Daily briefing: First fetus-to-fetus transplant in rats

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First fetus-to-fetus transplant in rats

Surgeons have transplanted kidney tissue from one rat fetus to another, while the recipient was still in its mother’s womb. The recipient pups were born as normal after 22 days, according to a preprint (not peer reviewed). The transplanted tissue grew into an organ with some functioning characteristics of a kidney. Blood vessels from the host fetus grew inside the donated tissue, lowering the risk of rejection. Nephrologist and study lead Takashi Yokoo has also tested transplanting mouse kidney tissue into rat fetuses, with some success. His long-term goal, he says, is to one day transplant pig organs into human fetuses that have fatal kidney-development disorders.

Nature | 5 min read

Reference: bioRxiv preprint (not peer reviewed)

Mission to fetch rocks from Moon’s far side

China is launching an ambitious mission later this week to collect rocks from the side of the Moon that we never see from Earth. Spacecraft Chang’e-6 was originally built as a backup for the Chang’e-5 mission, which successfully returned 1.73 kilograms of samples from the Moon’s near side in 2020. If Chang’e-6 pulls off a difficult soft landing, the lander will drill and scoop up two kilograms of soil and rocks from the more rugged far side. The samples might help explain why the two sides of the Moon are so different, including their history of volcanic activity. “When those samples come back to Earth, they will be like a Christmas present — whoever opens it will be happily surprised,” says planetary geologist Carolyn van der Bogert.

Nature | 7 min read

Tool flags papers discussed on PubPeer

A free browser plug-in from source-checking company RedacTek flags when a paper cites studies that are mentioned on PubPeer, a forum often used to discuss issues such as image manipulation or plagiarism. PubPeer’s own browser plug-in also alerts users when a study has been posted on the site, but doesn’t search through the references. The new tool also highlights when a study or any paper that it cites has been retracted, and also scores papers according to the number of self-citations — references to authors’ own studies.

Nature | 4 min read

Reference: RedacTek Chrome browser plug-in

‘ChatGPT for CRISPR’ designs gene editors

Researchers used a generative AI tool trained on millions of protein sequences to design CRISPR gene-editing proteins, and were then able to show that some of these systems work as expected in the laboratory. Another team developed a model trained on microbial genomes, and used it to design fresh CRISPR systems, which comprise a DNA or RNA-cutting enzyme and RNA molecules that tell the molecular scissors where to cut. Natural CRISPRs — part of some microbes’ immune system — have limitations on the genes they can edit and the changes they can make. “Expanding the repertoire of editors, using AI, could help,” says synthetic biologist Alan Wong.

Nature | 5 min read

Reference: bioRxiv preprint 1 & preprint 2 (not peer reviewed)

Features & opinion

Can fire-fighters save Arctic permafrost?

Wildlife managers in Alaska are planning to parachute elite fire-fighters into remote areas to fight fires that threaten permafrost. In the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, an area the size of Denmark, fires have long been allowed to burn themselves out unless they threaten human life and property. But as climate change increases the frequency of blazes, the fear is that frozen permafrost will release its carbon as it thaws. A preprint (not peer reviewed) suggests that the resulting emissions could equate with those from a major global economy over this century. “What we’re talking about is aggressive attacks on fires when they ignite in these areas,” says Earth-systems scientist Brendan Rogers. Once such fires get going, it’s often too late: “That carbon is lost.”

Nature | 6 min read

Reference: Research Square preprint (not peer reviewed)

A one-stop shop for single-cell data

Chan Zuckerberg CELL by GENE Discover is a collection of free and open-source tools for finding, querying, analysing, downloading and publishing data from 85 million single cells. There are thousands of single-cell data sets scattered across the internet, but collecting and curating them can be “a huge pain in the butt”, says bioinformatician Timothy Triche Jr. “People underestimate the degree to which the impact of this data is amplified by making it usable for anybody who wants to.”

Nature | 6 min read

The final frontier for a retired Black pilot

Edward Dwight, age 90, is expected to join a six-person crew aboard Blue Origin, on the private space company’s seventh mission beyond Earth’s orbit next month. Dwight first aimed for the stars 60 years ago, as a young US Air Force captain. He was selected by US President John Kennedy in 1961 to be the nation’s first Black astronaut, but was passed over by Chuck Yeager, the head of the test pilot programme. Dwight recalls Yeager as a racist who wanted him off the programme. He says he considers anger a waste of time, but counters those who see his upcoming flight as justice being served. “It seems far too late for it to be justice,” says Dwight. “This is a natural occurrence that should have happened at some point.”

The New York Times | 6 min read

Infographic of the week

The tree of life for angiosperms — flowering and fruiting plants that make up 90% of plants on land — has been redrawn using the genomic data from more than 9,500 species. “Our very existences are dependent on them,” says systematic biologist and co-author William Baker. “That’s why we really need to understand them.” (New Scientist | 3 min read)

Reference: Nature paper

See a full-size version of this image here. (Alexandre R. Zuntini et al./Nature)