Science - 31 January 2020

CREDITS: (TOP TO BOTTOM) MATAMALES

ET AL

.; CSERÉP

ET AL

.

sciencemag.org SCIENCE

advanced cancer might also be

useful for cancer prevention.

Uckelmann et al. now provide

support for this concept in a

study of mice genetically predis-

posed to develop acute myeloid

leukemia. Early administration of

an epigenetic therapy that had

previously been shown to have

anticancer activity in advanced

leukemia models was able to

eliminate preleukemia cells and

extend survival of the mice.

— PA K

Science, this issue p. 586

BIOCHEMISTRY

When the most popular

are not the best

Understanding the specificity

and sensitivity of antibodies

is important for interpreting

GRAVITATION

Pulsar timing detects

frame dragging

Frame dragging is a predicted
phenomenon in general
relativity, whereby a rotating
mass drags the surround-
ing spacetime around with it.
Venkatraman Krishnan et al.
analyzed timing observations
of PSR J1141−6545, a young
pulsar in a binary orbit with
a white dwarf. Modeling the
arrival times of the radio pulses
showed a long-term drift in the
orbital parameters. After con-
sidering possible contributions
to this drift, they concluded that
it is dominated by frame drag-
ging (the Lense-Thirring effect)
of the rapidly spinning white
dwarf. These observations verify
a prediction of general relativity

Dopamine receptor

mosaic in the striatum

Matamales et al.,p. 549

and provide constraints on

the evolutionary history of the

binary system. —KTS

Science, this issue p. 577

HUMAN GENETICS

African schizophrenia

genetic variants

The genetics of schizophrenia

have predominately been studied

in populations of European

and Asian descent. However,

studies in Africans, who host

the greatest degree of human

genetic diversity, have lagged.

Examining the exomes of more

than 1800 Xhosa individuals

from South Africa, about half of

which have been diagnosed with

schizophrenia, Gulsuner et al.

identified both rare and common

genetic variants associated with

the disease. They found that the

genetic architecture of schizo-

phrenia in Africans generally

reflects that of Europeans but

that the greater genetic variation

in Africa provides more power to

detect relationships of genes to

phenotypes. —LMZ

Science, this issue p. 569

CANCER

Taking preventive

measures

Recent technological advances

have made it possible to detect,

in healthy individuals, premalig-

nant blood cells that are likely

to progress to hematologic

cancer. These advances in early

detection have fueled interest in

“cancer interception,” the idea

that drugs designed to treat

Three-dimensional electron tomography

reconstruction of a microglial cell–neuron junction

RESEARCH

IN SCIENCE JOURNALS

Edited by Michael Funk

522 31 JANUARY 2020 • VOL 367 ISSUE 6477

CELLULAR NEUROSCIENCE

Microglia take control

C

hanges in the activity of microglia, the

primary immune cells of the central

nervous system, are linked with major

human diseases, including stroke,

epilepsy, psychiatric disorders, and

neurodegeneration. Cserép et al. identified a

specialized morphofunctional communication

site between microglial processes and neuro-

nal cell bodies in the mouse and the human

brain (see the Perspective by Nimmerjahn).

These junctions are formed at specific areas

of the neuronal somatic membranes and

possess a distinctive nanoarchitecture and

specialized molecular composition linked to

mitochondrial signaling. The junctions appear

to provide a major site for microglia-neuron

communication and may help to mediate the

neuroprotective effects of microglia after

acute brain injury. —SMH

Science, this issue p. 528; see also p. 510

Published by AAAS