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News |
Lab-grown embryo models: UK unveils first ever rules to guide research
Countries are grappling with how to regulate research that uses stem-cell-based embryo models. They will be watching the United Kingdom’s voluntary approach.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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News |
Why cancer risk declines sharply in old age
New research identifies some of the genes that could help to explain why lung cancer incidence rises with age but declines after the age of 75.
- Heidi Ledford
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Research Highlight |
Aged mice regain youthful muscles thanks to a compound that acts on the genes
A molecule increases levels of a protein that maintains telomeres, the caps on the ends of chromosomes.
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News & Views |
Chimeric brain organoids capture human genetic diversity
Models of the human brain’s cortex have been made by combining cells from up to five donors. This approach could enable genetic background to be accounted for in studies of brain development and disease.
- Aparna Bhaduri
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News |
Does Ozempic boost fertility? What the science says
Blockbuster weight-loss drugs have been linked to unexplained pregnancies. Research shows it is plausible, but more data are needed.
- Gillian Dohrn
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Article |
Brain Chimeroids reveal individual susceptibility to neurotoxic triggers
An analysis in 3D multidonor Chimeroids—a scalable multidonor human brain organoid model—shows that human genetic background may be an important mediator of neurotoxin susceptibility.
- Noelia Antón-Bolaños
- , Irene Faravelli
- & Paola Arlotta
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Article
| Open AccessDrosophila immune cells transport oxygen through PPO2 protein phase transition
Drosophila haemocytes collaborate with the tracheal system to reserve and transport oxygen through the phase transition of PPO2 crystals, facilitating internal oxygen homeostasis in a process that is comparable to vertebrate respiration.
- Mingyu Shin
- , Eunji Chang
- & Jiwon Shim
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Technology Feature |
Push and pull: how to measure the forces that sculpt embryos
A steadily growing toolbox is giving researchers the ability to monitor and measure the physical forces that shape embryonic development.
- Michael Eisenstein
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News & Views |
Nuclei facing the tissue surface get fuel for development
Using tissue from the developing fruit-fly wing, researchers show that a nucleus’s location in the cell determines how it experiences signals that regulate genes needed for proper wing formation.
- Tanvi Kulkarni
- & Asifa Akhtar
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Article
| Open AccessNuclear position and local acetyl-CoA production regulate chromatin state
Analyses of histone acetylation in Drosophila wing imaginal discs reveal distinct patterns of acetylation and cellular metabolism that affect gene expression and cell specification.
- Philipp Willnow
- & Aurelio A. Teleman
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Technology Feature |
How to keep the lights on: the mission to make more photostable fluorophores
Fluorescent labels that have greater resistance to bleaching could help researchers to get more from biological imaging.
- Ariana Remmel
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Research Briefing |
Measuring the forces that shape early human embryos
Contractile forces at the surface of cells of early human embryos bring the cells together. When these forces are absent, the embryo will not develop further. ‘Weak’ cells do not produce these forces and cannot contribute to the embryo. These observations should influence clinical choices during assisted reproductive-technology procedures.
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Article |
An alternative cell cycle coordinates multiciliated cell differentiation
A distinct cell cycle redeploys many canonical cell cycle regulators to control the differentiation of multiciliated cells, with the transcription factor E2F7 playing a pivotal part in this modified cell cycle.
- Semil P. Choksi
- , Lauren E. Byrnes
- & Jeremy F. Reiter
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Article
| Open AccessThe sex of organ geometry
In fruit flies, three-dimensional organ arrangement is stereotypical, sexually dimorphic and actively maintained by muscle-vessel mechanochemical crosstalk.
- Laura Blackie
- , Pedro Gaspar
- & Irene Miguel-Aliaga
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News & Views |
Communication between organs defines their sex-specific shapes
Sex-specific organ shape is usually thought to depend on sex chromosomes or hormones. Now it emerges that crosstalk between organs sculpts sex-specific 3D gut shape in flies, identifying a new way to consider organ growth.
- Akhila Rajan
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News |
Lab-grown sperm and eggs: ‘epigenetic’ reset in human cells paves the way
Technique wipes away tags on DNA that must be reprogrammed during development of reproductive cells.
- Heidi Ledford
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Article
| Open AccessIn vitro reconstitution of epigenetic reprogramming in the human germ line
A new strategy that involves signalling-molecule-driven differentiation can induce epigenetic reprogramming of human pluripotent stem cell-derived primordial germ cell-like cells to pro-spermatogonia and oogonia-like cells with massive propagation and high efficiency.
- Yusuke Murase
- , Ryuta Yokogawa
- & Mitinori Saitou
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News Feature |
How to kill the ‘zombie’ cells that make you age
Researchers are using new molecules, engineered immune cells and gene therapy to kill senescent cells and treat age-related diseases.
- Carissa Wong
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News & Views |
The phenomenon of genomic imprinting was discovered 40 years ago
Some genes carry an ‘imprint’ on either the maternal or the paternal copy, which determines whether or not that copy is expressed. This 1984 discovery changed how scientists think about gene regulation and inheritance.
- Anne C. Ferguson-Smith
- & Marisa S. Bartolomei
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News |
Human embryos embrace asymmetry to form the body
The cells generated by the very first division of the fertilized egg make a lopsided contribution to the body’s organs and tissues.
- Sara Reardon
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News Feature |
Hacking the immune system could slow ageing — here’s how
Our immune system falters over time, which could explain the negative effects of ageing.
- Alison Abbott
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Nature Podcast |
Sex and gender discussions don't need to be toxic
The science of sex and gender is too often misinterpreted and weaponized. Now, three experts cut through the misinformation in search of a positive future for this long-neglected area of research
- Lucy Odling-Smee
- , Florence Ashley
- & Noah Baker
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Article
| Open AccessPaternal microbiome perturbations impact offspring fitness
Disturbances in the gut microbiota of male mice manifest as fitness defects in their offspring by affecting plancenta function, revealing a paternal gut–germline axis.
- Ayele Argaw-Denboba
- , Thomas S. B. Schmidt
- & Jamie A. Hackett
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Article |
Airway hillocks are injury-resistant reservoirs of unique plastic stem cells
In the lungs, recently identified epithelial structures known as hillocks can act as injury-resistant reservoirs of stem cells.
- Brian Lin
- , Viral S. Shah
- & Jayaraj Rajagopal
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Article |
Mechanics of human embryo compaction
Using micropipette aspiration on donated human embryos, cell surface tensions during compaction were mapped, indicating a role for defective cell contractility in poor quality embryos.
- Julie Firmin
- , Nicolas Ecker
- & Jean-Léon Maître
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News |
First fetus-to-fetus transplant demonstrated in rats
The tissue developed into functioning kidneys and produced urine.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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News |
Could a rare mutation that causes dwarfism also slow ageing?
People with Laron syndrome have a low risk of heart disease and a number of other age-related disorders, hinting at strategies for new treatments.
- Mariana Lenharo
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Outlook |
Are robots the solution to the crisis in older-person care?
Social robots that promise companionship and stimulation for older people and those with dementia are attracting investment, but some question their benefits.
- Tammy Worth
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Article
| Open AccessTransient loss of Polycomb components induces an epigenetic cancer fate
A transient perturbation of transcriptional silencing mediated by Polycomb proteins is sufficient to induce an epigenetic cancer cell fate in Drosophila in the absence of driver mutations.
- V. Parreno
- , V. Loubiere
- & G. Cavalli
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News & Views |
The sympathetic nervous system arose in the earliest vertebrates
The sympathetic nervous system, which enables the fight-or-flight response, was thought to be present only in jawed vertebrates. Analysis of a jawless vertebrate suggests that this system might be a feature of all animals with a spine.
- Uwe Ernsberger
- & Hermann Rohrer
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Article |
Neural crest origin of sympathetic neurons at the dawn of vertebrates
Challenging the belief that sympathetic ganglia are an innovation of jawed vertebrates, a study reports the presence of sympathetic neurons in an extant jawless vertebrate, the sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus.
- Brittany M. Edens
- , Jan Stundl
- & Marianne E. Bronner
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Nature Podcast |
Pregnancy’s effect on ‘biological’ age, polite birds, and the carbon cost of home-grown veg
We round up some recent stories from the Nature Briefing.
- Benjamin Thompson
- , Noah Baker
- & Flora Graham
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Article
| Open AccessA brain-specific angiogenic mechanism enabled by tip cell specialization
A molecular mechanism for brain-specific angiogenesis operates under the control of Wnt7a/b ligands.
- Giel Schevenels
- , Pauline Cabochette
- & Benoit Vanhollebeke
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News |
Scientists made a six-legged mouse embryo — here’s why
A rodent with two extra limbs instead of genitals shows the crucial role of a gene pathway in determining the fate of a primordial structure.
- Sara Reardon
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News & Views |
Anti-ageing antibodies revive the immune system
Depleting an expanding pool of aberrant stem cells in aged mice using antibody therapy has been shown to rebalance blood cell production, diminish age-associated inflammation and strengthen acquired immune responses.
- Yasar Arfat T. Kasu
- & Robert A. J. Signer
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News |
How to make an old immune system young again
Antibodies that target blood stem cells can rejuvenate immune responses in mice.
- Heidi Ledford
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Article |
The HEAT repeat protein HPO-27 is a lysosome fission factor
The conserved HEAT repeat protein HPO-27 is identified as a lysosome scission factor in Caenorhabditis elegans, and the human homologue MROH1 also serves the same function to maintain lysosomal homeostasis.
- Letao Li
- , Xilu Liu
- & Xiaochen Wang
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News |
Pregnancy advances your ‘biological’ age — but giving birth turns it back
Carrying a baby creates some of the same epigenetic patterns on DNA seen in older people.
- Saima Sidik
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Technology Feature |
One year, three researchers, millions of cells: how a small team created the largest mouse-embryo atlas so far
A map of mouse development from conception to birth tracks 12.4 million cells at single-cell resolution as they mature into organs and other tissues.
- Sara Reardon
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Research Briefing |
Neuron migration to brain regions key to memory and navigation continues into childhood
This study identifies a major migratory route for young neurons in the brains of young children. This route forms during pregnancy and links the birthplace of these nerve cells to their destination in highly interconnected brain regions that are responsible for memory and spatial processing.
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Nature Video |
Building a heart atlas: researchers map organ in stunning detail
Cutting edge imaging techniques reveal how cells organise as the heart develops.
- Dan Fox
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Article
| Open AccessSpatially organized cellular communities form the developing human heart
Combining single-cell RNA-sequencing with high-resolution multiplexed error-robust fluorescence in situ hybridization reveals in detail the cellular interactions and specialization of cardiac cell types that form and remodel the human heart.
- Elie N. Farah
- , Robert K. Hu
- & Neil C. Chi
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News & Views |
Ancient skin sported intricately patterned scales
The discovery of 285-million-year-old fossils of intricately patterned animal scales indicates that evolutionary tinkering of armoured skin started at the dawn of life on dry land as aquatic vertebrates adapted for terrestrial survival.
- Maksim V. Plikus
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Research Briefing |
Mechanisms guiding the slow pace of maturation in human neurons uncovered
Nerve cells in the human brain take a remarkably long time to mature. This study identifies an epigenetic ‘barrier’ in neural precursor cells that determines the rate of neuronal maturation and is slowly released during the process. Inhibition of the barrier is shown to accelerate maturation in multiple human stem-cell-based models.
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Article
| Open AccessOn the genetic basis of tail-loss evolution in humans and apes
An insertion of an Alu element into an intron of the TBXT gene is identified as a genetic mechanism of tail-loss evolution in humans and apes, with implications for human health today.
- Bo Xia
- , Weimin Zhang
- & Itai Yanai
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Article |
A patterned human neural tube model using microfluidic gradients
Newly developed microfluidic neural tube-like and forebrain-like structures based on human pluripotent stem cells can model pivotal aspects of neural patterning along both the rostral–caudal and dorsal–ventral axes.
- Xufeng Xue
- , Yung Su Kim
- & Jianping Fu
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Research Highlight |
How egg cells handle their cellular rubbish
The discovery of a molecular recycling system in mouse oocytes might help scientists to understand why fertility declines with age.
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Research Briefing |
A human embryo model mimics early development and blood-cell formation
Human embryos are extremely difficult to study. This lack of samples limits our understanding of crucial developmental stages, such as the early formation of blood cells. A stem-cell-based model closely captures the development of human embryonic and key extra-embryonic tissues after implantation, as well as the formation of early blood cells.
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