| | Volume 507 Number 7493 | | | nature | | The science that matters. Every week. | | | | | | | |  | | The Joy Cappel 2014 Young Investigator Award
Rockland Immunochemicals introduces: The Joy Cappel 2014 Young Investigator Award, intended to foster research conducted by 25 promising young investigators in various fields. These awards are in the form of a $4,000 credit for polyclonal antibody development provided by Rockland. To learn more about this competitive opportunity, click here. | | | | | | | Jump to the content that matters to you | | | | | | | | | | The ultimate physical limits of privacy | Can you keep secrets safe from eavesdroppers? Yes you can, say Artur Ekert and Renato Renner. They argue that recent developments in quantum cryptography, coupled with the fact that we still possess free will, suggest that truly private communication will always be possible, even in a world with access to as yet undiscovered code-breaking technologies. The answer lies in new insights into the nature of randomness and non-local correlations. Thus equipped it should be possible to outsmart even the most powerful surveillance procedures. | | | | | | | | | Reconciliation of the carbon budget in the ocean's twilight zone | The amount of carbon from surface waters that is stored in the deep ocean is affected by biological processes in the twilight zone - the barely-lit waters at depths of about 100-1,000 metres. It has been unclear to what extent the surface carbon supply meets the energy demands of the organisms, as estimates of the amount of available carbon are much lower than corresponding estimates of metabolism. Now Sarah Giering et al. present a balanced carbon budget for the twilight zone in the North Eastern Atlantic Ocean. They suggest that a synergy between zooplankton and microbes has an important role in processing organic carbon, and show that the amount of available organic carbon meets the respiration needs of these organisms. | | | | | | | | | A suspension-feeding anomalocarid from the Early Cambrian | Many marine predators, including sharks, rays and whales, have transitioned to filter feeding, a strategy that has evolved independently several times in Earth's history. New fossils of Tamisiocaris borealis, from early Cambrian sediments in northern Greenland, suggest that this large shrimp-like creature was also a free-swimming filter feeder, using its scary frontal appendages not to seize prey but more as combs, peaceably harvesting the plankton. The presence of such filter feeders in the early Cambrian suggests that there were high densities of plankton available, which indicates the existence of a complex ecosystem in this period. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | In this week's podcast: how gastric band surgery really works, a dwarf planet in the outer Solar System has a friend, and a physicist suggests a way to make quantum physics less puzzling. In our latest video feature a new fossil discovery suggests that not all the anomalocarids were the fearsome killing machines scientists once thought. At least one, it seems, evolved into a gentle giant. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Be here now ▶ | | | New views of quantum theory that can be tested and have practical applications bring welcome echoes of physics past. | | | | | | | | Wheat lag ▶ | | | Growth in yields of the cereal must double if the Green Revolution is to be put back on track. | | | | | | | | A parlous state ▶ | | | The decay at ancient Pompeii is symbolic of a deeper malaise in Italy’s heritage. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Seven days: 21–27 March 2014 ▶ | | | The week in science: Ebola kills dozens in Guinea, the top quark become more precise, and Japan hands over nuclear material. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Immunology: A tolerant approach ▶ | | | Despite a long record of failure, a few immunologists continue to pursue precisely targeted therapies for autoimmune diseases. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | FXR is a molecular target for the effects of vertical sleeve gastrectomy ▶ | | | Karen K. Ryan, Valentina Tremaroli, Christoffer Clemmensen et al. | | | Bariatric surgical procedures, such as vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG), are the most effective therapy for the treatment of obesity; now bile acids, and the presence of the nuclear bile acid receptor FXR, are shown to underpin the mechanism of VSG action, and the ability of VSG to reduce body weight and improve glucose tolerance is substantially reduced if FXR is absent. | | | | | | | | Capillary pericytes regulate cerebral blood flow in health and disease ▶ | | | Catherine N. Hall, Clare Reynell, Bodil Gesslein et al. | | | Neuronal activity relaxes pericytes, leading to capillary dilation and increased blood flow, before arterioles dilate, suggesting that pericytes initiate blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) functional imaging signals; pericytes constrict and die in rigor in ischaemia, which will cause a long-lasting blood flow decrease after stroke, and damage the blood–brain barrier. | | | | | | | | Structure of the LH1–RC complex from Thermochromatium tepidum at 3.0 Å ▶ | | | Satomi Niwa, Long-Jiang Yu, Kazuki Takeda et al. | | | The near-atomic-level structure of a complete bacterial light-harvesting antenna–reaction centre (LH1–RC) complex is described here; the structure reveals how energy is transferred from the LH1 to the RC in a highly efficient way and suggests how ubiquinone might cross a closed LH1 barrier. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | XBP1 promotes triple-negative breast cancer by controlling the HIF1α pathway ▶ | | | Xi Chen, Dimitrios Iliopoulos, Qing Zhang et al. | | | This study finds that triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) show an increased basal level of endoplasmic reticulum stress and activation of the XBP1 branch of the unfolded protein response; furthermore, XBP1 promotes tumour formation of TNBC cell lines by interacting with and regulating HIF1α. | | | | | | | | Reversible and adaptive resistance to BRAF(V600E) inhibition in melanoma ▶ | | | Chong Sun, Liqin Wang, Sidong Huang et al. | | | Patients with melanomas carrying an activating BRAF mutation respond to treatment with BRAF inhibitors although resistance to the inhibitor usually emerges; this resistance is shown to arise through increased expression of receptor tyrosine kinases such as EGFR; however, these changes decrease cell fitness and during a break from inhibitor treatment these cells are selected against, revealing that some patients who acquire EGFR expression may benefit from inhibitor re-treatment after a drug holiday. | | | | | | | | Nuclear reprogramming by interphase cytoplasm of two-cell mouse embryos ▶ | | | Eunju Kang, Guangming Wu, Hong Ma et al. | | | Reprogramming after somatic cell nuclear transfer had been thought to be dependent on the recipient cytoplasm being arrested at the metaphase stage, but here interphase two-cell mouse embryos are shown to support successful reprogramming and generation of embryonic stem cells or cloned mice. | | | | | | | | Cystathionine γ-lyase deficiency mediates neurodegeneration in Huntington’s disease ▶ | | | Bindu D. Paul, Juan I. Sbodio, Risheng Xu et al. | | | Cystathionine γ-lyase, which is responsible for the production of cysteine, is decreased in the striatum and cortex of mouse models of Huntington’s disease and in patients with Huntington’s disease, and cysteine supplementation in diet and drinking water partly rescues the phenotype and the diminished longevity of the mouse model. | | | | | | | | | | | REST and stress resistance in ageing and Alzheimer’s disease ▶ | | | Tao Lu, Liviu Aron, Joseph Zullo et al. | | | REST, a developmental regulator, is markedly induced in human neurons during ageing but is lost in Alzheimer’s disease; REST represses genes that promote neurodegeneration, is neuroprotective in animal models, and is associated with cognitive preservation and longevity in humans. | | | | | | | | An atlas of active enhancers across human cell types and tissues ▶ | | | Robin Andersson, Claudia Gebhard, Irene Miguel-Escalada et al. | | | Using the FANTOM5 CAGE expression atlas, the authors show that bidirectional capped RNAs are a signature feature of active enhancers and identify over 40,000 enhancer candidates from over 800 human cell and tissue samples across the whole human body. | | | | | | | | A promoter-level mammalian expression atlas ▶ | | | A study from the FANTOM consortium using single-molecule cDNA sequencing of transcription start sites and their usage in human and mouse primary cells, cell lines and tissues reveals insights into the specificity and diversity of transcription patterns across different mammalian cell types. | | | | | | | | Reconciliation of the carbon budget in the ocean’s twilight zone ▶ | | | Sarah L. C. Giering, Richard Sanders, Richard S. Lampitt et al. | | | The discrepancy between the components of the oceanic carbon budget — export of carbon from the surface and its conversion into carbon dioxide by water-column biota at depth — is reconciled using field data and a steady-state model which indicates that synergy between microbes and zooplankton is an important factor. | | | | | | | | Methane fluxes show consistent temperature dependence across microbial to ecosystem scales ▶ | | | Gabriel Yvon-Durocher, Andrew P. Allen, David Bastviken et al. | | | Meta-analyses show that the temperature dependence of methane fluxes scales consistently across populations of methanogens, microbial communities and whole ecosystems, and that this temperature dependence is higher than for respiration and photosynthesis; this indicates that global warming may impact the relative contributions of CO2 and CH4 to total greenhouse gas emissions. | | | | | | | | Geographical limits to species-range shifts are suggested by climate velocity ▶ | | | Michael T. Burrows, David S. Schoeman, Anthony J. Richardson et al. | | | Global maps constructed using climate-change velocities to derive spatial trajectories for climatic niches between 1960 and 2100 show past and future shifts in ecological climate niches; properties of these trajectories are used to infer changes in species distributions, and thus identify areas that will act as climate sources and sinks, and geographical barriers to species migrations. | | | | | | | | A suspension-feeding anomalocarid from the Early Cambrian ▶ | | | Jakob Vinther, Martin Stein, Nicholas R. Longrich et al. | | | Tamisiocaris borealis, an Early Cambrian member of the anomalocarids—giant, predatory marine stem arthropods—probably used its frontal appendage to trap microscopic, planktonic animals. | | | | | | | | | | | Visual space is compressed in prefrontal cortex before eye movements ▶ | | | Marc Zirnsak, Nicholas A. Steinmetz, Behrad Noudoost et al. | | | Saccadic eye movements cause substantial shifts in the retinal image as we take in visual scenes, but our perception is stable and continuous; here, visual receptive fields are shown to shift dramatically towards the saccadic goal, running counter to the long-standing hypothesis of receptive field remapping as the basis of perceived stability. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | | Nature Genetics, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Anhui Medical University are pleased to present: Genome Variation in Precision Medicine May 15-17, 2014 Radegast Lake View Hotel Beijing Click here for more information or to register for this conference today! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | FXR is a molecular target for the effects of vertical sleeve gastrectomy ▶ | | | Karen K. Ryan, Valentina Tremaroli, Christoffer Clemmensen et al. | | | Bariatric surgical procedures, such as vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG), are the most effective therapy for the treatment of obesity; now bile acids, and the presence of the nuclear bile acid receptor FXR, are shown to underpin the mechanism of VSG action, and the ability of VSG to reduce body weight and improve glucose tolerance is substantially reduced if FXR is absent. | | | | | | | | | | | XBP1 promotes triple-negative breast cancer by controlling the HIF1α pathway ▶ | | | Xi Chen, Dimitrios Iliopoulos, Qing Zhang et al. | | | This study finds that triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) show an increased basal level of endoplasmic reticulum stress and activation of the XBP1 branch of the unfolded protein response; furthermore, XBP1 promotes tumour formation of TNBC cell lines by interacting with and regulating HIF1α. | | | | | | | | Reversible and adaptive resistance to BRAF(V600E) inhibition in melanoma ▶ | | | Chong Sun, Liqin Wang, Sidong Huang et al. | | | Patients with melanomas carrying an activating BRAF mutation respond to treatment with BRAF inhibitors although resistance to the inhibitor usually emerges; this resistance is shown to arise through increased expression of receptor tyrosine kinases such as EGFR; however, these changes decrease cell fitness and during a break from inhibitor treatment these cells are selected against, revealing that some patients who acquire EGFR expression may benefit from inhibitor re-treatment after a drug holiday. | | | | | | | | Cystathionine γ-lyase deficiency mediates neurodegeneration in Huntington’s disease ▶ | | | Bindu D. Paul, Juan I. Sbodio, Risheng Xu et al. | | | Cystathionine γ-lyase, which is responsible for the production of cysteine, is decreased in the striatum and cortex of mouse models of Huntington’s disease and in patients with Huntington’s disease, and cysteine supplementation in diet and drinking water partly rescues the phenotype and the diminished longevity of the mouse model. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Dynamics of continental accretion ▶ | | | L. Moresi, P. G. Betts, M. S. Miller et al. | | | Three-dimensional dynamic computer models show how accretionary tectonic margins evolve from the initial plate-collision state, through a period of plate margin instability, and then re-establish a stable convergent margin; the models illustrate how significant curvature of the orogenic system develops, as well as the mechanism for tectonic escape of the back-arc region. | | | | | | | | A ring system detected around the Centaur (10199) Chariklo ▶ | | | F. Braga-Ribas, B. Sicardy, J. L. Ortiz et al. | | | Observations of a stellar occultation by (10199) Chariklo, a minor body that orbits the Sun between Jupiter and Neptune, reveal that it has a ring system, a property previously observed only for the four giant planets of the Solar System. | | | | | | | | | | | A Sedna-like body with a perihelion of 80 astronomical units ▶ | | | Chadwick A. Trujillo, Scott S. Sheppard | | | The discovery of the distant dwarf planet 2012 VP113, with its large perihelion like that of the dwarf planet Sedna, shows that Sedna is not isolated and may be part of the putative massive inner Oort cloud, which extends far beyond the observable Solar System. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The ultimate physical limits of privacy ▶ | | | Artur Ekert, Renato Renner | | | Developments in quantum cryptography show that it is possible to protect secrets — from those with superior technology, those who profess to provide our security and even those who manipulate us without our knowledge — under surprisingly weak assumptions. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Dynamics of continental accretion ▶ | | | L. Moresi, P. G. Betts, M. S. Miller et al. | | | Three-dimensional dynamic computer models show how accretionary tectonic margins evolve from the initial plate-collision state, through a period of plate margin instability, and then re-establish a stable convergent margin; the models illustrate how significant curvature of the orogenic system develops, as well as the mechanism for tectonic escape of the back-arc region. | | | | | | | | | | | Reconciliation of the carbon budget in the ocean’s twilight zone ▶ | | | Sarah L. C. Giering, Richard Sanders, Richard S. Lampitt et al. | | | The discrepancy between the components of the oceanic carbon budget — export of carbon from the surface and its conversion into carbon dioxide by water-column biota at depth — is reconciled using field data and a steady-state model which indicates that synergy between microbes and zooplankton is an important factor. | | | | | | | | | | | Geographical limits to species-range shifts are suggested by climate velocity ▶ | | | Michael T. Burrows, David S. Schoeman, Anthony J. Richardson et al. | | | Global maps constructed using climate-change velocities to derive spatial trajectories for climatic niches between 1960 and 2100 show past and future shifts in ecological climate niches; properties of these trajectories are used to infer changes in species distributions, and thus identify areas that will act as climate sources and sinks, and geographical barriers to species migrations. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | This Poster summarizes the molecular functions of BDNF in the CNS and highlights its therapeutic potential for conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, stroke and spinal cord injury. This poster is freely available thanks to support from | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gender differences ▶ | | | Success rate for UK government grants is lower for women, analysis reveals. | | | | | | | | | | | Swiss frozen out ▶ | | | Erasmus Plus grants off-limits for student exchanges in and out of Switzerland. | | | | | | | | | | | Public boost ▶ | | | US public universities give higher salary increases than do private universities, finds poll. | | | | | | | | Careers related news & comment | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  naturejobs.com Science jobs of the week | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | No matter what your career stage, student, postdoc or senior scientist, you will find articles on naturejobs.com to help guide you in your science career. 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