THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
For papers that will be published online on 12 March 2006
This press release is copyrighted to the Nature journals mentioned below.
This press release contains:
* Summaries of newsworthy papers:
* Coral compound blocks viruses - Nature Chemical Biology
* The stress of running alone - Nature Neuroscience
* Partners in crime - Nature Structural and Molecular Biology
* 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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PICTURES: To obtain artwork from any of the journals, you must first obtain permission from the copyright holder (if named) or author of the research paper in question (if not).
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/>.
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.
******************NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY***********************
(http://www.nature.com/nchembio
http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience>)
[1] Coral compound blocks viruses
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio776
A small molecule has been discovered in coral that can be used to block the replication of certain viruses, reports a study in the April issue of Nature Chemical Biology. The research shows that the natural product, hippuristanol, specifically impairs the machinery used to make proteins.
Jerry Pelletier and colleagues isolated hippuristanol from the coral Isis hippuris. The authors found that this molecule prevents a protein, eIF4A, from binding to mRNA. mRNA carries the code to make proteins from DNA to specific sites of protein synthesis in the cell. By binding to the mRNA, eIF4A initiates the translation of the protein code. Hippuristanol prevents replication by inhibiting this process. . Viruses like poliovirus
that hijack this initiation machinery are also known to use eIF4A and could therefore be targeted by hippuristanol.
Hippuristanol now joins the arsenal of anti-viral compounds and can also be used to distinguish whether new viruses rely on eIF4A.
Author contact:
Jerry Pelletier (McGill University, Quebec, Canada)
Tel: +1 514 398 2323. E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Chemical Biology to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[2] Heparan sulfate C5-epimerase is essential for heparin biosynthesis in mast cells
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio777
******************NATURE NEUROSCIENCE************************
(<http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience>)
[3] The stress of running alone
DOI: 10.1038/nn1668
Many people struggle to maintain a regular exercise schedule on their own, but do better when they exercise with friends. In rats, exercising in groups is better for the brain as well, reports a study in the April issue of Nature Neuroscience.
Elizabeth Gould and colleagues study the effects of running on the generation of new neurons (neurogenesis) in the brains of adult rats housed in groups and in isolation. The authors report that running increases neurogenesis only when rats were housed in groups. However, in rats that run in social isolation, neurogenesis is suppressed. Running caused similar elevations of the stress hormone corticosterone in isolated or group-housed rats, but only animals that ran alone were vulnerable to the negative
influence of corticosterone on neurogenesis. Moreover, individually housed runners showed higher levels of corticosterone in response to additional stress when compared to group-housed runners. Preventing the elevation in corticosterone levels in individually housed runners stimulated neurogenesis. These results suggest that without social interaction, a normally beneficial experience can have negative effects on the brain.
Author contact:
Elizabeth Gould (Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA)
Tel: +1 609 258 4483; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Neuroscience to be published online at the same
time and with the same embargo:
[4] Neuronal activity determines the protein synthesis dependence of long-term potentiation
DOI: 10.1038/nn1667
[5] Protein kinase A regulates calcium permeability of NMDA receptors DOI: 10.1038/nn1664
*******NATURE STRUCTURAL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY****************
(<http://www.nature.com/natstructmolbiol>)
[6] Partners in crime
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1073
Scientists have defined the detailed architecture of an enzyme crucial for the replication of two major human viruses. The results, reported in the April issue of Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, will guide the discovery of new antiviral drugs. Hommel and colleagues study a viral enzyme called NS3pro from Dengue and West Nile viruses. NS3pro processes newly synthesized viral proteins, an event that is required for the replication of both viruses. The activity of NS3pro depends on another viral protein called NS2B. NS2B activates NS3pro, but how it does this was not known. The authors have determined three-dimensional structures of West Nile and Dengue viruses NS3pro bound to NS2B. These structures reveal that NS2B activates NS3pro by helping it to recognize its targets. Dengue and West Nile viruses cause diseases in an estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide. At present, no vaccine or treatment is available to prevent or cure these diseases, so this information will aid the development of new drugs against West Nile and Dengue viruses.
Author contact:
Ulrich Hommel (Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland)
Tel: +41 616 961 209, E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Structural & Molecular Biology to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[7] Molecular determinants of gating at the potassium-channel selectivity filter
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1069
[8] Voltage-dependent gating at the KcsA selectivity filter
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1070
[9] Structural basis for DNA recognition and processing by UvrB
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1072
[10] Rapid ribosomal translocation depends on the conserved 18-55 base pair in P-site transfer RNA
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1074
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Items from other Nature journals to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
NATURE MATERIALS (<http://www.nature.com/naturematerials>)
[11] Processing of giant graphene molecules by soft-landing mass spectrometry
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1597
[12] Ratchet without spatial asymmetry for controlling the motion of magnetic flux quanta using time-asymmetric drives
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1608
Nature MEDICINE (<http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine>)
[13] A novel prognostic subtype of human hepatocellular carcinoma derived from hepatic progenitor cells
DOI: 10.1038/nm1377
[14] A sensitive and high-throughput assay to detect low-abundance proteins in serum
DOI: 10.1038/nm1378
Nature BIOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnolgy)
[15] Comprehensive metabolic profiling and phenotyping of interspecific introgression lines for tomato improvement
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1192
[16] Chronic, programmed polypeptide delivery from an implanted multireservoir microchip device
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1199
NATURE GENETICS (<http://www.nature.com/naturegenetics>)
[17] Epistasis and the release of genetic variation during long-term selection
10.1038/ng1761
[18] Calcium oxalate urolithiasis in mice lacking anion transporter Slc26a6
10.1038/ng1762
Nature IMMUNOLOGY (<http://www.nature.com/natureimmunology>)
[19] An intersection between the self-reactive regulatory and nonregulatory T cell receptor repertoires
DOI: 10.1038/ni1318
NATURE CELL BIOLOGY (<http://www.nature.com/naturecellbiology>)
[20] Evidence for the existence of an HP1-mediated subcode within the histone code
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1383
[21] Regulation of monoubiquitinated PCNA by DUB autocleavage
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1378
[22] GINS maintains association of Cdc45 with MCM in replisome progression complexes at eukaryotic DNA replication forks
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1382
[23] Immuno-electron tomography of ER exit sites reveals the existence of free COPII-coated transport carriers
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1371
*************************************************************
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
Melbourne: 15
BELGIUM
Leuven: 13
CANADA
Montreal: 1
CHINA
Beijing: 13
FRANCE
Strasbourg: 11
GERMANY
Golm: 15
Mainz: 11
Muchen-Martinsried: 4
Ulm: 2
Wurzburg
ISRAEL
Rehovot: 15
ITALY
Bologna: 11
JAPAN
Okinawa: 1
Saitama: 12
Tokyo: 12
KOREA
Taejun: 13
LITHUANIA
Kaunas: 5
RUSSIA
Gatchina: 10
SINGAPORE
Singapore: 6
SWEDEN
Uppsala: 17, 2
SWITZERLAND
Basel: 6
THE NETHERANDS
Amsterdam: 21
Utrecht: 23
UNITED KINGDOM
Bath: 12
Loughborough: 12
Manchester: 12, 22
Woking: 1
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Connecticut
New Haven: 18
Illinois
Chicago: 7, 5, 18
Indiana
Indianapolis: 18
Maryland
Bethesda: 13
Massachusetts
Boston: 1, 21
Bedford: 16
Cambridge: 5
Michigan
Ann Arbor: 12
Minnesota
Rochester: 13, 20
Missouri
St Louis: 19
New Jersey
Princeton: 3
New York
Bronx: 5
New York: 5, 7
Stony Brook: 9
North Carolina: 9
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia: 10, 14
Pittsburgh: 13
Virginia
Blacksburg: 17
Charlottesville: 7, 8
Washington
Seattle: 189
PRESS CONTACTS...
For media inquiries relating to embargo policy for all the Nature Research Journals:
Victoria Picknell (Nature London)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4502; E-mail: [email protected]
Ruth Francis (Senior Press Officer, 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)
Kathy Aschheim
Tel: +1 212 726 9346; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Cell Biology (London)
Bernd Pulverer
Tel: +44 20 7843 4892; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Chemical Biology (Boston)
Beatrice Chrystall
Tel: +1 617 475 9241, E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Genetics (New York)
Orli Bahcall
Tel: +1 212 726 9311; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Immunology (New York)
Laurie Dempsey
Tel: +1 212 726 9372; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Materials (London)
Maria Bellantone
Tel: +44 20 7843 4556; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Medicine (New York)
Juan Carlos Lopez
Tel: +1 212 726 9325; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Neuroscience (New York)
Sandra Aamodt (based in California)
Tel: +1 530 795 3256; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Physics (London)
Alison Wright
Tel: +44 20 7843 4555; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology (New York)
Ed Feng
Tel: +1 212 726 9351; E-mail: [email protected]
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