Subject to question p.377
Even when conducting clinical trials to study widely used therapies, researchers must ensure that they disclose the full risks to patients.
doi: 10.1038/500377a
Volume 500 Number 7463
今週のハイライト
Cover Story: 調節の地形図：DNAメチル化の動態はヒトゲノム全体での調節の特徴を示している
がん: がんの変異は寄せ集め
植物科学: 植物で確認された傷害応答電気シグナル
宇宙: 太陽類似星の表面重力の測定
物理: 金属絶縁体二酸化バナジウムの三重点
フォトニクス: 有機オプトエレクトロニクスにおける損失に対処する
気候: 南極の退氷を駆動する局地的な条件
生態: 入れ子になった生態系ネットワークの構造
生物物理: セラミド-1-リン酸の細胞内輸送
生物工学: 光遺伝学で役立つLITEツーハイブリッドシステム
構造生物学: 葉酸受容体の構造
目次
Editorial
News
Forecasts turn tide on silt p.385
New York pioneers system to protect drinking water from adverse weather events.
doi: 10.1038/500385a
Half of 2011 papers now free to read p.386
Boost for advocates of open-access research articles.
doi: 10.1038/500386a
Big horns clash with longevity in sheep p.387
Gene for small horns lowers sexual fitness but boosts lifespan.
doi: 10.1038/500387a
Romanian science in free fall p.388
Researchers rue the reversal of positive reforms.
doi: 10.1038/500388a
US regulation misses some GM crops p.389
Gaps in oversight of transgenic technologies allow scientists to test the waters for speciality varieties.
doi: 10.1038/500389a
News Features
Stem cells: Egg engineers p.392
日本の研究者たちが、実験室での卵子と精子の作製に成功したが、これを安全かつ倫理的に利用するにはどうするかが、今後の課題である。
doi: 10.1038/500392a
News & Views
Plant biology: Electric defence p.404
植物では、草食動物や機械的力などによって損傷を受けると電気シグナルが生じることが分かった。このシグナルは、2個のグルタミン酸受容体様タンパク質によって仲介され、離れた場所で局所的な防御応答を引き起こす。
doi: 10.1038/500404a
Astrophysics: Twinkling stars p.405
星の光度の変動と星の表面での重力加速度の間には相関性があることが観測されている。そのため、こうした加速度を25％を上回る精度で測定することができる。
doi: 10.1038/500405a
Biotechnology: Programming genomes with light p.406
改変ヌクレアーゼを使うゲノム編集と光遺伝学という2つの手法を組み合わせることで、標的の遺伝子を光によって調節するための広く使える方法が開発された。
doi: 10.1038/500406a
Condensed-matter physics: A solid triple point p.408
二酸化バナジウムで2つの絶縁相と1つの伝導相が共存する三重点が観測され、この材料における電子相関の役割を明らかにするのに役立ちそうな物理的性質が明らかになった。
doi: 10.1038/500408a
Metabolism: Sweet enticements to move p.409
既存の血管からの新しい血管の形成は、入念に組織化された過程である。解糖による糖代謝が、このような調節に関わっていることが今回明らかになった。
doi: 10.1038/nature12549
Ecology: Abundant equals nested p.411
生態系ネットワークの構造が種の共存、群集の安定性や擾乱によってどのような影響を受けるのかは、議論が続いている問題である。入れ子構造に相関する性質で見逃されてきたものの1つは、種の個体数らしい。
doi: 10.1038/500411a
Evolutionary biology: A gut feeling for isolation p.412
動物とその腸内に常在する微生物との間の関係がもたらす広範囲にわたる影響は、だんだんに明らかになってきている。新たな知見によって、こうした関係は種の隔離を維持する障壁まで作り出すことが分かった。
doi: 10.1038/500412a
Articles
Signatures of mutational processes in human cancer p.415
An analysis of mutations from over 7,000 cancers of diverse origins reveals the diversity of mutational processes underlying the development of cancer; more than 20 distinct mutational signatures are described, some of which are present in many cancer types, notably a signature attributed to the APOBEC family of cytidine deaminases, whereas others are specific to individual tumour types.
doi: 10.1038/nature12477
GLUTAMATE RECEPTOR-LIKE genes mediate leaf-to-leaf wound signalling p.422
Upon wounding, plants mount a systemic response resulting in the production of jasmonates, hormones that confer resistance to herbivores; here we identify genes necessary for the electrical activity that leads to jasmonate synthesis far from the wound itself.
doi: 10.1038/nature12478
Letters
An observational correlation between stellar brightness variations and surface gravity p.427
An analysis of archival data reveals an observational correlation between stellar brightness variations and surface gravity, allowing a determination of surface gravity with a precision of better than 25 per cent for inactive Sun-like stars at main-sequence to giant stages of evolution.
doi: 10.1038/nature12419
Measurement of a solid-state triple point at the metal–insulator transition in VO2 p.431
The precise location of a solid-state triple point, at which three solid phases coexist in thermal equilibrium, has been determined by controlling the stress and temperature in a nanobeam of vanadium dioxide near its metal–insulator transition.
doi: 10.1038/nature12425
The role of spin in the kinetic control of recombination in organic photovoltaics p.435
The interplay of spin, energetics and delocalization of the electronic excitations are shown to create a spin blockade of electron–hole recombination in organic photovoltaic cells, resulting in high quantum efficiencies.
doi: 10.1038/nature12339
Onset of deglacial warming in West Antarctica driven by local orbital forcing p.440
An annually resolved ice-core record from West Antarctica indicates that warming driven by local insolation resulting from sea-ice decline began in that region about 2,000 years before warming in East Antarctica, reconciling two alternative explanations for deglacial warming in the Southern Hemisphere.
doi: 10.1038/nature12376
Digit loss in archosaur evolution and the interplay between selection and constraints p.445
Research on the Nile crocodile and five birds shows that limb evolution is shaped by an interplay between natural selection and developmental constraints, the outcome varying between different digits, and between embryos and adults.
doi: 10.1038/nature12336
Emergence of structural and dynamical properties of ecological mutualistic networks p.449
Cooperation among species tends to result in mutualistic networks with a nested structure, which is thought to increase biodiversity and persistence but may be less stable than unstructured networks: here nested networks are shown to result from a mechanism that maximizes species abundances in mutualistic communities, and the abundance of nested species is found to be directly linked to the resilience of the community.
doi: 10.1038/nature12438
Genomic evidence for ameiotic evolution in the bdelloid rotifer Adineta vaga OPEN p.453
The genome of the asexual rotifer Adineta vaga lacks homologous chromosomes; instead, its allelic regions are rearranged and sometimes found on the same chromosome in a palindromic fashion, a structure reminiscent of the primate Y chromosome and of other mitotic lineages such as cancer cells.
doi: 10.1038/nature12326
Oxytocin enhances hippocampal spike transmission by modulating fast-spiking interneurons p.458
Oxytocin is shown to sharpen neuronal network activity by increasing fast-spiking interneuron activity.
doi: 10.1038/nature12330
Non-vesicular trafficking by a ceramide-1-phosphate transfer protein regulates eicosanoids p.463
A human lipid transfer protein (GLTPD1, named here CPTP) is shown to regulate eicosanoid production by mediating the intermembrane transfer of the phosphorylated sphingolipid ceramide-1-phosphate through a non-vesicular transport mechanism elucidated by structural, functional and biological data.
doi: 10.1038/nature12332
The histone H4 lysine 16 acetyltransferase hMOF regulates the outcome of autophagy p.468
Induction of autophagy is coupled to reduction of histone H4 lysine 16 acetylation through downregulation of the histone acetyltransferase hMOF, showing that histone modifications regulate the outcome of autophagy.
doi: 10.1038/nature12313
Optical control of mammalian endogenous transcription and epigenetic states p.472
Here the customizable TALE DNA-binding domain was integrated with the light-sensitive cryptochrome 2 protein and its interacting partner (CIB1) from Arabidopsis thaliana, thereby creating an optogenetic two-hybrid system called light-inducible transcriptional effectors (LITEs); the LITE system establishes a novel mode of optogenetic control of endogenous transcription and epigenetic states.
doi: 10.1038/nature12466
Charting a dynamic DNA methylation landscape of the human genome p.477
Whole-genome bisulphite sequencing data from diverse human cell and tissue types shows that only about 22% of CpGs change their methylation state across these cell types; most of these CpGs are located at gene regulatory elements, particularly enhancers and transcription-factor-binding sites, and these selected regions with dynamic DNA methylation patterns could help to define putative regulatory elements further.
doi: 10.1038/nature12433
DNA unwinding heterogeneity by RecBCD results from static molecules able to equilibrate p.482
The bacterial RecBCD helicase/nuclease shows broad, and apparently static, heterogeneity in the unwinding rate manifest by individual molecules: here it is shown that transiently halting an enzyme during processive translocation allows for a change, most likely conformational, such that the velocity of the molecule after pausing can fall anywhere within the spectrum of rates seen for a population.
doi: 10.1038/nature12333
Structural basis for molecular recognition of folic acid by folate receptors p.486
Folate receptor-α (FRα) is overexpressed in many cancer cells and is therefore an important therapeutic target: here the X-ray crystal structure of folate-bound FRα is presented, revealing details of the ligand-binding pocket that may be useful in the development of small-molecule inhibitors for anticancer therapy.
doi: 10.1038/nature12327
