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Volume 18 Issue 2, February 2017

'Variations on histones' by Vicky Summersby, inspired by the Review on p115.

Research Highlight

  • Two studies report on two independent synthetic biology approaches to tackle hyperglycaemia and insulin resistance that are associated with diabetes.

    • Paulina Strzyz
    Research Highlight

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  • Two groups report thatN6-methyladenosine (m6A) affects alternative splicing in fruit files, with notable phenotypes in sex determination and the nervous system.

    • Denise Waldron
    Research Highlight
  • Partial reprogramming through short-term expression of OSKM reverses the ageing process in mice.

    • Kim Baumann
    Research Highlight
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In Brief

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Research Highlight

  • A new mechanism of controlling translation initiation depends on DEAD-box RNA helicases and on RNA structures, including those present in coding sequences.

    • Eytan Zlotorynski
    Research Highlight
  • Secondary necrosis following apoptosis induction is a regulated process that is dependent on the cleavage of DFNA5 by the executioner caspase, caspase 3.

    • Paulina Strzyz
    Research Highlight
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Review Article

  • Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) are large protein assemblies that form channels in the nuclear envelope and constitute major routes for nucleocytoplasmic communication. Insights into the complex structure of NPCs provide the basis for understanding their functions and reveal how the dysfunction of their structural components, nucleoporins, contributes to human disease.

    • Martin Beck
    • Ed Hurt
    Review Article
  • In addition to acetylation, eight types of structurally and functionally different short-chain acylations have recently been identified as important histone Lys modifications: propionylation, butyrylation, 2-hydroxyisobutyrylation, succinylation, malonylation, glutarylation, crotonylation and β-hydroxybutyrylation. These modifications are regulated by enzymatic and metabolic mechanisms and have physiological functions, which include signal-dependent gene activation and metabolic stress.

    • Benjamin R. Sabari
    • Di Zhang
    • Yingming Zhao
    Review Article
  • Histone variants are typically incorporated into chromatin independently of DNA replication and modify chromatin properties. Recent studies have elucidated how particular histone variants are substrates of histone chaperones, chromatin remodellers and histone-modifying enzymes, thereby modifying DNA replication and repair, transcription and chromatin packaging.

    • Paul B. Talbert
    • Steven Henikoff
    Review Article
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Timeline

  • Several years after the characterization of the role of receptor-interacting serine/threonine protein kinase 1 (RIPK1) in cell survival, inflammation and disease, RIPK1 was implicated in the regulation of a newly identified type of cell death known as necroptosis. This Timeline article describes the discoveries that shed light on the roles of RIPK1, RIPK3, mixed-lineage kinase domain-like protein (MLKL) and other regulators of necroptosis in controlling cell fate.

    • Ricardo Weinlich
    • Andrew Oberst
    • Douglas R. Green
    Timeline
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