Page 54 - Science

RESEARCH | IN OTHER JOURNALS

ASTRONOMY
Why don’t astronomers publish observations?

bserving time on top astronomical telescopes is heavily oversubscribed and allocated through
a competitive proposal process, but 30 to 50% of observations never produce a peer-reviewed
paper. Patat et al. contacted principal investigators on proposals executed by the European
Southern Observatory (ESO) between 2006 and 2013 that did not result in publication. They
O found several recurrent issues, such as poor observing weather, lack of investigator resources
for analysis, or personnel having left research. By comparing publication rates over time, they
showed that 50% of publications occur within 3.5 years of the observations, but it takes 10 years for
that fraction to reach 95%. Astronomers are struggling to keep up with the flow of data. —KTS
Messenger 170, 51 (2017).

The La Silla
Observatory in Chile,
an ESO facility

an ancient arm of the immune drives change in noncoding neuroblasts, Miranda binds in the reaction. The authors
system (the major histocom- regions associated with directly to lipids of the plasma propose that the tyrosyl radical
patibility complex class 1b transcription in immune cells. membrane, keeping Prospero abstracts a hydrogen atom from
molecule H2-M3) to respond Chromatin accessibility and away from the cellular nucleus, the substrate, leading to forma-
in a way that avoids inflamma- gene expression change in plu- where it could incite quies- tion of the product, heme b, by
tion—distinct from responses ripotent stem cell lines exposed cence. During metaphase, oxidative decarboxylation of
to pathogens. H2-M3 processes to signals simulating bacterial thanks to a key phosphoryla- the propionic acid side chains.
and presents S. epidermidis– infections. Genetic variants tion, Miranda instead binds to —MAF
derived N-formyl methionine among these cell lines affected actin bundles at the basal pole J. Biol. Chem. 10.1074/jbc.
+
peptides to CD8 T cells. These the timing of gene expression, of the cell. Prospero, thus teth- RA117.000830 (2018).
cells express immunoregula- depending on to what they were ered, is delivered to one but not
tory and tissue-repair gene exposed. Interestingly, disease- the other of the daughter cells,
FLUORINE CHEMISTRY
signatures and accelerate skin risk variants associated with leading to asymmetric alloca-
wound healing. Hence, hosts immune dysfunction, such as tion of cellular fate. —PJH F caught in a bridge
and microbiota can interact in rheumatoid arthritis and inflam- eLife 7, e29939 (2018). Fluorine typically forms a
highly beneficial ways that may matory bowel disease, emerged single bond and then clings to
hold promise for therapeutic from the analyses. —LMZ the rest of its electrons with
interventions. —STS Nat. Genet. 10.1038/s41588-018- BIOSYNTHESIS an unrivalled grip. Recently,
Cell 10.1016/j.cell.2017.12.033 (2018). 0046-7 (2018). A fitting way to finish though, the reactivity of a rigid
The cofactor heme is used by polycyclic test compound
enzymes to perform chal- suggested that a fluorine atom
IMMUNOGENETICS NEURODEVELOPMENT lenging oxidations, including could fleetingly bridge two
+
Context for immune Regulated tether controls reactions on the cofactor itself. carbon centers in a (C–F–C)
Streit et al. used spectroscopy fluoronium motif. Pitts et
responses asymmetric cell fate to identify a tyrosyl radical al. have now spotted that
Immune cells function by recog- In the developing fruitfly, the formed during the final step of intermediate directly, using a
19
1
13
nizing pathogens and initiating transcription factor Prospero heme biosynthesis. Analysis of combination of F , H, and C
a complex cellular response to regulates cellular quiescence the reaction kinetics suggests nuclear magnetic resonance PHOTO: ESO/JOSÉ FRANCISCO SALGADO, CC BY 4.0
mount a defense. People can and fate. Hannaford et al. show that the radical is generated by spectroscopy. They started at
show a wide range of genetically how an adaptor protein called a high-valent iron intermediate –120°C, but it turned out that
driven variation in responses Miranda manages Prospero created by reaction of hydrogen the bridge motif was stable up
to infection. Alasoo et al. asked activities through sequestra- peroxide with the substrate, to –40°C. —JSY
how the cellular environment tion. During interphase in which also serves as a cofactor Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 57, 1924 (2018).
1006 2 MARCH 2018 • VOL 359 ISSUE 6379 sciencemag.org SCIENCE
Published by AAAS

DA_0302ISIO.indd 1006 2/28/18 10:51 AM