Table of contents
November 2006 Vol 7 No 11
From The Editors
p789 | doi:10.1038/nrm2053
Research Highlights
Chemical genomics: Joining the small-molecule dots
p791 | doi:10.1038/nrm2054
Molecular motors: Run rings around
p792 | doi:10.1038/nrm2049
In the news
Systems biology with a view
p792 | doi:10.1038/nrm2051
Mechanisms of disease: Folding away the bad guys
p792 | doi:10.1038/nrm2055
Cytoskeleton: Modelling moves on
p793 | doi:10.1038/nrm2047
Calcium: You lose some, you gain some
p794 | doi:10.1038/nrm2044
Cell signalling: Walking the integrin activation road
p795 | doi:10.1038/nrm2048
In brief
Proteolysis | Membrane trafficking | DNA repair | Mechanisms of disease
p795 | doi:10.1038/nrm2052
Cell death: Fatal cut
p796 | doi:10.1038/nrm2045
Chromatin: A twist in the tail
p796 | doi:10.1038/nrm2050
DNA repair: Deinococcus does the two-step
p797 | doi:10.1038/nrm2046
Foreword
Focus on: Systems biology: a user's guide
Reviews
Collecting and organizing systematic sets of protein data
John G. Albeck, Gavin MacBeath, Forest M. White, Peter K. Sorger, Douglas A. Lauffenburger and Suzanne Gaudet
p803 | doi:10.1038/nrm2042
Technologies are now in place to obtain large amounts of data for systems biology approaches. What are the most suitable technologies for fast, accurate and high-throughput data collection? And following data collection, how should these data be analysed and validated?
Linking data to models: data regression
Khuloud Jaqaman and Gaudenz Danuser
p813 | doi:10.1038/nrm2030
Regression is a method to estimate parameters in mathematical models of biological systems from experimental data. To ensure the validity of a model for a given data set, pre-regression and post-regression diagnostic tests must accompany the process of model fitting.
Data-driven modelling of signal-transduction networks
Kevin A. Janes and Michael B. Yaffe
p820 | doi:10.1038/nrm2041
New technologies are permitting larger scale and more quantitative studies of signalling networks. The large data sets that are obtained from these studies can be analysed by data-driven modelling approaches. These models are now emerging as standard tools for systems-level research in signalling networks.
Perspective
Essay
Back to the future: education for systems-level biologists
Ned Wingreen and David Botstein
p829 | doi:10.1038/nrm2023
Systems biology has produced a challenge to the educational system. In the future, practitioners of biology at the systems level will need combinations of skills that are rarely found in individual scientists today. So, how should we educate students to succeed across scientific disciplines?
Reviews
Protein tyrosine phosphatases: from genes, to function, to disease
Nicholas K. Tonks
p833 | doi:10.1038/nrm2039
Protein tyrosine phosphatases can no longer be viewed as passive housekeeping enzymes. It is now becoming apparent that they have important roles in the regulation of signalling responses. So, what are the functions of these enzymes? And how are they regulated?
Auxin in action: signalling, transport and the control of plant growth and development
William D. Teale, Ivan A. Paponov and Klaus Palme
p847 | doi:10.1038/nrm2020
Auxins are a class of plant hormones that affect various aspects of plant development. Recent studies have identified certain F-box-domain proteins as auxin receptors that control auxin-regulated gene expression through ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis. Other modes of auxin perception and signalling are also thought to exist.
Perspectives
Opinion
Do we underestimate the importance of water in cell biology?
Martin Chaplin
p861 | doi:10.1038/nrm2021
It is surely time for water to take up its rightful position as the most important and active of all biological molecules. Liquid water is highly versatile — it can control, for example, the folding, structure, activity and interactions of macromolecules.
Timeline
The twentieth century struggle to decipher insulin signalling
Philip Cohen
p867 | doi:10.1038/nrm2043
The discovery of insulin in 1921 was one of the great medical advances of the twentieth century. Since then, key discoveries have led to a molecular understanding of the insulin-signalling pathway and revealed targets for the treatment of type-2 diabetes.
