NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
For papers that will be published online on 14 May 2006
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This press release contains:
· Summaries of newsworthy papers:
- Microbiology: Most acid-friendly methanogen unveiled - Nature
- Mothballs link cell death and cancer – Nature Chemical Biology
- Gene variant associated with type 1 diabetes – Nature Genetics
- Regeneration of injured optic nerve – Nature Neuroscience
- SUMO Switches metastasis on and off – Nature Cell 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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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*********************************
(http://www.nature.com/nature)
[1] Microbiology: Most acid-friendly methanogen unveiled
DOI: 10.1038/nature04810
Microbiologists have succeeded in culturing the most acid-loving methanogen ever discovered. The microbe, found in acidic peat bogs, grows at a preferred pH value of around 5 - far more acidic than could be tolerated by the majority of organisms.
The new species was isolated from samples taken from McLean Bog in New York State. Microbes living in the acidic soils of peat bogs such as this are important sources of atmospheric methane, which is linked to global warming. But despite the ubiquity of these methane-producing microbes, microbiologists have never before isolated one in culture and demonstrated its acid-loving nature, report Stephen Zinder and colleagues in a study published online by Nature.
The new species, which belongs to a group called Methanomicrobiales, beats the previous record-holder, Methanobacterium espanolae, which has an optimum pH of between 5.5 and 6.0. Although some other methanogens can survive pH values as low as 4.5, the new species is the first to show growth and optimal methanogenesis in such a stringently acidic conditions.
Author contact
Stephen Zinder (Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA)
Tel: +1 607 255 2415 / 3088; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[2] Single-cell proteomic analysis of S. cerevisiae reveals the architecture of biological noise
DOI: 10.1038/nature04785
[3] Golgi maturation visualized in living yeast
DOI: 10.1038/nature04717
[4] Live imaging of yeast Golgi cisternal maturation
DOI: 10.1038/nature04737
******************************NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY ************************
(http://www.nature.com/nchembio)
[5] Mothballs link cell death and cancer
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio791
Components of the humble mothball are carcinogens because they block cell suicide according to research in the June issue of Nature Chemical Biology.
Naphthalene and para-dichlorobenzene (PDCB) are carcinogenic compounds found in mothballs and air fresheners and are known environmental pollutants. In order to determine how these chemicals exert their carcinogenic effects, Xue and colleagues treated the microscopic worm, Caenorhabditis elegans with the compounds. In addition to causing a developmental delay and a reduced brood size, they inhibited caspases, the key enzymes that kick off the tidy self-destruction of cells.
Naphthalene and PDCB are the first small molecule inhibitors of programmed cell death in C. elegans and lend support to the idea that a decrease in cell death can lead to carcinogenesis.
Author contact:
Ding Xue (University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA)
Tel: +1 303 492 0271, E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Chemical Biology to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[6] Stochastic kinetics of intracellular huntingtin aggregate formation
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio792
************************************NATURE GENETICS ****************************
(http://www.nature.com/naturegenetics)
[7] Gene variant associated with type 1 diabetes
DOI: 10.1038/ng1800
A new gene variant associated with risk of type 1 diabetes is reported in a study to be published in the June issue of Nature Genetics. The gene, IFIH1, encodes a protein involved in the immune response to viral infection. This is one of only a few genes reported to be associated with risk of type 1 diabetes that has been validated in a large number of individuals from more than one population.
Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body’s own immune system inappropriately attacks the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. John Todd and colleagues show that a relatively common variant of IFIH1 is associated with susceptibility to the disease in a large sampling of individuals from the general population, as well as in families affected by the disease from several countries. This is the first genetic evidence in humans in support of the idea that one of the causes of the disease might involve an aberrant response to a virus.
Author contact:
John Todd (Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, Cambridge, UK)
Tel: +44 1223 762 101, E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Genetics to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[8] A degradation-sensitive anionic trypsinogen (PRSS2) variant protects against chronic pancreatitis
DOI: 10.1038/ng1797
[9] Dissecting Arabidopsis thaliana DICER function in small RNA processing, gene silencing and DNA methylation patterning
DOI: 10.1038/ng1804
*********************************NATURE NEUROSCIENCE ************************
(http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience)
[10] Regeneration of injured optic nerve
DOI: 10.1038/nn1701
A treatment applied three days after optic nerve injury greatly improves regeneration, reports a paper in the June issue of Nature Neuroscience.
Central nervous system injuries cannot heal, leaving patients impaired for life. Many interventions improve regrowth of injured nerve fibers in animal models, but these treatments often need to be applied at or before injury, making them difficult to use in humans.
Larry Benowitz and colleagues had previously found, in rats, that inflammation in the eye fostered regeneration of the optic nerve, which leads from the eye to the brain. It remained unclear, though, exactly what about the inflammation was beneficial. The authors now report that a certain cell type activated by inflammation releases the protein oncomodulin, and that oncomodulin, in combination with two other small molecules, greatly enhances regeneration of optic nerve without the need for inflammation. In contrast to many other interventions in animal models, this treatment is effective when applied days after the injury, raising hopes for therapy. It remains to be seen whether oncomodulin works in spinal cord injuries, and whether it is effective in people.
Author contact:
Jamie Newton (Public Affairs, Children's Hospital Boston, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 355 6420; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Neuroscience to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[11] RGS4-dependent attenuation of M4 autoreceptor function in striatal cholinergic interneurons following dopamine depletion
DOI: 10.1038/nn1700
[12] Palmitoylation of huntingtin by HIP14 is essential for its trafficking and function
DOI: 10.1038/nn1702
[13] Astrocytic Ca2+ signaling evoked by sensory stimulation in vivo
DOI: 10.1038/nn1703
[14] Doublecortin maintains bipolar shape and nuclear translocation during migration in the adult forebrain
DOI: 10.1038/nn1704
[15] Opposite biases in salience-based selection for the left and right posterior parietal cortex
DOI: 10.1038/nn1709
***********************************NATURE CELL BIOLOGY ***************************
(http://www.nature.com/naturecellbiology)
[16] SUMO switches metastasis on and off
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1415
New players in the process of metastasis of cancer cells are described in a paper in the June issue of Nature Cell Biology. Sung Hee Baek and colleagues also present a novel means of controlling proteins that direct metastasis.
Metastasis is the process by which cancer cells spread from the primary tumour to form secondary tumours at other locations in the body. Understanding how this process is controlled will be instrumental to developing new therapeutic approaches for treating metastatic cancer. The team had previously shown that a protein called reptin is important for shutting down expression of KAI1, a gene that blocks metastasis.
In their new study, the authors report that when another protein called SUMO becomes attached to reptin, it switches reptin’s function so that it turns off KAI1 expression. This is because SUMO promotes the interaction of reptin with other proteins that can shut down KAI1 expression. Removal of SUMO from reptin, on the other hand, activates KAI1 expression. They also found that interfering with the attachment of SUMO to reptin changes the metastatic ability of tumour cells.
This study reveals new factors that control metastasis and could potentially be targets for therapeutic intervention.
Author contact:
Sung Hee Baek (Seoul National University, South Korea)
Tel: +82 2 880 9078; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Cell Biology to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[17] A global analysis of cross-talk in a mammalian cellular signalling network
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1418
[18] Blimp1 associates with Prmt5 and directs histone arginine methylation in mouse germ cells
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1413
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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)
[19] Spin gap in Tl2Ru2O7 and the possible formation of Haldane chains in three-dimensional crystals
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1605
[20] Photocontrolled living polymerizations
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1649
Nature BIOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnolgy)
[21] A microengraving method for rapid selection of single cells producing antigen-specific antibodies
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1210
[22] Short hairpin RNA-expressing bacteria elicit RNA interference in mammals
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1211
[23] Complete genome sequence of the entomopathogenic and metabolically versatile soil bacterium Pseudomonas entomophila
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1212
Nature IMMUNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natureimmunology)
[24] Regulation of T lymphopoiesis by Notch1 and lunatic fringe–mediated competition for intrathymic niches
DOI: 10.1038/ni1345
[25] Negative regulation of interferon-regulatory factor 3–dependent innate antiviral response by the prolyl isomerase Pin1
DOI: 10.1038/ni1347
Nature STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natstructmolbiol)
[26] Backbone and nucleobase contacts to glucosamine-6-phosphate in the glmS ribozyme
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1094
[27] Crystal structure of the factor XI zymogen reveals a pathway for transactivation
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1095
[28] The structure of the exocyst subunit Sec6p defines a conserved architecture with diverse roles
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1096
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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.
AUSTRIA
Innsbruck: 8
CANADA
Toronto: 20, 24
Vancouver: 12
CZECH REPUBLIC
Prague: 8
DENMARK
Copenhagen: 8
FRANCE
Brest: 8
Gif-sur-Yvette: 23
GERMANY
Berlin: 8
Freiburg: 18
Heidelberg: 8
Leipzig: 8
Ludwigshefen: 20
Magdeburg: 8
Munster: 8
Ulm: 8
INDIA
Lucknow: 8
ISRAEL
Ra’anana: 15
ITALY
Parma: 8
Rome: 8
Verona: 8
JAPAN
Aichi: 4
Kanagawa: 25
Kyoto: 19, 25
Osaka: 25
Tokyo: 4, 20, 25
Yokohama: 19
NETHERLANDS
Nijmegen: 8
ROMANIA
Bucharest: 7
RUSSIA
Ekaterinburg: 19
SOUTH KOREA
Seoul: 16, 19
SPAIN
Barcelona: 8
SWITZERLAND
Aarau:8
Zurich: 8
TURKEY
Ankara: 8
UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast: 7
Birmingham: 15
Bristol: 20
Cambridge: 7, 12, 18
Didcot: 19
London: 19
Nottingham: 24
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
California
La Jolla: 14
Los Angeles: 9
San Francisco: 2
Colorado
Boulder: 5
Delaware
Newark: 9
Illinois
Chicago: 3, 11, 12
Massachusetts
Boston: 8, 10, 21, 22, 25
Cambridge: 6, 10, 21
Worcester: 25
Missouri
Columbia: 10
Nebraska
Omaha: 20
New York
Ithaca: 1
Rochester: 13
Valhalla: 13
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia: 27
Tennessee
Nashville: 11
Texas
Dallas: 17
Houston: 5
San Antonio: 11
Wisconsin
Madison: 1
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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