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| | | | | | | | | | An Earth-mass planet orbiting α Centauri B | | An exoplanet with an Earth-like mass has been discovered orbiting the near-by star Alpha Centauri B. The planet is not in the habitable zone, as it is much nearer to its star than we are to the Sun and much hotter. Statistical studies suggest that low-mass planets form preferentially in multi-planetary systems, so it is possible that other planets are orbiting Alpha Centauri B. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Filamentous bacteria transport electrons over centimetre distances | | Oxygen is available only in the top layer of marine sediments, and microorganisms living below have to rely on energetically less favourable anaerobic processes. Multicelluar filamentous Desulfobulbaceae bacteria have developed a remarkable way of coping with this problem - they act as living electric cables, able to transport electrons from sulphides generated in organic matter in deeper anoxic sediments to the oxygen available in the surface layers. These living micro-cables raise a host of possibilities for future research, and could also find technological applications. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Non-invasive imaging through opaque scattering layers | | Imaging through opaque, light-scattering layers is an important capability in many fields including nanotechnology and the biosciences. Jacopo Bertolotti et al. demonstrate a non-invasive imaging procedure that exploits the correlations in the speckled intensity pattern produced when laser light passes through a scattering medium. They use the system to construct detailed images of cell-sized fluorescent objects hidden six millimetres behind scattering layers, and a complex biological sample sandwiched between two opaque screens. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | In this week's podcast: tech-savvy early humans, swallowing worms to treat bowel disorders, and designing the perfect protein. Plus, the fate of glacial melt water in Peru. | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Ignition switch ▶ | | | | The US National Ignition Facility has so far failed to generate fusion energy, but repurposing it as a tool to study nuclear weapons and basic science could be its saving grace. | | | | | | | | | | | | Science aid ▶ | | | | Donors and African governments must invest in advanced science and maths education. | | | | | | | | | | | | John Maddox prize ▶ | | | | Two strong-minded individuals are the first winners of an award for standing up for science. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Seven days: 2–8 November 2012 ▶ | | | | The week in science: Mekong dam approved, China picks target for Moon mission and Europe approves its first gene therapy. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Education: Africa's counting house ▶ | | | | The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences was set up to breed a new generation of numerical talent. Now it is spreading across the continent. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Autoimmunity: The worm returns ▶ | | | | Joel V. Weinstock explains why several clinical trials are deliberately infecting people with helminths to treat autoimmune diseases. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Biophysics: DNA dynamos ▶ | | | | A look at how life's mechanics are deciphered at the molecular level fascinates Mark Haw. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | Nature Arabic Edition Nature Arabic Edition allows Arabic speakers throughout the world to access top quality science news and comment from Nature,as well as summaries of all the research papers from the leading multidisciplinary journal. Access Nature Arabic Edition online and apply for your free subscription. In partnership with: KACST | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Mu transpososome structure sheds light on DDE recombinase evolution ▶ | | | | Sherwin P. Montaño, Ying Z. Pigli & Phoebe A. Rice | | | | The structure of the bacteriophage transposase MuA bound to DNA sequences that mimic both the transposon ends and the target DNA ends is solved; the picture of this synaptic complex illustrates the intricacy of Mu transposition, and exposes the architectural diversity among DDE recombinases in complex with substrate DNAs. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mitochondrial Atpif1 regulates haem synthesis in developing erythroblasts ▶ | | | | Dhvanit I. Shah, Naoko Takahashi-Makise, Jeffrey D. Cooney, Liangtao Li, Iman J. Schultz et al. | | | | Atpif1, a mitochondrial ATPase inhibitor, was identified as a zebrafish anemic mutant, pinotage, providing an important link in our understanding of the relationship between mitochondrial homeostasis and haem synthesis and identifying a gene that may have a role in human iron, haem and mitochondrial diseases. | | | | | | | | | | | | Identification of a rudimentary neural crest in a non-vertebrate chordate ▶ | | | | Philip Barron Abitua, Eileen Wagner, Ignacio A. Navarrete & Michael Levine | | | | The sessile tunicate Ciona intestinalis possesses a lineage of cells, originating at the margin of the neural plate, that express several neural crest specification genes and can be reprogrammed into migrating ectomesenchyme by the targeted misexpression of Twist. | | | | | | | | | | | | Structure of a force-conveying cadherin bond essential for inner-ear mechanotransduction ▶ | | | | Marcos Sotomayor, Wilhelm A. Weihofen, Rachelle Gaudet & David P. Corey | | | | A combination of structural, computational and biophysical tools is used to characterize the bond between tip-link proteins protocadherin 15 and cadherin 23, which have an essential role in inner-ear mechanotransduction; the bond, involving an extended protein handshake, is found to be affected by deafness mutations and is mechanically strong enough to resist forces in hair cells, adding to our understanding of hair-cell sensory transduction and interactions among cadherins. | | | | | | | | | | | | Zero-valent sulphur is a key intermediate in marine methane oxidation ▶ | | | | Jana Milucka, Timothy G. Ferdelman, Lubos Polerecky, Daniela Franzke et al. | | | | Methane oxidation under anaerobic conditions coupled to sulphate reduction is thought to be carried out by a consortium of methanotrophic archaea (ANME) and sulphate-reducing Deltaproteobacteria; here it is shown that ANME alone can mediate the reaction and that the associated bacteria perform disulphide disproportionation, a new microbial sulphur transformation. | | | | | | | | | | | | An early and enduring advanced technology originating 71,000 years ago in South Africa ▶ | | | | Kyle S. Brown, Curtis W. Marean, Zenobia Jacobs, Benjamin J. Schoville, Simen Oestmo et al. | | | | This study shows that a highly advanced stone tool technology (microlithic) appears earlier than originally thought; this microlithic technology persisted over a vast time span (~11,000 years), and was part of an even longer-lived (>100,000 years) advanced technology of complex heat treatment. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Input-specific control of reward and aversion in the ventral tegmental area ▶ | | | | Stephan Lammel, Byung Kook Lim, Chen Ran, Kee Wui Huang, Michael J. Betley et al. | | | | Through the use of a combination of state-of-the-art techniques, different populations of ventral tegmental area dopamine neurons in the mouse are shown to form separate circuits with distinct connectivity: neurons receiving input from the laterodorsal tegmentum and lateral habenula are found to mediate reward and aversion, respectively. | | | | | | | | | | | | Filamentous bacteria transport electrons over centimetre distances ▶ | | | | Christian Pfeffer, Steffen Larsen, Jie Song, Mingdong Dong, Flemming Besenbacher et al. | | | | Oxygen reduction occurring in the surface layer of marine sediments can be coupled to sulphide oxidation in deeper anoxic layers; it is now shown that the electron transfer is mediated by filamentous bacteria acting like living electrical cables. | | | | | | | | | | | | Principles for designing ideal protein structures ▶ | | | | Nobuyasu Koga, Rie Tatsumi-Koga, Gaohua Liu, Rong Xiao, Thomas B. Acton et al. | | | | Rules that allow the design of strongly funnelled protein folding energy landscapes by relating secondary structure patterns to protein tertiary motifs are used to produce ideal protein structures stabilized by completely consistent local and non-local interactions. | | | | | | | | | | | | Integration of chemical catalysis with extractive fermentation to produce fuels ▶ | | | | Pazhamalai Anbarasan, Zachary C. Baer, Sanil Sreekumar, Elad Gross, Joseph B. Binder et al. | | | | The integration of biological and chemocatalytic routes can be used to convert acetone–butanol–ethanol fermentation products efficiently into ketones by palladium-catalysed alkylation, leading to a renewable method for the alternative production of petrol, jet and diesel blend stocks in high yield. | | | | | | | | | | | | Genetic programs constructed from layered logic gates in single cells ▶ | | | | Tae Seok Moon, Chunbo Lou, Alvin Tamsir, Brynne C. Stanton & Christopher A. Voigt | | | | The creation of orthogonal ‘AND’ logic gates by combining DNA-binding proteins into complex, layered circuits opens the way to the design of programmable integrated circuits in synthetic biology. | | | | | | | | | | | | IL-22BP is regulated by the inflammasome and modulates tumorigenesis in the intestine ▶ | | | | Samuel Huber, Nicola Gagliani, Lauren A. Zenewicz, Francis J. Huber, Lidia Bosurgi et al. | | | | IL-22 is one of the factors that, although important for wound healing, also promote tumorigenesis; the regulation of IL-22BP, the IL-22 binding protein, via the NLRP3 and NLRP6 inflammasomes provides an unanticipated mechanism, controlling IL-22 and thereby the development of colon cancer. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Direct imaging of RecA nucleation and growth on single molecules of SSB-coated ssDNA ▶ | | | | Jason C. Bell, Jody L. Plank, Christopher C. Dombrowski & Stephen C. Kowalczykowski | | | | Single-molecule analysis of RecA filament assembly on its in vivo substrate, SSB-coated single-stranded DNA, reveals that a dimer of RecA is required for nucleation, and is followed by bidirectional growth of the filament through monomer addition; the recombination mediator RecOR accelerates nucleation and growth, and the addition of RecF further stimulates nucleation. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Structure and function of Zucchini endoribonuclease in piRNA biogenesis ▶ | | | | Hiroshi Nishimasu, Hirotsugu Ishizu, Kuniaki Saito, Satoshi Fukuhara, Miharu K. Kamatani et al. | | | | Zucchini has been identified as an endoribonuclease responsible for the maturation of small RNA molecules that protect the genome from the damaging effects of unrestrained expression of mobile elements. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements, 30 papers published simultaneously in Nature, Genome Research and Genome Biology. Access videos, Features and the collected research papers, and explore the thematic threads that run through them via the Nature ENCODE explorer or the Nature ENCODE app. Produced with support from Illumina | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Mu transpososome structure sheds light on DDE recombinase evolution ▶ | | | | Sherwin P. Montaño, Ying Z. Pigli & Phoebe A. Rice | | | | The structure of the bacteriophage transposase MuA bound to DNA sequences that mimic both the transposon ends and the target DNA ends is solved; the picture of this synaptic complex illustrates the intricacy of Mu transposition, and exposes the architectural diversity among DDE recombinases in complex with substrate DNAs. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Integration of chemical catalysis with extractive fermentation to produce fuels ▶ | | | | Pazhamalai Anbarasan, Zachary C. Baer, Sanil Sreekumar, Elad Gross, Joseph B. Binder et al. | | | | The integration of biological and chemocatalytic routes can be used to convert acetone–butanol–ethanol fermentation products efficiently into ketones by palladium-catalysed alkylation, leading to a renewable method for the alternative production of petrol, jet and diesel blend stocks in high yield. | | | | | | | | | | | | Direct imaging of RecA nucleation and growth on single molecules of SSB-coated ssDNA ▶ | | | | Jason C. Bell, Jody L. Plank, Christopher C. Dombrowski & Stephen C. Kowalczykowski | | | | Single-molecule analysis of RecA filament assembly on its in vivo substrate, SSB-coated single-stranded DNA, reveals that a dimer of RecA is required for nucleation, and is followed by bidirectional growth of the filament through monomer addition; the recombination mediator RecOR accelerates nucleation and growth, and the addition of RecF further stimulates nucleation. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Structure and function of Zucchini endoribonuclease in piRNA biogenesis ▶ | | | | Hiroshi Nishimasu, Hirotsugu Ishizu, Kuniaki Saito, Satoshi Fukuhara, Miharu K. Kamatani et al. | | | | Zucchini has been identified as an endoribonuclease responsible for the maturation of small RNA molecules that protect the genome from the damaging effects of unrestrained expression of mobile elements. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Spontaneous motion in hierarchically assembled active matter ▶ | | | | Tim Sanchez, Daniel T. N. Chen, Stephen J. DeCamp, Michael Heymann & Zvonimir Dogic | | | | Active materials are hierarchically assembled, starting from extensile microtubule bundles, to form emulsions with unexpected collective biomimetic properties such as autonomous motility. | | | | | | | | | | | | Revealing the quantum regime in tunnelling plasmonics ▶ | | | | Kevin J. Savage, Matthew M. Hawkeye, Rubén Esteban, Andrei G. Borisov et al. | | | | Two gold nanostructures with controllable subnanometre separation are used to follow the evolution of plasmonic modes; the distance at which quantum tunnelling sets in is determined, and a quantum limit for plasmonic field confinement is estimated. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | An Earth-mass planet orbiting α Centauri B ▶ | | | | Xavier Dumusque, Francesco Pepe, Christophe Lovis, Damien Ségransan, Johannes Sahlmann et al. | | | | The detection of an Earth-mass planet orbiting our neighbour star α Centauri B is reported; the planet has an orbital period of 3.236 days and is about 0.04 astronomical units from the star. | | | | | | | | | | | | Superluminous supernovae at redshifts of 2.05 and 3.90 ▶ | | | | Jeff Cooke, Mark Sullivan, Avishay Gal-Yam, Elizabeth J. Barton, Raymond G. Carlberg et al. | | | | The identification of two superluminous supernovae at redshifts of 2.05 and 3.90 extends the present technological redshift limit on supernova detection and presents the possibility of studying the deaths of the first stars to form after the Big Bang. | | | | | | | | | | | | Non-invasive imaging through opaque scattering layers ▶ | | | | Jacopo Bertolotti, Elbert G. van Putten, Christian Blum, Ad Lagendijk, Willem L. Vos et al. | | | | The image of a fluorescent object hidden behind an opaque layer can be retrieved non-invasively by exploiting the correlation properties of the speckle pattern produced by illuminating the object through the layer using laser light. | | | | | | | | | | | | Integration of chemical catalysis with extractive fermentation to produce fuels ▶ | | | | Pazhamalai Anbarasan, Zachary C. Baer, Sanil Sreekumar, Elad Gross, Joseph B. Binder et al. | | | | The integration of biological and chemocatalytic routes can be used to convert acetone–butanol–ethanol fermentation products efficiently into ketones by palladium-catalysed alkylation, leading to a renewable method for the alternative production of petrol, jet and diesel blend stocks in high yield. | | | | | | | | | | | | Greenland ice-sheet contribution to sea-level rise buffered by meltwater storage in firn ▶ | | | | J. Harper, N. Humphrey, W. T. Pfeffer, J. Brown & X. Fettweis | | | | Observations of firn structure and meltwater retention on the Greenland ice sheet's percolation zone, a region of the ice sheet that is perennially covered by snow and firn, quantify the capacity of the firn to store future surface meltwater and to delay expansion of the area contributing to sea-level rise. | | | | | | | | | | | | Genetic programs constructed from layered logic gates in single cells ▶ | | | | Tae Seok Moon, Chunbo Lou, Alvin Tamsir, Brynne C. Stanton & Christopher A. Voigt | | | | The creation of orthogonal ‘AND’ logic gates by combining DNA-binding proteins into complex, layered circuits opens the way to the design of programmable integrated circuits in synthetic biology. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | An Earth-mass planet orbiting α Centauri B ▶ | | | | Xavier Dumusque, Francesco Pepe, Christophe Lovis, Damien Ségransan, Johannes Sahlmann et al. | | | | The detection of an Earth-mass planet orbiting our neighbour star α Centauri B is reported; the planet has an orbital period of 3.236 days and is about 0.04 astronomical units from the star. | | | | | | | | | | | | Greenland ice-sheet contribution to sea-level rise buffered by meltwater storage in firn ▶ | | | | J. Harper, N. Humphrey, W. T. Pfeffer, J. Brown & X. Fettweis | | | | Observations of firn structure and meltwater retention on the Greenland ice sheet's percolation zone, a region of the ice sheet that is perennially covered by snow and firn, quantify the capacity of the firn to store future surface meltwater and to delay expansion of the area contributing to sea-level rise. | | | | | | | | | | | | Mechanisms for oscillatory true polar wander ▶ | | | | J. R. Creveling, J. X. Mitrovica, N.-H. Chan, K. Latychev & I. Matsuyama | | | | Stabilization of the Earth’s rotation axis by a combination of long-term excess ellipticity and elastic stresses in the broken lithosphere provides an explanation for oscillatory true polar wander events spanning the past few billion years of Earth history. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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