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Rumi De presents a model for focal adhesion dynamics under static stretch and cyclic stretch conditions. The predictions agree with prior observations and may explain the puzzling observation that focal adhesions orient toward the parallel direction in the presence of static or quasi-static stretch, but toward the perpendicular direction under fast varying cyclic stretch.
Feier Song and colleagues have examined Kir4.1 channels in the mouse brain, and found global expression of functional channels during development. They also show that depletion of Kir4.1 channels impacts demyelination in ischemic stroke
Christoph Borchers, Albert Sickmann and colleagues present multiple reaction monitoring/mass spectrometry assays for reproducible quantification of 500 plasma proteins in mice. They report reference protein concentrations in five mouse strains, and inter- and intra-strain phenotypic variations.
Nikolaos Alachiotis and Pavlos Pavlidis present RAiSD, a computational method for identifying multiple signatures of selective sweeps using single nucleotide polymorphism vectors. They show that RAiSD has higher sensitivity and accuracy with reduced computational complexity than current methods.
Sweta Maheshwari et al. present X-ray crystal structures of the two-copper enzyme peptidylglycine α-hydroxylating monooxygenase and three inactive mutant forms. They show that full copper occupancy is needed to maintain the catalytically competent (open) conformation of the enzyme.
Shanzheng Yang et al. show that Zeb2 expression in the embryonic ventral midbrain is regulated by a negative feedback loop that involves miR-200c. This Zeb2-miR-200c loop provides novel insight into the mechanisms that properly cue the differentiation of midbrain dopaminergic neuronal progenitors.
Kyra Burnett et al. present a simple and economical method to encapsulate small living organisms for long-term microscopy in a photo-crosslinked polyethylene glycol hydrogel. This method provides a fast and gentle mounting for continuous imaging over hours, and works with light-sheet microscopy and optogenetic stimulation.
Niloufar Khosravi et al. present a cranial window model to facilitate the study of neovascularization during healing around metallic implants. They find that the topography of the implant can be engineered to improve the formation of bone over the implant through an expedited neovascularization.
Andreas Pavlogiannis et al. present an approach for constructing strong amplifiers of natural selection using evolutionary graph theory. They also identify features of population structures that are necessary for amplification and suggest their algorithm could be used to construct amplifiers in vitro.
Giulia Angelini et al. demonstrate that calorie-dense diets overstimulate the secretion of heat shock proteins from the small intestine, increasing insulin resistance. This study suggests that bariatric surgery improves insulin resistance by reducing the circulatory level of gut-secreted heat shock proteins.
Kevin Hauser et al. accurately predict the impact of mutations in a kinase on the binding affinities of targeted kinase inhibitors using alchemical free-energy calculations. With 88% accuracy, resistance or sensitivity to therapy is computed for 144 clinically-identified point mutations in this major target in chronic myelogenous leukemia.
Rosa Thorolfsdottir et al. report a genome-wide association study of atrial fibrillation in 29,502 cases and 767,760 controls from Iceland and the UK Biobank. They identify a significant association with coding variants in RPL3L, the first ribosomal gene implicated in atrial fibrillation, and MYZAP, an intercalated disc gene.
Leila Valanejad et al. report increased expression of modified tumor suppressor proteins (TSPs) with loss of tumor suppressor activity in aggressive, chemotherapy-resistant hepatoblastoma. They find that TSP upregulation occurs via PARP1-mediated chromatin remodeling, leading to activation of multiple cancer-associated pathways.
Lisa Traeger et al. show that human hereditary hemochromatosis protein (HFE) signals through ALK3 to induce hepcidin in mice in vivo. The results validate and extend previous findings from in vitro studies that suggested a link between HFE and BMP signaling.
Pablo Carbonell et al. present an automated pipeline for the discovery and optimization of biosynthetic pathways for microbial production of fine chemicals. They apply their pipeline to the production of the flavonoid (2S)-pinocembrin in Escherichia coli and show improvement of the pathway by 500-fold.
Luo-Li et al. show that humans and cat cortical neurons respond faster to slowly moving light stimuli than to dark stimuli, contrary to previous findings for responses to stationary stimuli. The results may explain why ON visual pathways are used for slow-motion image stabilization in many species.
Parker Nichols et al. present an exact nuclear Overhauser enhancement (eNOE) protocol for defining small RNA structures at high resolution using only NOE distance data. They apply eNOE to a 14-mer UUCG tetraloop structure, obtaining a decrease in root-mean-square deviation from 1.52 Å to 0.44 Å, compared to conventional NOE.
Mitesh Dongre et al. have identified a novel bacterial cytotoxin from Vibrio chloerae, whose virulence depends on flagella-mediated secretion. This suggests that the flagella’s role in cytotoxin export could improve survival and proliferation of bacteria when exposed to environmental stress.
David Duffy et al. use a precision-medicine-based approach to study fibropapillomatosis tumors in sea turtles to identify environmental triggers and potential therapeutics. They show that these tumors share genetic similarities with human cancer types, and may be treatable using human anti-cancer therapies.
Benjamin Turner et al. report an assessment of replicability of task-based fMRI studies as a function of sample size. They find that the degree of replicability for typical samples sizes reported in the literature is modest and advocate for standards requiring larger sample sizes, potentially in excess of N = 100.