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Bacteria expressing a plant siRNA-binding protein produce potent, specific and nonimmunogenic siRNAs capable of knocking down target genes in mammalian cells.
Integrating metabolomics and computational modeling provides a method to identify allosteric enzyme-metabolite interactions, which have been inaccessible to systematic mapping.
To increase the tumor specificity of engineered T cells, Kloss et al. design an approach that relies on T cell recognition of two, rather than one, antigens.
Lee et al. use neural crest precursor cells derived from patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells to screen a small-molecule library for compounds that correct the cellular phenotype of familial dysautonomia.
Martell et al. engineer APEX, a protein tag for electron microscopy that does not require light activation, enabling the imaging of subcellular protein localization in large or thick sections.
Lou et al. find that sequences between promoters and regulated genes in synthetic circuits cause unpredictable gene expression, and they identify and characterize insulator parts that cleave untranslated regions present in circuits to overcome this problem.
Bacchus et al. describe the first experiments in mammalian cells that distribute complex behavior across several types of engineered cells, thereby mimicking natural multicellular systems.
Wong et al. differentiate human pluripotent stem cells into mature airway epithelial cells expressing CFTR, a gene involved in cystic fibrosis. Applying the method to induced pluripotent stem cells derived from cystic fibrosis patients provides a renewable source of cells for drug screening.
No mucosal adjuvant formulation is approved for clinical use, even though boosting immunity at sites of pathogen entry should increase the efficacy of nonreplicating vaccines. Wegmann et al. report that polyethyleneimine (PEI) acts as a potent mucosal adjuvant for protein antigens from influenza and herpes simplex virus, protecting mice against otherwise lethal infections.
López-Arredondo and Herrera-Estrella produce transgenic plants that express a bacterial phosphite-oxidoreductase gene to enable use of phosphite as a sole phosphorus source. This technology could reduce the amount of non-renewable phosphorus used as fertilizer and control weeds.
Nawroth et al. combine rat cardiomyocytes and silicone polymer to make a jellyfish replica that mimics the propulsive behavior of its live counterpart. The design principles guiding this feat may facilitate tissue engineering of muscular organs.
Sequencing a genome and identifying genetic markers lays the groundwork for genome-wide association studies, but can be difficult to achieve for polyploid species. Harper et al. present an approach for performing association studies using genetic maps and markers generated from transcriptome sequencing data alone and apply it to the polyploid crop Brassica napus.