This press release contains:
---Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Nanotechnology: Heart of gold
Chemical Biology: Predicting resistance to breast cancer treatment
Immunology: Helpers in tissue repair
Medicine: A mutant chaperone is a good chaperone
Geoscience: Forests clock emissions
Nature: Lipid turnover involvement in metabolic disorders
Genetics: TP53 variant associated with basal cell carcinoma
---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.
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).
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.
########################################################################################################
[1] Nanotechnology: Heart of gold
DOI:10.1038/nnano.2011.160
Adding gold nanowires to scaffolds used to engineer patches for treating damaged heart tissue could enhance the conductivity and contraction of these scaffolds, a study in this week's Nature Nanotechnology suggests.
Current cardiac patches are produced by seeding heart cells in three-dimensional scaffolds, normally made of synthetic or biological polymers such as poly(lactic acid) or alginate, respectively. Unfortunately these materials have poor conductivity, which limits the ability of the patch to contract strongly as a unit. Daniel Kohane and colleagues demonstrate that incorporating gold nanowires into alginate scaffolds enables heart cells grown on these composite scaffolds to respond simultaneously to electrical stimulation. Moreover, tissues grown on this scaffold are thicker and better aligned than those grown on gold-free alginate scaffolds.
Studies in animals are needed to determine whether these engineered tissues will be biocompatible in the body, the authors note.
Author contact:
Daniel Kohane (Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 253 3533; E-mail: [email protected]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2] Chemical Biology: Predicting resistance to breast cancer treatment
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.695
Mechanisms that can lead to drug resistance to PI3K inhibitors in cancer treatment are reported in a study published online this week in Nature Chemical Biology. These findings may help scientists develop strategies to counter resistance before it emerges and thereby improve therapy outcomes for patients.
Mutation of the gene encoding PI3 kinase (PI3K) occurs in more than 25% of breast cancers, which contribute to the malignant growth of the tissue. Inhibitors of PI3K are making their way through clinical trials; however, despite the promise of these therapies, resistance to targeted therapies often emerges.
Sebastian Nijman and colleagues used a chemical genetic approach to predict that activation of the NOTCH1 pathway and the c-MYC gene in breast cancer cells can confer resistance to PI3K inhibitors. The NOTCH pathway had not been linked to PI3K in breast cancer before. The authors believe that by understanding the types of changes that can occur in these tumors during treatment, scientists could better develop strategies for countering resistance to PI3K inhibitors before it emerges.
Author contact:
Sebastian Nijman (Austrian Academy of Science, Vienna, Austria)
Tel: +43 1 40160 70 056; E-mail: [email protected]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[3] Immunology: Helpers in tissue repair
DOI:10.1038/ni.2131
Resident lung immune cells that help repair infection-damaged tissues are identified in a paper published online this week in Nature Immunology. These cells elicit a molecule called amphiregulin that can restore lung function after influenza virus infection.
David Artis, John Wherry, and their colleagues identify immune cells, called innate lymphoid cells, in the airways of mice. Flu-infected mice lacking these innate cells fail to maintain body temperature and exhibit poorer lung function, as determine by measuring blood oxygen. However, infusion of these innate cells or administration of amphiregulin to the lungs of infected mice normalizes lung function and body temperature, suggesting that the activation of these cells is central to tissue repair at lung surfaces.
The authors show similar innate helper cells are found in human airways, raising the prospect that activating these cells might likewise help promote lung tissue repair in humans.
Author contacts:
David Artis (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA)
Tel: +1 215 898 7920; E-mail: [email protected]
E. John Wherry (University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA)
Tel: +1 215 746 8141; E-mail: [email protected]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[4] Medicine: A mutant chaperone is a good chaperone
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2457
A new genetic variant in a chaperone protein that quells tumor progression and improves responses to therapy is reported in a study published online this week in Nature Medicine. While chaperone inhibitor compounds are being explored for cancer therapy, these findings present a naturally occurring inhibitor.
Microsatellite instability (MSI), a genetic condition that leads to the accumulation of genetic alterations, also characterizes a subset of colon cancers with better prognosis.
Alex Duval and colleagues found that a new genetic variant arising from genomically unstable MSI generates a truncated chaperone—proteins that are key to maintaining the structural stability of other proteins. As normal chaperones inadvertently aid tumor growth by providing cancer cells with shipshape building blocks, MSI tumors with the crippled chaperone are less aggressive in growth and respond better to therapies.
Author contact:
Alex Duval (INSERM, Paris, France)
Tel: +33 1 49 28 66 80; E-mail: [email protected]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[5] Geoscience: Forests clock emissions
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1271
Forest emissions of hydrocarbons are ruled by daily biological rhythms in the plants suggests an article published online this week in Nature Geoscience.
Many plants emit the hydrocarbon isoprene, which is a precursor to the air pollutant ozone. Nick Hewitt and colleagues monitored emissions of isoprene from a rainforest and an oil-palm plantation in Malaysia. Their measurements suggest that daily emissions are regulated by an internally driven circadian clock. They show that incorporation of circadian control in model simulations reduces estimates of forest isoprene emissions.
In an accompanying News and Views, Alex Archibald writes $B!H(Bcircadian control of isoprene emissions could bring model simulations of ground-level ozone in line with observations.
Author contacts:
Nick Hewitt (University of Lancaster, UK)
Tel: +44 1524 593931; E-mail: [email protected]
Alex Archibald (University of Cambridge, UK) N&V Author
Tel: +44 1223 748901; E-mail: [email protected]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[6] Nature: Lipid turnover involvement in metabolic disorders
DOI: 10.1038/nature10426
Regulation of lipid turnover in fat cells represents a target for approaches to combat metabolic disease. Research in this week$B!G(Bs Nature establishes the dynamics of lipid turnover in adult human fat tissues and its relationship to conditions with disturbed lipid metabolism.
Kirsty Spalding and colleagues determine the age and turnover of lipids in human fat tissues using radiocarbon dating, a method that exploits atmospheric variations in 14C levels resulting from nuclear bomb tests. During the average 10-year life span of human fat cells, triglyceride content is renewed six times. The authors observe an increased rate of triglyceride storage together with decreased triglyceride removal in obese humans. By contrast, storage and removal rates are reduced in non-obese individuals with hyperlipidaemia (elevated levels of lipids in the blood), the most common form of hereditary dyslipidaemia.
These findings provide evidence that the lipid storage and removal capacities of fat cells have different roles in health and disease pathology.
Author contact:
Kirsty Spalding (Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden)
Tel: +46 70 437 1542; E-mail: [email protected]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[7] Genetics: TP53 variant associated with basal cell carcinoma
DOI: 10.1038/ng.926
A genetic variant associated with cutaneous basal cell carcinoma – the most common cancer in people of European ancestry – is reported this week in Nature Genetics.
Simon Stacey and Kari Stefansson and colleagues report sequencing the entire genomes of 457 Icelanders, which led to the identification of 16 million single nucleotide polymorphisms. They used this data along with information on Icelandic genealogy to analyze a previously reported genome-wide association study of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) in Icelanders. They identify an associated variant in the 3$B!l(B untranslated region of TP53 that results in impaired processing of TP53 mRNA.
They go on to replicate the association with BCC in additional Icelanders and in samples from other European countries. They also report association of this TP53 variant with prostate cancer and colorectal adenoma.
Author contacts:
Simon Stacey (deCODE Genetics, Reykjavik, Iceland)
Tel: +354 5702880; E-mail: [email protected]
Kari Stefansson (deCODE Genetics, Reykjavik, Iceland)
Tel: +354 5701900; E-mail: [email protected]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[8] And finally: The nose knows
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2926
The arrangement of smell receptors in the human nose is organized, in part, according to the perception of odor pleasantness, reports a study published online this week in Nature Neuroscience. These findings are the first systematic study of odor receptor responses in humans, who can report on subjective pleasantness of odors, which is difficult to measure in animals.
Noam Sobel and colleagues recorded neural activity directly from the lining of the human nose in response to a range of odors, and also asked these individuals to judge the pleasantness (or unpleasantness) of each odor. They found that a location that responded best to a pleasant odor was likely to respond strongly to other pleasant odors, and a location that responded best to an unpleasant odor was likely to respond strongly to other unpleasant odors.
Author contact:
Noam Sobel (Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel)
Tel: +1 972 8 934 6253; E-mail: [email protected]
***************************************************************************************************************
Items from other Nature journals to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
Nature (http://www.nature.com/nature)
[9] Control of flowering and storage organ formation in potato by FLOWERING LOCUS T
DOI: 10.1038/nature10431
[10] Structure of human mitochondrial RNA polymerase
DOI: 10.1038/nature10435
[11] STING is a direct innate immune sensor of cyclic di-GMP
DOI: 10.1038/nature10429
[12] Structural basis of RNA recognition and activation by innate immune receptor RIG-I
DOI: 10.1038/nature10537
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology)
[13] CD140a identifies a population of highly myelinogenic, migration-competent and efficiently engrafting human oligodendrocyte progenitor cells
DOI: 10.1038/nbt.1972
[14] Performance comparison of exome DNA sequencing technologies
DOI: 10.1038/nbt.1975
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NATURE CELL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturecellbiology)
[15] Bap31 and BiP are essential for dislocation of SV40 from the endoplasmic reticulum to the cytosol
DOI: 10.1038/ncb2339
[16] SHARPIN is an endogenous inhibitor of b1-integrin activation
DOI: 10.1038/ncb2340
[17] MCPH1 regulates the neuroprogenitor division mode by coupling the centrosomal cycle with mitotic entry through the Chk1–Cdc25 pathway
DOI: 10.1038/ncb2342
[18] USP15 is a deubiquitylating enzyme for receptor-activated SMADs
DOI: 10.1038/ncb2346
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nchembio)
[19] Chemical inhibitors of monogalactosyldiacylglycerol synthases in Arabidopsis thaliana
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.658
[20] Affinity-based proteomics reveal cancer-specific networks coordinated
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.670
[21] Profens are substrate-selective inhibitors of endocannabinoid oxygenation by COX-2
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.663
[22] On-resin N-methylation of cyclic peptides for discovery of orally bioavailable scaffolds
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.664
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NATURE CHEMISTRY (http://www.nature.com/nchem)
[23] Enantioselective preparation and chemoselective cross-coupling of 1,1-diboron compounds
DOI: 10.1038/nchem.1150
[24] A sequence-specific threading tetra-intercalator with an extremely slow dissociation rate constant
DOI: 10.1038/nchem.1151
[25] Ultrafast energy flow in the wake of solution-phase bimolecular reactions
DOI: 10.1038/nchem.1154
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE (http://www.nature.com/nclimate)
[26] Reduced survival of Antarctic benthos linked to climate-induced iceberg scouring
DOI: 10.1038/nclimate1232
We are seven billion
DOI: 10.1038/nclimate1235
Heating up tensions
DOI: 10.1038/nclimate1236
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NATURE GENETICS (http://www.nature.com/naturegenetics)
[27] Genome-wide association and large-scale follow up identifies 16 new loci influencing lung function
DOI: 10.1038/ng.941
[28] Exon capture analysis of G protein-coupled receptors identifies activating mutations in GRM3 in melanoma
DOI: 10.1038/ng.950
[29] Transposon-mediated rewiring of gene regulatory networks contributed to the evolution of pregnancy in mammals
DOI: 10.1038/ng.917
[30] Identification of a functional transposon insertion in the maize domestication gene tb1
DOI: 10.1038/ng.942
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NATURE GEOSCIENCE (http://www.nature.com/ngeo)
[31] Increased capture of magma in the crust promoted by ice-cap retreat in Iceland
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1269
[32] High abundances of noble gas and chlorine delivered to the mantle by serpentinite subduction
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1270
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NATURE MATERIALS (http://www.nature.com/naturematerials)
[33] A micromechanical model to predict the flow of soft particle glasses
DOI: 10.1038/nmat3119
[34] Hierarchical self-assembly of suspended branched colloidal nanocrystals into superlattice structures
DOI: 10.1038/nmat3121
[35] Turning aluminium into a noble-metal-like catalyst for low-temperature activation of molecular hydrogen
DOI: 10.1038/nmat3123
[36] Differential stress induced by thiol adsorption on facetted nanocrystals
DOI: 10.1038/nmat3124
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nature MEDICINE (http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine)
[36] Somatic deletions of genes regulating MSH2 protein stability cause DNA mismatch repair deficiency and drug resistance in human leukemia cells
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2430
[37] Tumor suppressor BRCA1 epigenetically controls oncogenic microRNA-155
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2459
[38] Epidermal growth factor receptor promotes glomerular injury and renal failure in rapidly progressive crescentic glomerulonephritis
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2491
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NATURE METHODS (http://www.nature.com/nmeth)
[39] The proteomes of transcription factories containing RNA polymerases I, II or III
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1705
[40] Rapid and robust generation of functional oligodendrocyte progenitor cells from epiblast stem cells
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1712
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nnano)
[41] Unity quantum yield of photogenerated charges and band-like transport in quantum-dot solids
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2011.159
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nature NEUROSCIENCE (http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience)
[42] Hemisphere-specific optogenetic stimulation reveals left-right asymmetry of hippocampal plasticity
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2915
[43] Amygdala lesions selectively impair familiarity in recognition memory
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2919
[44] Subthalamic nucleus stimulation reverses mediofrontal influence over decision threshold
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2925
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NATURE PHOTONICS (http://www.nature.com/nphoton)
[45] Resonance-shifting to circumvent reabsorption loss in luminescent solar concentrators
DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2011.236
[46] Optical control of one and two hole spins in interacting quantum dots
DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2011.237
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nature PHYSICS (http://www.nature.com/naturephysics)
[47] Observation of an electrically tunable band gap in trilayer graphene
DOI: 10.1038/nphys2102
[48] Stacking-dependent band gap and quantum transport in trilayer graphene
DOI: 10.1038/nphys2103
[49] The experimental observation of quantum Hall effect of l =3 chiral quasiparticles in trilayer graphene
DOI: 10.1038/nphys2104
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nature STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natstructmolbiol)
[50] The export factor Yra1 modulates mRNA 3' end processing
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.2126
[51] Structure of collagenase G reveals a chew-and-digest mechanism of bacterial collagenolysis
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.2127
***************************************************************************************************************
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
Canberra: 32
Melbourne: 19, 32, 37
Nedlands: 27
Parkville: 19
Perth: 27
Sydney: 5
AUSTRIA
Innsbruck: 27
Salzburg: 51
Vienna: 2, 6
BELGIUM
Antwerp: 41
Brussels: 19
Ghent: 27
CANADA:
Edmonton: 23
Montreal: 37
St John: 27
Toronto: 27, 38
CHINA
Beijing: 49
CROATIA
Split: 27
Zagreb: 27
DENMARK
Aarhus: 7
Copenhagen: 7
Gentofte: 7
Glostrup: 7
Odense: 7
FINLAND
Helsinki: 16, 27
Jyvaskyla: 27
Oulu: 27
Tampere: 27
Turku: 16
FRANCE
Dijon: 4
Gif-sur-Yvette: 19
Grenoble: 19, 27
Montpellier: 19
Montreuil: 38
Nice: 4
Orleans: 19
Paris: 4, 19, 33, 38
Strasbourg: 4
Toulouse: 4
Villejuif: 38
Villeurbanne: 6
GERMANY
Dortmund: 46
Dresden: 8
Greifswald: 27, 38
Heidelberg: 7, 39
Jena: 17
Munich: 10, 27
Neuherberg: 27
Weihenstephan: 6
HUNGARY
Budapest: 7
ICELAND
Kopavogur: 27
Reykjavik: 7, 27, 31
INDIA
New Delhi: 27
ISRAEL
Holon: 8
Rehovot: 8
ITALY
Genova: 32, 34
Milan: 18
Padua: 18
Rome: 47
JAPAN
Ikoma: 9
Sapporo: 11
Toyota: 11
MALAYSIA
Kuala Lumpur: 37
NETHERLANDS
Amsterdam: 44
Delft: 31, 41
Groningen: 27
Nijmegen: 7, 27
Rotterdam: 27
The Hague: 27
Utrecht: 34
NEW ZEALAND
Auckland: 27
NORWAY
Bergen: 27
ROMANIA
Bucharest: 7
Cluj-Napoca: 7
SLOVAKIA
Banska Bystrica: 7
SPAIN
Huesca: 7
Madrid: 7, 9, 47
Santander: 7
Soria: 7
Valencia: 7
Zaragoza: 7
SWEDEN
Gothenburg: 27, 31
Molndal: 27
Stockholm: 6, 7
Uppsala: 6, 31
SWITZERLAND
Basel: 27
Fribourg: 19
Geneva: 27
Zurich: 15
UNITED KINGDOM
Birmingham: 5
Bristol: 7, 25, 27
Cambridge: 7, 26, 27, 42
Dundee: 27
Edinburgh: 27
Lancaster: 5, 27, 48
Leeds: 39
London: 16, 17, 27, 36
Manchester: 16
Nottingham: 27
Oxford: 6, 7, 27, 39, 42
Penicuik: 5
Southampton: 27
St Andrews: 27
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Alabama
Birmingham: 27
Arizona
Phoenix: 44
Tucson: 44
California
Berkeley: 5, 11
Davis: 30
La Jolla: 3
Livermore: 6
Los Angeles: 27, 48
Pasadena: 48
Riverside: 48
San Francisco: 7, 22
San Jose: 22
Santa Cruz: 22
Stanford: 14, 40, 42
Colorado
Aurora: 50
Boulder: 5
Connecticut
Groton: 22
New Haven: 29
District of Columbia
Washington: 37, 46
Florida
Tallahassee: 48
Georgia
Athens: 27
Illinois
Argonne: 21, 36, 45
Chicago: 7
Evanston: 45
Iowa
Iowa City: 49
Maine
Bar Harbor: 16
Maryland
Baltimore: 28
Bethesda: 20, 27, 28, 36, 37, 38
College Park: 46
Frederick: 37
Rockville: 37
Massachusetts
Boston: 1, 22, 27, 38, 43
Cambridge: 1, 46
Framingham: 27
Michigan
Ann Arbor: 46
Minnesota
Rochester: 7
New Jersey
Piscataway: 12
Stratford: 10
New Mexico
Albuquerque: 27
New York
Buffalo: 13
Ithaca: 21
New York: 3, 20, 27, 47
Rochester: 13
Stony Brook: 49
Upton: 49
North Carolina
Chapel Hill: 7, 27, 38
Raleigh: 38
Research Triangle: 27
Winston-Salem: 27
Ohio
Cleveland: 40
Columbus: 37
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia: 3
University Park: 45
Rhode Island
Providence: 44
Tennessee
Memphis: 27, 36
Nashville: 21, 27
Texas
Austin: 24, 33
Georgetown: 24
Houston: 27, 28
Richardson: 35
Virginia
Charlottesville: 27
Washington
Seattle: 12, 27
Spokane: 35
Wisconsin
Madison: 30
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)
Elissa Bolt
Tel: +1 617 475 9241, E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Chemistry (London)
Stuart Cantrill
Tel: +44 20 7014 4018; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Climate Change (London)
Olive Heffernan
Tel: +44 20 7014 4009; 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]