This press release contains:
---Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Astrophysics: Star light, star bright
Biology: Advantage effects of prions in yeast
Comment: Regulate alcohol for global health
Oncology: Redefining childhood brain tumours
Geoscience: Origin of Columbia River flood basalt volcanism
Oncology: Understanding links between metabolism and cancer
Ageing: Age-related disease pathways
And finally... Winds of change
---Mention of papers to be published at the same time with the same embargo
---Geographical listing of authors
Editorial contacts: While the best contacts for stories will always be the authors themselves, in some cases the Nature editor who handled the paper will be available for comment if an author is unobtainable. Editors are contactable via Ruth Francis on +44 20 7843 4562. Feel free to get in touch with Nature's press contacts in London, Washington and Tokyo (as listed at the end of this release) with any general editorial inquiry.
Warning: This document, and the Nature papers to which it refers, may contain information that is price sensitive (as legally defined, for example, in the UK Criminal Justice Act 1993 Part V) with respect to publicly quoted companies. Anyone dealing in securities using information contained in this document or in advanced copies of Nature’s content may be guilty of insider trading under the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
PICTURES: While we are happy for images from Nature to be reproduced for the purposes of contemporaneous news reporting, you must also seek 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] Astrophysics: Star light, star bright (pp 375-378)
Observations of ‘light echoes’ from the eruption in the mid-nineteenth century of one of the Milky Way’s most massive binary stars are reported in this week’s Nature. The work suggests that the temperature during the ‘Great Eruption’ was notably cooler than expected, thereby placing important constraints on the eruption mechanism.
Eta Carinae became the second-brightest star in our sky when it erupted between 1838 and 1858, but it then faded from view. Modelling of events associated with the luminosity of Eta Carinae, based on visual estimates of its brightness, imply that the minimum temperature during this eruption was around 7,000 kelvin. However, spectra of light echoes from the Great Eruption, observed by Armin Rest and co-workers, differ from this model and instead predict effective temperatures of around 5,000 kelvin. From these findings the authors suggest that an energetic blast wave may have triggered and influenced the eruption.
The light echoes described by Rest and colleagues travelled away from the erupting star, then reflected back towards us off a cloud of dust and gas. The authors hope that future observations of light echoes might provide more information on the Eta Carinae eruption.
CONTACT
Armin Rest (Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA)
Tel: +1 410 338 4358; E-mail: [email protected]
--------------------------------------------------
[2] Biology: Advantage effects of prions in yeast (pp 363-368)
A screen of wild yeast strains reveals that many of them carry fungal prions. The results, reported in Nature this week, establish the biological importance of fungal prions, which are often considered to be rare laboratory diseases. Many of these natural prions are shown to bestow immediate beneficial effects on their hosts, and to facilitate evolutionary processes.
The idea that prions — proteins that can undergo conformational changes that are transmissible — may drive the evolution of new traits to promote survival in changing environments is highly controversial. Such prions had not been found in wild strains of yeast, leading to the assumption that fungal prions are either diseases of yeast or ’laboratory artefacts’. However, Susan Lindquist and colleagues report the discovery of two known prions in one third of nearly 700 strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae collected from the wild. They show that these prions can alter characteristics of their hosts; 40% of the traits produced by the prions are beneficial under selective environmental conditions or provide a basis for further, DNA-based traits to evolve.
CONTACT
Susan Lindquist (Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA, USA)
Please note this author is travelling and can be contacted via:
Audrey Mc Ardle (Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research)
Tel: +1 617 258 5814 or: +1 617 447 5861; E-mail: [email protected]
-------------------------------------------------
Comment: Regulate alcohol for global health (p. 302)
The World Health Organization (WHO) should create a legally binding treaty to reduce alcohol abuse, says Devi Sridhar in a Comment in Nature this week.
Almost 4% of all deaths worldwide are attributed to alcohol — more than the number of deaths caused by HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis or malaria. Alcohol consumption is the world’s third-largest risk factor for the loss of years to disease and disability, and in middle-income countries, which constitute almost half of the world’s population, it is the greatest risk. The WHO is the only global health body that can create legally binding conventions. Yet, surprisingly, in more than 60 years, the agency has produced only two major treaties — one requiring the tracking of disease outbreaks, and one against tobacco. “This is a major missed opportunity,” says Sridhar.
Sridhar argues that the WHO should turn its Global Strategy to Reduce Harmful Use of Alcohol, which is a set of policy recommendations, into a legally binding document. This would force nations to enact legislation, free up funds from the international community to address alcohol abuse and allow campaigning bodies to take governments to court for non-compliance. This should be accompanied, says Sridhar, by other moves to help the WHO to enforce its conventions, and to strengthen its ability to ensure that people in all countries are provided with a basic package of health services.
CONTACT
Devi Sridhar (University of Oxford, UK)
E-mail: [email protected]
------------------------------------------------------
[3] Oncology: Redefining childhood brain tumours (AOP; N&V)
DOI: 10.1038/nature10825
Genetic differences between medulloblastoma metastases and primary tumours are outlined in Nature this week. The findings indicate that metastases and primary tumours might respond differently to a specific treatment. Thus, targeted therapies need to be tailored according to the molecular alterations.
Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant childhood brain tumour and is prone to metastases, which have been assumed to be biologically similar to the primary tumour. However, research in human medulloblastoma patients and a mouse model of the disease demonstrates that metastases vary genetically from the primary tumours. Characterizing genomic alteration and DNA methylation patterns, Michael Taylor and colleagues show that metastases in an individual are highly divergent from the primary tumours but similar to each other.
The authors caution that failure to account for the differences between metastatic and primary medulloblastoma could impede the development of effective targeted therapies. Selecting the appropriate treatment is critical, as primary tumours are more amenable to surgical control, whereas the metastases are the more frequent cause of death.
CONTACT
Michael Taylor (The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada)
Tel: +1 416 813 7564; E-mail: [email protected]
Steven Clifford (Newcastle University, UK) N&V author
Tel: +44 191 282 1326; E-mail: [email protected]
-----------------------------------------------------
[4] Geoscience: Origin of Columbia River flood basalt volcanism (pp 386-389: N&V)
A model that may explain the underlying mantle processes that were responsible for generating the Steens–Columbia River flood basalt volcanism is reported in Nature this week. The proposed mechanism implicates the tearing of an ancient oceanic plate as the event that accounts for the complex present-day mantle structure of beneath western USA.
A flood basalt is the result of a large volcanic eruption that covers large areas with basalt lava and the origin of the Steens–Columbia River flood basalts is presumed to mark the onset of the Yellowstone volcanism. Lijun Liu and Dave Stegman use geodynamic modelling to show that a rupture occurred in the Farallon slab under eastern Oregon about 17 million years ago that allowed lava to flow through the tear. The pattern and timing of this tear is consistent with that of the Steens–Columbia River flood basalt event. The model also predicts the sequence of flood basalt composition, which the authors suggest may help settle controversies regarding the formation of these basalts and explain other processes associated with the Yellowstone volcanism.
CONTACT
Lijun Liu (University of California, San Diego, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 858 534 4643; E-mail: [email protected]
Cin-Ty Lee (Rice University, Houston, TX, USA) N&V author
Tel: +1 713 348 508; E-mail: [email protected]
-------------------------------------------------------
[5] & [6] & [7] Oncology: Understanding links between metabolism and cancer (AOP)
DOI: 10.1038/nature10866
DOI: 10.1038/nature10860
DOI: 10.1038/nature10898
Three papers studying the role of specific mutations in brain cancers are published in Nature this week. The studies uncover a mechanistic framework for how mutations in the isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) genes may be involved in the development of cancers.
Isocitrate dehydrogenases (IDHs) are enzymes involved in chemical reactions that generate energy within cells. Mutations in IDH have been identified in several cancer types, including gliomas — cancers that originate in the glial cells in the brain. Timothy Chan and co-workers show that mutation of IDH1 promotes epigenetic changes to the DNA in glial cells, and these epigenetic alterations are the same as those found in a certain subclass of glioma. Their findings provide a possible pathway linking IDH mutations to the formation of tumours.
In a second study, Craig Thompson and colleagues find other epigenetic changes resulting from expression of mutant IDH enzymes. Mutant IDH produces the metabolite 2-hydroxyglutarate (2HG), which impairs demethylation of histones and prevents cells from differentiating normally, and thus could contribute to tumor development. William Kaelin and co-authors also investigate the role of 2HG in the development of cancer, which has previously been shown to inhibit the activity of several enzymes. However, Kaelin and colleagues find that another enzyme involved in the hypoxia pathway is activated by the (R)-enantiomer of 2HG, which they show to enhance cell proliferation.
Taken together, these studies imply that IDH mutations alter the activity of several cellular enzymes, leading to changes which may be important in the development of tumours.
CONTACT
Timothy Chan (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA) Author paper [5]
Tel: +1 646 888 2765; E-mail: [email protected]
Craig Thompson (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA) Author paper [6]
Tel: +1 646 888 3285; E-mail: [email protected]
William Kaelin Jr (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA) Author paper [7]
Tel: +1 617 632 3975; E-mail: [email protected]
-------------------------------------------------------
[8] Ageing: Age-related disease pathways (AOP)
DOI: 10.1038/nature10810
The discovery of a role for a microRNA (miRNA) in the regulation of age-associated events and long-term brain integrity in fruitflies is reported in Nature this week. Activity of a highly conserved miRNA, miR-34, seems to suppress neurodegenerative disease and extend lifespan. The work provides a molecular link between ageing and neurodegeneration.
MicroRNAs are involved in gene regulation during development and have recently been linked with adult-onset, age-associated processes. Nancy Bonini and colleagues show that in Drosophila miR-34 expression is upregulated with adult age, and they identify factors required to promote some of the age-associated effects of miR-34. Loss of miR-34 seems to trigger accelerated brain ageing, late-onset brain degeneration, and reduces survival. Conversely, enhanced miR-34 expression mitigates age-related deficits and extends lifespan.
Taken together, the results establish a role for miRNA-dependent pathways in modulating processes that may have deleterious effects later in life.
CONTACT
Nancy Bonini (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA)
Tel: +1 215 573 9267; E-mail: [email protected]
------------------------------------------------------
[9] And finally... Winds of change (AOP)
DOI: 10.1038/nature10793
An explanation for recently detected radiation from the Crab pulsar — one of the brightest persistent gamma-ray sources in the sky — is proposed in Nature this week. The pulses of very high-energy gamma-ray emission are ascribed to a cold wind originating near to the site of emission.
Pulsars are neutron stars that are thought to eject electron–positron winds. Initially the winds are dominated by electromagnetic energy but as they move away from the pulsar their energy becomes more kinetic. Constraining where this acceleration takes place has been difficult, but Felix Aharonian and colleagues estimate the point where this transition occurs.
They suggest that the recent observations of pulsed, very high-energy gamma-ray emission from the Crab pulsar are produced by this accelerating wind.
CONTACT
Felix Aharonian (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Ireland)
Tel: +353 1662 1333 ext: 317; E-mail: [email protected]
------------------------------------------------
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE…
[10] Eutrophication causes speciation reversal in whitefish adaptive radiations (pp 357-362; N&V)
[11] Magnetic reconnection from a multiscale instability cascade (pp 379-381)
---------------------------------------------------
GEOGRAPHICAL LISTING OF AUTHORS…
The following list of places refers to the whereabouts of authors on the papers numbered in this release. For example, London: 4 - this means that on paper number four, there will be at least one author affiliated to an institute or company in London. 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.
CANADA
Calgary: 7
Halifax: 10
Hamilton: 1
Montreal: 3
Toronto: 3
CHILE
La Serena: 1
San Pedro de Atacama: 1
Santiago: 1
FINLAND
Oulu: 7
GERMANY
Heidelberg: 3, 9
IRELAND
Dublin: 9
JAPAN
Kanagawa: 9
NETHERLANDS
Amsterdam: 3
RUSSIA
Moscow: 9
SWEDEN
Stockholm: 8
SWITZERLAND
Bern: 10
Kastanienbaum: 10
UNITED KINGDOM
Cambridge: 3
Cardiff: 10
London: 1
Manchester: 3
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Arizona
Tucson: 1
California
Goleta: 1
Pasadena: 1, 11
San Diego: 4, 8
San Francisco: 3
Santa Barbara: 1
Stanford: 3
Georgia
Atlanta: 3
Iowa
Iowa City: 3
Maryland
Baltimore: 1, 3
Chevy Chase: 7
Massachusetts
Boston: 2, 7
Cambridge: 1, 2, 7
Minnesota
Minneapolis: 3
New Jersey
Princeton: 1
New York
New York: 2, 3, 5, 6
North Carolina
Durham: 7
Ohio
Columbus: 3
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia: 5, 6, 8
Texas
Dallas: 2
Houston: 3, 7
Utah
Salt Lake City: 3, 7
Virginia
Richmond: 3
Wisconsin
Madison: 3
-------------------------------------------------------
PRESS CONTACTS…
From North America and Canada
Neda Afsarmanesh, Nature New York
Tel: +1 212 726 9231; E-mail: [email protected]
From Japan, Korea, China, Singapore and Taiwan
Mika Nakano, Nature Tokyo
Tel: +81 3 3267 8751; E-mail: [email protected]
From the UK
Rebecca Walton, Nature, London
Tel: +44 20 7843 4502; E-mail: [email protected]
--------------------------------------------------
About Nature Publishing Group (NPG):
Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a publisher of high impact scientific and medical information in print and online. NPG publishes journals, online databases and services across the life, physical, chemical and applied sciences and clinical medicine.
Focusing on the needs of scientists, Nature (founded in 1869) is the leading weekly, international scientific journal. In addition, for this audience, NPG publishes a range of Nature research journals and Nature Reviews journals, plus a range of prestigious academic journals including society-owned publications. Online, nature.com provides over 5 million visitors per month with access to NPG publications and online databases and services, including Nature News and NatureJobs plus access to Nature Network and Nature Education’s Scitable.com.
Scientific American is at the heart of NPG’s newly-formed consumer media division, meeting the needs of the general public. Founded in 1845, Scientific American is the oldest continuously published magazine in the US and the leading authoritative publication for science in the general media. Together with scientificamerican.com and 15 local language editions around the world it reaches over 3 million consumers and scientists. Other titles include Scientific American Mind and Spektrum der Wissenschaft in Germany.
Throughout all its businesses NPG is dedicated to serving the scientific and medical communities and the wider scientifically interested general public. Part of Macmillan Publishers Limited, NPG is a global company with principal offices in London, New York and Tokyo, and offices in cities worldwide including Boston, Buenos Aires, Delhi, Hong Kong, Madrid, Barcelona, Munich, Heidelberg, Basingstoke, Melbourne, Paris, San Francisco, Seoul and Washington DC. For more information, please go to www.nature.com.
