Volume 39 Issue 1, January 2007

Three new studies provide a genome-wide snapshot of genetic variation in Plasmodium falciparum, the most pathogenic of the parasites causing human malaria. These studies pave the way for mapping of genes underlying important parasite traits such as drug resistance and pathogenesis as well as for evolutionary analysis of selection in a parasite genome.

The ability to digest lactose into adulthood is a recently evolved trait that has risen to high frequency in some human populations, coincident with the introduction of cattle domestication. A new study shows that variants responsible for this trait arose independently in Europeans and Africans, providing a striking example of convergent evolution.

Noonan syndrome is a disease caused by aberrant signaling through the Ras GTPase, yet the underlying causal mutations remain unknown in many affected individuals. Two papers now identify gain-of-function mutations in the Ras nucleotide exchange factor SOS1 as a new player in this common developmental disorder.

Replication initiation factors are essential for cell proliferation and thus are not expected to be disrupted in cancers. Challenging this notion, a new study in mice shows that a hypomorphic mutation in the gene encoding the replication initiation factor Mcm4 leads to genetic instability and predisposes to mammary adenocarcinomas.

Telomere dysfunction suppresses cancer through the p53 tumor suppressor pathway but also contributes to aging. A new study suggests that these effects of dysfunctional telomeres may be separable, such that aging—but not cancer suppression—depends on the p21 cell cycle inhibitor.

This is an issue edsumm for ng1933. Identification of the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum in a marine sedimentary sequence. It shows that sea surface temperatures near the North Pole increased from roughly 18 degrees Celsius to over 23 degrees Celsius — such warm values imply the absence of ice and thus exclude the influence of ice-albedo feedbacks on this Arctic warming.

This is an issue edsumm for ng1951. Identification of the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum in a marine sedimentary sequence. It shows that sea surface temperatures near the North Pole increased from roughly 18 degrees Celsius to over 23 degrees Celsius — such warm values imply the absence of ice and thus exclude the influence of ice-albedo feedbacks on this Arctic warming.

This is an issue edsumm for ng1946. Identification of the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum in a marine sedimentary sequence.

This is an issue edsumm for ng1935. Identification of the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum in a marine sedimentary sequence. It shows that sea surface temperatures near the North Pole increased from roughly 18 degrees Celsius to over 23 degrees Celsius — such warm values imply the absence of ice and thus exclude the influence of ice-albedo feedbacks on this Arctic warming.

This is an issue edsumm for ng1922. Identification of the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum in a marine sedimentary sequence. It shows that sea surface temperatures near the North Pole increased from roughly 18 degrees Celsius to over 23 degrees Celsius — such warm values imply the absence of ice and thus exclude the influence of ice-albedo feedbacks on this Arctic warming.

This is an issue edsumm for ng1929. Identification of the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum in a marine sedimentary sequence. It shows that sea surface temperatures near the North Pole increased from roughly 18 degrees Celsius to over 23 degrees Celsius — such warm values imply the absence of ice and thus exclude the influence of ice-albedo feedbacks on this Arctic warming.

This is an issue edsumm for ng1926. Identification of the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum in a marine sedimentary sequence. It shows that sea surface temperatures near the North Pole increased from roughly 18 degrees Celsius to over 23 degrees Celsius — such warm values imply the absence of ice and thus exclude the influence of ice-albedo feedbacks on this Arctic warming.

This is an issue edsumm for ng1939. Identification of the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum in a marine sedimentary sequence. It shows that sea surface temperatures near the North Pole increased from roughly 18 degrees Celsius to over 23 degrees Celsius — such warm values imply the absence of ice and thus exclude the influence of ice-albedo feedbacks on this Arctic warming.

I am changing the text on this to see if it works when I run full and toc at the same time. This is an issue edsumm for ng1927. Identification of the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum in a marine sedimentary sequence. It shows that sea surface temperatures near the North Pole increased from roughly 18 degrees Celsius to over 23 degrees Celsius — such warm values imply the absence of ice and thus exclude the influence of ice-albedo feedbacks on this Arctic warming.