Redefining priorities in gene-based drug discovery. Khodadoust, M. M. & Klein, T. P. Nature Biotechnology August (2001)

Eggs in the balance. Matzuk, M. M. Nature Genetics August (2001) A News and Views article on a mouse transgenic study, which showed that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons — commonly found in cigarette smoke and air pollution — cause reproductive defects by interacting with an oocyte receptor, which induces Bax-mediated apoptosis, leading to oocyte death.

Evolutionary conservation between budding yeast and human kinetochores. Kitagawa, K. & Hieter, P. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology September (2001)

Transcriptional channelopathies: an emerging class of disorders. Waxman, S. G. Nature Reviews Neuroscience September (2001) A review about a new class of channelopathies — transcriptional channelopathies — which result from changes in the expression of non-mutated channel genes.

Cycling silence. Ringrose, L. & Paro, R. Nature 2 August (2001) A News and Views article on how retinoblastoma controls a set of cell-cycle genes by targeting proteins involved in heterochromatin-mediated transcriptional repression to cell-cycle gene promoters.

The ABC of symbiosis. Allan Downie, J. & Young, P. W. Nature 9 August (2001) This News and Views article discusses the sequencing of Sinorhizobium meliloti, a bacterium that unusually has three genomic components — one chromosome and two megaplasmids.

Birth of a new institute — Biopolis Dresden. Huttner, W. B. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology September (2001) A Perspectives article on how the directors of the recently established Max-Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden have decided to face new research challenges in the post-genomic era.

A journey into space. Hayles, J. & Nurse, P. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology September (2001) A Review on the molecular mechanisms that generate positional information in the fission yeast cell, and possibly in other eukaryotic cells too.