Volume 5 Issue 10, October 2008

Researchers use a targeted metagenomic approach to functionally characterize complex microbial communities.

Fluorescent proteins with new photoswitching properties allow multilabel imaging at a single detection wavelength and dual-color superresolution microscopy.

Two groups used quantitative mass spectrometry to look at changes in protein phosphorylation across the cell cycle.

A web portal to share antibody validation data.

Researchers tested an alternate antibody scaffold, creating so-called Surrobodies.

A combination of automated screening and next-generation sequencing makes it possible to identify Caenorhabditis elegans mutants at unprecedented speed and scale.

Identifying the molecular lesions in mutants isolated in forward genetic screens can be a laborious process. A proof-of-principle study in Caenorhabditis elegans now shows that this can be achieved rapidly by whole-genome deep sequencing.

An automated sorting method using the COPAS Biosort machine allows the isolation of mutant C. elegans displaying differences in GFP expression in small numbers of cells. Compared to manual methods this increases the efficiency of the phenotypic selection step in cell-fate screens.

Spectral searching, based on matching experimental peptide spectra to reference spectral libraries, is gaining interest as an alternative to traditional sequence-database searching in mass spectrometry–based proteomics. A software tool, SpectraST, now allows users to build their own high-quality spectral libraries from raw data.

A strategy using 48 or more singly labeled fluorescent oligonucleotide probes targeted to individual mRNA molecules allows the simultaneous localization and quantification of three mRNA species in fixed cells. mRNA visualization in whole animals and other organisms is also demonstrated.

Time-resolved wide-angle X-ray scattering (TR-WAXS) using synchrotron radiation can be used to observe dynamic protein structural changes with nanosecond time resolution in solution, complementing time-resolved optical spectroscopy and Laue crystallography methods.

Targeted regions of the human genome are resequenced in multiplex with Illumina technology, and the pipeline is evaluated for polymorphism discovery and genotyping.

Using both behavioral and electrophysiological readouts, Channelrhodopsin-2, a light-gated cation channel, is applied to the study of synaptic function in Caenorhabditis elegans.

The results of large genome-wide association studies (GWASs) are being deposited in public databases with increasing frequency. But the software to analyze and interpret GWAS datasets can be difficult to use. Could a new generation of user-friendly programs fill the gap?