A project that aims to mutate every gene in the mouse genome to improve our knowledge of mouse biology should help to avoid irreproducible results and costly failures in drug development.
doi: 10.1038/509399a
A US push to flag foods as genetically engineered is hard to swallow.
doi: 10.1038/509399b
The discovery of a Wolf-Rayet supernova rebuts the idea that the biggest stars go quietly.
doi: 10.1038/509400a
NASA scientists scramble to find an object in the outer Solar System’s Kuiper belt in time for a close-up visit.
doi: 10.1038/509407a
But scientists remain positive about the future of deep-sea exploration despite disintegration of unique US Nereus craft.
doi: 10.1038/509408a
US intelligence programme analyses language in patents and papers to identify next big technologies.
doi: 10.1038/509410a
Publication of the draft genetic sequence of a comb jelly reveals a nervous system like no other.
doi: 10.1038/509411a
Plan could increase health costs in middle-income nations.
doi: 10.1038/509412a
病気のあるヒト卵子から健康な卵子へのDNA移植という、3人の生物学的親を持つ子孫をつくる技術が、臨床応用に近付いている。
doi: 10.1038/509414a
アマゾン熱帯雨林が、急激な道路建設で大きく姿を変えつつあり、世界的な影響が現れる恐れがある。
doi: 10.1038/509418a
原生生物であるヨツヒメゾウリムシ（Paramecium tetraurelia）の子孫では、親の接合型が常に維持されている。この遺伝は、RNA誘導型のDNA削除経路が働いて、外来DNA塩基配列が入り込まないようにゲノムを守っている結果であることが明らかになった。
doi: 10.1038/nature13333
年老いた大質量星の星風の特徴と思われるものが、その星が超新星爆発を起こしたすぐ後に観測された。この知見は、星風が観測されるこのような星は、明るく、観測可能な死を迎える可能性があることを示している。
doi: 10.1038/509431a
血液脳関門が持つ2つの機能、すなわち脂質の脳への輸送と、血管を裏打ちしている細胞を通過しての分子輸送という機能がMfsd2aという同一のタンパク質によって調節されていることが明らかになった。
doi: 10.1038/nature13339
金属有機構造体と呼ばれる多孔性材料には、分子の分別など、多くの応用が期待されている。こうした材料の1つで、標的分子に対する選択性を変形によって高めるものが見つかった。
doi: 10.1038/509434a
生存に必要な因子を手に入れるための細胞競合によって、胸腺では骨髄から移動してくる細胞がすでにそこに定着している細胞に置き換わる理由が説明できることが分かった。この競合の低下は腫瘍形成の原因となる可能性がある。
doi: 10.1038/nature13337
米国カリフォルニア州サンホアキン・バレー周辺の地殻隆起は地下水の取水が原因だが、この隆起の解析から、こうした地下水の取水によって、近傍のサンアンドレアス断層系の応力が季節的および長期的に減少することが明らかになった。
doi: 10.1038/nature13338
Cellular senescence has recently been shown to have roles in complex biological processes other than protection against cancer, and to represent a series of progressive and diverse cellular states after initial growth arrest; better understanding of mechanisms underlying its progression and of acute and chronic senescent cells may lead to new therapeutic strategies for age-related pathologies.
doi: 10.1038/nature13193
The molecular basis for mating-type determination in the ciliate Paramecium has been elucidated, revealing a novel function for a class of small RNAs — these scnRNAs are typically involved in reprogramming the Paramecium genome during sexual reproduction by recognizing and excising transposable elements, but they are now found to be co-opted to switch off expression of the newly identified mating-type gene mtA by excising its promoter, and to mediate epigenetic inheritance of mating types across sexual generations.
doi: 10.1038/nature13318
Plasticity within neuronal microcircuits is believed to be the substrate of learning, and this study identifies two distinct disinhibitory mechanisms involving interactions between PV+ and SOM+ interneurons that dynamically regulate principal neuron activity in the amygdala and thereby control auditory fear learning.
doi: 10.1038/nature13258
Information integration in the nucleus accumbens is commandeered by cocaine at discrete synapses to allow relapse.
doi: 10.1038/nature13257
T cells develop from thymic precursor cells that are constantly replaced with newly arriving bone marrow progenitor cells, and the ‘old’ and ‘new’ cells are shown here to compete; in the absence of cell competition, when the influx of new bone marrow progenitor cells is blocked, the old cells acquire the ability to self-renew and eventually become transformed, leading to the development of a form of leukaemia.
doi: 10.1038/nature13317
The detection of strong emission lines in an early-time spectrum of type IIb supernova SN 2013cu reveals Wolf–Rayet-like wind signatures, suggesting that the supernova’s progenitor may have been a Wolf–Rayet star with a wind dominated by helium and nitrogen, with traces of hydrogen.
doi: 10.1038/nature13304
Conventional quantum cryptography relies on monitoring signal disturbance to make sure that information leakage is negligible; here a new quantum method of achieving security is described, in which little information is leaked to the eavesdropper regardless of the signal disturbance.
doi: 10.1038/nature13303
Precipitation is expected to increase far more over the twenty-first century in the Arctic than the global average; climate models show that this is driven mainly by increased local evaporation and sea-ice retreat, rather than by increased moisture transport from lower latitudes.
doi: 10.1038/nature13259
Human-caused groundwater depletion in California’s San Joaquin Valley contributes to uplift of the surrounding mountains and may affect the stability of the San Andreas Fault.
doi: 10.1038/nature13275
This study describes the construction of a focused CRISPR/Cas-based lentiviral library in human cells and a method of gene identification based on functional screening and high-throughput sequencing analysis.
doi: 10.1038/nature13166
Tumorigenesis driven by the oncogene BRAFV600E is shown both to depend on the BRAF substrates MEK1/2 associating with copper, and to be sensitive to copper-chelating drugs, suggesting merit in testing such drugs for the treatment of BRAF mutation-positive cancers.
doi: 10.1038/nature13180
Here, the presentation of lipid antigens by CD1d is shown to induce retrograde anti-inflammatory signalling in intestinal epithelial cells, resulting in the production of IL-10.
doi: 10.1038/nature13150
Mfsd2a is the major transporter of the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) into brain, with Mfsd2a-knockout mice showing reduced DHA in brain, neuronal cell loss in hippocampus and cerebellum, behavioural disorders and reduced brain size; DHA is transported in a sodium-dependent manner, in the form of lysophosphatidylcholines (LPCs) carrying long-chain fatty acids.
doi: 10.1038/nature13241
Mfsd2a is a key regulator of blood–brain barrier (BBB) formation and function in mice: Mfsd2a is selectively expressed in BBB-containing blood vessels in the CNS; Mfsd2a−/− mice have a leaky BBB and increased vesicular transcytosis in CNS endothelial cells; and Mfsd2a endothelial expression is regulated by pericytes to facilitate BBB integrity.
doi: 10.1038/nature13324
Many bacteria are able to survive in the presence of antibiotics in part because they possess pumps that can remove a broad range of small molecules; here, the structure of one such pump, AcrAB–TolC, is determined using X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy.
doi: 10.1038/nature13205
The crystal structure of the bacterial protein YidC is reported, together with a structure-based functional analysis, providing insight into the role of YidC in inserting single-spanning membrane proteins into the membrane.
doi: 10.1038/nature13167
