Volume 7 Issue 11, November 2010

Gene cutting and pasting just got a whole lot faster.

The integration of quantitative proteomics and analysis by machine learning yields a refined list of proteins involved in chromosome function.

Researchers determined the excited-state structure of a small protein using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Tools to drive restricted gene expression in the brain.

A new study reports the first viable rat-mouse chimeras and uses rat induced pluripotent stem cells to rescue organ deficiency in mice.

Apparently redundant codons may not be redundant after all.

The self-reconstructing properties of Bessel beams provide healing benefits in highly scattering media.

Combinations of electrophysiology, two-photon microscopy and new tools for detecting neural activity show how neurons function in circuits.

Retroviral marking of single human embryonic stem cells shows that cultures of these cells contain subpopulations with distinct functional properties.

Automation and optimization of DNA construction results in the efficient production of large target sequences.

Transfer of the light-activated cation channel channelrhodopsin-2 gene enables optical control of heart muscle membrane potential.

An efficient one-step method for re-engineering mouse mutant alleles harboring loxP and FRT sites is reported. It may be applied to the large collection of targeted alleles from the International Knockout Mouse Consortium.

Stimulation of the light-activated cation channel channelrhodopsin-2 can depolarize heart muscle in vitro and in vivo, resulting in precise localized stimulation and constant prolonged depolarization of genetically targeted cardiomyocytes and cardiac tissue.

Using 600 oligonucleotides with 60 bases each and three enzymes, the authors assemble the entire mouse mitochondrial genome in four isothermal reactions.

Recombinant SV40 viral vectors intravenously injected into mice pretreated with mannitol effectively deliver transgenes to adult neurons in several regions of the central nervous system.

The Trans-ABySS pipeline is an integrated approach for transcript assembly and analysis to identify new mRNA isoforms and structures.

By pooling barcoded genomes of thirty rats before enrichment of a 1.4-megabase target sequence, mutation discovery in 770 genes is achieved with high accuracy.

Retroviral integration is used to mark clones in human embryonic stem cell cultures and clonal distribution is assessed after functionally testing the cells with different methods. Distinct subsets of clones are detected after in vitro differentiation versus teratoma formation in vivo.

Proteins can be transferred between cells in contact, such as via trogocytosis in lymphocytes, or acquired via bacteria-host interactions during infection. A quantitative proteomics approach to identify such non-cell-autonomous proteins is described.

A targeting method for lentiviral vectors relying on the use of single-chain antibodies recognizing cell-surface antigens is applied to generate lentiviral vectors specific for endothelial cells, hematopoietic progenitors and neurons.