NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
This press release contains:
· Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Neuroscience: Spontaneous repair
Genetics: Mental retardation linked to new mutations
Structural & Molecular Biology: Futile anti-HIV responses
Methods: Measuring cell traction in 3D
Geoscience: Sub-seafloor carbon release off California
And finally…Physics: Information converted to energy
· 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] Neuroscience: Spontaneous repair
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2691
Paralysis after severe spinal cord injuries is permanent, but after milder injuries patients often experience substantial recovery. New work in monkeys, published online in Nature Neuroscience, suggests that such recovery is due to strong growth of new nerve fibers, not to regeneration of the severed original connections. This finding may pave the way for more studies in primate models, to unravel the mechanisms that enable post-injury sprouting growth that might eventually be applied to improve recovery in human patients.
Mark Tuszynski and colleagues cut the right corticospinal tract (CST) – a nerve fiber bundle in spinal cord that in primates is crucial for voluntary movement on the right side – and observed that right hand and leg function in adult rhesus monkeys began to recover 4 – 8 weeks after the injury. At autopsy, the authors found strong growth of new nerve fibers originating in the uninjured left CST, crossing the spinal cord midline and forming new connections with motor neurons in the right spinal cord. This allowed activation of muscle fibers that had been cut off from the nervous system by the injury.
This study reveals an important difference between the post-injury responses in monkeys and rodents, which have been the preferred models for spinal cord injury research. Nothing resembling the ‘repair’ of a lesioned CST by its contralateral counterpart has been observed in rats or mice. The authors propose that more studies in primate models will be necessary in order to unravel the mechanisms that enable post-injury sprouting, with the hope of eventually applying such insight to improve recovery in human patients.
Author contact:
Mark Tuszynski (University of California at San Diego, CA, USA)
Tel. +1 858 534 8857; E-mail: [email protected]
[2] Genetics: Mental retardation linked to new mutations
DOI: 10.1038/ng.712
Most occurrences of unexplained mental retardation may be caused by new mutations, reports a study published online this week in Nature Genetics.
New large-scale copy number variation is a known cause of schizophrenia, autism and mental retardation, but much less is known about the frequency and impact of new point mutations in these common diseases. To explore this, Joris Veltman, Han Brunner and colleagues examined the complete protein-coding sequences of 10 individuals with unexplained mental retardation and compared these sequences to those of their unaffected parents. In six of the individuals, the team found a new mutation in a protein-coding sequence that was absent from both of their parents and that was most likely responsible for their intellectual disability.
These findings suggest that new point mutations, together with new large-scale copy number variation, could explain a majority of all mental retardation cases in the population.
Author contacts:
Joris Veltman (Radboud University, The Netherlands)
Tel: +31 24 361 4941; E-mail: [email protected]
Han Brunner (Radboud University, The Netherlands)
Tel: +31 24 361 4017; E-mail: [email protected]
[3] & [4] Structural & Molecular Biology: Futile anti-HIV responses
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1944
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1950
Why many of the human antibodies produced against HIV-1 are ineffective is revealed in two independent studies published online this week in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. These findings may have implications for future vaccine design.
Our immune system produces antibodies that can protect us against many diseases; however HIV-1 seems impervious to such defenses. The viral protein gp41 plays a crucial role for viral fusion with and entry into cells. Though antibodies against gp41 are formed in HIV-1 patients, those that can effectively block cell infection are exceedingly rare. Nathan Nicely and Barton Haynes in one study and Bing Chen in another study show that the most common, yet ineffective antibodies recognize gp41 in a form that it adopts after the virus has already entered the cell, explaining why they cannot protect cells against HIV-1.
Author contacts:
Nathan Nicely (Duke University, Durham, NC, USA) Author paper [3]
Tel: +1 919 681 3917; E-mail: [email protected]
Barton Haynes (Duke University, Durham, NC, USA) Author paper [3]
Tel: +1 919 684 5384; E-mail: [email protected]
Bing Chen (Harvard Medical School/Children's Hospital Boston, MA, USA) Author paper [4]
Tel: +1 617 355 4625; E-mail: [email protected]
[5] Methods: Measuring cell traction in 3D
DOI 10.1038/nmeth.1531
A technique to measure the forces a cell exerts as it moves through three-dimensional space is published online this week in Nature Methods.
A moving cell is in constant contact with its surrounding matrix, extending processes and applying forces that drive migration. Such movement is essential for tissue formation during development but also contributes to metastasis in cancer. Despite the fundamental biological importance of cell-generated forces, it has proven difficult to measure them in three dimensions.
Christopher Chen and colleagues present a quantitative approach to determine the traction forces of cells that are encapsulated in a hydrogel matrix. The cells migrated through the matrix, and in doing so they displaced fluorescent beads embedded in the hydrogel. The researchers used this displacement to calculate the force exerted by different parts of the cell, which gave them insights into how the tip of a migrating cell advances.
They applied this approach to several cell types to assess its general applicability and anticipate that in the future it will allow a better understanding of the role and regulation of cell movement in a range of biological settings.
Author contact:
Christopher Chen (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA)
Tel: +1 215 746 1754; E-mail: [email protected]
[6] Geoscience: Sub-seafloor carbon release off California
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1006
Carbon released as hot magma warms the seafloor sediments in the Gulf of California, reports a study online this week in Nature Geoscience. Regions where the sea floor rifts, such as the area studied, had been suggested as sites of natural carbon burial.
Daniel Lizarralde and colleagues analysed seismic and sonar data as well as photographs of the sea floor. They documented magma flow into the sediments up to 50 km from the rift – ten times farther than observed in ridges without sediment cover. They also detected biological communities at the sea floor that are supported by methane emissions from the overlying sediments. The researchers conclude that a thick sediment layer promotes magma flow into a broad area, with implications for methane release.
David Goldberg writes in an accompanying News and Views that “Lizarralde and colleagues have made a start in assessing the contribution of the seafloor spreading process to the global carbon budget.”
Author contact:
Daniel Lizarralde (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 508 289 2942; E-mail: [email protected]
David Goldberg (Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, New York, NY, USA) N&V author
Tel: +1 845 365 8674; E-mail: [email protected]
[7] And finally…Physics: Information converted to energy
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1821
Information can be transformed into energy, demonstrates an experiment reported online this week in Nature Physics. This work puts into practice a thought experiment that has been discussed controversially during the past 150 years.
Masaki Sano and colleagues explore connections between statistical mechanics and information processing in order to study a much debated idea which appeared to violate the laws of thermodynamics. James Clerk Maxwell suggested in the mid-nineteenth century that a hypothetical intelligence can use a detailed knowledge about the state of a gas to separate hot, energy-rich molecules from cooler, low-energy ones. This suggests that work can be extracted from heat, something that is thermodynamically forbidden. Later work showed that it is the information about the system this is used to gain energy.
Until now Maxwell’s idea has remained a theoretical construct, however, this team demonstrate such an information-to-energy conversion experimentally.
Author contact:
Masaki Sano (University of Tokyo, Japan)
Tel: +81 3 5841 4188, E-mail: [email protected]
Christian Van den Broeck (University of Hasselt, Belgium) N&V author
Tel: +32 11 268 214, 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)
[8] Interdependence of behavioural variability and response to small stimuli in bacteria
DOI: 10.1038/nature09551
[9] Structure of a bacterial ribonuclease P holoenzyme in complex with tRNA
DOI: 10.1038/nature09516
NATURE CELL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturecellbiology)
[10] Components of the Hippo pathway cooperate with Nek2 kinase to regulate centrosome disjunction
DOI: 10.1038/ncb2120
[11] The N-end rule pathway is mediated by a complex of the RING-type Ubr1 and HECT-type Ufd4 ubiquitin ligases
DOI: 10.1038/ncb2121
[12] Competition amongst Eph receptors regulates contact inhibition of locomotion and invasiveness in prostate cancer cells
DOI: 10.1038/ncb2122
[13] The orphan nuclear receptor Nurr1 restricts the proliferation of haematopoietic stem cells
DOI: 10.1038/ncb2125
[14] Caenorhabditis elegans EFA‑6 limits microtubule growth at the cell cortex
DOI: 10.1038/ncb2128
NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nchembio)
[15] Cardiac glycosides are potent inhibitors of interferon-beta gene expression
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.476
NATURE CHEMISTRY (http://www.nature.com/nchem)
[16] Macroscopic self-assembly through molecular recognition
DOI: 10.1038/nchem.893
[17] Redox-responsive molecular helices with highly condensed p-clouds
DOI: 10.1038/nchem.900
NATURE GENETICS (http://www.nature.com/naturegenetics)
[18] Overexpression of Fto leads to increased food intake and results in obesity
DOI: 10.1038/ng.713
[19] Resequencing of 31 wild and cultivated soybean genomes identifies patterns of genetic diversity and selection
DOI: 10.1038/ng.715
[20] Common variants in 22 loci are associated with QRS duration and cardiac ventricular conduction
DOI: 10.1038/ng.716
NATURE GEOSCIENCE (http://www.nature.com/ngeo)
[21] Widespread coupling between the rate and temperature sensitivity of organic matter decay
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1009
NATURE MATERIALS (http://www.nature.com/naturematerials)
[22] Direct observation of the temporal and spatial dynamics during crumpling
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2893
[23] Electric-field control of spin waves at room temperature in multiferroic BiFeO3
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2899
[24] The role of prenucleation clusters in surface induced calcium phosphate crystallization
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2900
Nature MEDICINE (http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine)
[25] Loss of the tumor suppressor Snf5 leads to aberrant activation of the Hedgehog-Gli pathway
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2251
[26] Noninvasive multiphoton fluorescence microscopy resolves retinol and retinal condensation products in mouse eyes
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2260
[27] Ocular surface wetness is regulated by TRPM8-dependent cold thermoreceptors of the cornea
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2264
NATURE METHODS (http://www.nature.com/nmeth)
[28] A defined glycosaminoglycan-binding substratum for human pluripotent stem cells
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1532
[29] Three-dimensional cellular ultrastructure resolved by X-ray microscopy
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1533
[30] Quantitative analysis of fitness and genetic interactions in yeast on a genome scale
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1534
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nnano)
[31] Identifying single bases in a DNA oligomer with electron tunnelling
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2010.213
[32] Atomic-scale engineering of electrodes for single-molecule contacts
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2010.215
Nature NEUROSCIENCE (http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience)
[33] Functional organization for color and orientation in macaque V4
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2676
[34] TRPV1 activation by endogenous anandamide triggers postsynaptic LTD in dentate gyrus
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2684
[35] Postsynaptic TRPV1 triggers cell type specific LTD in the nucleus accumbens
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2685
[36] HCN Channelopathy in External Globus Pallidus Neurons in Models of Parkinson's Disease
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2692
[37] The columnar and laminar organization of inhibitory connections to neocortical excitatory cells
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2687
NATURE PHOTONICS (http://www.nature.com/nphoton)
[38] Rewritable nanoscale oxide photodetector
DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2010.238
[39] High-energy isolated attosecond pulses generated by above-saturation few-cycle fields
DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2010.250
Nature PHYSICS (http://www.nature.com/naturephysics)
[40] Andreev bound states in supercurrent-carrying carbon nanotubes revealed
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1811
Nature STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natstructmolbiol)
[41] Structural characterization of a misfolded intermediate populated during the folding process of a PDZ domain
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1956
[42] BRCA2 acts as a RAD51 loader to facilitate telomere replication and capping
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1943
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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.
BELGIUM
Leuven: 41
CANADA
Toronto: 32
Victoria: 25
CHILE
Santiago: 29
CHINA
Beijing: 21
Hong Kong: 21
Shanghai: 35
Shenzen: 21
CROATIA
Split: 22
Zagreb: 22
DENMARK
Copenhagen: 21
FRANCE
Gif-sur-Yvette: 25, 42
Orsay: 25, 42
Palaiseau: 25
Paris: 25, 42
Strasbourg: 34
GERMANY
Berlin: 31
Cologne: 20
Erlangen: 26
Greifswald: 22
Heidelberg: 12
Jena: 26
Kiel: 34
Lubeck: 22
Munich: 22
Neuherberg: 22
ICELAND
Reykjavik: 22
ISRAEL
Jerusalem: 22
ITALY
Bolzano: 20
Ferrara: 20
Genova: 36
Milan: 39
Rome: 41
