Featured
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Article |
Genomic island variability facilitates Prochlorococcus–virus coexistence
- Sarit Avrani
- , Omri Wurtzel
- & Debbie Lindell
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News |
Call to curb lab tests on dogs
Canine remains the default option in outdated pharmaceutical toxicology.
- Marian Turner
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Letter |
Functional mapping of single spines in cortical neurons in vivo
- Xiaowei Chen
- , Ulrich Leischner
- & Arthur Konnerth
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Research Highlights |
A microscopist's litmus test
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News |
Nanoparticles hit tumours with one-two punch
Using scout particles to pave the way makes drug delivery more effective.
- Corie Lok
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Research Highlights |
Fluorescent cells turned into lasers
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News |
Mouse library set to be knockout
Global effort to disable every mouse gene nears completion.
- Elie Dolgin
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Article |
A conditional knockout resource for the genome-wide study of mouse gene function
- William C. Skarnes
- , Barry Rosen
- & Allan Bradley
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News |
Life hackers seek new tools
Field aims to enlist techniques from molecular biology to attack fundamental challenges.
- Erika Check Hayden
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Research Highlights |
Probing for pancreatic cancer
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Letter |
A function for cyclin D1 in DNA repair uncovered by protein interactome analyses in human cancers
- Siwanon Jirawatnotai
- , Yiduo Hu
- & Piotr Sicinski
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Letter |
Visual place learning in Drosophila melanogaster
- Tyler A. Ofstad
- , Charles S. Zuker
- & Michael B. Reiser
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Letter |
Ultra-prolonged activation of CO2-sensing neurons disorients mosquitoes
- Stephanie Lynn Turner
- , Nan Li
- & Anandasankar Ray
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News & Views |
Pull-down for single molecules
An innovative marriage of techniques, combining the principles of common protein pull-down assays with single-molecule fluorescence microscopy, opens up new ways of visualizing cellular protein complexes. See Article p.484
- Philip Tinnefeld
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News |
Engineered antibodies cross blood–brain barrier
Technique could be used to design therapies for Alzheimer's and other diseases.
- Heidi Ledford
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Article |
Probing cellular protein complexes using single-molecule pull-down
- Ankur Jain
- , Ruijie Liu
- & Taekjip Ha
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Letter |
Tunable pKa values and the basis of opposite charge selectivities in nicotinic-type receptors
- Gisela D. Cymes
- & Claudio Grosman
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Research Highlights |
: Deeper insight into a single cell
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Letter |
Genome-wide mapping of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in embryonic stem cells
- William A. Pastor
- , Utz J. Pape
- & Anjana Rao
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Letter |
Enzyme-catalysed [4+2] cycloaddition is a key step in the biosynthesis of spinosyn A
- Hak Joong Kim
- , Mark W. Ruszczycky
- & Hung-wen Liu
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Letter |
Improved molecular replacement by density- and energy-guided protein structure optimization
- Frank DiMaio
- , Thomas C. Terwilliger
- & David Baker
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Letter |
A synthetic homing endonuclease-based gene drive system in the human malaria mosquito
- Nikolai Windbichler
- , Miriam Menichelli
- & Andrea Crisanti
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News |
European directive gets its tentacles into octopus research
Researchers fear 'mammal-centric' regulation is ill-suited to cephalopod work.
- Nicola Nosengo
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Article |
Self-organizing optic-cup morphogenesis in three-dimensional culture
Organogenesis relies on the orchestration of many cellular interactions to create the collective cell behaviours that progressively shape developing tissues. Using a three-dimensional embryonic stem cell culture system, this study successfully generated neural retinal tissues that formed a fully stratified neural retinal structure with all the major components located in their proper spatial location as seen during optic-cup development in vivo. This approach might have important implications for stem cell therapy for retinal repair.
- Mototsugu Eiraku
- , Nozomu Takata
- & Yoshiki Sasai
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Article |
Gut flora metabolism of phosphatidylcholine promotes cardiovascular disease
This paper shows that gut flora can influence cardiovascular disease, by metabolizing a dietary phospholipid. Using a metabolomics approach it is found that plasma levels of three metabolites of dietary phosphatidylcholine—choline, betaine and TMAO—are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease in humans. The gut flora is known to have a role in TMAO formation from choline, and this paper shows that dietary choline supplementation enhances macrophage foam cell formation and lesion formation in atherosclerosis-prone mice, but not if the gut flora are depleted with antibiotics.
- Zeneng Wang
- , Elizabeth Klipfell
- & Stanley L. Hazen
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Letter |
Genome-wide analysis reveals novel molecular features of mouse recombination hotspots
- Fatima Smagulova
- , Ivan V. Gregoretti
- & Galina V. Petukhova
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Technology Feature |
A living system on a chip
For years, scientists have struggled to reconstruct tissues and organs by combining cells and nanotechnology. These devices are now edging from cool concept to practical application.
- Monya Baker
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Letter |
Sensory maps in the olfactory cortex defined by long-range viral tracing of single neurons
- Sulagna Ghosh
- , Stephen D. Larson
- & Kristin K. Baldwin
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News |
Sperm grown in a test tube
Immature mouse testicles yield fully developed sperm in culture.
- Janelle Weaver
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Letter |
In vitro production of functional sperm in cultured neonatal mouse testes
Reproducing the complex process of spermatogenesis in vitro might lead to the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic techniques for male infertility. This study establishes in vitro organ culture conditions that can support complete spermatogenesis in mice. The in-vitro-derived spermatids and sperm produced healthy and fertile mice, and testis tissue fragments used as a starting material for in vitro spermatogenesis could be cryopreserved for months and then resumed full spermatogenesis in vitro.
- Takuya Sato
- , Kumiko Katagiri
- & Takehiko Ogawa
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Article |
Mapping and analysis of chromatin state dynamics in nine human cell types
- Jason Ernst
- , Pouya Kheradpour
- & Bradley E. Bernstein
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Article
| Open AccessInitial genome sequencing and analysis of multiple myeloma
Multiple myeloma, a malignancy of plasma cells, remains incurable and is poorly understood. Using next-generation sequencing of several multiple myeloma genomes reveals that this disease involves mutations of genes involved in protein translation, histone methylation and blood coagulation. The study suggests that BRAF inhibitors should be evaluated in multiple myeloma clinical trials.
- Michael A. Chapman
- , Michael S. Lawrence
- & Todd R. Golub
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Letter |
A cis-regulatory map of the Drosophila genome
As part of the modENCODE initiative, which aims to characterize functional DNA elements in D. melanogaster and C. elegans, this study created a map of the regulatory part of the fruitfly genome. On the basis of the developmental dynamics of chromatin modifications, polymerase and transcription factor occupancy this work defines a vast array of putative regulatory elements, such as enhancers, promoters, insulators and silencers. This resource represents the first attempt at a comprehensive annotation of cis-regulatory elements in a metazoan genome.
- Nicolas Nègre
- , Christopher D. Brown
- & Kevin P. White
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Research Highlights |
Seeing cells with sheets of light
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News |
Rats wake up for behavioural research
Tiny imaging device allows scans of animals while they are awake.
- Tiffany O'Callaghan
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Letter |
Tumour evolution inferred by single-cell sequencing
Although it is known that tumours are genetically heterogeneous it has so far been difficult to dissect this heterogeneity at a single cell level. This paper combines whole-genome amplification and next-generation sequencing of flow-sorted nuclei from breast tumours to investigate their population structure and evolution. In contrast to gradual models of tumour progression, the results indicate that tumours grow by punctuated clonal expansions with few persistent intermediates.
- Nicholas Navin
- , Jude Kendall
- & Michael Wigler
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News |
Seed banks susceptible to sham samples
Genetic analysis calls into question the authenticity of older cultivars in seed collections.
- Virginia Gewin
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Letter |
Amygdala circuitry mediating reversible and bidirectional control of anxiety
The amygdala, a brain region important for learning fearful memories, is thought to have a role in generalized anxiety, but the critical subregions and connections are unknown. This paper shows that optogenetic stimulation of basolateral amygdala (BLA) terminals in the central nucleus of the amygdala of rats with channelrhodopsin has an anxiolytic effect, whereas inhibition of the same projection with eNpHR3.0 increases anxiety related behaviours. These effects were not observed with direct optogenetic control of BLA somata themselves, indicating that selective activation of certain connections can have different effects.
- Kay M. Tye
- , Rohit Prakash
- & Karl Deisseroth
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News |
Out of southern Africa
A genetic study challenges the idea that modern humans evolved in eastern Africa.
- Matt Kaplan
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News |
Early microscopes offered sharp vision
Images from the first microscopes were clearer than was once believed.
- Philip Ball
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Research Highlights |
Slip and slide pores for sensors
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Letter |
Programming the magnitude and persistence of antibody responses with innate immunity
Here it is shown that nanoparticles containing two Toll-like receptor ligands can boost the magnitude and persistence of vaccine-elicited antibody responses in primates, improving vaccine-mediated protection against influenza virus.
- Sudhir Pai Kasturi
- , Ioanna Skountzou
- & Bali Pulendran
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News |
Genetic engineering brings cloned crops closer
Seeds genetically identical to parent plant could revolutionize agriculture.
- Heidi Ledford
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Books & Arts |
Culture: Art that touches a nerve
Anthony King explores a Dublin exhibition that exposes the controversies of synthetic biology.
- Anthony King
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Editorial |
Best is yet to come
Ten years after the human genome was sequenced, its promise is still to be fulfilled.
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Editorial |
Letting the bugs out of the bag
The public should be properly consulted ahead of any release of experimental insects. But what do they need to know, and whose job is it to ensure the message gets across?
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