In the face of uncertain funding, the US initiative should not ignore proven programmes in favour of glitzy research.
doi: 10.1038/539467a
But grave challenges remain before the promise of individually tailored medicine becomes reality.
doi: 10.1038/539467b
The SESAME synchrotron shows a way towards greater trust and cooperation in the Middle East.
doi: 10.1038/539468a
SESAME project is set to revolutionize science in the region but is strapped for cash.
doi: 10.1038/539475a
Worries include job prospects, discrimination — and safety.
doi: 10.1038/539476a
Drilling into Mexico’s Chicxulub basin also finds shattered rock where underground life could thrive.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2016.20994
The move by Chinese scientists could spark a biomedical duel between China and the United States.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2016.20988
Cap at current spending levels could spell ‘end of science in Brazil’, researchers say.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2016.21014
Project to sequence the DNA of more than 1,000 species seeks to reveal how bats learn to communicate.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2016.20997
スズメの仲間であるノドジロシトドが持つ奇妙な染色体を長年にわたって調べてきたRusty GonserとElaina Tuttleという研究者夫妻の日々をたどる。
doi: 10.1038/539482a
修復酵素がDNA複製の間に生じた誤りを取り除くには、数百の塩基と広く情報交換を行わなくてはならない。複製酵素が輪状の締め金に似た複合体を複数作り、それをDNAに沿って拡散移動させることでこうした情報交換を行うことが、画像化により明らかにされた。
doi: 10.1038/nature20475
有機半導体デバイスは、導電材料との良好な電気的接触を必要とするが、そのような接触は効率が悪いことが多い。この問題を解決する方法が今回開発され、これは広範囲にわたる応用が可能となりそうだ。
doi: 10.1038/539499a
トウヨウミツバチのオーストラリアへの侵入がリアルタイムで観察された。それによって、自然選択がどのように働いて、小規模の創始者集団の定着成功を妨げるような数々の遺伝学的困難を乗り越えさせるのか、その状況が明らかになった。
doi: 10.1038/nature20472
グラフェン上での摩擦は、プローブがグラフェンの表面上を滑り始めてから徐々に増加していくことが、以前の観察により明らかになっている。今回行われたシミュレーションで、この摩擦強化がグラフェンシートの曲がりに関連していることが分かった。
doi: 10.1038/539502a
傷ついた血管は血管平滑筋細胞によって修復される。タンパク質のFat1が、ミトコンドリアの機能阻害により、このような細胞の増殖を調節していることが今回明らかになった。
doi: 10.1038/nature20476
蛍光性のナノダイヤモンドと金ナノ粒子を結合させた生体適合性のプローブを使うと、光学顕微鏡法と電子顕微鏡法の両方で細胞を画像化することが可能になる。このプローブは生物学研究に従来なかったような展開をもたらすだろう。
doi: 10.1038/nature20478
細菌が植物に感染する際に、両者の間では「制水権」をめぐって闘いが起こるらしい。これは、植物細胞を操作して、水を多く含んでいて細菌の増殖を促進する環境を作り出す細菌種の研究から明らかになった。
doi: 10.1038/539506a
The interplay between spin–orbit coupling and two-dimensionality has led to the emergence of new phases of matter, such as spin-polarized surface states in topological insulators, interfacial chiral spin interactions, and magnetic skyrmions in thin films, with great potential for spin-based devices.
doi: 10.1038/nature19820
Alx3-induced modulation of Mitf expression alters melanocyte differentiation and gives rise to the hair colour differences underlying the repeated evolution of dorsal stripes in rodents.
doi: 10.1038/nature20109
A combination of high humidity and bacterial effectors, such as Pseudomonas syringae HopM1, creates an aqueous environment in the apoplast of immunodeficient Arabidopsis thaliana that allows non-pathogenic P. syringae strains to become virulent pathogens.
doi: 10.1038/nature20166
The mystery of how bacteria that lack motile structures such as pili or flagella can ‘glide’ along surfaces is solved by a detailed description of the bacterial focal adhesion complex and its associated protein machinery.
doi: 10.1038/nature20121
A general strategy for producing solution-processed doped polymers with the extreme work functions that are required to make good ohmic contacts to semiconductors is demonstrated in high-performance light-emitting diodes, transistors and solar cells.
doi: 10.1038/nature20133
Atomistic simulations reproduce experimental observations of transient frictional strengthening of graphene on an amorphous silicon substrate, an effect which diminishes as the number of graphene layers increases.
doi: 10.1038/nature20135
In the chemical industry, it is often necessary to activate carbon–carbon bonds in order to synthesize complex organic molecules, but this is challenging when starting with simple five- or six-membered carbon rings; a new method uses a rhodium pre-catalyst and an amino-pyridine co-catalyst, enabling an overall energetically favourable reaction that involves activation of carbon–carbon bonds plus activation of carbon–hydrogen bonds.
doi: 10.1038/nature19849
Polarity reversals caused by dynamo waves are demonstrated in a magnetohydrodynamic model that is relevant to planetary cores, suggesting a possible mechanism of geomagnetic reversals.
doi: 10.1038/nature19842
Cannabinoids affect CB1 receptors on the mitochondrial membranes in the brain, triggering a decrease in downstream cAMP-dependent signalling; this leads to a decrease in brain mitochondrial activity and to cannabinoid-induced amnesia.
doi: 10.1038/nature20127
The authors have designed modular synthetic hydrogel networks for mouse and human intestinal stem cell cultures that support intestinal organoid formation.
doi: 10.1038/nature20168
Apoptotic intestinal epithelial cells can be sampled by lamina propria phagocytes, leading to distinct phagocyte-type-specific anti-inflammatory gene signatures and dendritic-cell-mediated induction of regulatory T cells.
doi: 10.1038/nature20138
Macrophage-derived insulin-like growth factor enhances the uptake of microvesicles by non-professional phagocytes, such as airway epithelial cells and fibroblasts, thereby dampening tissue inflammation.
doi: 10.1038/nature20141
Fragments of the atypical cadherin Fat1 accumulate in the mitochondria of vascular smooth muscle cells where they reduce respiration, leading to a regulated proliferative response to arterial injury.
doi: 10.1038/nature20170
SCAF1 is always required for the interaction between the respiratory chain complexes III and IV, and in animals carrying only the short isoform of SCAF1, the respirasome is absent in most tissues, with the exception of heart and skeletal muscle, where COX7A2 is present instead of SCAF1.
doi: 10.1038/nature20157
MutS and MutL—the highly conserved core proteins responsible for the repair of mismatched DNA—form sequential stable sliding clamps that together modulate one-dimensional diffusion along the DNA and, with MutH, facilitate the search for a distant excision initiation site.
doi: 10.1038/nature20562
Drosophila have two pathways for PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA) 3′-end formation—depending on which pathway is used, piRNA biogenesis is directed towards either cytoplasmic or nuclear PIWI protein effectors, which balances post-transcriptional versus transcriptional transposon silencing.
doi: 10.1038/nature20162
Characterization of the first Per-ARNT-Sim enzyme, a haem-dependent oxidative N-demethylase.
doi: 10.1038/nature20159
