Editorials
健常者と患者の組織の大規模なエピゲノム研究によって、遺伝的差異と病気の結び付きの解明に役立つ重要な情報が得られるだろう。
Beyond the genome p.273
Studies of the epigenomic signatures of many healthy and diseased human tissues could provide crucial infomation to link genetic variation and disease.
doi: 10.1038/518273a
Natureと月刊のNature関連誌では、従来の査読に加えてダブル・ブラインドの査読を導入し、著者が選択できるようにする。
Nature journals offer double-blind review p.274
doi: 10.1038/518274b
科学には、若々しい革新的思考と苦労して積み重ねた経験の組み合わせが必要だ。
The idea factory p.274
Science will benefit most from a combination of youthful innovation and hard-won experience.
doi: 10.1038/518274a
News
サウジアラビアでも、最先端のアト秒レーザー装置が稼働へ。
Saudi Arabia opens top-notch laser lab p.281
Facility will study biomedical uses at attosecond resolution.
doi: 10.1038/518281a
ユーザーの人的要因への取り組みが、サイバー犯罪対策の課題に。
Cybercrime fighters target human error p.282
Researchers aim to cut passwords and people out of the data-safety equation.
doi: 10.1038/518282a
革新的な生物医学研究は若手科学者から生まれやすい傾向があることが、多数の論文の分析によって明らかに。
Young scientists lead the way on fresh ideas p.283
Analysis of millions of papers finds that junior biomedical researchers tend to work on more innovative topics than their senior colleagues do.
doi: 10.1038/518283a
古代DNAの解析から、インド・ヨーロッパ語族の起源は、ユーラシア草原地帯にあるとの説が有力に。
Steppe migration rekindles debate on language origin p.284
Eurasian region gains ground as birthplace of Indo-European tongues.
doi: 10.1038/518284a
ヒトの体のモデルとして、臓器チップとそのネットワーク化の研究が。
Biodefence researchers seek 'Homo chippiens' p.285
Projects aim to mimic human body using networks of simulated organs.
doi: 10.1038/518285a
政府からの助成が呼び水となって、米国エネルギー高等研究計画局(ARPA-E)の革新的エネルギー技術に多額の民間投資が。
Radical energy ideas secure US private funds p.286
Federal start-up funds inspire investment in ARPA-E technologies.
doi: 10.1038/518286a
News Features
ヒトの生物学:性別の再定義
Sex redefined p.288
性を2種類とする定義は単純に過ぎ、生物学的にもっと幅広いスペクトルがあることが分かってきた。
doi: 10.1038/518288a
博物館の収蔵品:生物標本の危機
Museums: The endangered dead p.292
地球で減少していく生物多様性を追跡するためにも、自然史博物館に収められた多数の標本の重要性は増しているが、今、標本そのものが危機に瀕している。
doi: 10.1038/518292a
News & Views
神経科学:皮質ニューロンの結合状態
Neuroscience: The cortical connection p.306
脳の視覚野中にあるニューロンは他の非常に多くのニューロンからの入力を受け取っている。しかし、個々のニューロンが強く結合しているのは、自己に最もよく似ている少数のニューロンだけであることが今回明らかになった。
doi: 10.1038/nature14201
宇宙物理学:リチウムに富む星の爆発
Astrophysics: A lithium-rich stellar explosion p.307
新星と呼ばれる爆発が、天の川銀河に含まれるリチウムの量にどの程度寄与しているのかははっきりしていない。このような爆発の1つに、崩壊してリチウムになる放射性ベリリウムが初めて検出された。
doi: 10.1038/518307a
進化:フィンチのゲノム塩基配列を解読
Evolution: Finches sequenced p.308
ダーウィンフィンチ類のゲノムの特徴が初めて詳細に調べられ、ダーウィンフィンチ類の15種全部と近縁の2種の120個体でゲノム塩基配列が明らかにされた。
doi: 10.1038/518308a
生化学:メタンの分解
Biochemistry: Breaking methane p.309
自然界に見られる最強の酸化剤は化合物Q、つまりメタンを酸化する酵素反応で生じる中間体である。新たに得られた分光学的データから、Qの化学構造についてのずっと続いてきた論争が解決された。
doi: 10.1038/nature14199
気候科学:海洋の沿岸湧昇はこれからどうなる?
Climate science: The future of coastal ocean upwelling p.310
気候モデルのアンサンブルによって、沿岸域に沿って吹く風は地球温暖化のために今後は強くなり、沿岸湧昇の規模がさらに拡大すると予想された。この過程は、沿岸域の海洋生態系の健全性に影響を及ぼす可能性がある。
doi: 10.1038/518310a
フォーラム:エピゲノミクス:調節エレメント解明のロードマップ
Epigenomics: Roadmap for regulation p.314
ヒト組織標品と細胞系列から得られたゲノムの機能性調節エレメントについて調べた一連の論文が発表された。このフォーラムでは、エピゲノムに関するこの研究計画の意味が、3つの視点から論じられている。
doi: 10.1038/518314a
Articles
エピゲノム:ヒトの参照エピゲノム111例の統合解析
Integrative analysis of 111 reference human epigenomes OPEN p.317
This study describes the integrative analysis of 111 reference human epigenomes, profiled for histone modification patterns, DNA accessibility, DNA methylation and RNA expression; the results annotate candidate regulatory elements in diverse tissues and cell types, their candidate regulators, and the set of human traits for which they show genetic variant enrichment, providing a resource for interpreting the molecular basis of human disease.
doi: 10.1038/nature14248
エピゲノム:幹細胞分化の最中に起こるクロマチン構造の再編成
Chromatin architecture reorganization during stem cell differentiation OPEN p.331
An analysis of genome-wide chromatin interactions during human embryonic stem cell differentiation reveals changes in chromatic organization and simultaneously identifies allele-resolved chromatin structure and differences in gene expression during differentiation.
doi: 10.1038/nature14222
エピゲノム:自己免疫疾患の原因となるバリアントの遺伝学的およびエピジェネティックな精細マッピング
Genetic and epigenetic fine mapping of causal autoimmune disease variants p.337
Genome-wide association studies combined with data from epigenomic maps for immune cells have been used to fine-map causal variants for 21 autoimmune diseases; disease risk tends to be linked to single nucleotide polymorphisms in cell-type-specific enhancers, often in regions adjacent to transcription factor binding motifs.
doi: 10.1038/nature13835
エピゲノム:ヒトES細胞の分化過程に見られる転写因子の結合動態
Transcription factor binding dynamics during human ES cell differentiation OPEN p.344
Lineage-specific transcription factors and signalling pathways cooperate with pluripotency regulators to control the transcriptional networks that drive cell specification and exit from an embryonic stem cell state; here, we report genome-wide binding data for 38 transcription factors combined with analysis of epigenomic and gene expression data during the differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into the three germ layers.
doi: 10.1038/nature14233
Letters
エピゲノム:多様なヒト組織にわたるハプロタイプ判定済みエピゲノムの統合解析
Integrative analysis of haplotype-resolved epigenomes across human tissues OPEN p.350
As part of the Epigenome Roadmap project, this study uses a chromosome-spanning haplotype reconstruction strategy to construct haplotype-resolved epigenomic maps for a diverse set of human tissues; the maps reveal extensive allelic biases in chromatin state and transcription, which vary across individuals due to genetic backgrounds.
doi: 10.1038/nature14217
エピゲノム:エピジェネティックなフットプリンティングにより神経分化調節ネットワークを分析する
Dissecting neural differentiation regulatory networks through epigenetic footprinting p.355
The integrative analysis of epigenetic footprints along consecutive stages of neural progenitors derived from human ES cells reveals regulatory mechanisms that orchestrate stage-specific differentiation.
doi: 10.1038/nature13990
エピゲノム:起源細胞のクロマチン構成ががんの変異の特性を形作る
Cell-of-origin chromatin organization shapes the mutational landscape of cancer OPEN p.360
An analysis of cell-type-specific epigenomic features reveals a relationship between epigenomic and mutational profiles; chromatin characteristics can explain a large proportion of mutational variance in cancer genomes and the mutational distribution can identify the probable cell type from which a given cancer originated from.
doi: 10.1038/nature14221
エピゲノム:マウスとヒトで保存されているエピゲノムシグナルはアルツハイマー病の基盤への免疫の関連を明らかにしている
Conserved epigenomic signals in mice and humans reveal immune basis of Alzheimer’s disease OPEN p.365
Analysis of transcriptional and epigenomic changes in the hippocampus of a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease shows that immune function genes and regulatory regions are upregulated, whereas genes and regulatory regions involved in synaptic plasticity, learning and memory are downregulated; genetic variants associated with Alzheimer’s disease are only enriched in orthologues of upregulated immune regions, suggesting that dysregulation of immune processes may underlie Alzheimer’s disease predisposition.
doi: 10.1038/nature14252
Articles
進化学:ゲノム塩基配列解読で明らかになったダーウィンフィンチ類とそのくちばしの進化
Evolution of Darwin’s finches and their beaks revealed by genome sequencing p.371
Comprehensive genome sequencing of 120 individuals representing all of the Darwin’s finch species and two close relatives reveals important discrepancies with morphology-based taxonomy, widespread hybridization, and a gene, ALX1, underlying variation in beak shape.
doi: 10.1038/nature14181
分子生物学:RNAポリメラーゼII–メディエーターコア開始複合体の構造
Architecture of the RNA polymerase II–Mediator core initiation complex p.376
Mediator is the key transcription co-activator complex that enables basal and regulated transcription initiation by RNA polymerase (Pol) II; here a 15-subunit yeast core Mediator bound to a core Pol II initiation complex is reconstituted and its structure determined by cryo-electron microscopy at subnanometre resolution.
doi: 10.1038/nature14229
Letters
宇宙物理学:古典新星V339 Del(いるか座新星2013)における爆発的リチウム生成
Explosive lithium production in the classical nova V339 Del (Nova Delphini 2013) p.381
The origin of lithium is key to understanding the enrichment history of the Universe; now the classical nova V339 Del (Nova Delphini 2013) reveals that nova explosions could have been contributing to the recent rapid increase of the amount of lithium in the Universe.
doi: 10.1038/nature14161
化学:フェムト秒X線散乱法による溶液中における結合形成の直接観察
Direct observation of bond formation in solution with femtosecond X-ray scattering p.385
Time-resolved X-ray solution scattering is used to visualize and probe the dynamics of the individual steps in the formation of a gold trimer complex, including covalent bond formation, with a time resolution of ~500 femtoseconds.
doi: 10.1038/nature14163
気候科学:気候変動下での沿岸湧昇の増強と空間的均一化
Intensification and spatial homogenization of coastal upwelling under climate change p.390
An ensemble of climate models shows that by the end of the twenty-first century the coastal upwelling season near the eastern boundaries of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans will start earlier, end later and become more intense at high latitudes, thus becoming more homogeneous; these changes may affect the geographical distribution of marine biodiversity.
doi: 10.1038/nature14235
地球物理学:ラウ背弧マントルのメルト輸送に及ぼす水の影響の地震学的証拠
Seismic evidence of effects of water on melt transport in the Lau back-arc mantle p.395
Tomographically derived seismic velocities are used to infer the distribution of partial melt below the Lau Basin, revealing an unexpected relationship between the amount of in situ melt and the water content of the magma, indicating that subducted water enhances melt extraction.
doi: 10.1038/nature14113
神経科学:一次視覚野の興奮性シナプス強度の機能的構成
Functional organization of excitatory synaptic strength in primary visual cortex p.399
In complex networks of the cerebral cortex, the majority of connections are weak and only a minority strong, but it is not known why; here the authors show that excitatory neurons in primary visual cortex follow a rule by which strong connections are sparse and occur between neurons with correlated responses to visual stimuli, whereas only weak connections link neurons with uncorrelated responses.
doi: 10.1038/nature14182
神経科学:プロテオグリカン受容体PTPσの調節が脊髄損傷後の回復を促進する
Modulation of the proteoglycan receptor PTPσ promotes recovery after spinal cord injury p.404
Regeneration and plasticity after spinal cord injury are limited by inhibitory proteoglycans; here, modulation of a receptor for proteoglycans in rats is shown to lead to functional recovery after injury.
doi: 10.1038/nature13974
創薬:Angelman症候群に対する、長鎖非コードRNAを標的とする治療法の開発
Towards a therapy for Angelman syndrome by targeting a long non-coding RNA p.409
Angelman syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by disrupted function of the maternal copy of the imprinted UBE3A gene; here, targeting a long non-coding RNA that is responsible for silencing the paternal copy of UBE3A with antisense oligonucleotides is shown to partially restore UBE3A expression in the central nervous system and correct some cognitive deficits in a mouse model of the disease.
doi: 10.1038/nature13975
細胞生物学:細胞内α-ケトグルタル酸が胚性幹細胞の多能性を維持している
Intracellular α-ketoglutarate maintains the pluripotency of embryonic stem cells p.413
If deprived of exogenous glutamine, naive mouse embryonic stem cells are shown to be capable of generating the amino acid from other sources to enable their proliferation; the stem cells use glutamine and glucose catabolism to maintain a high level of intracellular α-ketoglutarate and promote demethylation of chromatin and ensure sufficient expression of pluripotency-associated genes.
doi: 10.1038/nature13981
免疫学:脱ユビキチン化酵素DUBAは、T細胞でインターロイキン17産生を抑制する翻訳後ブレーキである
Deubiquitinase DUBA is a post-translational brake on interleukin-17 production in T cells p.417
The deubiquitinase enzyme DUBA is shown to act as a negative regulator of interleukin-17A (IL-17A) in TH17 cells; DUBA interacts with and stabilizes the ubiquitin ligase UBR5, which in turn targets RORγt for degradation in the proteaseome, thus limiting IL-17A production.
doi: 10.1038/nature13979
がん:乳がん患者の異種移植片におけるゲノムクローンの1細胞レベル分解能で見た動態
Dynamics of genomic clones in breast cancer patient xenografts at single-cell resolution p.422
Deep-genome and single-cell sequencing analyses of patient-derived breast cancer xenografts reveal extensive, dynamic and reproducible changes in intra-tumoral mutational clonal composition on engraftment and serial propagation.
doi: 10.1038/nature13952
化学生物学:合成遺伝物質ポリマー由来の触媒
Catalysts from synthetic genetic polymers p.427
Four different XNAs — polymers with backbone chemistries not found in nature, namely, arabino nucleic acids, 2′-fluoroarabino nucleic acids, hexitol nucleic acids and cyclohexene nucleic acids — are found to be able to support the evolution of synthetic enzymes (XNAzymes) that catalyse several chemical reactions.
doi: 10.1038/nature13982
生化学:メタンからメタノールへの酵素的酸化で重要な化学種の構造
Structure of the key species in the enzymatic oxidation of methane to methanol p.431
Time-resolved resonance Raman vibrational spectroscopy was used to study the mechanism of soluble methane monooxygenase and obtain structural information on the key reaction cycle intermediate, compound Q, which contains a unique binuclear FeIV cluster that breaks the strong C-H bond of methane and inserts an oxygen atom (from O2) to form methanol.
doi: 10.1038/nature14160
構造生物学:パワーストロークを起こせる状態にあるヒト細胞質ダイニン2の構造
Structure of human cytoplasmic dynein-2 primed for its power stroke p.435
The X-ray crystal structure of the human cytoplasmic dynein-2 motor bound to the ATP-hydrolysis transition state analogue ADP.vanadate is described.
doi: 10.1038/nature14023