イスラム過激派ISISから文化遺産を守ろうとして犠牲になった、シリアの考古学者Khaled al-Asaadの崇高な勇気に敬意を禁じ得ない。

Heroism in Syria p.387

A tribute to scholars of extraordinary courage.

doi: 10.1038/524387b

女性の性的機能不全に対する治療薬のFDAによる承認の背景には、政治的な圧力によってゆがめられた諮問委員会の勧告がある。

FDA vulnerability revealed p.387

A politically charged advisory committee meeting may have tipped the scales in favour of a mildly effective female libido drug.

doi: 10.1038/524387a

10年前に米国南東部を襲ったハリケーン「カトリーナ」が、精神面に残した傷痕が明らかに。

Hurricane Katrina’s psychological scars revealed p.395

Mental health worsened in the disaster’s aftermath, but survivors also showed resilience.

doi: 10.1038/524395a

北太平洋に「ブロブ」と呼ばれる暖水塊が異常なほど長期間居座り、これを契機に、生態系を重視した漁業資源管理を求める声が。

North Pacific ‘blob’ stirs up fisheries management p.396

Unusually warm ocean strengthens calls to consider ecosystem variables in setting catch limits.

doi: 10.1038/nature.2015.18218

米国ミネソタ州で、気温上昇や二酸化炭素濃度が泥炭湿原に及ぼす長期的影響を詳しく調べるための実験が。

Minnesota bog study turns up the heat on peat p.397

Experiment boosts temperature and carbon dioxide to gauge global-warming response.

doi: 10.1038/524397a

自宅でバイオ研究に取り組むバイオハッカーたちが、遺伝子書き換えも可能になるCRISPR技術に熱い視線を。

Biohackers gear up for genome editing p.398

Amateurs are ready and able to try the CRISPR technique for rewriting genes.

doi: 10.1038/524398a

気候変動と都市の増加により、都市の生態系の研究が盛んに。

Ecologists embrace their urban side p.399

Climate change and the rise of cities have broadened what it means to study ecosystems.

doi: 10.1038/524399a

気候：都会の「熱」と闘う

How cities can beat the heat p.402

都市部の気温上昇が問題になっており、温度を下げようという試みがさまざまな都市でなされているが、思ったほどの効果が上がらない可能性がある。

doi: 10.1038/524402a

衛生：ダニの難しさ

The new war on Lyme and other tick-borne diseases p.406

世界各地で急増しているダニ媒介性疾患を防ぐ科学的アイディアはたくさんあるが、媒介動物の特定や研究費の不足など、厄介な問題もある。

doi: 10.1038/524406a

材料科学：超格子の置換

Materials science: Superlattice substitution p.418

同じナノスケール結晶からなる配列、つまり超格子中の粒子の一部を別種の粒子で置換したら、どんなことが起こるのだろうか。このような操作によって、超格子の複数の特性を大幅に変え得ることが、今回明らかになった。

doi: 10.1038/524418a

細胞生物学：取り込みの異常を克服する

Cell biology: Surviving import failure p.419

ミトコンドリアと呼ばれる細胞小器官の機能障害が、細胞質のゾル状部分にミトコンドリアのタンパク質を蓄積させ、有害な影響が生じることが2つの研究によって明らかにされ、こうした被害を軽減する仕組みがあることも突き止められた。

doi: 10.1038/nature14644

構造生物学：脂質の大回転

Structural biology: Lipid gymnastics p.420

細菌のタンパク質PglKの結晶構造から構造的特徴が明らかになり、このタンパク質が脂質と結合したオリゴ糖分子を細胞膜の一方の側から反対側へと「ひっくり返す」仕組みが示唆された。

doi: 10.1038/nature15202

素粒子物理学：波乗り陽電子

Particle physics: Positrons ride the wave p.422

電子の反物質である陽電子は、プラズマ波を使えば迅速に加速できることが実験によって明らかになった。この知見は高エネルギー電子–陽電子衝突型加速器の実現を助けると考えられる。

doi: 10.1038/524422a

進化学：複雑型細胞での遺伝子伝播

Evolution: Gene transfer in complex cells p.423

進化の過程では、核を有する細胞が細菌細胞を次々と取り込むという細胞内共生によって、そのDNAを獲得していったことが、比較ゲノミクス研究によって示された。

doi: 10.1038/nature15205

フォトニクス：安定な狭帯域X線レーザー

Photonics: A stable narrow-band X-ray laser p.424

これまでで最も短い波長領域で作動する原子レーザーが実現した。これは、エネルギーがわずかに異なるように調整した2つのX線パルスを銅箔に照射するという方法によるものである。この結果は超安定X線レーザーの開発につながる可能性がある。

doi: 10.1038/524424a

進化学：真核生物遺伝子の細胞内共生起源と差次的喪失

Endosymbiotic origin and differential loss of eukaryotic genes p.427

Eukaryotes acquired their prokaryotic genes in two episodes of evolutionary influx corresponding to the origin of mitochondria and plastids, respectively, followed by extensive differential gene loss, uncovering a massive imprint of endosymbiosis in the nuclear genomes of complex cells.

doi: 10.1038/nature14963

構造生物学：活性な脂質結合オリゴ糖フリッパーゼの構造と機構

Structure and mechanism of an active lipid-linked oligosaccharide flippase p.433

doi: 10.1038/nature14953

惑星科学：連星系軌道との共鳴を通した複数の惑星を持つ系の破壊

The disruption of multiplanet systems through resonance with a binary orbit p.439

In a multiplanet system, when orbital precession is fast enough to resonate with the orbital motion of a distant binary companion, the results range from excitation of large planetary eccentricities and mutual inclinations to total disruption.

doi: 10.1038/nature14873

プラズマ物理学：自動供給されるプラズマ航跡場中の陽電子の数ギガ電子ボルト加速

Multi-gigaelectronvolt acceleration of positrons in a self-loaded plasma wakefield p.442

A particle accelerator that is two orders of magnitude more efficient than conventional radio-frequency accelerators is described in which positrons (rather than electrons) at the front of a bunch transfer their energy to a substantial number of positrons at the rear of the same bunch by exciting a wakefield in the plasma.

doi: 10.1038/nature14890

フォトニクス：X線自由電子レーザーにより励起した1.5オングストローム波長の原子内殻レーザー

Atomic inner-shell laser at 1.5-ångström wavelength pumped by an X-ray free-electron laser p.446

A copper target is used to achieve an atomic laser in the hard-X-ray regime with strong amplified spontaneous coherent emission at a wavelength ten times shorter than previous lasers have achieved.

doi: 10.1038/nature14894

ナノ材料：ナノ結晶超格子における置換ドーピング

Substitutional doping in nanocrystal superlattices p.450

Substitutional atomic doping is a process by which atomic defects are introduced into a host material, altering its properties; substitutional doping of cadmium selenide or lead selenide nanocrystal lattices with gold nanocrystals has now been achieved, the key being to ensure that the dopant nanocrystals are similar in size to the host nanocrystals.

doi: 10.1038/nature14872

化学：臭化アリールとアリールトリフラートの多金属触媒クロスカップリング

Multimetallic catalysed cross-coupling of aryl bromides with aryl triflates p.454

A new method for catalysing the cross-coupling of two different aryl electrophiles is described; the principle of this method, which involves cooperation between two metal catalysts that are selective towards different substrates, should be generally useful in catalysis.

doi: 10.1038/nature14676

地球物理学：上部マントル流の変化に起因する米国西部山間部の地震活動

Western US intermountain seismicity caused by changes in upper mantle flow p.458

Results from mantle flow models reveal a relationship between seismicity away from the plate boundary in the western United States and the rate change of the vertical normal stress from mantle flow, showing that mantle flow plays an important part in shaping topography, tectonics and seismic hazard within such intraplate settings.

doi: 10.1038/nature14867

発生生物学：脊椎動物以前の神経プラコードの起源

The pre-vertebrate origins of neurogenic placodes p.462

A study showing that tunicates possess a proto-placodal ectoderm that produces neurons with dual neurosecretory and chemosensory function, which may represent the ancestral origin of placode-derived neurons in vertebrates.

doi: 10.1038/nature14657

神経科学：運動の差を検出する網膜内回路の形成を決めるsidekick 2

Sidekick 2 directs formation of a retinal circuit that detects differential motion p.466

The mouse retinal ganglion cell type known as the W3B-RGC, which detects motion of objects against a moving background, is shown to receive strong specific and excitatory input from amacrine cells expressing vesicular glutamine transporter 3; this selective connection is mediated by homophilic interactions of the recognition molecule sidekick 2 (Sdk2), which is expressed on both cells, and disruption of this connection affects object motion detection in W3B-RGCs.

doi: 10.1038/nature14682

ウイルス学：SEC14L2は細胞培養での汎遺伝子型HCVの複製を可能にする

SEC14L2 enables pan-genotype HCV replication in cell culture p.471

Hepatitis C virus cannot replicate in cell culture unless it possesses adaptive mutations; here, expression of cellular factor SEC14L2 is shown to allow replication of diverse hepatitis C virus genotypes in several hepatoma cell lines by enhancing vitamin E-mediated protection against lipid peroxidation.

doi: 10.1038/nature14899

発生生物学：mycによる細胞の混合は組織の競合的な浸潤と破壊に必要とされる

Cell mixing induced by myc is required for competitive tissue invasion and destruction p.476

Live imaging of myc-driven competition in healthy Drosophila tissues shows that cells expressing higher levels of myc actively mix with the neighbouring cells, which increases the probability of eliminating neighbouring cells.

doi: 10.1038/nature14684

細胞生物学：細胞質ゾルでミトコンドリアを介したタンパク質恒常性ストレスや細胞死を抑制するネットワーク

A cytosolic network suppressing mitochondria-mediated proteostatic stress and cell death p.481

A new pathway of mitochondria-mediated cell death termed mitochondrial precursor over-accumulation stress (mPOS) is identified that could explain the link between mitochondrial dysfunction and misfolding of cytosolic proteins during ageing and disease; the pathway is triggered not only by mutations affecting the core protein import machineries, but also by conditions that interfere with mitochondrial inner membrane integrity and function, and a large network of genes that suppress mPOS in favour of cell survival is also identified.

doi: 10.1038/nature14859

細胞生物学：誤った移行先に送られたミトコンドリアタンパク質は細胞質ゾルでタンパク質恒常性応答を活性化する

Mistargeted mitochondrial proteins activate a proteostatic response in the cytosol p.485

Mitochondrial dysfunction and cellular protein homeostasis failure are hallmarks of many diseases and age-associated pathologies; this study shows that the mitochondrial import defect of nuclear-encoded proteins triggers a cellular pathway, termed unfolded protein response activated by mistargeting of proteins (UPRam), that acts to minimize the stress caused by non-imported mitochondrial precursor proteins in order to sustain cellular protein homeostasis and organismal fitness.

doi: 10.1038/nature14951

細胞生物学：動原体に局在するPP1–Sds22が染色体分配と極弛緩を連動させる

Kinetochore-localized PP1–Sds22 couples chromosome segregation to polar relaxation p.489

A study of division in proliferating animal cells points to the existence of a kinetochore-based signalling pathway, independent of furrow formation, centrosomes and microtubules, that couples chromosome segregation to cell division.

doi: 10.1038/nature14496

分子生物学：真核生物での終止コドン認識の構造基盤

Structural basis for stop codon recognition in eukaryotes p.493

All eukaryotes utilize a single termination factor, eRF1, to halt translation when the ribosome encounters one of three possible stop codons; here electron cryo-microscopy structures of ribosome–eRF1 complexes in the process of recognizing each stop codon reveal how stop codons are discriminated from sense codons.

doi: 10.1038/nature14896

生物物理学：クラスCのGタンパク質共役受容体のコンホメーション動力学

Conformational dynamics of a class C G-protein-coupled receptor p.497

smFRET is used to probe the activation mechanism of two full-length mammalian glutamate receptors, revealing that the extracellular ligand-binding domains of these G-protein-coupled receptors interconvert between three confirmations (resting, activated and a short-lived intermediate state), and that the efficacy of an orthosteric agonist correlates with the degree of occupancy of the active state.

doi: 10.1038/nature14679