19 December 2007
Nature China highlights the best research coming out of Mainland China and Hong Kong, providing scientists from around the world with a convenient portal into publications drawn from across all scientific disciplines.
Prenatal diagnosis: Detection without invasion
A new method of analysing placental RNA in maternal plasma enables non-invasive prenatal detection of fetal chromosomal aneuploidy
Plant signalling: A new receptor
Scientists in China have identified a cell surface receptor for the plant hormone abscisic acid
Hormone signalling: Regulating progesterone-receptor degradation
A factor called CUEDC2 interacts with the receptor for a pregnancy hormone and regulates its degradation
Apoptosis: Death effector domain goes nuclear
Caspase-8 sheds a domain during programmed cell death that goes nuclear to activate its own expression
Bacterial effectors: Armed with a novel enzyme
A protein injected into host cells by pathogenic bacteria uses unexpected enzymatic activity to help disable the host's defence
DNA repair: Finding a surprising partner
The Par3 protein, already known to function in cell polarity, has a surprising role in regulating a key enzyme involved in DNA repair
Host defence: Bringing viral RNA to elimination
A host antiviral protein helps to eliminate viral RNAs by recruiting them to the exosome where they are destroyed
Protein-coupled-receptor signalling: Regulation of gene expression
Increased expression of the delta-opioid receptor leads to nuclear translocation of a scaffolding protein and regulation of gene expression
Cardiac arrhythmias: MicroRNA beating the heart
Scientists have identified a type of microRNA that may be responsible for causing an irregular heart rhythm
Marine worms: Sea-bed scavengers
Marine worms may have resorted to scavenging behaviour on the sea beds of the Early Cambrian period
Climate change: Driving history
Climate change is responsible for societal hazards over recent centuries, including war, population decline and price inflation
Drug addiction: The ultimate gene list
Scientists in Beijing have developed a bioinformatics tool to identify genes and signalling pathways linked to drug addiction
Fullerenes: A water-bomb recipe
An eight-step method to selectively cleave fullerene bonds enables scientists in China to make open fullerene cages for encapsulating water
Cortical development: Showing neurons the way
Factor semaphorin-3A is essential for the correct migration and placement of cortical neurons during development
Temperature measurement: In tune with quartz
Highly accurate temperature sensors can be built from tiny quartz tuning forks
Quantum entanglement: No paradox
A real-life version of an Einstein thought experiment highlights the differences between the quantum and classical worlds
Particle physics: X marks the spot
A newly discovered particle could confirm one of the longest-standing theories in particle physics
