NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
This press release is copyrighted to the Nature journals mentioned below.
This press release contains:
• Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Geoscience: Chilean earthquake risk after 2010 event
Nanotechnology: Keeping the carbon-nanotube blood flowing
Chemistry: An iron-sandwich solar cell
Cell Biology: Direct cell conversion to cardiomyocytes
Medicine: Ultrasensitive detection of prions
Immunology: Macrophage mutation causes susceptibility to tuberculosis
Neuroscience: The neuroscience of nutrition
Genetics: Variants associated with mammographic density
And finally…Nature: The nitty-gritty of nicotine addiction
• 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] Geoscience: Chilean earthquake risk after 2010 event
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1073
The 2010 Chile earthquake ruptured only part of the plate interface segment that had been accumulating tectonic stress since an earthquake in 1835, concludes a study online this week in Nature Geoscience. This finding suggests that last year’s earthquake did not eliminate seismic hazard risk in the region, and might even have increased it.
Stefano Lorito and colleagues use tsunami data and geodetic observations to derive an understanding of plate movement in the region of the earthquake. They find that during the 2010 Chile earthquake, slip occurred mainly to the north of the plate interface section that had remained unbroken since 1835, with a secondary concentration of slip to the south of that region.
Although the occurrence of a large earthquake off Chile did not come as a surprise, the researchers report that the exact location and extent were unexpected.
Author contact:
Stefano Lorito (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome, Italy)
Tel: +39 0651860584; E-mail: [email protected]
[2] Nanotechnology: Keeping the carbon-nanotube blood flowing
DOI: 10.1038/nano.2010.281
Amine-modified single-walled carbon nanotubes (a-SWCN’s) reduce tissue damage in the brain in a rat model of stroke, suggests a paper online this week in Nature Nanotechnology. The work lays the foundation for further studies to discover the potential protective effects of single-walled carbon-nanotubes against ischemic injury caused by stroke.
Transplanting scaffolds containing stem cells into areas of the brain that have been injured by stroke has previously been proposed as a treatment strategy. Carbon nanotubes have been investigated as potential scaffolds for stem cell therapy because of their favourable electrical properties. Sung Su Kim and colleagues pre-treated rats with a-SWCN's before including an ischemic injury and found that pre-treated animals had smaller volumes of damaged brain tissue and better motor function than untreated rats. Mechanistic studies suggest that the a-SWCN's protected the tissues from injury by limiting cell death and inflammation.
News and Views author Matthew Walters stresses that for a-SWCN’s to be clinically viable, the mechanism and benefits must be shown to remain relevant when the nanotubes are administered after the onset of stroke symptoms.
Author contacts:
Sung Su Kim (Chung Ang University, Seoul, Korea)
Tel: +82 2 820 5690; E-mail: [email protected]
Matthew Walters (University of Glasgow, UK) N&V author
Tel: +44 141 211 2821; E-mail: [email protected]
[3] Chemistry: An iron-sandwich solar cell
DOI: 10.1038/nchem.966
The compound ferrocene is proving a hit as an efficient electrolyte in dye-sensitized solar cells, reports a paper in Nature Chemistry this week. This iron ‘sandwich’ compound has the advantage over other electrolytes in that its structure has the potential to be tuned to improve its efficiency.
The technology behind these solar cells — in which sunlight is absorbed by a dye — is two decades old, and improvements in their performance by small adjustments in the types of chemicals used as the electrolyte are levelling off. Leone Spiccia, Udo Bach and colleagues replaced the traditional iodide electrolyte with a ferrocene-based one, and made solar cells that achieved efficiencies approaching those of iodide. One of the great advantages of ferrocene, however, is the ease with which its structure can be altered, and the researchers predict that this can be used to improve its efficiency.
Previous efforts to use metal compounds as the electrolyte have resulted in poor performance, and many proved corrosive to the solar cells. The ferrocene electrolyte does not corrode the cell and its behaviour is well understood.
Author contacts:
Leone Spiccia (Monash University, Melbourne, Australia)
Tel: +61 3 9905 4526; E-mail: [email protected]
Udo Bach (Monash University, Melbourne, Australia)
Tel: +61 3 9905 6264; E-mail: [email protected]
[4] Cell Biology: Direct cell conversion to cardiomyocytes
DOI: 10.1038/ncb2164
A method for converting mouse fibroblasts into spontaneously contracting cardiac cells using factors conventionally used for reprogramming differentiated cells to a pluripotent state is reported online in Nature Cell Biology this week. The strategy may represent an alternative, and potentially quicker, way of obtaining cells that can be used to study potential heart dysfunctions in the laboratory.
To understand the basis of cardiac-related syndromes, stem cells researchers have devoted significant effort to obtaining contractile heart muscle cells, known as cardiomyocytes, from sources of cells easily isolated from patients, such as skin cells. Given that the mammalian heart lacks significant regenerative capacity, such strategies could be eventually used for transplantation.
After briefly expressing factors that usually revert cell fate to an undifferentiated state in mouse fibroblasts, Sheng Ding and colleagues placed the cells in chemically defined growth solution containing molecules favourable to cardiogenic development. They found that rather than reprogramming to a pluripotent state, cells were tweaked towards heart lineage and form spontaneously contracting patches of differentiated cardiomyocytes. By avoiding the need to revert cells to a fully pluripotent state before re-differentiating them to cardiomyocytes, this strategy could provide a shortcut in the obtention of cells that could be used to study heart dysfunctions in a dish.
Author contact:
Sheng Ding (The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 858 7847376; E-mail: [email protected]
[5] Medicine: Ultrasensitive detection of prions
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2294
An ultrasensitive method to detect human prions—the agent that causes Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)—is reported in an article published online this week in Nature Medicine.
The development of technologies for the in vitro amplification of the pathogenic conformation of the prion protein— PrPSc—has generated the potential for new diagnostic assay for CJD. Ryuichiro Atarashi and his colleagues developed a PrPSc detection assay, called real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QUIC), which allows the fast detection of as little as one femtogram—10-15 grams—of PrPSc in extracts from brains of people with CJD.
Crucially, the technique allowed the authors to detect prions with high sensitivity and specificity in cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients, highlighting the potential of RT-QUIC for the early detection of suspected CJD cases.
Author contact:
Ryuichiro Atarashi (Nagasaki University, Japan)
Tel: +81 95 819 7059; E-mail: [email protected]
[6] Immunology: Macrophage mutation causes susceptibility to tuberculosis
DOI: 10.1038/ni.1992
A mutation in macrophages – a key immune cell – pre-disposes patients to infection with weakly virulent bacteria reports a paper online in Nature Immunology this week. The work suggests that these mutations could lead to increased susceptibility to tuberculosis.
Jean-Laurent Casanova and colleagues identified two groups of patients who had heightened susceptibility to tuberculosis following administration of the widely-used tuberculosis BCG vaccine. The susceptibility was tracked to a mutation in a gene controlling the so-called ‘respiratory burst’ which is normally required for the destruction of bacteria. The mutation specifically affected the respiratory burst in macrophages following their engulfment of tuberculosis bacteria in the BCG preparation.
This study demonstrates that that the respiratory burst in human macrophages is a crucial mechanism for protective immunity against tuberculosis.
Author contact:
Jean-Laurent Casanova (Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA)
Tel: + 1 212 327 7331; E-mail: [email protected]
[7] Neuroscience: The neuroscience of nutrition
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2736
Insufficient levels of omega-3 in the long-term diets of mice affects plasticity in specific brain regions and emotional behaviour, suggests a study published online this week in Nature Neuroscience. Because previous research has suggested that some people’s diets – particularly those in western countries – lack sufficient omega-3 (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids, this research has the potential to inform studies of malnutrition and its comorbidity with mood disorders in humans.
Olivier Manzoni, Sophie Layé and colleagues found that mice whose mothers had eaten a diet deficient in omega-3 during their gestation and were raised on the deficient diet themselves, exhibited behaviour suggestive of increased anxiety and depression, compared to mice raised on a balanced diet. Recording from the brain tissue of these omega-3-deficient mice revealed a lack of a type of synaptic plasticity, long-term depression, specifically in two brain regions, the prelimbic prefrontal cortex and the nucleus accumbens, which have been previously implicated in emotional behavior and mood disorders. The authors also found that a specific deficit in signaling via the cannabinoid type 1 receptor was underlying the specific plasticity defect.
Author contacts:
Olivier Manzoni (Institut de Neurobiologie de la Méditerranée INSERM, Marseille, France)
Tel: +33 491 82 81 37; E-mail: [email protected]
Sophie Layé (University of Bordeaux, France)
Tel: +33 5 5757 31232 Email: [email protected]
[8] Genetics: Variants associated with mammographic density
DOI: 10.1038/ng.760
Genetic variants associated with the density of the breast tissues are reported this week in Nature Genetics. Women with a high mammographic density, a measurement of the density of breast tissue, have shown increased risk for breast cancer.
Rulla Tamimi and colleagues report a meta-analysis of five genome-wide association studies for percent mammographic density, with a total sample size of 4,877 women, and replication in two additional cohorts including 2,835 women. They identify genetic variants in the gene ZNF365 associated with percent mammographic density adjusted for age and body mass index. Variants in this gene have also been associated with susceptibility to breast cancer.
Author contact:
Rulla Tamimi (Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 525 0862; E-mail: [email protected]
[9] And finally…Nature: The nitty-gritty of nicotine addiction
DOI: 10.1038/nature09797
The drive to ‘consume’ large amounts of nicotine can be altered by manipulating levels of a specific brain protein, suggests a rodent study in this week’s Nature.
Nicotine stimulates the alpha-5 subunit of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in the brain. This receptor is present in large numbers in a specific neural pathway, the habenulo-interpeduncular tract, which is thought to suppress reward signals. Paul Kenny and colleagues show that rodents missing this receptor will work for small quantities of nicotine, just like normal animals, but will also seek out high concentrations of nicotine — which normal animals find unappealing and avoid. Altering the levels of the receptor in the habenulo-interpeduncular tract changes the amount of nicotine the animals consume.
The study may offer an explanation as to why genetic variation in the gene encoding the alpha-5 subunit increases vulnerability to tobacco addiction in humans, as it may provide a negative signal in response to high levels of nicotine, thereby limiting intake.
Author contact:
Paul Kenny (Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL, USA)
Tel: +1 561 228 2231; 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)
[10] Embryonic lethal phenotype reveals a function of TDG in maintaining epigenetic stability
DOI: 10.1038/nature09672
NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nchembio)
[11] Defining the geometry of the two-component proteasome degron
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.521
[12] XPB, a subunit of TFIIH, is a target of the natural product triptolide
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.522
NATURE CHEMISTRY (http://www.nature.com/nchem)
[13] Spatial and temporal control of the alkyne–azide cycloaddition by photoinitiated Cu(II) reduction
DOI: 10.1038/nchem.980
[14] DNA charge transport over 34 nm
DOI: 10.1038/nchem.982
NATURE GENETICS (http://www.nature.com/naturegenetics)
[15] Mutations in TTC19 cause mitochondrial complex III deficiency and neurological impairment in humans and flies
DOI: 10.1038/ng.761
[16] A synonymous variant in IRGM alters a binding site for miR-196 and causes deregulation of IRGM-dependent xenophagy in Crohn’s disease
DOI: 10.1038/ng.762
NATURE GEOSCIENCE (http://www.nature.com/ngeo)
[17] Extreme oxygen isotope anomaly with a solar origin detected in meteoritic organics
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1070
[18] Complex layered deformation within the Aegean crust and mantle revealed by seismic anisotropy
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1065
NATURE IMMUNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natureimmunology)
[19] Fate mapping of IL-17-producing T cells in inflammatory responses
DOI: 10.1038/ni.1993
[20] Epithelial microRNAs regulate gut mucosal immunity via epithelium–T cell crosstalk
DOI: 10.1038/ni.1994
[21] Opposing regulation of the locus encoding IL-17 through direct, reciprocal actions of STAT3 and STAT5
DOI: 10.1038/ni.1995
NATURE MATERIALS (http://www.nature.com/naturematerials)
[22] An octave-bandwidth negligible-loss radiofrequency metamaterial
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2950
NATURE METHODS (http://www.nature.com/nmeth)
[23] A versatile in vivo system for directed dissection of gene expression patterns
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1561
[24] Quantification of PtdInsP3 molecular species in cells and tissues by mass spectrometry
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1564
[25] Codon adaptation-based control of protein expression in C. elegans
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1565
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nnano)
[26] Single-layer MoS2 transistors
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2010.279
[27] Time-dependent, protein-directed growth of gold nanoparticles within a single crystal of lysozyme
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2010.280
Nature NEUROSCIENCE (http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience)
[28] New views of Arc, a master regulator of synaptic plasticity
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2708
[29] Learning the microstructure of successful behavior
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2748
[30] Nestin negatively regulates postsynaptic differentiation of the neuromuscular synapse
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2747
[31] An optogenetic toolbox designed for primates
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2749
[32] Parvalbumin-positive CA1 interneurons are required for spatial working but not reference memory
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2751
NATURE PHOTONICS (http://www.nature.com/nphoton)
[33] Few-femtosecond timing at fourth-generation X-ray light sources
DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2010.311
[34] A planar dielectric antenna for directional single-photon emission and near-unity collection efficiency
DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2010.312
Nature PHYSICS (http://www.nature.com/naturephysics)
[35] Electric-field-induced nuclear-spin flips mediated by enhanced spin–orbit coupling
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1883
[36] Photon shell game in three-resonator circuit quantum electrodynamics
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1885
[37] Noiseless non-reciprocity in a parametric active device
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1893
[38] Localization of preformed Cooper pairs in disordered superconductors
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1892
[39] Random telegraph photosignals in a microwave-exposed two-dimensional electron system
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1895
[40] Observations and simulations of non-local acceleration of electrons in magnetotail magnetic reconnection events
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1903
Nature STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natstructmolbiol)
[41] Competing allosteric mechanisms modulate substrate binding in a dimeric enzyme
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1978
[42] Single-molecule analysis of a molecular disassemblase reveals the mechanism of Hsc70-driven clathrin uncoating
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1985
[43] Mechanics of Hsp70 chaperones enables differential interaction with client proteins
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.2006
[44] Common architecture between the flagellar type III protein export apparatus and F- and V-type ATPases
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1977
[45] MutS switches between two fundamentally distinct clamps during mismatch repair
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.2009
[46] Retinal dynamics underlie inverse-agonist to agonist switch in rhodopsin activation
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1982
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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
Clayton: 3
Melbourne: 3, 5, 8
Sydney: 42
BRAZIL
Sao Paulo: 6
CANADA:
Montreal: 41
Toronto: 8
CHINA
Chongqing: 27
Nanchang: 40
FRANCE
Boulogne: 6
Bordeaux: 7
Clermont-Ferrand: 16
Dijon: 7
Evry: 6
Freiburg: 32
Grenoble: 38
Marseille: 7
Nantes: 6, 16
Nice: 16
Paris: 6, 46
Valbonne: 16
Villejuif: 16
GERMANY
Berlin: 20, 33
Bochum: 18
Dresden: 25, 33
Goettingen: 25
Hamburg: 33
Heidelberg: 25, 43
Jena: 33
Kiel: 18
Potsdam: 18
Stuttgart: 39
IRELAND
Dublin: 18
ISRAEL
Jerusalem: 20
Rehovot: 20, 38
ITALY
Bassano del Grappa: 15
Ispra: 10
Milan: 15
Padova: 15
Rome: 1
Trieste: 15
JAPAN
Chiba: 17
Fukuoka: 17
Ibaraki: 36
Kanazawa: 5
Nagasaki: 5
Osaka: 17, 44
Saitama: 11, 44
Sendai: 5
Tokyo: 5, 35
MEXICO
Mexico City: 6
RUSSIA
Moscow: 38, 39
St Petersburg: 46
SAUDI ARABIA
Riyadh: 6
SINGAPORE
Singapore: 8
SOUTH KOREA
Daejon: 45
Kyunggi-do: 2
Pohang: 45
Seoul: 2
SPAIN
Bizkaia: 7
SWEDEN
Stockholm: 8
SWITZERLAND
Basel: 10
Lausanne: 26
Zurich: 10, 34
UNITED KINGDOM
Aberdeen: 32
Cambridge: 8, 19, 24
Coleraine: 1
Edinburgh: 10
London: 19, 32
Oxford: 10, 24
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Arizona
Tucson: 46
California
Berkeley: 37
La Jolla: 1, 4, 30
Los Angeles: 40
Palo Alto: 19
Pasadena: 14
San Francisco: 29
Santa Barbara: 36
Stanford: 23, 31
Colorado
Boulder: 9, 12, 13, 43
Connecticut
New Haven: 37
Florida
Fort Pierce: 46
Jupiter: 9
Illinois
Chicago: 11
Evanston: 11
Urbana: 27
Indiana
Indianapolis: 6
Maryland
Baltimore: 12, 23
Baltimore County: 40
Bethesda: 8, 21
Greenbelt: 40
Massachusetts
Boston: 2, 8, 42
Worcester: 6
Michigan
Ann Arbor: 40
Minnesota
Rochester: 8
New Jersey
Madison: 12
Murray Hill: 39
Piscataway: 38
New York
New York: 6, 32
Queens: 12
Upton: 27
Ohio
Columbus: 45
Pennsylvania
Newtown: 22
Philadelphia: 20
University Park: 22
Wisconsin
Milwaukee: 31
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 Cell Biology (London)
Sowmya Swaminathan
Tel: +44 20 7843 4656; 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 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)
Sabbi Lall
Tel: +1 212 726 9326; E-mail: [email protected]
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