NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
For papers that will be published online on 9 April 2006
This press release is copyrighted to the Nature journals mentioned below.
This press release contains:
* Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Mitochondrial DNA role in aging and Parkinson disease - Nature Genetics
Memories of a naïve killer - Nature Immunology
* 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/>.
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 GENETICS **********************
(<http://www.nature.com/naturegenetics>)
[1] & [2] Mitochondrial DNA role in aging and Parkinson disease
DOI: 10.1038/ng1778
DOI: 10.1038/ng1769
Two new studies published in the May issue of Nature Genetics present evidence associating damage to DNA molecules contained in mitochondria (known as mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA) with aging and Parkinson disease.
These studies find that deletions in mtDNA accumulate with aging and are found at high levels in the dopamine producing neurons within the primary site of neurodegeneration in Parkinson disease.
In one study, Konstantin Khrapko and colleagues show that these dopamine producing neurons have high levels of deleted mtDNA in aged brains and that there is an association between mtDNA deletion and loss of mitochondrial function. In an accompanying study, Douglas Turnbull and colleagues show that these neurons have high levels of deleted mtDNA in aged brains and brains of patients with Parkinson disease.
Author contacts:
Konstantin Khrapko (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 632 0334; E-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> [1]
Douglass Turnbull (University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle, UK)
Tel: +44 191 2228565; E-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> [2]
Other papers from Nature Genetics to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[3] Bone morphogenetic protein signaling by hemojuvelin regulates hepcidin expression
DOI: 10.1038/ng1777
[4] X-linked Cornelia de Lange syndrome owing to SMC1L1 mutations
DOI: 10.1038/ng1779
****************** NATURE IMMUNOLOGY ****************
(<http://www.nature.com/natureimmunology>)
[5] Memories of a naïve killer
DOI: 10.1038/ni1326
Efficient generation of immune cell memory can arise even in the absence of prior immunization or immunologic experience, according a new paper published in the May issue of Nature Immunology. “Memory-like” killer T cells can develop upon transfer into mice that lack such immune cells. These memory-like cells prove to be as effective as “true” memory cells, which arise upon immunization or infection, in mediating protection against bacteria.
The new findings by Jameson and colleagues counter existing controversy on whether ‘memory-like’ immune cells are functional in eliciting protection against pathogens. Previous work has demonstrated naive immune cells transferred into animals with lymphopenia - a condition in which the body contains very few immune cells - expand and develop many characteristics of memory cells even in the absence of any offending pathogen. Lymphopenia can arise due to a multitude of causes, including cancer treatments or by infection with viruses such as HIV that deplete immune cells.
Work by Jameson and colleagues demonstrates that killer cells from both normal and lymphopenic conditions protect against pathogen attack and that both require the usual developmental signals from ‘helper’ T cells. This work speaks directly to those developing bone marrow transplantation therapies aimed towards restoring the immune system of immunodepleted individuals. The new findings suggest that killer cells might effectively defend people with diseases that cause severe lymphopenia.
Author contact:
Stephen C Jameson (University of Minnesota Health Center, Minneapolis, MN, USA)
Tel: +1 612 625 1496; E-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
Other papers from Nature Immunology to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[6] Osteopontin expression is essential for interferon-alpha production by plasmacytoid dendritic cells
DOI: 10.1038/ni1327
******************************************************************
Items from other Nature journals to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
Nature (<http://www.nature.com/nature>)
[7] Weak pairwise correlations imply strongly correlated network states in a neural population
DOI: 10.1038/nature04701
[8] Differential role of MDA5 and RIG-1 in the recognition of RNA viruses
DOI: 10.1038/nature04734
NATURE MATERIALS (<http://www.nature.com/naturematerials>)
[9] Elastically relaxed free-standing strained-silicon nanomembranes
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1606
[10] Continuous-flow lithography for high-throughput microparticle synthesis
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1617
[11] Going beyond the reflectance limit of cholesteric liquid crystals
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1619
[12] Tensile stress and creep in thermally grown oxide
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1626
[13] Ultra-high-density phase-change storage and memory
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1627
Nature CHEMICAL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nchembio <http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience>)
[14] Atomic resolution crystallography reveals how changes in pH shape the protein microenvironment
DOI: 10.1038/ nchembio784
Nature MEDICINE (<http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine>)
[15] CNTF reverses obesity-induced insulin resistance by activating skeletal muscle AMPK
DOI: 10.1038/nm1383
[16] Hypothalamic huntingtin-associated protein 1 as a mediator of feeding behavior
DOI: 10.1038/nm1382
[17] Forkhead protein FoxO1 mediates Agrp-dependent effects of leptin on food intake
DOI: 10.1038/nm1392
[18] Intranasal delivery of the cytoplasmic domain of CTLA-4 using a novel protein transduction domain prevents allergic inflammation and hyper-responsiveness
DOI: 10.1038/nm1385
[19] Experimental therapy of African trypanosomiasis with a nanobody-conjugated human trypanolytic factor
DOI: 10.1038/nm1395
Nature BIOTECHNOLOGY (<http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnolgy>)
[20] Preventing gene silencing with human replicators
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1202
Nature NEUROSCIENCE (<http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience>)
[21] Microstimulation of macaque area LIP affects decision-making in a motion discrimination task
DOI: 10.1038/nn1683
[22] Distinct modes of regulated receptor insertion to the somatodendritic plasma membrane
DOI: 10.1038/nn1679
[23] A genetic interaction between the vesicular acetylcholine transporter VAChT/UNC-17 and synaptobrevin/SNB-1 in C. elegans
DOI: 10.1038/nn1685
[24] The development of direction selectivity in ferret visual cortex requires early visual experience
DOI: 10.1038/nn1684
[25] Endocytosis and synaptic removal of NR3A-containing NMDA receptors by PACSIN1/syndapin1
DOI: 10.1038/nn1680
NATURE CELL BIOLOGY (<http://www.nature.com/naturecellbiology>)
[26] A ubiquitin-interacting motif protects polyubiquitylated Met4 from degradation by the 26S proteasome
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1402
[27] Loss of the VHR dual-specific phosphatase causes cell-cycle arrest and senescence
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1398
Nature STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (<http://www.nature.com/natstructmolbiol>)
[28] A coproofreading Zn2+-dependent exonuclease within a bacterial replicase
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1078
[29] Nucleophosmin is selectively deposited on mRNA during polyadenylation
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1080
[30] The electrostatic character of the ribosome surface enables extraordinarily rapid target location by ribotoxins
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1082
********************************************************************
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
Bundoora: 15
Melbourne: 15
BELGIUM
Brussels: 19
Gosselies: 19
Liese: 27
FRANCE
Toulouse: 11
GERMANY
Cologne: 25
Kiel: 15
Munich: 2
ITALY
Milan: 4
Segrate: 4
JAPAN
Hyogo: 8
Kyoto: 8
Matsumo: 8
Osaka: 8
SOUTH KOREA
Seoul: 18
SPAIN
Albacete: 25
Pamplona: 25
Valladolid: 27
UNITED KINGDOM
London: 15, 8
Oxford: 23
Newcastle: 2
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
California
Berkley: 12
Davis: 21, 25
Irvine: 26
La Jolla: 16, 25, 27
San Diego: 5
San Francisco: 22
San Jose: 13
Santa Cruz: 14
Stanford: 17
Georgia
Atlanta: 16
Illinois
Argonne: 12
Chicago: 29
Massachusetts
Boston: 1, 3, 6, 23
Bedford: 1
Cambridge: 10
Peabody: 9
Maryland
Baltimore: 26
Bethesda: 20
Minnesota
Minneapolis: 5
New Jersey
Princeton: 7
New York
Bronx: 17, 20
New York: 16, 17
Yorktown Heights: 13
North Carolina
Durham: 24, 25
Colorado
Denver: 28
Fort Collins: 30
Ohio
Athens: 23
Oklahoma
Oklahoma: 23
Tennessee
Memphis: 25
Washington
Seattle: 21
Wisconsin
Madison: 9
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] <mailto:[email protected]>
Ruth Francis (Senior Press Officer, Nature, London)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4562; E-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[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] <mailto:[email protected]>
Nature Cell Biology (London)
Bernd Pulverer
Tel: +44 20 7843 4892; E-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[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] <mailto:[email protected]>
Nature Immunology (New York)
Laurie Dempsey
Tel: +1 212 726 9372; E-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
Nature Materials (London)
Maria Bellantone
Tel: +44 20 7843 4556; E-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
Nature Medicine (New York)
Juan Carlos Lopez
Tel: +1 212 726 9325; E-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
Nature Neuroscience (New York)
Sandra Aamodt (based in California)
Tel: +1 530 795 3256; E-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[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] <mailto:[email protected]>
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