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Putting Pathogens in Their Evolutionary Place

Until now there has been no attempt to develop a theoretical framework that integrates epidemiology and phylogenetics, although several studies that attempt to take an integrated approach have been initiated. Grenfell et al. (p. 327) review the epidemiological implications of observed RNA virus phylogenetic patterns, or phylodynamics, and use these observations to formulate the evolutionary infection profile, a term that describes the rate of accumulation of evolutionary change as a result of the effects of host immunity.

es to about 2800 kilometers, the Yellowstone plume cannot be seen in the model, and two new and unexpected plumes connect with the mid-ocean ridges in the Atlantic and Indian oceans. A model of radial anisotropy throughout the entire mantle by Panning and Romanowicz (p. 351) indicates that, near the core mantle boundary, most of the flow is horizontal. This finding supports the theory that the anomalous thin layer called D at the base of the mantle is a mechanical boundary layer. There are two regions where the dominant flow is vertical, beneath the two superplumes under the Pacific Ocean and Africa.

Creating Communities

Hiding Out in Hair Follicles

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Ape Populations and Ebola

Finding an Acceptable Balance

The precise measurement of small masses, such as those of ions, is made by determining their cyclotron frequency as they move in a magnetic field. However, much as sequential mass measurements of macroscopic objects with a balance is less precise than direct comparisons, the precision of comparative ion masses is limited to around 1 1010. Rainville et al. (p. 334) present a technique in which two ions are confined in a Penning trap. The motion of the ions can be controlled simultaneously, which allows their relative mass to be determined with a precision of around 1 1011. By reducing sources of error, the authors hope to improve the precision by at least another order of magnitude. The introduction of a measurement technique to determine mass with such ultrahigh precision should find immediate application in metrology, fundamental physics, and chemistry.

CREDITS: (TOP TO BOTTOM) TUMBAR ET AL.; LEROY ET AL.

The Top and Bottom of Mantle Flow

Mantle plumes are thought to be upwelling thermal anomalies that may cause volcanism, topographic swells, and chemical anomalies at Earths surface. The depth, extent, and even the existence of ; see the 5 Decemplumes are debated. Montelli et al. (p. 338 ber news story by Kerr) add to this discussion a finite-frequency global tomographic model of mantle velocity anomalies that are attributed to plumes. Six plumes extend throughout the depth of the mantle, but most others are shorter. The Hawaiian plume reachwww.sciencemag.org SCIENCE

Ebola virus infections are not only of terrifying public health importance, but are also of major conservation importance. Responding to the discovery of gorilla, chimpanzee, and Duiker (antelope) corpses in the forests of Gabon and the Republic of Congo, Leroy et al. (p. 387; see the news story by Vogel) tested tissue samples for the presence of Ebola viruswhich they found in the majority of cases. The occurrence of animal corpses presaged human outbreaks, often with an index case in a hunter. Each outbreak was caused by a genetically distinct virus, and many highly localized epidemic chains could be distinguished. A large proportion of the gorilla and chimpanzee populations in this region have probably died as a result of multiple rounds of Ebola virus infection in the past 4 years, putting the apes under threat of extinction.

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Template-Assisted Mesoscopic Assembly

By combining two very different polymers into a single chain or by linking hydrophobic and hydrophilic molecules together, it is possible to make diblock structures that self-assemble into vesicles, micelles, or bilayers in solution. Park et al. (p. 348) expand this to organic-inorganic assemblies, where one block consists of a polymer
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Studies of community assembly rarely Stem cells for mammalian skin are thought to reside in the hair follicles, where a stem cell The concentration of methane in address historical processes over evoluniche harbors its residents until the atmosphere underwent a tionary time. Gillespie (p. 356; see the the time comes to initiate new large and steep increase 12,000 cover) uses the distinctive chronological hair growth or to regenerate years ago, at the end of the last arrangement of the Hawaiian Islands, skin. Tumbar et al. (p. 359) de- glaciation. One proposed source coupled with an adaptive radiation of velop a strategy to highlight is the formation at that time of Tetragnatha spiders, to examine the evothe slowly dividing skin cells the high-latitude Northern peatlutionary aspects of community assemlikely to represent such epithe- lands. Smith et al. (p. 353) presbly. The successive formation times of lial stem cells. Further analysis ent radiocarbon data from peatthe islands provide snapshots of commuinto the transcriptional profile lands across western Siberia, the nities at different stages of development of these cells reveals suites of most extensive peatlands in the and allow the temporal patterns of proteins dedicated to reading world, which chronicle the initiaspecies accumulation through adaptive the environment in preparation tion of peat formation there for radiation to be compared with those for stem cell activation. the past 13,000 years. Peatlands known from ecological studies of coloformed and expanded rapidly benization. The patterns revealed are the same as those expected from colonization alone, with species num- ginning ~11,500 years ago, which corresponds well to the interber increasing to a maximum on an island of intermediate age, before hemispheric atmospheric gradient during the Holocene. declining to similar numbers on each of the older islands. Thus, the principles underlying community assembly may be universal.

For Peats Sake

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chain that is attached to a rod of gold. The driving force for assembly is governed by the polymer-solvent interactions and, unlike in most small molecule cases, is strongly dependent on assistance from the original template in which the materials were synthesized.

Monkey See, Monkey Do?

What are the relative roles of motor and premotor cortex in motor control? Schwartz et al. (p. 380; see Perspective by Gottlieb) trained human or monkey subjects to use a simulated vision display, in which they used their arm motion (unseen) to move a computergenerated cursor (seen). As the subjects made cycles of motion around an object, the relationship between arm movement and cursor movement was gradually distorted, so that, for example, an oval-shaped arm movement traced a circularly shaped object.Whereas motor cortex neuronal activity correlated with the actual motor commands, premotor nerve cell activity correlated with the action plan, i.e., what the monkey perceived to be the goal.

Inside all eukaryotic cells, DNA is wrapped up with specific proteins to form chromatin. Gene expression requires opening of the protein wrapper, mainly in the form of nucleosomes that themselves consist of histones, so that the transcription machinery can gain access to the DNA. This process normally shuffles and slides nucleosomes around during chromatin remodeling. The proteins of the wrapper itself can also vary through incorporation of variant histones that have important effects on gene expression. Mizuguchi et al. (p. 343; see Perspective by Owen-Hughes) have studied how the variant histone H2AZ is incorporated into chromatin. A protein complex containing the Swr1 protein exchanged the standard histone H2A for variant H2AZ. Swr1 thus defines a new class of chromatin remodeling complexes that act as protein exchangers, rather than as nucleosome shufflers or sliders.

Latch and Release

In prokaryotes, cotranslational protein targeting to the membrane is regulated by two GTPases, Ffh and FtsY, that are analogous to the signal recognition particle and its receptor in mammalian cells. Focia et al. (p. 373) have determined at 2.05 resolution the structure of a complex of the NG domains of Ffh and FtsY from Thermus aquaticus in the presence of a nonhydrolyzable GTP analog. The complex is remarkably symmetric with both nucleotides in a shared catalytic chamber, providing a mechanism for reciprocal activation. The nucleotides are integral to the interface that holds the proteins together, and their hydrolysis would cause disengagement of the components to unlatch the targeting complex.

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Designer Glycoproteins from Bacteria

Glycosylation is a common posttranslational modification of proteins in eukaryotes and affects a wide range of protein functions. Glycoproteins are typically produced as a mixture of glycoforms. Zhang et al. (p. 371) have genetically incorporated -GlcNAc-serine at a defined position into myoglobin expressed in E. coli. The introduced sugar moiety can be recognized by a saccharide binding protein, and can also be used as a substrate by a galactosyltransferase.The approach should facilitate production of homogeneous glycoforms of proteins.

Language Acquisition in Humans and Monkeys

Humans can construct an infinite variety of sentences from a finite vocabulary. Grammar deals with how words relate to each other and are combined to make sentences. A finite-state grammar specifies local or near-neighbor relationships and more complex phrase-structure grammar includes hierarchical or nested arrangements. Obviously, humans (even children) can learn both types of grammars. Fitch and Hauser (p. 377; see Perspective by Premack) show that tamarin monkeys can learn finite-state but not phrase-structure grammars.

CREDIT: FOCIA ET AL.

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Remodeling DNA by Histone Exchange