NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
For papers that will be published online on 17 June 2007
This press release is copyrighted to the Nature journals mentioned below.
This press release contains:
· Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Molecular biology: RNA from blood to brain – Nature
Ageing: New neurodegenerative mouse mutant – Nature
Optimizing calcium detection – Nature Chemical Biology
International survey of human embryonic stem cell lines – Nature Biotechnology
Genetic engineering boosts biofuel yield from alfalfa – Nature Biotechnology
Genome sequences of Leishmania parasites – Nature Genetics
Empathy: A touching experience – Nature Neuroscience
Dialling down ‘natural’ antibody production – Nature Immunology
Fish tumours visualized by ultrasound – Nature Methods
· 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] Molecular biology: RNA from blood to brain
DOI: 10.1038/nature05901
It’s now possible to perform gene therapy on the brain via intravenous injection, in mice at least. The finding, reported online in this week’s Nature, opens a new potential line of noninvasive treatment for neuronal disease.
Getting any drug into the brain can be a problem because the blood–brain barrier acts as a barricade keeping systemic treatments out. Manjunath N. Swamy and colleagues show that when small fragments of RNA attached to a piece of viral protein are injected into the bloodstream of mice infected with a fatal form of encephalitis, the RNA–protein complex travels to the brain. The protein part binds neuronal cells, delivering the RNA part, which becomes internalised and can silence key genes through a process called RNA interference. The result — about 80% of treated animals survived, whilst all of the non-treated animals died.
Although the method needs tweaking to improve efficiency, the technique may offer a useful way of delivering nucleic acids and small-molecule drugs into the brain.
Author contact:
Manjunath N. Swamy (CBR Institute for Biomedical Research, Boston, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 278 3240; E-mail: [email protected]
[2] Ageing: New neurodegenerative mouse mutant
DOI: 10.1038/nature05876
A new mouse model of neurodegeneration is described online in this week’s Nature. The mutation responsible is also seen in patients with a particular type of nerve disorder, making it a potentially useful research tool.
Miriam H. Meisler and colleagues studied the ‘pale tremor’ mouse, which carries a mutation in a gene that encodes a particular lipid. The mice show altered levels of this lipid, abnormal pigmentation, early neurodegeneration and big holes in affected cells.
The team identified a similar mutation in four unrelated patients with a form of Charcot–Marie–Tooth disorder — an incurable, inherited nerve disorder in which patients lose muscle tissue and touch sensation. Alongside the mouse studies, these findings suggest that mutations that impair the formation of key phospholipids may contribute to hereditary sensory and motor neuropathies.
Author contact:
Miriam H. Meisler (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA)
Tel: +1 734 763 5546; E-mail: [email protected]
*************************************NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY**********************************
(http://www.nature.com/nchembio)
[3] Optimizing calcium detection
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.2007.4
Scientists have developed a new small molecule, Calcium Green FlAsH, that can report on the location of calcium in cells, providing important information on the activation of calcium channels in the cell membrane, suggests a paper to be published online this week in Nature Chemical Biology.
The flow of calcium in and out of cells through calcium channels is highly controlled, as calcium serves as an important signal for a variety of biological processes. As a result, scientists have been trying to learn more about the behaviour of these channels by attaching fluorescent labels to them. However, the labels designed so far either detect calcium too quickly or too slowly, or they alter the behaviour of the channels.
Roger Tsien and colleagues report Calcium Green FlAsH – a molecule that combines the fluorescent reporting of Calcium Green with the ability to bind to a modified channel through an arsenic binding motif. Using this molecule, the authors were able to observe calcium flowing into the cell. In addition, by comparing the signal generated by this label with that from a related label, they made the surprising discovery that only a small percentage of the channels in the cell membrane open in response to a physical stimulus. This study raises new questions about the activity of calcium channels, and more importantly, it offers a new molecule that can help to answer those questions.
Author contact:
Roger Tsien (University of California, San Diego, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 858 534 4891; Email: [email protected]
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(http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology)
[4] International survey of human embryonic stem cell lines
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1318
The first comparative study of a large number of human embryonic stem (hES) cell lines is reported online this week in Nature Biotechnology. Conducted by the International Stem Cell Initiative (ISCI), the study examines 59 hES cell lines from 17 laboratories in the United States, Europe, Israel, Japan and Australia. Although the 59 lines were derived using different methods from embryos with diverse genotypes, they proved very similar with regard to the expression of genes and proteins commonly used to identify hES cells.
Many laboratories around the world work with hES cell lines using various experimental techniques, and scientists do not understand the extent of the similarities and differences among the lines. As this technology moves closer to clinical application, it will be important to develop more standardized and reproducible methods for deriving, culturing and characterizing hES cells. The ISCI is seeking to address this challenge through an international collaboration of unprecedented scale. The present report covers the first phase of their ongoing effort.
Author contact:
Peter Andrews (University of Sheffield, UK)
Tel: +44 114 222 4173; E-mail: [email protected]
Additional contact for comment on paper:
George Daley (Children's Hospital Boston, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 919 2013; E-mail: [email protected]
[5] Genetic engineering boosts biofuel yield from alfalfa
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1316
Transgenic alfalfa containing less lignin than conventional alfalfa is a better crop for ethanol production, according to a report published online this week in Nature Biotechnology. The study shows that alfalfa engineered to be defective in biosynthesis of lignin – the substance that strengthens plant stems and woody tissue – is more susceptible to digestion by the enzymes used to convert plant material into sugars from which bioethanol is produced.
One problem that researchers face in extending bioethanol production is the difficulty of solubilizing the fermentable sugars in crops such as poplar and switchgrass. As most of the plant material available for bioenergy contains lignin, it must first be treated with acid at high temperatures to expose the plant cell walls before their digestion into sugars that are subsequently fermented into bioethanol.
Fang Chen and Richard Dixon show that various transgenic lines of the forage legume alfalfa can be engineered with antisense molecules. These molecules interfere with the RNAs that encode certain key enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of lignin and produce much more sugar for fermentation into bioethanol. The advance opens the way to exploit biofuel feedstock from plants not suitable for food production, or material like corn stover that might otherwise be discarded.
As some of the transgenic alfalfa stems yield almost double the amount of sugar released from conventional alfalfa, the approach promises to reduce the costs and increase the yield of bioethanol production from alfalfa as well as reduce the need for environmentally damaging acid in the biofuel refining process.
Author contacts:
Fang Chen (Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Ardmore, OK, USA)
Tel: +1 580 224 6123; E-mail: [email protected]
Richard Dixon (Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Ardmore, OK, USA)
Tel: +1 580 224 6601; E-mail: [email protected]
***********************************************NATURE GENETICS **************************************
(http://www.nature.com/naturegenetics)
[6] Genome sequences of Leishmania parasites
DOI: 10.1038/ng2053
A comparison of the sequenced genomes of three species of Leishmania – the parasite that causes leishmaniasis – reveals a surprising degree of similarity according to a study to be published online this week in Nature Genetics. Leishmaniasis is a significant global health problem, with more than 2 million new cases reported annually, 500,000 of which are life threatening. It is the second largest parasitic killer after malaria, with few effective treatments and no available vaccine.
At least 20 Leishmania species infect humans. Although leishmaniasis occurs in three forms—visceral (affecting the vital organs), cutaneous, and mucocutaneous (causing skin ulcers and tissue damage)—the factors that determine its clinical presentation are unknown. Christopher Peacock and colleagues sequenced the genomes of Leishmania infantum and Leishmania braziliensis and compared them to the previously published sequence of Leishmania major. As each species causes a different form of the disease, the authors hoped to discover genetic determinants that would be disease-specific.
They found that there are only 200 or so genes that are differentially distributed among the three species, suggesting either that a small number of species-specific genes have a major influence on the type of disease, or that the parasite genome as a whole has an unexpectedly limited role in determining clinical presentation. In either case, the similarities of the three genomes suggest that there will be a large number of vaccine candidates that could be used to generate simultaneous immunity against multiple species of Leishmania.
Author contact:
Christopher Peacock (Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK)
Tel: +44 1223 494 851; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Genetics to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[7] A new multipoint method for genome-wide association studies by imputation of genotypes
DOI: 10.1038/ng2088
[8] Tissue-specific and reversible RNA interference in transgenic mice
DOI: 10.1038/ng2045
[9] Toward simpler and faster genome-wide mutagenesis in mice
DOI: 10.1038/ng2060
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(http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience)
[10] Empathy: A touching experience
DOI: 10.1038/nn1926
People with mirror-touch synaesthesia, who experience the sensation of being touched themselves when they see someone else being touched, have an unusually strong ability to empathize with others, reports a study in the July issue of Nature Neuroscience. The new finding suggests that empathy may arise from a process of simulation.
Mirror-touch synaesthesia has been previously described in a single person. In the new paper, Michael Banissy and Jamie Ward located ten others with the same condition. The authors showed that these people were slower and made more errors in reporting the location of a touch on their own face or hand if they simultaneously watched someone else being touched in an incompatible location than if the other person was touched in the same place. These people also scored higher than people without synaesthesia on the emotional reactivity subscale of the Empathy Quotient questionnaire. These results support the idea that people learn to empathize by putting themselves in other people’s shoes.
Author contact:
Michael Banissy (University College London, UK)
Tel: +44 207 679 5302; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Neuroscience to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[11] From synapse to behavior: rapid modulation of defined neuronal populations through engineered GABAA receptors
DOI: 10.1038/nn1927
*******************************************NATURE IMMUNOLOGY ************************************
(http://www.nature.com/natureimmunology)
[12] Dialling down ‘natural’ antibody production
DOI:10.1038/ni1480
Researchers have identified a molecule that reduces production of antibodies by a specialized set of immune cells, reports a paper online this week in Nature Immunology.
Lars Nitschke and colleagues discovered Siglec-G (sialic acid binding immunoglobulin-like lectin) is highly expressed in a subset of antibody-producing cells called B1 B cells. These cells arise early in life and produce weak antibodies, often called ‘natural’ antibodies that can recognize many different antigens including ‘self-tissues’. Siglec-G acts to desensitize these B1 cells by damping down signalling pathways within these cells when triggered by antigen contact. Mice lacking Siglec-G have higher numbers of B1 cells and substantially more ‘natural’ antibodies in their blood, including autoantibodies known as rheumatoid factors. Thus, Siglec-G acts as a brake to reduce the potential for excessive antibody production.
The findings point to a possible risk factor for developing autoimmunity disease should mutations arise in the gene encoding Siglec-G that alter its function.
Author contact:
Lars Nitschke (University of Erlangen, Germany)
Tel: +49 9131 85 28453; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Immunology to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[13] Ligand-induced conformational changes allosterically activate Toll-like receptor 9
DOI:10.1038/ni1479
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[14] Fish tumours visualized by ultrasound
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth1059
The first use of high resolution ultrasound imaging to monitor tumours in zebrafish is published online this week in Nature Methods.
In recent years, the zebrafish has come to be recognized as a useful model for studying a number of human diseases, including cancer. The fish develop cancers in almost all tissue types, and are sensitive to several human carcinogens. The tumours that form are thought to be similar to those seen in humans. In early developmental stages the fish are transparent, making it possible to visualize internal tissues by microsocopy. However, in the opaque adult, tumours have to be examined by histology, which requires sectioning of the fish.
Zon and colleagues now show that ultrasound can be used to non-invasively identify and monitor tumours in adult zebrafish. This is the first high-resolution ultrasound imaging in fish – the method is routinely used to monitor tumours in mice and humans. The authors show that the fish were able to withstand repeated imaging over the course of several weeks. This gave authors the opportunity to monitor the effect of therapeutics on tumour growth and they could also perform ultrasound-guided needle aspiration of the tumours, which in the future could greatly facilitate the study of genetic changes that accumulate in cancers over time in a simple vertebrate model.
Author contact:
Leonard Zon (Children's Hospital Boston, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 355 7707; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Methods to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[15] Bright monomeric red fluorescent protein with an extended fluorescence lifetime
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth1062
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Items from other Nature journals to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
Nature PHYSICS (http://www.nature.com/naturephysics)
[16] Imaging single atoms in a three-dimensional array
DOI: 10.1038/nphys645
[17] Violation of the London law and Onsager–Feynman quantization in multicomponent superconductors
DOI: 10.1038/nphys646
NATURE MATERIALS (http://www.nature.com/naturematerials)
[18] Ice nanoclusters at hydrophobic metal surfaces
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1940
Nature MEDICINE (http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine)
[20] Engineering functional two- and three-dimensional liver systems in vivo using hepatic tissue sheets
DOI: 10.1038/nm1576
[21] Identification of a key pathway required for the sterile inflammatory response triggered by dying cells
DOI: 10.1038/nm1603
NATURE CELL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturecellbiology)
[22] Tension applied through the Dam1 complex promotes microtubule elongation providing a direct mechanism for length control in mitosis
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1609
[23] Filamin-A regulates actin-dependent clustering of HIV receptors
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1610
Nature STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natstructmolbiol)
[24] The poly(A)-dependent transcriptional pause is mediated by CPSF acting on the body of the polymerase
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1253
[25] A cell type-restricted mRNA surveillance pathway triggered by ribosome extension into the 3’ untranslated region
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1256
[26] Alternative splicing regulation by interaction of phosphatase PP2Cgamma with nucleic acid-binding protein YB-1
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1257
[27] A TAF4-homology domain from the corepressor ETO is a docking platform for positive and negative regulators of transcription
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1258
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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
Clayton: 4
AUSTRIA
Vienna: 11
BRAZIL
Sao Paulo: 6
CANADA:
Toronto: 4
CZECH REPUBLIC
Brno: 4
FINLAND
Helsinki: 4, 11
FRANCE
Bordeaux : 6
Paris: 4, 26
GERMANY
Berlin: 18
Erlangen: 12
Hannover: 18
Heidelberg: 11
Jena: 4
Wurzburg: 12
ISRAEL
Haifa: 4
Jerusalem: 4
ITALY
Padua: 23
JAPAN
Kyoto: 4, 19, 20
Osaka: 20, 21
Nara: 20
Tokyo: 20, 27
KOREA
Seoul: 1
NETHERLANDS
Amsterdam: 15
Utrecht: 4
NORWAY
Trondheim: 13
RUSSIA
Moscow: 15
SINGAPORE
Singapore: 4
SPAIN
Madrid: 23
Valencia: 4
SWEDEN
Gothenburg: 4
Stockholm: 4, 17
Lund: 4
TAIWAN
Taipei: 21
UNITED KINGDOM
Aberdeen: 11
Belfast: 13
Glasgow: 6
Handforth: 4
Hinxton: 6
Leeds: 4
London: 4, 10, 11, 18
Newcastle: 4
Oxford: 7, 11
Sheffield: 4
South Mimms: 4
York: 6
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
California
La Jolla: 3
Los Angeles: 4, 24
Palo Alto: 4
Stanford: 3
Georgia
Athens: 4
Indiana
Lafayette: 4
Iowa
Iowa City: 1
Kansas
Kansas City: 4
Maine
Bar Harbor: 4
Maryland
Bethesda: 4
Frederick: 23
Massachusetts
Andover: 13
Boston: 1, 13, 14
Worcester: 13, 21
Michigan
Detroit: 2
Ann Arbor: 2
Missouri
St Louis: 4
New York
Cold Spring Harbor: 8, 26
Ithaca: 17
New York: 8, 27
North Carolina
Carey: 26
Oklahoma
Ardmore: 5
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia: 25
University Park: 16
Texas
Houston: 2
Utah
Salt Lake City: 8
Virginia
Ashburn: 3
Washington
Seattle: 22
Wisconsin
Madison: 4
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 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]
About Nature Publishing Group
Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd, dedicated to serving the academic, professional scientific and medical communities. NPG's flagship title, Nature, 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 also provides news content through [email protected]. Scientific career information and free job postings are offered on Naturejobs.
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