Volume 2 Issue 9, September 2006

Chemical biology graduate programs that are jointly organized by chemistry and life science departments can offer a stimulating 'bicultural' training environment for students from diverse backgrounds. However, communication, flexibility and responsiveness are crucial for effectively structuring such programs.

Glycosaminoglycan-protein interactions are an important frontier for discovering new mechanisms of cellular regulation by complex sugars. The integration of the 'chemical glycomics' strategies of synthetic chemistry, arrays and biological assays shows that the precise pattern of sugar sulfation dictates the specificity of a sugar's function.

Differentiation-inducing factor 1 is a modified polyketide natural product involved in the differentiation of Dictyostelium discoideum cells. A new study shows that a type III polyketide synthase existing in an unusual association with type I fatty acid synthase domains is responsible for biosynthesis of this signaling compound.

Nitrite is an inorganic anion essential in cell signaling and vascular biology. A new study shows that the multicopper oxidase ceruloplasmin is critical for maintaining plasma nitrite, revealing a new link between copper and nitric oxide homeostasis.

Endogenous electric fields in wounds have been documented for centuries, but they have received little attention from the scientific community. A new study shows that manipulation of these electric fields affects wound healing in vivo and identifies the phosphoinositide 3-kinase signaling pathway as a key component of cell migration in response to electric cues.

Tus proteins bound to multiple ter sequences on DNA determine the site of DNA replication termination in Escherichia coli. Biochemical and structural studies reveal how the Tus–ter complex arrests replication forks in a direction-sensitive manner.