NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
For papers that will be published online on 29 July 2007
This press release is copyrighted to the Nature journals mentioned below.
This press release contains:
· Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Genetics: Mouse 'HapMap' created – Nature
Genetic risk factor for multiple sclerosis – Nature Genetics
Graphene senses single molecules – Nature Materials
A new twist on the AFM – Nature Nanotechnology
To mend a broken heart – Nature Medicine
A genetic variant enhances emotional memory – Nature Neuroscience
Transporting immune cargo – Nature Immunology
· 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] Genetics: Mouse 'HapMap' created
DOI: 10.1038/nature06067
A new, freely available map of genetic variation in the laboratory mouse genome is likely to provide a useful genomic resource for researchers as well as providing insights into the evolutionary history of the murine species.
Kelly Frazer and colleagues resequenced the genomes of four wild-derived and eleven classical inbred mouse strains to create a comprehensive resource of DNA variation. They identified 8.27 million single base-pair differences known as single nucleotide polymorphisms.
The classical inbred mouse strains used in the laboratory today are a melange of at least four different subspecies, they report in this week's Nature. This includes a 68%, 10%, 6% and 3% genetic contribution from Mus musculus domesticus, M. m. molossinus, M. m. musculus and M. m. castaneus, respectively.
Author contact:
Kelly Frazer (Perlegen Sciences, Mountain View, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 650 625 4504; E-mail: [email protected]
A related paper is being published online in Nature Genetics at the same time:
[2] On the subspecific origin of the laboratory mouse
DOI: 10.1038/ng2087
***********************************************NATURE GENETICS **************************************
(http://www.nature.com/naturegenetics)
[3] & [4] Genetic risk factor for multiple sclerosis
DOI: 10.1038/ng2103
DOI: 10.1038/ng2106
A variant in a gene encoding a key regulator of the immune system increases the risk of multiple sclerosis, report two papers to be published online this week in Nature Genetics. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic and debilitating autoimmune disease in which neurons of the central nervous system become demyelinated, resulting in progressive neurodegeneration.
Susceptibility to multiple sclerosis is known to be strongly influenced by genetic factors, but little progress has been made in identifying them. Jonathan Haines and colleagues examined variants in three genes suspected to have a role in the disease, and found that variants in one of these genes, IL7R, were consistently more common in individuals with multiple sclerosis than in healthy control subjects. Their results were confirmed in four independent studies involving individuals of European descent from the United States, the United Kingdom and Belgium. Jan Hillert and colleagues, studying a large collection of individuals from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, observed a similar association between variants in IL7R and multiple sclerosis risk.
IL7R is present on the surface of some cells and can also be found in the blood serum. The variant thought to be responsible for conferring increased disease risk results in lower levels of the surface-bound form of IL7R and higher levels of the serum form, report Haines and colleagues. This change in the relative levels of the two forms of IL7R may alter the activity of the immune system, rendering individuals who carry the risk variant more susceptible to developing the disease.
In a related paper, to be published at the same time in the New England Journal of Medicine, David Hafler and colleagues report results of a genome-wide association scan and follow-up replication study confirming the association between IL7R and multiple sclerosis risk in a large collection of samples from the US and UK.
Author contacts:
Jonathan Haines (Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA) Author paper [3]
Tel: +1 615 343 5851; E-mail: [email protected]
Jan Hillert (Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden) Author paper [4]
Tel: +46 85 858 2056; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Genetics to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[5] Mutations in the gene encoding the 3’-5’ DNA exonuclease TREX1 are associated with systemic lupus erythematosus
DOI: 10.1038/ng2091
[6] C-terminal truncations in human 3’-5’ DNA exonuclease TREX1 cause autosomal dominant retinal vasculopathy with cerebral leukodystrophy
DOI: 10.1038/ng2082
********************************************* NATURE MATERIALS **************************************
(http://www.nature.com/naturematerials)
[7] Graphene senses single molecules
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1967
A single graphene sheet can be used to detect gas with single-molecule resolution, according to a report online this week in Nature Materials.
Kostya Novoselov and colleagues have demonstrated that the resistance of a graphene flake placed in a chamber of dilute nitrogen dioxide gas at room temperature changes in well-defined steps. Calculations show that each step corresponds to absorption (for increasing conductivity) or desorption (for decreasing conductivity) of single gas molecules. This demonstrates that graphene can be used as a sensor with the ultimate resolution, that is, the quantum — or smallest unit — of the measured physical entity.
Author contacts:
Kostya Novoselov (University of Manchester, UK)
Tel: +44 161 275 4120; E-mail: [email protected]
Andre Geim (University of Manchester, UK)
Tel: +44 161 275 41 20; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Materials to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[8] Six-fold-coordinated phosphorus by oxygen in AlPO4 quartz homeotype under high pressure
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1966
[9] Transition-metal dimers and physical limits on magnetic anisotropy
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1968
**************************************NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY***********************************
[10] A new twist on the AFM (N&V)
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2007.226
An atomic force microscope (AFM) with a newly designed tip can quickly image the mechanical properties of a material’s surface by measuring twisting vibrations, reports an article online in Nature Nanotechnology this week.
The AFM is able to take pictures of surfaces with sufficient detail to see the bumps and ridges associated with molecules and even single atoms, but it used to take much longer to take pictures of mechanical properties. In an AFM, a vibrating cantilever with a sharp tip is held close to the surface of a material. The tip experiences a rapidly varying force every time it touches the surface, and this force causes additional vibrations in the cantilever. In principle, the force on the tip — which depends on the mechanical properties of the sample — can be ‘reconstructed’ from these additional vibrations. The problem is that most of the vibrations are too weak to be measured so the force cannot be determined accurately.
In the tip design from Ozgur Sahin and Calvin Quate, the sharp AFM tip is placed to the side of the cantilever, rather than at the centre as is usual. As the tip hits the surface, the cantilever experiences a torque that causes twisting-like vibrations that can be easily measured over a broad range of frequencies with a good signal-to-noise ratio. Writing in an accompanying News and Views article, Robert Stark suggests that this sensitive-touch probe could be used as an atomic-scale ‘finger’.
Author contacts:
Ozgur Sahin (Rowland Institute at Harvard, USA)
Tel: +1 617 497 4704; E-mail: [email protected]
Robert Stark (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munich, Germany) N&V author
E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Nanotechnology to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[11] Enhanced fluorescence emission from quantum dots on a photonic crystal surface
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2007.216
[12] Evaporation and deposition of alkyl-capped silicon nanocrystals in ultrahigh vacuum
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2007.224
[13] An autonomous polymerization motor powered by DNA hybridization
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2007.225
[14] Immunological properties of engineered nanomaterials
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2007.223
*******************************************Nature MEDICINE********************************************
(http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine)
[15] To mend a broken heart
DOI: 10.1038/nm1618
A study in the August issue of Nature Medicine reports that stem cells help the heart to regenerate after injury, but not during normal ageing.
The question of whether stem cells exist in the heart that can generate muscle cells during ageing or after injury has been highly controversial. To resolve this controversy, Richard Lee and colleagues have taken a novel genetic approach that overcomes many of the technological limitations of previous work. These authors used a genetically modified mouse in which mature heart cells (but not cardiac stem cells) are labelled with a fluorescent protein early in the life of the animal. The authors reasoned that, if stem cells replenish the heart, the percentage of labelled heart cells would decrease over time. But if they don’t, the percentage would remain unchanged. So, they looked for the fluorescent label as their mice got older or in response to injury.
The researchers found that, during normal ageing, the percentage of labelled heart cells did not change. By contrast, after heart attack and another form of heart injury, the percentage of labelled heart cells decreased. So, cardiac stem cells replenish heart cells in response to injury, but not as the heart ages. These findings should help sway those who have been sceptical of the existence of heart stem cells. The physiological basis for the intriguing difference between stem cell function in injured and ageing hearts remains to be explored.
Author contact:
Richard Lee (Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 768 8272; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Medicine to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[16] Endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition contributes to cardiac fibrosis
DOI: 10.1038/nm1613
[17] Magnetic resonance–guided, real-time targeted delivery and imaging of magnetocapsules immunoprotecting pancreatic islet cells
DOI: 10.1038/nm1581
*******************************************NATURE NEUROSCIENCE ***********************************
(http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience)
[18] A genetic variant enhances emotional memory
DOI: 10.1038/nn1945
A common variant of a neurotransmitter receptor gene is related to better emotional memory reports a paper in the September issue of Nature Neuroscience. People with this variant of the gene, which encodes the alpha2b adrenergic receptor, demonstrated better memory for images with emotional significance.
Dominique de Quervain and colleagues showed emotionally neutral, positive or negative pictures to healthy Swiss subjects. People with the gene variant, which occurs in 30% of Caucasians and 12% of African-Americans, were substantially more likely to remember both positive and negative pictures than people with other forms of the gene. Memory for emotionally neutral pictures did not differ, and both groups rated the emotional pictures as equally arousing. Among another population of Rwandan refugees, emotional memories from the war were more persistent in people with this genetic variant, although the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder was not related to genotype.
Author contact:
Dominique de Quervain (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
Tel: +41 1 384 26 01; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Neuroscience to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[19] Early experience impairs perceptual discrimination
DOI: 10.1038/nn1941
[20] Kinase activity is not required for alpha-CaMKII-dependent presynaptic plasticity at hippocampal CA3-CA1 synapses
DOI: 10.1038/nn1946
[21] Adaptive regulation of sparseness by feedforward inhibition
DOI: 10.1038/nn1947
*******************************************NATURE IMMUNOLOGY ************************************
(http://www.nature.com/natureimmunology)
[22] Transporting immune cargo
DOI: 10.1038/ni1494
The methods by which immune cells capture and transport proteins from foreign pathogens are revealed in an article online this week in Nature Immunology.
Immune cells need to ‘see’ foreign antigens before they can mount a counter-attack. Yet delivering such signals in a densely populated lymph node full of immune cells poses a challenge. Foreign antigen decorated with antibody or specialized blood proteins called ‘complement’ enter lymph nodes, which are the regional hubs in the immune system. Jason Cyster and colleagues show specialized immune cells (subcapsular macrophages) on the lymph node surface capture these complement-coated complexes and route them akin to a conveyer belt to antibody-producing B cells. B cells then race off with the antigen-containing packages to deliver these to antigen-specific cells that lie deeper within the node and become activated, thereby initiating the immune response against the foreign invader.
This intricate system of antigen capture and handoff ensures a fast and efficient handling of potential foreign pathogens to alert the immune system to the presence of invaders.
Author contact:
Jason Cyster (University of California San Francisco, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 415 502 6427; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Immunology to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[23] MALT1 directs B cell receptor–induced canonical nuclear factor-kappa B signaling selectively to the c-Rel subunit
DOI: 10.1038/ni1493
[24] Dynamic imaging of chemokine-dependent CD8+ T cell help for CD8+ T cell responses
DOI: 10.1038/ni1495
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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)
[25] Synthesis and evaluation of stimulatory properties of Sphingomonadaceae glycolipids
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.2007.19
Nature PHYSICS (http://www.nature.com/naturephysics)
[26] Symmetry of large physical systems implies independence of subsystems
DOI: 10.1038/nphys684
[27] Dynamics of cell orientation
DOI: 10.1038/nphys680
Nature BIOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology)
[28] Tumor refractoriness to anti-VEGF treatment is mediated by CD11b+Gr1+ myeloid cells
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1323
[29] Robust expansion of human hepatocytes in Fah-/-/Rag2-/-/Il2rg-/- mice
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1326
Nature STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natstructmolbiol)
[30] Rad54 dissociates homologous recombination intermediates by branch migration
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1268
[31] Structural basis for aminoglycoside inhibition of bacterial ribosome recycling
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1271
[32] CFTR regulatory region interacts with NBD1 predominantly via multiple transient helices
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1278
[33] Crystal structure of the ribosome recycling factor bound to the ribosome
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1282
***************************************************************************************************************
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: 6
Liverpool: 6
Parkville: 6
BELGIUM
Leuven: 3
CANADA:
London: 32
Toronto: 32
DENMARK
Copenhagen: 4
FINLAND
Helsinki: 4, 5
FRANCE
Gif-sur-Yvette: 8
Grenoble: 8
Paris: 8, 24
GERMANY
Berlin: 5
Dresden: 5
Hannover: 5
Konstanz: 18
Munich: 6, 23
Neuherberg: 23
IRAN
Shahrekord: 20
IRELAND
Dublin: 12
ISRAEL
Rehovot: 27
JAPAN
Nishikyo-ku: 22
Osaka: 30, 31
NETHERLANDS
Amersfoort: 6
Amsterdam: 6
Leiden: 6
Nijmegen: 7
Rotterdam: 6, 20
Utrecht: 6
NORWAY
Kjeller: 12
Oslo: 4
RUSSIA
Chernogolovka: 7
Novosibirsk: 30
SPAIN
Valencia: 8
SWEDEN
Huddinge: 4, 5
Kalmar: 9
Lund: 12, 16
Sodertalje: 4
Stockholm: 4
Uppsala: 33
SWITZERLAND
Basel: 18
Zurich: 18
TAIWAN
Tainan City: 15
UGANDA
Mbarara: 18
UNITED KINGDOM
Cambridge: 3, 26, 33
Cheshire: 12
Davis: 27
Glasgow: 5
London: 5, 20
Manchester: 7, 12
Newcastle: 12
South Mimms: 31
St Andrews: 12
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Alabama
Birmingham: 20
Arizona
Chandler: 10
Tempe: 20
California
Berkeley: 3, 19, 31
La Jolla: 1, 21, 25
Los Angeles: 1, 6, 20
Mountain View: 1
Pasadena: 13, 21
San Francisco: 3, 22, 28, 31
Santa Barbara: 10
Stanford: 10
Florida
Miami: 3
Illinois
Chicago: 25
Urbana: 11
Maine
Bar Harbor: 1, 2
Maryland
Baltimore: 17
Bethesda: 16, 21
Frederick: 14
Massachusetts
Boston: 1, 5, 16
Cambridge: 1, 10, 15, 16
Missouri
St Louis: 6
New York
Lake Success: 6
North Carolina
Chapel Hill: 2
Durham: 3
Research Triangle Park: 1
Winston-Salem: 5
Ohio
Cincinnati: 15
Cleveland: 6
Oregon
Portland: 29
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia: 30
Pittsburgh: 29
Tennessee
Nashville: 3, 16
Texas
Austin: 9
Dallas: 32
Houston: 25, 29
Utah
Provo: 25
Washington
Bothell: 28
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 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)
Fabio Pulizzi
Tel: +44 20 7014 4024; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Medicine (New York)
Juan Carlos Lopez
Tel: +1 212 726 9325; 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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