NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
For papers that will be published online on 18 March 2007. This press release is copyrighted to the Nature journals mentioned below.
This press release contains:
• Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Understanding cancer spread – Nature
Spawn of hag – Nature
Reversing the magnetic vortex core – Nature Materials
• 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.
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] Understanding cancer spread
DOI: 10.1038/nature05656
A signalling pathway that enhances the formation of metastases in a mouse model of prostate cancer has been identified. The discovery, reported online in this week’s Nature, should aid our understanding of how cancer spreads.
Michael Karin and colleagues discovered that the pathway is activated by a protein that is likely to be expressed by tumour inflammatory cells. The protein is a ligand and when it binds to its receptor, called receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B (RANK), it triggers a chain reaction. A key kinase in the nuclear factor kappa-B signalling pathway is activated to function in the cell’s nucleus and, this in turn, represses the transcription of a known metastasis suppressor called Maspin. The end result, in their mouse model at least, is that prostate cancer cells spread.
The results suggest that RANK may be a general promoter of metastasis. Importantly, its activating ligand is vastly upregulated in the late stages of prostate cancer, which may explain why metastasis is so common at that stage in the disease.
Author contact:
Michael Karin (University of California, La Jolla, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 858 534 1361; E-mail: [email protected]
[2] Spawn of hag
DOI: 10.1038/nature05633
A landmark study of hagfish embryology is offering new insights into vertebrate evolution. Embryos of the primitive creature express genetic markers indicative of neural crest development, a Nature study reveals. This suggests that this key vertebrate feature was already present in the common ancestor of hagfish, lampreys and gnathostomes.
Despite being classed as vertebrates, hagfish lack vertebrae, so studies into their development should boost our understanding of vertebrate origins. But it’s hard to obtain viable embryos, so such studies are rare. In fact, these are the first hagfish embryos studied since 1930.
Shigeru Kuratani and co-workers kept large numbers of the shallow-water hagfish Eptatretus burgeri in a cool aquarium and managed to collect 7 developing embryos from 92 eggs. The eggs were at four different stages of development, and the team identified putative neural crest cells expressing genes such as SoxEa and Sox9. These genes are known to be involved in vertebrate development, so the findings suggest that the hagfish neural crest is specified by evolutionarily conserved mechanisms.
Author contact:
Shigeru Kuratani (Center for Developmental Biology, RIKEN, Kobe, Japan)
Tel: +81 78 306 3064; E-mail: [email protected]
*********************** NATURE MATERIALS *******************
(http://www.nature.com/naturematerials)
[3] Reversing the magnetic vortex core
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1867
The magnetization direction in a submicrometre magnetic disk can be controlled by an electrical current, according to a report in the April issue of Nature Materials. This work demonstrates the possibility of using the magnetization direction to store data in all-electrically controlled magnetic memory devices.
In a magnetic disk, the magnetization curls around the edges forming a so-called magnetic vortex. However, in the centre of the vortex — the core — the magnetization is forced to point either up or down with respect to the disk plane. Teruo Ono and colleagues have found that an alternating electric current can destabilize the core and turn it upside down, because of the interaction of the electron spin with the magnetic vortex. The up or down directions of the magnetization can be seen as the 1 and 0 states of a binary data storage bit.
Author contact:
Teruo Ono (Kyoto University, Japan)
Tel: +81 774 38 3103; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Materials to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[4] Temperature-mediated growth of single-walled carbon-nanotube intramolecular junctions
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1865
[5] Model polymer nanocomposites provide an understanding of confinement effects in real nanocomposites
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1870
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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)
[6] Genomics-driven discovery of PKS-NRPS hybrid metabolites from Aspergillus nidulans
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio869
Nature PHYSICS (http://www.nature.com/naturephysics)
[7] Low-temperature vortex liquid in La2−xSrxCuO4
DOI: 10.1038/nphys563
[8] Crosslinked actin networks show liquid crystal elastomer behaviour, including soft-mode elasticity
DOI: 10.1038/nphys567
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nnano)
[9] Native protein nanolithography that can write, read and erase
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2007.63
[10] Observation of extremely long spin relaxation times in an organic nanowire spin valve
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2007.64
Nature MEDICINE (http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine)
[11] CD8+ T-cell responses to adeno-associated virus capsid in humans
DOI: 10.1038/nm1549
Nature BIOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology)
[12] Complete genome sequence of the erythromycin-producing bacterium Saccharopolyspora erythraea NRRL2338
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1297
NATURE GENETICS (http://www.nature.com/naturegenetics)
[13] The heterochronic maize mutant Corngrass1 results from overexpression of a tandem microRNA
DOI: 10.1038/ng2001
[14] SMAD4-deficient intestinal tumors recruit CCR1+ myeloid cells that promote invasion
DOI: 10.1038/ng1997
[15] Distributions of epistasis in microbes fit predictions from a fitness landscape model
DOI: 10.1038/ng1998
[16] Life extension through neurofibromin mitochondrial regulation and antioxidant therapy for neurofibromatosis-1 in Drosophila melanogaster
DOI: 10.1038/ng2004
Nature NEUROSCIENCE (http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience)
[17] Rho mediates calcium-dependent activation of p38alpha and subsequent excitotoxic cell death
DOI: 10.1038/nn1869
[18] Premotor cortex modulates somatosensory cortex during voluntary movements without proprioceptive feedback
DOI: 10.1038/nn1873
[19] Neural mechanisms for timing visual events are spatially selective in real-world coordinates
DOI: 10.1038/nn1874
[20] Dendritic development and plasticity of adult-born neurons in the mouse olfactory bulb
DOI: 10.1038/nn1875
[21] Functional dissection of circuitry in a neural integrator
DOI: 10.1038/nn1877
NATURE CELL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturecellbiology)
[22] The ubiquitin-selective chaperone CDC-48/p97 links myosin assembly to human myopathy
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1554
[23] Oestrogen signalling inhibits invasive phenotype by repressing RelB and its target BCL2
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1559
[24] Alpha4 Integrins are Type I cAMP-dependent protein kinase-anchoring proteins
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1561
[25] C-terminal modifications regulate MDM2 dissociation and nuclear export of p53
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1562
[26] R-type Ca2+-channel-evoked CICR regulates glucose-induced somatostatin secretion
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1563
Nature STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natstructmolbiol)
[27] A toxic monomeric conformer of the polyglutamine protein
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1215
[28] Spontaneous reverse movement of mRNA-bound tRNA through the ribosome
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1221
NATURE METHODS (http://www.nature.com/nmeth)
[29] Targeting neural circuitry in zebrafish using GAL4 enhancer trapping
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth1033
[30] Subunit counting in membrane-bound proteins
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth1024
[31] Multiplexed protein detection by proximity ligation for cancer biomarker validation
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth1020
**************************************************************
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.
AUSTRALIA
Camperdown: 11
Sydney: 11
CHINA
Beijing: 4
DENMARK
Copenhagen: 18
Hvidovre: 18
FINLAND
Kuopio: 17
Turku: 17
FRANCE
Montpellier: 15, 23
Orsay: 3
Paris: 25
GERMANY
Cologne: 26
Frankfurt: 9
Goettingen: 28
Hamburg: 22
Jena: 6
Martinsried: 9
Munich: 22
Witten: 28
ISRAEL
Jerusalem: 20
ITALY
Florence: 19
Milan: 19, 22
Pisa: 19
JAPAN
Chofu: 3
Fukui : 27
Kanazawa: 14
Kobe: 2
Kyoto: 14
Mie: 27
Osaka: 14, 27
Shizuoka: 29
Tokyo: 7
Toyonaka: 3
Uji: 3
RUSSIA
Gatchina: 28
SPAIN
Valencia: 15
SWEDEN
Malmo: 26
Molndal: 26
Stockholm: 26
SWITZERLAND
Lausanne: 15
UNITED KINGDOM
Cambridge: 12
Didcot: 26
Glasgow: 25
Oxford: 26
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
California
Alameda: 11
Albany: 13
Berkeley: 11, 30
Irvine: 16
La Jolla: 1, 24
San Diego: 1
San Francisco: 29
Stanford: 31
Colorado
Denver: 16
Connecticut
New Haven: 8
Illinois
Evanston: 5
Massachusetts
Boston: 21, 23
Wellesley: 21
New Jersey
Princeton: 7, 21
New Mexico
Los Alamos: 4
New York
New York: 21
Ohio
Cincinnati: 10
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia: 8, 11
Pittsburgh: 11
Texas
Houston: 1
Virginia
Richmond: 10
Washington
Seattle: 24
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 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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