Nature Communications最新文献

Chiral metal surfaces play a pivotal role in enantioselective catalysis, sensing, and spintronics, yet their scalable fabrication remains challenging due to a reliance on chiral templates or molecular precursors, which limits both throughput and precise control of crystallographic orientation. Here, we report a high-throughput method for fabricating chiral copper surfaces via curved-surface confinement recrystallization. This approach exploits curvature-driven abnormal grain growth to transform polycrystalline foils into large-area crystals with continuously graded high-index surfaces. Systematic control of the curvature during annealing enabled the creation of a library of chiral copper surfaces, providing high-throughput and surface templates with defined chirality. Through manipulation of the initial crystal orientation and curvature, single crystals with tailored surface orientations can be reached. The intrinsic chirality of these surfaces is confirmed by circular dichroism spectroscopy and model asymmetric reactions. Furthermore, we demonstrate the transfer of chirality to epitaxial two-dimensional materials, exemplified by the growth of chiral graphene. This work provides a scalable platform for producing designer chiral surfaces, enabling future advances in asymmetric catalysis and chiral device engineering.

Conjugated polymer thin films offer a unique combination of tunable optoelectronic properties and mechanical flexibility, making them as promising materials for intrinsically stretchable optoelectronic devices. However, achieving both mechanical robustness and high device performance remains a key challenge. Addressing this requires a fundamental understanding of how molecular and mesoscale structures evolve under mechanical strain. Here, we employ a comprehensive suite of X-ray spectroscopy and scattering techniques to investigate the multiscale structural evolution of conjugated polymer thin films during uniaxial deformation. We uncover a two-stage morphological response: an initial stage characterized by polymer chain alignment and rapid crystallite disruption, followed by continued chain orientation accompanied by intrachain torsion at higher strains. These correlative structural adaptations govern key material properties, including stress dissipation, optical absorption, and photovoltaic performance. Our findings establish a mechanistic framework for understanding deformation in semiconducting polymers and provide design principles for developing mechanically robust, high-performance stretchable electronics.

Methylation of lysine 4 on histone H3 (H3K4) is enriched on active promoters and enhancers where it promotes gene activation. Disruption of H3K4 methylation is associated with numerous neurodevelopmental diseases (NDDs) that display intellectual disability and abnormal body growth. Here, we perturb H3K4 methylation in the medial ganglionic eminence (MGE) and hypothalamus, two brain regions associated with these disease phenotypes. These mutant mice have fewer forebrain interneurons, deficient network rhythmogenesis, and increased spontaneous seizures and seizure susceptibility. Mutant mice are significantly smaller than control littermates, but they eventually became obese due to striking changes in the genetic and cellular hypothalamus environment in these mice. Perturbation of H3K4 methylation in these cells produces deficits in numerous NDD-associated behaviors, with a bias for more severe phenotypes in female mice. Single nuclei sequencing reveals transcriptional changes in the embryonic and adult brain that underlie many of these phenotypes. In sum, our findings highlight the critical role of H3K4 methylation in regulating survival and cell-specific gene regulatory mechanisms in forebrain GABAergic and hypothalamic cells during neurodevelopment to control network excitability and body size homoeostasis.

The hypothalamic neuropeptide oxytocin is best known for its prosocial behavioral effects. However, the precise anatomical and cellular targets for oxytocin in the cortex during social behavior remain elusive. Here we show that oxytocin neurons project directly to the medial prefrontal cortex where evoked axonal oxytocin release facilitates social behaviors in adult female rats. In conjunction, we report that local oxytocin receptor-expressing (OTR⁺) cells are predominantly interneurons, whose activation promotes social interaction. Notably, this prosocial effect persists even under physiological challenge (hunger), pointing to a dedicated prosocial circuit capable of overriding primary survival drives. We further demonstrate that activation of these OTR⁺ interneurons inhibits principal cells specifically projecting to the basolateral amygdala, thus providing a putative mechanism of selective oxytocin action in this sociability-promoting cortical network.

Diet is one of the strongest ecological forces shaping the gut environment, yet its impact on intestinal worms (helminths) remains poorly understood. The helminth Hymenolepis diminuta is a suitable model for investigating how lifestyle changes in modern societies may disrupt host-helminth relationships. Here we show that dietary fiber availability shapes the developmental trajectory and life strategies of H. diminuta in a stage-dependent manner. Fiber deprivation at the time of host colonization leads to developmental arrest, manifested by reduced growth, absence of reproduction, and transcriptional changes consistent with suppressed development. This state is accompanied by diet-dependent remodeling of the host small intestinal microbiota and metabolome: whereas fiber-rich diets support fermentative microbial communities and a chemically diverse intestinal environment, the Western diet promotes dysbiotic profiles with reduced fermentation capacity and a more pro-inflammatory immune response. In contrast, adult H. diminuta that reach maturity in hosts maintained on a fiber-rich diet exhibit a reversible, estivation-like suppression of reproduction during short-term fiber deprivation, with full restoration of egg production following dietary recovery. Together, these findings indicate that dietary transitions associated with industrialized lifestyles can redirect helminth developmental programs and host-helminth-microbiome interactions, with implications for helminth persistence and potential therapeutic applications.