合成生物学が成功するかは、小さな分野にこだわらず、分野間での協力ができるかどうかにかかっている。
Tribal gathering p.133
Success in synthetic biology will depend on better collaboration.
doi: 10.1038/509133a
Success in synthetic biology will depend on better collaboration.
doi: 10.1038/509133a
Amoeba races demonstrate a fun way to promote interest in science.
doi: 10.1038/509134b
Millions of hours of processing time yield the best picture so far of how the Universe evolved.
doi: 10.1038/509134a
Bacteria are increasingly dodging extermination as drug availability outpaces regulation.
doi: 10.1038/509141a
Study of disaster-prone Russian islands underscores perils of colonizing unfamiliar terrains.
doi: 10.1038/509142a
Researchers concerned about country’s competitiveness as most party manifestos neglect innovation.
doi: 10.1038/509145a
As drug companies shift focus, academia ramps up its role in bringing discoveries to market.
doi: 10.1038/509146a
生きた動物のがん細胞を観察する手法の進歩によって、がんについての見方が変わりつつある。
doi: 10.1038/509148a
誕生から15年近くが経過した合成生物学は、早くも分野が細かく分かれしまい、分野間のつながりが希薄だが、研究者の目指すところは同じで、新しい能力を持つ細胞の作成だ。
doi: 10.1038/509151a
合成生物学の今後をめぐり、特許重視派とオープンソース推進派とが、主導権争いを繰り広げている。
doi: 10.1038/509152a
合成生物学では、生体成分に変更を加えたり再配列したりすることで新規な応用に適した生物系を創造することを目指す研究分野である。このフォーラムでは、生体成分を操作して目的の形質を持つ生物を的確に作り出す最良の方法に関する2つの考え方が述べられている。
doi: 10.1038/509166a
北極域のカナダ北東部とグリーンランドで過去30年間にわたって起こっている急速な温暖化は、熱帯太平洋の寒冷化によって強力に駆動されていることが、観測データとモデリングによって示された。
doi: 10.1038/509167a
合成生物学の目標の1つは、複雑な合成生物の作出である。今回、こうした行程の一段階が酵母細胞で達成された。1本の酵母染色体の全体を、合成配列へと段階的に変換することが成功したのである。
doi: 10.1038/509168a
宇宙構造形成の数値シミュレーションによって、その歴史の初期から現在に至るまでの宇宙の代表的な体積の大規模スケールおよび小規模スケールでの特徴が再現された。
doi: 10.1038/509170a
ヒマラヤの鳴禽類についてのデータから、生物多様性が生じる場合の律速段階は種分化の速度ではなく、新しいニッチが創成される速度である可能性が示唆された。
doi: 10.1038/nature13332
植物の落葉落枝（リター）とそれを分解する生物の両方の構成を変化させた野外実験で、生態系全体にわたって、生物多様性が低くなるとリター分解の速度が遅くなることが示された。
doi: 10.1038/509173a
最新のX線散乱測定法を使って、フィトクロムの光センシング部位の暗状態と光照射状態での構造が得られ、局在するタンパク質の折りたたみ直しが光シグナルを増幅して細胞で情報が形成される仕組みが明らかになった。
doi: 10.1038/nature13331
A simulation that starts 12 million years after the Big Bang and traces 13 billion years of cosmic evolution yields a reasonable population of elliptical and spiral galaxies, reproduces the observed distribution of galaxies in clusters and the characteristics of hydrogen on large scales, and at the same time matches the ‘metal’ and hydrogen content of galaxies on small scales.
doi: 10.1038/nature13316
Bariatric surgical procedures, such as vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG), are the most effective therapy for the treatment of obesity; now bile acids, and the presence of the nuclear bile acid receptor FXR, are shown to underpin the mechanism of VSG action, and the ability of VSG to reduce body weight and improve glucose tolerance is substantially reduced if FXR is absent.
doi: 10.1038/nature13135
Populations of astrocytes in the spinal cord are shown to express region-specific genes, with ventral astrocyte-encoded Sema3a necessary for proper motor neuron circuit organization and typical sensory afferent projection patterns; these findings suggest that astrocytes provide a positional cue for maintaining proper circuit formation and refinement.
doi: 10.1038/nature13161
This study reveals a role for the MHC class I molecule H2-Db in retinogeniculate synapse elimination; expression of this immune system molecule in neurons lacking it is sufficient to rescue proper synapse pruning, as well as the segregation of eye-specific circuits in mice.
doi: 10.1038/nature13154
Circularly polarized light is unexpectedly detected in the afterglow of γ-ray burst GRB 121024A measured 0.15 days after the burst, and is shown to be intrinsic to the afterglow and unlikely to be produced by dust scattering or plasma propagation effects.
doi: 10.1038/nature13237
The transition between ‘static’ and ‘dynamic’ friction in a model system is found to be quantitatively captured by the same theoretical framework as is used to describe brittle fracture, but deviations from this correspondence are observed as the rupture velocity approaches the speed at which sound waves propagate along the interface.
doi: 10.1038/nature13202
Human-induced climate change is usually assumed to be responsible for the dramatic thawing of glaciers since the mid 1990s in Greenland and northeastern Canada; approximately half of the observed warming in this region during this period is now found to be attributable to atmospheric circulation changes that may be of natural origin.
doi: 10.1038/nature13260
A new, holistic view of countryside biogeography is emerging for the world’s human-modified habitats and the biodiversity they support.
doi: 10.1038/nature13139
Field experiments across aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems show that biodiversity positively affects carbon and nitrogen cycling in leaf litter decomposition, indicating that reduced decomposition caused by biodiversity loss would modify the global carbon cycle and limit the nitrogen supply to the organisms at the base of the food chain.
doi: 10.1038/nature13247
In Himalayan songbirds, the speciation rate is ultimately set by ecological competition, rather than by the rate of acquisition of reproductive isolation.
doi: 10.1038/nature13272
Intracellular recordings distinguish between mechanisms that can account for variability in primary visual cortex of alert primates, consistent with a scheme in which spiking is driven by infrequent synchronous events during fixation, with sensory stimulation shifting the cortex to an asynchronous state.
doi: 10.1038/nature13159
The intracellular bacterial pathogen Listeria monocytogenes is shown to exploit efferocytosis—the process by which dead or dying cells are removed by phagocytosis—to promote cell-to-cell spread during infection.
doi: 10.1038/nature13168
The leucine-rich repeat protein NRROS which resides in the endoplasmic reticulum regulates phagocytic NADPH oxidase, minimizing collateral tissue damage caused by reactive oxygen species during inflammatory processes.
doi: 10.1038/nature13152
The endo-lysosomal transporters SLC15A3 and SLC15A4 provide a portal of entry for extracellular bacterial products that activate the cytoplasmic sensor NOD2; these results establish the importance of endosomes as signalling platforms specialized for triggering innate immune responses.
doi: 10.1038/nature13133
The solution and crystal structures of a bacterial phytochrome photosensory core in both its resting and activated states are determined; switching between closed (resting) and open (activated) forms is found to be mediated by a conserved ‘tongue’, and the structures indicate that smaller changes in the vicinity of the chromophore are amplified in scale as they are transmitted through the tongue and beyond.
doi: 10.1038/nature13310
