GENETICS : Amplification of oestrogen receptor gene in breast cancer

A fifth of breast tumours have extra copies of the gene encoding one form of the oestrogens receptor ESR1, suggests a study. A small-scale initial study shows that women treated with tamoxifen, which blocks the activity of the oestrogens receptor, survive longer if their tumour has this gene amplification.
Oestrogens receptor expression is one of the most important known factors in the development of breast cancer, and assessing its status is important for determining the use of anti-oestrogens receptor therapies like tamoxifen. Ronald Simon and colleagues examined more than 2,000 breast cancer samples for evidence of amplification of ESR1, and detected it in 20.6 % of the tumours. In a small follow-up study of 175 women with breast cancer who were being treated with tamoxifen, they found that women with the amplification survived longer than those who did not, even though the tumours in both groups of women expressed ESR1. The authors suggest that ESR1 amplification may identify a subgroup of breast cancers that would be particularly likely to respond to anti-oestrogens therapy.
Author contact:
Ronald Simon (University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf, Germany)
Tel: +49 42803 7214; E-mail: r.simon@uke.uni-hamburg.de



Natural genetic variant influencing rice grain weight

A study published in Nature Genetics this week identifies a gene that influences rice grain weight and yield. This is only the second such gene that has been found and functionally characterized, and is a step toward understanding and improving grain yield in crops.
Rice is a staple food, and the world’s most important cereal crop. Hong-Xuan Lin and colleagues examined two varieties of rice that exhibit significant differences in grain size, and mapped the gene responsible for this variation in size – GW2. The version of GW2 found in the large-grain variety of rice increased the width and weight of rice grains and increases grain yield per plant by nearly 20%, although the authors caution that its effect on grain yield needs to be further assessed in randomized blocks of plants in paddies.
Initial experiments also show that rice with the high-yield variant of GW2 has no reduction in cooking or eating quality, suggesting that it will be useful for high-yield crop breeding. GW2 encodes a protein that belongs to a family of enzymes that target other proteins for degradation, and the authors speculate that it could affect grain size by regulating the cell division cycle.
Author contact:
Hong-Xuan Lin (Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences, China)
Tel: +86 21 5492 4129; E-mail: hxlin@sibs.ac.cn

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CHEMICAL BIOLOGY :Chemical control of neural stem cells
Chemicals that regulate neurotransmitter signalling in neurons can also prevent neural stem cell proliferation, according to a paper in the May 2007 issue of Nature Chemical Biology. Neural stem cells are a potentially important therapeutic target for neurological diseases and brain tumours. However, very little is known about the potential for using small molecules to regulate neural stem cell differentiation and proliferation.
Using cultures of neural precursor cells, Peter B. Dirks and colleagues screened a chemical library for inhibitors of neural precursor cell proliferation. Within the ‘hits’ were a number of small molecules that are known to influence neurotransmitter signalling in neurons. These unexpected results indicate that neurotransmitter signalling pathways may also function in neural stem cells and raises the possibility of using existing drugs that regulate neurotransmitter signalling in the treatment of brain tumours.
Author contact:
Peter B. Dirks (The Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto, Canada)
Tel: +1 416 813 6426; E-mail: peter.dirks@sickkids.ca
Additional contact for comment on paper:
Mike Tyers, (Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada)
Tel: +1 416 586 8371; E-mail: tyers@mshri.on.ca
for other topics visit our portal- www.medianowonline.com

Algorithm for group success?
Want to know how to make your clique, group or organization last? A new algorithm can help you do just that.
Tamás Vicsek and colleagues studied the patterns of information exchange within two groups of individuals — collaborating scientists and mobile phone users — over time. From this, they devised an algorithm to let them study how information exchange affects group stability.
Small groups, they report, have a few strong relationships at their core. And as long as these persist, the clique remains. But the strategy doesn’t work for large communities, where change seems a good thing. Continuous change helps large groups to remain stable, and over time, nearly all members are exchanged.
The findings help shed light on the basic relationships behind community evolution, and offer insights into the fundamental differences between the dynamics of small groups and large institutions.
CONTACT
Tamás Vicsek (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary)
Tel: +36 1 372 2755; E-mail: vicsek@angel.elte.hu

Atom spectroscopy: The great electron escape
Researchers have 'observed' electrons being stripped away from atoms by intense light fields. The technique used should offer control over, and provide insights into, the dynamics of electrons inside atoms and molecules.
Given enough energy, electrons can ‘tunnel’ through the potential barrier that normally binds them to their nucleus, and escape. Ferenc Krausz and colleagues have now ‘seen’ this light-induced electron tunnelling happen in real time on the attosecond — that’s one billionth of one billionth of a second — timescale.
The team ionized neon atoms with ultrafast far-ultraviolet pulses, and then probed them with near-infrared pulses. From the observed spectra, they were then able to reconstruct the electron tunnelling.
CONTACT
Ferenc Krausz (Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Garching, Germany)
Tel: +49 89 3290 5602; E-mail: ferenc.krausz@mpq.mpg.de
Jonathan P. Marangos (Imperial College London, UK) N&V author
Tel: +44 20 7594 7857; E-mail: j.marangos@imperial.ac.uk

Earth sciences: A salty solution

A new modelling study offers an elegant explanation for a curious anomaly seen in the carbon and sulphur isotope records of the Early Cretaceous period.
In modern-day sediments, the rates of pyrite (iron sulphide) and carbon-based organic matter burial are positively related. But during the Early Cretaceous period, which began approximately 140 million years ago, they appear to be negatively related — a relationship that has, until now, been difficult to explain.
Ulrich G. Wortmann and Boris M. Chernyavsky show that this puzzling relationship could be due to the deposition of evaporites — mineral sediments that precipitate from water as it evaporates — on the ocean floor as South Africa and South America moved apart and the South Atlantic Ocean basin formed. The evaporites contain sulphate, so their production removed sulphate from the surrounding waters. Enough, the model suggests, to reduce significantly the rate at which organisms in marine sediments formed pyrite and broke down organic matter, thus explaining the negative relationship between the amount of pyrite and organic matter buried in marine sediments at this time.
Evaporite deposition may have had a similar effect at other times in Earth’s history, and so may explain other changes in carbon and sulphur cycling. These are important to understand because alterations in these cycles can have a direct effect on atmospheric oxygen levels.
CONTACT
Ulrich G. Wortmann (University of Toronto, Canada)
Tel: +1 416 978 7084; E-mail: uli.wortmann@utoronto.ca

Geology: Geomagnetic data captured in crystals

Researchers have used silicate crystals to determine the strength of the Earth’s geomagnetic field around 3.2 billion years ago. Their findings should help to shed light on the evolution of the Earth’s deep interior, surface environment and atmosphere.
John A. Tarduno and colleagues studied silicate crystals from well preserved igneous rocks found in South Africa’s Archaean Kaapvaal craton. The crystals contain minute magnetic inclusions, and the team calculate that 3.2 billion years ago, the Earth’s geomagnetic field strength was within fifty per cent of the present-day value. This means that there was probably a viable magnetosphere to shelter the planet from solar wind erosion at that time.
Little is known about the strength of the Earth’s geomagnetic field before 2.8 billion years ago, so the new data offer a welcome insight into the Earth’s geomagnetic history.
CONTACT
John A. Tarduno (University of Rochester, NY, USA)
Tel: +1 585 275 5713; E-mail: john@earth.rochester.edu
David J. Dunlop (University of Toronto, Canada) N&V author
Tel: +1 905 828 3968; E-mail: dunlop@physics.utoronto.ca

Microbiology: Antibiotic-resistant bacteria meet their match?

Researchers may have found a way of keeping drug-resistant bacteria in check — certain combinations of antibiotics favour the growth of non-resistant strains at the expense of resistant ones. The finding may help combat the spread of these microbes, as well as shed light on microbial ecology and evolution.
Antagonistic drug combinations, in which the drugs' cumulative effects are less than when they are given separately, show such effects, say Roy Kishony and colleagues. At sublethal concentrations, a mixture of doxycycline and ciprofloxacin preferentially selects for wild-type Escherichia coli bacteria over that of a doxycyline-resistant strain in a laboratory culture.
The finding is surprising and counter-intuitive, as the use of antibiotic drugs is responsible for the generation and selection of resistant bacterial pathogen strains. But this study shows that, with the right combinations and concentrations, non-resistant bacterial strains can be selected for.
CONTACT
Roy Kishony (Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 432 6390; E-mail: roy_kishony@hms.harvard.edu

Planetary science: Winds of change
Variations in the radiation reflected from the surface of Mars are contributing to climate change on the planet, by causing increased dust transport and wind circulation. A study predicts that the planet has warmed by around 0.65 degrees Celsius from the 1970s to the 1990s, which may in part have caused the recent retreat of the southern polar ice cap.
The fraction of solar radiation reflected from an object is called its albedo — and on Mars, large areas on the surface show a contrast in brightness or darkness with the areas next to them, resulting in albedo patterns, which can change in appearance over time. These changes in brightness have been generally attributed to the presence of dust, but until now their effect on wind circulation and climate has not been clear.
Lori K. Fenton and colleagues present predictions from a Mars global circulation model which show that these changes are having a much larger than expected effect on climate. Large swaths of the surface have darkened over the past three decades as they were swept free of dust, leading to elevated air temperatures and increased wind stresses. This creates a positive feedback loop between dust erosion and albedo. The authors conclude that albedo variations interact with, and can in part drive, other climate-influencing processes on Mars, and should be considered as an important component in future atmospheric and climate studies of the planet.
CONTACT
Lori K. Fenton (Carl Sagan Center, NASA Ames Reserach Centre, Moffett Field, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 510 786 7199; E-mail: lfenton@carlsagancenter.org or fenton@mintz.arc.nasa.gov

Neuroscience: A light-switch for brain cells
An elegant technique using light to control the activity of brain cells is described. By expressing a light-responsive membrane protein in neurons, researchers can inhibit neural activity on a millisecond timescale.
Karl Deisseroth and colleagues introduced NpHR — a light-driven chloride pump that occurs naturally in microorganisms known as archaea — into cultured mammalian neurons and brain tissue in the laboratory. Training light pulses of a particular wavelength onto these cells effectively inhibited neural activity. This builds on the authors’ previous work using the protein ChR2 — a light-responsive channel found in algae — to optically excite nerve cells with light of a different wavelength. By simultaneously expressing both membrane proteins in the muscle cells or motor neurons of the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, the authors were able to control its locomotive behaviour — the worms stopped and started muscle contractions when yellow and blue lights were shone on them.
These findings demonstrate that light-responsive proteins can be used simultaneously to permit fast, bidirectional and reversible control over living neural circuits. They can also be used in conjunction with calcium imaging techniques and, together, provide a powerful tool for studying and manipulating brain activity with high precision.
CONTACTKarl Deisseroth (Stanford University, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 650 736 4325; E-mail: deissero@gmail.com
Michael Hausser (University College London, UK) N&V author
Tel: +44 207 679 6756; E-mail: m.hausser@ucl.ac.uk

The discovery of America: The revolutionary claims of a dead historian
New evidence could rewrite the history of the discovery of America
Dr Alwyn Ruddock, a former reader in history at the University of London, was the world expert on John Cabot’s discovery voyages from Bristol to North America (1496-98). What she was said to have found out about these voyages looked set to re-write the history of the European discovery of America. Yet, when Dr Ruddock died in December 2005, having spent four decades researching this topic, she ordered the destruction of all her research.
In an article published in Historical Research, Alwyn Ruddock’s extraordinary claims are explored by Dr Evan Jones of the University of Bristol.
In Spring 2006, all Dr Ruddock’s research material was destroyed, in line with the instructions in her will. However, her correspondence with her intended publisher, the University of Exeter Press, survived. Using this correspondence Dr Jones has investigated the research that Dr Ruddock had worked on, and kept secret, for so many years.
‘To describe Alwyn Ruddock’s claims as revolutionary,’ said Dr Jones, ‘is not an exaggeration.’ Her apparent findings include information about how John Cabot persuaded Henry VII to support his voyages and why the explorer was able to win the backing of an influential Italian cleric: Fr. Giovanni Antonio de Carbonariis, an Augustinian friar who was also in charge of collecting the Pope’s taxes in England.
Dr Ruddock’s most exciting claims, however, involve John Cabot’s 1498 voyage to America . While the fate of this expedition has long been a mystery, Dr Ruddock appears to have found evidence of a long and complex exploration of the American coastline, which culminated in Cabot’s return to England in the spring of 1500, followed shortly by his death. During this voyage, Dr Ruddock suggests that Cabot explored a large section of the coastline of North America, claiming it for England in the process.
Dr Ruddock intended to reveal that while Cabot was sailing south down the coast of America his chief supporter, Fra Giovanni, was establishing a religious colony in Newfoundland. Having disembarked from his ship, the Dominus Nobiscum, Fra Giovanni apparently established a settlement and built a church. This church, the first to be built in North America, was named after the Augustinian church of San Giovanni a Carbonara in Naples.
Dr Jones said: ‘Ruddock’s claims about the 1498 voyage are perhaps the most exciting of all. For while we have long known that Fra Giovanni accompanied the expedition, along with some other “poor Italian friars”, nothing has been known of what happened to their mission. If Ruddock is right, it means that the remains of the only medieval church in North America may still lie buried under the modern town of Carbonear.’
Dr Ruddock’s claims are clearly extraordinary but are they all correct? This is an issue that remains, in large part, to be resolved. In his article, Dr Jones shows that in many cases Alwyn Ruddock’s claims can be substantiated by reference to previously unknown material. However, much remains to be done.
Dr Jones continued: ‘In publishing this article now my intent was to put into the public domain what appear to be the last vestiges of Dr Ruddock’s research. While her correspondence does not give all the answers, it does provide many clues that historians can use to investigate her claims. I also hope that the publication of this article might persuade people who possess knowledge of Dr Ruddock’s research to come forward. For it is clear from her correspondence that many people must possess useful knowledge, ranging from her ex-students at the British Library to the “old and historic families in Italy” who gave her access to their private archives.’
As to why Alwyn Ruddock should have chosen to have all her research destroyed on her death, Dr Jones confesses that he has no clear answers. In her obituary in the Guardian newspaper, it was suggested that she destroyed the first draft of her book ‘because it did not meet her exacting standards.’ This does not explain, however, why she wanted everything destroyed – including her microfilms, her photographs and the transcripts of the documents she used.
‘What is clear,’ said Dr Jones, ‘is that she had a great sense of possession for her work and she felt this gave her the moral right to take her secrets to the grave. But even if all the documents she claimed to have found do come to light eventually, the mystery of why she sought to suppress her own basic research may never be resolved.’

Associated links
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2007/5333.html
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/hisr/0/0

Joan of Arc relics exposed as a forgery
The relics of St Joan of Arc are not the remains of the fifteenth-century French heroine after all.European experts who have analysed the sacred scraps say the relics are a forgery, made from the remains of an Egyptian mummy.
Philippe Charlier, a forensic scientist obtained permission to study the relics -- cloth, a human rib and a cat femur -- from the French church last year. He says he was “astonished” by the results. “I’d never have thought that it could be from a mummy.”
The researchers used a range of techniques to investigate the remains, including mass, infrared and atomic-emission spectrometry, electron microscopy, pollen analysis and, unusually, the help of the leading ‘noses’ of the perfume industry: Sylvaine Delacourte from Guerlain, and Jean-Michel Duriez from Jean Patou.
A series of clues led to conclusion that the relics were of the mummy origin, reinforced by carbon-14 analysis dating the remains to between the third and sixth centuries BC. And the spectrometry profiles of the relics matched those from Egyptian mummies from the period, and not those of burnt bones.
Charlier points out that mummies were used in Europe during the Middle Ages in pharmaceutical remedies.
Contact:
Philippe Charlier (Raymond Poincare Hospital in Garches, Paris, France)
Tel: +33 1 40 10 76 89; E-mail: philippe.charlier@rpc.ap-hop-paris.fr

Semi-identical’ twins discovered

Researchers have discovered a pair of twins who are identical through their mother’s side, but share only half their genes on their father’s, reports a News Exclusive from news@nature.com.
The ‘semi-identical’ twins are the result of two sperm cells fusing with a single egg, before becoming two embryos — a previously unknown way for twins to come about, say the team that made the finding. The twins are also chimaeras, meaning that their cells are not genetically uniform. Each sperm has contributed genes to each child.
The twins’ genetic makeup was investigated because one was born with ambiguous genitalia. One turned out to be a ‘true hermaphrodite’, with both ovarian and testicular tissue. The other twin is anatomically male.
Such twins are probably very rare. Their existence and discovery relies on three unusual, and possibly unlinked, events: first, that an egg fertilized by two sperm develops into a viable embryo; second, that this embryo splits to form twins; and third, that the children come to the attention of science.
This was reported in the Journal of Human Genetics, the news of this report comes exclusively from news@nature.com.
CONTACTS
Mikhail Golubovsky (Duke University, Durham, NC, USA)
mgolub@cds.duke.edu
Vivienne Souter (Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix, AZ, USA)
vsouter@yahoo.com
David Bonthron (University of Leeds, UK)
d.t.bonthron@leeds.ac.uk
Contact for background information only:
John Whitfield (Journalist, news@nature.com)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4645;

Geology: The driving force of plate tectonics

The North American plate may be driven by mantle flow and deformation at the base of the continental crust, according to a report in Nature. David W. Eaton and colleagues studied the surface expression of the Great Meteor hotspot track to estimate the relative motion between the surface and the underside of the plate. The results provide new insights into the driving forces of plate motion.
Hotspots — relatively-fixed locations of active volcanism deep beneath the Earth’s surface — allow scientists to track the movements of plates as they pass over them, producing lines of volcanoes. The Great Meteor hotspot is one of the longest tracks in the Atlantic and reveals the movement of the North American plate over time. The authors used seismic images, geochronology and plate-motion reconstruction to compare the location and chronology of the hotspot track at the base and top of the North American lithosphere. They found that there is a displacement between the surface and deep parts of the tracks. This misalignment increases with age along the track, and is best explained by deformation in the mantle lithosphere beneath North America. They suggest that that motion of the plate is driven, rather than impeded, by viscous traction at the base of the plate.
CONTACT
David W. Eaton (University of Western Ontario, London, Canada)
Tel: +1 519 661 3190; E-mail: deaton@uwo.ca

Neuroscience: Emotion and moral judgements

The critical role played by part of the brain in making normal judgements of right and wrong is highlighted by a study in Nature magzine. Patients with damage to an area of the brain involved in the normal generation of emotions have an abnormally ‘utilitarian’ reaction when presented with certain types of moral dilemma.
Antonio Damasio and colleagues studied six patients with focal lesions to the venteromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPC) on both sides of the brain. They presented them with a set of moral dilemmas that pit compelling considerations of aggregate welfare against highly emotionally aversive behaviours, such as having to decide whether to sacrifice one’s child in order to save a number of other people. The authors report that the patients tended to have a utilitarian reaction to these dilemmas – that is, they responded in a manner that favoured the greater good, despite the emotional significance of the decision.
The authors note that the effects of damage to the VMPC on emotion processing depend on context, and that their results are consistent with a model in which a combination of intuitive and rational mechanisms operate to produce moral judgements.
CONTACT
Antonio Damasio (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA)
E-mail: damasio@college.usc.edu
Carl Marziali (Sciences Media Relations, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 213 740 4751; E-mail: marziali@usc.edu
Ralph Adolphs (California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA) Co-author
Tel: +1 626 395 4486; E-mail: radolphs@hss.caltech.edu

Materials: Brute force yields new molecules

Chemists have designed a new type of molecule that changes identity when a mechanical force is applied. Apart from offering new ways to control chemistry, the effect might even result in mechanically responsive polymers that warn of impending structural failures, delay damage or even self-repair.
In most chemical reactions, reactants need to overcome an energy barrier before they are turned into products and the energy needed for this is usually provided by heat, light, pressure or electrical potential. In Nature magzine, Jeffrey S. Moore and colleagues use mechanical force to achieve the same effect.
The team added carefully designed, force-sensitive units called ‘mechanophores’ to the middle of polymer strands. When a mechanical force is applied, the mechanophore undergoes a chemical reaction and turns into a different molecule.
It’s already known that mechanical forces can activate reactions by ‘tugging’ on reactant bonds, but usually this just ruptures the molecules. Critically, these new materials don’t break.
CONTACT
Jeffrey S. Moore (University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA)
Tel: +1 217 244 4024; E-mail: jsmoore@uiuc.edu
Virgil Percec (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA) N&V author
Tel: +1 215 573 5527; E-mail: percec@sas.upenn.edu

Biochemistry: How to make vitamin B12

Biochemists have worked out the last unknown step involved in the biosynthesis of vitamin B12 (cobalamin). Their discovery, reported in Nature magzine, solves a long-standing puzzle and reveals an unusual bit of biochemistry.
Vitamin B12 is one of the largest known non-polymeric natural products and is the only vitamin that is synthesized exclusively by microorganisms. But despite years of study, the biosynthesis of the lower portion of vitamin B12 is poorly understood.
Graham C. Walker and colleagues have solved the X-ray crystal structure of BluB, an enzyme that is needed in the final stages of vitamin B12 synthesis. They show that the enzyme uses molecular oxygen to cleave another molecule to form 5,6-dimethylbenzimidazole. The 5,6-dimethylbenzimidazole produced in that reaction is then incorporated into vitamin B12 by other enzymes.
The cannibalized molecule is called flavin mononucleotide and it is a cofactor — an organic molecule that binds to an enzyme and is needed for its catalytic activity. The enzymatic destruction of one cofactor to make another is quite unusual, and the authors suggest that BluB represents a new family of enzymes, called 'flavin destructases.'
CONTACT
Graham C. Walker (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA)
Please contact co-author:
Christopher T. Walsh (Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 432 1715; E-mail: christopher_walsh@hms.harvard.edu
Steven E. Ealick (Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA) N&V author
Tel: +1 607 255 7961; E-mail: see3@cornell.edu

Developmental nicotine exposure diminishes attention capacity


Teen smokers who were also exposed to nicotine before birth show a dramatic reduction in attention capacities related to vision and hearing, reports the journal Neuropsychopharmacology this week. The study, led by Leslie Jacobsen and colleagues, also demonstrates that male and female attention capacities are affected by the exposure in different ways.
Jacobsen’s team found that girls who smoke and were subject to nicotine exposure in the womb performed most poorly in both visual and auditory attention tasks. Individuals who do not smoke and did not have prenatal exposure performed most accurately. As expected of a dose-dependent effect, those performing in between were individuals who smoke but whose mothers did not, or individuals who do not smoke themselves but whose mothers did during pregnancy. In boys, nicotine exposure had a greater effect on auditory attention, suggesting that brain regions involved in auditory attention may be more vulnerable to nicotine in boys. These gender-specific effects may result from differences in hormonal control of nicotine’s actions.
Previous studies on smoking have found that rates of tobacco smoking and nicotine dependence are higher among individuals prenatally exposed to maternal smoking. The Center for Disease Control reports that smoking during pregnancy is the single most preventable cause of illness and death among mothers and infants. Prior to this study, very little research was available on the less dramatic effects of exposure to smoking such as the impact on attention capacity.
Author contact:
Leslie Jacobsen, (Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA)
Tel: + 1 203 764 8480; E-mail: leslie.jacobsen@yale.edu

It,s all about FROGS and TODAS in Borneo
(‘Anurans' or tailless amphibians tourism for environmental conservation)

In its decade long research into frogs and toads in Borneo, the Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation has achieved much including highlighting conservation priority areas, setting up Asia's first Frog Museum and is now working on popularising biodiversity for environmental conservation with 'Anurans Tourism'.
Travelling for over 10 hours on coach and followed by uphill forest trekking to an elevation of more than 850m above sea level for six hours to sojourn amidst pristine nature for a week long of specimen collection is not the job description of most people. On the contrary, it is not just a tacit onus of each and every anuran researcher from the Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ITBC), Universiti Malaysia Sabah, but a pleasurable one too.
Anurans (Amphibia: Anura) are amphibians in the Order Anura which stands for tailless amphibians, or simply frogs and toads. Often deemed as colourful organisms, anurans are also momentous as a component of environmental food web, excellent environmental health indicators, biological control agents for pests (especially insects), and a source of alternative food and medicines for some.
Being a centre of excellence entrusted to spearhead terrestrial research in tropical biology and conservation, ITBC has acknowledged the imperativeness of anuran research since the naissance of the institute in June 1996. For slightly more than a decade now, ITBC is still marching assertively ahead in anuran research at state, national, regional as well as international levels, and blazing a trail for many novel facets of anuran research to play a part in paving the way towards global knowledge expansion. As articulated by Ali bin Abu-Talib, the fourth Caliph of Islam, ‘There is no wealth like knowledge; no poverty like ignorance’.
One of the governing factors enabling ITBC to grow from strength to strength in anuran research for the past decade has been its pool of anuran researchers. Even though without its own anuran researcher before 2003, ITBC under the leadership of Professor Datin Dr. Maryati Mohamed, succumbed to no such situational setback and decided to involve Associate Professor Dr. Abdul Hamid Ahmad, (then) a Lecturer from the School of Science and Technology (SST), Universiti Malaysia Sabah, in a couple of the initial researches. The undertakings were also participated by Ahmad Sudin, Science Officer of ITBC, and Lucy Kimsui, previously a Laboratory Assistant of ITBC, both with strong predilection for anuran research.
In 2000, ITBC received its second postgraduate student working on anurans: Kueh Boon Hee. Kueh was a recipient of the Danish Cooperation for Environment and Development (DANCED) Full Scholarship for his work on the biogeography and distribution mapping (using WORLDMAP Programme) of anurans in Borneo for conservation area prioritization.
The research that was successfully concluded in 2002, pinpointed 22 conservation priority areas in Borneo for complete representation of anuran species richness and narrow endemism, and four suggested new protected areas (following GAP Analyses): Tubau and Sungai Mengiong in Sarawak as well as Sanggau and Kubu in West Kalimantan. The data are much useful for the management of protected areas, and moulding of informed decisions by policy makers pertaining to landuse in Borneo that galvanizes balance between materialistic development and environmental conservation.
The two-year research also included studies that produced several primary anuran inventories for a few localities in Sabah. The anuran inventories are important as baseline data on anuran diversity in order to propel future anuran researches. Inventory-based studies at the limestone area of Tabin Wildlife Reserve (TWR) in October 2000 (which recorded a new locality record for TWR: Metaphrynella sundana), eight populated areas in West Coast and Kudat Divisions between December 2000 and April 2001, southern edge of Maliau Basin Conservation Area in May 2001, and Trus Madi in November 2001 (that contributed voucher specimens for three species to ITBC) set up primary anuran inventory for the respective locality. The localities have been intentionally chosen to epitomize both the protected and non-protected areas in response to the necessity for geographically comprehensive inventory-based studies for an extremely anuran species rich region like Sabah (and even Borneo).
The pool of anuran researchers began growing in 2003 when Kueh was appointed as a Lecturer/Researcher of ITBC, the first to specialize on anurans in the institute. Subsequently, Kueh was joined by Dr. Abdul Hamid and Anna Wong Yun Moi in 2006 (both were previously affiliated to SST). As crucial to the steady advancement of anuran research in ITBC as the researchers are the postgraduate students. Maximus Livon Lo Ka Fu commenced his postgraduate research in 2006 on the prevalence of chytrid fungus on anuran species in Crocker Range, Sabah under the supervision of Kueh, Associate Professor Dr. Markus Atong (School of Sustainable Agriculture, Universiti Malaysia Sabah) and Jodi Rowley (School of Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Australia). Another postgraduate student is Jane Francesca G. Volin who is working on the diversity and distribution of anuran species along Crocker Range, Sabah since the second half of 2006 under the supervision of Kueh.
Collaboration with other researchers in the nation and other countries is utmost vital in upholding the advancement of anuran research in ITBC too. Active research collaborations establish extended pool of anuran researchers for ITBC. Professor Dr. Indraneil Das (Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak) and Professor Dr. Masafumi Matsui (Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Japan) are the two earliest research collaborators with ITBC. Professor Das and Professor Matsui are prominent researchers on the anuran species of Borneo, Malaysia and even Asian region. They conduct extensive research on anuran taxonomy, biogeography, ecology, natural history and conservation biology, and possess impressive list of publications under their names. Collaboration with them has helped ITBC in the verification and augmentation of anuran specimens in BORNEENSIS, reference collection centre of ITBC, up to the current status of approximately 1,900 specimens representing about 90 species (out of the 104 species found in Sabah and 150 species found throughout Borneo).
The specimens include those of the species endemic to Borneo and Sabah such as Kalophrynus baluensis, Philautus aurantium and Philautus bunitus. Succeeding international research collaborations have been built with researchers like Dr. Kanto Nishikawa and Tomohiko Shimada from the Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Japan, Lisa Schloegel, Dr. Peter Daszak and Dr. Alex Hyatt from the Consortium for Conservation Medicine, USA, Associate Professor Dr. Jean Marc Hero from the School of Environmental and Applied Sciences, Griffith University, Australia, and the latest, Professor Dr. Alexander Haas from the Biozentrum Grindel und Zoologisches Museum, Germany.
However, research collaboration with local researchers and institutions is never neglected by ITBC. Incessant research collaborations have been evident between ITBC and local institutions like Sabah Parks (with Maklarin Lakim, Paul I. Yambun and Frederick Francis), Sabah Wildlife Department and Sabah Museum (with Lo Sui Siong @ Albert) since 1996.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said ‘Science does not know its debt to imagination’ and indeed, imagination is the root of each of the finest creation and greatest innovation known to mankind. ITBC has never shied away from exploring novel spectra of anuran research. Such distinctive trait of ITBC is conspicuous when, in 2003, Kueh embarked on a research to prospect (the potential) and eventually, introduce anurans as a new nature tourism product for Sabah, in particular and Malaysia, in general.
The nature tourism product is dubbed as ‘Anurans Tourism’. Potential prospecting of anurans for ‘Anurans Tourism’ is firmly founded on seven criteria, namely endemism, rarity, reliability of sightings, morphological attractiveness, behavioral enticement, safety and linkage to local cultures.
Preliminary outcomes indicated that anurans fulfil the criteria, and showed 67.8% of affirmation by a cohort of international tourists from Asia, Australasia, Europe and North America interviewed for ‘Anurans Tourism’.
‘Anurans Tourism’ has also been introduced to state tourism agencies, tour operators and local mass media via conferences, seminars and promotional excursions. The concept of ‘Anurans Tourism’ was even presented to The Honourable Mr. Shigeru Sumitani, Administrative Vice Minister of the Environment of Japan and his think-tank when Kueh went on a training in ‘Conservation and Management of Terrestrial Natural Environment’ in Japan in September 2005.
At present, Kueh proffers consultation through special lectures on anurans and ‘Anurans Tourism’ to a renowned pioneer tourism training institute in Sabah: Borneo Tourism Institute (BTI). Inevitably, gone were the days when environmental conservation was the sole responsibility of conservation biologists professing the grave need to conserve the nature from laboratories. Under the contemporary context, environmental conservation means sustainable utilization of natural resources which complies with the unavoidable materialistic development for the social well-being of local communities that at the same time, boosts more collective efforts for perpetual environmental conservation. One of the strategies underlining sustainable utilization of natural resources is through nature tourism.
In order to corroborate its endeavour to popularize biodiversity for environmental conservation, ITBC has also handpicked anurans as a model organism group to educate the general public on nature and conservation.
Hence, in November 2002, Professor Datin Maryati mooted the idea of setting up the ‘ITBC Frog Museum’, the first of its kind probably in Asia, as a centre for Education for Sustainable Development (EfSD), especially for the younger generations of Sabah. ‘ITBC Frog Museum’ that is being run by Kueh and Ahmad since its launching in December 2003, constantly receives visits from schools and colleges in Sabah, and tourists as well.
The newest feather in ITBC’s cap relating to anuran research is the appointment of Professor Datin Maryati, on behalf of ITBC, as the Chairperson of the Technical Sub-Committee of Faunal Biodiversity (Amphibia) in November 2005. The appointment directly recognized ITBC as the leading institution to consolidate and coordinate data, specimens, publications and lists of researchers on amphibians (merely anurans and caecilians as Malaysia does not house salamanders and newts), as well as the reference institution for researchers, local and international, interested to conduct amphibian researches in Malaysia.
The technical sub-committee is a part of the Technical Committee of Faunal Biodiversity headed by the Director General of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia, which is under the National Biodiversity Inventory Committee headed by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Malaysia. The abovementioned committees are superintended by the National Biodiversity-Biotechnology Council chaired by The Right Honourable Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Prime Minister of Malaysia.
A decade is a period neither long nor short. It is considered long when noting that majority of the achievements by ITBC in anuran research from the perspective of human resource growth, research collaboration expansion, research progression, innovations, popularization of biodiversity using anurans as the model organism group to culturalize environmental conservation and national recognition in 10 years time were actually accomplished in the later half of the decade.
Conversely, it is regarded as a short period when realizing that there are still much to be done and attained in fulfilling the aspiration to be known regionally and internationally as the best in anuran research for ITBC, in particular and Universiti Malaysia Sabah, in general. From whichever point of view, nothing can prevent anuran research from hopping into a bright future spanning over many more colourful decades to come!

For more information, please contact:
Dayangku Rozlina
Corporate Relations Division
Universiti Malaysia Sabah
Locked Bag 2073
88999 Kota Kinabalu
Malaysia
Telephone: +6088320000
Facsimile: +6088320223
Email: adreen02@yahoo.com
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Robustness of E. coli metabolic network revealed
Tsuruoka, Yamagata, (Japan)March 25, 2007 : Scientists at the Institute for Advanced Biosciences of Keio University located in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata prefecture report in an advanced on-line publication released today in Science magazine (Science Express) a first-of-a-kind quantitative picture of molecular components of the common intestinal bacterium E. coli. Using multiple state-of-the-art analytical technologies, the group studied this unicellular organism at an unprecedented depth to reveal the remarkable overall robustness of its metabolic network to gene deletion and changes in growth conditions.
All cells need to convert energy sources such as simple sugars into ATP, an energy storing and exchange molecule, and other cellular building blocks that are essential for cellular growth and survival. This cellular process, called "energy metabolism" is one of the most fundamental and well-conserved in living cells and its machinery involves about 100 different genes and their encoded proteins.
Making use of a set of nearly 4000 single gene mutants in E. coli the same group previously developed (Keio collection), the researchers selected specific genes whose activity is known to be associated with the main reactions of central energy metabolism. In addition, the non-mutated or wild type cells were also grown at different rates to observe the response to such changes. An exhaustive global survey of intracellular components was then performed using the latest analytical technologies such as DNA microarrays, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and capillary electrophoresis mass spectrometry (CE-MS) to quantify messenger RNA, proteins, and metabolites. The researchers also performed a more detailed and precise analysis of 85 different intracellular RNAs, 57 enzyme proteins, and about 130 metabolites representing most components of energy metabolism and simultaneously also derived the metabolic fluxes through most reactions by combining quantitative measurements with a computational model of energy metabolism.
Deletion of energy metabolism genes, in most cases, did not result in large compensatory changes in the level of RNA, proteins, or metabolites. On the other hand, while significant changes in RNA and protein levels were seen upon changes in growth rate, the overall metabolite levels remained stable. The results thus demonstrate with a level of details until now never achieved, that E. coli can use different and complementary strategies to maintain a stable metabolic state, according to the circumstances, and also compensate for mutations through functional redundancy in its metabolic network.
The CE-MS methods developed at IAB, which allow to analyze hundreds of intracellular metabolites simultaneously together with an original approach to targeted protein quantification using liquid-chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) that bypasses the common but inconvenient use of isotopic labels, were instrumental in providing the level of quantitative detail necessary.
Masaru Tomita, head of the project and institute remarks “I am proud of this extraordinary and unparalleled large-scale study which was in large part made possible by combining original technologies developed at IAB in Tsuruoka with the help of the local government. I also think that the rich and peaceful natural environment where our institute is located contributed to catalyze this large team effort. We now hope to apply the fruits of this study toward medical and environmental problems and also imagine applications in the food industry.”
Understanding a simple bacterium in a more systematic way is expected to have repercussions in many other organisms too due to the similarities in the core components of metabolic pathways from bacteria to animals and humans. For example eventual applications in the field of cancer biology for developing novel anti-cancer drugs targeting cellular metabolism, and improvements in industrial production of alternative energy sources such as bio-ethanol or environmentally-friendly bio-plastics could be imagined. In addition, computational and systems biologists around the world, attempting to understand the cell in its entirety, have long wanted to put their hands on the type of quantitative data this study provides. It is thus a significant step in the emerging field of quantitative biology that is likely to find even broader applications.
IAB is a research institute closely associated with the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies at Keio University. It employs about 65 scientists and offers an innovative undergraduate bioinformatics program and graduate program in systems biology in which a total of about 130 students are enrolled. Keio University is the oldest modern comprehensive institution of higher education in Japan, with over 30 000 students distributed over several campuses in the Tokyo area in addition to the Tsuruoka Town Campus (TTCK) established in 2001 in Yamagata prefecture.
For more information contact:
Akiko Shiozawa
Public Relations Officer
Institute for Advanced Biosciences
Keio University
Tel: +81-235-29-0802
Fax: +81-235-29-0809
e-mail: akiko@ttck.keio.ac.jp
http://www.iab.keio.ac.jp/

Green tea may help to fight lung cancer

A possible mechanism for green tea’s anticancer activities is reported online this week in Laboratory Investigation. The reported effect of green tea extract on lung cancer cells supports the increasing evidence of green tea’s anticancer properties.

With an estimated 162,246 deaths in 2006, lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death in the USA. The active constituents of green tea - called polyphenols - are recognized antioxidants, but the extent of any anticancer activity remains unclear. Although animal studies offer strong evidence for the anticancer effect of green tea in several organs, including the lung, human population-based studies have shown green tea to increase, decrease, and have no effect on the risk of lung cancer.

Qing-Yi Lu and colleagues now report that, in lung cancer cells, green tea extract (GTE) promotes the polymerization of the cell protein actin. This action counteracts the depolymerisation of actin that characterizes the early stage of cancer development. Researchers also pointed to annexin-I, the actin-binding protein that mediates the effect of GTE on actin, as a novel potential target for GTE-based cancer therapy. The authors suggest that further research and clinical trials are needed to determine how their results relate to actual green tea consumption.

Author contact:

Jian Yu Rao (University of California at Los Angeles, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 310 794 1567; Email: jrao@mednet.ucla.edu
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Fossil sheds light on middle ear evolution (pp 288-293)
The three tiny bones found in the mammalian middle ear are known to have evolved from components of the reptilian lower jaw. But the transition can now be seen in fossil form.

Zhe-Xi Luo and colleagues describe the fossilized remains of a primitive mammal that probably lived around 125 million years ago. The animal’s middle-ear bones remain connected to the lower jaw by Meckel’s cartilage, and the transition to the mammalian state is associated with a corresponding remodelling of the lower back region.

But the situation is not as clear-cut as it seems. The evolutionary relationships of the fossil suggest that either the modern-style middle ear evolved independently twice, or evolved and then was lost in at least one ancient lineage.

CONTACT
Zhe-Xi Luo (Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA, USA)
Tel: +1 412 622 6578; E-mail: luoz@carnegiemnh.org

Leigh Kish (Media Contact, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA, USA)

Tel: +1 412 578 2571; E-mail: kishl@carnegiemuseums.org

Planetary science: The aftermath of a catastrophic collision
Scientists have discovered a new family of bodies in the Kuiper belt that they think are the remnants of a catastrophic collision with the belt's third largest object, 2003 EL61. The discovery may have implications for understanding the dynamics of the outer Solar System and the surfaces of Kuiper belt objects.

Michael E. Brown and colleagues found bodies with similar surface properties and orbital dynamics to the dwarf-planet-sized object 2003 EL61. From this, they inferred that something hit this large Kuiper belt object and created a family of objects, along with its satellite system.

There are many families of asteroids in the main asteroid belt that are the remnants of a catastrophic impact. But in the region beyond Neptune, no collisionally created families have hitherto been found. The newly spotted objects are probably fragments of the ejected ice mantle of 2003 EL61.

CONTACT
Michael E. Brown (California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 626 395 8423; E-mail: mbrown@caltech.edu

Alessandro Morbidelli (Laboratoire Cassiopee, Nice, France) N&V author
Tel: +33 4 92 00 31 26; E-mail: morby@obs-nice.fr

Surprise addition to flowering plant family tree
Biologists have added a new addition to the base of the flowering plant family tree. The classification, reported in this week’s Nature, should help those trying to fathom the evolutionary history of angiosperms.

Hydatellaceae are a small, obscure family of aquatic herb usually reckoned to be flowering plants akin to grasses. But a new study of their anatomy and molecular biology by Sean W. Graham and co-workers now places them, surprisingly, next to the water lilies as among the most primitive flowering plants.

Although the relationship of flowering plants to other seed plants remains controversial, great progress has been made in identifying some of the most primitive members of the angiosperm family tree. These include water lilies, magnolias and the New Caledonian shrub Amborella trichopoda. The addition of Hydatellaceae at the same level should help biologists as they puzzle over the evolution of the distinctive reproductive structures whose appearance led to the dominance of flowering plants seen in modern ecosystems.

This week’s Nature also includes a package of features about Carl Linnaeus’ legacy as it applies to modern debates concerning conservation and taxonomy. Celebrating the 300th anniversary of Linnaeus’ birthday, the package also includes two commentaries on the future of Linnaean science - not to mention a portrait of his pet racoon.

CONTACTSean W. Graham (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada)
Tel: +1 604 822 4816; E-mail: swgraham@interchange.ubc.ca

James A. Doyle (University of California Davis, CA, USA) Co-author
Tel: +1 530 752 7591; E-mail: jadoyle@ucdavis.edu

Else Marie Friis (The Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden) N&V author

Tel: +46 8 5195 4155; E-mail: elsemarie.friis@nrm.se

Developmental biology: Fruit flies shed light on blood cell development
Researchers have shown that a signalling centre in the fruitfly lymph gland controls the maintenance of blood cell precursors. The findings suggest that Drosophila could prove a useful model for studying blood development and immunity.

Blood precursor cells yield all of the different cells found in the blood system. In fruitflies, at least, this system is controlled by signals generated in part of the lymph gland called the posterior signalling centre (PSC), two Nature papers report. Signalling occurs via the JAK/STAT and Notch pathways, already well known for their roles in cell proliferation and differentiation, teams lead by Utpal Banerjee and Michele Crozatier report. And the PSC starts to form early in embryonic development.

Drosophila is relatively easy to modify genetically and so widely used in research. Modification of the genes highlighted in these papers is likely to shed light on the mechanics of blood development. And Drosophila studies also yield the prospect of direct in vivo imaging of blood cell precursors interacting with their stem cell niche.

CONTACTUtpal Banerjee (University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA) Author paper [1]
Tel: +1 310 206 5439; E-mail: banerjee@mbi.ucla.edu

Michele Crozatier (CNRS-Centre de Biologie du Developpement, Toulouse, France) Author paper [2]
Tel: +33 5 61 55 82 90; E-mail: crozat@cict.fr

Researchers Create World's First Ideal Anti-Reflection Coating
NEW YORK- A team of researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has created the world's first material that reflects virtually no light. Reporting in the March issue of Nature Photonics, they describe an optical coating made from the material that enables vastly improved control over the basic properties of light. The research could open the door to much brighter LEDs, more efficient solar cells, and a new class of "smart" light sources that adjust to specific environments, among many other potential applications.
Most surfaces reflect some light -- from a puddle of water all the way to a mirror. The new material has almost the same refractive index as air, making it an ideal building block for anti-reflection coatings. It sets a world record by decreasing the reflectivity compared to conventional anti-reflection coatings by an order of magnitude.
A fundamental property called the refractive index governs the amount of light a material reflects, as well as other optical properties such as diffraction, refraction, and the speed of light inside the material. "The refractive index is the most fundamental quantity in optics and photonics. It goes all the way back to Isaac Newton, who called it the 'optical density,'" said E. Fred Schubert, the Wellfleet Senior Constellation Professor of the Future Chips Constellation at Rensselaer and senior author of the paper.


Schubert and his coworkers have created a material with a refractive index of 1.05, which is extremely close to the refractive index of air and the lowest ever reported. Window glass, for comparison, has a refractive index of about 1.45.


Incredible New Things in Optics and Photonics


Scientists have attempted for years to create materials that can eliminate unwanted reflections, which can degrade the performance of various optical components and devices. "We started thinking, there is no viable material available in the refractive index range 1.0-1.4," Schubert said. "If we had such a material, we could do incredible new things in optics and photonics."
So the team created one. Using a technique called oblique angle deposition, the researchers deposited silica nanorods at an angle of precisely 45 degrees on top of a thin film of aluminum nitride, which is a semiconducting material used in advanced light-emitting diodes (LEDs). From the side, the films look much like the cross section of a piece of lawn turf with the blades slightly flattened.
The technique allows the researchers to strongly reduce or even eliminate reflection at all wavelengths and incoming angles of light, Schubert said. Conventional anti-reflection coatings, although widely used, work only at a single wavelength and when the light source is positioned directly perpendicular to the material.
A Broad Spectrum of Applications
The new optical coating could find use in just about any application where light travels into or out of a material, such as:
-- More efficient solar cells. The new coating could increase the amount
of light reaching the active region of a solar cell by several
percent, which could have a major impact on its performance.
"Conventional coatings are not appropriate for a broad spectral source
like the sun," Schubert said. "The sun emits light in the ultraviolet,
infrared, and visible spectral range. To use all the energy provided
by the sun, we don't want any energy reflected by the solar cell
surface."
-- Brighter LEDs. LEDs are increasingly being used in traffic signals,
automotive lighting, and exit signs, because they draw far less
electricity and last much longer than conventional fluorescent and
incandescent bulbs. But current LEDs are not yet bright enough to
replace the standard light bulb. Eliminating reflection could improve
the luminance of LEDs, which could accelerate the replacement of
conventional light sources by solid-state sources.
-- "Smart" lighting. Not only could improved LEDs provide significant
energy savings, they also offer the potential for totally new
functionalities. Schubert's new technique allows for vastly improved
control of the basic properties of light, which could allow "smart"
light sources to adjust to specific environments. Smart light sources
offer the potential to alter human circadian rhythms to match changing
work schedules, or to allow an automobile to imperceptibly communicate
with the car behind it, according to Schubert.
-- Optical interconnects. For many computing applications, it would be
ideal to communicate using photons, as opposed to the electrons that
are found in electrical circuits. This is the basis of the burgeoning
field of photonics. The new materials could help achieve greater
control over light, helping to sustain the burgeoning photonics
revolution, Schubert said.
-- High-reflectance mirrors. The idea of anti-reflection coatings also
could be turned on its head, according to Schubert. The ability to
precisely control a material's refractive index could be used to make
extremely high-reflectance mirrors, which are used in many optical
components including telescopes, optoelectronic devices, and sensors.
-- Black body radiation. The development could also advance fundamental
science. A material that reflects no light is known as an ideal "black
body." No such material has been available to scientists, until now.
Researchers could use an ideal black body to shed light on quantum
mechanics, the much-touted theory from physics that explains the
inherent "weirdness" of the atomic realm.
Schubert and his coworkers have only made several samples of the new material to prove it can be done, but the oblique angle evaporation technique is already widely used in industry, and the design can be applied to any type of substrate -- not just an expensive semiconductor such as aluminum nitride.
Schubert is featured in an interview about the research in the same issue of Nature Photonics.
Several other Rensselaer researchers also were involved with the project: Professors Shawn-Yu Lin and Jong Kyu Kim; and graduate students J.-Q. Xi, Martin F. Schubert, and Minfeng Chen.
The research is funded primarily by the National Science Foundation, with additional support from the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Army Research Office, the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR), Sandia National Laboratories, and the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology in Korea. The substrates were provided by Crystal IS, a manufacturer of single-crystal aluminum nitride substrates for the production of high-power, high-temperature, and optoelectronic devices such as blue and ultraviolet lasers.
Under Schubert's leadership, the Future Chips Constellation focuses on innovations in materials and devices, in solid state and smart lighting, and applications such as sensing, communications, and biotechnology. A new concept in academia, Rensselaer constellations are led by outstanding faculty in fields of strategic importance. Each constellation is focused on a specific research area and comprises a multidisciplinary mix of senior and junior faculty and postdoctoral and graduate students.

A method to regrow teeth
Scientists have for the first time successfully replaced natural teeth in mice with teeth that were created in a Petri dish from single cells. Takashi Tsuji and colleagues started with the two cell types that develop into a tooth –mesenchymal and epithelial cells. First they grew each cell type separately to get larger quantities of cells and then injected them into a drop of collagen – a substance which ‘glues’ cells together in an organism. The cells developed into a budding tooth with high efficiency, and when transplanted into the cavity of an extracted tooth in a mouse developed normally and showed the same composition and structure as natural teeth.The authors provide further evidence that this method can be applied to any organ that develops from these cell types by regrowing a follicle that eventually forms a whisker in a mouse.
Author contact:Takashi Tsuji (Tokyo University of Science, Chiba, Japan)Tel: +81 4 7122 9711; E-mail: t-tsuji@nifty.com

Behaviour of Western Scrub-Jays
Western scrub-jays can save for the future. These prudent members of the corvid family can spontaneously plan for tomorrow without reference to their current motivational state.Nicola Clayton and colleagues studied the behaviour of western scrub-jays under different feeding conditions. The birds first experienced ‘training’ during which they were placed in two different compartments on alternate mornings for six days. In one compartment they were always given breakfast and in the other they were not. After training the birds were unexpectedly given food in the evening. The authors report that the birds stored more of this evening food when in the compartment in which they had not been given breakfast - as they would expect to be hungry again the next morning - relative to the one in which they had.In a similar experiment, the birds also differentially stored a particular food in the compartment in which that type of food would not be available the next morning, demonstrating future planning and ensuring a choice of food the following breakfast. Such forward planning challenges the belief, still held by many, that making provision for the future is a uniquely human skill.
CONTACT-Nicola Clayton (University of Cambridge, UK)Tel: +44 1223 333 559; E-mail: nsc22@cam.ac.uk Sara J. Shettleworth (University of Toronto, Canada) N&V authorTel: +1 416 978 5201; E-mail: shettle@psych.utoronto.ca

Chemistry: Halogen soup
Chemists have developed a simple method for making testosterone-like molecules containing halogen atoms. Halogenated natural products have been isolated from marine organisms and are often biologically active, so it's hoped the methodology will boost the development of novel therapeutics.Kazuaki Ishihara and his colleagues mixed a simple halogen-containing 'donor’, a compound that contained phosphorus, and a small-molecule scaffold and thus isolated complex products containing halogen atoms. The reaction is selective for a specific product, giving the manufacturer a high degree of control over the three-dimensional structure of the end products.The simple manufacturing process, described in this week's issue of Nature, uses simple ingredients to form complicated molecules and may enable chemists and biochemists to understand how similar halogenated natural products are made in nature.
CONTACT-Kazuaki Ishihara (Nagoya University, Japan)Tel: +81 52 789 3331; E-mail: ishihara@cc.nagoya-u.ac.jp Phil S. Baran (Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA) N&V authorTel: +1 858 784 7373; E-mail: pbaran@scripps.edu

Glaciology: Subglacial lakes discovered in East Antarctica
Scientists identify large, subglacial lakes in East Antarctica, which are situated at the start of fast-flowing ice streams. The lakes cover an area similar to that of Lake Vostok - the largest of more than 140 lakes already discovered - and could be contributing significantly to the dynamics of the overlying ice sheet.Ice streams are large ‘rivers’ of fast-flowing ice within continental ice sheets that transport inland ice towards the sea. Previous studies have revealed several large bodies of water trapped under the East Antarctic ice sheet but, until now, all the lakes discovered in this region have been self-contained and isolated from the onset of rapid ice flow.Michael Studinger and colleagues used satellite radar imagery and ice-surface elevations to reveal four, flat, featureless regions of ice surface surrounded by troughs and ridges - typical ice surface morphology of subglacial lakes. The lakes are located right at the onset of the Recovery Glacier ice stream in East Antarctica and are apparently linked to rapid ice flow across a 280-km-wide region, adding 35 thousand million tons of ice per year into the sea. The authors suggest that these lakes should be taken into account when predicting the fate of ice sheets with the changing climate of the world.
CONTACT-Michael Studinger (Columbia University, Palisades, NY, USA)Tel: +1 845 365 8598; E-mail: mstuding@ldeo.columbia.edu
The following co-author may also be available:Robin E. Bell (Columbia University, Palisades, NY, USA)E-mail: robinb@ldeo.columbia.edu Jack Kohler (Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromso, Norway) N&V authorTel: +47 77 75 06 55; E-mail: jack.kohler@npolar.no

Honey, I Shrunk Oble!
The National Institute of Physics, University of the Philippines (UP) has miniaturized the Oblation (UP’s trademark) as part of its project on micro-fabrication of functional micro-devices using non-linear multi-photon absorption. The research project aims to use micro-structures as components in an integrated miniaturized laboratory.
The University of the Philippines’ National Institute of Physics (NIP) through its Instrumentation Physics Laboratory has figured out how to miniaturize the Oblation (University of the Philippines’ trademark) using femtosecond-pulse near-infrared laser. The light-sculptured three-dimensional microscopic Oblation measures around 20 micrometers in length and 10 micrometers in width. The miniaturization of the Oblation is part of Wavefront Engineering Team’s (WET) research project on micro-fabrication of functional micro-devices using non-linear multi-photon absorption. The research intends to fabricate structures in the micrometer scale with the final aim of using the micro-structures as components in an integrated miniaturized laboratory or a micro-machine functioning under a microscope.The WET is headed by Dr. Vincent Ricardo Daria, Associate Professor at NIP, and is composed of researchers and students, namely: Dr. Darwin Palima (Adjunct Professor), Godofredo Bautista (Ph.D Physics student), Anthony Montecillo (MS Material Science and Engineering student), Jacqueline Romero (MS Physics student), Andrew Banas (BS Physics student), Atchong Hilario (BS Applied Physics student) and Reniel Cabral (BS Applied Physics student). Joaquin Jose Escay who graduated BS Applied Physics in March 2006 also did significant programming work for the project.The micro-oblation is a solid plastic formed by light, which is used to chisel the sculpture. According to Dr. Daria, the miniaturization of the Oblation is a way to test the resolution of their micro-fabrication system. When asked why they chose to miniaturize UP’s trademark, Daria said “pag-paliit ng oble nagpapatunay na gawa natin ito dito sa UP” (fabrication of the micro-oblation demonstrates that this micro-structure was built here in UP.) WET’s goal is to use light-sculptured devices as components in a miniaturized micro-laboratory. After the fabrication process, the micro-components can also be actuated by light. Light is a form of energy and therefore has momentum. When the momentum of light is transferred to the light-sculptured micro-components, these components will move and become a part of a micro-machine. Hence, using these miniaturized components, WET will make micro-machines fabricated and controlled by light. The miniaturization and fabrication of components is just an intermediate step in building a scientific breakthrough. The research is expected to produce a scientific tool to be used by biologists and chemists. This tool would help the scientists have a more controlled environment in conducting experiments. According to Dr. Daria, most of the experiments are done in bulk or in macro-scale and so data gathering and analysis is usually achieved via statistical methods. In doing the experiment using a smaller (microscopic) scale, the interactions and chemical reactions would be more localized and can aid in major scientific breakthroughs.WET is now in the stage of testing and fabricating components. In the long run, the researchers want to have these components compiled in their system and eventually create micro-machines. The research project is funded by the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Advanced Science and Technology, Research and Development (DOST-PCASTARD). Dr. Daria also received a grant amounting to P 2.3M from DOST-Institutional Development Program for setting up a system for programmable phase using a spatial light modulator – an essential component of the project that can also be used for other research ventures. UP provided the femtosecond-pulse Titanium: Sapphire laser, which is the near-infrared light source for micro-fabrication.
Associated links
http://www.ovcrd.upd.edu.ph

Rust diseases – a threat to global food security
Next week, some of Australia’s and the world’s foremost experts in the field of rust diseases will be in Sydney to attend a symposium on the topic – “Rust Diseases: Threats to Global Food Security in the Context of Climate Change.”
Rust diseases – a threat to global food securityChronic food shortages caused by cereal rusts have happened in the past – and today international agricultural agencies are on the alert again because of a new threat in Eastern Africa, a rust known as Ug99.A virulent disease of wheat, Ug99 has the potential to wipe out a quarter of the world’s wheat crop.Next week, some of Australia’s and the world’s foremost experts in the field of rust diseases will be in Sydney to attend a symposium on the topic – “Rust Diseases: Threats to Global Food Security in the Context of Climate Change.”The symposium has been organised by the NSW Centre for Plant and Animal Biosecurity, an alliance between the NSW Department of Primary Industries and the University of Sydney.High on the agenda is the threat to global food security from Ug99, which last month was reported to have jumped from eastern Africa and is now infecting wheat in Yemen in the Arabian Peninsula.Countries in the predicted pathway of Ug99 grow more than 65 million hectares of wheat a year.NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Principal Research Scientist, Dr Colin Wellings said: “There is international concern that this new stem rust could destroy vast quantities of wheat and threaten food security at a time that world wheat stocks are at a historic low.“The potential for the disease to move into Central Asia is enormous and alarming.”Speakers at the symposium include the facilitator of the Global Rust Initiative (GRI), Dr Richard Ward, who is based at the international plant breeding centre CIMMYT in Mexico.GRI was set up in 2005 in response to recurring epidemics of Ug99 in Kenya and Ethiopia. (In the early 1950s, a major stem rust epidemic in North America destroyed up to 40 percent of that continent’s spring wheat crop.)Dr Ward says that “the potential for a serious international epidemic of stem rust based on Ug99 has galvanized considerable global concern to secure wheat yield protection through breeding for rust resistance.”In NSW, wheat growers are on alert because of the discovery of a new stripe rust which disarms a resistance gene that has been bred into some popular varieties of wheat.Dr Wellings believes that growers have two to three years before the new stripe rust becomes problematic for wheat varieties carrying the Yr17 resistance gene.“If this proves to be the case, then there should be time for farmers to change the varieties they are planting.”Dr Wellings said that for nearly a century, DPI and University of Sydney scientists have been working to find new genes which confer resistance and breed them into Australian cereal varieties.He said that in 1973 a stem rust outbreak caused “historic and massive losses” in crops in northern NSW and Queensland. This galvanised government and industry to take a national approach to work towards being prepared for new incursions.
The Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for National Plant Biosecurity is a major sponsor of the symposium.Speakers at the symposium include:Mr Terry Enright, Chairman, Grains Research and Development CorporationProf John Lovett, Chairman, CRC for National Plant BiosecurityDr Sanjaya Rajaram, ICARDA-CIMMYT, SyriaDr Les Szabo, US Department of Agriculture Dr Rick Ward, Global Rust InitiativeProfessor Robert Park and Dr Harbans Bariana, University of SydneyThe symposium is being held on 21 and 22 February at the Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute at Menangle, in Sydney’s south-west. The program is at: http://www.agric.usyd.edu.au/news/index.shtml

Fruit flies identified from DNA ‘signature’
A discovery that enables the most economically important fruit fly species to be identified from their DNA ‘signature’ could avert future devastating fruit fly outbreaks, according to scientists from the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI).
A discovery that enables the most economically important fruit fly species to be identified from their DNA ‘signature’ could avert future devastating fruit fly outbreaks, according to scientists from the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI). Molecular biologists and entomologists from DPI have developed the means to identify selected species of fruit fly from segments of their DNA. This enables fruit fly to be developed from larvae or incomplete adultsMolecular biologist Dr Deb Hailstones said the discovery greatly increased the likelihood of an outbreak of fruit fly being contained early. “Previously, fruit fly species could only be identified accurately visually from mature adults. This meant there could be a delay of weeks before an accurate assessment can be made of a species, and whether it is an economic threat.The new method of identification relies on use of a molecular key development by DPI entomologist, Peter Gillespie. Dr Hailstones said the key sets out a means for amplifying and comparing target sections of DNA that the different species of fruit fly have in common.“It is not yet able to distinguish between the hundreds of species of fruit flies known to damage fruits and vegetables. However we can identify patterns of DNA that are typical of the 30 species of greatest significance for Australian horticulture.”The technique enables this group of economically important species to be identified from larvae or from incomplete adults.Older methods require fruit flies to be identified morphologically, from their physical characteristics, which means that specimens of adult flies have to be supplied – and they have to be complete. Dr Hailstones said the molecular key will be useful for border surveillance and quarantine and for the problem specimens where eggs or early maggots are found in produce.“Instead of fruit rotting at borders or in quarantine while scientists wait until visual tests can be done, the insects can be identified from their DNA almost immediately”, she said.The key has been proposed as an Australian standard and will be updated as soon as new discoveries are made.Fruit flies are amongst the world’s most destructive horticultural pests and a major outbreak can cost many millions of dollars. In 1995 in north Queensland, an outbreak of papaya fruit fly cost industry an estimated $100 million. The research was undertaken by staff from the Agricultural Scientific Collections Unit in Orange and the Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute.
Contact: Dr Deborah Hailstones on 4640 6442

Scientists identify wheat germplasm suitable for acid soils
NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) scientists have identified a major new source of wheat germplasm tolerant of aluminium toxicity, paving the way for the breeding of new bread wheat varieties able to grow in acid soils.
31 January 2007Scientists from DPI in Wagga Wagga and Tamworth screened hundreds of ancient landrace wheats collected from around the world as part of a research effort to find aluminium (Al) tolerant bread wheats. Landraces are the ancestors of modern wheat cultivars. Most sources of Al tolerance in Australian wheat can be traced back to Brazil or China, and according to DPI molecular biologist Dr Harsh Raman, the new genetic material found appears to be different from that used in current breeding programs.An initial laboratory study of 250 landraces found 35 were Al tolerant. After a root tip stain was applied, root regrowth was measured and 33 of these were found to increase their root length after exposure to Al.The tolerant landraces come from eight countries - Bulgaria, Croatia, India, Italy, Nepal, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey – and Dr Raman said that subsequent molecular analysis indicated that they are from diverse genetic backgrounds.“Conventional breeding has reduced the available gene pool of wheat, possibly reducing the availability of useful or novel genes adapted to stress such as that induced by aluminium.”Landraces have already proved a valuable source of important genes, such as those conferring reduced height used extensively in Australian wheat breeding programs.Dr Raman said the new landraces could be used to expand the genetic base currently available and may also hold other important genes.“Given that there is mostly more than one stress factor placed on a plant at any one time, the possibility exists that landraces that are adapted to one stress may carry useful adaptations to other stresses such as salinity, nutrient deficiencies and foliar and root diseases.”Acid soils are one of Australian farming’s worst environmental problems.About 70 percent of Australian soils are associated with extremes in pH. Low pH releases aluminium at levels which are toxic to many crop species, constraining root growth and uptake of water and nutrients. In NSW, acid soils are estimated to cause losses of up to $400 million dollars each year. The landrace germplasm examined for this research came from the Australian Winter Cereals Collection, located at Tamworth. Initial findings were reported in the international journal Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution. The research was funded under the NSW Government’s Biofirst strategy. Media inquiries: Joanne Finlay on 6391 3171 or 0428 491 813.

Immunology: HIV reveals vulnerable side
Researchers have snuck a detailed peek at the crystal structure of a known broadly neutralizing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) antibody as it binds to a specific part of HIV-1. The find, reported in this week’s Nature, is important because the binding site represents a chink in HIV’s armour that could help guide future vaccine development.HIV keeps one step ahead of the human immune system by mutating frequently and changing its shape. But certain parts of the virus must remain relatively unchanged so that it can continue to bind to and enter human cells. gp120, a glycoprotein that juts out from the surface of the virus and binds to CD4 receptor on host cells, is one such region, making it a target for vaccine development.Peter D. Kwong and colleagues made variants of stable gp120 that could be recognized by antibodies. They then looked in detail at the binding of one antibody, called b12, to the glycoprotein and found that the antibody approaches in an orientation very similar to that of CD4. Although other antibodies bind at this sight, b12 is the only one that binds and neutralizes a relatively broad range of HIV-1 isolates, so the results may help explain why.CONTACTPeter D. Kwong (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA)Tel: +1 301 594 8685; E-mail: pdkwong@nih.gov

Sleep deprivation impairs subsequent learning
Sleep deprivation may impair memory for subsequent experiences by altering the function of the hippocampus, reports a paper in the March issue of Nature Neuroscience. Previous research has shown that sleep occurring after an experience can be critical to learning and memory but this new study shows why sleep before an experience is also critical, and that memory systems do not function normally without it.Matthew Walker and colleagues deprived people of a night’s sleep and then asked them to observe and remember a large set of picture slides for a subsequent recognition test. Brain activity was monitored with fMRI – functional magnetic resonance imaging – while subjects viewed the slides. Following a full night of sleep, the subjects were then queried about the slides on the next day. The researchers found that sleep-deprived subjects showed decreased activity in the hippocampus – a brain region important for memory – relative to control subjects who were not sleep-deprived while viewing the pictures; sleep-deprived people also had poorer subsequent recall abilities. The relationship of activation in other brain areas to activation in the hippocampus was also altered, suggesting that sleep deprivation alters memory-encoding strategies.
Author contact:
Matthew Walker (Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA)Tel: +1 617 731 6378; E-mail: mwalker@hms.harvard.edu

In utero protein regulation
A novel strategy for regulating a protein important in development is described online in Nature this week. Michael T. Longaker and colleagues report that, in mice, glycogen synthase kinase-3beta (GSK-3beta) can be artificially controlled from within the mother's uterus, in a reversible and time-controlled manner.GSK-3beta plays an integral part in a variety of biological processes, although its specific developmental roles remain unclear. In the present study the authors used an existing chemically regulated form of the GSK-3beta gene, whereby expression of the GSK-3beta protein is controlled by the presence or absence of the drug rapamycin. Using this approach combined with conventional mutant analysis they defined a specific requirement for GSK-3beta in midline development: mice that did not express the protein had cleft palate, incomplete fusion of the ribs and a split sternum.In addition, the authors were able to rescue some of the developmental defects using maternal rapamycin treatment to restore internal GSK-3beta activity during two distinct windows of gestation. They propose that their studies provide an improved method for defining the timing and level of protein expression during development, a detailed knowledge of which is essential for rescuing developmental defects.Author contact:Michael T. Longaker (Stanford University Medical Center, CA, USA)Tel: +1 650 736 1707; E-mail: longaker@stanford.edu

Viral highways: spreading from cell to cell
A number of retroviruses, including HIV, induce cells to form long bridges along which the virus particles move from infected cells to uninfected cells, according to a paper in the March issue of Nature Cell Biology.Viral transmission has long been recognized to be more efficient between infected and target cells that are in direct contact with each other. Exactly how viruses move from one cell to another is unclear, although structures called virological synapses, which contain the virus particle and form between areas of cell–cell contact, are thought to be important in this process. In the present study Walther Mothes and colleagues describe a novel mode of cell–cell transmission for three retroviruses – murine leukaemic virus, human immunodeficiency virus and avian leucosis virus – along the outside of long, thin intercellular bridges. These bridges seem to be stabilized by an association between a viral protein expressed by the infected cell and a viral-receptor protein in the target cell. Mutants of these proteins that cannot interact destabilize the bridges and markedly reduce viral spreading from cell to cell. This mode of transmission is observed in a variety of different cells, suggesting that it may be a general mechanism of viral spreading.Whether these intercellular viral highways represent a predominant mode of viral transmission, their relative importance for different viruses, and their relationship to virological synapses are open questions. However, interference with the bridge structures described by Mothes and colleagues may provide a new avenue to limit the infectivity of a number of key viral diseases.
Author contact:
Walter Mothes (Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA)Tel: +1 203 737 2203; E-mail: walter.mothes@yale.edu

Human adult stem cells can regenerate muscle
Human adult stem cells isolated from human adult blood vessels are able to regenerate muscle in a mouse model of muscular dystrophy, according to a study published online this week in Nature Cell Biology.The lure of a cure for muscle-wasting diseases has lead researchers to explore the regeneration potential of stem cells isolated from the walls of blood vessels. In a recent Nature paper Giulio Cossu and colleagues showed that such cells isolated from young golden retrievers regenerated the muscles of dystrophic dogs when injected into their circulation. A new study by the same team demonstrates that cells with similar properties can be isolated from human juvenile and adult blood vessels.The same researchers isolated this type of stem cell from juvenile dystrophic patients and grew them in cell culture. Muscular dystrophy is linked to a mutation in dystrophin, a gene required for muscle formation, and the authors genetically modified the stem cells to make them express the corrected version of the gene. After injection into the blood vessels of dystrophic mice, these cells found their way to skeletal muscle, which they were able to partly regenerate. Importantly, the cells were shown to reconstitute the muscle’s own stem cell population. The authors suggest that the isolation of these stem cells raises hope for treating muscular dystrophy using the patient’s own cells.
Author contact:
Giulio Cossu (Stem Cell Research Institute, Rome, Italy)Tel: +39 02 2643 4954; E-mail: cossu.giulio@hsr.it

Human adult stem cells can regenerate muscle
Human adult stem cells isolated from human adult blood vessels are able to regenerate muscle in a mouse model of muscular dystrophy, according to a study published online this week in Nature Cell Biology.The lure of a cure for muscle-wasting diseases has lead researchers to explore the regeneration potential of stem cells isolated from the walls of blood vessels. In a recent Nature paper Giulio Cossu and colleagues showed that such cells isolated from young golden retrievers regenerated the muscles of dystrophic dogs when injected into their circulation. A new study by the same team demonstrates that cells with similar properties can be isolated from human juvenile and adult blood vessels.The same researchers isolated this type of stem cell from juvenile dystrophic patients and grew them in cell culture. Muscular dystrophy is linked to a mutation in dystrophin, a gene required for muscle formation, and the authors genetically modified the stem cells to make them express the corrected version of the gene. After injection into the blood vessels of dystrophic mice, these cells found their way to skeletal muscle, which they were able to partly regenerate. Importantly, the cells were shown to reconstitute the muscle’s own stem cell population. The authors suggest that the isolation of these stem cells raises hope for treating muscular dystrophy using the patient’s own cells.
Author contact:
Giulio Cossu (Stem Cell Research Institute, Rome, Italy)Tel: +39 02 2643 4954; E-mail: cossu.giulio@hsr.it

Common genetic variant protects against breast cancer
Scientists have confirmed that a common genetic variant – CASP8 – offers modest protection against breast cancer, according to a study to be published online this week in Nature Genetics. The report provides some of the strongest evidence so far that common variants affect the risk of developing breast cancer, and the size of the collaboration sets an important precedent for future studies.Rare mutations in the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 significantly raise an individual’s risk of breast cancer, but account for only a fraction of the overall variation in genetic risk. More common variants that have a smaller effect on individual risk have been difficult to find, largely due to the size of the studies needed to identify variants of small effect in a convincing manner.The Breast Cancer Association Consortium, which comprises more than 20 collaborating research groups, examined 9 previously reported breast cancer susceptibility variants in at least 10,000 affected women and 10,000 disease-free women in a study led by Angela Cox. For 8 of the 9 genes, the Consortium reported either no association with breast cancer risk, or marginal evidence for an association. For a variant in the gene CASP8, however, they found a significant association. The particular variant assessed in the study is found in approximately 13% of women of European descent, and is protective, lowering the risk of breast cancer by approximately 10%.
Author contact:
Angela Cox (Sheffield University Medical School, UK)Tel: +44 1142712373; E-mail: a.cox@shef.ac.uk

Large-scale survey of mutations in cancer
One of the largest surveys of mutations in human cancers is reported online this week in Nature Genetics. The study provides a preview of results that may be generated by even larger projects such as The Cancer Genome Atlas, set to begin soon.Previous attempts at cataloguing mutations in different types of cancer have relied on DNA sequencing, which can be too expensive when applied to a large number of tumors. Levi Garraway and colleagues applied a previously developed technique called mass spectrometric genotyping to identify the frequency and distribution of 238 known mutations in 17 oncogenes in 1,000 tumors. The genotyping approach is more sensitive than the sequencing approach, identifying more mutations, and simultaneously detects mutations in multiple oncogenes in a cost-effective manner.The authors report that mutations in three of the oncogenes were not found in any of the tumors, while mutations in the other genes were observed in only 30% of the tumors, indicating that many cancer-causing events remain to be discovered. There were relatively few examples where a specific mutation was found more than once, suggesting that mutations occurring at high frequency will be uncommon.
Author contact:
Levi Garraway (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA)Tel: +1 617 632 6689; E-mail: levi_garraway@dfci.harvard.edu

Genetic indicators of type 2 diabetes risk
Geneticists have identified five different areas of DNA base-pair change that contribute significantly towards the risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus. The finding helps tease apart the complex mix of genetic and environmental factors that contribute to the disease, and may guide the direction of future therapeutics.Constantin Polychronakos and colleagues used high-density arrays to look for the occurrence of over 390,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) - particular regions of DNA containing a single base-pair change - in the genomes of over 2,000 patients with type 2 diabetes and more than 2,000 controls. They identified four different SNP-containing regions that conferred a significant risk to developing the disease, and confirmed an already known association between the TCF7L2 gene and type 2 diabetes. These five genetic regions together might account for 70% of the genetic risk, the authors say.The important variants occur in genes related to the control of insulin secretion and pancreatic development. One gene encodes a protein that helps move zinc ions around and is found solely in the secretory vesicles of beta-cells, which make and release insulin. The finding, published online by Nature this week, has possible dietary implications and hints that therapies targeting zinc may be worth a shot.
Author contact:
Constantin Polychronakos (McGill University, Montreal, Quebec Canada)Tel: +1 514 934 4315; E-mail: constantin.polychronakos@mcgill.caNelson B. Freimer (UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA)Tel: +1 310 794 9571; E-mail: nfreimer@mednet.ucla.edu (N&V author)