米原子力規制委員会(NRC)がウラン濃縮の新技術を認可したが、核拡散問題を考えると望ましい方向ではない。
The price of progress
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銀河の新たな観測結果によって、混沌としたその誕生から苛酷な最期に至る道筋が見えてきた。
doi: 10.1038/490024a
かつて米国東部の森林の中心だったアメリカグリは胴枯れ病で壊滅したが、その再生への試みが進んでいる。
doi: 10.1038/490022a
大気中に存在する人為起源のエアロゾルが、気候に影響を与えるのは確実だ。だが、エアロゾルの影響を説明するために気候モデルで使われている手法は、エアロゾルの影響について意味のある推定値を与えるものだろうか。2人の気候科学研究者が見解を述べている。
doi: 10.1038/490040a
我々の免疫系は通常、「友好的な」腸内細菌を無視している。だが、病原体による感染が腸内表面の粘膜に損傷を与えると、常在細菌は体内に侵入できるようになり、自身に対する免疫応答を引き起こす。
doi: 10.1038/490041a
システムの監視とその動態の調整、つまり連続的なフィードバック制御は、システムを「軌道に乗せておく」ために広く使われている。この方法が今回、量子ビットの循環をほぼ無期限に維持するのに使われた。
doi: 10.1038/490043a
ヒトの腸に棲み着いている微生物からなる膨大な群集のゲノムを調べるための革新的な手法によって、2型糖尿病のリスク因子を明らかにする新たな方法が得られた。
doi: 10.1038/490044a
天の川銀河中の密度の高い恒星系で2つのブラックホール候補が見つかったことは、このような天体のもっと大きな集団がこの恒星系内に隠れている可能性を示している。
doi: 10.1038/490046a
妊娠した女性の免疫系が胎児の持つ父親由来の抗原に寛容となる仕組みが、特異的な抑制性免疫細胞の活性(その一部は維持されて、それ以降の妊娠に役立つ)によって説明されることがわかった。
doi: 10.1038/490047a
The Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas belongs to one of the most species-rich but genomically poorly explored phyla, the Mollusca. Here we report the sequencing and assembly of the oyster genome using short reads and a fosmid-pooling strategy, along with transcriptomes of development and stress response and the proteome of the shell. The oyster genome is highly polymorphic and rich in repetitive sequences, with some transposable elements still actively shaping variation. Transcriptome studies reveal an extensive set of genes responding to environmental stress. The expansion of genes coding for heat shock protein 70 and inhibitors of apoptosis is probably central to the oyster’s adaptation to sessile life in the highly stressful intertidal zone. Our analyses also show that shell formation in molluscs is more complex than currently understood and involves extensive participation of cells and their exosomes. The oyster genome sequence fills a void in our understanding of the Lophotrochozoa.
doi: 10.1038/nature11413
Assessment and characterization of gut microbiota has become a major research area in human disease, including type 2 diabetes, the most prevalent endocrine disease worldwide. To carry out analysis on gut microbial content in patients with type 2 diabetes, we developed a protocol for a metagenome-wide association study (MGWAS) and undertook a two-stage MGWAS based on deep shotgun sequencing of the gut microbial DNA from 345 Chinese individuals. We identified and validated approximately 60,000 type-2-diabetes-associated markers and established the concept of a metagenomic linkage group, enabling taxonomic species-level analyses. MGWAS analysis showed that patients with type 2 diabetes were characterized by a moderate degree of gut microbial dysbiosis, a decrease in the abundance of some universal butyrate-producing bacteria and an increase in various opportunistic pathogens, as well as an enrichment of other microbial functions conferring sulphate reduction and oxidative stress resistance. An analysis of 23 additional individuals demonstrated that these gut microbial markers might be useful for classifying type 2 diabetes.
doi: 10.1038/nature11450
We analysed primary breast cancers by genomic DNA copy number arrays, DNA methylation, exome sequencing, messenger RNA arrays, microRNA sequencing and reverse-phase protein arrays. Our ability to integrate information across platforms provided key insights into previously defined gene expression subtypes and demonstrated the existence of four main breast cancer classes when combining data from five platforms, each of which shows significant molecular heterogeneity. Somatic mutations in only three genes (TP53, PIK3CA and GATA3) occurred at >10% incidence across all breast cancers; however, there were numerous subtype-associated and novel gene mutations including the enrichment of specific mutations in GATA3, PIK3CA and MAP3K1 with the luminal A subtype. We identified two novel protein-expression-defined subgroups, possibly produced by stromal/microenvironmental elements, and integrated analyses identified specific signalling pathways dominant in each molecular subtype including a HER2/phosphorylated HER2/EGFR/phosphorylated EGFR signature within the HER2-enriched expression subtype. Comparison of basal-like breast tumours with high-grade serous ovarian tumours showed many molecular commonalities, indicating a related aetiology and similar therapeutic opportunities. The biological finding of the four main breast cancer subtypes caused by different subsets of genetic and epigenetic abnormalities raises the hypothesis that much of the clinically observable plasticity and heterogeneity occurs within, and not across, these major biological subtypes of breast cancer.
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