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Volume 31 Issue 4, August 2002

Cover art by: Nils Kulleseid Z-DNA helix Carving in black slate, mined in Pennsylvania, USA.

Volume 31 Issue 4

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Editorial

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News & Views

  • A recent study of the geotactic response in fruit flies demonstrates how current genomic strategies may be combined with traditional quantitative and classical genetics to identify genes underlying complex behavioral phenotypes. Naturally-occurring variation in behavior seems to arise from mild alterations in pleiotropic genes.

    • J. Steven de Belle
    News & Views

  • DNA replication through mononucleotide runs is frequently associated with slippage of DNA polymerase, leading to the insertion or deletion of a small number of base pairs. A new study shows that, in the absence of DOG-1, a putative helicase, long poly(dG/C) runs are associated with deletions that extend into flanking DNA sequences. This mutational signature may be related to the ability of poly(dG) to form secondary structures such as G-quadruplex DNA, and may contribute to the genomic instability of tumor cells.

    • Sue Jinks-Robertson
    News & Views

  • Decades after the first report of a complement-activating factor in the serum of some people with chronic glomerulonephritis, its causal role in the disease is still debated. In a new study, mice engineered to lack a regulatory protein, factor H, uniformly develop glomerulonephritis, and have ongoing consumption of serum complement similar to that seen in humans.

    • Thomas R. Welch
    News & Views

  • Embryonic cellular movements are dauntingly complex. A new study shows that an evolutionarily conserved pathway keeps cells pointed in the right direction.

    • Alan Packer
    News & Views
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Progress

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Brief Communication

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Article

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Letter

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Corrigendum

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Erratum

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