Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Scanning electron micrograph of Pichia pastoris. De Schutter et al. present the complete genomic sequence of this important protein expression system (p 561). Credit: Dennis Kunkel Microscopy, Inc.
In contrast to the slow translation of human genome information into medicine, animal genomics is likely to have a rapid and tangible impact on agriculture.
Recent commercial success belies conventional wisdom that vaccines are a low-margin, moribund sector. But will the trend continue? Cormac Sheridan investigates.
As new media proliferate and the public's trust and engagement in science are influenced by industry involvement in academic research, an interdisciplinary workshop provides some recommendations to enhance science communication.
Against the Cartagena Protocol and widespread scientific support for a case-by-case approach to regulation, the Convention on Biological Diversity has become a platform for imposing broad restrictions on research and development of all types of transgenic trees.
Addition of a photodegradable group to the backbone of synthetic hydrogels enables real-time control of the material's chemical and physical properties.
Transfection of siRNAs and miRNAs into cells has been observed to generate unexpected effects in the form of gene upregulation. By statistically analyzing published transfection experiments, Khan et al. explain these effects with a model that the transfected RNAs compete with miRNAs naturally expressed by the cell.
Forrester et al. adapt the biotin switch technique for studying reversible protein modification by nitric oxide, by using resin-assisted capture of S-nitrosothiols. This enables more sensitive detection of larger S-nitrosylated proteins and can be coupled with quantitative mass spectrometry to study the kinetics of denitrosylation.
Pichia pastoris has been a workhorse of protein production for decades. De Schutter et al. present its genomic sequence, which will allow development of improved strains.
The delivery to primary cells is a major challenge in the application of siRNAs in biological research. Using a fusion protein consisting of a double-stranded RNA binding domain and a protein transduction domain, Eguchi et al. are able to transfect siRNAs into a wide variety of cells with very high efficiency without cytotoxicity.
Traditional methods for modifying viruses to produce live attenuated vaccines are being updated with molecularly targeted approaches. Perez et al. attenuate influenza A viruses by introducing miRNA target sites into the coding region of the viral genome.
