NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
For papers that will be published online on 11 September 2005
* Computer model shows why we avoid silly walks - Nature
* Genome mining reveals new natural products - Nature Chemical Biology
* Toward salt-tolerant crops - Nature Genetics
* Aging and memory - Nature Neuroscience
* The timing of conscious perception - Nature Neuroscience
* Closing the door to virus entry - Nature Immunology
PDFs of all the papers mentioned on this release can be found in the
relevant journal's section of http://press.nature.com. Press contacts for
the Nature journals are listed at the end of this release.
Warning: This document, and the Nature journal papers to which it refers,
may contain information that is price sensitive (as legally defined, for
example, in the UK Criminal Justice Act 1993 Part V) with respect to
publicly quoted companies. Anyone dealing in securities using information
contained in this document, or in advance copies of a Nature journal's
content, may be guilty of insider trading under the US Securities Exchange
Act of 1934.
PICTURES: To obtain artwork from any of the journals, you must first obtain
permission from the copyright holder (if named) or author of the research
paper in question (if not).
NOTE: Once a paper is published, the digital object identifier (DOI) number
can be used to retrieve the abstract and full text from the journal web site
(abstracts are available to everyone, full text is available only to
subscribers). To do this, add the DOI to the following URL:
<http://dx.doi.org/> (For example, <http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng730>). For
more information about DOIs and Advance Online Publication, see
<http://www.nature.com/ng/aop/>.
PLEASE CITE THE SPECIFIC NATURE JOURNAL AND WEBSITE AS THE SOURCE OF THE
FOLLOWING ITEMS. IF PUBLISHING ONLINE, PLEASE CARRY A HYPERLINK TO THE
APPROPRIATE JOURNAL'S WEBSITE.
****************************NATURE******************
(http://www.nature.com/nature)
[1] Computer model shows why we avoid silly walks
DOI: 10.1038/nature04113
A new mathematical model of human locomotion published online this week by
Nature, shows why we routinely choose walking or running over other possible
gaits, such as jumping or shuffling. Running, it seems, is the most
energy-efficient way of moving at high speed, whereas walking is the optimal
solution at a more pedestrian pace.
This new model can evaluate an infinity of different gaits by reducing them
to principles of simple newtonian mechanics, calculating how much energy the
different styles require to move the same mass. Despite the fact that both
walking and running involve bobbing up and down, they use the least energy,
report Manoj Srinivasan and Andy Ruina.
In contrast, other styles are woefully inefficient, which goes some way to
explaining why John Cleese got such big laughs in Monty Python's 'Ministry
of Silly Walks' sketch. But the model also highlights a third useful gait,
which the authors call 'pendular running'. This cross between running and
walking is rarely used by real people, who tend to switch abruptly from
walking to running as they accelerate beyond a certain threshold. The
simplified picture of locomotion provided by the model may therefore
overlook key factors that make pendular running impractical in the real
world, the authors say.
Author contact:
Andy Ruina (Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA)
Tel: +1 607 255 7108, E-mail: [email protected]
**********************NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY********************
(http://www.nature.com/nchembio)
[2] Genome mining reveals new natural products
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio731
Researchers have discovered a new microbial natural product by a technique
called "genome mining," according to a paper in the October issue of Nature
Chemical Biology. Using microbial DNA sequences, the authors predicted the
existence and properties of a compound called coelichelin, isolated it from
the microbe, and revealed its chemical structure. This technique shows the
predictive power of genome mining for uncovering new natural products, which
may speed the discovery of new medicines.
In the past, natural products chemists have unearthed many compounds from
natural sources that have important medicinal properties. But this process
involves laborious purification steps to find a desired small-molecule
needle in a metabolite haystack. Gregory Challis and colleagues report a
more predictive and streamlined approach based on genome mining. Using
genome sequences from Streptomyces coelicolor, the authors identified
biosynthetic gene clusters that helped them predict the existence of a
previously unknown molecule, which they called coelichelin. Using this
insight from genome sequences, the authors isolated coelichelin from the
microbe. Further structural detective work revealed that coelichelin is a
tetrapeptide, which helps microbes acquire iron ions from their environment
under iron-poor conditions. The authors also showed that the biosynthesis of
this molecule is more complex than expected; it is produced by a
three-component enzyme system working in concert with a separate protein,
which is highly unusual for this class of compounds.
This innovative approach to isolating natural products suggests that genome
mining may offer an alternative route to identifying new compounds of
biological origin.
Author contact:
Gregory L. Challis (University of Warwick, Coventry, UK)
Tel: +44 2476 474024, E-mail: [email protected]
Additional contact for comment on paper:
Brian Bachmann (Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA)
Tel: +1 615 322 8865, E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Chemical Biology to be published online at the same
time and with the same embargo:
[3] Preferential synapsis of loxP sites drives ordered strand exchange in
Cre-loxP site-specific recombination
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio733
**********************NATURE GENETICS***************************
(<http://www.nature.com/naturegenetics>)
[4] Toward salt-tolerant crops
DOI: 10.1038/ng1643
Scientists in China and the United States have identified a gene variant in
rice that is associated with salt tolerance, as reported in the October
issue of Nature Genetics. Soil salinity is one of the key factors limiting
crop productivity worldwide. A better understanding of the genetic basis of
salt tolerance in natural varieties of crops may lead to new approaches to
engineer them to withstand high levels of salt in the environment.
Hong-Xuan Lin and Sheng Luan and their colleagues showed that salt
tolerance in a particular variety of rice - Nona Bokra - is caused in part
by variation in the gene SKC1. SKC1 encodes a sodium transporter whose role
seems to be to recirculate sodium ions from shoots to roots, thereby
promoting the elimination of the sodium by other transporters in the roots.
The Nona Bokra version of SKC1 is more active than the one found in the
salt-sensitive variety, Koshihikari, and the difference can be traced to
four amino-acid changes between the two versions of the protein.
Author contacts:
Hong-Xuan Lin (Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences, China)
Tel: +86 21 54924129, E-mail: [email protected]
Sheng Luan (University of California at Berkeley, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 510 642 6306, E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Genetics to be published online at the same time
and with the same embargo:
[5] Homozygous HOXA1 mutations disrupt human brainstem, inner ear,
cardiovascular and cognitive development
DOI: 10.1038/ng1636
[6] Genome-scale profiling of histone H3.3 replacement patterns
DOI: 10.1038/ng1637
[7] A variable number of tandem repeats polymorphism in an E2F-1 binding
element in the 5' flanking region of SMYD3 is a risk factor for human
cancers
DOI: 10.1038/ng1638
[8] The synthetic genetic interaction spectrum of essential genes
DOI: 10.1038/ng1640
********************NATURE NEUROSCIENCE****************************
(<http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience>)
[9] Aging and memory
DOI: 10.1038/nn1543
Older people may be worse at remembering things because they have trouble
suppressing irrelevant information, reports a new functional imaging study
from Adam Gazzaley and colleagues in the October issue of Nature
Neuroscience.
Older and younger subjects had their brains scanned with MRI while they
viewed faces and scenes, with instructions either to remember the scenes and
ignore the faces, or vice-versa. When asked to remember scenes, both younger
and older subjects had increased activity in the left
parahippocampal/lingual gyrus, a brain area that normally processes scenes.
When told to ignore the scenes and remember faces instead, the younger
subjects showed reduced activity in these same areas. Older subjects did not
show such activity reductions, indicating a deficit in suppressing
information not needed for the task. The older subjects were also worse at
recalling previously viewed pictures. Some older subjects were able to
perform the task well and their brain activity was more similar to that of
younger subjects, with reduced activation in scene-processing areas when
scenes were to be ignored.
Author contact:
Adam Gazzaley (University of California at Berkeley, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 267 257 8191, E-mail: [email protected]
[10] The timing of conscious perception
DOI: 10.1038/nn1549
When two different images or words are seen within half a second of each
other, the second image or word is very difficult to consciously detect. A
new study in the October issue of Nature Neuroscience suggests that the
earlier the first image reaches conscious awareness, the more likely it is
that we will also consciously perceive the second.
Claire Sergent and colleagues recorded electrical brain activity while
people indicated whether they had seen the second of two quickly presented
targets. They found an early wave of activity that occurred after each
target, whether or not people reported seeing it. In contrast, a later wave,
appearing around 300 milliseconds after each target, only occurred when a
target was consciously detected - spreading through a network of many brain
areas thought to be involved in consciousness. The sooner the appearance of
the late wave associated with the first target, the more likely it was that
the second target would be consciously perceived. These findings provide
further information about the sequence and timing of brain processes that
differentiate conscious and unconscious perception.
Author contact:
Claire Sergent (INSERM, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche
Médicale, Orsay, France)
Tel : +33 1 6986 7840, E-mail : [email protected]
Additional contact for comment on paper:
Rene Marois (Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA)
Tel: +1 615 322 1779, E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Neuroscience to be published online at the same
time and with the same embargo:
[11] Agouti-related peptide-expressing neurons are mandatory for feeding
DOI: 10.1038/nn1548
[12] Dynamics of excitation and inhibition underlying stimulus selectivity
in rat somatosensory cortex
DOI: 10.1038/nn1545
[13] Asynchronous GABA release generates long-lasting inhibition at a
hippocampal interneuron-principal neuron synapse
DOI: 10.1038/nn1542
************************NATURE IMMUNOLOGY****************************
(<http://www.nature.com/natureimmunology>)
[14] Closing the door to virus entry
DOI: 10.1038/ni1248
Scientists have identified a new defense mechanism by which cells try to
repel viral invaders, as reported in the October issue of Nature Immunology.
Viruses infect cells and 'hijack' host enzymes and basic building blocks to
replicate themselves. To do so, viruses first gain entry into cells by
fusing with the host cell's membrane. But our immune system has also
developed strategies to counteract this assault. Among these are proteins
called defensins, which are often induced in response to viruses in the
vicinity and can prevent the fusion of viruses with uninfected cells. Now
scientists have made an important advance in understanding how defensins
prevent viral fusion. This finding may lead to the development of new
strategies for preventing and treating viral infections.
To understand the antiviral property of defensins, Leonid Chernomordik and
colleagues studied a specific defensin called RC2 and found that it prevents
infection of cells by many viruses, including influenza. On closer
examination, RC2 seems to bind to the 'sugar' portions of proteins that
reside in cell membranes. This process prevents the membrane from fusing
with the virus, essentially producing a 'lockdown' of the cell membrane,
preventing viral entry. The authors extended their observation to another
family of 'sugar-binding' immune molecules called collectins, allowing
potential for this antiviral strategy to be generalized and have a broad
application.
Author contact:
Leonid LV Chernomordik (National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA)
Tel: +1 301 594 1128, E-mail: [email protected]
Additional contact for comments:
Rodney E. Phillips (University of Oxford, UK)
Tel: +44 1865 281230, E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Immunology to be published online at the same time
and with the same embargo:
[15] Lipopolysaccharide deacylation by an endogenous lipase controls innate
antibody responses to Gram-negative bacteria
DOI: 10.1038/ni1246
[16] Activation of bone marrow-resident memory T cells by circulating,
antigen-bearing dendritic cells
DOI: 10.1038/ni1249
*****************************************************
Items from other Nature journals to be published online at the same time and
with the same embargo:
NATURE MATERIALS (<http://www.nature.com/naturematerials>)
[17] Fluorescein as a model molecular calculator with reset capability
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1469
[18] Multimillimetre-large superlattices of air-stable iron-cobalt
nanoparticles
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1480
Nature MEDICINE (<http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine>)
[19] Adiponectin protects against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury
through AMPK- and COX-2-dependent mechanisms
DOI: 10.1038/nm1295
[20] NK cells promote islet allograft tolerance via a perforin-dependent
mechanism
DOI: 10.1038/nm1296
[21] 17-AAG, an Hsp90 inhibitor, ameliorates polyglutamine-mediated motor
neuron degeneration
DOI: 10.1038/nm1298
[22] Cdk5-dependent regulation of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion
DOI: 10.1038/nm1299
Nature BIOTECHNOLOGY (<http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnolgy>)
[23] Mammalian cell-based optimization of the biarsenical-binding
tetracysteine motif for improved fluorescence and affinity
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1136
NATURE CELL BIOLOGY (<http://www.nature.com/naturecellbiology>)
[24] Genetic isolation of transport signals directing cell surface
expression
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1297
[25] Abi1 regulates the activity of N-WASP and WAVE in distinct actin-based
processes
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1304
[26] Abi activates WASP to promote sensory organ development
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1305
Nature STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
(<http://www.nature.com/natstructmolbiol>)
[27] Aminoacylation complex structures of leucyl-tRNA synthetase and tRNALeu
reveal two modes of discriminator-base recognition
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb985
[28] The crystal structure of leucyl-tRNA synthetase complexed with tRNALeu
in the post-transfer-editing conformation
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb986
[29] Sec15 interacts with Rab11 via a novel domain and affects Rab11
localization in vivo
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb987
[30] Structural basis for anticodon recognition by methionyl-tRNA synthetase
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb988
[31] Structural basis for DNA bridging by barrier-to-autointegration factor
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb989
****************************************************************
GEOGRAPHICAL LISTING OF AUTHORS
The following list of places refers to the whereabouts of authors on the
papers numbered in this release. The listing may be for an author's main
affiliation, or for a place where they are working temporarily. Please see
the PDF of the paper for full details.
CANADA
Toronto: 8
CHINA
Beijing: 4
Shanghai: 4
FRANCE
Gif-sure-Yvette: 25
Orsay: 10
Paris: 10
Toulouse: 18
GERMANY
Braunschweig: 25
Cologne: 11
Freiburg: 13
Mainz: 11
Muenster: 26
ISRAEL
Rehevot: 17
ITALY
Milan: 25
JAPAN
Hiroshima: 7
Hyogo: 27
Kanagawa: 30
Kyoto: 22
Nagoya: 21
Okayama: 22
Osaka: 19
Saitama: 22, 30
Tokyo: 7, 27, 28
Yokohama: 27, 30
KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA
Riyadh: 5
TURKEY
Ankara: 5
UKRAINE
Kiev: 28
UNITED KINGDOM
Coventry: 2
London: 29
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Arizona
Tempe: 18
Tucson: 5
California
Berkeley: 4, 9
La Jolla: 23
Los Angeles: 14
San Diego: 23
San Francisco: 9
Stanford: 11
Colorado
Aurora: 16
Connecticut
New Haven: 11
Georgia
Augusta: 16
Iowa
Iowa City: 15
Maryland
Baltimore: 24
Bethesda: 14, 31
Massachusetts
Boston: 5, 11, 16, 19
Charlestown: 16
New York
Ithaca: 1
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia: 3, 12, 16
Tennessee
Nashville: 20
Texas
Dallas: 15
Houston: 29
Washington
Seattle: 6
PRESS CONTACTS...
For media inquiries relating to embargo policy for all the Nature Research
Journals:
Katharine Mansell (Nature London)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4658; E-mail: [email protected]
For media inquiries relating to editorial content/policy for the Nature
Research Journals, please contact the journals individually:
Nature Biotechnology (New York)
Kathy Aschheim
Tel: +1 212 726 9346; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Cell Biology (London)
Bernd Pulverer
Tel: +44 20 7843 4892; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Chemical Biology (Boston)
Beatrice Chrystall
Tel: +1 617 475 9241, E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Genetics (New York)
Orli Bahcall
Tel: +1 212 726 9311; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Immunology (New York)
Laurie Dempsey
Tel: +1 212 726 9372; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Materials (London)
Maria Bellantone
Tel: +44 20 7843 4556; E-mail:[email protected]
Nature Medicine (New York)
Juan Carlos Lopez
Tel: +1 212 726 9325; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Neuroscience (New York)
Sandra Aamodt (based in California)
Tel: +1 530 795 3256; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology (New York)
Ed Feng
Tel: +1 212 726 9351; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd,
dedicated to serving the academic and professional scientific community.
NPG's flagship title, Nature, is the world's most highly-cited weekly
multidisciplinary journal and was first published in 1869. Other
publications include Nature research journals, Nature Reviews, Nature
Clinical Practice, and a range of prestigious academic journals, including
society-owned publications.
NPG is a global company, with headquarters in London and offices in New
York, San Francisco, Washington DC, Boston, Tokyo, Paris, Munich and
Basingstoke. For more information, please go to www.nature.com
