Volume 506 Number 7486

Editorials

薬物依存は病気ではなく社会問題だという、動物実験反対運動家の不当な主張を鵜呑みにすべきではない。

Animal farm p.5

Misrepresentation of addiction by animal-rights activists should not be allowed to derail research.

doi: 10.1038/506005a

英国の移民法は、実際のところ科学者にとってはそれほど移動の妨げにはなっていないが、英国政府は自由な移動が守られるよう、今後も努力を続けるべきだ。

Invisible borders p.6

UK immigration rules are perceived as being tougher than they really are.

doi: 10.1038/506006a

アマゾンの熱帯雨林は、乾期には全く炭素を吸収せず、炭素排出源になる恐れもあることが明らかに。

Trick of the light p.6

The Amazon doesn’t absorb extra carbon in the dry season after all. It can become a carbon source.

doi: 10.1038/506006b

News

米国で犯罪科学捜査の欠陥に対する批判が高まり、司法省と標準技術局が指針を検討へ。

Faulty forensic science under fire p.13

US panels aim to set standards for crime labs.

doi: 10.1038/506013a

ビザ取得時の煩雑さなどといった問題が、外国人研究者が英国を敬遠する原因になっているとの批判が。

UK visa problems worry scientists p.14

Immigration policies scare off foreign talent, warn critics.

doi: 10.1038/506014a

インターネットに接続している世界中のPCを利用して分散計算処理をする「@homeプロジェクト」の勢いに、陰りが。

Computer sharing loses momentum p.16

Competition and education needed to keep people engaged.

doi: 10.1038/506016a

科学出版大手のエルゼビアが、データマイニングのしやすいシステムの提供を開始。

Elsevier opens its papers to text-mining p.17

Researchers welcome easier access for harvesting content, but some spurn tight controls.

doi: 10.1038/506017a

フランス国立農業研究所(INRA)の重要な研究用ブドウ園が、移転の危機に。

Grapevine gene bank under threat p.18

Scientists raise concerns about relocation of premier French research vineyard dubbed the ‘Louvre of vines’.

doi: 10.1038/506018a

グラフェンのリン原子版、ホスホレンが半導体スイッチの回路に利用できると、期待が。

Phosphorene excites materials scientists p.19

Physicists look past graphene for atom-thick layers that could be switches in circuits.

doi: 10.1038/506019a

News Features

冬季オリンピック:前途は下り坂

Winter Olympics: Downhill forecast p.20

気候変動が、冬季スポーツの未来を脅かしている。

doi: 10.1038/506020a

生物医学:霊長類実験の変貌

Biomedicine: The changing face of primate research p.24

ヨーロッパで、苦労の末に認められた霊長類の研究利用が、新たな危機に見舞われている。

doi: 10.1038/506024a

News & Views

フォーラム:微生物学:多才な微生物群

Microbiology: A talented genus p.38

近年報告されて暫定的にEntotheonellaと名付けられた属の細菌が、海生海綿であるTheonella swinhoeiで見いだされる多様な天然物の供給源であることが分かった。2人の専門家が、この発見について微生物生態学と創薬の視点から論じている。

doi: 10.1038/nature13049

がん:干渉によって見つかった免疫モジュレーター

Cancer: Interference identifies immune modulators p.39

黒色腫を持つマウスで免疫細胞の抗腫瘍活性に特定の遺伝子の阻害が及ぼす影響について、大規模なin vivoスクリーニングが行われ、がん治療のための標的候補が突き止められた。

doi: 10.1038/nature13050

大気科学:干ばつと火災が貯蔵場所を供給源に変える

Atmospheric science: Drought and fire change sink to source p.41

アマゾン森林が吐く「息」、つまりアマゾン盆地全体での炭素放出量が航空機を使って測定された。この知見は、将来の干ばつがもたらす影響を懸念させ、この地域での火の使われ方についての再評価を求めるものだ。

doi: 10.1038/506041a

免疫学:自己免疫の潤滑油

Immunology: Oiling the wheels of autoimmunity p.42

皮膚に含まれる脂肪性の物質が、皮膚にホーミングする自己反応性T細胞集団を活性化するような構造を持っていることが分かった。これらの免疫細胞の応答は局所的な防御を助けるが、自己免疫疾患にも関わっている。

doi: 10.1038/506042a

素粒子物理学:クォークは両手利きではない

Particle physics: Quarks are not ambidextrous p.43

重水素標的中のクォークから右回りの電子と左回りの電子を別々に散乱させることで、鏡像対称性の破れに関する35年前の古典的測定結果がほぼ5倍改善された。

doi: 10.1038/506043a

生態学:植物多様性は病原体に根ざしている

Ecology: Plant diversity rooted in pathogens p.44

熱帯雨林では多くの種類の植物が限られた広さの中に共在できる。その仕組みについては、生態学でずっと以前から考察されてきたが、病原性真菌が重要な役割を持っていることが今回明らかにされた。その地域に多く存在する種にはこうした菌の存在が不利に働くのである。

doi: 10.1038/nature12851

Articles

古生態学:北極の植生および大型動物相の食餌の5万年

Fifty thousand years of Arctic vegetation and megafaunal diet p.47

By analysing plant and nematode DNA from sites all around the Arctic, it is shown that vegetation before about 10,000 years ago contained more forbs (non-graminoid herbaceous vascular plants) than previously believed, which changes our understanding about the functioning of the diverse northern ecosystem that existed at this time.

doi: 10.1038/nature12921

がん:腫瘍微小環境中の免疫療法の標的をin vivoで明らかにする

In vivo discovery of immunotherapy targets in the tumour microenvironment p.52

A short hairpin RNA screen to identify genes that modify the action of tumour-infiltrating CD8 T cells in tumour-bearing mice pinpointed the phosphatase subunit Ppp2r2d as a new target for tumour therapy; knockdown of Ppp2r2d in T cells enabled their accumulation in tumours and significantly delayed tumour growth.

doi: 10.1038/nature12988

微生物学:豊かで独特な代謝産物レパートリーを持つ、環境由来細菌の新しい分類群

An environmental bacterial taxon with a large and distinct metabolic repertoire OPEN p.58

Single-cell- and metagenomics-based study reveals two members of the candidate genus ‘Entotheonella’, symbionts of the marine sponge Theonella swinhoei; distinct biosynthetic gene clusters that account for most of the bioactive polyketides and peptides known from T. swinhoei are shown to be attributable to a single member of the T. swinhoei Y microbiome.

doi: 10.1038/nature12959

Letters

宇宙:明るい高赤方偏移のクエーサー周辺のライマンα輝線で示される宇宙のクモの巣

A cosmic web filament revealed in Lyman-α emission around a luminous high-redshift quasar p.63

Observations of a cosmic web filament have been made in Lyman-α emission; the filament has a projected size of approximately 460 physical kiloparsecs, and its estimated cold gas mass is more than ten times larger than what is typically found in cosmological simulations.

doi: 10.1038/nature12898

素粒子物理学:電子–クォーク散乱におけるパリティの破れの測定

Measurement of parity violation in electron–quark scattering p.67

A high-precision parity-violating electron–quark scattering experiment provides measurements of a combination of electron–quark weak couplings with a precision five times higher than the single previous direct study, confirming the predictions of the electroweak particle-physics theory and providing constraints on parity-violating interactions beyond the standard model.

doi: 10.1038/nature12964

量子物理学:10−18レベルの正確度と安定度を持つ光格子時計

An optical lattice clock with accuracy and stability at the 10−18 level p.71

In the search for stable and accurate atomic clocks, many-atom lattice clocks have shown higher precision than clocks based on single trapped ions, but have been less accurate; here, a stable many-atom clock is demonstrated that has accuracy better than single-ion clocks.

doi: 10.1038/nature12941

大気科学:大気観測によって明らかにされたアマゾン川流域の炭素収支の干ばつに対する感度

Drought sensitivity of Amazonian carbon balance revealed by atmospheric measurements p.76

Carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide measurements across the Amazon basin for 2010 and 2011 reveal that drought rather than temperature caused the observed halt in forest productivity during the anomalously dry year of 2010.

doi: 10.1038/nature12957

大気化学:海氷リードがもたらす北極境界層内の水銀とオゾンに対する対流強制力

Convective forcing of mercury and ozone in the Arctic boundary layer induced by leads in sea ice p.81

Sea-ice leads (open water channels), which increase with an ongoing shift from perennial to seasonal sea ice, are shown to initiate convection in the Arctic boundary layer, thus supplying ozone and gaseous mercury to the surface and possibly leading to additional pollution effects.

doi: 10.1038/nature12924

生態:病原体および植食性昆虫が雨林植物の多様性を高め構成を変化させる

Pathogens and insect herbivores drive rainforest plant diversity and composition p.85

Suppressing fungi in a tropical forest plant community lowers diversity by reducing the negative effects of density on seedling recruitment, and removing insects increases seedling survival and alters plant community composition; this demonstrates the crucial role of pathogens and insects in maintaining and structuring tropical forest plant diversity.

doi: 10.1038/nature12911

植物の進化:被子植物の凍結環境への放散の鍵となった3つの要因

Three keys to the radiation of angiosperms into freezing environments p.89

This large comparative phylogenetic study across angiosperms shows that species that are herbaceous or have small conduits evolved these traits before colonizing environments with freezing conditions, whereas deciduous species changed their climate niche before becoming deciduous.

doi: 10.1038/nature12872

心理学:科学論文のピア・レビューにおける主観的・客観的意思決定の影響をモデル化する

Modelling the effects of subjective and objective decision making in scientific peer review p.93

A mathematical modelling study assesses the role of peer behaviour and ‘herding’ behaviour in aggregating information through the peer-review process; peer review works best when reviewers exercise intermediate levels of subjectivity.

doi: 10.1038/nature12786

集団遺伝学:SLC16A11の配列変異はメキシコでの2型糖尿病の一般的なリスク要因である

Sequence variants in SLC16A11 are a common risk factor for type 2 diabetes in Mexico p.97

A risk haplotype for type 2 diabetes is identified with four amino acid substitutions in SLC16A11, which is present at ~50% frequency in Native American samples and ~10% in east Asian samples, but is rare in European and African samples; SLC16A11 may alter hepatic lipid metabolism, causing an increase in triacylglycerol levels.

doi: 10.1038/nature12828

構造生物学:タンパク質輸送開始時のSecYチャネルの構造

Structure of the SecY channel during initiation of protein translocation p.102

Newly synthesized proteins are targeted to the SecY protein-conducting channel for translocation across the membrane; here, cryo-electron microscopy structures of inactive and active ribosome–channel complexes are presented, revealing that ribosome binding does not result in major structural changes to transmembrane regions of the channel, and that stable channel opening requires loop insertion of the translocating nascent chain.

doi: 10.1038/nature12720

構造生物学:新生ペプチドの輸送や膜挿入を行っているSec61複合体の構造

Structures of the Sec61 complex engaged in nascent peptide translocation or membrane insertion p.107

Nascent secretory and membrane proteins are targeted to the Sec61 protein-conducting channel for translocation across or insertion into the endoplasmic reticulum membrane; here cryo-electron microscopy structures of eukaryotic ribosome–channel complexes show how this channel opens vertically during translocation of a secretory protein into the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum and how it opens laterally during insertion of a transmembrane domain into the lipid bilayer.

doi: 10.1038/nature12950

分子生物学:アプラタキシンはアデニル化されたRNA–DNA接合部を解いてゲノムの完全性を維持する

Aprataxin resolves adenylated RNA–DNA junctions to maintain genome integrity p.111

This study shows that aprataxin, encoded by a gene mutated in the neurodegenerative disorder AOA1, can remove the 5′ AMP from RNA–DNA junctions; this RNA–DNA damage response promotes cell survival.

doi: 10.1038/nature12824

構造生物学:U6核内低分子RNAの3′末端配列に結合したLsm複合体の結晶構造

Crystal structures of the Lsm complex bound to the 3′ end sequence of U6 small nuclear RNA p.116

The crystal structure of the Lsm protein ring of the U6 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein (snRNP), with and without an RNA comprising the 3′ end of the U6 small nuclear RNA, is solved here; this structure provides insight into the function of U6 snRNP in precursor messenger RNA splicing.

doi: 10.1038/nature12803

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