SCIENCE science.org 4 FEBRUARY 2022 • VOL 375 ISSUE 6580 511-C
RESEARCHsubtype of HIV that has been
circulating in the Netherlands
for several years (see the
Perspective by Wertheim). More
than one hundred individuals
infected with a characteristic
subtype B lineage of HIV-1
experienced double the rate of
CD4+ cell count declines than
expected. By the time they were
diagnosed, these individuals
were vulnerable to develop-
ing AIDS within 2 to 3 years.
This virus lineage, which has
apparently arisen de novo since
around the millennium, shows
extensive change across the
genome affecting almost 300
amino acids, which makes it dif-
ficult to discern the mechanism
for elevated virulence. —CA
Science, abk1688, this issue p. 540;
see also abn4887, p. 493
GREENHOUSE GASES
Ultra smart
Methane emissions from oil and
gas production and transmission
make a significant contribution
to climate change. Lauvaux et
al. used observations from the
satellite platform TROPOMI to
quantify very large releases of
atmospheric methane by oil and
gas industry ultra-emitters (see
the Perspective by Vogel). They
calculate that these sources rep-
resent as much as 12% of global
methane emissions from oil and
gas production and transmission
and note that mitigation of their
emissions can be done at low
cost. This would be an effective
strategy to economically reduce
the contribution of this industry
to climate change. —HJS
Science, abj4351, this issue p. 557;
see also abm1676, p. 490
GENE REGULATION
Organization shapes
expression
The role of genome organiza-
tion in the regulation of gene
activity during development has
been the subject of considerable
controversy. Batut et al. present
evidence that dedicated “tether-
ing elements” help to establish
long-range enhancer-promoter
interactions in the Drosophila
genome (see the Perspective by
Gaskill and Harrison). Single-cell
imaging of transcription in living
embryos showed the importance
of these elements in determining
the timing of Hox gene activation
during development. Tethers
operate independently of bound-
ary elements, which mediate the
opposite function of blocking
spurious regulatory interac-
tions between neighboring loci.
This work sheds light on how
genome organization controls
the dynamics of gene expression
underlying complex develop-
mental processes. —BAP
Science, abi7178, this issue p. 566;
see also abn6380, p. 491T CELLS
Skin dwellers for
the long haul
Transplantation with allogeneic
hematopoietic stem cells after
myeloablative conditioning
enables near total replacement
of host blood cells by donor
cells. To ascertain whether
skin-resident memory T cells are
also replaced by donor T cells
after therapeutic hematopoietic
transplantation, de Almeida et
al. used single-cell chimerism
analysis of patient blood and
skin T cells at multiple post-
transplantation time points.
Long-term chimerism of host
T cells in skin was observed in
23% of patients. These patients
retained a small number of host
T cells in blood with features of
tissue-resident lymphocytes,
suggesting mobilization into the
circulation after tissue residency.
These studies open the door
to learning more about tissue-
resident human T cells through
the analysis of patients with
long-term chimerism of host
skin T cells after hematopoietic
transplantation. —IRW
Sci. Immunol. 7 , eabe2634 (2022).