The fabrication of three-dimensional nanoscale structures is important to nanophotonic applications where light is guided and controlled. The optical beam lithography scheme developed by Gan and colleagues enables the fabrication of three-dimensional structures with feature sizes down to 9 nm.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3061

Authors: Zongsong Gan, Yaoyu Cao, Richard A. Evans, Min Gu

Exploiting as many degrees of freedom of the electron as possible will make future electronic devices more versatile. Here, the authors show that coupling of spin, layer pseudospin and valley degrees of freedom in transition metal dichalcogenide bilayers makes them a promising platform for this purpose.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3053

Authors: Zhirui Gong, Gui-Bin Liu, Hongyi Yu, Di Xiao, Xiaodong Cui, Xiaodong Xu, Wang Yao

Future quantum computers need quantum memories that store arbitrary states for long periods, without incurring significant access latencies. Using high-order dynamical decoupling sequences, this work shows a practical scheme to suppress physical errors and guarantee high-fidelity storage for long times.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3045

Authors: Kaveh Khodjasteh, Jarrah Sastrawan, David Hayes, Todd J. Green, Michael J. Biercuk, Lorenza Viola

Magnetic domain patterns and the capability to control them is important for applications such as information storage. Here, Kronseder and colleagues find a metastable magnetic domain state with a domain width larger than the thermodynamically stable one as a result of reduced thermal fluctuations.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3054

Authors: M. Kronseder, M. Buchner, H.G. Bauer, C.H. Back

The end-result of stimulation of T-cell receptors by antigen is in part determined by co-signalling pathways such as the B7/CD28 axis. Zhu et al. identify a novel costimulatory CD28-like receptor and ligand pathway in human T cells.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3043

Authors: Yuwen Zhu, Sheng Yao, Bettina P. Iliopoulou, Xue Han, Mathew M. Augustine, Haiying Xu, Ryan T. Phennicie, Sarah J. Flies, Megan Broadwater, William Ruff, Janis M. Taube, Linghua Zheng, Liqun Luo, Gefeng Zhu, Jianzhu Chen, Lieping Chen

LIS1 has been shown to act as a protein ‘clutch’, which binds to dynein motor proteins and prevents microtubule detachment without affecting their ATPase activity; this causes dynein to stall. Here the authors show that the GTPase Rab6a releases LIS1 from dynein, thus reactivating the motor.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3033

Authors: Masami Yamada, Kanako Kumamoto, Shintaro Mikuni, Yoshiyuki Arai, Masataka Kinjo, Takeharu Nagai, Yoshikazu Tsukasaki, Tomonobu M Watanabe, Mitsuru Fukui, Mingyue Jin, Shiori Toba, Shinji Hirotsune

Taste detection in Drosophila melanogaster has been well characterized for bitter and sweet stimuli. In this study, the authors characterize taste detection for acids and find that they are detected by a subset of bitter taste neurons, and that they inhibit the responses of sweet-sensing neurons to sugar.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3042

Authors: Sandhya Charlu, Zev Wisotsky, Adriana Medina, Anupama Dahanukar

T cells learn to tolerate self-antigens in the thymus, where self-peptides are presented by thymic antigen-presenting cells. Here, the authors present an ex vivo mass spectrometric analysis of the self-peptide repertoire associated with MHC I and II in human thymic tissue.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3039

Authors: Eleni Adamopoulou, Stefan Tenzer, Nina Hillen, Paula Klug, Ioanna A. Rota, Silvia Tietz, Madlen Gebhardt, Stefan Stevanovic, Hansjörg Schild, Eva Tolosa, Arthur Melms, Christina Stoeckle

The potential tumorigenicity of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) limits their application in cell therapies. Ben-David et al. identify the tight-junction protein Claudin-6 as a cell-surface marker of hPSCs, and demonstrate three Claudin-6-based strategies to remove tumorigenic hPSCs from mixed cell cultures.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms2992

Authors: Uri Ben-David, Neta Nudel, Nissim Benvenisty

The North Anatolian Fault Zone in Turkey has produced many large earthquakes, however the Marmara region has been inactive and is facing a high probability for a large earthquake. Here, Bohnhoff et al . report on a large seismicity gap in this area with implications for a seismic hazard for Istanbul.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms2999

Authors: Marco Bohnhoff, Fatih Bulut, Georg Dresen, Peter E. Malin, Tuna Eken, Mustafa Aktar

Visual prosthetics based on photovoltaic devices have been proposed to allow the functional restoration of lost sight. Mandel et al . assess the retinal responses to implanted retinal prosthetics in rats with degenerate retinas and find that they elicit responses in the visual cortex when stimulated by light.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms2980

Authors: Yossi Mandel, Georges Goetz, Daniel Lavinsky, Philip Huie, Keith Mathieson, Lele Wang, Theodore Kamins, Ludwig Galambos, Richard Manivanh, James Harris, Daniel Palanker

Well-preserved calcareous microfossils are rare but required for proof of biological affinity and as paleoclimatic proxies. Here the authors present extinct plankton fossils with biomineralogical structures of previously unseen complexity, possibly related to modern dinoflagellates.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3052

Authors: Jens E. Wendler, Paul Bown

The evolution of continental rifting curvature can be studied using thermal convection models. Studying how this curvature controls the subsidence of offshore basins, Sacek and Ussami find that the mantle viscosity structure affects the subsidence rate and evolution of sedimentary basins along curved margins.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3036

Authors: Victor Sacek, Naomi Ussami

Calcium uptake by the mitochondrial calcium uniporter is implicated in excitotoxicity. This study shows that the uniporter gene product mediates mitochondrial calcium uptake and depolarisation in neurons during excitotoxicity, and is transcriptionally repressed by neuroprotective nuclear calcium signals.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3034

Authors: Jing Qiu, Yan-Wei Tan, Anna M. Hagenston, Marc-Andre Martel, Niclas Kneisel, Paul A. Skehel, David J. A. Wyllie, Hilmar Bading, Giles E. Hardingham

The neurotrophic factor BDNF is implicated in striatal cell long-term survival. Besusso et al . selectively delete BDNF receptors in the striatal circuitry of mice and find that this leads to hyperlocomotion, which is associated with dopamine receptor-dependent increases in specific kinases.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3031

Authors: Dario Besusso, Mirjam Geibel, Dana Kramer, Tomasz Schneider, Valentina Pendolino, Barbara Picconi, Paolo Calabresi, David M. Bannerman, Liliana Minichiello

Postsynthetic modulation of the structural properties of hydrogels is desirable for a range of biomaterials applications. Here, the authors fabricate photolatently modulable polymer hydrogels crosslinked by titania nanosheets, which may be micropatterned with high spatial and temporal resolution.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3029

Authors: Mingjie Liu, Yasuhiro Ishida, Yasuo Ebina, Takayoshi Sasaki, Takuzo Aida

Discriminating non-orthogonal quantum states is far from simple due to the inherent measurement difficulties of quantum mechanics. Becerra et al. present a scheme enabling unambiguous discrimination of four non-orthogonal coherent states that outperforms conventional measurements under realistic conditions.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3028

Authors: F. E. Becerra, J. Fan, A. Migdall

Ultracold atoms in optical lattices are promising for quantum information applications, but it is important to address individual sites with high accuracy and low cross-talk. Lee et al. adapt inhomogeneous control methods to improve the performance of single-qubit gates for selected sites.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3027

Authors: J. H. Lee, E. Montano, I. H. Deutsch, P. S. Jessen

The spin of an electron bound to a single phosphorus atom in silicon is of interest for spin-based electronics such as quantum computing. Here, Büch et al . show these spin properties are retained even for clusters of a few phosphorus atoms, providing an additional means for quantum bit addressability.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3017

Authors: H. Büch, S. Mahapatra, R. Rahman, A. Morello, M. Y. Simmons

A role of toxin–antitoxin systems in global regulation of bacterial gene expression has been proposed. Bukowski et al. now demonstrate that a novel toxin–antitoxin system from S. aureus encodes an endoribonuclease that regulates virulence gene expression by targeting translation.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3012

Authors: Michal Bukowski, Robert Lyzen, Weronika M. Helbin, Emilia Bonar, Agnieszka Szalewska-Palasz, Grzegorz Wegrzyn, Grzegorz Dubin, Adam Dubin, Benedykt Wladyka

The control of a complex network can be achieved by different combinations of relatively few driver nodes. Tao Jia and colleagues show that this can lead to two distinct control modes—centralized or distributed—that determine the number of nodes that can act as driver node.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3002

Authors: Tao Jia, Yang-Yu Liu, Endre Csóka, Márton Pósfai, Jean-Jacques Slotine, Albert-László Barabási

Understanding how fungal pathogens deliver proteins to diverse plant compartments is critical for developing disease control. Giraldo et al . demonstrate that the blast fungus possesses distinct secretion systems for proteins targeted to compartments inside or outside living rice cells.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms2996

Authors: Martha C. Giraldo, Yasin F. Dagdas, Yogesh K. Gupta, Thomas A. Mentlak, Mihwa Yi, Ana Lilia Martinez-Rocha, Hiromasa Saitoh, Ryohei Terauchi, Nicholas J. Talbot, Barbara Valent

RecQ helicases are enzymes that play a central role in maintaining genome stability in the DNA repair cascade. Klaue et al . show that RecQ2 and RecQ3 from Arabidopsis thaliana process DNA by, respectively, unwinding and rewinding forked DNA substrates, using a frequent strand switching mechanism.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3024

Authors: Daniel Klaue, Daniela Kobbe, Felix Kemmerich, Alicja Kozikowska, Holger Puchta, Ralf Seidel

Spin–orbital quantum liquids are exotic quantum phases in frustrated magnets that arise if frustrated spin and orbital degrees of freedom are coupled. Here, the authors find a dynamical spin–orbital state in the frustrated magnet Ba 3 CuSb 2 O 9 , which indicates the formation of a spin–orbital quantum liquid.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3022

Authors: Yuki Ishiguro, Kenta Kimura, Satoru Nakatsuji, Satoshi Tsutsui, Alfred Q. R. Baron, Tsuyoshi Kimura, Yusuke Wakabayashi

Compact, tunable terahertz sources are highly desired for sensing and imaging applications. Here Vijayraghavan et al . demonstrate room-temperature quantum cascade laser sources based on the non-linear optical conversion of mid-infrared light that provide a tunable output over a 3.5-THz bandwidth.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3021

Authors: Karun Vijayraghavan, Yifan Jiang, Min Jang, Aiting Jiang, Karthik Choutagunta, Augustinas Vizbaras, Frederic Demmerle, Gerhard Boehm, Markus C. Amann, Mikhail A. Belkin

Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) regulates energy metabolism in peripheral tissues. Here Planavila and colleagues show that FGF21 also acts directly on cardiomyocytes, thereby protecting mice against cardiac hypertrophy.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3019

Authors: A. Planavila, I. Redondo, E. Hondares, M. Vinciguerra, C. Munts, R. Iglesias, L. A. Gabrielli, M. Sitges, M. Giralt, M. van Bilsen, F. Villarroya

Quantification of the behavioural phenotype of animals within a group requires simultaneous position and identity tracking of multiple individuals. Here the authors report an automated tracking system that combines video- and RFID-tracking data and allows behavioural phenotyping of uniquely identified group-living animals.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3018

Authors: Aharon Weissbrod, Alexander Shapiro, Genadiy Vasserman, Liat Edry, Molly Dayan, Assif Yitzhaky, Libi Hertzberg, Ofer Feinerman, Tali Kimchi

A better understanding of many environmental phenomena, such as plankton spreading in the ocean, relies on knowledge of the dispersion statistics. Xia et al . trace particles' trajectories in laboratory turbulence and reveal that a single force scale can be sufficient to predict the dispersion of particles.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3013

Authors: Hua Xia, Nicolas Francois, Horst Punzmann, Michael Shats

Controlling magnetic domain wall motion in nanowires requires a thorough knowledge of the depinning mechanisms. Here, the authors show that current-induced intrinsic depinning has a different energy barrier than magnetic field-induced extrinsic depinning, and succeed in quantifying the respective barriers.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3011

Authors: Kab-Jin Kim, Ryo Hiramatsu, Tomohiro Koyama, Kohei Ueda, Yoko Yoshimura, Daichi Chiba, Kensuke Kobayashi, Yoshinobu Nakatani, Shunsuke Fukami, Michihiko Yamanouchi, Hideo Ohno, Hiroshi Kohno, Gen Tatara, Teruo Ono

Polarized membrane addition during axon development requires post-Golgi Rab10 carriers, whose biogenesis mechanisms remain unknown. This work shows that specific interaction between Rab10 and MYO5B controls formation of the Rab10 carriers, and this process is essential for neuronal polarization.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3005

Authors: Yang Liu, Xiao-Hui Xu, Qi Chen, Tong Wang, Cai-Yun Deng, Bao-Liang Song, Jiu-Lin Du, Zhen-Ge Luo

Investigation of the initial stages of the interaction of light with carriers in graphene is challenging. Here the authors probe the process with ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy and microscopic theory, and observe the role of collinear scattering, which gives rise to Auger processes, including carrier multiplication.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms2987

Authors: D. Brida, A. Tomadin, C. Manzoni, Y. J. Kim, A. Lombardo, S. Milana, R. R. Nair, K. S. Novoselov, A. C. Ferrari, G. Cerullo, M. Polini

Mutations in the E3 ubiquitin ligase parkin are associated with juvenile Parkinson’s disease. Here the authors report the solution structure of the Parkin RING2 domain, revealing how disease-associated mutations affect its function and providing a molecular explanation for the recessive nature of the disease.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms2983

Authors: Donald E. Spratt, R Julio Martinez-Torres, Yeong J. Noh, Pascal Mercier, Noah Manczyk, Kathryn R. Barber, Jacob D. Aguirre, Lynn Burchell, Andrew Purkiss, Helen Walden, Gary S. Shaw

The Parkinson’s disease-associated protein Parkin regulates the fate of damaged mitochondria by ubiquitinating mitochondrial substrates. Riley et al . present the crystal structure of the Parkin-R0RBR domain, providing new insight into the catalytic mechanism of the enzyme.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms2982

Authors: B.E. Riley, J.C. Lougheed, K. Callaway, M. Velasquez, E. Brecht, L. Nguyen, T. Shaler, D. Walker, Y. Yang, K. Regnstrom, L. Diep, Z. Zhang, S. Chiou, M. Bova, D.R. Artis, N. Yao, J. Baker, T. Yednock, J.A. Johnston

Plant cell division is driven by the expansion of the phragmoplast, a characteristic structure that forms in the middle of the plant cell during cytokinesis. Murata et al . use genetic and cell imaging approaches to clarify the microtubule behaviour that leads to phragmoplast expansion.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms2967

Authors: Takashi Murata, Toshio Sano, Michiko Sasabe, Shigenori Nonaka, Tetsuya Higashiyama, Seiichiro Hasezawa, Yasunori Machida, Mitsuyasu Hasebe

Flowering time is a critical developmental transition for a plant’s reproductive success and it depends on endogenous and environmental signals. Here Gu et al. show that MADS-domain floral repressors form protein complexes that coordinate Arabidopsis responses to these cues and regulate its flowering time.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms2947

Authors: Xiaofeng Gu, Chau Le, Yizhong Wang, Zicong Li, Danhua Jiang, Yuqi Wang, Yuehui He

Red algae form one of the most ancient eukaryotic lineages, and have undergone multiple symbioses. Here, Price et al . report the first genome sequence for a mesophilic red alga, and reveal significant differences between these organisms and hyperthermopilic algae.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms2931

Authors: Debashish Bhattacharya, Dana C. Price, Cheong Xin Chan, Huan Qiu, Nicholas Rose, Steven Ball, Andreas P. M. Weber, Maria Cecilia Arias, Bernard Henrissat, Pedro M. Coutinho, Anagha Krishnan, Simone Zäuner, Shannon Morath, Frédérique Hilliou, Andrea Egizi, Marie-Mathilde Perrineau, Hwan Su Yoon

Although attempts to identify magnetic monopoles in free space have been unsuccessful, monopole-like particles with classical dynamics have been reported in magnetic materials called spin ice. Kimura et al. identify quantum fluctuations of monopolar character in a new type of spin ice, Pr 2 Zr 2 O 7

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms2914

Authors: K. Kimura, S. Nakatsuji, J-J. Wen, C. Broholm, M. B. Stone, E. Nishibori, H. Sawa

The spatial and temporal organization of bacterial chromosomes is important for many cellular functions. Using high-precision measurements of fluorescently labelled chromosomal loci, Javer et al. demonstrate variation in the dynamics of different chromosomal sites, which may either be due to differential organization of the chromosome or spatial variation in molecular noise.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3003

Authors: Avelino Javer, Zhicheng Long, Eileen Nugent, Marco Grisi, Kamin Siriwatwetchakul, Kevin D. Dorfman, Pietro Cicuta, Marco Cosentino Lagomarsino

Despite extensive research on mechanical control of phase change in crystals, a molecular-level understanding of the forces involved is lacking. Here, the authors observe a phase change process optically, and show that it is induced by mechanical stimulation and proceeds through domino-like self-replication.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3009

Authors: Hajime Ito, Mai Muromoto, Sayaka Kurenuma, Shoji Ishizaka, Noboru Kitamura, Hiroyasu Sato, Tomohiro Seki

Cellular adaptive responses require temporal and spatial control of key regulatory protein complexes. Mehta et al. describe the dynamic interaction of a transcriptional activator mediating membrane stress response in E. coli with its negative regulator, the cell membrane and the transcription machinery.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms2997

Authors: Parul Mehta, Goran Jovanovic, Tchern Lenn, Andreas Bruckbauer, Christoph Engl, Liming Ying, Martin Buck

Porous solids have potential applications in energy storage, gas separation and catalysis technologies. Here, the authors report a hierarchical solid with porosity spanning the micro, meso and macro ranges, which is synthesized using templating silica, and potassium ions as both templates and reactive species.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3015

Authors: Yu Ren, Zhen Ma, Russell E. Morris, Zheng Liu, Feng Jiao, Sheng Dai, Peter G. Bruce

Since the isolation of graphene, there has been extensive interest in other two-dimensional structures including metallic nanosheets. Here, the authors report the use of ladder polysilane ligands for the synthesis of palladium clusters containing eleven metal ions, made up of two heptametallic nanosheets.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3014

Authors: Yusuke Sunada, Ryohei Haige, Kyohei Otsuka, Soichiro Kyushin, Hideo Nagashima

Reduced carbon nanotube anions can be effectively processed and functionalized. Here, the authors prepare discrete nanotube cations by electrochemical oxidation, and the confirmation of their reactivity towards nucleophiles suggests a new library of covalent nanotube modifications.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms2989

Authors: Stephen A. Hodge, Mustafa K. Bayazit, Hui Huang Tay, Milo S. P. Shaffer

The peptide hormone relaxin has potential in the treatment of acute heart failure, but it must be intravenously injected and has a short half-life after administration. Now, small-molecule alternatives to relaxin are reported with similar efficacies to the natural hormone in functional assays.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms2953

Authors: Jingbo Xiao, Zaohua Huang, Catherine Z. Chen, Irina U. Agoulnik, Noel Southall, Xin Hu, Raisa E. Jones, Marc Ferrer, Wei Zheng, Alexander I. Agoulnik, Juan J. Marugan

Oncolytic viruses can serve as self-replicating anticancer agents. Le Bœuf et al . combine synthetic modelling and molecular biology approaches to create a virus with enhanced oncolytic activity in vitro and in vivo due to its expression of an interferon antagonist.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms2974

Authors: Fabrice Le Bœuf, Cory Batenchuk, Markus Vähä-Koskela, Sophie Breton, Dominic Roy, Chantal Lemay, Julie Cox, Hesham Abdelbary, Theresa Falls, Girija Waghray, Harold Atkins, David Stojdl, Jean-Simon Diallo, Mads Kærn, John C. Bell

Metallic nanoparticles are commonly used to facilitate light trapping in organic solar cells, but they can also reduce cell performance. Wu et al. demonstrate that a trap-assisted recombination of charge carriers leads to degradation, irrespective of an initially enhanced absorption and excitation.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3004

Authors: Bo Wu, Xiangyang Wu, Cao Guan, Kong Fai Tai, Edwin Kok Lee Yeow, Hong Jin Fan, Nripan Mathews, Tze Chien Sum

DNA nanotechnology, including DNA machines and devices for computing, is a rapidly expanding field of research. Here, the authors fabricate DNA catenane machines for the programmable arrangement of gold nanoparticle cargoes, and study their switchable spectroscopic features.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3000

Authors: Johann Elbaz, Alessandro Cecconello, Zhiyuan Fan, Alexander O Govorov, Itamar Willner

The final state of self-assembled systems is determined by both their thermodynamic and kinetic pathways. Di Michele et al. develop a strategy to realize predesigned amorphous structures of complex DNA colloidal mixtures by selectively activating local inter- or intra-species interactions upon freezing.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3007

Authors: Lorenzo Di Michele, Francesco Varrato, Jurij Kotar, Simon H. Nathan, Giuseppe Foffi, Erika Eiser

Deep subsurface formations are potential sites for carbon capture and storage but how subsurface microbial communities may respond to this is not clear. Here, Mayumi et al. construct microcosms and show that increasing CO 2 partial pressure via carbon capture and storage more than doubles the rate of methanogenesis.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms2998

Authors: Daisuke Mayumi, Jan Dolfing, Susumu Sakata, Haruo Maeda, Yoshihiro Miyagawa, Masayuki Ikarashi, Hideyuki Tamaki, Mio Takeuchi, Cindy H. Nakatsu, Yoichi Kamagata

The coherent control of an exciton-polariton gas would enable a variety of spin- or light-based devices. Cerna et al. optically control the spin of semiconductor polaritons in both the bistable and tristable regimes, realising an ultrafast all-optical spin memory.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms3008

Authors: R. Cerna, Y. Léger, T.K. Paraïso, M. Wouters, F. Morier-Genoud, M.T. Portella-Oberli, B. Deveaud

Changes in DNA methylation during mammalian spermatogenesis are poorly understood. The authors show that the content of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine, a stable intermediate of DNA demethylation, changes dynamically during mouse spermatogenesis and is associated with functional genomic regions and transcription.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms2995

Authors: Haiyun Gan, Lu Wen, Shangying Liao, Xiwen Lin, Tingting Ma, Jun Liu, Chun-xiao Song, Min Wang, Chuan He, Chunsheng Han, Fuchou Tang

Classical theory predicts that branching defects are unavoidable in large dendritic molecules when steric congestion becomes important. Zhang et al . present the first direct evidence of this effect by means of defect labelling of a homologous series of dendronized polymers.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms2993

Authors: Baozhong Zhang, Hao Yu, A Dieter Schlüter, Avraham Halperin, Martin Kröger

The switch from linear to cyclic electron flow has long been thought to rely on the migration of antenna proteins from Photosystem II to Photosystem I. Takahashi et al. report that this is not the case and that cyclic electron flow is tuned by the intrachloroplastic redox power.

Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms2954

Authors: Hiroko Takahashi, Sophie Clowez, Francis-André Wollman, Olivier Vallon, Fabrice Rappaport