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VOL.466 NO.7302 DATED 01 JULY 2010
This press release contains:
· Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Fossils: You’re gonna need a bigger boat!
Astronomy: Supernova diversity explained by asymmetric explosions
Agriculture: Big potatoes the organic way
Relics: The roots of multicellular life
Biodiversity: Efficient conservation of our futures
Genetics: Genetic basis for balding disease
Biology: A hearty complex
Physics: First feats of an ultra-intense X-ray laser
Biology: The genetics of new species
Plant biology: Add nitrogen to get the opposite effect
And finally… Beware mice with ‘come to bed’ eyes
· Mention of papers to be published at the same time with the same embargo
· Geographical listing of authors
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[1] Fossils: You’re gonna need a bigger boat! (pp 105-108)
The fossilized skull and jaw of a giant, 12–13 million-year-old sperm whale have been discovered off the coast of Peru. The creature, whose discovery is reported in this week’s Nature, belongs to a previously unknown genus of sperm whale and has been named in honour of Herman Melville, the author of Moby Dick.
The whale was over 13 metres long and had a three-metre-long skull, making it the largest fossil sperm whale ever found. Modern sperm whales, which feed by suction, have the biggest bite of any tetrapod but their teeth are relatively small and restricted to the lower jaw. Olivier Lambert and colleagues suggest that the creature, whose teeth measured up to 36 centimetres long and lined both jaws, was a powerful raptorial feeder and killed its prey in a similar manner to modern killer whales.
The fossil was found in ocean layers where the giant shark has also been recorded and the authors suggest that these two giant, raptorial predators could have lived in the same area, feeding on large, marine vertebrates, such as baleen whales.
CONTACT
Olivier Lambert (Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France)
Tel: +33 140 793032; E-mail: [email protected]
[2] Astronomy: Supernova diversity explained by asymmetric explosions (pp 82-85; N&V)
A puzzling diversity in the spectral evolution of type Ia supernovae can be explained as a consequence of viewing asymmetric explosions from different directions. This finding, reported in Nature this week, suggests that asymmetry is a generic property of type Ia supernovae, and supports the assumption of uniformity that underlies the use of these objects as ‘standard candles’ for measuring cosmic distances.
Type Ia supernovae are thought to result from thermonuclear explosions of carbon–oxygen white dwarf stars. Recent theoretical models have suggested that the initial ‘sparks’ of this explosion are offset from the centre of the progenitor star, perhaps because of convection in the star’s core. Even a small offset in the ignition point can lead to a strongly imbalanced explosion, with one side of the star more rapidly expelled than the other.
Keiichi Maeda and colleagues now show that this theoretically proposed asymmetry is sufficient to explain what had appeared to be two distinct sub-groups of type Ia supernovae, based on the change in their observed expansion rate shortly after explosion. By examining observations of supernovae made many months after their peak, when the expanding debris clouds had thinned sufficiently to reveal both their near and far sides, Maeda et al. could confirm that the apparent spectral differences, at both early and late times, were due to viewing similar events from different directions.
CONTACT
Keiichi Maeda (University of Tokyo, Japan)
Tel: +81 4 7136 6559; E-mail: [email protected]
Daniel Kasen (University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA) N&V author
Tel: +1 831 459 3804; E-mail: [email protected]
[3] Agriculture: Big potatoes the organic way (pp 109-112; N&V)
Organic farming promotes species evenness and natural pest control, a Nature study suggests.
Species evenness, the relative abundance of species within an ecosystem, is a measure of biodiversity. David Crowder and colleagues analysed data from organic and conventional potato field trials and found that species evenness is greater under organic management because conventional famers usually target particular pests. Replicating these levels of evenness in their own field trial, the team went on to find that increasing natural pest evenness increases potato beetle mortality and potato plant biomass.
Conservation efforts often focus on species number (richness), but this study reinforces the value to ecosystem health of promoting species evenness. It also suggests that organic farming may provide a method for returning functional evenness to ecosystems, and that this evenness advantage may in turn translate to fewer pests, larger plants and higher yields.
CONTACT
David Crowder (Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA)
Tel: +1 520 2715759; E-mail: [email protected]
Andy Hector (University of Zurich, Switzerland) N&V author
Tel: +41 1 635 4804; E-mail: andrew.hector@ uzh.ch
[4] Relics: The roots of multicellular life (pp 100-104; N&V)
A series of highly organized, macroscopic 2.1-billion-year-old fossils from Gabon, West Africa, may be the ancient representatives of multicellular life, a Nature paper suggests.
The centimetre-sized fossils appear to be spatially discrete populations of soft-bodied, colonial organisms, an arrangement probably indicative of cell-to-cell signalling and coordinated responses, Abderrazak El Albani and colleagues suggest. Coming not long after the rise in atmospheric oxygen concentration about 2.4 billion years ago, the Gabon fossils might be seen as harbingers of the multicellular life that expanded in dramatic fashion about one-and-a-half billion years later.
Evidence for multicellular life before the Mesoproterozoic era (1.6–1.0 billion years ago) is scarce and controversial, so the finds are a welcome addition to the fossil record.
CONTACT
Abderrazak El Albani (Université de Poitiers, France)
Tel: +33 6 72 85 20 88; E-mail: [email protected]
Philip Donoghue (University of Bristol, UK) N&V author
Tel: +44 117 954 5440; E-mail: [email protected]
[5] Biodiversity: Efficient conservation of our futures (AOP)
DOI: 10.1038/nature09180
***This paper will be published electronically on Nature's website on 30 June at 1800 London time / 1300 US Eastern time (which is also when the embargo lifts) as part of our AOP (ahead of print) programme. Although we have included it on this release to avoid multiple mailings it will not appear in print on 01 July, but at a later date. ***
A way to vastly improve the efficiency of biodiversity conservation without increased spending is reported in Nature this week. Protected areas are one of the most important tools in modern conservation, with over 100,000 sites covering 12% of the area of countries and their waters worldwide. Their effectiveness is therefore crucial.
Richard Fuller and colleagues looked at protected areas in Australia — which has one of the most efficient networks that are currently in use. They found that the conservation performance of a protected area system can be greatly improved by replacing a small number of protected areas with new ones that achieve more conservation. Removing the worst performing sites releases funds in order to do this. In fact the team show, by using an algorithm, that replacing the least effective 1% of Australia’s protected areas could increase the number of highly protected vegetation types from 18, as it currently stands, to 54.
Despite the encouraging results the authors believe that relaxing the protection status of existing protected areas may prove politically difficult so a compromise including scaling up or scaling down of investment may be the most viable option. However, they also state that protected areas form a large part of our conservation legacy for future generations and handing down healthy sites is a justifiable investment for governments.
CONTACT
Richard Fuller (University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia)
Tel: +61 7 3346 9912; E-mail: [email protected]
[6] Genetics: Genetic basis for balding disease (pp 113-117)
The first genome-wide association study in alopecia areata suggests a novel mechanism for the balding disease. The study, reported in this week’s Nature, offers up new targets for therapeutic development.
Alopecia areata (AA), one of the most common human autoimmune diseases, occurs when the immune system attacks hair follicles, causing hair to fall out completely or in patches. Angela Christiano and colleagues studied the variation between the genomes of over 1,000 cases and 3,000 controls to reveal several genetic regions linked to disease susceptibility. The results suggest an involvement of both innate and acquired immunity, and hint that elevated levels of ULBP proteins may contribute to the autoimmune response.
CONTACT
Angela Christiano (Columbia University, New York, NY, USA)
Tel: +1 212 305 9565; E-mail: [email protected]
[7] Biology: A hearty complex (pp 62-67)
A key player in heart development and disease is revealed in this week’s Nature. The study indicates that strategies targeting the Brg1/BAF protein complex could help treat certain types of heart failure.
Brg1/BAF regulates gene expression during development by altering the way that DNA is packaged around histone proteins — so-called chromatin remodelling. Ching-Pin Chang and colleagues now show that Brg1 interacts with two other chromatin-modifying enzymes to regulate gene expression during cardiac growth, differentiation and hypertrophy in mice.
It is known that cardiac hypertrophy is accompanied by characteristic changes in gene expression, notably a switch from the adult form of the molecular motor myosin heavy chain (MHC) to the fetal form. Reactivation of Brg1/BAF in stressed adult hearts can trigger this switch, the team show, and preventing reactivation suppresses cardiac hypertrophy in mice. Brg1 also appears to be reactivated in human hypertrophic hearts, where protein levels correlate with disease severity and MHC changes.
CONTACT
Ching-Pin Chang (Stanford University School of Medicine, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 650 736 8539; E-mail: [email protected]
[8] Physics: First feats of an ultra-intense X-ray laser (pp 56-61; N&V)
The world’s brightest X-ray source has been used to strip neon atoms of all of their electrons, and also to create ‘hollow’ atoms, missing their innermost electrons only. These are among the findings reported this week in Nature from the first study of light–matter interaction at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS).
The LCLS is a free-electron laser, which produces ultra-short pulses of coherent, high-energy X-rays from bunches of electrons provided by a linear accelerator. With pulse durations as short as tens of femtoseconds, and intensities of 1018 watts per square centimetre, the LCLS promises to transform the study of the nanoscale dynamics of atoms, molecules and materials — perhaps even allowing single-shot imaging of individual biological molecules.
For such applications to be possible, it will be necessary to understand how electrons in matter respond to irradiation with ultra-intense X-rays. Linda Young and colleagues followed the progressive loss of electrons from gaseous neon atoms during single X-ray pulses, as each atom absorbed multiple X-ray photons. At sufficiently high beam energies, the neon atoms are ionized from the inside out, creating ‘hollow’ atoms that are temporarily transparent to further X-rays. This effect could be important for maximizing the information collected in proposed single-molecule imaging experiments. The authors also show that they can explain their observations with a straightforward theoretical model, which bodes well for understanding the X-ray response of more complex systems.
CONTACT
Linda Young (Argonne National Laboratory, IL, USA)
Tel: +1 630 252 8878; E-mail: [email protected]
Justin Wark (Oxford University, UK) N&V author
Tel: +44 1865 272 251; E-mail: [email protected]
[9] Biology: The genetics of new species (AOP)
DOI: 10.1038/nature09058
***This paper will be published electronically on Nature's website on 30 June at 1800 London time / 1300 US Eastern time (which is also when the embargo lifts) as part of our AOP (ahead of print) programme. Although we have included it on this release to avoid multiple mailings it will not appear in print on 01 July, but at a later date. ***
A study looking at the genetics of moth pheromone production reveals a possible mechanism for the evolution of new species.
The European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis) moth consists of two races that produce subtly different pheromone blends. Jean-Marc Lassance and colleagues show that the fatty-acyl reductase gene is essential for pheromone production in females, and that accumulation of genetic substitutions in the coding region of this enzyme is responsible for the different pheromone blends. The study is published online at Nature.
It is thought that these genetic differences may be enough to lead to reproductive isolation — in this case the mating of moths within, rather than between, races — with speciation as a potential end result.
CONTACT
Jean-Marc Lassance (Lund University, Sweden)
Tel: +46 462 220 484; E-mail: [email protected]
[10] Plant biology: Add nitrogen to get the opposite effect (pp 96-99)
The effect of nitrogen availability on the natural ecosystem response to carbon dioxide fertilization has been unclear. A Nature paper now suggests that the addition of nitrogen can cause a plant community shift that dampens the carbon dioxide stimulation of plant productivity.
Adding nitrogen to the soil of a brackish marsh initially enhanced the effect of carbon dioxide on plant productivity, J. Adam Langley and J. Patrick Megonigal report. But over about three years, the effect wore off as C4 grasses, which respond less strongly to increased carbon dioxide levels than do C3 grasses, flourished. Ultimately, the observed shift in the plant species suppressed the boost of plant productivity by carbon dioxide.
The authors conclude that plant community shifts can act as a feedback effect that alters the whole ecosystem response to increased carbon dioxide concentrations, a factor that must be taken into account in carbon dioxide modelling studies. Models that incorporate an entirely positive effect of nitrogen addition on the ecosystem response to carbon dioxide fertilization may in some cases overestimate future carbon uptake in terrestrial wildlands.
CONTACT
J. Adam Langley (Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, MD, USA)
Tel: +1 443 482 2355; E-mail: [email protected]
[11] And finally… Beware mice with ‘come to bed’ eyes (pp 118-122)
A peptide found in male mouse tears can make female mice sexually receptive, a Nature study demonstrates.
The male sex pheromone, ESP1, is sensed by a specific receptor in the vomeronasal organ, a specialized sense organ found in the mouse nasal cavity. The signal is then sent to sex-specific regions in the mouse brain to trigger the female sexual behaviour, Kazushige Touhara and colleagues show.
Pheromones and vomeronasal system are known to influence reproductive and social behaviour in many animals, but this study is the first to pair a particular pheromone with a specific vomeronasal receptor. As such it helps elucidate the molecular mechanisms and neural circuitry underlying pheromone-induced sexual behaviour in mice. It is unclear how these results will translate to human biology because people are thought to lack a functional vomeronasal organ.
CONTACT
Kazushige Touhara (University of Tokyo, Japan)
Tel: +81 3 5841 5109; E-mail: [email protected]
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE…
[12] The polar ocean and glacial cycles in atmospheric CO2 concentration (pp 47-55)
[13] Human melanoma-initiating cells express neural crest nerve growth factor receptor CD271 (pp 133-137; N&V)
[14] Sensitivity to perturbations in vivo implies high noise and suggests rate coding in cortex (pp 123-127)
[15] Spatiotemporal regulation of cell-cycle genes by SHORTROOT links patterning and growth (pp 128-132)
[16] A macroscopic mechanical resonator driven by mesoscopic electrical back-action (pp 86-90)
[17] Tailoring light–matter–spin interactions in colloidal hetero-nanostructures (pp 91-95)
[18] SCFCyclin F controls centrosome homeostasis and mitotic fidelity through CP110 degradation (pp 138-142)
ADVANCE ONLINE PUBLICATION
***This paper will be published electronically on Nature's website on 30 June at 1800 London time / 1300 US Eastern time (which is also when the embargo lifts) as part of our AOP (ahead of print) programme. Although we have included it on this release to avoid multiple mailings it will not appear in print on 01 July, but at a later date. ***
[19] Co-option of the hormone-signalling module dafachronic acid–DAF-12 in nematode evolution
DOI: 10.1038/nature09164
GEOGRAPHICAL LISTING OF AUTHORS…
The following list of places refers to the whereabouts of authors on the papers numbered in this release. For example, London: 4 - this means that on paper number four, there will be at least one author affiliated to an institute or company in London. 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
St Lucia: 5
BELGIUM
Brussels: 1
Liège: 4
CANADA
Manitoba: 4
CHILE
La Serena: 2
Santiago: 2
DENMARK
Copenhagen: 2
Odense: 4
FRANCE
Orléans: 4
Lyon: 15
Paris: 1, 4
Poitiers: 4
Rennes: 4
Strasbourg: 4
Villeneuve d’Ascq: 4
GERMANY
Erlangen: 4
Garching: 2
Jena: 9
Lübeck: 6
Potsdam: 12
Tübingen: 19
ITALY
Padova: 2
Pisa: 1, 2
JAPAN
Chiba: 2
Kanagawa: 11
Saitama: 11
Suita: 11
Tokyo: 11
NETHERLANDS
Rotterdam: 1
Utrecht: 1
PERU
Lima: 1
SWEDEN
Lund: 9
Stockholm: 2, 4
Sundsvall: 9
SWITZERLAND
Zurich: 12
TAIWAN
Taipei: 7
UNITED KINGDOM
Cardiff: 15
Durham: 6
London: 14
Manchester: 6
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
California
Berkeley: 8
Davis: 15
Livermore: 8
Menlo Park: 8
Palo Alto: 13
Pasadena: 2
San Francisco: 6
Stanford: 7, 13
Colorado
Denver: 6
Florida
Tallahassee: 15
Georgia
Athens: 3
Illinois
Argonne: 8
Chicago: 8
Indiana
Indianapolis: 13
Kansas
Kansas City: 18
Maryland
College Park: 17
Edgewater: 10
Michigan
Kalamazoo: 8
Minnesota
Minneapolis: 6
Missouri
Kansas City: 18
New Hampshire
Hanover: 16
New Jersey
Murray Hill: 16
Princeton: 12
New York
Bronx: 7
Manhasset: 6
New York: 6, 18
North Carolina
Durham: 15
Ohio
Columbus: 8
Pennsylvania
Villanova: 10
Texas
Houston: 6, 16
Washington
Pullman: 3
PRESS CONTACTS…
From North America and Canada
Neda Afsarmanesh, Nature New York
Tel: +1 212 726 9231; E-mail: [email protected]
From Japan, Korea, China, Singapore and Taiwan
Mika Nakano, Nature Tokyo
Tel: +81 3 3267 8751; E-mail: [email protected]
From the UK
Rebecca Walton, Nature, London
Tel: +44 20 7843 4502; E-mail: [email protected]
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