Interaction between two identified cells in the visceral ganglion of the snail, Helix pomatia.

An interneurone, making excitatory synaptic connections with a second neurone has been identified in the brain of Helix pomatia. The results suggest that the connection is monosynaptic.     

The genome of the simian and human malaria parasite Plasmodium knowlesi

Plasmodium knowlesi is an intracellular malaria parasite whose natural vertebrate host is Macaca fascicularis (the 'kra' monkey); however, it is now increasingly recognized as a significant cause of human malaria, particularly in southeast Asia. Plasmodium knowlesi was the first malaria parasite species in which antigenic variation was demonstrated, and it has a close phylogenetic relationship to Plasmodium vivax, the second most important species of human malaria parasite (reviewed in ref. 4). Despite their relatedness, there are important phenotypic differences between them, such as host blood cell preference, absence of a dormant liver stage or 'hypnozoite' in P. knowlesi, and length of the asexual cycle (reviewed in ref. 4). Here we present an analysis of the P. knowlesi (H strain, Pk1(A+) clone) nuclear genome sequence. This is the first monkey malaria parasite genome to be described, and it provides an opportunity for comparison with the recently completed P. vivax genome and other sequenced Plasmodium genomes. In contrast to other Plasmodium genomes, putative variant antigen families are dispersed throughout the genome and are associated with intrachromosomal telomere repeats. One of these families, the KIRs, contains sequences that collectively match over one-half of the host CD99 extracellular domain, which may represent an unusual form of molecular mimicry.     

BluB cannibalizes flavin to form the lower ligand of vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) is among the largest known non-polymeric natural products, and the only vitamin synthesized exclusively by microorganisms. The biosynthesis of the lower ligand of vitamin B(12), 5,6-dimethylbenzimidazole (DMB), is poorly understood. Recently, we discovered that a Sinorhizobium meliloti gene, bluB, is necessary for DMB biosynthesis. Here we show that BluB triggers the unprecedented fragmentation and contraction of the bound flavin mononucleotide cofactor and cleavage of the ribityl tail to form DMB and D-erythrose 4-phosphate. Our structural analysis shows that BluB resembles an NAD(P)H-flavin oxidoreductase, except that its unusually tight binding pocket accommodates flavin mononucleotide but not NAD(P)H. We characterize crystallographically an early intermediate along the reaction coordinate, revealing molecular oxygen poised over reduced flavin. Thus, BluB isolates and directs reduced flavin to activate molecular oxygen for its own cannibalization. This investigation of the biosynthesis of DMB provides clarification of an aspect of vitamin B12 that was otherwise incomplete, and may contribute to a better understanding of vitamin B12-related disease.     

Field-tuned quantum effects in a triangular-lattice Ising magnet

We report thermodynamic and neutron scattering measurements of the triangular-lattice quantum Ising magnet TmMgGaO4 in longitudinal magnetic fields.Our experime...     

A Kuhnian defence of inference to the best explanation

According to inference to the best explanation (IBE), scientists infer the loveliest of competing hypotheses, ‘loveliness’ being explanatory virtue. This generates two key objections: that loveliness is too subjective to guide inference, and that it is no guide to truth. I defend IBE using Thomas Kuhn’s notion of exemplars: the scientific theories, or applications thereof, that define Kuhnian normal science and facilitate puzzle-solving. I claim that scientists infer the explanatory puzzle-solution that best meets the standard set by the relevant exemplar of loveliness. Exemplars are the subject of consensus, eliminating subjectivity; divorced from Kuhnian relativism, they give loveliness the context-sensitivity required to be truth-tropic. The resulting account, ‘Kuhnian IBE’, is independently plausible and offers a partial rapprochement between IBE and Kuhn’s account of science.     

Magnetite defines a vertebrate magnetoreceptor

The key behavioural, physiological and anatomical components of a magnetite-based magnetic sense have been demonstrated in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Candidate receptor cells located within a discrete sub-layer of the olfactory lamellae contained iron-rich crystals that were similar in size and shape to magnetite crystals extracted from salmon. Here we show that these crystals, which mapped to individual receptors using confocal and atomic force microscopy, are magnetic, as they are uniquely associated with dipoles detected by magnetic force microscopy. Analysis of their magnetic properties identifies the crystals as single-domain magnetite. In addition, three-dimensional reconstruction of the candidate receptors using confocal and atomic force microscopy imaging confirm that several magnetic crystals are arranged in a chain of about 1 microm within the receptor, and that the receptor is a multi-lobed single cell. These results are consistent with a magnetite-based detection mechanism, as 1-microm chains of single-domain magnetite crystals are highly suitable for the behavioural and physiological responses to magnetic intensity previously reported in the trout.     

Isolation of an autotrophic ammonia-oxidizing marine archaeon

For years, microbiologists characterized the Archaea as obligate extremophiles that thrive in environments too harsh for other organisms. The limited physiological diversity among cultivated Archaea suggested that these organisms were metabolically constrained to a few environmental niches. For instance, all Crenarchaeota that are currently cultivated are sulphur-metabolizing thermophiles. However, landmark studies using cultivation-independent methods uncovered vast numbers of Crenarchaeota in cold oxic ocean waters. Subsequent molecular surveys demonstrated the ubiquity of these low-temperature Crenarchaeota in aquatic and terrestrial environments. The numerical dominance of marine Crenarchaeota--estimated at 10(28) cells in the world's oceans--suggests that they have a major role in global biogeochemical cycles. Indeed, isotopic analyses of marine crenarchaeal lipids suggest that these planktonic Archaea fix inorganic carbon. Here we report the isolation of a marine crenarchaeote that grows chemolithoautotrophically by aerobically oxidizing ammonia to nitrite--the first observation of nitrification in the Archaea. The autotrophic metabolism of this isolate, and its close phylogenetic relationship to environmental marine crenarchaeal sequences, suggests that nitrifying marine Crenarchaeota may be important to global carbon and nitrogen cycles.