islands play in suppressing these detrimental modes.

In this paper, the authors present findings demonstrating that variations of the MET gene are associated with specific structural differences in key language regions in individuals with schizophrenia.

Panos Deloukas, Nilesh Samani and colleagues report a large-scale association analysis using the Metabochip array in 63,746 coronary artery disease cases and 130,681 controls. They identify 15 susceptibility loci, refine previous associations and use network analysis to highlight biological pathways.

A case–control study investigating the causes of recent cases of acute hepatitis of unknown aetiology in 32 children identifies an association between adeno-associated virus infection and host genetics in disease susceptibility.

Nearly 90% of global variation in species richness of birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles is shown to be explained by the joint effects of climate and the geographic structure (area and isolation) of climate.

Catherine André, Judith Fischer and colleagues report that mutations in PNPLA1 cause congenital ichthyosis in humans and golden retriever dogs. Their findings suggest a role for PNPLA1 in the formation of the epidermal lipid barrier.

A spatial taxonomic framework integrating genomic, morphological, ecological, life history and acoustic data is used to clarify the cryptic evolution of the taxonomically controversial mouse lemur complex, with a view to aiding future conservation of this and other similarly cryptic clades.

Cryo-electron microscopy structures of human and nematode spliceosomes show that the disassembly of this complex is initiated by the licensing of the disassembly helicase to act on the catalytic U6 small nuclear RNA.

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the pre-eminent organism for the study of basic functions of eukaryotic cells¹. All of the genes of this simple eukaryotic cell have recently been revealed by an international collaborative effort to determine the complete DNA sequence of its nuclear genome. Here we describe some of the features of chromosome XII.

Romagnani and colleagues discover an unexpected role for T-bet and RORα during embryonic ILC function and highlight that RORγt is crucial in counteracting the suppressive effects of T-bet.

Mitochondria import most of their proteins posttranslationally. Here, Dewar et al. characterize the mitochondrial quality control mechanism of Trypanosoma brucei. Through proteomics and functional studies, they show that only ablation of ATOM69, one of the seven subunits of its mitochondrial protein translocase, triggers a unique quality control pathway resulting in TbUbL1 release from the nucleus and subsequent proteasomal degradation of non-imported mitochondrial proteins.

Nitrogen mineralisation (N_min), an important index of soil fertility, is often determined in the laboratory, with an uncertain relationship to N_min under field conditions. Here the authors show that combining laboratory measurements with environmental data greatly improves predictions of field N_min at a global scale.

Near to the superconducting state, cuprates display spatially-periodic charge density variations. Here, the authors use x-ray diffraction to determine the microscopic structure, showing how charge density waves in underdoped YBa₂Cu₃O_6.54break the symmetry of the superconducting layers.

Sensory acuity deteriorates at cold temperatures, but pain perception persists and cold stimuli themselves can be painful. A voltage-gated sodium channel, Na_v1.8, is implicated in this perception. Unlike other channels, Na_v1.8 does not inactivate at lower temperatures and its currents are actually larger in colder conditions

How Lck is recruited to the TCR to initiate signaling is not well known. Here Minguet and colleagues report a previously unknown binding motif in the CD3ε cytoplasmic tail that interacts in a noncanonical mode with the Lck SH3 domain that may help to improve TCR activation and the antitumor activity of a clinically approved CAR.

Viiri and colleagues show that an orally administered transglutaminase 2 inhibitor prevented gluten-induced intestinal damage and inflammation at the transcriptional level.

Researchers demonstrate one-dimensional photonic crystal lasing with the aid of a cold atom cloud that provides both gain and distributed feedback. Distributed feedback is due to the periodic distribution of the atoms trapped in a one-dimensional lattice enabling Bragg reflection, and parametric gain is provided by four-wave mixing.

Gram-negative bacteria expel toxic chemicals via tripartite efflux pumps spanning both the inner and outer membranes. A crystallographic model of this tripartite efflux complex has been unavailable because co-crystallization of different components of the system has proven to be extremely difficult. The X-ray crystal structure of CusA of the CusCBA tripartite efflux system from Escherichia coli has been reported previously, and here the X-ray crystal structure of the CusBA co-complex is reported. The structure reveals that the trimeric CusA efflux pump interacts with six CusB protein molecules at the upper half of the periplasmic domain, and the predicted structure of the trimeric CusC channel was used to develop a model of for the tripartite efflux complex.

Light emitters can be induced in transition metal dichalcogenides by defect engineering, but challenges remain in their controlled spatial positioning. Here, the authors irradiate monolayer MoS₂ with a sub-nm focused helium ion beam to deterministically create defects, and obtain spectrally narrow emission lines that produce photons in the visible spectral range

Previous work has shown that the neural representation of value adapts to the recent history of rewards. Here, the authors report that a computational model based on divisive normalization over multiple timescales can explain changes in value coding driven by changes in the reward statistics.

Hypermutation and microsatellite burden determine responses and long-term survival following PD-1 blockade in children and young adults with refractory cancers resulting from germline DNA replication repair deficiency.

SPTBN1 mutations cause a neurodevelopmental syndrome characterized by intellectual disability, language and motor delays, autism, seizures and other features. The variants disrupt βII-spectrin function and disturb cytoskeletal organization and dynamics.