Rise of the citizen scientist p.265
From the oceans to the soil, technology is changing the part that amateurs can play in research. But this greater involvement raises concerns that must be addressed.
doi: 10.1038/524265a
Volume 524 Number 7565
今週のハイライト
Cover Story: ひとつまみの塩：沈み込む古代のスラブに由来する塩水による「汚れた」ダイヤモンドの形成
構造生物学: bHLH-PAS転写因子の構造
細胞生物学: マイトファジーでパーキンが果たす役割
構造生物学: μオピオイド受容体の活性化
惑星科学: 巨大惑星形成の集積モデル
有機化学: ニッケル触媒反応を用いた炭素–ヘテロ原子カップリング
気候: 中国の炭素排出量の下方修正
古生物学: 生物が複雑化した時代
生態学: 山の生物相の進化
がん: がんとの関連が明らかになった細胞ストレスとオートファジー
構造生物学: パーキン活性化機構の解明
目次
Editorials
Portfolio boost p.265
People who fund or manage many research projects could do it better with mindful analysis.
doi: 10.1038/524265b
News
Greek bailout set to free up research funds p.273
Research minister says two chunks of money from the European Union can now be released.
doi: 10.1038/524273a
Ebola spurs creation of Japan's first maximum-security biolab p.274
Fears about the virus helped forge deal to elevate existing facility to BSL-4 status.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2015.18179
Most gay and lesbian researchers are out in the lab p.275
Fields with more women found to be more welcoming.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2015.18187
China’s carbon emissions overestimated p.276
Analysis could force climate scientists to revisit estimates of global cycle.
doi: 10.1038/524276a
Superconductivity record sparks wave of follow-up physics p.277
Researchers strive to reproduce and understand landmark result.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2015.18191
Chinese biologists lead outcry over Winter Olympics ski site p.278
Proposed alpine ski area lies within nature reserve, prompting fears of development in other conservation areas.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2015.18174
News Features
The cannabis experiment p.280
As marijuana use becomes more acceptable, researchers are scrambling to answer key questions about the drug.
doi: 10.1038/524280a
News & Views
Cell biology: Tagged tags engage disposal p.294
Damaged organelles called mitochondria were once thought to be disposed of by a simple signalling cascade. Cell-based analyses now reveal that a network of complicated molecular interactions initiates disposal. See Article p.309
doi: 10.1038/nature15199
Dengue virus: Bumps in the road to therapeutic antibodies p.295
A human antibody against dengue virus serotype 2 has been shown to protect mice against disease. Structures of the antibody bound to the virus illuminate how it binds different viral forms to prevent virus entry into cells.
doi: 10.1038/524295a
Organic chemistry: Light opens pathways for nickel catalysis p.297
The report of a light-activated catalyst that generates usually inaccessible nickel intermediates provides a general strategy that might allow elusive catalytic reactions to be realized. See Letter p.330
doi: 10.1038/nature15200
Structural biology: Hypoxia response becomes crystal clear p.298
The crystal structures of two proteins that respond to reduced tissue oxygen levels — hypoxia-inducible factors — provide insight into their function and reveal sites for rational drug design. See Article p.303
doi: 10.1038/nature14641
Biodiversity: Multiple origins of mountain life p.300
A study of DNA sequences from more than 1,800 organisms on Mount Kinabalu in Borneo reveals the evolutionary mechanisms that led to the mountain's high and unique biodiversity. See Letter p.347
doi: 10.1038/nature14645
Astrophysics: Mystery survivor of a supermassive black hole p.301
The G2 cloud in our Galaxy's core has survived an encounter with the central black hole and failed to trigger a major flare-up in the black hole's activity. A promising theory endeavours to explain the cloud's nature.
doi: 10.1038/524301a
Articles
Structural integration in hypoxia-inducible factors p.303
This study describes the long-awaited crystal structures for hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) heterodimers, including complexes bound to small molecules and DNA; the HIF–ARNT architecture is distinct from the bHLH-PAS-containing CLOCK–BMAL1 heterodimer, and HIF mutations linked to cancer can be mapped to important structural regions, with the structures providing future reference for small-molecule drug discovery efforts.
doi: 10.1038/nature14883
The ubiquitin kinase PINK1 recruits autophagy receptors to induce mitophagy p.309
The PINK1 ubiquitin kinase is shown to recruit the two autophagy receptors NDP52 and OPTN to mitochondria to activate mitophagy directly, independently of the ubiquitin ligase parkin; once recruited to mitochondria, NDP52 and OPTN recruit autophagy initiation components, and parkin may amplify the phospho-ubiquitin signal generated by PINK1, resulting in robust autophagy induction.
doi: 10.1038/nature14893
Structural insights into µ-opioid receptor activation p.315
X-ray crystallography and molecular dynamics simulations of the μ-opioid receptor reveal the conformational changes in the extracellular and intracellular domains of this G-protein-coupled receptor that are associated with its activation.
doi: 10.1038/nature14886
Letters
Growing the gas-giant planets by the gradual accumulation of pebbles p.322
Gas-giant planets are widely thought to form from solid ‘cores’ of roughly ten Earth masses; simulations now show that such cores can be produced from ‘pebbles’ (centimetre-to-metre-sized objects) provided that the pebbles form sufficiently slowly, leading to the formation of one to four gas giants in agreement with the observed structure of the Solar System.
doi: 10.1038/nature14675
Measurement-based control of a mechanical oscillator at its thermal decoherence rate p.325
A position sensor is demonstrated that is capable of resolving the zero-point motion of a nanomechanical oscillator in the timescale of its thermal decoherence; it achieves an imprecision that is four orders of magnitude below that at the standard quantum limit and is used to feedback-cool the oscillator to a mean photon number of five.
doi: 10.1038/nature14672
Switching on elusive organometallic mechanisms with photoredox catalysis p.330
Despite advances in carbon–carbon fragment couplings, the ability to forge carbon–oxygen bonds in a general fashion via nickel catalysis has been largely unsuccessful; here, visible-light-excited photoredox catalysts are shown to provide transient access to Ni(iii) species that readily participate in reductive elimination, leading to carbon–oxygen coupling.
doi: 10.1038/nature14875
Reduced carbon emission estimates from fossil fuel combustion and cement production in China p.335
A revised estimate of Chinese carbon emissions from fossil fuel burning and cement production is presented, based on updated energy consumption and clinker production data and two new sets of measured emission factors for Chinese coal.
doi: 10.1038/nature14677
Highly saline fluids from a subducting slab as the source for fluid-rich diamonds p.339
Geochemical data from inclusions within diamonds from the Northwest Territories, Canada, indicate that saline fluids are parental to silicic and carbonatitic deep mantle melts, via fluid–rock interaction; a subducting plate under western North America is suggested to be the source of the fluids.
doi: 10.1038/nature14857
Reconstructing the reproductive mode of an Ediacaran macro-organism p.343
The Ediacaran macrofossil Fractofusus reveals a complex life history of multigenerational, stolon-like asexual reproduction, interspersed with dispersal of waterborne propagules.
doi: 10.1038/nature14646
Evolution of endemism on a young tropical mountain p.347
Investigating the evolutionary origins of montane biodiversity by sampling the entire biota from a single mountain, Mount Kinabalu in Borneo, allows for a better understanding not only of the origins of endemism, but also of this biota’s forecasted response to environmental change.
doi: 10.1038/nature14949
A self-organized biomechanical network drives shape changes during tissue morphogenesis p.351
Feedbacks between the dissociation and advection of myosin II result in self-organized behaviour of actomyosin networks that drives shape changes during tissue morphogenesis.
doi: 10.1038/nature14603
The zinc transporter ZIP12 regulates the pulmonary vascular response to chronic hypoxia p.356
Zinc transporter ZIP12 expression is increased in many cell types in remodelled mammalian pulmonary arterioles in hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension.
doi: 10.1038/nature14620
Transcriptional control of autophagy–lysosome function drives pancreatic cancer metabolism p.361
The MiT/TFE family of transcription factors is found to coordinate constitutive activation of autophagy and lysosome biogenesis to drive the metabolic programming and malignant growth of pancreatic cancer.
doi: 10.1038/nature14587
Energetic coupling between plastids and mitochondria drives CO2 assimilation in diatoms p.366
Diatoms optimize their photosynthetic efficiency via extensive energetic exchanges between plastids and mitochondria.
doi: 10.1038/nature14599
Mechanism of phospho-ubiquitin-induced PARKIN activation p.370
This study provides insights into conformational changes that lead to phospho-ubiquitin-induced PARKIN activation and how PARKIN is recruited to phospho-ubiquitin chains on mitochondria; the crystal structure of PARKIN in complex with phospho-ubiquitin also indicates that the pocket within PARKIN where phospho-ubiquitin binds carries amino acid residues that are mutated in patients with autosomal-recessive juvenile Parkinsonism.
doi: 10.1038/nature14879
Propagation of conformational changes during μ-opioid receptor activation p.375
NMR spectroscopy reveals the conformational changes of the μ-opioid receptor that are associated with receptor activation, helping to explain why the allosteric coupling between the agonist-binding pocket and the cytoplasmic G-protein-coupling interface of this receptor is relatively weak.
doi: 10.1038/nature14680
