'Tenth planet' bigger than Pluto; Forecasting epidemic malaria; Brain cells responsible for insect memory revealed; DNA duplication exposed; The many faces of catalysis; Fatal bite

Summaries of newsworthy papers from Nature Vol.439 No.7076 Dated 2 February 2006

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VOL.439 NO.7076 DATED 2 FEBRUARY 2006

This press release contains:
* Summaries of newsworthy papers:
* Astronomy: 'Tenth planet' bigger than Pluto
* Climate science: Forecasting epidemic malaria
* Neuroscience: Brain cells responsible for insect memory revealed
* Cell biology: DNA duplication exposed
* Chemistry: The many faces of catalysis
* And finally... Fatal bite
* Mention of papers to be published at the same time with the same embargo
* Geographical listing of authors

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[1] Astronomy: 'Tenth planet' bigger than Pluto (pp 563-564; N&V)

Claims that the Solar System has a tenth planet are bolstered by the finding
reported in this week's Nature that this putative planet, announced last
summer and named 2003 UB313, is bigger than Pluto.

Like Pluto, 2003 UB313 is one of the icy bodies in the so-called Kuiper belt
that swarms beyond Neptune. It is the most distant object ever seen in the
Solar System. Its very elongated orbit takes it up to 97 times farther from
the Sun than is the Earth - almost twice as far as the most distant point of
Pluto's orbit - and it takes twice as long as Pluto to go around the Sun.
UB313 will not reach its closest approach to the Sun until 2257.

When it was first seen, UB313 appeared to be at least as big as Pluto,
assuming that it reflects as much light as Pluto. But an accurate estimate
of its size was not possible without knowing how reflective it is. Frank
Bertoldi and co-workers have now resolved this problem by using measurements
of the amount of heat UB313 radiates to determine its size, which when
combined with the optical observations allows them to determine its
reflectivity. They estimate that it is 3,000 kilometres across, making it
decidedly larger than Pluto (which has a diameter of 2,300 kilometres). So
it's now increasingly hard to justify calling Pluto a planet if UB313 is not
also given this status.

CONTACT
Frank Bertoldi (University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany)
Tel: +49 176 2011 4268; E-mail: [email protected]

Scott Sheppard (Carnegie Institute of Washington, Washington, DC, USA)
Tel: +1 202 478 8854; E-mail: [email protected]

[2] Climate science: Forecasting epidemic malaria (pp 576-579)

The outbreak of a malaria epidemic can be predicted up to five months in
advance thanks to a climate forecasting computer model, scientists report in
this week's Nature.

Although 'epidemic' malaria accounts for only a small percentage of the
total number of cases worldwide, it can be important at a regional level,
contributing to a significant rise of cases and deaths relative to the
'endemic' norm.

Climate drives both the development of the malaria parasite, and the
behaviour of the mosquitoes that carry it. So Tim Palmer and colleagues
developed a system that uses climate data to forecast potential anomalously
high or low incidences of malaria. They successfully used the model to
retrospectively predict malaria epidemics in Botswana from 1982 to 2002.
A previous study had already established that monitoring rainfall and sea
surface temperature could predict the peak of the malaria season up to one
month in advance. But with an extra four months of lead time, the authors
suggest that insecticides could be more strategically targeted and drug
stocks better managed in future.

The system 'DEMETER' also won the 2006 WMO Gerbier-Mumm International Award.

CONTACT
Tim Palmer (European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts, Reading, UK)
Tel: +44 118 949 9600; E-mail: [email protected]

[3] Neuroscience: Brain cells responsible for insect memory revealed (pp
551-556; N&V)

Using a cunning piece of genetic trickery, neuroscientists have identified
the nerve cells required for visual memory in insects. Their study reveals
that neurons located in a central brain region called the fan-shaped body,
which lies in an area of the brain called the central complex, is needed for
fruitflies to remember images and react accordingly.

Martin Heisenberg and his colleagues made the discovery by studying
Drosophila mutants that lack a gene called rutabaga, known to be essential
in memory formation. These flies could not memorize visual stimuli, as shown
by the fact that they were unable to respond correctly despite having
previously been trained to turn away from certain shapes. But when
Heisenberg's team reinstated rutabaga expression in two particular regions
of the fan-shaped body, the flies were able to complete the task.
The study gives a first glimpse at the nerve cells responsible for visual
memory in the relatively complex insect brain, say the researchers, who
report their results in this week's Nature. Previous studies had focused on
marine snails, which have simpler brains. "The organization of the central
complex is repetitive and regular, but fiendishly intricate," adds William
Quinn in an accompanying News and Views article.

CONTACT
Martin M Heisenberg (University of Wurzburg, Wurzburg, Germany)
Tel: +49 931 888 4450; E-mail: [email protected]

William G. Quinn (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 253 6307; E-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>

[4], [5], [6] Cell biology: DNA duplication exposed (pp 557-562; pp 621-624;
pp 617-620; N&V)

Three studies published in this week's Nature reveal long-sought secrets
about how cells copy their DNA.

When cells replicate DNA, they zip apart the two strands of the double helix
and attach protein machinery to the forked strands. On one strand, this
protein complex synthesizes a continuous, complementary strand of DNA, but
on the other strand it has to make and attach short RNA molecules called
primers, which serve as the starting point for synthesis of the other
complementary strand.

Scientists have puzzled over how the cell deals with broken or damaged DNA
in order to avoid copying the damage into the new strands. By mimicking this
type of damage, Ryan Heller and Kenneth Marians show that the DNA synthesis
machinery bypasses the block, leaving a gap that is filled in, presumably
after the damage has been repaired.

In a second study, Antoine van Oijen and his team investigate how the cell
manages to coordinate the synthesis of new DNA on each of its two strands.
The team observed single molecules of DNA as they were manufactured by the
DNA replication complex, and show that the protein that manufactures the
primers acts as a molecular brake to ensure that the entire complex stays in
step.

In a third paper, Nikolay Zenkin and his colleagues investigate how an
enzyme called RNA polymerase - the main function of which is in
transcription - makes RNA primers. They show that RNA polymerase is able to
form a complex containing RNA and DNA, and propose that similar complexes
may control transcription.

CONTACT
Kenneth Marians (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA)
Tel: +1 212 639 5890; E-mail: [email protected] Paper [4]

Antoine van Oijen (Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 432 5586; E-mail: [email protected] Paper [5]

Nikolay Zenkin (Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA)
Tel: +1 732 445 6096; Email: [email protected] Paper [6]

Stephen D. Bell (Hutchison Medical Research Council Research Centre, Cambridge, UK)
Tel: + 44 12 2376 3311; E-mail: [email protected] N&V

[7] Chemistry: The many faces of catalysis (pp 572-575; N&V)

There has been something of a gulf between attempts to understand chemical
processes in the laboratory, using idealized, well defined catalysts, and
the much more messy systems that the chemicals industry tends to use in
practice. Dirk De Vos and colleagues help to bridge this gap in
understanding by mapping out how the catalytic activity of a crystalline
solid differs on different crystal facets.

The researchers report in this week's Nature that they have found a way to
monitor the reactions of individual molecules stuck to the crystal surfaces.
They looked at reactions involving an organic (carbon-based) molecule that
can be split apart (hydrolysed) or combined with butanol (transesterified)
by a solid catalyst consisting of a so-called layered double hydroxide
mineral. Both of these reactions turn the reagent molecules into forms that
fluoresce when illuminated. This has enabled the researchers to monitor the
reactions one molecule at a time, so that they can map out where on the
catalyst surface they occur most readily. They find that hydrolysis takes
place only on a particular crystal facet, whereas transesterification occurs
all over the crystal. Such studies will enable researchers to deduce how
catalysts act under the conditions used in industry.

CONTACT
Dirk De Vos (University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium)
Tel: +32 16 321639; E-mail: [email protected]

Bert W. Weckhuysen (Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands)
Tel: + 31 30 2534328; E-mail: [email protected]

[8] And finally... Fatal bite (p 675)

A deadly facial-tumour disease threatening a carnivorous Australian
marsupial known as the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) could be
infectious, reports a Brief Communication in this week's Nature. The
malignant tumour, which prevents the animals from eating, currently affects
Tasmanian devils in over half of the island.

Anne-Maree Pearse and K. Swift studied the transmission of the disease
between individuals and propose that cancer cells dislodged from one animal
are transplanted to another as a result of bites inflicted around the mouth
area during fights.

Analysing the tumour's chromosomes, the authors show that instead of the
normal 14 chromosomes there were 13, and these were grossly abnormal;
however, the chromosomal rearrangements were identical in tumours from
different animals. A chromosomal mutation found in the non-infected tissue
of one animal was absent in the animal's tumour, indicating that the tumour
could not have grown from the animal's own tissue, as happens with most
cancers.

The authors suggest that close kinship and low genetic diversity among
Tasmanian devils reduces their immune response to transplanted cancer cells,
making it more likely that they will take hold.

A related news feature in this week's issue reveals how Australian
scientists think they have found ways of combatting the cancer, a piece of
good news after years of watching the devils' numbers decline.

CONTACT
Anne-Maree Pearse (Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment,
Prospect, Tasmania, Australia)
Tel: +61 3 6336 5262 ; E-mail: [email protected]

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE...

[9] A low density of 0.8 g cm23 for the Trojan binary asteroid 617 Patroclus

[10] Disruption of extended defects in solid oxide fuel cell anodes for methane oxidation

[11] Episodic growth of the Gondwana supercontinent from hafnium and oxygen isotopes in zircon

[12] Functional genomics reveals genes involved in protein secretion and Golgi organization

[13] Gene network shaping of inherent noise spectra

[14] Structure of epsilon15 bacteriophage reveals genome organization and DNA packaging/injection apparatus

[15] Structure of the cyclic-AMP-responsive exchange factor Epac2 in its auto-inhibited state

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***This paper will be published electronically on Nature's website on 1
February at 1800 London time / 1300 US Eastern time (which is also when the
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[16] Development of the signal in sensory rhodopsin and its transfer to the cognate transducer
(DOI:10.1038/nature04520)

GEOGRAPHICAL LISTING OF AUTHORS...

The following list of places refers to the whereabouts of authors on the
papers numbered in this release. For example, London: 4 - this means that
on paper number four, there will be at least one author affiliated to an
institute or company in London. 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.

AUSTRALIA
Kings Meadows: 8
Perth: 11

BELGIUM
Leuven: 7

BOTSWANA
Gaborone: 2

CHINA
Beijing: 3

FRANCE
Paris: 9
Saint Martin d'Heres: 1

GERMANY
Bonn: 1
Dortmund: 15, 16
Julich: 16
Wurzburg: 3

JAPAN
Tokyo: 3

THE NETHERLANDS
Amsterdam: 15
Utrecht: 15

RUSSIA
Dolgoprundny: 16
Moscow: 6

SPAIN
Barcelona: 10
La Laguna, Canary Islands: 10

UK
Bristol: 11
Liverpool: 2
London: 12
Reading: 2
St Andrews: 10

USA
California
Berkeley: 9
La Jolla: 12
Hawaii
Kamuela: 9
Indiana
West Lafayette: 14
Massachusetts
Cambridge: 5, 14
Boston: 5, 12, 14, 16
Missouri
Columbia: 3
New Jersey
Piscataway: 6
New York
New York: 2, 4
Tennessee
Houston: 14
Knoxville: 13
Oak Ridge: 13

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For Japan, Korea, China, Singapore and Taiwan
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Tel: +81 3 3267 8751; E-mail: [email protected]

For the UK/Europe/other countries not listed above
Ruth Francis, Nature London
Tel: +44 20 7843 4562; E-mail [email protected]

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Published: 01 Feb 2006

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