Research articles

Micro- and nano-scale oscillators are finding usage in novel sensors, but their performance is limited by their sensitivity to external perturbations. Here, the authors report an optomechanical technique to stabilize a nanomechanical beam to its thermodynamic limit.

The long non-coding RNA HOTAIR acts as a scaffold to bring together chromatin silencing complexes in the nucleus. Here, the authors show that HOTAIRalso serves as a scaffold between E3 ubiquitin ligases and their substrates and thereby enhances their ubiquitination.

Insulinomas develop from pancreatic β-cells and secrete insulin, but the underlying genetic defects are largely unknown. In this study, Cao et al. identify recurrent T372R mutations in the transcription factor YY1, and validate this hotspot mutation in 30% of insulinomas.

Anode materials used for sodium-ion batteries often suffer from poor stability and rate capability in electrochemical reactions. Yu et al.report a nanocomposite anode consisting of stibnite and reduced graphene oxide, which exhibits excellent cycle stability and rate performance.

Although quantum dots are a promising alternative to dyes in sensitised solar cells, most are based on toxic heavy metals. McDaniel et al.demonstrate devices made with low-cost copper-based quantum dots that achieve certified efficiencies unprecedented for quantum dot sensitized solar cells.

Some clinical isolates of influenza A(H7N9) virus encode a mutation within neuraminidase that could confer resistance to the only class of drugs active against H7N9. Here, the authors show that this mutation does not affect viral replication and pathogenicity while mediating resistance to antivirals in vivo.

Paternal diet has been shown to influence the metabolism of offspring in rats and mice. Here Lambrot et al.report DNA and histone methylation changes in the sperm of male mice on a folate-deficient diet and observe developmental defects in their offspring.

Efficient and pathogen-specific antifungal agents are required to mitigate drug resistance problems. Here the authors present a series of cationic small molecules, which are easy to isolate and characterize, and which can self-assemble to give polymer-like antifungal activity and specificity.

The global monsoon is considered to have provided an important interhemispheric climate link during deglaciation, but direct evidence is lacking. Here, climate evidence from speleothems suggests that rapid latitudinal displacements of the Australasian monsoon play a key role in deglacial warming.

It is well known that strain can modify the critical temperature below which a material becomes superconducting. Engelmann et al. show that strain does not just modify the critical temperature of iron pnictides but can induce superconductivity in the otherwise non-superconducting undoped phase of BaFe₂As₂.

Coal is widely used for energy generation, but has not been considered for possible functional materials. Here, the authors report the one-step formation of graphene quantum dots from coal at yields of up to 20%, which is advantageous when compared with their syntheses from sp²-type carbon structures.

Several microRNAs have been implicated in the differentiation of immune cells. Here the authors analyse the global microRNA expression profiles of mouse haematopoietic stem cells and different stages of dendritic cell development and identify Notch1 as a target of miR-30b in regulatory dendritic cells.

Shaped femtosecond laser pulses can control the dynamics of chemical reactions but understanding the underlying control process is difficult. Towards this end, Wells et al.show that feedback from rapid inversion of velocity map images of photofragment ions can target specific adaptive control outcomes.

The kidney and liver are the sources of erythropoietin required for definitive erythropoiesis, the second wave of erythrocyte formation for later embryonic and adult usage. Here the authors show that mouse embryonic neuroepithelial cells produce erythropoietin during mid-gestation, when primitive erythropoiesis occurs in the yolk sac.

The oxygen reduction reaction requires a significant overpotential, which can limit the efficiency of fuel cells. Here, inspired by enzymes, the authors show that earth-abundant elements, localized in well-organized organic coordination surface networks, can efficiently catalyse oxygen reduction.

Polycyclic tetramate macrolactams (PTMs) are natural products with important antifungal, antibiotic and antioxidant properties. Here, the authors apply a synthetic biology strategy to activate a cryptic PTM biosynthetic gene cluster from Streptomyces griseusand identify three putative PTMs.

Totten Glacier discharges the largest volume of ice in East Antarctica, but the mechanisms causing its recent thinning are relatively unknown. Khazendar et al.combine remote-sensing data with high-resolution ice–ocean modelling to link this recent thinning to reduced sea ice production in polynyas.

Much of our understanding of the role of actin in cell migration is based on studies of cells moving across two-dimensional surfaces. Wilson et al.show that cells crawling in three dimensions through a narrow channel form two functionally distinct actin networks at the leading edge.

The mitochondrial calcium uniporter supports oxidative phosphorylation in mammals; however, it is also present in blood-stage trypanosomes, which lack a functional respiratory chain. Huang et al. show that the mitochondrial calcium uniporter is essential for blood-stage survival and metabolism in Trypanosoma brucei.

The quantum no-cloning theorem forbids the creation of perfect copies of an unknown quantum state. Even so, Chiribella et al.show the existence of physical processes that replicate quantum information at high rates and vanishing error, and are constrained only by the precision limits of quantum metrology.