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Volume 29 Issue 4, December 2001

Cover art by: Michael Malicki (tempera on paper)

Volume 29 Issue 4

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Editorial

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News & Views

  • In a typical microarray study, experimental RNA samples are compared to a reference sample and expression ratios are clustered. A new study of the effects of sex, aging and genotype on gene expression in Drosophila melanogaster departs from this paradigm. Highly replicated comparisons generate measures of expression that are analyzed using classical analysis of variance (ANOVA) techniques, revealing substantial differences in gene expression between the two sexes as well as smaller effects of age and strain. Moreover, this study demonstrates that replication and experimental design are essential to detecting small but biologically important differences in expression patterns.

    • Gary A. Churchill
    • Brian Oliver
    News & Views

  • Arabidopsis thaliana isolates from the wild vary enormously in their morphology and physiological responses to standard conditions, indicating that substantial genetic variation is accessible in this species. Natural variant alleles encoding two Arabidopsis photoreceptors, phytochrome A and cryptochrome 2, have now been identified by different experimental methods. The amino-acid substitutions suggest new features of phytochrome and cryptochrome function that regulate plant growth and flowering time.

    • Andrew J. Millar
    News & Views

  • Translation initiation is a tightly regulated process, central to cell function, and proteins involved in this process and its regulation are highly conserved throughout evolution. New results show that mutations in genes encoding subunits of the ubiquitously expressed eIF2B translation initiation factor are responsible for a rare neurological disorder in humans—leukoencephalopathy with vanishing white matter (VWM). The eIF2/eIF2B complex has a key role in the response to a variety of stress conditions. Notably, mutations affecting other proteins of this complex or regulatory kinases cause distinct disorders.

    • Cécile Julier
    News & Views

  • Many bacteria in nature and in persistent infections grow in communities on biofilms. A new study demonstrates that this adaptation is accompanied by a suprisingly modest change in the transcriptional profile of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

    • Robert E.W. Hancock
    News & Views
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