NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
For papers that will be published online on 12 April 2009
This press release is copyrighted to the Nature journals mentioned below.
This press release contains:
· Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Cell Biology: Stem cells generate new eggs in adult mice
Nanotechnology: Brushes make a difference
Geoscience: Long-term mussel survival in acidic waters
And finally … Methods: Assembling large DNA molecules in a test tube
· 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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[1] Cell Biology: Stem cells generate new eggs in adult mice
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1869
Mammalian ovaries might retain their capacity to generate new eggs during adulthood, suggests a study published online this week in Nature Cell Biology. The finding may have important implications in regenerative and reproductive medicine.
It is currently accepted that, in most mammalian species, the production of eggs, known as ‘oocytes’, terminates before birth. Despite recent evidence indicating that ovaries exhibit regenerative activity in juvenile and adult mice, the existence of female germline stem cells (FGSCs) in postnatal mammalian ovaries remained controversial.
Ji Wu and colleagues report the isolation of functional FGSCs from the ovaries of 5-day-old and adult mice. Upon isolation, FGSC lines were generated, which were able to maintain their proliferative potential even after long-term culture. When transplanted into the ovaries of infertile mice, FGSCs gave rise to new oocytes and reversed chemically-induced infertility, as demonstrated by the production of offspring. These young mice had no abnormalities and were fertile.
Author contact:
Ji Wu (Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China)
Tel: +86 21 3420 4933; E-mail: [email protected]
[2] Nanotechnology: Brushes make a difference
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2009.77
Scientists have identified a critical difference between the mechanical properties of normal and cancer cells – variation in brushes or tiny hairs on the cell surface. The discovery, reported online this week in Nature Nanotechnology, suggests new considerations when studying cancerous cells using the atomic force microscope, a high-resolution microscope commonly used to study morphology and mechanics of cells.
It is well known that cancerous cells have different mechanical and adhesion properties from normal cells, but the reasons for this have so far been unclear.
Brushes on the cell surface, mostly consisting of microridges and tiny hairs called microvilli, are important for interacting with the external environment. Igor Sokolov and colleagues processed force measurements — taken from the cell surface using an atomic force microscope — according to a model that accounts for these brushes, to show quantitatively that cancerous cells are different. Normal cells have brushes of one length, whereas cancerous cells have mostly two brush lengths of significantly different densities.
The authors suggest that the difference in the brush layers may have a biological significance and should be considered when characterizing cells by mechanical methods using the atomic force microscope.
Author contact:
Igor Sokolov (Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY, USA)
Tel: +1 315 268 2375; E-mail: [email protected]
[3] Geoscience: Long-term mussel survival in acidic waters
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo500
Mussels near a submarine volcano survived for several decades despite the presence of extremely acidic waters, reports a study published online this week in Nature Geoscience. The findings provide a glimpse into an ecosystem’s response to ocean acidification, as is expected from the rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Verena Tunnicliffe and colleagues studied mussels on Eifuku volcano, part of the Mariana arc in the Pacific Ocean. Liquid carbon dioxide emerges in this hydrothermal setting and renders the water in the vicinity of the volcano significantly more acidic than average ocean water. For comparison, they authors looked at mussels of the same species in more amenable waters. The shell thicknesses and growth rates of the mussels in acidic waters were only about half that of shells in more typical ocean conditions.
Crabs — mussels’ natural predators — were absent in the highly acidic setting, probably because of the inhospitable conditions. The lack of predators could have facilitated the mussels' survival over up to the past four decades despite their thin shells.
Author contact:
Verena Tunnicliffe (University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada)
Tel: +1 250 721 7135; E-mail: [email protected]
[4] Methods: Assembling large DNA molecules in a test tube
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1318
Scientists have developed a method for assembling short pieces of DNA into one long molecule in a test tube, according to a study published online this week in Nature Methods. This allows for the easy in vitro assembly of genes, entire genetic pathways, or even small genomes from natural or synthetic DNA.
Daniel Gibson and colleagues, previously assembled the entire 583 kilo-base-pair genome of the bacterium Mycoplasma genitalium from synthetic DNA, but the final steps of this assembly could only be accomplished in a yeast cell. However, the use of yeast cells makes the assembly process more difficult, because the foreign DNA may be toxic to the yeast.
Now the researchers modified the assembly process by directly incubating the DNA segments with three enzymes that are essential for assembly: an enzyme that chews back the DNA strands to create overlapping ends, an enzyme that synthesizes DNA and fills the gaped ends, and an enzyme that binds together the ends of the DNA fragments thus closing the gaps. The choice of the right enzymes allows the reaction to proceed entirely in a test tube in a single step, making it a faster and fully controllable process.
Author contact:
Daniel Gibson (J. Craig Venter Institute Synthetic Biology, Rockville, MD, USA)
Tel +1 301 795 7268; 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 (http://www.nature.com/nature)
[5] Genome-wide analysis of Notch signaling in Drosophila by transgenic RNAi
DOI: 10.1038/nature07936
[6] Non-genetic origins of cell-to-cell variability in TRAIL-induced apoptosis
DOI: 10.1038/nature08012
NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology)
[7] Embryonic stem cell–specific microRNAs promote induced pluripotency
DOI: 10.1038/nbt.1535
NATURE CELL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturecellbiology)
[8] Persistent transcription-blocking DNA lesions trigger somatic growth attenuation associated with longevity
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1866
[9] Telomere recombination requires the MUS81 endonuclease
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1867
[10] Talin phosphorylation by Cdk5 regulates Smurf1-mediated talin head ubiquitylation and cell migration
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1868
NATURE CHEMISTRY (http://www.nature.com/nchem)
[11] Sequence-independent and rapid long-range charge transfer through DNA
DOI: 10.1038/nchem.171
NATURE GENETICS (http://www.nature.com/naturegenetics)
[12] Mutations in the seed region of the human miR-96 are responsible for nonsyndromic progressive hearing loss
DOI: 10.1038/ng.355
[13] An ENU-induced mutation of miR-96 associated with progressive hearing loss in mice
DOI: 10.1038/ng.369
NATURE IMMUNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natureimmunology)
[14] HoxC4 binds to the promoter of the cytidine deaminase AID gene to induce AID expression, class-switch DNA recombination and somatic hypermutation
DOI: 10.1038/ni.1725
[15] Transcription factor Foxo3 controls the magnitude of T cell immune responses by modulating the function of dendritic cells
DOI: 10.1038/ni.1729
NATURE MATERIALS (http://www.nature.com/naturematerials)
[16] The role of viscous flow of oxide in the growth of self-ordered porous anodic alumina films
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2423
[17] Towards high charge-carrier mobilities by rational design of the shape and periphery of discotics
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2427
Nature MEDICINE (http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine)
[18] Copy number analysis indicates monoclonal origin of lethal metastatic prostate cancer
DOI: 10.1038/nm.1944
[19] Nanofluidic proteomic assay for serial analysis of oncoprotein activation in clinical specimens
DOI: 10.1038/nm.1903
NATURE METHODS (http://www.nature.com/nmeth)
[20] Combined atomic force microscopy and side-view optical imaging for mechanical studies of cells
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1320
[21] Photoconversion in orange and red fluorescent proteins
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1319
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nnano)
[22] Modular construction of DNA nanotubes of tunable geometry and single- or double-stranded character
DOI:10.1038/nnano.2009.72
Nature NEUROSCIENCE (http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience)
[23] BK channels modulate pre- and postsynaptic signaling at reciprocal synapses in retina
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2302
[24] Engaging in an auditory task suppresses responses in auditory cortex
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2306
[25] HCN hyperpolarization-activated cation channels inhibit EPSPs by interactions with M-type K+ channels
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2307
[26] Coding of pleasant touch by unmyelinated afferents in humans
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2312
Nature PHYSICS (http://www.nature.com/naturephysics)
[27] Proton-driven plasma-wakefield acceleration
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1248
Nature STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natstructmolbiol)
[28] Insights into substrate stabilization from snapshots of the peptidyl transferase center of the intact 70S ribosome
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1577
[29] Molecular mimicry of SUMO promotes DNA repair
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1582
[30] The WAVE regulatory complex is inhibited
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1587
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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
Perth: 2
AUSTRIA
Vienna: 5
CANADA:
Halifax: 3
Montreal: 22
Victoria: 3
CHINA
Changsha: 9
Shanghai: 1
FINLAND
Tampere: 18
FRANCE
Paris: 19
GERMANY
Cologne: 8
Düsseldorf: 27
Garching: 27
Hanau-Wolfgang: 17
Mainz: 17
Munich: 13, 27
GREECE
Heraklion: 8
INDIA
Kerala: 29
JAPAN
Akita: 5
Ibaraki: 11
NETHERLANDS
Amsterdam: 8
Bilthoven: 8
Delft: 17
Leiden: 8
Rotterdam: 8
RUSSIA
Novosibirsk: 27
SPAIN
Madrid: 12, 13
SWEDEN
Gothenburg: 26
UNITED KINGDOM
Cambridge: 28
Cheshire: 26
Hinxton: 12, 13
Liverpool: 26
London: 17
Norwich: 12, 13
Nottingham: 13
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
California
Berkeley: 20, 29
Irvine: 14
La Jolla: 10, 15, 29
Palo Alto: 19
San Diego: 4, 15
San Francisco: 7, 20
Stanford: 19
Florida
Tallahassee: 21
Iowa
Ames: 16
Maryland
Baltimore: 18
Bethesda: 9, 23
Gaithersburg: 20
Rockville: 4
Massachusetts
Boston: 6, 15
Cambridge: 6
Michigan
Detroit: 2
Missouri
St Louis: 9
New York
Bronx: 23
Cold Spring Harbor: 24
New York: 25
Potsdam: 2
Stony Brook: 24
North Carolina
Chapel Hill: 10
Winston-Salem: 18
Oregon
Newport: 3
Tennessee
Nashville: 21
Texas
Dallas: 15, 30
Virginia
Arlington: 18
Washington
Seattle: 3
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]
Neda Afsarmanesh (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 Chemistry (London)
Stuart Cantrill
Tel: +44 20 7014 4018; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Genetics (New York)
Lily Khidr
Tel: +1 212 726 9324; 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)
Vincent Dusastre
Tel: +44 20 7843 4531; 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 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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