scrub jays are also able to make
such plans. However, these
studies—especially those in the
birds—have been questioned. It
has been argued that planning
in foraging and natural tasks
is not the same as planning in
a more general way. Kabadayi
et al. tested ravens with tasks
designed to specifically assess
their general planning abilities
(see the Perspective by Boeckle
and Clayton). Confirming their
forward-planning abilities, the
birds performed at least as well
as apes and small children in
this complex cognitive task.
—SNV
Science, this issue p. 202;
see also p. 126
HEPATITIS C VIRUS
New York City rats provide
a gift to virologists
Despite the development of
curative drugs for hepatitis C
virus (HCV) infection, global
eradication of HCV will likely
require a prophylactic vaccine.
Progress toward a vaccine has
been impeded by the absence
of mouse models suitable for
studying the immune response
to HCV. Billerbeck et al. found
that a HCV-related virus
isolated from New York City
rats produces an infection in
laboratory mice that shares
several immunological features
with human infections (see the
Perspective by Klenerman and
Barnes). Their initial analyses of
the infected mice revealed that
acute clearance of the virus was
dependent on T cells but not on
natural killer cells. —PAK
Science, this issue p. 204;
see also p. 129
CHEMISTRY
A triple search for
coupling reactions
Coupling reactions are, in
principle, good candidates for
high-throughput discovery:
Simply mix a diverse set of
reagents and then look for
products that combine two
or three of their masses. In
practice, however, numerous
different products might have
masses that are too similar to
distinguish quickly. Troshin and
Hartwig circumvented this prob-
lem by screening three pools of
reagents in parallel that shared
the same reactive functionality
but differed in mass by carefully
chosen increments. Specific
products could then be identified
in a noisy distribution by their
distinctive expected mass dif-
ferences across the three pools.
—JSY
Science, this issue p. 175
DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
Intergenerational
transcription taming
Parents provide genetic
information that guides the
development of the offspring.
Zenk et al. show that epigenetic
information, in the form of the
repressive mark H3K27me3, is
also propagated to the offspring and regulates proper
gene expression in the embryo.
Preventing the propagation of
maternally inherited H3K27me3
led to precocious gene activation and, ultimately, embryo
lethality. —BAP
Science, this issue p. 212
DENDRITIC CELLS
Divided, they conquer
Dendritic cells (DCs) play a crucial role in priming T cell–driven
antiviral responses. Silvin et al.
examined the paradox of how
virus-infected DCs retain the
ability to drive adaptive immune
responses. In response to endocytic viruses, they found CD1c+
DCs to be susceptible to infection and death, whereas CD141+
DCs were not. Viral resistance
of CD141+ DCs was conferred
by expression of the endocytic
guanosine triphosphatase
RAB15. Transfer of antigen from
infected CD1c+ DCs by CD141+
DCs allowed the latter to prime
T cell responses. This division
of labor between DC subsets
that separates antigen acquisition from antigen presentation
provides a solution to this long-standing puzzle. —AB
Sci. Immunol. 2, eaai8071 (2017).
NEUROSCIENCE
Mechanisms for
maintaining mental maps
When an animal runs around,
some hippocampal neurons
are selectively active in specific
locations called their place fields.
A maplike representation created
from many such place fields
serves as a navigation mecha-
nism. How such hippocampal
maps stabilize is still unknown.
Roux et al. investigated a discrete
form of high-frequency neuronal
oscillations called sharp wave
ripples. In a spatial learning
task, they focally silenced a
Jupiter’s orbit marks the
boundary between the
formation reservoirs of two
distinct meteorite types.
Edited by Sacha Vignieri
and Jesse Smith
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