Editorials
A US Research Integrity Advisory Board is long overdue. Such a leadership body would mitigate bad practices and strengthen good research.
doi: 10.1038/d41586-017-07330-5
Worrying disconnect between emissions rhetoric and real-world trends highlights urgent need for nations to honour their pledges.
doi: 10.1038/d41586-017-07273-x
Creating a culture of replication takes prizes, grants and magnanimity — as well as publications.
doi: 10.1038/d41586-017-07325-2
News
Astronomers expand ideas of how chemistry and geology could affect chances for life on other worlds.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2017.23023
Tool to scrutinize research papers identifies mistakes in gene sequences.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2017.23003
Sensitive radio dishes of the Square Kilometre Array will affect phone reception — and could harm local economies, say farmers.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2017.22998
TB remains a big killer despite the development of a better test for detecting the disease.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2017.23000
Some top researchers prosper in Hungary as country tries to improve its international standing in science.
doi: 10.1038/551425a
News Features
A tour through the most studied genes in biology reveals some surprises.
doi: 10.1038/d41586-017-07291-9
News & Views
The peptide-loading complex is key to the initiation of an immune response that raises killer T cells in vertebrates. Its
structure has now been determined, and might provide information that improves immune protection.
doi: 10.1038/d41586-017-07268-8
The discovery that thunderstorms can trigger nuclear reactions provides insight into the physics of atmospheric electricity and unveils a previously unknown natural source of radioactive isotopes on Earth.
doi: 10.1038/d41586-017-07266-w
Immunotherapy can reawaken T cells to destroy tumour cells. Modelling of tumour and T-cell interactions suggests why certain tumour cells are targeted and improves predictions of immunotherapy outcome.
doi: 10.1038/d41586-017-07267-9
A large-scale study has been assessing microbial diversity by analysing DNA sequences from samples submitted by scientists around the globe. The initial results are now being used to create an open-access resource. See Article p.457
doi: 10.1038/nature24756
Carbon–hydrogen bonds in organic molecules can be cut to install other chemical groups on the carbon atom, but these reactions have been limited. A catalytic palladium complex opens up fresh opportunities.
doi: 10.1038/d41586-017-07270-0
Modification of messenger RNAs through a process called m6A methylation facilitates dynamic temporal regulation of RNA levels in neural precursor cells, enabling fine-tuning of developing neuronal circuits in the brain.
doi: 10.1038/d41586-017-07269-7
Articles
The fossil of a gliding mammal from the Jurassic period sheds light on both the evolution of gliding and the development of the middle ear, as it has a previously unseen five-ossicle auditory system.
doi: 10.1038/nature24483
As phase 1 of the Earth Microbiome Project, analysis of 16S ribosomal RNA sequences from more than 27,000 environmental samples delivers a global picture of the basic structure and drivers of microbial distribution.
doi: 10.1038/nature24621
A new DNA ‘base editor’ can change targeted A•T base pairs to G•C, allowing disease-associated mutations to be corrected and disease-suppressing mutations to be introduced into cells.
doi: 10.1038/nature24644
A high-resolution structure of the human ribosome determined by cryo-electron microscopy visualizes numerous RNA modifications that are concentrated at functional sites with an extended shell, and suggests the possibility of designing more specific ribosome-targeting drugs.
doi: 10.1038/nature24482
Letters
High-resolution X-ray spectra show near-solar abundances of chromium, manganese and nickel with respect to iron in the Perseus cluster, suggesting that the progenitors of type Ia supernovae could be near- and sub-Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarfs.
doi: 10.1038/nature24301
Ground-based observations during a thunderstorm provide conclusive evidence of positrons being produced after lightning, confirming that lightning can trigger photonuclear reactions.
doi: 10.1038/nature24630
In a step towards hybrid quantum networks, a quantum state can be transferred between two fundamentally different systems—a cold atomic ensemble and a solid-state crystal—by a single photon.
doi: 10.1038/nature24468
Using a ligand as a promoter enhances the reactivity of the palladium catalyst in non-directed C–H functionalization of arenes, enabling the arene to be used as the limiting reagent.
doi: 10.1038/nature24632
A reaction between iron and water at the high pressure and temperature of the lowermost mantle is described that produces hydrogen-bearing iron peroxide, which has the properties expected of the ultralow-velocity zones at Earth’s core–mantle boundary.
doi: 10.1038/nature24461
Aegilops tauschii is the diploid progenitor of the D genome of hexaploid wheat1 (Triticum aestivum, genomes AABBDD) and an important genetic resource for wheat2–4. The large size and highly repetitive nature of the Ae. tauschii genome has until now precluded the development of a reference-quality genome sequence5. Here we use an array of advanced technologies, including orderedclone genome sequencing, whole-genome shotgun sequencing, and BioNano optical genome mapping, to generate a reference-quality genome sequence for Ae. tauschii ssp. strangulata accession AL8/78, which is closely related to the wheat D genome. We show that compared to other sequenced plant genomes, including a much larger conifer genome, the Ae. tauschii genome contains unprecedented amounts of very similar repeated sequences. Our genome comparisons reveal that the Ae. tauschii genome has a greater number of dispersed duplicated genes than other sequenced genomes and its chromosomes have been structurally evolving an order of magnitude faster than those of other grass genomes. The decay of colinearity with other grass genomes correlates with recombination rates along chromosomes. We propose that the vast amounts of very similar repeated sequences cause frequent errors in recombination and lead to gene duplications and structural chromosome changes that drive fast genome evolution.
doi: 10.1038/nature24486
The calcium-sensing protein synaptotagmin 7 mediates facilitation that is masked by depression, but supports frequency-invariant transmission in mouse cerebellar and vestibular synapses.
doi: 10.1038/nature24474
Quantitive microbiome profiling reveals that total microbial load is an important determinant of enterotypes and may be a key driver of microbiota alterations in patients with Crohn’s disease.
doi: 10.1038/nature24460
The analysis of T-cell antigens in long-term survivors of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma suggests that neoantigen immunogenicity and quality, not purely quantity, correlate with survival.
doi: 10.1038/nature24462
An immune fitness model for tumours under checkpoint blockade immunotherapy is proposed, through which the authors show that the presentation and recognition properties of dominant neoantigens distributed over tumour subclones are predictive of response in melanoma and lung cancer cohorts.
doi: 10.1038/nature24473
Crystal structures of the nucleotide sugar transporter Vrg4 are reported in both the substrate-free and the bound states.
doi: 10.1038/nature24464
Electron cryo-microscopy structures of the human peptide-loading complex shed light on its operation and on the onset of adaptive immune responses.
doi: 10.1038/nature24627