Volume 503 Number 7474

Editorials

ヒトの脳のシミュレーションを目指すヨーロッパの大規模計画は、神経科学に狙い以上の成果をもたらすだろう。

Head start p.5

Europe’s mega-project to simulate the human brain has much to offer neuroscience research — whether or not it delivers on its central promise.

doi: 10.1038/503005a

文化遺産の保護、保存を研究する科学者に対し、各国政府は支援を強化すべきだ。

Historic work p.6

Governments need to strengthen support for scientists who preserve our cultural heritage.

doi: 10.1038/503006a

大量の極小ビーズの挙動から、さまざまな生物に見られる集団運動の謎が明らかになるだろう。

Follow the crowd p.6

The behaviour of millions of minuscule beads reveals some secrets of collective motion.

doi: 10.1038/503006b

News

X線望遠鏡が、ヨーロッパの宇宙開発計画の優先順位第1位に。

X-rays top space agenda p.13

European agency selects mission themes, with X-ray telescope the biggest winner.

doi: 10.1038/503013a

精密な遺伝子編集によるトランスジェニックサルに、動物モデルとしての期待が。

Precision gene editing paves way for transgenic monkeys p.14

Despite political challenges, engineered primates could be better disease models than mice.

doi: 10.1038/503014a

2004年に始まった米国本土の地震計アレイ観測は、今年ほぼ終了し、来年にはアラスカへ。

US seismic array eyes its final frontier p.16

Moveable sensor grid will begin monitoring Alaska next summer.

doi: 10.1038/503016a

長年決着がつかなかったリンネのゾウ標本の分類が、プロテオミクス解析から明らかに。

Proteins help solve taxonomy riddle p.18

Proteomic technique proves that 300-year-old Linnaean elephant was wrongly classified.

doi: 10.1038/503018a

生物兵器拡散を防ぐためのEUの規制が感染症研究を難しくすると、科学者から懸念が。

Pathogen-research laws queried p.19

Scientists fear EU biosafety rules could complicate publication of work on infectious diseases.

doi: 10.1038/503019a

News Features

神経科学:脳を新たな角度から

Neuroscience: New angles on the brain p.21

神経回路を調べるさまざまな技術によって、ヒトの認知の研究は大きく進歩しつつある。

doi: 10.1038/503021a

神経科学:スマート接続

Neuroelectronics: Smart connections p.22

ヒトのニューロンが、省エネ高性能の新しいコンピューターチップのヒントになる。

doi: 10.1038/503022a

神経科学:ブレインストーム

Neurotechnology: Brain storm p.26

オバマ政権の打ち出したBRAIN計画がどのようなものになるか、神経科学者たちの取り組みが進んでいる。

doi: 10.1038/503026a

News & Views

神経科学:ニューロンの結合を作り出す

Neuroscience: Sculpting neuronal connectivity p.42

ニューロンでは、転写プログラムが抑制性の入力に対して、ニューロン内の領域ごとに異なる調節を行っていることが分かってきた。これは、神経回路では経験依存性の「可塑性」を獲得するための意外なスイッチが協調的に働いていることを示している。

doi: 10.1038/503042a

応用物理学:順調に進む

Applied physics: On a roll p.43

転がる粒子の集団は、走路の中では一方向性のまとまった動きを示すことが分かっている。理論的モデル作製によって流体力学的効果と静電気的効果がこうしたふるまいを促進していることが示唆された。

doi: 10.1038/503043a

進化生態学:珍しさが恋しさを募らせる

Evolutionary ecology: Novelty makes the heart grow fonder p.44

グッピーについての研究で「希少雄効果」、すなわち強い配偶者選択を受ける形質で変異が維持されるという謎を説明するためにずっと以前に考えられた仮説に対して、これまでで最も明確な証拠が得られた。

doi: 10.1038/nature12701

神経科学:何をどういう風になすべきか

Neuroscience: What to do and how p.45

意思決定は周囲の環境によって変わると考えられる。サル脳の前前頭皮質の解析から、ニューロン集団レベルでの動的な過程がこうした挙動を制御していることが示された。

doi: 10.1038/503045a

気候科学:当時は不確か、現在は的外れ

Climate science: Uncertain then, irrelevant now p.47

気候へのエアロゾルの影響の推定値の不確実性は、過去の汚染されていない大気についての知識が不十分であることに由来する。そのため、このような影響の解明がさらに進んでも、現在の気候の理解には考えられているほど役に立たない可能性が出てきた。

doi: 10.1038/503047a

心理学:青年期の脳について良い知らせと悪い知らせ

Psychology: Good and bad news on the adolescent brain p.48

リスクについての悪い知らせを聞くと、人は有害な事象に対する自己の脆弱性の評価を変えるものだが、未熟な若者は年長者に比べてその評価の正確性が低い。この知見は、若者がとる危険な行動への対応に関係してくると考えられる。

doi: 10.1038/nature12704

Reviews

神経科学:皮質ニューロンの接続性と感覚の符号化

Cortical connectivity and sensory coding p.51

The connectivity of cortical neurons relates to the way in which they encode sensory features, and integrate them with behavioural context; these factors are discussed in relation to recent research, the major questions still to be addressed, and emerging techniques that may help to answer these.

doi: 10.1038/nature12654

医学:グルコース恒常性および糖尿病における脳と膵島との協調

Cooperation between brain and islet in glucose homeostasis and diabetes p.59

An alternative view of diabetes is presented in which blood glucose homeostasis is achieved via collective actions of two regulatory systems: a brain-centred glucoregulatory system (BCGS), which works together with the pancreatic islets; defects in both systems may be required for diabetes to occur, and interventions targeting both systems may have greater therapeutic potential.

doi: 10.1038/nature12709

Articles

気候:間接強制力の不確実性に対する自然起源のエアロゾルの大きな寄与

Large contribution of natural aerosols to uncertainty in indirect forcing p.67

It has been assumed that a better understanding of the effects of anthropogenic aerosols will greatly reduce the large uncertainties associated with our predictions of the radiative forcing effects of aerosols on climate; however, this study shows that nearly half of the uncertainty in the radiative effect of aerosols on clouds derives from uncertainties in pre-industrial natural aerosols.

doi: 10.1038/nature12674

神経科学:SHANK3の過剰発現は独特な薬理遺伝学的性質を伴う躁病的行動を引き起こす

SHANK3 overexpression causes manic-like behaviour with unique pharmacogenetic properties p.72

Mouse and human studies reveal that incorrect gene dosage of SHANK3 (a gene linked to some human neuropsychiatric disorders, including autism spectrum disorder) is associated with behavioural abnormalities including mania, possibly because of actin regulation problems in excitatory/inhibitory synapses.

doi: 10.1038/nature12630

神経科学:前前頭皮質での反復性動態による文脈依存的な神経演算

Context-dependent computation by recurrent dynamics in prefrontal cortex p.78

This study shows that in monkeys making context-dependent decisions, task-relevant and task-irrelevant signals are confusingly intermixed in single units of the prefrontal cortex, but are readily understood in the framework of a dynamical process unfolding at the level of the population; a recurrently connected neural network model reproduces key features of the data and suggests a novel mechanism for selection and integration of task-relevant evidence towards a decision.

doi: 10.1038/nature12742

構造生物学:ドーパミン輸送体のX線構造により明らかになった抗うつ剤の作用機構

X-ray structure of dopamine transporter elucidates antidepressant mechanism p.85

The X-ray crystal structure of the Drosophila dopamine transporter bound to the antidepressant drug nortriptyline is presented, providing the first crystal structure of a eukaryotic neurotransmitter sodium symporter.

doi: 10.1038/nature12533

Letters

ナノテクノロジー:レーザー駆動誘電体マイクロ構造における電子加速の実証

Demonstration of electron acceleration in a laser-driven dielectric microstructure p.91

Acceleration of relativistic electrons in a dielectric laser accelerator at high electric field gradients is reported, setting the stage for the development of future multi-staged accelerators of this type.

doi: 10.1038/nature12664

応用物理学:運動性コロイド集団における巨視的方向性運動の出現

Emergence of macroscopic directed motion in populations of motile colloids p.95

Populations of millions of colloidal rolling particles are shown to self-organize to achieve coherent motion; comparison between experiment and theory based on the microscopic interactions between these ‘rollers’ suggests that hydrodynamic interactions promote the emergence of the collective motion.

doi: 10.1038/nature12673

化学:仮想磁気鋳型によって誘導されるコロイド集合

Colloidal assembly directed by virtual magnetic moulds p.99

Magnetic fields micropatterned within a paramagnetic fluid can simultaneously trap and position both magnetic and non-magnetic microparticles, the latter including live bacteria.

doi: 10.1038/nature12591

地球:マントル深部条件における溶融した玄武岩の構造変化

Structural change in molten basalt at deep mantle conditions p.104

The structure of molten basalt up to 60 GPa by means of in situ X-ray diffraction is described, with the coordination of silicon increasing from four under ambient conditions to six at 35 GPa, and subsequent reduced melt compressibility, which seems to affect siderophile-element partitioning.

doi: 10.1038/nature12668

進化生物学:野生グッピー個体群で見られる希少な雄の配偶優位性

Mating advantage for rare males in wild guppy populations p.108

Manipulation of the frequency of naturally occurring colour patterns within replicate pools of fish at three sites shows that males with rare colour patterns have higher reproductive fitness, demonstrating negative frequency-dependent selection mediated by sexual selection.

doi: 10.1038/nature12717

神経科学:食欲を抑制する神経回路の遺伝学的な同定

Genetic identification of a neural circuit that suppresses appetite p.111

A neural circuit from the parabrachial nucleus to the central nucleus of the amygdala mediates appetite suppression.

doi: 10.1038/nature12596

神経科学:樹状突起の発火はin vivoで皮質ニューロンにおける刺激選択性を高める

Dendritic spikes enhance stimulus selectivity in cortical neurons in vivo p.115

Neuronal dendrites are not passive cables, but whether their excitability contributes to computation at the cell’s soma has been uncertain; by observing and interfering with dendritic ‘spikes’ during sensory stimulation, it is now shown that active dendritic processing enhances somatic orientation selectivity, a fundamental brain computation.

doi: 10.1038/nature12600

神経科学:活動依存的な転写因子NPAS4は領域特異的な抑制を調節する

The activity-dependent transcription factor NPAS4 regulates domain-specific inhibition p.121

The transcription factor NPAS4 enables neurons to distinguish synaptic inputs received at their soma or dendrites; sensory stimulation increases NPAS4 which promotes inhibitory synapses on the soma and destabilizes inhibitory synapses on the dendrites.

doi: 10.1038/nature12743

免疫:インテグリン調節療法は強皮症マウスモデルでの繊維形成や自己免疫を防止する

Integrin-modulating therapy prevents fibrosis and autoimmunity in mouse models of scleroderma p.126

Failure of integrin-mediated cell-matrix attachment is sufficient to initiate dermal fibrosis and autoimmunity in mouse models of scleroderma; integrin-modulating therapies prevent the recruitment and activation of plasmacytoid dendritic cells that appear central to immunological dysregulation and maintenance of the pro-fibrotic synthetic programme.

doi: 10.1038/nature12614

細胞生物学:インテグリンシグナル伝達の方向切り替えスイッチと新しい抗血栓形成戦略

A directional switch of integrin signalling and a new anti-thrombotic strategy p.131

The direction of integrin signalling is found to be determined by the coordinated and opposing binding waves of talin and Gα13 to the same region of the integrin β3 cytoplasmic domain at mutually exclusive but distinct sites, and a potent new anti-thrombotic drug that does not cause bleeding is designed on the basis of these findings.

doi: 10.1038/nature12613

細胞生物学:ジストログリカン上のLARGEグリカンが、マトリックスを支える調節可能な足場として機能し、ジストロフィーを防いでいる

LARGE glycans on dystroglycan function as a tunable matrix scaffold to prevent dystrophy p.136

This study finds a direct correlation between LARGE-glycan extension on dystroglycan and the protein’s capacity for extracellular matrix ligands; in regenerating mouse muscle, short LARGE-glycan polysaccharides cause various defects, including muscle dysfunction and a predisposition to dystrophy, and in muscular dystrophy patients, increased clinical severity of disease corresponds to shorter LARGE-glycans.

doi: 10.1038/nature12605

構造生物学:生体アミン輸送体に対する多様な抗うつ剤の作用の構造基盤

Structural basis for action by diverse antidepressants on biogenic amine transporters p.141

LeuT, a bacterial homologue of eukaryotic biogenic amine transporters (BATs), is engineered to harbour human BAT-like pharmacology by the mutation of key residues around the primary binding pocket; this mutant is able to bind several classes of antidepressant drug with high affinity, helping to define their common mechanisms of action.

doi: 10.1038/nature12648

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