| | Nature Index 2014 China
Nick Campbell, Michelle Grayson | China in numbers
By 2013 weighted fractional count, China is the second leading country for high-quality science output. Where that research takes place, and who China collaborates with, are shown below.
| Chinese Academy of Sciences
For 65 years, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has been a rich source of technological innovation, scientific discovery and aspiring minds. Making the leap from a regional to a global leader, researchers are taking the intellectual powerhouse to soaring new heights.
| Beijing
Beijing, the political centre of China for nearly a millennia, has seen unprecedented growth in its research output, scientific impact and technological innovation in the last 15 years. And the momentum shows no signs of abating.
| Shanghai
Shanghai has long been the commercial and financial centre of China. Because of its leading life-science research institutions, the city has become the hub for multinational pharmaceutical companies establishing a presence in China.
| Hong Kong
Hong Kong has enjoyed 17 years of prosperity and academic freedom since the transfer of sovereignty from the UK to China. But with political unrest and increasing competition from mainland cities, it needs to rethink its long-term strategy.
| Nanjing
Nanjing has long been a hotbed for scientific discovery and technological innovations. Now, through promoting materials science and astrophysics, the former capital city hopes to step out from the shadows of its neighbour and rival Shanghai.
| Wuhan
Wuhan is the booming capital of the eastern inland province of Hubei. The city is investing heavily in research and development and has become China's 'optics valley'.
| Hefei
Hefei has kept a low profile for many years. However, as the University of Science and Technology of China continues to break new ground in the physical sciences, the city is moving into the global spotlight.
| Hangzhou
Hangzhou, a tourist hotspot best known for its historical relics and natural scenery, has long been a source of inspiration for Chinese artists. Today the city is home to a new generation working at the intersection of science and e-commerce.
| Changchun
Changchun has traditionally been a manufacturing centre, producing goods ranging from cars to processed food. In line with China's growth and reform, the city is diversifying its economy by leveraging its research base.
| Guangzhou
Prone to infectious disease outbreaks, Guangzhou this year experienced one of its worst for dengue fever. By exploiting the data from thousands of clinical cases, researchers hope to reveal new approaches for prevention and control.
| Tianjin
Tianjin, a major transport hub 120 kilometres southeast of Beijing, is one of four municipalities under the direct administration of central government. By leveraging the innovation of its top universities, the city hopes to lead the nation in two emerging research areas.
| Shenzhen
Shenzhen, a former fishing village, is something of a miracle in China's scientific development. It has become a dominant force in genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics, and is now heading for new frontiers.
| A guide to the Nature Index
A description of the terminology and methodology used in this supplement, and a guide to the functionality available online at natureindex.com.
| Nature Index China tables
China's leading institutions for high-quality science, ordered by weighted fractional count (WFC) for 2013. Also shown are the total number of articles, and the change in WFC from 2012. Articles are from the 68 natural science journals that comprise the Nature Index (see 'A guide to the Nature Index', page S76).
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| | Cell biology: On the endocytosis rollercoaster
Endocytosis is a process by which molecules gain access to a cell. An unusual mode of endocytosis has now been shown to regulate cell signalling, and to be highjacked by bacterial toxins.
| Earth science: Ocean circulation and rapid climate change
High-resolution data on ocean circulation during the last glacial cycle suggest that the formation of North Atlantic Deep Water and associated heat transport may be more stable than previously thought.
| Structure of the rabbit ryanodine receptor RyR1 at near-atomic resolution
Using electron cryomicroscopy, the structure of the closed-state rabbit ryanodine receptor RyR1 in complex with its modulator FKBP12 is solved at 3.8 Å; in addition to determining structural details of the ion-conducting channel domain, three previously uncharacterized domains help to reveal a molecular scaffold that allows long-range allosteric regulation of channel activities.
| Endophilin marks and controls a clathrin-independent endocytic pathway
This study describes a fast, clathrin-independent endocytic pathway mediated by endophilin, dynamin and actin; the pathway is activated by ligand binding to a variety of cargo receptors, and endophilin-mediated endocytosis occurs primarily at the leading edges of cells where lamellipodin and the lipid PtdIns(3,4)P2 ensure endophilin targeting.
| Enhancer––core-promoter specificity separates developmental and housekeeping gene regulation
The core promoters of developmental and housekeeping genes are shown to have distinct specificities for different enhancer sequences in Drosophila, and this specificity separates developmental and housekeeping gene regulatory programs across the genome.
| Dauer-independent insulin/IGF-1-signalling implicates collagen remodelling in longevity
In Caenorhabditis elegans, reduced insulin/IGF-1 signalling can promote longevity through a program that is genetically distinct from the dauer developmental pathway, and requires SKN-1-dependent collagen remodelling that is a broadly essential feature of longevity assurance pathways.
| Identification of a mast-cell-specific receptor crucial for pseudo-allergic drug reactions
Cationic substances, including some drugs, can activate mast cells in an IgE-independent manner, leading to histamine release, inflammation and airway contraction; here, the G-protein-coupled receptor MrgprB2, the orthologue of human MRGPRX2, is shown to be the sole mast cell receptor for these substances in mice.
| Strong and deep Atlantic meridional overturning circulation during the last glacial cycle
Reconstruction of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation from a highly resolved marine sedimentary record shows that a deep, vigorous overturning circulation mode has persisted for most of the last glacial cycle, dominating ocean circulation in the Atlantic, but that a shallower glacial mode prevailed during glacial maxima.
| Endophilin-A2 functions in membrane scission in clathrin-independent endocytosis
Endophilin-A2 (endoA2) is shown to mediate clathrin-independent endocytosis of Shiga and cholera toxins, and to function in parallel with dynamin and actin in the pulling-force-driven scission of Shiga-toxin-induced tubular structures.
| Orientation columns in the mouse superior colliculus
Population recordings reveal that neurons in the mouse superior colliculus are grouped according to their preferred orientations or movement axes for visual line stimuli, similar to the columnar arrangement in visual cortex of higher mammals; this functional architecture suggests that the superior colliculus samples the visual world unevenly for stimulus orientations.
| Segmented lateral dyke growth in a rifting event at Bárðarbunga volcanic system, Iceland
Seismicity and ground deformation measurements show how a recent segmented dyke intrusion in the Bárðarbunga volcanic system in Iceland grew laterally for 45 kilometres over 14 days; dyke opening and seismicity were focused at the most distal segment, where lateral dyke growth with segment barrier breaking by pressure build-up occurred.
| | Functionalized olefin cross-coupling to construct carbon–carbon bonds
Highly substituted carbon–carbon bonds are constructed using a simple iron catalyst and an inexpensive silane: more than 60 examples of this reaction — in which heteroatom-substituted olefins are reacted with electron-deficient olefins — are presented.
Julian C. Lo, Jinghan Gui, Yuki Yabe et al. | An AUTS2–Polycomb complex activates gene expression in the CNS
Polycomb group proteins are known to maintain gene repression during development; however, when autism susceptibility candidate 2 (AUTS2) associates with some Polycomb group complexes, these complexes have an unexpected gene activation role, offering new insight into the role of AUTS2 in neurological disorders.
Zhonghua Gao, Pedro Lee, James M. Stafford et al. | Structure of influenza A polymerase bound to the viral RNA promoter
The crystal structure of the bat-specific influenza A polymerase in complex with the viral RNA promoter is presented, revealing how binding of the 5′ end of the viral RNA is required to activate or enhance the polymerase allosterically.
Alexander Pflug, Delphine Guilligay, Stefan Reich et al. | Structural insight into cap-snatching and RNA synthesis by influenza polymerase
Atomic resolution crystal structures of influenza A and B polymerases are presented; comparison of these structures provides mechanistic insight into influenza polymerase functions, explaining the processes of cap-snatching and cap-dependent priming, which are unique to segmented negative-strand RNA viruses.
Stefan Reich, Delphine Guilligay, Alexander Pflug et al. | | Global protected area expansion is compromised by projected land-use and parochialism
Internationally coordinated expansion of the global protected area network to 17% could triple the average protection of species ranges and ecoregions; if projected land-use changes and consequent habitat loss until 2040 occur, currently feasible protection levels will not be achievable, and more than 1,000 threatened species face reductions in the range of over 50%.
Federico Montesino Pouzols, Tuuli Toivonen, Enrico Di Minin et al. | The exclusion of a significant range of ages in a massive star cluster
Hubble Space Telescope observations of the stellar cluster NGC 1651, which is approximately two billion years old, show that the colour–brightness distribution of stars old enough to have left the main sequence can be explained only by a single-age population, despite having a feature usually interpreted to indicate an age spread of more than 300 million years.
Chengyuan Li, Richard de Grijs, Licai Deng | A relative shift in cloacal location repositions external genitalia in amniote evolution
It has been known for some time that limbs share at least some of their molecular patterning mechanism with external genitalia; here, this connection is examined in a variety of species, revealing that once-shared developmental trajectories could help to explain the observed patterning similarities.
Patrick Tschopp, Emma Sherratt, Thomas J. Sanger et al. | Modelling human development and disease in pluripotent stem-cell-derived gastric organoids
The in vitro generation, from pluripotent stem cells, of three-dimensional human gastric organoids (hGOs) that contain a physiological gastric epithelium comprising both progenitor and differentiated cell types, and have expected functional characteristics is described, as is modelling the pathophysiological response of the human stomach to Helicobacter pylori using these hGOs.
Kyle W. McCracken, Emily M. Catá, Calyn M. Crawford et al. | Reconstruction and control of a time-dependent two-electron wave packet
The dynamics of two correlated electrons can be reconstructed from the quantum interference of low-lying doubly excited states in helium, as observed in attosecond transient-absorption spectra, and can be controlled by tuning the interaction with a visible laser field of variable intensity.
Christian Ott, Andreas Kaldun, Luca Argenti et al. | The contribution of the Precambrian continental lithosphere to global H2 production
The production of hydrogen gas from the Precambrian continental lithosphere has been underestimated; taking into account hydrogen from serpentinization and radiolysis may double estimates previously based on marine systems alone.
Barbara Sherwood Lollar, T. C. Onstott, G. Lacrampe-Couloume et al. | Signatures of aestivation and migration in Sahelian malaria mosquito populations
Malaria-carrying mosquitoes nearly disappear in the dry season, yet they reappear suddenly following the first rains; using surveys of mosquito densities, the authors characterize the population dynamics of the three main vector species and use these to infer persistence by long-distance migration in two species and aestivation in the third.
A. Dao, A. S. Yaro, M. Diallo et al. | Primate-specific endogenous retrovirus-driven transcription defines naive-like stem cells
An extensive analysis of HERVH (a primate-specific endogenous retrovirus) expression in human pluripotent stem cells is presented, identifying a sub-population of cells within cultured human embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells that has characteristics of naive-state cells — the study provides evidence for a new primate-specific transcriptional circuitry regulating pluripotency.
Jichang Wang, Gangcai Xie, Manvendra Singh et al. | Protein quality control at the inner nuclear membrane
A protein degradation pathway is found at the inner nuclear membrane that is distinct from, but complementary to, endoplasmic-reticulum-associated protein degradation, and which is mediated by the Asi protein complex; a genome-wide library screening of yeast identifies more than 20 substrates of this pathway, which is shown to target mislocalized integral membrane proteins for degradation.
Anton Khmelinskii, Ewa Blaszczak, Marina Pantazopoulou et al. | Rapid development of broadly influenza neutralizing antibodies through redundant mutations
The main pathway of somatic mutations leading to the generation of high affinity broadly neutralizing antibodies against the influenza haemagglutinin stem is defined.
Leontios Pappas, Mathilde Foglierini, Luca Piccoli et al. | In vivo engineering of oncogenic chromosomal rearrangements with the CRISPR/Cas9 system
The CRISPR/Cas system has been used to induce the Eml4–Alk chromosomal inversion in mice, a characteristic chromosomal rearrangement seen in human non-small cell lung cancers; the mice developed lung cancer and responded to the ALK inhibitor crizotinib, which is used to treat lung cancer patients with the EML4–ALK rearrangement; this general strategy can be used to engineer other disease-associated chromosomal rearrangements in mice and potentially in other organisms.
Danilo Maddalo, Eusebio Manchado, Carla P. Concepcion et al. | Cohesin-dependent globules and heterochromatin shape 3D genome architecture in S. pombe
Genome-wide chromatin conformation capture (Hi-C) is used to investigate three-dimensional genome organization in Schizosaccharomyces pombe; small domains of chromatin interact locally on chromosome arms to form globules, which depend on cohesin but not heterochromatin for formation, and heterochromatin at centromeres and telomeres provides crucial structural constraints to shape genome architecture.
Takeshi Mizuguchi, Geoffrey Fudenberg, Sameet Mehta et al. | R-loops induce repressive chromatin marks over mammalian gene terminators
R-loops, which have been considered to be rare and potentially harmful transcriptional by-products, are now shown to be needed for antisense transcription and to induce repressive chromatin marks that reinforce pausing of transcription and thereby enhance its termination.
Konstantina Skourti-Stathaki, Kinga Kamieniarz-Gdula, Nicholas J. Proudfoot | Deterministic switching of ferromagnetism at room temperature using an electric field
Multiferroic devices that can switch magnetization with electric field at room temperature are desirable, but in BiFeO3 the required direct 180-degree switch is thermodynamically forbidden; here it is shown that such switching is possible because the kinetics of the switching process favours a two-step sequence of partial switching.
J. T. Heron, J. L. Bosse, Q. He et al. | Adenosine activates brown adipose tissue and recruits beige adipocytes via A2A receptors
Cold exposure activates brown adipose tissue (BAT) through the sympathetic nervous system, and previous studies have reported inhibitory effects of the purinergic transmitter adenosine in BAT from hamster or rat; here adenosine/A2A signalling is shown to be involved in sympathetic activation of human and murine brown adipocytes to allow protection of mice from diet-induced obesity.
Thorsten Gnad, Saskia Scheibler, Ivar von Kügelgen et al. | Mitochondrial UPR-regulated innate immunity provides resistance to pathogen infection
A link between an intracellular stress response, bacterial infection and triggering of the innate immune response is shown in Caenorhabditis elegans; exposure to the pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa caused activation of the transcription factor ATFS-1 and innate immunity that is regulated by the mitochondrial unfolded protein response.
Mark W. Pellegrino, Amrita M. Nargund, Natalia V. Kirienko et al. | Rapid modelling of cooperating genetic events in cancer through somatic genome editing
The CRISPR/Cas system has been used in mice for genome editing to introduce genetic alterations found in human lung tumours, and these genome modifications resulted in mouse lung tumours showing different histopathologies depending on the genes altered; the CRISPR/Cas system offers improved and faster ways to create animal models of human diseases such as cancer.
Francisco J. Sánchez-Rivera, Thales Papagiannakopoulos, Rodrigo Romero et al. | | | | |
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