Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Unlike many site-specific recombinases that require accessory proteins, the Cre recombinase itself organizes a synaptic complex to initiate the recombination reaction. A new study suggests how Cre recombinase accomplishes this catalytic feat.
The high polyunsaturated fatty acid content of mammalian sperm cell membranes makes them vulnerable to damaging oxidation. A carbohydrate-antioxidant polymer has been developed that greatly increases antioxidant levels in sperm, counteracting any detrimental effects and improving sperm function.
Nitrite, a ubiquitous stable oxidation byproduct of nitric oxide (NO) metabolism, is now entering the pantheon of signaling biochemical molecules. Nitrite may have the unique properties of a blood and tissue NO reservoir activated by physiological and pathological hypoxia.
Chemical biology, broadly defined as the application of chemistry to the study of molecular events in biological systems, presents an opportunity for the reorganization and revitalization of the chemistry curriculum.
From the complex behavior of multicomponent signaling networks to the structures of large protein complexes and aggregates, questions once viewed as daunting are now being tackled fearlessly by protein scientists. The 19th Annual Symposium of the Protein Society in Boston highlighted the maturation of systems biology as applied to proteins.