NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
For papers that will be published online on 27 February 2011
This press release is copyrighted to the Nature journals mentioned below.
This press release contains:
Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Neuroscience: I’m a quitter
Chemical Biology: Biofuels by bugs
Geoscience: Weakness in the San Andreas Fault
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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NOTE: Once a paper is published, the digital object identifier (DOI) number can be used to retrieve the abstract and full text from the journal web site (abstracts are available to everyone, full text is available only to subscribers). To do this, add the DOI to the following URL: http://dx.doi.org/ (For example, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng730). For more information about DOIs and Advance Online Publication, see http://www.nature.com/ng/aop/.
HYPE: We take great care not to hype the papers mentioned on our press releases, but are sometimes accused of doing so. If you ever consider that a story has been hyped, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected], citing the specific example.
PLEASE CITE THE SPECIFIC NATURE JOURNAL AND WEBSITE AS THE SOURCE OF THE FOLLOWING ITEMS. IF PUBLISHING ONLINE, PLEASE CARRY A HYPERLINK TO THE APPROPRIATE JOURNAL’S WEBSITE.
[1] Neuroscience: I’m a quitter
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2761
Brain responses to personalized messages about smoking-cessation predict how likely someone is to quit smoking four months later, reports a study published this week in Nature Neuroscience. The predictive responses were specifically located in areas of the brain that are activated by thinking about oneself.
Hannah Chua and colleagues studied smokers who participated in a smoking-cessation program. In this program, they were presented with tailored messages that encouraged quitting by making references to the individual’s life, needs, and interests, as well as, to specific obstacles to achieving behavioural change. Functional magnetic resonance imaging during the presentation of these messages showed that activation of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, an area that is also activated by self-related thinking, was correlated with how likely participants were to have quit smoking four months after the scanning.
Author Contact:
Hannah Faye Chua (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA)
Tel: +1 734 926 1912; E-mail: [email protected]
[2] Chemical Biology: Biofuels by bugs
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.537
A strategy to produce greater yield of butanol—a ‘green’ biofuel—using microbes is presented this in a paper published this week in Nature Chemical Biology.
Microbial production of biofuels is critically needed to reduce our dependence on oil. Butanol is produced by some bacteria naturally, but not in large amounts. Scientists have previously used synthetic construction of metabolic pathways through genetic manipulations, to create new routes to this gas alternative. However, the yields have remained low.
Michelle Chang and colleagues considered the role of individual enzymes in the process, and utilized proteins that would be most likely to perform the desired reaction rather than allowing the reverse, undesired reaction. The final process yielded 4.65 grams of butanol per liter, which is equal to a high conversion of 30% of the initial substrate, glucose, into the desired product.
Author contact:
Michelle Chang (University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 510 642 8545; Email: [email protected]
[3] Geoscience: Weakness in the San Andreas Fault
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1089
The central-California section of the San Andreas Fault creeps rather than generating large earthquakes in sudden slip events because minerals in the fault zone exert only weak friction, suggests a study published online this week in Nature Geoscience. The samples from the fault zone also revealed that, unlike in the surrounding rock, bonds in the material that fills the fault do not heal after rupture, adding to the fault’s weakness.
Brett Carpenter and colleagues analysed samples obtained at 2.7 km depth from an actively slipping part of the San Andreas Fault. The researchers found that both the frictional strength of the fault and the rate of healing varied systematically across the fault zone, and was lowest where the fault creeps at present.
Author contact:
Brett Carpenter (Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA)
Tel: +1 814 571 3601; 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 BIOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology)
[4] Generation of anterior foregut endoderm from human embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells
DOI: 10.1038/nbt.1788
NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nchembio)
[5] Intrinsic disorder mediates the diverse regulatory functions of the Cdk inhibitor p21
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.536
NATURE CHEMISTRY (http://www.nature.com/nchem)
[6] Iridium-catalysed direct C–C coupling of methanol and allenes
DOI: 10.1038/nchem.1001
[7] The Jekyll-and-Hyde chemistry of Phaeobacter gallaeciensis
DOI: 10.1038/nchem.1002
NATURE GENETICS (http://www.nature.com/naturegenetics)
[8] Mutations in ORC1, encoding the largest subunit of the origin recognition complex, cause microcephalic primordial dwarfism resembling Meier-Gorlin syndrome
DOI: 10.1038/ng.776
[9] Mutations in the pre-replication complex cause Meier-Gorlin syndrome
DOI: 10.1038/ng.775
[10] Mutations in origin recognition complex gene ORC4 cause Meier-Gorlin syndrome
DOI: 10.1038/ng.777
[11] Multiple self-healing squamous epithelioma is caused by a disease-specific spectrum of mutations in TGFBR1
DOI: 10.1038/ng.780
NATURE GEOSCIENCE (http://www.nature.com/ngeo)
[12] Transformation of tectonic and climatic signals from source to sedimentary archive
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1087
NATURE IMMUNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natureimmunology)
[13] The helminth product ES-62 protects against septic shock via Toll-like receptor 4–dependent autophagosomal degradation of the adaptor MyD88
DOI: 10.1038/ni.2004
[14] The kinase mTOR regulates the differentiation of helper T cells through the selective activation of signaling by mTORC1 and mTORC2
DOI: 10.1038/ni.2005
NATURE MATERIALS (http://www.nature.com/naturematerials)
[15] Bottom-up realization of a porous metal–organic nanotubular assembly
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2963
[16] Nodeless superconducting gap in AxFe2Se2 (A = K, Cs) revealed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2981
NATURE MEDICINE (http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine)
[17] Genetic impact of vaccination on breakthrough HIV-1 sequences from the STEP trial
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2316
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nnano)
[18] A size-dependent nanoscale metal–insulator transition in random materials
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2011.21
[19] Atomic-scale magnetometry of distant nuclear spin clusters via nitrogen-vacancy spin in diamond
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2011.22
NATURE NEUROSCIENCE (http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience)
[20] Presynaptic HCN1 channels regulate CaV3.2 activity and neurotransmission at select cortical synapses
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2757
[21] MHCI negatively regulates synapse density during the establishment of cortical connections
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2764
[22] Temporally matched subpopulations of selectively interconnected principal neurons in the hippocampus
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2768
[23] Characterising the RNA targets and position-dependent splicing regulation by TDP-43; implications for neurodegenerative diseases
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2778
[24] Long pre-mRNA depletion and RNA missplicing contribute to neuronal vulnerability from loss of TDP-43
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2779
NATURE PHOTONICS (http://www.nature.com/nphoton)
[25] Optofluidic modulator based on peristaltic nematogen microflows
DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2011.18
NATURE PHYSICS (http://www.nature.com/naturephysics)
[26] Heat capacity through the magnetic-field-induced resistive transition in an underdoped high-temperature superconductor
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1921
[27] Time-resolved measurement of spin-transfer-driven ferromagnetic resonance and spin torque in magnetic tunnel junctions
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1928
[28] Dimension of spatially embedded networks
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1932
NATURE STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natstructmolbiol)
[29] Structure-function analysis of hRPC62 provides insights into RNA polymerase III transcription initiation
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1996
[30] Histone H3 lysine 9 trimethylation and HP1g favor inclusion of alternative exons
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1995
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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.
CANADA:
Halifax: 10
Montreal: 10
Toronto: 4, 26
Vancouver: 10, 26
CHINA
Hefei: 16
Shanghai: 16
DENMARK
Copenhagen: 11
Odense: 11
FRANCE
Bordeaux: 30
Chalon-sure-Saone: 11
Montpellier: 9
Paris: 29
Pessac: 30
St Aubin: 30
GERMANY
Giessen: 28
Heidelberg: 30
GREECE
Thessaloniki: 28
HONG KONG
Hong Kong: 19
ISRAEL
Ramat Gan: 28
ITALY
Arcavacata di Rende: 25
JAPAN
Chiba: 15
Fukuoka: 15
Hokkaido: 15
Hyogo: 15
Kyoto: 15
Osaka: 15
Okazaki: 16
Sendai: 15
Tokyo: 15
KOREA
Icheon-Si: 18
NETHERLANDS
Nijmegen: 9
Utrecht: 9
NEW ZEALAND
Auckland: 9, 11
SINGAPORE
Singapore: 11, 13
SPAIN
Albacete: 20
SAUDI ARABIA
Dhahan: 8
Jeddah: 9
SWITZERLAND
Basel: 22
Lausanne: 25
UNITED KINGDOM
Aberdeen: 9
Brighton: 8
Cambridge: 11
Dundee: 11
Edinburgh: 8, 9
Glasgow: 13
Liverpool: 9, 13
London: 11, 12, 20
Newcastle: 9
Sheffield: 8
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
California
Berkeley: 2
Davis: 21
Los Angeles: 11
Petaluma: 21
San Francisco: 17
San Jose: 27
Delaware
Wilmington: 8, 9
Florida
Tallahassee: 26
Indiana
West Lafayette: 16
Kansas
Manhattan: 5
Louisiana
Baton Rouge: 10
Maryland
Baltimore: 14
Rockville: 17
Massachusetts
Boston: 7
Waltham: 9
Michigan
Ann Arbor: 1
New Mexico
Los Alamos: 26
New York
Ithaca: 27
New York: 4
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia: 18
University Park: 3
West Point: 17
Tennessee
Memphis: 5
Texas
Austin: 6
Dallas: 8, 9
Utah
Salt Lake City: 9
Washington
Seattle: 17
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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