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This press release is copyright Nature. VOL.444 NO.7115 DATED 02 NOVEMBER 2006
This press release contains:
· Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Cancer: Drug duo could combat retinal cancers
Diet: Having your cake and eating it too
Conservation: ‘Silver bullet’ strategies due a rethink
Earth sciences: Rock-solid support for ‘Snowball Earth’ theory
Evolution: The benefits of sleeping around
Optomechanics: Tiny mirrors chill out
Neuroscience: New sonic hedgehog receptor
Microbiology: Maize fungal genome deciphered
Microbiology: ‘Export’ protein structure unveiled
And finally… Policing every egg you lay
· Mention of papers to be published at the same time with the same embargo
· Geographical listing of authors
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[1] Cancer: Drug duo could combat retinal cancers (pp 61-66; N&V)
Most human tumours harbour genetic mutations in key tumour suppressor genes of the p53 pathway, but cancers of the retina were, until now, thought the exception to the rule. In this week’s Nature researchers provide evidence implicating inactivation of the tumour suppressor gene p53 in retinoblastoma, and suggest a revised chemotherapy protocol that they hope will minimize side effects and maximize cancer cell death.
Retinoblastomas, which are caused by mutations in the RB1 gene, affect mainly children. Michael A. Dyer and colleagues show that amplification of a gene called MDMX can inactivate the p53 pathway and contribute to the development of these cancers.
They suggest treating patients with two drugs, topotecan and nutlin-3, simultaneously. Topotecan is a standard chemotherapy drug, and nutlin-3 is a small-molecule inhibitor which binds to MDMX and blocks its interaction with p53. The combination kills retinoblastoma cells in culture and reduces tumour burden by more than 80-fold when human retinoblastoma cells are transplanted into rat eyes.
CONTACT
Michael A. Dyer (St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA)
Tel: +1 901 495 2257; E-mail: [email protected]
Valerie Wallace (Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Canada)
Tel: +1 613 737 8234; E-mail: [email protected]
[2] Diet: Having your cake and eating it too (AOP; N&V)
DOI: 10.1038/nature05354
***This paper will be published electronically on Nature's website on 01 November at 1800 London time / 1300 US Eastern time (which is also when the embargo lifts) as part of our AOP (ahead of print) programme. Although we have included it on this release to avoid multiple mailings it will not appear in print on 02 November, but at a later date.***
Treating middle-aged mice fed a high-calorie diet with a compound found in red wine improves their health and extends lifespan, a paper published online this week in Nature reports.
David Sinclair and colleagues fed mice high-calorie diets supplemented with resveratrol, a small molecule that has been shown to extend the lifespans of various animals. The treatment shifted the animals' physiology towards that of mice fed a standard diet. They lived longer than mice on the same high-fat diet without resveratrol, and even though they didn't lose any weight, their quality of life was also improved – resveratrol-treated mice had healthier livers and better motor coordination.
Resveratrol seems to counter various of the health risks associated with a high-fat diet, but without skimping on the calories. When scaled up, the doses used in the mouse study should be feasible for human consumption, but it's not yet clear whether the molecule will yield similar effects in people. If it does, it may lead to the development of drugs that can reduce some of the negative consequences of excess calorie intake and improve health and survival.
CONTACT
David Sinclair (Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 432 3931; E-mail: [email protected]
Peter S Rabinovitch (University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA)
Tel: +1 206 685 3761; E-mail: [email protected]
[3] Conservation: ‘Silver bullet’ strategies due a rethink (pp 93-96)
Conservation strategies that generalize from the distribution of one threatened species to that of another may be flawed, a study in this week’s Nature suggests.
Ian Owens and colleagues studied a database of over 19,000 living bird, mammal and amphibian species to see whether biodiversity patterns were similar. Although the three groups were similar in terms of overall species richness, the distribution of threatened and rare species was different for each group. This means that the distribution of rare birds, for example, does not predict the distribution of rare species in the other two groups.
By themselves, so-called ‘silver bullet’ conservation strategies are unlikely to deliver efficient conservation, the authors say. Instead, priority areas for biodiversity conservation should be based upon high-resolution data from multiple species.
CONTACT
Ian Owens (Imperial College London, UK)
Tel: +44 207 594 2215; E-mail: [email protected]
[4] Earth sciences: Rock-solid support for ‘Snowball Earth’ theory (pp 51-55; N&V)
The main features of the Earth's magnetic field have changed little over the past 2,000 million years, a paper in this week's Nature reports. The finding, which was previously assumed rather than tested, lends support to the 'Snowball Earth' hypothesis.
The Earth's magnetic field leaves a tell-tale signature in certain rocks, which can be used to infer information about the latitude at which they formed. But if the early Earth's magnetic field was markedly different to today's axial dipolar field, some of these interpretations could be off the mark.
David Evans compiled a global database of evaporite rocks extending back through Proterozoic time, over 2,000 million years ago. The rocks' magnetic properties suggest that, as now, the Earth's magnetic field was predominantly an axial dipole on average, suggesting that the Neoproterozoic 'Snowball Earth’ was indeed probably shrouded in ice.
CONTACT
David Evans (Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA)
Tel: +1 203 432 3127; E-mail: [email protected]
Edward Irving (Pacific Geoscience Center, Sidney, British Columbia, Canada)
Tel: +1 604 363 6508/6500; E-mail: [email protected]
[5] Evolution: The benefits of sleeping around (pp 89-92)
Female mammals may take multiple partners because it increases the fitness of their offspring, a field study of Australian marsupials suggests in this week’s Nature.
Researchers have struggled to understand why females mate with multiple males when egg production is costly and ‘sleeping around’ raises the risk of disease and injury. Invertebrate studies suggest that the strategy yields genetic benefits and can increase offspring survival, but the reasons why were unclear and the same effects had yet to be proved for mammals in the wild.
Diana O. Fisher and colleagues studied the practice in the brown antechinus (Antechinus stuartii), a carnivorous mouse-like marsupial. Most females breed only once in their lifetime, mating multiply then giving birth synchronously. Although the paternity of offspring can be tested from a very young age, fathers die before any offspring are born, and so childcare falls to the females. It makes sense then that females should invest maximally in a litter (which eliminates selective female investment as an explanation for why sleeping around is good). And polyandry, the team found, leads to better quality offspring as a result of sperm competition.
CONTACT
Diana O. Fisher (Australian National University, Canberra, Australia)
Tel: +61 2 6125 5651; E-mail: [email protected]
[6], [7] & [8] Optomechanics: Tiny mirrors chill out (pp75-78; N&V)
Researchers have cooled tiny mirrors down to very low temperatures in the hope of performing quantum-mechanical experiments and developing ultra-precise measuring devices.
Three such microresonators are described in this week’s Nature. Separate teams, led by Markus Aspelmeyer and Pierre-Francois Cohadon, set up tiny mirrors inside optical cavities filled with laser light. Under finely tuned conditions, the mirrors stopped vibrating and self-cooled from room temperature to around 10 kelvin, a drop of around 30 degrees. The authors believe that their mirrors could be cooled further, making them useful as ultra-sensitive motion detectors, perhaps for the detection of gravitational waves.
Dustin Kleckner and Dirk Bouwmeester’s micromirror was cooled by an active rather than a passive process. Their microresonator included an active feedback loop whereby the mirror’s vibrations were observed and then counteracted with radiation pressure from a laser. The micromirror was cooled all the way down to 135 millikelvin, but the team’s main goal is to cool the mirror to its quantum ground state. This would allow them to observe the transition between classical and quantum behaviour in a mechanical system.
CONTACT
Markus Aspelmeyer (University of Vienna, Austria)
Tel: +43 1 4277 29574; E-mail: [email protected]
Author paper [6]
Pierre-Francois Cohadon (Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France)
Tel: +33 1 44 27 44 09; E-mail: [email protected]
Author paper [7]
Dustin Kleckner (University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 805 893 5456; E-mail: [email protected]
Author paper [8]
Dirk Bouwmeester (University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 805 893 8358; E-mail: [email protected]
Author paper [8]
Khaled Karrai (Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany)
Tel: +49 89 2180 3725; E-mail: [email protected]
(N&V author)
[9] Neuroscience: New sonic hedgehog receptor (AOP)
DOI: 10.1038/nature05246
***This paper will be published electronically on Nature's website on 01 November at 1800 London time / 1300 US Eastern time (which is also when the embargo lifts) as part of our AOP (ahead of print) programme. Although we have included it on this release to avoid multiple mailings it will not appear in print on 02 November, but at a later date.***
A new receptor for the sonic hedgehog protein is described online in this week’s Nature. The molecule helps control nerve growth, so it’s hoped that the discovery will aid the development of new therapies for spinal cord injuries.
Early in development, nerve cells must extend connections to specific target cells. The secreted protein sonic hedgehog has a key role in this process, but the underlying mechanisms are murky. Ami Okada and colleagues have discovered a cell surface protein, called Boc, which binds sonic hedgehog and helps spinal cord connections to develop properly.
Sonic hedgehog signalling is involved in the normal development of numerous organs and tissues, and in the development of certain cancers. The components that make up its signalling pathway are therefore of interest to biologists in many different disciplines.
CONTACT
Ami Okada (Stanford Medical School, Palo Alto, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 650 387 6276; E-mail: [email protected]
[10] Microbiology: Maize fungal genome deciphered (pp 97-101)
The genome of Ustilago maydis, a fungus that causes disease in maize, is unveiled this week in Nature. The organism derives nutrients from a live host, making it the so-called biotrophic plant parasite to have its genetic makeup sequenced.
In particular, Regine Kahmann and colleagues found 12 clusters of genes encoding small, secreted proteins, with unknown functions. The team generated a range of mutant fungi, each with deletions in a particular cluster. Five of the clusters were involved in the process of plant infection. These are the first infection-related factors to be found for U. maydis.
Almost ~7,000 predicted protein-encoding genes were found, but the parasite's genome contained none of the disease-causing signatures found in the genomes of fungi that use enzymes and toxins to kill their hosts. This highlights just how novel is the infection strategy used by U. maydis.
CONTACT
Regine Kahmann (Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany)
Tel: +49 6421 178 501; E-mail: [email protected]
[11] Microbiology: ‘Export’ protein structure unveiled (AOP)
DOI: 10.1038/nature05267
***This paper will be published electronically on Nature's website on 01 November at 1800 London time / 1300 US Eastern time (which is also when the embargo lifts) as part of our AOP (ahead of print) programme. Although we have included it on this release to avoid multiple mailings it will not appear in print on 02 November, but at a later date.***
Researchers have deciphered the three-dimensional structure of Wza, an integral outer-membrane protein that is linked to virulence.
Many bacteria possess an external ‘capsule’ of secreted polysaccharide molecules that help them to colonize surfaces. Wza is responsible for moving these polysaccharides from the inside to the outside of the bacteria where they can function. The capsule is effectively the first point of contact between host and pathogen, making it a potential target for vaccines and other therapies.
The X-ray crystal structure, unveiled online this week in Nature, reveals that most of Wza is located in the space between the inner plasma membrane and the outer cellular membrane or periplasm. The protein, described by James H. Naismith and colleagues, contains a large central cavity that the polysaccharides are transported through. Understanding its structure should also contribute to a broader understanding of how other large polar molecules, such as DNA and proteins, are exported out of cells.
CONTACT
James H. Naismith (St Andrews University, UK)
Tel: +44 1334 463 792; E-mail: [email protected]
[12] And finally… Policing every egg you lay (p50)
Social sanctions, not voluntary altruism stop workers in insect societies from reproducing, according to a Brief Communication in this week’s Nature.
Workers of many species of ant, bee and wasp do not lay eggs despite having functional ovaries. Francis Ratnieks and Tom Wenseleers studied ten single-queen species – nine Vespidae wasps and the honeybee – to test theories of worker altruism, social coercion and cooperation.
They found that when worker-laid eggs are killed by the queen or other workers, and when this type of 'policing' is effective, the advantage to workers of laying eggs is reduced. They argue that social sanctions are what discourage selfish behaviour and quip that this is in line with better law enforcement leading to fewer individuals behaving antisocially in human societies.
CONTACT
Francis Ratnieks (Sheffield University, UK)
Tel: +44 114 222 0144; E-mail: [email protected]
Tom Wenseleers (Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium)
Tel: +32 16 323 964; E-mail: [email protected]
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE…
[13] Complex zeolite structure solved by combining powder diffraction and electron microscopy (pp79-81)
[14] 10Be evidence for the Matuyama-Brunhes geomagnetic reversal in the EPICA Dome C ice core (pp 82-84)
[15] XIAP deficiency in humans causes an X-linked lymphoproliferative syndrome (pp 110-114)
[16] Surface expression of MHC class II in dendritic cells is controlled by regulated ubiquitination (pp 115-118)
ADVANCE ONLINE PUBLICATION
***These papers will be published electronically on Nature's website on 01 November at 1800 London time / 1300 US Eastern time (which is also when the embargo lifts) as part of our AOP (ahead of print) programme. Although we have included them on this release to avoid multiple mailings they will not appear in print on 02 November, but at a later date.***
[17] A functional RNAi screen for regulators of receptor tyrosine kinase and ERK signalling
DOI: 10.1038/nature05280
[18] Thymic selection threshold defined by compartmentalization of Ras/MAPK signaling
DOI: 10.1038/nature05269
[19] Global trends of whole-genome duplications revealed by the ciliate Paramecium tetraurelia
DOI: 10.1038/nature05230
[20] Crystal structure of a protein phosphatase 2A heterotrimeric holoenzyme
DOI: 10.1038/nature05351
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
Canberra: 5
Sydney: 2
AUSTRIA
Linz: 6
Vienna: 6
BELGIUM
Ghent: 1
Leuven: 12
CANADA
Guelph: 11
Montreal: 9
Peterborough: 10
Toronto: 10
Vancouver: 10
FRANCE
Evry: 19
Gif-sur-Yvette: 14, 19
Orsay: 14
Palaiseau:
Paris: 7, 15, 19
Villejuif: 19
Villeurbanne: 19
GERMANY
Berlin: 12
Freising-Weihenstephan: 10
Heidelberg: 10
Konstanz: 11, 19
Leipzig: 9
Marburg: 10
Martinsried:
Monheim: 10
Neuherberg: 10
JAPAN
Ibaraki: 13
Tokyo: 13
KOREA
Taejon: 13
MEXICO:
Irapuato: 10
Tamaulipas: 10
POLAND
Warsaw: 19
SPAIN
Barcelona: 19
Madrid: 10
Seville: 2, 10
Valencia: 10
SWEDEN
Stockholm: 13
SWITZERLAND
Basel: 18
Zurich: 13
TAIWAN
Taipei: 3
THE NETHERLANDS
Leiden: 1
Utrecht: 10
UNITED KINGDOM
Ascot: 3
Bath: 3
Belfast: 6
Birmingham: 3
Fife: 11, 13
London: 3, 11
Sheffield: 3, 12
Surrey: 3
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
California
Berkeley: 6
La Jolla: 2, 18
Long Beach: 10
San Francisco: 1, 9, 10
Santa Barbara: 8
Stanford: 9
Connecticut
New Haven: 4, 16
Georgia
Athens: 3, 10
Indiana
West Lafayette: 1
Kentucky
Lexington: 10
Louisville: 10
Louisiana
Baton Rouge: 2
Maryland
Baltimore: 2
College Park: 6
Massachusetts
Boston: 2, 17
Cambridge: 2, 10
Michigan
East Lansing: 3
Missouri
St Louis: 10
New Jersey
Piscataway: 18
New York
Ithaca: 6
New York: 10
North Carolina
Durham: 10
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia: 3, 10
Tennessee
Memphis: 1
Virginia
Charlottesville: 3
Washington
Seattle: 20
PRESS CONTACTS…
For North America and Canada
Katie McGoldrick, Nature Washington
Tel: +1 202 737 2355; E-mail: [email protected]
From Japan, Korea, China, Singapore and Taiwan
Itsumi Kitahara, Nature Tokyo
Tel: +81 3 3267 8751; Fax: +81 3 3267 87
E-mail: [email protected]
For the UK/Europe/other countries not listed above
Katherine Anderson, Nature London
Tel: +44 20 7843 4502; E-mail [email protected]
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