NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
For papers that will be published online on 17 February 2008
This press release is copyrighted to the Nature journals mentioned below.
This press release contains:
· Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Molecular medicine: Insight into brains damaged by multiple sclerosis – Nature
Mississippi sinking – Nature Geoscience
Pass the acetyl, please – Nature Chemical Biology
New syndrome of mental retardation and epilepsy identified – Nature Genetics
Gene hunters strike oil – Nature Genetics
Reversing impaired brain function in diabetes – Nature Neuroscience
· 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 medicine: Insight into brains damaged by multiple sclerosis
DOI: 10.1038/nature06559
Multiple sclerosis patients experience a slow, cruel degeneration of their central nervous systems, so researchers are always on the lookout for new strategies to improve treatments for curbing the disease. A paper online in this week’s Nature describes an approach that homes in on two potential therapeutic targets.
Lawrence Steinman and his colleagues compare 2,538 proteins from the brains of multiple sclerosis patients with the same proteins from normal brains. They identify numerous proteins peculiar to brain lesions associated with different disease stages — two, in particular, showed signs of damage during the chronic active period.
The two proteins — known as ‘tissue factor’ and ‘protein C inhibitor’ — normally participate in the control of blood clotting and in anti-inflammatory pathways. The team suggest that the damaged proteins might be helping the multiple sclerosis to progress and, by using a thrombin inhibitor and a recombinant active protein, manage successfully to ‘correct’ them in an mouse model that mimics the disease.
CONTACT
Lawrence Steinman (Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 650 725 6678; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[2] Regulation of progenitor cell proliferation and granulocyte function by microRNA-223
DOI: 10.1038/nature06607
[3] Shotgun bisulphite sequencing of the Arabidopsis genome reveals DNA methylation patterning DOI: 10.1038/nature06745
****************************************NATURE GEOSCIENCE******************************************
[4] Mississippi sinking
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo129
Compaction of buried peat is the primary cause of sinking land along the Louisiana coast, suggests a study published online in Nature Geoscience this week. This finding could help to explain why dramatic subsidence, which intensified the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina, is so prevalent along the southern coast of the USA.
Recent studies have shown that organic rich deposits such as peat are rapidly compacted after formation and burial, but few data exist that quantify the rate of compaction. Tor Tornqvist and colleagues used radiocarbon-dated sediment cores from the Mississippi Delta to assess rates of compaction across the region. They found that rates over the last 1,000 years were 5 millimeters per year and higher, with the greatest compaction occurring in areas underlain by thick peat deposits.
High rates of coastal subsidence, driven in part by peat compaction, contributed to relative sea level rise and loss of protective wetlands in the Mississippi delta. The authors suggest that this factor could contribute to the vulnerability of coastal regions elsewhere.
Author contact:
Torbjorn Tornqvist (Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA)
Tel: +1 504 314 2221; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Geoscience to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[5] Significant contribution of the 18.6 year tidal cycle to regional costal changes
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo127
[6] The methane cycle on Titan
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo125
*************************************NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY ***********************************
(http://www.nature.com/nchembio)
[7] Pass the acetyl, please
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.73
A method for adding ‘acetyls’ onto specific sites in proteins is reported online in Nature Chemical Biology this week.
Acetyls—small chemicals—are added onto many different proteins inside cells and are important for regulating processes including epigenetics and cellular signalling. In fact, the addition of acetyls to proteins happens so widely that it appears to be as important as phosphorylation in controlling cellular processes. However, the biological consequences of the ‘acetylation’ of proteins are relatively poorly understood because it has not been easy to make proteins with an acetyl at the right spot and study the effects.
Jason Chin and colleagues have created a method for putting acetyls onto specific positions in proteins inside Escherichia coli. This easy method for making acetylated proteins will open up many new opportunities to understand this important biological modification.
Author contact:
Jason W. Chin, (Medical Research Council, Cambridge, UK)
Tel: +44 1223 402 115; E-mail: [email protected]
***********************************************NATURE GENETICS **************************************
(http://www.nature.com/naturegenetics)
[8] New syndrome of mental retardation and epilepsy identified
DOI: 10.1038/ng.93
A new syndrome characterized by mental retardation, epilepsy, and facial and digital abnormalities is associated with a small deletion on chromosome 15, according to a study published online this week in Nature Genetics. This microdeletion accounts for 1 in 330 cases of mental retardation, and is present in 1 in 40,000 individuals in the general population.
Evan Eichler and colleagues used a high-resolution method to scan the genomes of 757 individuals with mental retardation and other anomalies, in search of chromosomal deletions and duplications. They identified an identical 1.5 million base pair deletion on chromosome 15, spanning 6 genes, in 2 unrelated individuals. The same microdeletion was later found in an additional seven individuals. One of the six deleted genes is CHRNA7, which encodes a synaptic ion channel protein that mediates neuronal signaling, and has been suggested previously to be a susceptibility factor for certain forms of epilepsy.
The authors suggest that the increasing use of high-resolution methods to identify ‘submicroscopic’ deletions will lead to the identification of additional syndromes with a common genetic origin.
Author contact:
Evan Eichler (University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA)
Tel: +1 206 543 9526; E-mail: [email protected]
[9] Gene hunters strike oil
DOI: 10.1038/ng.85
A genetic variant controlling oil content in maize seeds has been identified, according to a study to be published online this week in Nature Genetics. This finding could have implications for the production and use of biofuels.
Bo Shen and colleagues mapped the variants that associate with high oil content in the ‘Illinois high-oil’ maize line and found that an amino acid insertion in an enzyme called DGAT has a critical role in increasing oil concentration. A survey of 71 maize lines showed that all of the lines with high concentrations of seed oil had the insertion in DGAT, while all of the lines with normal concentrations of oil did not. The authors suggest that it should now be possible to select for high-oil concentration directly by genotyping DGAT, without also selecting for other agronomic traits, as would occur when using traditional methods. Finally, they propose that the engineering of DGAT in other crops may also promote the production of seed oil.
Author contact:
Bo Shen (Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Johnston, IA, USA)
Tel: +1 515 270 3442; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Genetics to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[10] Regulatory changes underlying expression differences within and between Drosophila species
DOI: 10.1038/ng.77
[11] The birth and death of microRNA genes in Drosophila
DOI: 10.1038/ng.73
*******************************************NATURE NEUROSCIENCE ***********************************
(http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience)
[12] Reversing impaired brain function in diabetes
DOI: 10.1038/nn2055
An increase in the stress hormone corticosterone that is caused by diabetes leads to deficits in the birth of new neurons and memory formation in rodents, according to a study to be published online this week in Nature Neuroscience. Altering a similar stress hormone in diabetic patients may help reverse cognitive impairments in people with high blood sugar levels.
Until now, the mechanism underlying the cognitive dysfunction seen in patients with diabetes has been unknown. Mark Mattson and colleagues now demonstrate that lowering corticosterone in a rodent diabetes model reverses several adverse effects, including the reduced birth of new neurons, altered synaptic plasticity and impaired memory, and restores relatively normal brain function. These deficits did not depend on changes in insulin production, as the same cognitive deficits could be reversed in an insulin-resistant model of diabetes by returning corticosterone levels to normal. Enhancement of brain function by normalizing corticosterone levels in diabetic animals could be reversed completely by administering high levels of corticosterone.
Though further research will be required to determine whether these results are applicable to people, this study suggests a potential strategy for treating diabetic patients suffering from disease-induced cognitive impairments.
Author contact:
Mark Mattson (National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, MD, USA)
Tel: +1 410 558 8463; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Neuroscience to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[13] Robo2-Slit1–dependent cell-cell interactions mediate assembly of the trigeminal ganglion
DOI: 10.1038/nn2051
[14] The vesicular glutamate transporter VGLUT3 synergizes striatal acetylcholine tone
DOI: 10.1038/nn2052
[15] Retrograde regulation of motoneuron differentiation by muscle beta-catenin
DOI: 10.1038/nn2053
[16] CaMKII: a biochemical bridge linking accumbens dopamine and glutamate systems in cocaine seeking
DOI: 10.1038/nn2054
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Items from other Nature journals to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
NATURE PHOTONICS (http://www.nature.com/nphton)
[17] Non-scanning motionless fluorescence three-dimensional holographic microscopy
DOI:10.1038/nphoton.2007.300
Nature PHYSICS (http://www.nature.com/naturephysics)
[18] Liquid–solid-like transition in quasi-one-dimensional driven granular media
DOI: 10.1038/nphys884
[19] Optical conductivity and the correlation strength of high-temperature copper-oxide superconductors
DOI: 10.1038/nphys883
NATURE MATERIALS (http://www.nature.com/naturematerials)
[20] Wrap–bake–peel process for nanostructural transformation from beta-FeOOH nanorods to biocompatible iron oxide nanocapsules
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2118
[21] Zero-field optical manipulation of magnetic ions in semiconductors
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2123
[22] Contact-induced crystallinity for high-performance soluble acene-based transistors and circuits
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2122
Nature MEDICINE (http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine)
[23] Differential regulation of central nervous system autoimmunity by TH1 and TH17 cells
DOI: 10.1038/nm1715
[24] Kindlin-3 is essential for integrin activation and platelet aggregation
DOI: 10.1038/nm1722
[25] Perivascular nitric oxide gradients normalize tumor vasculature
DOI: 10.1038/nm1730
Nature BIOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology)
[26] Detecting native folds in mixtures of proteins that contain disulfide bonds
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1380
[27] Marked differences in differentiation propensity among human embryonic stem cell lines
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1383
[28] Direct multiplexed measurement of gene expression with color-coded probe pairs
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1385
Nature IMMUNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natureimmunology)
[29] The E3 ubiquitin ligase Itch regulates expression of transcription factor Foxp3 and airway inflammation by enhancing the function of transcription factor TIEG1
DOI 10.1038/ni1564
NATURE CELL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturecellbiology)
[30] A TAG1-APP signalling pathway through Fe65 negatively modulates neurogenesis
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1690
[31] Differentially oriented populations of actin filaments generated in lamellipodia collaborate in pushing and pausing at the cell front
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1692
Nature STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natstructmolbiol)
[32] Structural and biochemical characterization of the KRLB region in insulin receptor substrate-2
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1388
[33] Crystal structure of a chaperone complex that contributes to the assembly of yeast 20S proteasomes
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1386
[34] A multimeric assembly factor controls the formation of alternative 20S proteasomes
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1389
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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.
AUSTRIA
Vienna: 31
CANADA:
Montreal: 14
CHILE
Concepcion: 18
Santiago: 18
CHINA
Guangzhou: 11, 15, 30
FRANCE
Cayenne: 5
Creteil: 14
Grenoble: 5
Montpellier: 5
Paris: 14
Strasbourg: 30
Wimereux: 5
GERMANY
Braunschweig: 31
Hamburg: 30
Martinsried: 24
Wurzburg: 24
GREECE
Crete: 30
HUNGARY
Budapest: 26
Szeged: 26
ISRAEL
Beer-Sheva: 17
ITALY
Bari: 8
Bosisio Parini: 8
Genoa: 8
Pavia: 8
Rome: 6, 19
Troina: 8
Verona: 8
JAPAN
Chiba: 33
Hokkaido: 33
Kagoshima: 30
Nagaoka: 30
Nagoya: 33
Okazaki: 33
Tokyo: 27, 33
NETHERLANDS
Amersfoort: 4
Delft: 4
Rijswijk: 4
The Hague: 4
Utrecht: 4
SINGAPORE
Proteos: 30
Singapore: 30
SOUTH KOREA
Seoul: 20
SWEDEN
Stockholm: 23
SWITZERLAND
Geneva: 8
UNITED KINGDOM
Cambridge: 7
Glasgow: 8
London: 8, 28
Oxford: 8
Sheffield: 13, 30
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Arizona
Tucson: 6
California
Foster City: 8
Hayward: 3
La Jolla: 29
Los Angeles: 3
Northridge: 1
Pasadena: 13, 28
San Francisco: 1
Santa Barbara: 21
Stanford: 1
Connecticut
Farmington: 1
New Haven: 25, 34
Delaware
Wilmington: 9
Georgia
Athens: 3
Augusta: 15
Illinois
Chicago: 11, 18
Evanston: 11
Iowa
Iowa City: 21
Johnston: 9
Kentucky
Lexington: 22
Louisiana
New Orleans: 4
Maryland
Baltimore: 12, 17
Gaithersburg: 22
Rockville: 17
Massachusetts
Boston: 2, 16, 25, 27, 32
Cambridge: 2, 14, 27
Charlestown: 16
Ipswich: 3
Michigan
Ann Arbor: 6, 10
East Lansing: 4
Minnesota
Rochester: 29
New Hampshire
Durham: 21
New Jersey
Piscataway: 19, 30
Princeton: 12
New York
Bronx: 1
Geneva: 9
Ithaca: 10, 26
New York: 19, 32
Pennsylvania
University Park: 22
South Carolina
Greenwood: 8
Texas
Amarillo: 12
El Paso: 26
Houston: 4
Virginia
Gloucester Point: 5
Washington
Seattle: 8, 23, 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 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 Geoscience (London)
Heike Langenberg
Tel: +44 20 7843 4042; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Immunology (New York)
Laurie Dempsey
Tel: +1 212 726 9372; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Materials (London)
Alison Stoddart
Tel: +44 20 7843 4593; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Medicine (New York)
Juan Carlos Lopez
Tel: +1 212 726 9325; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Neuroscience (New York)
Sandra Aamodt (based in California)
Tel: +1 530 795 3256; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Photonics (Tokyo))
Oliver Graydon
Tel: +81 3 3267 8776; 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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