NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
For papers that will be published online on 21 January 2007
This press release is copyrighted to the Nature journals mentioned below.
This press release contains:
· Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Gene regulation: Non-coding RNA interferes with transcription – Nature
A synchrotron for neutral molecules – Nature Physics
Nanocrystals used as dopants – Nature Materials
Reinventing the wheel – Nature Nanotechnology
For goodness sake – Nature Neuroscience
Gambling on consciousness – Nature Neuroscience
A tunnel that transfers lipids – Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
· Mention of papers to be published at the same time with the same embargo
· Geographical listing of authors
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.
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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] Gene regulation: Non-coding RNA interferes with transcription
DOI: 10.1038/nature05519
A non-coding RNA represses expression of a cell-cycle-regulated gene by directly interfering with the binding of transcription factors, a paper published online this week by Nature suggests. The discovery expands our knowledge of the diverse mechanisms used by non-coding RNAs in regulating gene expression.
Transcription factors are known to bind to the promoter regions of genes and initiate the production of RNA transcripts. Alexandre Akoulitchev and colleagues find that a non-coding RNA – an RNA molecule that is not translated into protein – forms a complex with the major promoter region of the human dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) gene, which in turn interferes with the binding of transcription factors. The non-coding RNA is only produced in quiescent cells, leading to repression of the DHFR gene in these conditions.
Author contact:
Alexandre Akoulitchev (University of Oxford, UK)
Tel: +44 1865 275 614, E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[2] Axial patterning in cephalochordates and the evolution of the organizer
DOI: 10.1038/nature05472
[3] Quantitative dynamics and binding studies of the 20S proteasome by NMR
DOI: 10.1038/nature05512
[4] The POT1–TPP1 telomere complex is a telomerase processivity factor
DOI: 10.1038/nature05454
[5] Noxious compounds activate TRPA1 ion channels through covalent modification of cysteines
DOI: 10.1038/nature05544
[6] Genome-wide analysis of Foxp3 target genes in developing and mature regulatory T cells
DOI: 10.1038/nature05563
[7] TPP1 is a homologue of ciliate TEBP-beta and interacts with POT1 to recruit telomerase
DOI: 10.1038/nature05469
[8] Foxp3 occupancy and regulation of key target genes during T-cell stimulation
DOI: 10.1038/nature05478
****************************** NATURE PHYSICS ******************************
(http://www.nature.com/naturephysics)
[9] A synchrotron for neutral molecules
DOI: 10.1038/nphys513
In the February issue of Nature Physics, Gerard Meijer and colleagues report the construction and operation of the first synchrotron for neutral molecules, unlike conventional synchrotrons that can only handle charged particles. The device could open a new avenue for the study of collisions between molecules, promising unique insights into their physical properties and chemical reactions.
Synchrotrons are devices in which particles move in synchronized bunches in a circular path. They are widely used in high-energy particle physics — in dedicated centres such as CERN or Fermilab — to accelerate charged particles and make them collide. But the device of Meijer and colleagues — which has a circumference of just 81 centimetres — is the first synchrotron to work with electrically neutral particles. The energies involved are extremely low; the molecules travel with velocities of the order of 100 metres per second, and have a temperature close to absolute zero — a regime of particular interest in the context of molecular physics and chemistry.
The control provided by the new device over the motion of neutral molecules, and the ability to collide bunches of them, could enable an array of experiments that have been not possible so far.
Author contact:
Gerard Meijer (Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany)
Tel: +49 30 8413 5602; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Physics to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[10] Ageing memory and glassiness of a driven vortex system
DOI: 10.1038/nphys512
[11] Superradiance of quantum dots
DOI: 10.1038/nphys494
[12] Neutrinos from gamma-ray bursts as a tool to explore quantum-gravity-induced Lorentz violation
DOI: 10.1038/nphys506
[13] Interferometric synthetic aperture microscopy
DOI: 10.1038/nphys514
****************************** NATURE MATERIALS ************************
(http://www.nature.com/naturematerials)
[14] Nanocrystals used as dopants
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1826
Nanocrystals can mimic atoms in solid-state devices by altering the electrical properties — for example conductance — according to a report by Jeffrey Urban and colleagues in the February issue of Nature Materials.
The researchers investigated the electrical properties of films obtained by the aggregation of PbTe and Ag2Te nanocrystals. When comparing the conductivity of films with different proportions of the two constituents, they found that when both types of crystals were present, the conductivity could be up to three orders of magnitude higher than in either of the single-component cases.
Nanocrystal assemblies can be seen as materials in which the nanocrystals — which consist of thousands of atoms — act as the basic elements, with the advantage that the structure can be designed very precisely. The extension of the nanocrystal–atom analogy to the concept of doping (adding an impurity to alter the electrical properties) opens unexpected opportunities for the design of solid-state devices based on these aggregates, as it also allows very accurate control of the electrical properties.
Author contact:
Jeffrey J. Urban (IBM TJ Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York, USA)
Tel: +1 914 945 1436; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Materials to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[15] Water-filled single-wall carbon nanotubes as molecular nanovalves
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1823
[16] Nanoparticle-tuned assembly and disassembly of mesostructured silica hybrids
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1819
[17] Giant thermoelectric Seebeck coefficient of a two-dimensional electron gas in SrTiO3
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1821
[18] A biomimetic three-dimensional woven composite scaffold for functional tissue engineering of cartilage
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1822
[19] Polyprotein of GB1 is an ideal artificial elastomeric protein
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1825
******************************NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY**********************
(http://www.nature.com/nnano)
[20] Reinventing the wheel
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2006.210
The invention of the wheel was one of the most significant events in human history. Now, a report to be published in the February issue of Nature Nanotechnology shows how a molecular ‘wheel’ could revolutionize machinery built at the nanoscale.
Leonhard Grill and colleagues deposit organic molecules – which resemble two wheels connected by an axle – on a corrugated copper surface. The extremely sharp tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope is then brought into contact with a single molecule. The way the molecule moves depends on how it is aligned to the row of copper atoms on the surface.
In previous experiments molecules have hopped across the surface when pushed by the microscope tip. However, when the molecules aligned properly with respect to the ridges on the copper surface, one of the wheels rotates by 120°. By understanding and controlling how nano-sized vehicles move across atomic terrains, nanoscientists may be able to design a new generation of molecular machines.
Author contact:
Leonhard Grill (Freie Universitat, Berlin, Germany)
Tel: +49 30 8385 2805; E-mail: [email protected]
****************************NATURE NEUROSCIENCE **********************
(http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience)
[21] For goodness sake
DOI: 10.1038/nn1833
The detection of ‘agency’, the presence of an active participant in a situation, involves a brain region that is more active in altruistic people, reports a study in the February issue of Nature Neuroscience. Altruism, the tendency of people to help others without obvious benefit to themselves, remains a scientific puzzle.
Scott Huettel and colleagues scanned the brains of people while they were either playing a simple computer game to earn money for charity or just watching the computer play the game by itself. Knowing that the computer is earning money for a good cause makes it easier to imagine an active intentional ‘mind’ behind that screen, apparently turning the game into a social situation involving altruistic behaviour. Figuring out social relationships generally involves activation of the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) on the right side of the brain. The authors indeed saw activity in this region specifically when participants were just watching the game.
The authors also asked participants to answer questions designed to assess their tendency toward altruistic behavior, and found that the magnitude of pSTS activation strongly correlated with individual levels of altruism measured in response to these questions. Thus it seems that a specific brain response to a simulated altruistic situation may be directly related to a person’s real-life unselfish behavior.
Author contact:
Scott Huettel (Duke University, Durham, NC, USA)
Tel: +1 919 681 9527; E-mail: [email protected]
Additional contact for comment on the paper:
Read Montague (Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA)
Tel: +1 713 798 3134; E-mail: [email protected]
[22] Gambling on consciousness
DOI: 10.1038/nn1840
Gambling may provide a new window onto consciousness, according to a paper in the February issue of Nature Neuroscience. Assessing whether someone is aware of something is a notoriously difficult problem that is fundamental to investigating the basis of consciousness. This paper offers a new solution to this classic experimental dilemma by showing that people place bets only when they are aware of what they are betting on.
Alan Cowey and colleagues asked participants to do several tasks in which performance is believed to occur without awareness for some of the time. For instance, when asked to classify letter strings into groups according to whether they obey a grammatical rule, participants who have seen examples of the rule in practice can perform at high levels while being unable to explain the rule. Similarly, patients with damage to the visual cortex can often make rudimentary visual judgments about stimuli that they deny seeing.
Cowey and colleagues asked people to place a bet on whether or not their response was correct when they completed a trial of each of these tasks. They found that betting and task performance do not go hand in hand. Rather, participants place high bets on trials only when they are aware of the basis of their judgment – for example, when they recognize the rule governing their choices, or they consciously perceive the stimuli they are localizing. This method of measuring awareness is a significant advance over previous techniques because bets are placed without introspection about awareness, which can change what people consciously know.
Author contact:
Navindra Persaud (University of Oxford, UK)
Tel: +44 7767 054 820; E-mail: [email protected]
Additional contact for comment on the paper:
Christof Koch (California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 626 395 6855; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Neuroscience to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[23] Inducing motor skill improvements with a declarative task
DOI: 10.1038/nn1836
[24] VAB-8, UNC-73 and MIG-2 regulate axon polarity and cell migration functions of UNC-40 in C. elegans
DOI: 10.1038/nn1835
[25] Switching from automatic to controlled action by monkey medial frontal cortex
DOI: 10.1038/nn1830
[26] Retrograde modulation of presynaptic release probability through signaling mediated by PSD-95–neuroligin
DOI: 10.1038/nn1837
[27] C. elegans VAB-8 and UNC-73 regulate the SAX-3 receptor to direct cell and growth-cone migrations
DOI: 10.1038/nn1834
**************NATURE STRUCTURAL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY************************
(http://www.nature.com/natstructmolbiol)
[28] A tunnel that transfers lipids
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1197
Scientists have determined the structure of CETP – the protein that transfers lipids in the blood from ‘good’ to ‘bad’ cholesterol – according to a study in the February issue of Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. There are several kinds of lipoproteins, including LDL – low-density lipoprotein, the so-called ‘bad’ cholesterol – and HDL – high-density lipoprotein, the so-called ‘good’ cholesterol. CETP is known to transfer lipids from HDL to LDL,
Using x-ray crystallography, Xiayang Qiu and colleagues determine that CETP has a boomerang-like shape, with a tunnel running through it. The curvature may be important for docking lipoproteins, which have a complementary shape. The tunnel was found filled with lipids, and when researchers blocked it, the transfer of lipids was affected, showing that the tunnel indeed functions as a passageway for lipids.
Because CETP transfers lipids from ‘good’ to ‘bad' cholesterol, drugs that interfere with this activity could be used to treat patients with cardiovascular disease.
Author contact:
Xiayang Qiu (Pfizer Inc, Groton, CT, USA)
Tel: +1 860 715 6718; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Structural & Molecular Biology to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[29] Structural analysis of a prototypical ATPase from the type III secretion system
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1196
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Items from other Nature journals to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nchembio)
[30] Small-molecule regulation of zebrafish gene expression
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio858
Nature MEDICINE (http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine)
[31] Angiotensin II type 1 receptor blockade attenuates TGF-beta–induced failure of muscle regeneration in multiple myopathic states
DOI: 10.1038/nm1536
[32] Dickkopf-1 is a master regulator of joint remodeling
DOI: 10.1038/nm1538
Nature BIOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology)
[33] Controlled light-exposure microscopy reduces photobleaching and phototoxicity in fluorescence live-cell imaging
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1278
[34] Therapeutic targeting of a stem cell niche
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1281
NATURE GENETICS (http://www.nature.com/naturegenetics)
[35] PTEN-deficient intestinal stem cells initiate intestinal polyposis
DOI: 10.1038/ng1928
[36] Quantitative trait transcripts for nicotine resistance in Drosophila melanogaster
DOI: 10.1038/ng1944
[37] Chromosome-wide nucleosome replacement and H3.3 incorporation during mammalian meiotic sex chromosome inactivation
DOI: 10.1038/ng1949
[38] Telomere length regulates the epigenetic status of mammalian telomeres and subtelomeres
DOI: 10.1038/ng1952
Nature IMMUNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natureimmunology)
[39] Secretory cytotoxic granule maturation and exocytosis require the effector protein hMunc13-4
DOI: 10.1038/ni1431
NATURE CELL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturecellbiology)
[40] The energy sensing LKB1–AMPK pathway regulates p27kip1 phosphorylation mediating the decision to enter autophagy or apoptosis
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1537
[41] Control of local actin assembly by membrane fusion-dependent compartment mixing
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1527
[42] Myosin X regulates netrin receptors and functions in axonal path-finding
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1535
NATURE METHODS (http://www.nature.com/nmeth)
[43] Single-cell quantification of molecules and rates using open source microscope based cytometry
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth1008
******************************************************************************
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.
AUSTRIA
Vienna: 32
CANADA:
Toronto: 3, 24, 40
Vancouver: 19, 29
CHINA
Shanghai: 42
FRANCE
Illkirch: 1
Paris: 39
Toulouse: 20
GERMANY
Berlin: 9, 20
Bremen: 11
Duisburg: 11
Erlangen: 32
Münster: 5
Tubingen: 33
Würzburg: 11
ISRAEL
Jerusalem: 12
JAPAN
Ibaraki : 15
Kawaguchi: 15, 17, 27
Kyoto: 2
Nagoya: 17
Saitama: 26
Shizuoka: 2
Tokyo: 15, 17
Yokohama: 17, 27
NETHERLANDS
Amsterdam: 9, 33
Maastricht: 32
Nijmegen : 37
PORTUGAL
Aveiro: 1
SPAIN
Madrid: 38
SWITZERLAND
Basel: 37
Zurich: 37
TAIWAN
Hsinchu: 36
UNITED KINGDOM
Oxford: 1, 9, 22
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Alabama
Birmingham: 42
California
Berkeley: 14, 27, 43
Emeryville: 27
La Jolla: 2, 5
Los Angeles: 35
Pasadena: 2
San Diego: 5
Stanford: 30
Thousand Oaks: 32
Colorado
Boulder: 4
Connecticut
Groton: 28
District of Columbia
Washington: 11
Florida
Miami: 40
Georgia
Augusta: 42
Illinois
Chicago: 35
Urbana: 13
Indiana
West Lafayette: 35
Kansas
Kansas City: 35
Maryland
Baltimore: 31
Bethesda: 25
Massachusetts
Boston: 8, 23, 34
Cambridge: 8, 18, 26, 34
Waltham: 41
Michigan
Ann Arbor: 4
Missouri
Kansas City: 35
New Jersey
New Brunswick: 31
Piscataway: 10
New York
Ithaca: 16
New York: 26
Rochester: 34
Yorktown Heights: 14
North Carolina
Durham: 18, 21
Raleigh: 36
Texas
Houston: 7, 40
Smithville: 40
Washington
Seattle: 6
Wisconsin
Madison: 41
PRESS CONTACTS…
For media inquiries relating to embargo policy for all the Nature Research Journals:
Katherine Anderson (Nature London)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4502; E-mail: [email protected]
Ruth Francis (Senior Press Officer, Nature, London)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4562; 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)
Peter Hare
Tel: +1 212 726 9284; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Cell Biology (London)
Bernd Pulverer
Tel: +44 20 7843 4892; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Chemical Biology (Boston)
Andrea Garvey
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 Methods (New York)
Allison Doerr
Tel: +1 212 726 9393; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Nanotechnology (London)
Peter Rodgers
Tel: +44 20 7014 4019; Email: [email protected]
Nature Neuroscience (New York)
Sandra Aamodt (based in California)
Tel: +1 530 795 3256; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Physics (London)
Alison Wright
Tel: +44 20 7843 4555; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology (New York)
Michelle Montoya
Tel: +1 212 726 9326; E-mail: [email protected]
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