Technology

Functional annotation and network reconstruction through cross-platform integration of microarray data. Zhou, X. J. et al. Nature Biotechnol. 16 January 2005 (10.1038/nbt1058)

Zhou et al. designed a method for microarray analysis that combines data from different microarray platforms. The key to the approach lies in the two-step analysis: expression patterns are extracted as meta-information from each data set, and only then are they analysed across data sets. The method identified yeast genes with the same function without the need for co-expression data, and transcription factors that co-operate with each other, without the need to quantify their levels.

Evo–devo

Chance caught on the wing: cis -regulatory evolution and the origin of pigment patterns in Drosophila. Gompel, N., Prud'homme, B. et al. Nature 433, 481–487 (2005)

This work lends support to the view that morphological variation can be attributed to changes in gene-regulatory regions. The wings of Drosophila melanogaster are uniformly pigmented, but those of Drosophila biarmipes males feature a single dark spot that is caused by the accumulation of the Yellow protein. Cis-coding regions of the yellow locus from D. biarmipes induced spot-specific expression when introduced into D. melanogaster; further analyses showed that the spot-specific control region arose by mutation of an ancestral element.

Gene therapy

Protective effect of DNA vaccine during chemotherapy on reactivation and reinfection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Ha, S.-J. et al. Gene Ther. 3 February 2005 (10.1038/sj.gt.3302465)

Tuberculosis (TB) can re-emerge years after the initial active disease, either through reactivation of latent viruses or reinfection. These authors have shown that delivery of a double-gene DNA vaccine against TB (containing the genes Ag85A and PstS3), combined with immunotherapy, blocks the reactivation of TB and significantly reduces reinfection.

Human genetics

Restoration of tolerance in lupus by targeted inhibitory receptor expression. McGaha, T. L. et al. Science 307, 590–593 (2005)

The breakdown of checkpoints that control the ability of the immune system to maintain tolerance results in the development of autoimmune disorders. McGaha and colleagues showed that the inhibitory Fc receptor FcγRIIB in mice regulates a B-cell checkpoint that is required for tolerance maintenance and autoimmunity prevention. Changes in the expression of this receptor influence disease progression and could provide the basis for novel therapeutic approaches against autoimmune diseases.