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Characterization of a new human XPF mutation (XFE) that leads to profound DNA intrastrand crosslink sensitivity and progeroid symptoms is reported, indicating that the accumulation of DNA damage induces a metabolic response aimed at extending life span rather than maintaining growth.
Production of stomata, the gas-exchange structure in plants, requires asymmetric cell division and cell type differentiation in an orderly manner. Identification of a key switch gene for the fate transition of stomatal precursor cells revealed a compelling view that consecutive actions of three closely related bHLH proteins control stomatal differentiation, a mechanism strikingly similar to cell-type differentiation in animals.
A set of three paralogous bHLH transcription factors is required to promote stomatal development. SPEECHLESS, MUTE and FAMA are sequentially expressed in, and are successively required for, the initiation, proliferation and terminal differentiation of cells in the stomatal lineage.
Toxoplasma gondii causes intracellular infections with disease severity that varies depending on the pathogen strain. A potential mechanism has now been elucidated, whereby the presence of a putative kinase in certain strains results in the activation of distinct host signalling pathways.
Neurons in the monkey lateral prefrontal cortex are activated before a large number of individual complex movements, suggesting that they represent an abstract categorization of motor behaviours, as opposed to the individual sequences themselves. Combined with previous work, this suggests that abstract grouping may be a general property of the prefrontal cortex, perhaps facilitating complex behaviour.
This paper presents an analytical theory of the dynamical evolution of ecosystems, which is in good accord with the species turnover distribution in the tropical forest of Barro Colorado Island in Panama.
Lead isotope records from rocks from the floor of the North Atlantic Ocean, combined with a simple quantitative model, are used to reconstruct chemical weathering rates in glaciated regions of North America over the past 550,000 years. This shows that chemical weathering rates in these regions were two to three times lower than today during glacial periods.
An inhibitor of SecinH3 is identified, and shows that treatment of mice with this molecule induces hepatic insulin resistance, an early step in the development of type 2 diabetes.
A spin-polarized 'ferromagnetic' superfluid phase in 3He is thought to arise when a condensate of paired nuclear spins aligns itself along the direction of an applied magnetic field.
A mechanical spin density detector is developed that enables measurements of the spin behaviour in this phase to be performed as the temperature, pressure and magnetic field are varied
A major carbohydrate transporter, GpMST1, is characterized by exploiting the symbiosis between Geosiphon pyriformis and the cyanobacterium Nostoc punctiforme.
A complementary study to that of Famulock et al. shows that feeding SecinH3 to flies inhibits steppke, a cytohesin, leading to growth defects and a block in insulin signalling.