NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
For papers that will be published online on 26 August 2007
This press release is copyrighted to the Nature journals mentioned below.
EMBARGO:
This press release contains:
· Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Plant genetics: A vintage genome sequence – Nature
Developmental biology: New method sets stem cells apart – Nature
Human embryonic stem cells do a heart good – Nature Biotechnology
Shedding light on animals’ interiors – 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.
Warning: This document, and the Nature journal papers to which it refers, may contain information that is price sensitive (as legally defined, for example, in the UK Criminal Justice Act 1993 Part V) with respect to publicly quoted companies. Anyone dealing in securities using information contained in this document, or in advance copies of a Nature journal’s content, may be guilty of insider trading under the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
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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] Plant genetics: A vintage genome sequence
DOI: 10.1038/nature06148
A high-quality draft of the grapevine genome sequence is reported online this week in Nature. The analysis of a grapevine line originally derived from Pinot Noir reveals that it contains twice as many enzymes contributing to essential oil and aroma than other sequenced plants, suggesting that it might eventually be possible to trace the diversity of wine flavours down to the genome level.
The French–Italian Public Consortium for Grapevine Genome Characterization sequenced the genome of Vitis vinifera, the fourth sequence produced for a flowering plant and the first for a fruit crop. The authors selected grapevine for their analysis because of its important place in the cultural heritage of humanity, beginning during the Neolithic period. They report that the genes involved in the metabolism of tannins and terpenes – which contribute to a wine’s aromatic features – have been selectively amplified in this genome. They also found an expansion in the family of genes driving the production of resveratrol, the chemical associated with the proposed health benefits of drinking moderate amounts of red wine.
Public access to the grapevine genome sequence should help identify the genes underlying particular agricultural features and domestication traits. This could be of use for not only recognizing which genes are responsible for the characteristic flavours of a wine, but also in speeding up the process of introducing disease-resistant genes, thereby decreasing the need for pesticides.
Author contact:
Patrick Wincker (Genoscope-Centre National de Sequencage and CNRS, Evry, France)
Tel: +33 1 60 87 25 68; E-mail: [email protected]
[2] Developmental biology: New method sets stem cells apart
DOI: 10.1038/nature06090
Researchers have devised a way to distinguish between two similar, yet vitally different, proliferative cell types found in the developing brain. Their findings, published online in this week's Nature, should prove useful in stem cell research.
The developing brain contains many different proliferative cell types including neural stem cells (NSCs), which can give rise to many different types of mature brain cell, and neuroblasts, which are more restricted in their fate. But the signalling differences between these two populations are poorly understood.
Nicholas Gaiano and colleagues now show that differences in the Notch signalling pathway — a highly conserved system known to influence cell fate decisions during embryonic and adult life — may account for the variation between the two cell types. The discovery has yielded a method for separating these two cell types in a dish, a feat that should help researchers to characterise them further.
Author contact:
Nicholas Gaiano (Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA)
Tel: +1 443 287 4866; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[3] Structural basis of Dscam isoform specificity
DOI: 10.1038/nature06147
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(http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology)
[4] Human embryonic stem cells do a heart good
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1327
Heart attacks may respond to treatment with cells derived from human embryonic stem (ES) cells, according to a paper published online this week in Nature Biotechnology. Charles Murry and colleagues find that rats subjected to experimental heart attacks show improved cardiac function four weeks after receiving a transplant of heart muscle cells generated in a dish from human ES cells.
Human ES cells are considered a promising source of cells for regenerative medicine because, in theory, they can be taken off the laboratory shelf, coaxed into becoming any kind of specialized cell for repairing damaged organs and given to any patient. But many problems must be solved before this vision is reduced to practice.
Murry and colleagues address two critical problems in heart regeneration. First, they improve the efficiency with which ES cells are converted into heart cells. Second, they improve the survival of such heart cells after transplantation into damaged animal hearts using a ‘survival cocktail’—a mixture of chemicals that blocks various causes of cell death. By combining these techniques, they succeeded in slowing the progression of heart failure in the treated animals.
Author contact:
Charles Murry (University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA)
Tel: +1 206 616 8685; E-mail: [email protected]
Additional contact for comment on paper:
Loren Field (Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA)
Tel: +1 317 274 5085; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Biotechnology to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[5] Quantitative chemical proteomics reveals mechanisms of action of clinical ABL kinase inhibitors
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1328
[6] A diverse family of thermostable cytochrome P450s created by recombination of stabilizing fragments
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1333
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[7] Shedding light on animals’ interiors
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth1083
Bright far-red fluorescent proteins that emit light at longer wavelengths than typical red fluorescent proteins, improving their usefulness for deep imaging in living animals, are reported in a study online in Nature Methods this week.
Fluorescent proteins are invaluable tools for many types of biological investigation. The light from the best performing fluorescent proteins, however, has a difficult time penetrating living tissue due to the relatively short wavelengths emitted. This has limited the usefulness of these proteins for in vivo fluorescence imaging of whole animals. But fluorescent proteins that emit longer wavelength light, in the far-red and infrared regions of the spectrum, have so far been difficult to develop.
Dmitriy Chudakov and colleagues previously cloned a bright red fluorescent protein from a sea anemone. They engineered this protein to increase the wavelength of the emitted light while retaining its brightness. These longer wavelengths of light penetrate tissue more efficiently making detection of fluorescence emanating from deep inside an animal easier than with existing fluorescent proteins. The researchers developed two versions of the protein that are best suited for different applications. These will aid many researchers in different fields of biology who can benefit from the improved in vivo imaging performance the proteins offer.
Author contact:
Dmitriy Chudakov (Shemiakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Moscow, Russia)
Tel: +7 495 429 8020; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Methods to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[8] Higher-energy C-trap dissociation for peptide modification analysis
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth1060
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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)
[9] Quantum critical behaviour in the superfluid density of strongly underdoped ultrathin copper oxide films
DOI: 10.1038/nphys707
[10] A single-photon transistor using nanoscale surface plasmons
DOI: 10.1038/nphys708
NATURE MATERIALS (http://www.nature.com/naturematerials)
[11] Quantum-spin-liquid states in the two-dimensional kagome antiferromagnets ZnxCu4−x(OD)6Cl2
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1986
[12] Negative birefraction of acoustic waves in a sonic crystal
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1987
[13] Femtosecond modification of electron localization and transfer of angular momentum in nickel
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1985
[14] Order causes secondary Bragg peaks in soft materials
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1995
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nnano)
[15] Intrinsic peroxidase-like activity of ferromagnetic nanoparticles (N&V)
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2007.260
Nature MEDICINE (http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine)
[16] Broad HIV-1 neutralization mediated by CD4-binding site antibodies
DOI: 10.1038/nm1624
[17] Platelet CD36 links hyperlipidemia, oxidant stress and a prothrombotic phenotype
DOI: 10.1038/nm1626
[18] High levels of GDF15 in thalassemia suppress expression of the iron regulatory protein hepcidin
DOI: 10.1038/nm1629
[19] A ligand-receptor fusion of growth hormone is a potent agonist with exceptional pharmacokinetics
DOI: 10.1038/nm1610
NATURE GENETICS (http://www.nature.com/naturegenetics)
[20] Bayesian inference of epistatic interactions in case-control studies
DOI: 10.1038/ng2110
[21] A gene in the multidrug and toxic compound extrusion (MATE) family confers aluminum tolerance in sorghum
DOI: 10.1038/ng2074
Nature NEUROSCIENCE (http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience)
[22] OL-protocadherin is essential for growth of striatal axons and thalamocortical projections
DOI: 10.1038/nn1960
Nature IMMUNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natureimmunology)
[23] Lymph node chemokines promote sustained T lymphocyte motility without triggering stable integrin adhesiveness in the absence of shear forces
DOI: 10.1038/ni1499
[24] Respiratory protein-generated reactive oxygen species as an antimicrobial strategy
DOI: 10.1038/ni1501
NATURE CELL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturecellbiology)
[25] Focal adhesion kinase controls actin assembly via a FERM-mediated interaction with the Arp2/3 complex
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1626
[26] Correlated three-dimensional light and electron microscopy reveals transformation of mitochondria during apoptosis
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1630
[27] The lipid droplet is an important organelle for hepatitis C virus production
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1631
Nature STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natstructmolbiol)
[28] YY1 functions with INO80 to activate transcription
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1276
[29] F1-ATPase rotates by an asymmetric, sequential mechanism using all three catalytic subunits
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1296
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***The following paper will be published on Thursday 23 August at 1500 London time (BST) / 1000 US Eastern time on Nature Chemical Biology’s website, which is when the embargo for this paper will lift. The rest of this press release remains under embargo until Sunday 26 August 1800 London time (BST) / 1300 US Eastern time.***
[30] Light-controlled gene silencing in zebrafish embryos
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.2007.30
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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
Sydney: 19
BRAZIL
Minas Gerais: 21
CHINA
Beijing: 15
Nanjing: 12, 15
Shanghai: 12
DENMARK
Copenhagen: 10
FRANCE
Colmar: 1
Evry: 1
Grenoble: 14
Les Ulis: 19
Lyon: 13
Montpellier: 1
St Aubin: 3
GERMANY
Berlin: 11, 13, 19
Bremen: 8
Freiburg: 3
Hamburg: 13, 14
Heidelberg: 5, 27
Martinsried: 8
Munich: 23
Munster: 13
INDIA
Calcutta: 30
ISRAEL
Rehovot: 23
ITALY
Bari: 1
Milan: 1
Padua: 1
Sienna: 1
Udine: 1
Verona: 1
JAPAN
Fukui: 11
Hyogo: 22
Kobe: 22
Kyoto: 22, 27, 29
Osaka: 29
Saitama: 22
Tokyo: 27, 29
Toyoake: 27
Yokohama: 29
KOREA
Seoul: 2
RUSSIA
Moscow: 7
SINGAPORE
Singapore: 24
THAILAND
Nakornpathom: 18
UNITED KINGDOM
Cambridge: 5
Edinburgh: 25
Glasgow: 25
London: 25
Sheffield: 19
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Alabama
Birmingham: 16
California
La Jolla: 26
Los Angeles: 18
Menlo Park: 4
Pasadena: 6
San Diego: 12, 26
San Francisco: 23
Stanford: 30
District of Columbia
Washington: 18
Kansas
Manhattan: 21
Maryland
Baltimore: 2
Bethesda: 16, 18
Gaithersburg: 11
Massachusetts
Boston: 3, 28
Cambridge: 6, 10, 20
Missouri
Kansas City: 28
New York
Ithaca: 21
North Carolina
Research Triangle Park: 18
Ohio
Cleveland: 17
Columbus: 9
Pennsylvania
Erie: 21
University Park: 20
Tennessee
Memphis: 26
Texas
College Station: 21
Virginia
Charlottesville: 11
Washington
Seattle: 4
Wisconsin
Milwaukee: 17
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)
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 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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