NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
For papers that will be published online on 28 November 2010
This press release is copyrighted to the Nature journals mentioned below.
This press release contains:
· Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Medicine: A new target against depression
Nature: A boost for Alzheimer’s disease
Materials: Why diamond can be polished
Immunology: Targeting AID for immunoglobulin genes
Genetics: Risk variant for hypospadias
And finally…Nature: How to reverse age-related tissue degeneration
· 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] Medicine: A new target against depression
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2263
Blocking a direct physical interaction between two neurotransmitter receptors may be a new target against depression, suggests an article published online this week in Nature Medicine.
The neurotransmitter dopamine is well known to be affected in people with depression. Fang Liu and her colleagues report that the direct interaction between two different types of dopamine receptors—D1 and D2—is markedly increased in the brain of people who had major depression. Working in rats, they found that administration of a peptide that disrupts the D1-D2 receptor complex substantially reduced behaviours commonly associated with a depressed state.
As blocking the formation of the receptor complex does not necessarily affect the function of the D1 or D2 receptor in transmitting the dopamine signal, therapeutically targeting this protein-protein interaction may be advantageous over drugs that interfere with dopamine-receptor function and often have undesirable side effects.
Author contact:
Fang Liu (University of Toronto, Canada)
Tel: +1 416 979 4659; E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]
[2] Nature: A boost for Alzheimer’s disease
DOI: 10.1038/nature09635
Boosting neuronal levels of the protein EphB2 improves memory in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, indicates a Nature study that highlights several new targets for therapeutic intervention.
Mice with reduced levels of the protein show functional deficits similar to those found in Alzheimer’s disease, Lennart Mucke and colleagues also demonstrate. Specifically, the animals show impaired long-term potentiation — the electrical ‘signature’ underlying learning and memory — and impaired functioning of NMDA-type glutamate receptors, also involved in learning and memory.
The team show how fragments of the amyloid-beta peptide, which make up the characteristic plaques found in Alzheimer’s disease brains, bind to and trigger the breakdown of EphB2. So drugs that boost EphB2 levels may prove useful in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, as may molecules that prevent the binding of amyloid-beta to EphB2, block the breakdown of EphB2, or improve its interactions with NMDA receptors.
Author contact:
Lennart Mucke (Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease and University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 415 734 2504; E-mail: [email protected]
[3] Materials: Why diamond can be polished
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2902
The explanation of why diamond – the hardest material on Earth – can be polished by other pieces of diamond, and only along certain directions, has been uncovered in a paper published this week in Nature Materials. These results not only clarify this long-standing problem, but also provide an insight into similar wear processes in other materials.
Despite centuries of study, the mechanism of the polishing process in diamond has not been fully understood. In theoretical simulations, Michael Moseler and colleagues track this behaviour to a very thin layer of amorphous carbon that forms on the surface of diamond as it is polished by another diamond. They find that the formation of the amorphous film is strongly dependent on the crystallographic orientation of the diamond being polished.
Author contact:
Michael Moseler (Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials, Freiburg, Germany)
Tel: +49 761 5142 332; E-mail: [email protected]
[4] Immunology: Targeting AID for immunoglobulin genes
DOI: 10.1038/ni.1964
Hints as to why immunoglobulin (Ig) genes—which encode antibody molecules—are more frequently targeted for mutation than other genes are provided in a paper published online this week in Nature Immunology.
Ig genes are highly diversified by a programmed mutation process directed by an enzyme called activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID). Although AID preferentially targets Ig genes, other genes can also be mutated by AID, often contributing to mutations that lead to the development of B cell lymphomas and other malignancies.
To ascertain what rules govern AID recruitment, Rafael Casellas and Michel Nussenzweig team up to map AID binding sites throughout the entire genome. Surprisingly, AID binding was promiscuous, binding to thousands of non-Ig genes at sites associated with stalled RNA polymerase complexes on transcriptionally active genes, which can explain off-target AID-mediated mutations. The Ig genes uniquely recruit another factor, called RPA, forming a complex that is associated with the higher mutation frequency seen for the Ig genes.
Author contacts:
Rafael Casellas (National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, Bethesda, MD, USA)
Tel: +1 301 402 7858; E-mail: [email protected]
Michel Nussenzweig (The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA)
Tel: +1 212 327 8067; E-mail: [email protected]
[5] Genetics: Risk variant for hypospadias
DOI: 10.1038/ng.721
Variation in the gene DGKK is a strong risk factor for hypospadias, according to a study published online this week in Nature Genetics.
Hypospadias is a common birth defect in boys in which the opening of the urethra is displaced along the ventral side of the penis. To identify genetic risk factors for hypospadias, Loes van der Zanden, Barbara Franke and colleagues performed a genome-wide association study of individuals from The Netherlands with or without this malformation, with follow-up testing in two independent sample collections from The Netherlands and Sweden. The researchers identified common genetic variation in DGKK that was consistently associated with two- to three-fold higher risk of hypospadias.
According to the findings, DGKK is expressed in the foreskin region and its expression is lower in boys carrying the risk-associated variant.
Author contacts:
Loes van der Zanden (Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, The Netherlands)
Tel: +31 24 3619132; E-mail: [email protected]
Barbara Franke (Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, The Netherlands)
Tel: +31 24 3614017; E-mail: [email protected]
[6] And finally…Nature: How to reverse age-related tissue degeneration
DOI: 10.1038/nature09603
Strategies that help to keep the protective tips of chromosomes in good health could halt, and perhaps even reverse, age-related tissue degeneration, a mouse study in this week’s Nature suggests.
As we age and our cells divide, the protective tips of our chromosomes — telomeres — gradually wear away. Mice lacking the telomere-rebuilding enzyme telomerase experience progressive tissue atrophy, stem-cell loss, organ failure and impaired healing. But reactivating the enzyme helps restore telomeres, prompts quiescent cells to start dividing and reverses tissue degeneration across many different organs including testes, spleen and intestine. Notably, telomerase reactivation also reverses neurodegeneration, triggering the proliferation of neural progenitors, the generation of new neurons, and an improved sense of smell.
The study, by Ronald DePinho and colleagues, hints that given the right signals, ageing organs may be able to ‘turn back the clock’ and reverse age-related atrophy. But the team caution that, although no tumours were observed in the mice studied here, prolonged telomerase reactivation or applications in later life could provoke carcinogenesis.
Author contact:
Ronald DePinho (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 632 6085; 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)
[7] Paneth cells constitute the niche for Lgr5 stem cells in intestinal crypts
DOI: 10.1038/nature09637
NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology)
[8] High-fidelity gene synthesis by retrieval of sequence verified DNA identified using high-throughput pyrosequencing
DOI: 10.1038/nbt.1710
[9] Scalable gene synthesis by selective amplification of DNA pools from high-fidelity microchips
DOI: 10.1038/nbt.1716
NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nchembio)
[10] Selective irreversible inhibition of a protease by targeting a non-catalytic cysteine
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.492
[11] Specific Btk inhibition suppresses B-cell and myeloid-cell mediated arthritis
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.481
NATURE CHEMISTRY (http://www.nature.com/nchem)
[12] Highly efficient photocatalytic oxygenation reactions using water as an oxygen source
DOI: 10.1038/nchem.905
[13] Anion order in perovskite oxynitrides
DOI: 10.1038/nchem.908
NATURE GENETICS (http://www.nature.com/naturegenetics)
[14] Continuous cell supply from a Sox9-expressing progenitor zone in adult liver, exocrine pancreas and intestine
DOI: 10.1038/ng.722
NATURE GEOSCIENCE (http://www.nature.com/ngeo)
[15] Bromine-induced oxidation of mercury in the mid-latitude atmosphere
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1018
[16] Methane hydrate-bearing seeps as a source of aged dissolved organic carbon to the oceans
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1016
[17] The many surface expressions of mantle dynamics
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1020
[18] Chemosynthetic origin of 14C-depleted dissolved organic matter in a ridge-flank hydrothermal system
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1015
NATURE IMMUNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natureimmunology)
[19] The expanding family of innate lymphoid cells: regulators and effectors of immunity and tissue remodeling
DOI: 10.1038/ni.1962
Nature MEDICINE (http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine)
[20] T helper type 1 memory cells disseminate postoperative ileus over the entire intestinal tract
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2255
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nnano)
[21] Electroluminescence from a single nanotube– molecule–nanotube junction
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2010.230
[22] Highly conductive, printable and stretchable composite films of carbon nanotubes and silver
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2010.232
[23] Anomalous ion transport in 2-nm hydrophilic nanochannels
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2010.233
[24] Red spectral shift and enhanced quantum efficiency in phonon-free photoluminescence from silicon nanocrystals
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2010.236
[25] Hybrid pore formation by directed insertion of a-haemolysin into solid-state nanopores
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2010.237
Nature NEUROSCIENCE (http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience)
[26] Principles governing recruitment of motoneurons during swimming in zebrafish
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2704
Nature PHYSICS (http://www.nature.com/naturephysics)
[27] Charge induced vortex lattice instability
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1835
[28] Single vortex-antivortex pair in an exciton polariton condensate
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1841
[29] Glass transition with decreasing correlation length during cooling of Fe50Co50 superlattice and strong liquids
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1823
[30] Thermal ground state ordering and elementary excitations in artificial magnetic square ice
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1853
Nature STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natstructmolbiol)
[31] Optical trapping with high forces reveals unexpected behaviors of prion fibrils
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1954
[32] The histone methyltransferase MLL1 permits the oscillation of circadian gene expression
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1961
*******************************************
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.
CANADA:
Ottawa: 1
Toronto: 1
Victoria: 16
FRANCE
Grenoble: 17
Paris: 19
GERMANY
Bonn: 20
Freiburg: 3
Hannover: 20
Heidelberg: 8, 26
Karlsruhe: 3, 21
Mainz: 15
Saarbrucken: 29
Wurzburg: 28
ISRAEL
Jerusalem: 15
JAPAN
Kyoto: 14
Osaka: 12
Tokyo: 27, 28
KOREA
Seoul: 12
Suwon: 22
NETHERLANDS
Amsterdam: 19, 24
Delft: 25
Den Haag: 18
Nijmegen: 5
Utrecht: 7
POLAND
Poznan: 21
RUSSIA
St. Petersburg: 24
SPAIN
Bellaterra: 13
SWEDEN
Stockholm: 5, 26
SWITZERLAND
Basel: 21
UNITED KINGDOM
Chilton: 30
Edinburgh: 13
Leeds: 30
London: 5
Oxford: 25
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Arizona
Tempe: 29
California
Berkeley: 23
Irvine: 18, 32
Palo Alto: 8
San Francisco: 2, 5, 11
Santa Clara: 9
Santa Cruz: 18
Stanford: 9, 28
Connecticut
Branford: 11
District of Columbia
Washington: 23
Florida
Tallahassee: 27
Illinois
Evanston: 27
Maryland
Bethesda: 4
Massachusetts
Boston: 6, 8, 9
Cambridge: 9, 10, 31
Waltham: 10
Woods Hole: 16, 18
Nevada
Reno: 15
New York
New York: 4
Upton: 30
North Carolina
Greensboro: 25
Raleigh: 16
Ohio
Cincinnati: 7
Columbus: 16
Tennessee
Nashville: 31
Texas
Houston: 14
San Antonio: 11
Washington
Bainbridge: 11
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)
Michael Francisco
Tel: +1 212 726 9288; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Chemical Biology (Boston)
Carrie Meggs
Tel: +1 617 475 9241, E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Chemistry (London)
Stuart Cantrill
Tel: +44 20 7014 4018; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Genetics (New York)
Myles Axton
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)
Sabbi Lall
Tel: +1 212 726 9326; E-mail: [email protected]
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