Volume 502 Number 7469

Editorials

ヨーロッパ全体で科学研究を標準化し、境界をなくすという考えは非常に単純だが、実現は簡単ではなく、優先的な取り組みが必要だ。

Science without borders p.5

The idea of standardizing science and removing barriers to research mobility across Europe is simple, but putting it into practice has proved more challenging.

doi: 10.1038/502005a

行動遺伝学者は、自らの研究が誤って解釈されるのを防ぐため、慎重に行動すべきだ。

Dangerous work p.5

Behavioural geneticists must tread carefully to prevent their research being misinterpreted.

doi: 10.1038/502005b

科学者は、研究の意義や有用性を、ソーシャルメディアなどを使って直接社会に分かりやすく伝える工夫をすべきだ。

Cross the road p.6

Research on chickens is legitimate — but scientists and funders must learn to justify it.

doi: 10.1038/502006a

News

米政府機関の一部閉鎖で、科学界にも影響が。

US government shuts down p.13

Research disrupted as lawmakers spar over funding.

doi: 10.1038/502013a

米アリゾナ州で行われる掘削調査で、三畳紀の姿がより詳しく明らかになると、期待が。

Geologists take drill to Triassic park p.14

Arizona rock core to yield coherent picture of turbulent period.

doi: 10.1038/502014a

オーストラリアの新しい保守政権が打ち出した環境政策や科学政策に、科学界から苛立ちが。

Overhauls set scientists on edge p.15

Australian government axes carbon tax and designated science minister, but says it will not cut research funding.

doi: 10.1038/502015a

臨床試験に絡んだ不正行為で有罪判決を受けた米国の製薬会社元トップが、最高裁へ上訴。

Uncertainty on trial p.17

Former US drug-company chief appeals conviction for fraud over interpretation of results.

doi: 10.1038/502017a

理論物理学者たちが、さまざまな計算を駆使して、粒子の相互作用について新たな見方を。

Rethinking particle dynamics p.19

Theoretical physicists are pursuing competing ways to calculate how particles interact.

doi: 10.1038/502019a

多くの製薬会社が新薬の優先審査、ブレークスルー治療認定を目指しているが、その定義には不明瞭な点も。

Pharma scrambles to fast-track drugs p.20

‘Breakthrough therapy’ status is much sought after, but there is confusion about its definition and impact.

doi: 10.1038/502020a

Features

天文測定学:ヨーロッパの期待の星

Astrometry: Europe's star power p.22

The Gaia spacecraft will soon launch on a mission to chart the heavens in unprecedented detail.

doi: 10.1038/502022a

倫理:タブー視される遺伝学

Ethics: Taboo genetics p.26

Probing the biological basis of certain traits ignites controversy. But some scientists choose to cross the red line anyway.

doi: 10.1038/502026a

News & Views

物性物理学:一緒に居たがる量子

Condensed-matter physics: Quantum togetherness p.40

自由に動き回る1個の励起量子のもう1個の量子による制御が、2つの別々に行われた実験によって実証された。この結果は、情報の処理や転送に関連すると考えられる。

doi: 10.1038/nature12689

幹細胞:完全性まであと一歩

Stem cells: Close encounters with full potential p.41

成熟細胞に幹細胞の能力を付与することは容易ではない。この過程に対する決定的な障壁の1つが、今回明らかにされた。これが除去されれば、ほとんど全ての成熟細胞に幹細胞の性質を効率よく与えることが可能になる。

doi: 10.1038/nature12561

材料科学:長い記憶を持つ合金

Materials science: Alloys with long memories p.42

著しく再現性の高い相転移を数千回にわたって繰り返す合金が作られた。この発見は、変形を受けてもそれ以前の形状を「思い出せる」実用性の高い材料の開発につながりそうだ。

doi: 10.1038/502042a

酵素学:新分野に乗り出すモジュール型生合成

Enzymology: Modular biosynthesis branches out p.44

生物活性を持つ分子に含まれる環状構造は、分子に剛性を生じさせ、これはその分子が標的に選択的にしっかりと結合するのに役立つ。環状構造が形成される機序が明らかになり、生化学では珍しい反応が関わっていることが分かった。

doi: 10.1038/nature12562

生物学実験法:染色体を1つずつ捕捉する方法

Biological techniques: Chromosomes captured one by one p.45

個々の細胞中での染色体の構造と相互作用の解析から得られたデータは、以前に単一細胞画像化と集団平均したゲノム相互作用の研究から得られた結果を統合するものだ。

doi: 10.1038/nature12691

Articles

宇宙:火星のアラビア大陸内の古い火山区にある超巨大火山

Supervolcanoes within an ancient volcanic province in Arabia Terra, Mars p.47

Several irregularly shaped craters located within Arabia Terra, Mars, are interpreted as a new type of highland volcanic construct, similar to supervolcanoes on Earth, fundamentally changing the picture of ancient volcanism and climate evolution on Mars.

doi: 10.1038/nature12482

分子生物学:ヒト転写開始複合体のゲノム内での組織化

Genomic organization of human transcription initiation complexes p.53

The ChIP-exo technique is used to map the organization of transcription initiation complexes across the human genome at near-base-pair resolution; most of the transcription initiation complexes give rise to non-coding, non-polyadenylated RNA, indicating that pervasive non-coding transcription arise from specific promoters and is regulated.

doi: 10.1038/nature12535

遺伝学:単一細胞Hi-C法で明らかになった染色体構造の細胞ごとの変動性

Single-cell Hi-C reveals cell-to-cell variability in chromosome structure p.59

A novel genomic technique, single-cell Hi-C, detects thousands of simultaneous chromatin contacts in a single cell; this is used to show that individual chromosomes maintain domain organization at the megabase scale, but that chromosome structures vary from cell to cell at larger scales.

doi: 10.1038/nature12593

細胞:体細胞の多能性への決定論的な直接再プログラム化

Deterministic direct reprogramming of somatic cells to pluripotency p.65

This study shows that the combination of naive pluripotency growth conditions, Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and Myc (OSKM) overexpression, and depleting the Mbd3/NuRD co-repressor results in deterministic and synchronized reprogramming to pluripotency.

doi: 10.1038/nature12587

Letters

物理:量子非線形媒質における引き合う光子

Attractive photons in a quantum nonlinear medium p.71

By coupling light to strongly interacting atomic Rydberg states in a dispersive regime, it is possible to induce individual photons to travel as massive particles with strong mutual attraction, such that the propagation of photon pairs is dominated by a two-photon bound state.

doi: 10.1038/nature12512

物理:マグノン束縛状態とそのダイナミクスの微視的観測

Microscopic observation of magnon bound states and their dynamics p.76

Bound states of elementary spin waves (magnons) have been predicted to occur in one-dimensional quantum magnets; the observation of two-magnon bound states in a system of ultracold bosonic atoms in an optical lattice is now reported.

doi: 10.1038/nature12541

材料科学:金属ナノ粒子の局在表面プラズモン共鳴の三次元画像化

Three-dimensional imaging of localized surface plasmon resonances of metal nanoparticles p.80

Localized surface plasmon resonances of an individual silver nanocube are reconstructed in three dimensions using electron energy-loss spectrum imaging, resulting in a better understanding of the optical response of noble-metal nanoparticles.

doi: 10.1038/nature12469

材料科学:相変態材料の可逆性向上と特異な微細構造

Enhanced reversibility and unusual microstructure of a phase-transforming material p.85

The enhanced reversibility (stable transition temperature even at high strain under a solid-to-solid phase transition), low hysteresis and unusual riverine microstructure (ranging through thermal cycles) of the martensitic material Zn45Au30Cu25 makes it attractive for applications from eco-friendly fridges to medical sensors.

doi: 10.1038/nature12532

地球:南極棚氷の分離フラックスと底面融解速度

Calving fluxes and basal melt rates of Antarctic ice shelves p.89

An estimate of the mass balance components for all ice shelves in Antarctica indicates that about half of the ice-sheet surface mass gain is lost through oceanic erosion before reaching the ice front, and that the loss due to iceberg calving is about 34 per cent less than previously thought.

doi: 10.1038/nature12567

進化:単一遺伝子座に生じる生活史的なトレードオフが、性選択を受ける形質の遺伝的変動を維持する

Life history trade-offs at a single locus maintain sexually selected genetic variation p.93

Wild Soay sheep rams with large horns have more offspring, yet there is considerable genetic variation at RXFP2, a locus strongly implicated in horn size (with different alleles conferring either large or small horns); this study finds that although the larger horn allele leads to more offspring, the smaller horn allele leads to increased survival, meaning heterozygous rams (which develop medium-sized horns) have high reproductive success and survival, providing a rare example of heterozygote advantage.

doi: 10.1038/nature12489

微生物学:微生物叢が遊離させた宿主の糖は腸内病原菌の抗生物質投与後の増殖を促進する

Microbiota-liberated host sugars facilitate post-antibiotic expansion of enteric pathogens p.96

Antibiotic treatment disturbs the commensal microbiota and is often followed by infection with enteric pathogens such as Salmonella typhimurium and Clostridium difficile; pathogen expansion is fuelled by antibiotic-driven accumulation of commensal-liberated host mucosal carbohydrates.

doi: 10.1038/nature12503

免疫:高病原性SIVに感染した場合の免疫によるクリアランス

Immune clearance of highly pathogenic SIV infection p.100

Cellular immune responses in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) vaccinated with cytomegalovirus vectors expressing SIV proteins are able to stringently control highly pathogenic SIV infection, regardless of the route of challenge, after systemic spread; immunological and virological analyses of protected macaques followed for up to 3 years suggest that persistent immune surveillance by vaccine-elicited immune responses may have cleared the infection.

doi: 10.1038/nature12519

免疫:podoplaninは血小板CLEC-2と相互作用することにより、高内皮細静脈の完全性を維持する

Podoplanin maintains high endothelial venule integrity by interacting with platelet CLEC-2 p.105

A transmembrane O-glycoprotein podoplanin (PDPN) expressed on fibroblastic reticular cells is the activating ligand for platelet receptor CLEC-2; this interaction leads to perivenular release of sphingosine-1-phosphate and expression of VE-cadherin on high endothelial venules, a key process for the maintenance of vascular integrity in lymph nodes.

doi: 10.1038/nature12501

細胞生物学:サイクリンAは動原体微小管を調節して正確な染色体分離を促す

Cyclin A regulates kinetochore microtubules to promote faithful chromosome segregation p.110

Cyclin A is shown to maintain unstable kinetochore–microtubule (k–MT) attachments in prometaphase in order to allow for error correction; at the prometaphase–metaphase switch, k-MT attachments are stabilized when cyclin A drops below threshold levels.

doi: 10.1038/nature12507

生物物理:グルタミン酸輸送体ホモログの輸送動態

Transport dynamics in a glutamate transporter homologue p.114

Single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer imaging of a bacterial glutamate transporter reveals how the transport domains move.

doi: 10.1038/nature12265

生物物理:三量体であるナトリウム依存性アスパラギン酸輸送体の単一分子中で起こる同期しないサブユニット運動

Unsynchronised subunit motion in single trimeric sodium-coupled aspartate transporters p.119

Glutamate transporters are integral membrane proteins that facilitate neurotransmitter uptake from the synaptic cleft into the cytoplasm of glial cells and neurons, the mechanism of transport involves transitions between extracellular- and intracellular-facing conformations; here the authors used single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer imaging to directly observe conformational dynamics in trimers of a bacterial homologue of glutamate transporters that was embedded in the membrane.

doi: 10.1038/nature12538

生化学:専用のポリケチドシンターゼモジュールが触媒するビニログ的分枝鎖形成

Vinylogous chain branching catalysed by a dedicated polyketide synthase module p.124

This study shows the structural and biochemical characterization of a new type of polyketide synthase module that catalyses the vinylogous addition of a malonyl unit to an unsaturated thioester, generating a branch in the growing polyketide chain; this characterization provides a mechanism by which the structural diversity of polyketide natural products can be increased.

doi: 10.1038/nature12588

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