Editorials
Earth-monitoring research missions should go on, despite commercial ventures
doi: 10.1038/542005b
Psychology can moderate our response to unsavoury actions such as the US ban on immigrants, but we should not let our appetite for dissent diminish.
doi: 10.1038/542005a
As the public-health agency chooses a new leader, the media and politicians must be more realistic about what it can do.
doi: 10.1038/542006a
News
Order barring citizens of seven countries from entering the United States has left many confused and afraid.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2017.21389
Until this obstacle is overcome, the technology is unlikely to succeed in the wild.
doi: 10.1038/542015a
Neural networks produce pictures to train image-recognition programs and scientific software.
doi: 10.1038/542016a
Many researchers are sceptical of a paper claiming to have compressed hydrogen to a metallic state.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2017.21379
A movement to privatize Earth-observing satellites is gaining ground.
doi: 10.1038/542018a
Centre evaluates how public-health spending can improve mortality rates and disease burden, but many countries still do not record how people die.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2017.21373
News Features
A wild plan is taking shape to visit the nearest planet outside our Solar System. Here’s how we could get to Proxima b.
doi: 10.1038/542020a
As demand for air conditioning climbs, some see a solution in the very thing that makes us sweat: the Sun.
doi: 10.1038/542023a
News & Views
When some cancer cells delete a tumour-suppressor gene, they also delete nearby genes. It emerges that one of these latter genes has a key metabolic role, revealing a therapeutic opportunity that might be relevant for many tumours. See Letter p.119
doi: 10.1038/nature21117
The locations of atoms in a metallic alloy nanoparticle have been determined using a combination of electron microscopy and image simulation, revealing links between the particle's structure and magnetic properties. See Letter p.75
doi: 10.1038/542035a
A computer, trained to classify skin cancers using image analysis alone, can now identify certain cancers as successfully as can skin-cancer doctors. What are the implications for the future of medical diagnosis? See Letter p.115
doi: 10.1038/nature21492
The discovery of what is potentially the world's largest continuous tropical peat complex has great implications for global carbon stocks, land management and scientific investment in central Africa. See Letter p.86
doi: 10.1038/542038b
The growth factor TGF-ß1 is located inside a protein cage, and is thought to be released by force applied through integrin proteins. A structure of TGF-ß1 in complex with integrin αVß6 sheds light on the uncaging process. See Article p.55
doi: 10.1038/nature21119
A theory proposed in 2015 suggested that relatively flat surfaces in mountain ranges were formed by the reorganization of river networks. A fresh analysis rebuts this idea, reigniting discussion of a long-standing problem in Earth science.
doi: 10.1038/542041a
Articles
Interleukin-17 functions as a neuromodulator in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, acting directly on RMG hub interneurons to alter their response properties and contribution to behaviour.
doi: 10.1038/nature20818
The lymphangiogenic factor PROX1 transcriptionally upregulates CPT1A, a rate-controlling enzyme in fatty acid β-oxidation, and this co-regulates lymphatic endothelial cell differentiation by epigenetic control of lymphatic gene expression, demonstrating a role for metabolism in developmental biology.
doi: 10.1038/nature21028
Integrin αVβ6 binds the transforming growth factor-β1 precursor (pro-TGF-β1) in an orientation that is biologically relevant for force-dependent release of TGF-β from its latent form.
doi: 10.1038/nature21035
The first high-resolution (3.5 Å) structure of a full-length cyclic-nucleotide-gated channel, revealing an unconventional, voltage-insensitive voltage-sensor domain and a unique coupling mechanism between cyclic-nucleotide-binding and pore-opening.
doi: 10.1038/nature20819
Letters
Spin–orbit coupling is implemented in an optical lattice clock using a narrow optical transition in fermionic 87Sr atoms, thus mitigating the heating problems of previous experiments with alkali atoms and offering new prospects for future investigations.
doi: 10.1038/nature20811
Ultrafast photo-magnetic recording in transparent films of the dielectric cobalt-substituted garnet has very low heat load and is much faster than existing alternatives.
doi: 10.1038/nature20807
The three-dimensional coordinates of more than 23,000 atoms in an iron-platinum nanoparticle are determined with 22 picometre precision to correlate chemical order/disorder and crystal defects with magnetic properties.
doi: 10.1038/nature21042
Substitution of a ligand in molybdenum-based complexes enables typically inert hexafluorobutene to participate in Z-selective olefin cross-metathesis reactions.
doi: 10.1038/nature21043
Field measurements combined with remotely sensed data reveal the Cuvette Centrale in the central Congo Basin to contain the most extensive peatland complex in the tropics, increasing the best estimate of global tropical peatland carbon stocks by approximately one-third.
doi: 10.1038/nature21048
Examination of the ecosystem properties of treeline ecotones in seven temperate regions of the world shows that the reduction in temperature with increasing elevation does not affect tree leaf nutrient concentrations, but does reduce ground-layer community-weighted plant nitrogen levels, leading to a strong stoichiometric convergence of ground-layer plant community nitrogen to phosphorus ratios across all regions.
doi: 10.1038/nature21027
Competitive circuits in the amygdala of mice drive either freezing or flight behaviour in response to threat, and involve distinct neuronal subtypes.
doi: 10.1038/nature21047
Elucidation of the evolutionary history and interrelatedness of Plasmodium species that infect humans has been hampered by a lack of genetic information for three human-infective species: P. malariae and two P. ovale species (P. o. curtisi and P. o. wallikeri). These species are prevalent across most regions in which malaria is endemic and are often undetectable by light microscopy, rendering their study in human populations difficult. The exact evolutionary relationship of these species to the other human-infective species has been contested. Using a new reference genome for P. malariae and a manually curated draft P. o. curtisi genome, we are now able to accurately place these species within the Plasmodium phylogeny. Sequencing of a P. malariae relative that infects chimpanzees reveals similar signatures of selection in the P. malariae lineage to another Plasmodium lineage shown to be capable of colonization of both human and chimpanzee hosts. Molecular dating suggests that these host adaptations occurred over similar evolutionary timescales. In addition to the core genome that is conserved between species, differences in gene content can be linked to their specific biology. The genome suggests that P. malariae expresses a family of heterodimeric proteins on its surface that have structural similarities to a protein crucial for invasion of red blood cells. The data presented here provide insight into the evolution of the Plasmodium genus as a whole.
doi: 10.1038/nature21038
A frame-shift mutation in MATRILINEAL, a pollen-specific phospholipase, triggers haploid induction in maize, which may be useful in developing improved haploid induction systems for crop breeding.
doi: 10.1038/nature20827
The authors identify in patients with rheumatoid arthritis a pathogenic subset of CD4+ T cells that augments B cell responses within inflamed tissues.
doi: 10.1038/nature20810
An artificial intelligence trained to classify images of skin lesions as benign lesions or malignant skin cancers achieves the accuracy of board-certified dermatologists.
doi: 10.1038/nature21056
Depletion of malic enzyme 3 in pancreatic cancer cells that have a deletion of the gene for malic enzyme 2 selectively kills the cells, suggesting that the enzyme might represent a therapeutic target for this subset of cancers.
doi: 10.1038/nature21052