Outlook |
Featured
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Outlook |
Diet should be a tool for researchers, not a treatment
Peter J. Turnbaugh explains why scientists can’t tell you what to eat to prevent disease.
- Peter J. Turnbaugh
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Outlook |
Could the gut microbiome be linked to autism?
Researchers are hoping to understand whether the microbes in our guts have a role in the disorder.
- Elizabeth Svoboda
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Outlook |
Highlights from studies on the gut microbiome
Researchers strive to understand how microbes affect health and disease.
- Liam Drew
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News & Views |
Protein structure reveals how a malaria parasite imports a wide range of sugars
Unlike many sugar-transporting proteins, a transporter in one species of malaria parasite can import several types of sugar equally effectively, aiding the parasite’s survival. The structure of this protein reveals the reason for its versatility.
- Thorsten Althoff
- & Jeff Abramson
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News & Views |
Brain tumours manipulate neighbouring synapses
The growth of a brain tumour can be affected by the activity of its neighbouring neurons. The finding that such tumours send signals that boost connections between these neurons reveals a pathway that drives cancer growth.
- Nicola J. Allen
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News & Views |
Smoke signals in the DNA of normal lung cells
Healthy cells in smokers’ lungs have a high burden of mutations, similar to the mutational profile of lung cancer. Surprisingly, ex-smokers’ lungs have a large fraction of healthy cells with nearly normal profiles.
- Gerd P. Pfeifer
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Article |
Processive extrusion of polypeptide loops by a Hsp100 disaggregase
A combination of optical tweezers and fluorescent-particle tracking is used to dissect the dynamics of the Hsp100 disaggregase ClpB, and show that the processive extrusion of polypeptide loops is the mechanistic basis of its activity.
- Mario J. Avellaneda
- , Kamila B. Franke
- & Sander J. Tans
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Article |
Zucchini consensus motifs determine the mechanism of pre-piRNA production
A silkworm model recapitulates key steps of Zucchini-mediated cleavage of pre-pre-piRNA and provides insights into Zucchini-mediated and -independent pathways that generate pre-piRNAs, which converge to a common piRNA maturation step.
- Natsuko Izumi
- , Keisuke Shoji
- & Yukihide Tomari
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Article |
The pheromone darcin drives a circuit for innate and reinforced behaviours
A neural circuit activated by the male pheromone, darcin, mediates a complex and variable array of innate and reinforced behaviours that may promote mate encounters and mate selection.
- Ebru Demir
- , Kenneth Li
- & Richard Axel
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Article |
ATP13A2 deficiency disrupts lysosomal polyamine export
The lysosomal polyamine transporter ATP13A2 controls the cellular polyamine content, and impaired lysosomal polyamine export represents a lysosome-dependent cell death pathway that may be implicated in ATP13A2-associated neurodegeneration.
- Sarah van Veen
- , Shaun Martin
- & Peter Vangheluwe
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Article |
The molecular basis for sugar import in malaria parasites
Crystal structure of the Plasmodium falciparum hexose transporter PfHT1 reveals the molecular basis of its ability to transport multiple types of sugar as efficiently as the dedicated mammalian glucose and fructose transporters.
- Abdul Aziz Qureshi
- , Albert Suades
- & David Drew
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Article |
Tobacco smoking and somatic mutations in human bronchial epithelium
Whole-genome sequencing of normal bronchial epithelium from 16 individuals shows that tobacco smoking increases genomic heterogeneity, mutational burden and driver mutations, whereas stopping smoking promotes replenishment of the epithelium with near-normal cells.
- Kenichi Yoshida
- , Kate H. C. Gowers
- & Peter J. Campbell
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Article |
PIK3CA variants selectively initiate brain hyperactivity during gliomagenesis
Glioblastoma tumours expressing oncogenic PIK3CA variants secrete the glycan GPC3, which promotes the formation of neural synapses, brain synaptic hyperexcitability and gliomagenesis.
- Kwanha Yu
- , Chia-Ching John Lin
- & Benjamin Deneen
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Article |
Cell stress in cortical organoids impairs molecular subtype specification
Single-cell RNA sequencing clarifies the development and specification of neurons in the human cortex and shows that cell stress impairs this process in cortical organoids.
- Aparna Bhaduri
- , Madeline G. Andrews
- & Arnold R. Kriegstein
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News & Views |
From the archive
How Nature reported a controversy in 1970 over the harm caused by fallout from nuclear testing, and a 1920 call to end the trade in exotic bird plumage.
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Where I Work |
Alone where seals bark in the mist
Mary-Anne Lea travels to remote coastal regions to study marine animals for insights into conserving their species.
- Kendall Powell
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News & Views |
Techniques converge to map the developing human heart at single-cell level
Three methods for gene-expression profiling have now been combined to produce spatially defined single-cell maps of developing human organs from limited sample material, overcoming a major hurdle in studying human development.
- Ragini Phansalkar
- & Kristy Red-Horse
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News |
US officials revisit rules for disclosing risky disease experiments
An expert panel is considering how much to reveal about a largely secret review process of 'gain-of-function' research.
- Nidhi Subbaraman
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Nature Video |
What you need to know about the novel coronavirus
How science can help control the outbreak
- Dan Fox
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News |
Wuhan scientists: What it’s like to be on lockdown
Measures to contain a new virus’s spread have cut off the city's researchers.
- David Cyranoski
- & Andrew Silver
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Research Highlight |
After Colombia’s civil war ended, so did ‘gunpoint conservation’
The rebels’ departure from their rainforest strongholds triggered mass deforestation.
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News Q&A |
This scientist hopes to test coronavirus drugs on animals in locked-down Wuhan
Structural biologist Rolf Hilgenfeld has been working on coronavirus treatments since the SARS outbreak.
- David Cyranoski
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Research Highlight |
Organoids show the brain’s cognitive centre taking shape
Brain models in a dish offer clues to molecular signals involved in the human forebrain’s development.
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News |
Why snakes probably aren’t spreading the new China virus
One genetic analysis suggests reptilian reservoir — but researchers doubt that the coronavirus could have originated in animals other than birds or mammals.
- Ewen Callaway
- & David Cyranoski
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News |
Ancient African genomes offer glimpse into early human history
DNA sequences from children who lived in West Africa thousands of years ago might help to uncover how humans moved across the continent.
- Ewen Callaway
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News |
Thousands of ancient Aboriginal sites probably damaged in Australian fires
The sites are rich in cultural history, but the blazes might also reveal some unknown ones, say archaeologists.
- John Pickrell
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News & Views |
How the stress of fight or flight turns hair white
Signalling from the sympathetic nervous system of mice when subjected to stress leads to the depletion of a stem-cell population in their hair follicles. This discovery sheds light on why stress turns hair prematurely grey.
- Shayla A. Clark
- & Christopher D. Deppmann
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News & Views |
Reactivation of latent HIV moves shock-and-kill treatments forward
HIV-1 can evade the immune system by hiding out in a dormant form. Two studies describe interventions that can effectively reactivate the latent virus in animals, potentially rendering it vulnerable to immune-mediated death.
- Mathias Lichterfeld
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News & Views |
Suspect that modulates the heartbeat is ensnared
The activity of calcium channels in the heart increases during what is called the fight-or-flight response. An investigation into the 50-year-old mystery of how this occurs has captured a previously overlooked suspect.
- Xiaohan Wang
- & Richard W. Tsien
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Article
| Open AccessGiant virus diversity and host interactions through global metagenomics
Analysis of metagenomics data revealed that large and giant viruses are globally widely distributed and are associated with most major eukaryotic lineages.
- Frederik Schulz
- , Simon Roux
- & Tanja Woyke
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Article |
Robust and persistent reactivation of SIV and HIV by N-803 and depletion of CD8+ cells
The interleukin-15 superagonist N-803, combined with the depletion of CD8+ lymphocytes, induced a robust and persistent reactivation of the virus in vivo in both antiretroviral-therapy-treated SIV-infected macaques and HIV-infected humanized mice.
- Julia Bergild McBrien
- , Maud Mavigner
- & Guido Silvestri
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News |
China coronavirus: Six questions scientists are asking
Researchers are racing to find out more about the epidemiology and genetic sequence of the coronavirus spreading in Asia and beyond.
- Ewen Callaway
- & David Cyranoski
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Nature Podcast |
Podcast: How stress can cause grey hair, and the attitude needed to tackle climate change
Hear the latest science news, brought to you by Nick Howe and Benjamin Thompson.
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Article |
Structure of the transcription coactivator SAGA
Structural studies on the yeast transcription coactivator complex SAGA (Spt–Ada–Gcn5–acetyltransferase) provide insights into the mechanism of initiation of regulated transcription by this multiprotein complex, which is conserved among eukaryotes.
- Haibo Wang
- , Christian Dienemann
- & Patrick Cramer
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Article |
Ancient West African foragers in the context of African population history
Genome-wide ancestry profiles of four individuals, dating to 8,000 and 3,000 years before present, from the archaeological site of Shum Laka (Cameroon) shed light on the deep population history of sub-Saharan Africa.
- Mark Lipson
- , Isabelle Ribot
- & David Reich
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Article |
Targeting of temperate phages drives loss of type I CRISPR–Cas systems
CRISPR–Cas systems cannot eliminate temperate bacteriophages from bacterial populations and—in this context—the systems impose immunopathological costs on the host, creating selective pressures that may explain their patchy distribution in bacteria.
- Clare Rollie
- , Anne Chevallereau
- & Edze R. Westra
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Article |
Negative supercoil at gene boundaries modulates gene topology
The topoisomerase Top2 and the chromatin-binding protein Hmo1 maintain under-wound and over-wound DNA at different regions within a gene and thereby modulate the topology of genes.
- Yathish Jagadheesh Achar
- , Mohamood Adhil
- & Marco Foiani
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Article |
Structure of SAGA and mechanism of TBP deposition on gene promoters
Structural studies on the yeast transcription coactivator complex SAGA (Spt–Ada–Gcn5–acetyltransferase) provide insights into the mechanism of initiation of regulated transcription by this multiprotein complex, which is conserved among eukaryotes.
- Gabor Papai
- , Alexandre Frechard
- & Adam Ben-Shem
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Article |
Systemic HIV and SIV latency reversal via non-canonical NF-κB signalling in vivo
Activation of the non-canonical NF-κB signalling pathway by AZD5582 results in the induction of HIV and SIV RNA expression in the blood and tissues of antiretroviral-therapy-treated humanized mice and rhesus macaques.
- Christopher C. Nixon
- , Maud Mavigner
- & J. Victor Garcia
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Article |
Hyperactivation of sympathetic nerves drives depletion of melanocyte stem cells
Stress induces hair greying in mice through depletion of melanocyte stem cells, which is mediated by the activation of sympathetic nerves rather than through immune attack or adrenal stress hormones.
- Bing Zhang
- , Sai Ma
- & Ya-Chieh Hsu
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Article |
Mechanism of adrenergic CaV1.2 stimulation revealed by proximity proteomics
An in vivo approach to identify proteins whose enrichment near cardiac CaV1.2 channels changes upon β-adrenergic stimulation finds the G protein Rad, which is phosphorylated by protein kinase A, thereby relieving channel inhibition by Rad and causing an increased Ca2+ current.
- Guoxia Liu
- , Arianne Papa
- & Steven O. Marx
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Article |
Selective inhibition of the BD2 bromodomain of BET proteins in prostate cancer
ABBV-744, a selective inhibitor of the BD2 domains of BET family proteins, is effective against prostate cancer in mouse xenograft models, with lower toxicities than the dual-bromodomain BET inhibitor ABBV-075.
- Emily J. Faivre
- , Keith F. McDaniel
- & Yu Shen
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Article |
Constructing protein polyhedra via orthogonal chemical interactions
An inorganic chemical approach to biomolecular design is used to generate ‘cages’ that can simultaneously promote symmetry and multiple modes of protein interactions.
- Eyal Golub
- , Rohit H. Subramanian
- & F. Akif Tezcan
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Technology Feature |
Technologies to watch in 2020
Thought leaders predict the tech developments that could have a big impact in the coming year.
- Esther Landhuis
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Where I Work |
Sharing space with 34 million dead insects
Museum entomologist Erica McAlister finds joy in the huge and growing diversity of her collections while extracting DNA from century-old specimens.
- Amber Dance
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Editorial |
Stop the Wuhan virus
Vigilance, preparedness, speed, transparency and global coordination are now crucial to stopping a new infectious disease from becoming a global emergency.
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World View |
Our best weapons against cancer are not magic bullets
Better health and social policy would save more lives than sophisticated drugs.
- Vinay Prasad
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News |
How quickly does the Wuhan virus spread?
Chinese officials have confirmed that the virus is spreading between people, but it’s still unclear how easily this happens.
- Nicky Phillips
- , Smriti Mallapaty
- & David Cyranoski
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