NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
For papers that will be published online on 22 June 2008
This press release is copyrighted to the Nature journals mentioned below.
This press release contains:
· Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Nature: New heart progenitors found
Geoscience: Carbon capture by land and by sea
Nature: Gene addiction reveals cancer’s Achilles’ heel
Methods: Automated microfluidics-based screening of C. elegans
And finally….Medicine: Improving stroke therapy
· 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.
PICTURES: To obtain artwork from any of the journals, you must first obtain permission from the copyright holder (if named) or author of the research paper in question (if not).
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.
[1] Nature: New heart progenitors found
DOI: 10.1038/nature07060
A new type of heart stem cell is described online in Nature this week. Identifying such progenitor cells could eventually be useful for cardiac regeneration and repair.
Scientists already know that the heart is formed from cardiogenic progenitors expressing the transcription factors Nkx2-5 and Isl1. These progenitors are multipotent — they can give rise to heart and smooth muscle and to endothelial cells. William Pu and colleagues show that a new type of cardiac progenitor, marked by the transcription factor Wt1, resides in certain heart and pre-heart tissue. During normal heart development a subset of these precursors differentiate into fully functional heart muscle, and they arise from Wt1 progenitors that express both Nkx2-5 and Isl1. This suggests that they share a developmental origin with other multipotent progenitors and could help researchers to identify a new pool of heart stem cells.
Author contact:
William Pu (Children's Hospital Boston, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 919 2091; E-mail: [email protected]
[2] & [3] Geoscience: Carbon capture by land and by sea
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo230
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo233
Increases in nitrogen input from human action are unlikely to increase the uptake of carbon dioxide on land and in the ocean by more than 10% concludes a review article published online this week in Nature Geoscience. This will not be enough to keep pace with predicted increases in atmospheric CO2 over the coming century. A related progress article suggests that careful management of European forests has led to increases in carbon storage over the past 50 years while accommodating demands for timber.
Dave Reay and colleagues present an overview of studies on the effect of increasing nitrogen deposition on forest, soil and ocean storage of CO2. The response of soil and ocean carbon uptake varies between studies and is limited in magnitude. However, forests take up significantly more carbon when fertilized with nitrogen — an additional 10% of annual carbon dioxide emissions derived from human activity could be taken up by 2030, although an increase of 1–2% is more likely. Either way, this will not be enough to prevent future predicted increases in CO2 emissions caused by humans.
Philippe Ciais and co-workers compare European forest inventories with timber harvest statistics between 1950 and 2000 and find that forest biomass increased faster than harvests. They conclude that well-managed forests can act as a carbon sink on timescales of 10s of years.
Both studies highlight the importance of human influence — by forest management or increasing nitrogen deposition — on carbon storage in global ecosystems.
Author contacts:
Dave Reay (University of Edinburgh, UK)
Tel: +44 131 6507723; Email: [email protected] Author paper [2]
Philippe Ciais (Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Gif-sur-Yvette, France)
Tel: +33 1 69 08 95 06; Email: [email protected] Author paper [3]
[4] Nature: Gene addiction reveals cancer’s Achilles’ heel
DOI: 10.1038/nature07064
Blood cancer cells are hooked on the expression of a normal gene, according to research published online this week in Nature. Forcing them to go cold turkey could open a therapeutic window to treat disease, say the authors.
Multiple myeloma — cancer of white blood cells — can be caused by a number of different genetic mutations such that myeloma cells often respond to drugs in different ways. Despite this, Louis Staudt and colleagues have found that they could kill several different types of myeloma simply by knocking down one gene — IRF4.
IRF4 is not mutated in most cancer cells but for some reason it behaves very differently than in normal cells — by acting as a master regulator of several gene pathways central to cell survival. Reducing IRF4 gene expression by 50% was sufficient to kill myeloma cells while sparing normal cells. These findings reveal a vulnerability that could be exploited for therapy of all forms of this disease.
Author contact:
Louis Staudt (National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA)
Tel: +1 301 496 1892; E-mail: [email protected]
[5] Methods: Automated microfluidics-based screening of C. elegans
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1227
A system for automated imaging and sorting of nematodes is published online this week in Nature Methods.
Genetic screening is a classical approach in which the genetic information of model organisms is changed and then examined for new and interesting features. This typically requires large numbers of animals to be monitored and would therefore be greatly aided by rapid and automated methods to do so. A major challenge in this type of work is integrating state-of-the-art technologies, such as high-resolution microscopy, with rapid screening.
Hang Lu and colleagues describe and validate a system that can carry out automated high-resolution imaging and sorting of a commonly used model organism, the worm C. elegans. They developed a microfluidic chip with computer-controlled software, and show that rare mutants can be imaged and physically separated from normal worms based on differences in single cells. The authors demonstrate that this can be done rapidly, accurately and with no human intervention.
This is the first automated device to combine high-resolution imaging with automated sorting of the worm and could lead to more efficient screens on genetic model organisms in the future.
Author contact:
Hang Lu (Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA)
Tel: +1 404 894 8473; E-mail: [email protected]
[6] And finally….Medicine: Improving stroke therapy
DOI: 10.1038/nm1787
The mechanism that may cause the undesirable bleeding associated with blood clot ‘dissolving’ enzymes is described in a paper published online this week in Nature Medicine.
Cases of stroke caused by blood clots can be treated with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), which ‘dissolves’ the clot but they can also lead to the nasty side effect of cerebral bleeding.
Daniel Lawrence and colleagues report that an intracerebral injection of tPA increases the permeability of cerebral blood vessels by activating a molecule known as platelet-derived growth factor-CC (PDGF-CC). Injection of PDGF-CC has an effect on blood vessels similar to that of tPA, whereas co-injection of antibodies against PDGF-CC blocks the increased permeability caused by tPA.
The authors also found that the effects of PDGF-CC depend on the activation of PDGF-alpha receptors present on brain cells lining the blood vessels. The treatment of mice with the PDGF-alpha receptor antagonist imatinib (Gleevec), which is clinically used to treat certain blood cancers, reduces vascular permeability and the hemorrhagic complications of tPA administration after stroke.
These results reveal a role for PDGF signaling in the regulation of the blood-brain barrier and identify imatinib as a potential drug to reduce the complications associated with the use of tPA in stroke.
Author contact:
Daniel Lawrence (University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA)
Tel: +1 734 763 7838; E-mail: [email protected]
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Items from other Nature journals to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology)
[7] Induction of pluripotent stem cells by defined factors is greatly improved by small-molecule compounds
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1418
NATURE CELL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturecellbiology)
[8] A three-step pathway comprising PLZF/miR-146a/CXCR4 controls megakaryopoiesis
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1741
[9] TAZ controls Smad nucleocytoplasmic shuttling and regulates human embryonic stem-cell self-renewal
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1748
NATURE GENETICS (http://www.nature.com/naturegenetics)
[10] Genomic surveys by methylation-sensitive SNP analysis identify sequence-dependent allele-specific DNA methylation
DOI: 10.1038/ng.174
[11] Estimating coverage and power for genetic association studies using near-complete variation data
DOI: 10.1038/ng.180
NATURE GEOSCIENCE (http://www.nature.com/ngeo)
[12] The relationship between rifting and magmatism in the northeastern Arabian Sea
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo228
[13] Phosphorus cycling in the North and South Atlantic Ocean subtropical gyres
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo232
NATURE IMMUNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natureimmunology)
[14] Regulation of B cell fate commitment and immunoglobulin heavy-chain gene rearrangements by Ikaros
DOI: 10.1038/ni.1626
[15] Resolvin E1 regulates interleukin 23, interferon-gamma and lipoxin A4 to promote the resolution of allergic airway inflammation
DOI: 10.1038/ni.1627
NATURE MATERIALS (http://www.nature.com/naturematerials)
[16] Towards non-blinking colloidal quantum dots
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2222
[17] Direct observation of a local structural mechanism for dynamic arrest
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2219
[18] Determining the aluminium occupancy on the active T-sites in zeolites using X-ray standing waves
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2220
Nature MEDICINE (http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine)
[19] Amyloid-beta protein dimers isolated directly from Alzheimer’s brains impair synaptic plasticity and memory
DOI: 10.1038/nm1782
[20] Reversal of learning deficits in a Tsc2+/– mouse model of tuberous sclerosis
DOI: 10.1038/nm1788
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nnano)
[21] Imaging nanoparticles in cells by nanomechanical holography
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2008.162
[22] Self-assembled DNA nanostructures for distance-dependent multivalent ligand–protein binding
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2008.164
Nature NEUROSCIENCE (http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience)
[23] Pungent agents from Szechuan peppers excite sensory neurons by inhibiting two-pore potassium channels
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2143
[24] Rapid and modifiable neurotransmitter receptor dynamics at a neuronal synapse in vivo
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2145
[25] The binding sites for cocaine and dopamine in the dopamine transporter overlap
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2146
NATURE PHOTONICS (http://www.nature.com/nphoton)
[26] Creation of a needle of longitudinal polarized light in vacuum using binary optics
DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2008.127
[27] Ultrafast single-shot diffraction imaging of nanoscale dynamics
DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2008.128
Nature PHYSICS (http://www.nature.com/naturephysics)
[28] Efficient state transfer in an ultracold dense gas of heteronuclear molecules
DOI: 10.1038/nphys997
[29] In situ doping control of the surface of high-temperature superconductors
DOI: 10.1038/nphys998
[30] Dislocations and vortices in pair-density-wave superconductors
DOI: 10.1038/nphys999
[31] Unexpected drop of dynamical heterogeneities in colloidal suspensions approaching the jamming transition
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1000
Nature STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natstructmolbiol)
[32] GroEL as a molecular scaffold for structural analysis of the anthrax toxin pore
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1442
[33] Fungal Rtt109 histone acetyltransferase is an unexpected structural homolog of metazoan p300/CBP
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1448
[34] A second binding site for double-stranded RNA in TLR3 and consequences for interferon activation
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1453
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***For immediate release. The following paper was published online on the Nature Structural and Molecular Biology website on Friday 13 June at 2000 London time (BST) / 1500 US Eastern time, and therefore is no longer under embargo. All other material on this press release remains under embargo until Sunday 22 June at 1800 London time (BST) / 1300 US Eastern time.***
[35] Structural basis of transcription inhibition by alpha-amanitin and implications for RNA polymerase II translocation
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1458
***************************************************************************************************************
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
Canberra: 17
BELGIUM
Wilrijk: 3
CANADA:
Montreal: 33
Toronto: 9
Vancouver: 29
CHINA
Beijing: 3
DENMARK
Copenhagen: 25
FINLAND
Helsinki: 3
FRANCE
Gif-sur-Yvette: 3
Grenoble: 18
Montpellier: 31
Paris: 16
Versailles: 16
GERMANY
Berlin: 1
Duisburg: 27
Hamburg: 18, 27, 31
Jena: 3
Kiel: 13
Munich: 35
IRELAND
Dublin: 19
ITALY
Ispra: 2, 3
Milan: 8
Perugia: 8
Rome: 8
Turin: 18
Vitterbo: 3
JAPAN
Chiba: 30
Tokyo: 17
NETHERLANDS
Utrecht: 7
Wageningen: 3
ROMANIA
Campulung Moldovenesc: 3
SINGAPORE
Singapore: 26
SLOVENIA
Ljubljana: 34
SWEDEN
Stockholm: 6
Uppsala: 27
SWITZERLAND
Zurich: 18
UNITED KINGDOM
Aberdeen: 2
Bristol: 17
Edinburgh: 2, 31
Liverpool: 13
London: 12
Oxford: 18, 27
Plymouth: 13
Southampton: 12, 13
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Arizona
Tempe: 22
Arkansas
Little Rock: 4
California
Berkeley: 23, 29
La Jolla: 24
Livermore: 27
Los Angeles: 10, 14, 20
Menlo Park: 27
Sacramento: 27
San Francisco: 23
Colorado
Boulder: 28
Georgia
Atlanta: 5, 6
Illinois
Chicago: 14
Evanston: 21
Maryland
Baltimore: 6, 25, 33
Bethesda: 4
Gaithersburg: 28
Rockville: 4
Massachusetts
Boston: 1, 15, 19, 20, 32
Cambridge: 7, 9, 24
Michigan
Ann Arbor: 6
Missouri
Kansas City: 32
Liberty: 32
New York
New York: 10, 23, 25
North Carolina
Raleigh: 9
Oregon
Corvallis: 3
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia: 28, 33
Tennessee
Knoxville: 21
Oak Ridge: 21
Virginia
Norfolk: 13
Washington
Seattle: 2, 11
Wisconsin
Milwaukee: 30
PRESS CONTACTS…
For media inquiries relating to embargo policy for all the Nature Research Journals:
Rachel Twinn (Nature London)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4658; E-mail: [email protected]
Katherine Anderson (Nature New York)
Tel: +1 212 726 9231; E-mail: [email protected]
Ruth Francis (Head of Press, 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 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 Methods (New York)
Hugh Ash
Tel: +1 212 726 9627; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Nanotechnology (London)
Peter Rodgers
Tel: +44 20 7014 4019; Email: [email protected]
Nature Neuroscience (New York)
Kalyani Narasimhan
Tel: +1 212 726 9319; 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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