NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
For papers that will be published online on 14 October 2007
This press release is copyrighted to the Nature journals mentioned below.
This press release contains:
· Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Genetics: Single-gene 'badge' for stem cells – Nature
Neurobiology: The brain and feeding – Nature
Structural biology: I can see clearly now – Nature
Count down, and up – Nature Physics
Negative light brings positive aspects to semiconductors – Nature Materials
Using biomarkers to predict Alzheimer’s disease – Nature Medicine
Genetic risk factor for colorectal cancer – Nature Genetics
Cost-effective individual genome sequencing – Nature Methods
· 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] Genetics: Single-gene 'badge' for stem cells
DOI: 10.1038/nature06196
Geneticists studying the cells of the human gut have found a gene that seems to be expressed exclusively in mouse adult stem cells of the small intestine and colon. What's more, this gene, called Gpr49/Lgr5, may also be a marker for stem cells and growing cancers in a host of other tissues.
The gut lining is one of the most rapidly regenerating tissues of the body, and is therefore expected to contain a population of adult stem cells to provide a replenishing source of cells. Researchers led by Hans Clevers report online in this week's Nature that Gpr49/Lgr5 is expressed exclusively in cells in the gut-lining's 'crypts' — where cell regeneration is initiated — and not in the protruding structures called villi, through which the gut absorbs nutrients and where rates of cell death are high.
The researchers show that Gpr49/Lgr5 is found in stem cells of both the small intestine and the colon — the first time that colon stem cells have been identified and characterized. In addition, the gene is found in similarly restricted distributions within other tissues, suggesting that it may be a handy 'badge' for spotting adult stem cells throughout the body.
Author contact:
Hans Clevers (Hubrecht Laboratory, Utrecht, The Netherlands)
Tel: +31 302 121 826; E-mail: [email protected]
[2] Neurobiology: The brain and feeding
DOI: 10.1038/nature06212
The activity of several brain areas governing human feeding behaviour is modulated by levels of a single gut hormone in the blood. This insight into the circuits that regulate feeding may help further our understanding of the neurobiology — and possibly treatment — of obesity.
The pleasure of eating is strongly affected by satiety, which may reflect interactions between homeostatic regulation and reward or other cognitive factors. In a study published online this week in Nature, Rachel L. Batterham and colleagues use functional magnetic resonance imaging to study how the activity of brain areas correlates with subsequent feeding behaviour under different satiety states evoked by intravenous administration of PYY, a gut-derived peptide. Under high PYY conditions, mimicking the fed state, changes in orbitofrontal cortex activation better predict subsequent feeding, whereas, in low PYY conditions, activation in the hypothalamus predicts food intake.
These results shed light on the human brain networks that may regulate food intake under different satiety states. An increased understanding of how the functions of each area are integrated may pave the way for the development of new treatment strategies for obesity.
Author contact:
Rachel L. Batterham (University College London, UK)
Tel: +44 207 670 5139; E-mail: [email protected]
Additional media contact:
Laure Thomas (Medical Research Council Press Office)
Tel: +44 207 670 5139; Mobile: +44 7818 428 297
E-mail: [email protected]
[3] Structural biology: I can see clearly now (N&V)
DOI: 10.1038/nature06249
The prediction of protein structures from their amino acid sequences and the refinement of low-resolution protein structure models are two long-standing challenges in computational structural biology. In a paper published online this week in Nature, David Baker and colleagues describe a new computational approach that can be used to refine the three-dimensional structural models of proteins.
When used to refine models generated from experiments involving nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, the method can improve the accuracy of the structures in terms of both the backbone conformations and the placement of core side chains. In addition, it can be used to generate significantly better solutions to the X-ray crystallographic phase problem in molecular replacement trials. Furthermore, the approach can also be used to produce de novo protein structure predictions that are quite accurate when compared to experimentally derived models.
The authors believe that this method may enable researchers to determine the three-dimensional structures of proteins more easily. They propose that this combination of computational modelling and experimental structural data will become an increasingly powerful approach for characterizing the structures of biological macromolecules that have been intractable to more conventional approaches.
Author contact:
David Baker (University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA)
Tel: +1 206 543 1295; E-mail: [email protected]
Eleanor Dodson (University of York, UK) N&V author
E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[4] Subcapsular sinus macrophages in lymph nodes clear lymph-borne viruses and present them to antiviral B cells
DOI: 10.1038/nature06287
***********************************************NATURE PHYSICS*****************************************
(http://www.nature.com/naturephysics)
[5] Count down, and up
DOI: 10.1038/nphys748
Online this week in Nature Physics, Matthias Ediger and co-workers describe optical studies of quantum dots — semiconductor nanostructures that confine electrons or ‘holes’ — containing a record number of six electrons or holes.
Previous studies on dots with up to three electrons or one hole — a positive entity left when an electron is removed — have revealed profound changes due to interactions between the charged entities. For example, each added electron makes it harder for the next one to enter. This behaviour is expected. However, the behaviour of holes is unexpected. Instead of populating the available energy levels in the same way as electrons, that is, sequentially from the lowest to the highest, a hole can seem to skip a low energy state and instead occupy a higher one. The authors’ explanation of this behaviour involves an additional interaction between the hole and the crystalline lattice of the dot — the spin–orbit effect. Holes therefore seem to be more complicated than electrons.
Quantum dots show promise for use in quantum information technology, but first we need to understand the basic science and control of the energy states. This new study takes an important step in this direction.
Author contact:
Richard Warburton (Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK)
Tel: +44 131 451 8069; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Physics to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[6] Spinons and triplons in spatially anisotropic frustrated antiferromagnets
DOI: 10.1038/nphys749
********************************************* NATURE MATERIALS ************************************** (http://www.nature.com/naturematerials)
[7] Negative light brings positive aspects to semiconductors
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2033
A semiconductor structure that shows the unusual phenomenon of negative refraction — in which light is bent the opposite way to normal — is reported online this week in Nature Materials.
Negative refraction has previously only been observed in artificial constructs such as small metallic wires or loops formed by complex lithographic processes. Now Anthony Hoffman and colleagues present a semiconductor material that requires no additional nanofabrication beyond the initial growth process, and that shows negative refraction for a broad range of infrared wavelengths.
No natural material showing negative refraction has yet been found, but the discovery of the effect in a new class of materials that consist simply of thin, alternating layers of two semiconductors, means that design and fabrication of negative-refractive-index materials will be much easier. Moreover, it is straightforward to integrate these materials into other semiconductor structures for photonic applications such as imaging or the guidance of light.
Author contact:
Anthony Hoffman (Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA)
Tel: +1 906 258 7037; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Materials to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[8] Rate dependence of crack-tip processes predicts twinning trends in f.c.c. metals
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2030
[9] Internal structure visualization and lithographic use of periodic toroidal holes in liquid crystals
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2029
[10] Enhanced mobility of confined polymers
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2031
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(http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine)
[11] Using biomarkers to predict Alzheimer’s disease
DOI: 10.1038/nm1653
A plasma biomarker could be used to predict which patients with mild cognitive impairment will go on to develop Alzheimer’s disease, suggests a study in the November issue of Nature Medicine.
Tony Wyss-Coray and colleagues find 18 plasma signalling proteins that can correctly classify patients with Alzheimer’s compared with patients with other types of dementia or compared with controls. These same biomarkers can then predict which patients with mild cognitive impairment will progress to develop dementia characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease.
This biomarker panel could be used to target early treatment only to patients that are most likely to benefit from it—patients with mild cognitive impairment that are destined to develop full-blown Alzheimer’s disease.
Author contact:
Tony Wyss-Coray (Stanford University, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 650 852 3220; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Medicine to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[12] FcgRIII (CD16) promotes Escherichia coli sepsis by triggering an FcRg adaptor inhibitory pathway that prevents phagocytosis and facilitates inflammation
DOI: 10.1038/nm1665
[13] Identification of a critical link between TRAIL and CCL20 for the activation of TH2 cells and the expression of allergic airway disease
DOI: 10.1038/nm1660
***********************************************NATURE GENETICS **************************************
(http://www.nature.com/naturegenetics)
[14] Genetic risk factor for colorectal cancer
DOI: 10.1038/ng.2007.18
Common variants in the gene SMAD7 are associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer, reports a study to be published online this week in Nature Genetics.
Richard Houlston, Ian Tomlinson and colleagues carried out a genome-wide association study, genotyping more than 500,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in several thousand individuals with familial colorectal cancer, as well as controls. Three SNPs in SMAD7 were associated with increased risk of the disease in an initial sample, as well as in three replication sample sets, with a high degree of statistical significance.
SMAD7 is an intracellular molecule that inhibits the TGF-beta pathway, which is involved in cell-cell signalling events in a wide range of tissues, including the colon. Although variation in SMAD7 contributes only modestly to risk of colorectal cancer—it contributes to approximately 15% of such cancers in the general population, and less than 1% of the familial risk—this result suggests, together with other recent data, that common variants of modest effect underlying this disease exist and can be discovered.
Author contacts:
Richard Houlston (Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, UK)
Tel: +44 208 722 4175; E-mail: [email protected]
Ian Tomlinson (Cancer Research UK, London)
Tel: +44 207 269 2884; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Genetics to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo
[15] DAF-16/FOXO targets genes that regulate tumor growth in Caenorhabditis elegans
DOI: 10.1038/ng.2007.1
[16] Birc2 (cIap1) regulates endothelial cell integrity and blood vessel homeostasis
DOI: 10.1038/ng.2007.8
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[17], [18] & [19] Cost effective individual genome sequencing
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth1110
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth1111
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth1109
This week Nature Methods presents three reports that introduce different techniques for selecting and enriching specific genomic regions in a high-throughput fashion. These methods will pave the way for cost-effective sequencing of individual human genomes, enabling large numbers of genomic regions to be extracted from a sample before sequencing and thus allowing researchers to sequence only the genomic regions of interest.
To capture in a single reaction close to 10,000 exons¾the protein encoding parts of genes¾Jay Shendure and George Church made probes identical to short-sequence stretches in the exons and used them as baits to fish out their targets. After amplification, they sequenced the captured targets with high-throughput technology.
In a complementary approach two independent groups, one led by Tom Albert and Richard Gibbs, the other by Michael Zwick, use hybridization to DNA microarrays to enrich their samples in sequences of interest. The sequences from a genome sample that are captured on the microarray can then be released and sequenced.
Author contacts:
Paper [17]
Jay Shendure (University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA)
Tel: +1 206 685 8543; E-mail: [email protected]
Paper [18]
Tom Albert (NimbleGen Systems Inc, Madison, WI, USA)
Tel: +1 608 218 7613; E-mail: [email protected]
Richard Gibbs (Human Genome Sequencing Center, Houston, TX, USA)
Tel: +1 713 798 6539; E-mail: [email protected]
Paper [19]
Michael Zwick (Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA)
Tel: +1 404 727 9924; E-mail: [email protected]
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Items from other Nature journals to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nchembio)
[20] Phosphorothioation of DNA in bacteria by dnd genes
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.2007.39
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nnano)
[21] Spatial manipulation of nanoacoustic waves with nanoscale spot sizes
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2007.319
[22] Doping and phonon renormalization in carbon nanotubes
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2007.321
[23] Single functional group interactions with individual carbon nanotubes
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2007.334
Nature BIOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology)
[24] Simultaneous targeting of multiple disease mediators by a dual-variable-domain immunoglobulin
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1345
[25] Folate fortification of rice by metabolic engineering
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1351
Nature NEUROSCIENCE (http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience)
[26] A temporal frequency–dependent functional architecture in human V1 revealed by high-resolution fMRI
DOI: 10.1038/nn1983
[27] Control of planar divisions by the G-protein regulator LGN maintains progenitors in the chick neuroepithelium
DOI: 10.1038/nn1984
[28] Genetic control of instrumental conditioning by striatopallidal neuron–specific S1P receptor Gpr6
DOI: 10.1038/nn1987
[29] Antagonistic roles of Wnt5 and the Drl receptor in patterning the Drosophila antennal lobe
DOI: 10.1038/nn1993
[30] Roles for the pro-neurotrophin receptor sortilin in neuronal development, aging and brain injury
DOI: 10.1038/nn2000
NATURE CELL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturecellbiology)
[31] SIRT1 sumoylation regulates its deacetylase activity and cellular response to genotoxic stress
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1645
[32] Architectural dynamics of the meiotic spindle revealed by single-fluorophore imaging
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1643
Nature STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natstructmolbiol)
[33] prp8 mutations that cause human retinitis pigmentosa lead to a U5 snRNP maturation defect in yeast
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1303
[34] The structure-specific endonuclease Mus81 contributes to replication restart by generating double-strand DNA breaks
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb1313
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***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: The following paper was published on Nature Cell Biology’s website on Friday 05 October at 1100 London time (BST) / 0600 US Eastern time, so is no longer under embargo. All the other papers on this release are under embargo until Sunday 14 October 1800 London time (BST) / 1300 US Eastern time.***
[35] Coupling of cortical dynein and Ga proteins mediates spindle positioning in Caenorhabditis elegans
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1649
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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.
AUSTRALIA
Canberra: 13
Melbourne: 13
Newcastle: 13
BELGIUM
Ghent: 25
BRAZIL
Sao Paulo: 12
CHINA
Shanghai: 20
Zhejiang: 8
DENMARK
Aarhus: 30
FRANCE
Marseille: 27
Paris: 12
GERMANY
Berlin: 30
Freiburg: 13
Munich: 5
ITALY
Alessandria: 16
Genoa: 11
Milan: 4
Turin: 23
JAPAN
Saitama: 26
Tokyo: 13, 29
Tsukuba: 6
KOREA
Daejeon: 9
Seoul: 10
NETHERLANDS
Amsterdam: 1, 4
Leiden: 12, 29
Rotterdam: 34
Utrecht: 1
POLAND
Wroclaw: 11
SINGAPORE
Singapore: 4
SWEDEN
Malmo: 11
Molndal: 11
SWITZERLAND
Lausanne: 35
Zurich: 4
TAIWAN
Jhongil: 21
Taipei: 21
Taoyuan: 21
UNITED KINGDOM
Birmingham: 14
Cambridge: 3
Edinburgh: 5, 33
Leeds: 33
London: 2, 14
Manchester: 14
Oxford: 14, 34
Sutton: 14
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Alabama
Tuskegee: 16
Arizona
Sun City: 11
California
Berkeley: 23
Davis: 23
La Jolla: 11, 16, 17, 32
Livermore: 23
Los Angeles: 28
Mountain View: 17
Palo Alto: 11
Redwood City: 11
San Francisco: 15, 16
Santa Barbara: 5, 6, 9
Santa Clara: 17
Stanford: 11, 17, 23
Colorado
Golden: 5
Florida
Gainesville: 10
Tampa: 31
Georgia
Atlanta: 19, 23
Augusta: 31
Illinois
Argonne: 10
Chicago: 32
Urbana: 29
Massachusetts
Amherst: 10
Boston: 4, 17
Cambridge: 16, 17, 20, 21
Worcester: 24
New Jersey
Murray Hill: 7
Princeton: 7
New York
New York: 26, 30, 32
Yorktown Heights: 22
North Carolina
Durham: 22
Ohio
Cleveland: 25
Columbus: 33
Kent: 9
Oregon
Corvallis: 7
Portland: 11
Rhode Island
Providence: 8
Texas
Dallas: 30
Houston: 18
Utah
Salt Lake City: 6
Virginia
Richmond: 17
Washington
Seattle: 3, 4, 17
Wisconsin
Madison: 18, 19
PRESS CONTACTS…
For media inquiries relating to embargo policy for all the Nature Research Journals:
Katherine Anderson (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)
Peter Hare
Tel: +1 212 726 9284; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Cell Biology (London)
Bernd Pulverer
Tel: +44 20 7843 4892; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Chemical Biology (Boston)
Andrea Garvey
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 Materials (London)
Fabio Pulizzi
Tel: +44 20 7014 4024; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Medicine (New York)
Juan Carlos Lopez
Tel: +1 212 726 9325; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Methods (New York)
Allison Doerr
Tel: +1 212 726 9393; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Nanotechnology (London)
Peter Rodgers
Tel: +44 20 7014 4019; Email: [email protected]
Nature Neuroscience (New York)
Sandra Aamodt (based in California)
Tel: +1 530 795 3256; 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)
Michelle Montoya
Tel: +1 212 726 9326; E-mail: [email protected]
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