Late-Oct papers

There are so many interested papers in this period.


A cyclophilin links redox and light signals to cysteine biosynthesis and stress responses in chloroplasts, Jose R. Dominguez-Solis, Zengyong He, Amparo Lima, Julie Ting, Bob B. Buchanan, and Sheng Luan, PNAS 2008 105:16386-16391 (October 21, 2008).

KANADI1 regulates adaxial–abaxial polarity in Arabidopsis by directly repressing the transcription of ASYMMETRIC LEAVES2, Gang Wu, Wan-ching Lin, Tengbo Huang, R. Scott Poethig, Patricia S. Springer, and Randall A. Kerstetter, PNAS 2008 105:16392-16397 (October 21, 2008).

A membrane-tethered transcription factor defines a branch of the heat stress response in Arabidopsis thaliana, Hongbo Gao, Federica Brandizzi, Christoph Benning, and Robert M. Larkin, PNAS 2008 105:16398-16403 (October 21, 2008).

Gene regulation: A tiny missing link for regulatory networks, Nature Reviews Genetics 9(11):813 (NOVEMBER 2008).

Evolution: Cis dominates but trans is dominant, Nature Reviews Genetics 9(11):816 (NOVEMBER 2008).

Biological principles of microRNA-mediated regulation: shared themes amid diversity, Alex S. Flynt & Eric C. Lai, Nature Reviews Genetics 9(11):831 (NOVEMBER 2008).
MicroRNAs exert their regulatory effects by potently repressing some targets, fine-tuning other targets or coordinately regulating target batteries. MicroRNA-mediated control can also be reversible. These regulatory themes underlie the exploitation of microRNA control in diverse biological circuits.

Epigenome dynamics: a quantitative genetics perspective, Frank Johannes, Vincent Colot & Ritsert C. Jansen, Nature Reviews Genetics 9(11):883 (NOVEMBER 2008).
Current approaches for dissecting complex traits largely ignore epiallelic variation. To overcome this limitation the authors propose a quantitative approach to identifying the dynamic interplay between DNA sequence, chromatin and environmental contributions to the phenotype, across generations and developmental time points.

Botany: Growing flowers, Nature 455(7216):1010 (23 October 2008).

Plant chemistry: Banana blues, Nature 455(7216):1010 (23 October 2008).

A Look at Next-Generation Sequencing Technologies, Nature Reviews Genetics 9(11): (November 2008).
DNA sequencing is undergoing a revolution. Sanger sequencing has reached its limits and is being replaced by a new generation of technologies that promise faster and cheaper delivery of sequencing information. Nature Genetics and Nature Reviews Genetics present a Poster and Podcast that explore the conceptual basis of these next-generation sequencing technologies, their myriad applications and challenges for the future.

BIOFUELS: Eyeing Oil, Synthetic Biologists Mine Microbes for Black Gold, Robert F. Service, Science 322(5901):522 - 523 (24 October 2008).
Biotechnology researchers want to reengineer microorganisms to turn agricultural products into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.

Can We Nip Obesity in Its Vascular Bud? C. Ronald Kahn, Science 322(5901):542 - 543 (24 October 2008).
The origin of fat tissues and identity of factors that direct fat development in animals are becoming more clear.

Splicing Factors Facilitate RNAi-Directed Silencing in Fission Yeast, E. H. Bayne et al., Science 322(5901):602 - 606 (24 October 2008).
In fission yeast, RNA splicing factors unexpectedly participate in the silencing of centromeric DNA by RNA interference derived from centromeres.

Model-guided design of ligand-regulated RNAi for programmable control of gene expression, Chase L Beisel, Travis S Bayer, Kevin G Hoff & Christina D Smolke, Molecular Systems Biology 4:224 (28 October 2008).

A quantitative comparison of sRNA-based and protein-based gene regulation, Pankaj Mehta, Sidhartha Goyal & Ned S Wingreen, Molecular Systems Biology 4:221 (14 October 2008).

Transient transcriptional responses to stress are generated by opposing effects of mRNA production and degradation, Ophir Shalem, Orna Dahan, Michal Levo, Maria Rodriguez Martinez, Itay Furman, Eran Segal & Yitzhak Pilpel, Molecular Systems Biology 4:4 (14 October 2008).

Grains on the chessboard, Nature Genetics40(11):1261 (November 2008).
Recent progress in mapping quantitative growth traits (QTLs) in rice yields insights into mechanisms of plant growth, hints at genomic signatures of the domestication process and promotes the prospect of agricultural improvement via introgression of beneficial variants.

Single-copy insertion of transgenes in Caenorhabditis elegans, Christian Frøkjær-Jensen, M Wayne Davis, Christopher E Hopkins, Blake J Newman, Jason M Thummel, Søren-Peter Olesen, Morten Grunnet & Erik M Jorgensen, Nature Genetics40(11):pp1375 - 1383 (November 2008).
Erik Jorgensen and colleagues report a highly efficient method for generating single-copy transgene insertions in C. elegans. Notably, these single-copy transgenes are expressed at endogenous levels and can be expressed in the female and male germlines.