Skeleton articles within Nature Communications

Featured

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Millions of skeletal remains from South Asia were exported in red markets (the underground economy of human tissues/organs) to educational institutions globally for over a century. It is time to recognize the personhood of the people who were systematically made into anatomical objects and acknowledge the scientific racism in creating and continuing to use them.

    • Sabrina C. Agarwal

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Criteria for evaluating joint articulation in vertebrates are lacking. Here, the authors propose an approach for combining measurements of 3D articular overlap, symmetry, and congruence into a single metric, and apply this to examine the walking stride of Deinonychus antirrhopus.

    • Armita R. Manafzadeh
    • , Stephen M. Gatesy
    •  & Bhart-Anjan S. Bhullar

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Antibody-based Wnt agonists are able to phenocopy Wnt signaling in vivo resulting in increased bone density, repair, and strength. Here, the authors show that Wnt agonists can reverse bone loss associated with ovariectomy and build stronger bone when administered after fracture.

    • Tristan W. Fowler
    • , Troy L. Mitchell
    •  & Yang Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Osteocytes are the master regulatory cells within the skeleton. Here, the authors map the transcriptome of osteocytes from diverse skeletal sites, ages and between sexes and identify an osteocyte transcriptome signature associated with rare skeletal disorders and common complex skeletal diseases.

    • Scott E. Youlten
    • , John P. Kemp
    •  & Peter I. Croucher

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Bone marrow adipose tissue (BMAT) comprises over 10% of total fat mass but its systemic metabolic role is unclear. Here, the authors show that BMAT glucose uptake is not insulin or cold responsive; however, BMAT basal glucose uptake is higher than in white adipose tissue or skeletal muscle, underscoring BMAT’s potential to influence systemic glucose homeostasis.

    • Karla J. Suchacki
    • , Adriana A. S. Tavares
    •  & William P. Cawthorn

  • Article
    | Open Access

    An endothelial cell subtype, expressing endomucin and CD31, has been reported to couple angiogenesis with osteogenesis. Here, the authors show that loss of ZEB1 in these cells epigenetically suppresses Notch signaling, leading to impaired angiogenesis and osteogenesis, and that Zeb1 delivery via liposomes ameliorates bone loss in osteoporotic mice

    • Rong Fu
    • , Wen-Cong Lv
    •  & Zhao-Qiu Wu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The majority of scoliosis is considered idiopathic with onset in adolescence (AIS) and has a genetic contribution. Here, the authors perform an exome wide association study of data from 457 severe AIS cases and 987 controls, and find a missense variant in SLC39A8 is associated with AIS.

    • Gabe Haller
    • , Kevin McCall
    •  & Christina A. Gurnett

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mesenchymal stem cells are essential for bone development, but it is unclear if their activity is maintained after late puberty, when bone growth decelerates. The authors show that during late puberty in mice, these cells undergo senescence under the epigenetic control of Ezh2.

    • Changjun Li
    • , Yu Chai
    •  & Mei Wan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The ornamental twin-tail goldfish has a bifurcated caudal skeleton that arose during domestication, but the developmental mechanisms that generate this tail are unknown. Here, Abe et al. show that a mutation in the chordingene affects embryonic dorsal–ventral patterning causing the bifurcated tail skeleton.

    • Gembu Abe
    • , Shu-Hua Lee
    •  & Kinya G. Ota

Browse broader subjects

Browse Skeleton across other nature.com journals