Sir

I was very surprised to see the advertisement for Dictagene on the back cover of the 7 October issue of Nature. Nudity has its place, as I am sure you will agree. It was totally unnecessary for a company to advertise its expression systems and custom-made proteins by displaying two nude human beings. What is this supposed to signify? I thought Nature was beyond such crass advertisements and I hope this is not the first of many such unpleasant sights.