The Mre11-Nbs1 Interface Is Essential for Viability and Tumor Suppression

The Mre11 complex (Mre11, Rad50, and Nbs1) is integral to both DNA repair and ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM)-dependent DNA damage signaling. All three Mre11 complex components are essential for viability at the cellular and organismal levels. To delineate essential and non-essential Mre11 complex functions that are mediated by Nbs1, we used TALEN-based genome editing to derive Nbs1 mutant mice (Nbs1mid mice), which harbor mutations in the Mre11 interaction domain of Nbs1. Nbs1mid alleles that abolished interaction were incompatible with viability. Conversely, a 108-amino-acid Nbs1 fragment comprising the Mre11 interface was sufficient to rescue viability and ATM activation in cultured cells and support differentiation of hematopoietic cells in vivo. These data indicate that the essential role of Nbs1 is via its interaction with Mre11 and that most of the Nbs1 protein is dispensable for Mre11 complex functions and suggest that Mre11 and Rad50 directly activate ATM

Frustration driven C-4 symmetric orders in a naturally heterostructured superconductor Sr2VO3FeAs

A subtle balance between competing interactions in iron-based superconductors (FeSCs) can be tipped by additional interfacial interactions in a heterostructure, often inducing exotic phases with unprecedented properties. Particularly when the proximity-coupled layer is magnetically active, rich phase diagrams are expected in FeSCs, but this has not been explored yet. Here, using high-accuracy 75As and 51V nuclear magnetic resonance measurements, we investigate an electronic phase that emerges in the FeAs layer below T0 ~ 155 K of Sr2VO3FeAs, a naturally assembled heterostructure of an FeSC and a Mottinsulating vanadium oxide. We find that frustration of the otherwise dominant Fe stripe and V Neel fluctuations via interfacial coupling induces a charge/orbital order in the FeAs layers, without either static magnetism or broken C4 symmetry, while suppressing the Neel antiferromagnetism in the SrVO3 layers. These findings demonstrate that the magnetic proximity coupling stabilizes a hidden order in FeSCs, which may also apply to other strongly correlated heterostructures. © The Author(s) 20171111sciescopu