February 2014

Research articles

1. 1. Cell Biology
   2. Neuroscience

   Synaptotagmin 7 functions as a Ca²⁺-sensor for synaptic vesicle replenishment

   Huisheng Liu, Hua Bai ... Edwin R Chapman

   Two proteins—synaptotagmin 7 and calmodulin—have central roles in the calcium-dependent pathway that maintains synaptic transmission.
2. 1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
   2. Immunology and Inflammation

   Structural basis for the prion-like MAVS filaments in antiviral innate immunity

   Hui Xu, Xiaojing He ... Qiu-Xing Jiang

   Mitochondrial anti-viral signaling proteins form three-stranded helical filaments in launching innate immune responses against RNA viruses.
3. 1. Cell Biology
   2. Neuroscience

   The Caenorhabditis elegans microtubule minus-end binding homolog PTRN-1 stabilizes synapses and neurites

   Jana Dorfman Marcette, Jessica Jie Chen, Michael L Nonet

   The minus-ends of microtubules have been implicated as part of a damage sensor to initiate remodeling of nerve cells.
4. 1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

   Atomic model of the F₄₂₀-reducing [NiFe] hydrogenase by electron cryo-microscopy using a direct electron detector

   Matteo Allegretti, Deryck J Mills ... Janet Vonck

   The structure of a large enzyme complex involved in methanogenesis was determined at high resolution by electron cryo-microscopy.
5. 1. Cell Biology
   2. Neuroscience

   PTRN-1, a microtubule minus end-binding CAMSAP homolog, promotes microtubule function in Caenorhabditis elegans neurons

   Claire E Richardson, Kerri A Spilker ... Kang Shen

   The protein PTRN-1 anchors microtubules in neuronal branches to promote proper neuron morphology and function in Caenorhabditis elegans.
6. 1. Cell Biology

   Mitochondrial Rab GAPs govern autophagosome biogenesis during mitophagy

   Koji Yamano, Adam I Fogel ... Richard J Youle

   Two GAP proteins bound to mitochondria regulate the enyzme Rab7, and thereby the expansion of the isolation membrane during mitophagy, downstream of PINK1 and Parkin, two proteins that are mutated in familial Parkinson's disease.
7. 1. Neuroscience

   The structure and organization of lanceolate mechanosensory complexes at mouse hair follicles

   Lishi Li, David D Ginty

   Close examination of lanceolate mechanosensory complexes has revealed clues about the ways that sensory nerves detect the movement of hairs and shown than terminal Schwann cells are needed to maintain and regenerate these intricate structures.
8. 1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression
   2. Evolutionary Biology

   The life cycle of Drosophila orphan genes

   Nicola Palmieri, Carolin Kosiol, Christian Schlötterer

   The short lifetime of orphan genes is a major factor explaining the stability of gene number in Drosophila.
9. 1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

   Single molecule FRET reveals pore size and opening mechanism of a mechano-sensitive ion channel

   Yong Wang, Yanxin Liu ... Paul R Selvin

   Observation by single molecule FRET of MscL, a prokaryotic mechanosensitive channel, reveals that MscL opens via the helix-tilt model and its pore reaches 2.8 nm in diameter.
10. 1. Cell Biology

    miR-146a promotes the initiation and progression of melanoma by activating Notch signaling

    Matteo Forloni, Shaillay Kumar Dogra ... Narendra Wajapeyee

    The microRNA, miR-146a, is regulated by mutant BRAF/NRAS proteins, and promotes the development of melanoma via increasing Notch signaling pathway, suggesting that combining drugs targeting BRAF/NRAS and Notch may provide an effective melanoma treatment.
11. 1. Neuroscience

    Auditory synapses to song premotor neurons are gated off during vocalization in zebra finches

    Kosuke Hamaguchi, Katherine A Tschida ... Richard Mooney

    Intracellular recordings in singing birds and images of synapses in deafened birds provide insights into the neural circuitry that enables songbirds to fine-tune their songs.
12. 1. Cell Biology

    An unmet actin requirement explains the mitotic inhibition of clathrin-mediated endocytosis

    Satdip Kaur, Andrew B Fielding ... Stephen J Royle

    Endocytosis is switched off in dividing cells because actin is not available to assist the clathrin machinery at a time when membrane tension is increased.
13. 1. Immunology and Inflammation
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Identification of an LGP2-associated MDA5 agonist in picornavirus-infected cells

    Safia Deddouche, Delphine Goubau ... Caetano Reis e Sousa

    A viral RNA has been identified as a specific MDA5 agonist in cells infected with encephalomyocarditis virus.
14. 1. Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine
    2. Chromosomes and Gene Expression

    Essential role of lncRNA binding for WDR5 maintenance of active chromatin and embryonic stem cell pluripotency

    Yul W Yang, Ryan A Flynn ... Howard Y Chang

    RNA binding is a key input of an active chromatin complex and maintenance of stem cell fate.
15. 1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Cell Biology

    Diversity and plasticity in Rab GTPase nucleotide release mechanism has consequences for Rab activation and inactivation

    Lars Langemeyer, Ricardo Nunes Bastos ... Francis A Barr

    Analysis of multiple guanine exchange factors shows that Rab activation can occur via a number of mechanistically distinct GDP-release pathways.
16. 1. Cell Biology
    2. Developmental Biology

    Plasticity of both planar cell polarity and cell identity during the development of Drosophila

    Pedro Saavedra, Jean-Paul Vincent ... José Casal

    In the Drosophila larval epidermis both the cell identity and polarity of individual cells change as a result of cell rearrangements.
17. 1. Cell Biology
    2. Genetics and Genomics

    Endogenous RNA interference is driven by copy number

    Cristina Cruz, Jonathan Houseley

    The ability to target transcripts from high-copy regions of the genome is an emergent property of a minimal RNA interference system.
18. 1. Neuroscience

    Munc18-1 is a dynamically regulated PKC target during short-term enhancement of transmitter release

    Özgür Genç, Olexiy Kochubey ... Ralf Schneggenburger

    Protein kinase C brings about post-tetanic potentiation - a temporary increase in synaptic strength due to increased transmitter release - via phosphorylation of a target protein, Munc18-1.
19. 1. Plant Biology

    Automated quantitative histology reveals vascular morphodynamics during Arabidopsis hypocotyl secondary growth

    Martial Sankar, Kaisa Nieminen ... Christian S Hardtke

    Combining high-resolution imaging with automated image segmentation and supervised machine learning achieves accurate cellular feature extraction and automated cell type recognition in a large-scale developmental process.
20. 1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
    2. Cell Biology

    Small molecule-mediated refolding and activation of myosin motor function

    Michael B Radke, Manuel H Taft ... Dietmar J Manstein

    The small molecule EMD 57033 is one of a new class of pharmacological chaperones that stabilize, enhance the activity of, and correct stress-induced misfolding of myosin proteins.
21. 1. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Escherichia coli swimming is robust against variations in flagellar number

    Patrick J Mears, Santosh Koirala ... Yann R Chemla

    The swimming behavior of E. coli is surprisingly robust against the natural variations in the number of flagella per cell.
22. 1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Cell Biology

    Arf1/COPI machinery acts directly on lipid droplets and enables their connection to the ER for protein targeting

    Florian Wilfling, Abdou Rachid Thiam ... Tobias C Walther

    The targeting of proteins from the endoplasmic reticulum to lipid droplets relies on surface modulation of the lipid droplet by the Arf1/COPI machinery.
23. 1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
    2. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

    Super Spy variants implicate flexibility in chaperone action

    Shu Quan, Lili Wang ... James CA Bardwell

    Lab-evolved 'super Spy' chaperones show enhanced flexibility, which allows them to bind to and stabilize proteins more effectively than natural chaperones.
24. 1. Evolutionary Biology
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Integrating influenza antigenic dynamics with molecular evolution

    Trevor Bedford, Marc A Suchard ... Andrew Rambaut

    Combined antigenic and genetic analysis shows that different strains of the human influenza virus display dramatically different rates of antigenic drift, and that these differences have a significant impact on the number of new infections in each flu season.
25. 1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology

    An allosteric Sec61 inhibitor traps nascent transmembrane helices at the lateral gate

    Andrew L MacKinnon, Ville O Paavilainen ... Jack Taunton

    A small molecule, cotransin, blocks transmembrane domains form integrating into cell membranes by allosterically ‘locking’ the lateral gate of the Sec61 translocation channel.
26. 1. Neuroscience

    Identification of Redeye, a new sleep-regulating protein whose expression is modulated by sleep amount

    Mi Shi, Zhifeng Yue ... Amita Sehgal

    A gene found in Drosophila, and named redeye, encodes a protein that accumulates during sleep deprivation and forms part of the homeostatic system that promotes and maintains sleep.
27. 1. Cell Biology
    2. Chromosomes and Gene Expression

    Shugoshin biases chromosomes for biorientation through condensin recruitment to the pericentromere

    Kitty F Verzijlbergen, Olga O Nerusheva ... Adele L Marston

    Shugoshin proteins help to align chromosomes so that copies of the same chromosome attach to microtubules from opposite poles during cell division.