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This press release is copyright Nature.
VOL.473 NO.7346 DATED 12 MAY 2011
This press release contains:
Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Immunology: Further developments for HIV vaccines
Astronomy: Hot Jupiters in a spin
Stem cells: Generation of liver cells from fibroblasts
Comment: WHO needs change
Ageing: How dietary restriction extends nematode lifespan
Microbiology: New group of ‘hidden’ fungi discovered
Biology: Signal pathway Notches up roles in cancer
Physics: How to control complex network systems
Physics: Problem solving on a quantum scale
And finally… Sulphur so good
Mention of papers to be published at the same time with the same embargo
Geographical listing of authors
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[1] Immunology: Further developments for HIV vaccines (AOP)
DOI: 10.1038/nature10003
***This paper will be published electronically on Nature's website on 11 May at 1800 London time / 1300 US Eastern Time 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 12 May, but at a later date. ***
Effective infection control in an animal model of HIV using a new vaccine strategy of viral delivery to the cell is described in Nature this week. Such techniques could provide a new approach for HIV vaccine development, but human trials are needed to confirm these findings.
The simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) vaccine, based on a rhesus cytomegalovirus (RhCMV) vector, provides long-term protection in rhesus macaques against subsequent rechallenge with SIV. This protection is mediated by tissue-resident T effector memory cells, Louis Picker and colleagues report. Of 24 rhesus macaques receiving RhCMV vectors, early compete control of SIV was observed in 13, 12 of which demonstrated long-term protection. Thus, persistent vectors such as CMV and their associated T effector memory cell responses might contribute to the development of an efficacious HIV vaccine, the researchers conclude.
Conventional vaccines with non-persistent vectors tend to elicit their response too late to effectively control rapid-acting pathogens such as AIDS-causing lentiviruses. The authors’ approach controls highly pathogenic SIV quickly, arresting mucosally acquired infection before disseminated progressive infection is established.
CONTACT
Louis Picker (Oregon Health Sciences University, Beaverton, OR, USA)
Tel: +1 503 418 2720; E-mail: [email protected]
[2] Astronomy: Hot Jupiters in a spin (pp 187-189)
The formation of ‘hot Jupiters’ that are orbiting counter to the spin direction of their parent star is explained in Nature this week.
Hot Jupiters are a class of exoplanets with a mass similar to that of Jupiter, in our Solar System, but with an orbit much closer to their parent stars. About 25 per cent of these planets have orbits that are misaligned with the spin axis of their parent stars. This phenomenon is contrary to planet formation theory, which suggests planets should orbit in the same direction that their star is spinning (as is true in the Solar System). Until now models have been unable to explain how the orbits of hot Jupiters can be retrograde with respect to the total angular momentum.
In an analysis of planetary bodies, Smadar Naoz and colleagues demonstrate that they can produce hot Jupiters with obit spins counter to that of their stars. When there are multiple planets, the angular momentum of the inner one need not be constant, and can even be flipped to retrograde.
CONTACT
Smadar Naoz (Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA)
Tel: +1 847 491 7650; E-mail: [email protected]
[3] Stem cells: Generation of liver cells from fibroblasts (AOP)
DOI: 10.1038/nature10116
***This paper will be published electronically on Nature's website on 11 May at 1800 London time / 1300 US Eastern Time 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 12 May, but at a later date. ***
A strategy for generating hepatocyte-like cells in mice for liver engineering and regenerative medicine is described in Nature this week.
Generating functional hepatocytes, the main cell type in the liver, independently of donor liver organs is of great therapeutic interest for medicine and for finding potential cures for liver diseases. By establishing the key transcription factors for hepatocyte conversion, Lijian Hui and colleagues convert mouse fibroblasts directly into functional, hepatocyte-like cells. These induced hepatic cells demonstrate functions seen in mature hepatocytes. When transplanted into mouse models of liver injury, the hepatocyte-like cells can repopulate the livers and restore their function.
Transduction of the transcription factors Gata4, Hnf1α and Foxa3 and inactivation of p19Arf induce the conversion of mouse fibroblasts into hepatocyte-like cells. The induced hepatic cells could provide a source of hepatocytes for disease modelling, transplantation and tissue engineering.
CONTACT
Lijian Hui (Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences, China)
Tel: +86 21 5492 1328; E-mail: [email protected]
Comment: WHO needs change (pp 143-145)
The World Health Organization (WHO) is increasingly being marginalized and underfunded, writes Barry R. Bloom in a Comment piece in this week’s Nature.
In the past few years, the WHO’s biennial budget has fallen by about 10% — a striking decline given that the amount of money invested each year in all activities related to global health has risen from US$5.6 billion in 1990 to $26.8 billion in 2010. With the WHO’s responses to epidemics and to the requests of countries for drugs and vaccines hampered by bureaucracy and politicization, donors are losing faith in the agency’s ability to address major problems in global health.
“To regain its standing, the WHO needs to win back donor trust by focusing on those areas where it has an advantage over other foundations, companies and non-governmental organizations,” argues Bloom. This means concentrating its efforts on gathering the best technical, scientific and practical information and making it accessible to all countries. “With an explosion of players now involved in global health, the world urgently needs an organization that can convene the best expertise and provide a centralized resource for health-related knowledge.”
Bloom lists three key changes that would help the WHO “become a far-sighted leader, not a lagger, in global health.” First, it should be more inclusive and engage people from civil-society organizations and industry in its governance or as stakeholders. Second, the governance of the WHO should be more transparent, with secret ballots abolished and recommendations about leadership and priority-setting made as open and publicly accountable as possible. Finally, it should introduce an external review process much like that used by the World Bank or the Global Fund.
CONTACT
Barry R. Bloom (Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 432 7827; E-mail: [email protected]
[4] Ageing: How dietary restriction extends nematode lifespan (pp 226-229; N&V)
Lifespan extension in Caenorhabditis elegans through dietary restriction is controlled by a specific class of signalling molecules, reports a paper in Nature this week. These molecules seem to represent a signal that coordinates nutrient status with metabolic changes that ultimately determine lifespan in nematodes.
Dietary restriction can extend lifespan in various species, such as rodents, yeast and nematode worms; however, the signals that coordinate the metabolic response in C. elegans are poorly understood. Matthew Gill and colleagues show that N-acylethanolamines (NAEs) have a role in nutrient-controlled lifespan extension of C. elegans. When nutrients are restricted, levels of NAEs are reduced, which is associated with lifespan extension. Supplementing the nematode’s diet with NAE inhibits dietary-restriction-induced lifespan extension.
NAEs are lipid-derived signalling molecules, which include the mammalian endocannabinoid arachidonoyl ethanolamide. The endocannabinoid system has a role in regulating nutrient intake and energy balance in mammals, but C. elegans does not posses endocannabinoid receptors; thus, how decreasing levels of NAEs extend lifespan in the worm remains to be seen.
CONTACT
Matthew Gill (The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL, USA)
Tel: +1 561 228 2954; E-mail: [email protected]
Vincenzo Di Marzo (Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry, Pozzuoli, Italy) N&V author
Tel: +39 81 867 5093; E-mail: [email protected]
[5] Microbiology: New group of ‘hidden’ fungi discovered (AOP)
DOI: 10.1038/nature09984
***This paper will be published electronically on Nature's website on 11 May at 1800 London time / 1300 US Eastern Time 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 12 May, but at a later date. ***
The discovery of an unusual new group of fungi, reported in Nature this week, may prompt a rethink of fungal evolution.
The tiny eukaryotes, first isolated by Thomas Richards and colleagues in a pond at Exeter University, can be found in many ecosystems including soil, freshwater and aquatic sediments. They are about 3–5 micrometres in length and can produce flagella. But their lack of chitin-containing cell walls means that they do not conform to the standard fungal body plan. It is thought that this molecularly diverse group, tentatively named cryptomycota (‘hidden fungi’), evolved early as part of the putative primary branch of the fungal tree.
Our knowledge of fungal diversity is coloured by those forms that can be grown in culture. However, this new group was discovered via analysis of environmental DNA, hinting that an untapped diversity of fungal forms might exist in nature.
CONTACT
Thomas Richards (Natural History Museum, London, UK)
Tel: +44 7977 264677; E-mail: [email protected]
[6] Biology: Signal pathway Notches up roles in cancer (pp 230-233; N&V)
The Notch signalling pathway, which has a known oncogenic role in the haematopoietic system, also exerts tumour suppressor functions in the haematopoietic system, a paper reports in Nature this week. Inactivation of the Notch pathway leads to the development of myeloid leukaemia, suggesting that targeting this pathway might represent a future treatment option for myeloid disease.
Activating mutations in the Notch pathway promotes tumorigenesis in T cell leukaemia. Iannis Aifantis and colleagues identify inactivating mutations in Notch pathway genes in patients with chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia. The authors uncover a novel role for this pathway during early haematopoietic stem cell differentiation and regulation of critical cell fate decisions.
The researchers demonstrate that the Notch pathway regulates myeloid differentiation in mice. Inactivating the pathway in hematopoietic stem cells leads to the development of myeloid leukaemia. Thus, treatments that reactivate this pathway could be used to target the progression and relapse of neoplasms that are normally suppressed by Notch signalling.
CONTACT
Iannis Aifantis (New York University School of Medicine, NY, USA)
Tel: +1 212 263 5365; E-mail: [email protected]
Scott Armstrong (Children’s Hospital Boston, MA, USA) N&V author
Tel: +1 617 919 2508; E-mail: [email protected]
[7] Physics: How to control complex network systems (pp 167-173; N&V)
A framework for controlling the behaviour of complex network systems, ranging from metabolic pathways in living organisms to the Internet, is described by a paper published in Nature this week.
Albert-László Barabási and colleagues have developed mathematical tools with which to study the controllability of an arbitrary complex directed network. Using these tools, the researchers identify a set of ‘driver’ nodes (points in the network) that can be used to guide the dynamics of the whole system. Sparse and heterogeneous networks, such as those found in cells, are the most difficult to control because they require a larger number of driver nodes than do denser networks. Unexpectedly, driver nodes are not usually located at the network hubs, despite the importance of hubs in maintaining network dynamics.
CONTACT
Albert-László Barabási (Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 373 2355; E-mail: [email protected]
Magnus Egerstedt (Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA) N&V author
Tel: +1 404 894 3484; E-mail: [email protected]
[8] Physics: Problem solving on a quantum scale (pp 194-198; N&V)
Scientists have found the ground state in an artificial spin system using a quantum algorithm called quantum annealing. The work, published in Nature this week, suggests that quantum annealing could improve known methods of solving certain optimization problems and could have implications for the field of quantum computers.
Systems of interacting spins have practical importance for quantum computation. Finding the lowest energy configuration (or ground state) of the Ising spin system — a model spin system — can solve computationally hard problems in a range of fields, from zoology to artificial intelligence. Mark Johnson and colleagues demonstrate that, in an Ising system comprising eight coupled superconducting flux quantum bits, this state can be delineated efficiently using quantum annealing. Their work could enable more-effective approaches to solving certain classes of hard combinatorial optimization problems.
CONTACT
Mark Johnson (D-Wave Systems Inc., Burnaby, Canada)
Tel: +1 604 630 1428 ext: 405; E-mail: [email protected]
William Oliver (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lexington, MA, USA) N&V author
Tel: +1 781 981 5500; E-mail: [email protected]
[9] And finally… Sulphur so good (pp 208-211)
Biologists have described a novel pathway of how marine bacteria break down a key sulphur compound from their environment. The research, published in Nature this week, uncovers an important route for carbon and sulphur metabolism in marine bacterioplankton.
Dimethylsulphoniopropionate is an important source of carbon and sulphur for marine microbes. The metabolic end products are either dimethylsulphide — a climatically active gas — or methanethiol, from which microbes can acquire sulphur. William Whitman and colleagues uncover the previously poorly understood pathway for methanethiol formation and identify three novel enzymes involved in the process. An analysis of marine genomic data indicates that the three-step pathway is widespread among bacterioplankton in the ocean surface waters.
Further investigations of this pathway could improve our understanding of the capture, storage and flow of reduced sulphur and carbon in marine and other ecosystems.
CONTACT
William Whitman (University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA)
Tel: +1 706 542 4219; E-mail: [email protected]
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE…
[10] Evolution and metabolic significance of the urea cycle in photosynthetic diatoms (pp 203-207)
[11] Metabolite-enabled eradication of bacterial persisters by aminoglycosides (pp 216-220)
[12] Preserving the membrane barrier for small molecules during bacterial protein translocation (pp 239-242)
ADVANCE ONLINE PUBLICATION
*** These papers will be published electronically on Nature's website on 11 May at 1800 London time / 1300 US Eastern Time as part of our AOP (ahead of print) programme. Although we have included them on this release to avoid multiple mailings they will not appear in print on 12 May, but at a later date. ***
[13] Inferring nonlinear mantle rheology from the shape of the Hawaiian swell
DOI: 10.1038/nature09993
[14] Structure and function of a membrane component SecDF that enhances protein export
DOI: 10.1038/nature09980
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.
BELGIUM
Ghent: 6
BRAZIL
Viçosa: 10
CANADA
Burnaby: 8
CHINA
Shanghai: 3
Wuhan: 10
CZECH REPUBLIC
Budejovice: 10
FRANCE
Orsay: 13
Paris: 10
GERMANY
Potsdam: 10
GREECE
Athens: 6
IRAN
Zanjan: 13
JAPAN
Kyoto: 14
Niigata: 14
Tokyo: 14
NORWAY
Kristiansand: 8
SPAIN
Barcelona: 5
SWEDEN
Huddinge: 4
UNITED KINGDOM
Cambridge: 5
Exeter: 5
London: 5
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Alabama
Birmingham: 14
California
Novato: 4
San Diego: 10
Florida
Jupiter: 4
Georgia
Athens: 9
Illinois
Evanston: 2
Maryland
Frederick: 1
Massachusetts
Boston: 5, 6, 7, 11, 12
Cambridge: 6, 7
Minnesota
Minneapolis: 3
New Jersey
Princeton: 11
New York
Brooklyn: 1
New York: 6
Oregon
Beaverton: 1
Texas
Houston: 6
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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