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• Organic-walled microfossils in 3.2-billion-year-old shallow-marine siliciclas...Although the notion of an early origin and diversification of life on Earth during the Archaean eon has received increasing support in geochemical, sedimentological and palaeontological evidence, ambiguities and controversies persist regarding the biogenicity and syngeneity of the record older than Late Archaean. Non-biological processes are known to produce morphologies similar to some microfossils, and hydrothermal fluids have the potential to produce abiotic organic compounds with depleted carbon isotope values, making it difficult to establish unambiguous traces of life. Here we report the discovery of a population of large (up to about 300??m in diameter) carbonaceous spheroidal microstructures in Mesoarchaean shales and siltstones of the Moodies Group, South Africa, the Earth?s oldest siliciclastic alluvial to tidal-estuarine deposits. These microstructures are interpreted as organic-walled microfossils on the basis of petrographic and geochemical evidence for their endogenicity and syngeneity, their carbonaceous composition, cellular morphology and ultrastructure, occurrence in populations, taphonomic features of soft wall deformation, and the geological context plausible for life, as well as a lack of abiotic explanation falsifying a biological origin. These are the oldest and largest Archaean organic-walled spheroidal microfossils reported so far. Our observations suggest that relatively large microorganisms cohabited with earlier reported benthic microbial mats in the photic zone of marginal marine siliciclastic environments 3.2 billion years ago.
• Conclusion by exclusion
Systems models and biomarker studies both pose the problem of wrangling high information content. Such publications can be made easier to review and to use if they propose explicit alternative hypotheses and show experimental exclusion of each competing explanation. In practice, we will need to be able to identify and independently cite multiple hypotheses and related experiments within a published work.
• New genetic loci implicated in fasting glucose homeostasis and their impact o...
The MAGIC investigators report results of a large genome-wide association study meta-analysis to identify common variants influencing fasting glucose homeostasis. They further show that several of the newly discovered loci influencing glycemic traits are also associated with risk of type 2 diabetes.
• Meta-analysis of genome-wide association data identifies a risk locus for maj...
Francis McMahon and colleagues report a meta-analysis of genome-wide association data sets for major mood disorders, including bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder.
• Common variants at 2q37.3, 8q24.21, 15q21.3 and 16q24.1 influence chronic lym...
Richard Houlston and colleagues identify common variants at four loci associated with risk of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, including a coding variant in FARP2 on 2q37.3 and a noncoding variant in the region upstream of MYC on 8q24.21.
• AHI1 is required for photoreceptor outer segment development and is a modifie...
Joseph Gleeson and colleagues show that Ahi1 is required in mice for retinal outer segment development and displays dosage-sensitive genetic interactions with Nphp1. They further show that a missense allele of AHI1 in humans modifies risk of retinal degeneration among individuals with nephronophthisis.
• Thioredoxin-interacting protein links oxidative stress to inflammasome activa...
The signaling intermediates that activate inflammasomes have remained elusive. Tschopp and co-workers now describe that a thioredoxin-binding protein is a reactive oxygen species?regulated component of the NLRP3 inflammasome.
• Role of STAT5 in controlling cell survival and immunoglobulin gene recombinat...
B cell development requires interleukin 7 signals that activate the transcription factor STAT5. Busslinger and colleagues report that STAT5 has a permissive rather than instructive role in pro-B cell survival and immunoglobulin recombination.
• New vaccine tailored to the weakened elderly immune system
• Crucial role of interleukin-7 in T helper type 17 survival and expansion in a...
Variation in the IL-7 receptor is associated with susceptibility to multiple sclerosis. Jingwu Zhang and his colleagues provide an explanation. They show that the cytokine IL-7 regulates the surival and proliferation of T helper type 17 cells?a cell type known to be involved in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis. The findings suggest that IL-7 antagonism could be useful in individuals with autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (pages 166?168).
• Genomic instability and myelodysplasia with monosomy 7 consequent to EVI1 act...
Transduced hematopoietic stem cells can benefit patients with X-linked chronic granulomatous disease (a genetic immunodeficiency), but it's not risk free. In two treated patients, insertional activation of MDS1?EVI1, PRDM16 and SETBP1 markedly increased the number of transduced cells in the blood, leading to oligoclonal hematopoiesis, monosomy 7 and a myelodysplastic syndrome (pages 163?165).
• Effective and selective targeting of leukemia cells using a TORC1/2 kinase in...
The protein kinase mTOR is known to contribute to cancer development. However, existing drugs targeting mTOR, such as rapamycin, have not been very effective at inhibiting cancer cell survival and also have the unwanted side effect of immunosuppression. Studying preclinical models of leukemia driven by the BCR-ABL oncogene, Matthew Janes et al. now show that a new mTOR inhibitor?which unlike previous ones is an ATP competitive inhibitor that targets the active site of the enzyme?can overcome these drawbacks.
• Notch-mediated expansion of human cord blood progenitor cells capable of rapi...
Colleen Delaney and colleagues have developed a new culture system for umbilical cord blood progenitors that improves myeloid engraftment in cord blood transplants using a Notch ligand?mediated ex vivo expansion strategy. The study demonstrates rapid hematopoietic engraftment in a NOD/SCID mouse model and a phase 1 myeloablative cord blood transplantation trial. The strategy could lead to better clinical outcomes as a result of reduced morbidity and mortality.
• Erratum: Reducing endoplasmic reticulum stress through a macrophage lipid cha...
Nature Reviews
• Fibroblast growth factor signalling: from development to cancerFibroblast growth factors (FGFs) and their receptors control a wide range of biological functions, regulating cellular proliferation, survival, migration and differentiation. Although targeting FGF signalling as a cancer therapeutic target has lagged behind that of other receptor tyrosine kinases, there is now substantial evidence for