This month in Bio-Med Roundup:

• Thorne et al. described a promising "Trojan horse" cancer therapy in which killer immune cells delivered a tumor-destroying virus to mouse tumors.
• Maier et al. and Jenni et al. presented detailed views of the large protein complexes that synthesize fatty acids in mammals and fungi.
• Lien et al. found that a cell adhesion protein plays a role in regulating early vertebrate brain development.
• Zhong and Sternberg constructed a comprehensive genetic interaction map for C. elegans.

Jump to:
Medicine
Structural Biology/Biochemistry
Neuroscience
Psychology
Genetics
Immunology
Cell Biology
Plant Science

MEDICINE

Cellular Senescence in Aging Primates (3 March 2006)

U. Herbig, M. Ferreira, L. Condel, D. Carey, J. M. Sedivy

As baboons age, cells that have become irreversibly senescent accumulate in various tissues, likely contributing to the aging of the whole animal.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5765/1257

The Global Impact of Scaling Up HIV/AIDS Prevention Programs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (10 March 2006)

J. Stover, S. Bertozzi, J.-P. Gutierrez, N. Walker, K. A. Stanecki, R. Greener, E. Gouws, C. Hankins, G. P. Garnett, J. A. Salomon et al.

Implementation of AIDS prevention measures targeting sexual transmission and drug users could prevent 30 million new infections in the next 10 years.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5766/1474

A Protein Farnesyltransferase Inhibitor Ameliorates Disease in a Mouse Model of Progeria (17 March 2006)

L. G. Fong, D. Frost, M. Meta, X. Qiao, S. H. Yang, C. Coffinier, S. G. Young

A drug that inhibits the addition of lipids to proteins has beneficial effects in a mouse version of a rare premature aging disorder, suggesting that it may be useful in children with the disease.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5767/1621

Reversal of Diabetes in Non-Obese Diabetic Mice Without Spleen Cell–Derived b?Cell Regeneration (24 March 2006)

A. S. Chong, J. Shen, J. Tao, D. Yin, A. Kuznetsov, M. Hara, L. H. Philipson

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5768/1774

Islet Recovery and Reversal of Murine Type 1 Diabetes in the Absence of Any Infused Spleen Cell Contribution (24 March 2006)

J. Nishio, J. L. Gaglia, S. E. Turvey, C. Campbell, C. Benoist, D. Mathis

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5768/1775

Immunological Reversal of Autoimmune Diabetes Without Hematopoietic Replacement of b?Cells (24 March 2006)

A. Suri, B. Calderon, T. J. Esparza, K. Frederick, P. Bittner, E. R. Unanue

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5768/1778

Symptoms of type 1 diabetes can be alleviated in mice treated with spleen cells from another mouse, but not via transdifferentiation of the transplanted cells as had been suggested.

Synergistic Antitumor Effects of Immune Cell-Viral Biotherapy (24 March 2006)

S. H. Thorne, R. S. Negrin, C. H. Contag

A combination cancer therapy, in which tumor-seeking immune cells deliver a tumor-destroying virus, is more effective in mice than either approach alone.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5768/1780

STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY/BIOCHEMISTRY

Architecture of Mammalian Fatty Acid Synthase at 4.5 Å Resolution (3 March 2006)

T. Maier, S. Jenni, N. Ban

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5765/1258

Architecture of a Fungal Fatty Acid Synthase at 5 Å Resolution (3 March 2006)

S. Jenni, M. Leibundgut, T. Maier, N. Ban

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5765/1263

The large multiprotein complexes that synthesize fatty acids in mammals and fungi have radically different architectures.

See related Perspective at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/311/5765/1251

Chemical Rescue of a Mutant Enzyme in Living Cells (3 March 2006)

Y. Qiao, H. Molina, A. Pandey, J. Zhang, P. A. Cole

Abnormal cells harboring a mutant signaling enzyme found in some cancers can be rapidly rescued by the small molecule imidazole, suggesting a therapeutic application.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5765/1293

Structure of the Hydrophilic Domain of Respiratory Complex I from Thermus thermophilus (10 March 2006)

L. A. Sazanov and P. Hinchliffe

The x-ray crystal structure of the peripheral part of the largest bacterial respiratory electron-transport complex shows the folds, contacts, and positions of the redox cofactors.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5766/1430

Structure and Mechanism of the Lantibiotic Cyclase Involved in Nisin Biosynthesis (10 March 2006)

B. Li, J. P. J. Yu, J. S. Brunzelle, G. N. Moll, W. A. van der Donk, S. K. Nair

The enzyme that performs the final step in the biosynthesis of the antimicrobial food preservative nisin constructs five thioether rings of different sizes in this peptide.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5766/1464

See related Perspective at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/311/5766/1382

Engineering Cooperativity in Biomotor-Protein Assemblies (10 March 2006)

M. R. Diehl, K. Zhang, H. J. Lee, D. A. Tirrell

Artificial assembly of kinesin proteins on scaffold molecules shows that their transport activity is enhanced by their proximity.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5766/1468

Probing Gene Expression in Live Cells, One Protein Molecule at a Time (17 March 2006)

J. Yu, J. Xiao, X. Ren, K. Lao, X. S. Xie

Visualization of individual proteins shows that translation of single messenger RNAs in E. coli yields random bursts of new protein molecules.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5767/1600

Structure of Tracheal Cytotoxin in Complex with a Heterodimeric Pattern-Recognition Receptor (24 March 2006)

C.-I Chang, Y. Chelliah, D. Borek, D. Mengin-Lecreulx, J. Deisenhofer

A bacterial peptide activates innate immune responses in Drosophila by inducing two recognition proteins to bind to each other.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5768/1761

NEUROSCIENCE

Combined Analog and Action Potential Coding in Hippocampal Mossy Fibers (3 March 2006)

H. Alle and J. R. P. Geiger

Synapses at one end of a neuron can be affected by graded synaptic currents at the other end, 0.5 millimeters away, suggesting that analog information is unexpectedly used in the brain.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5765/1290

Combinatorial Effects of Odorant Mixes in Olfactory Cortex (10 March 2006)

Z. Zou and L. B. Buck

Specific neurons in the olfactory cortex act as coincidence detectors, responding to a mixture of two odors but not to the individual components of the mixture.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5766/1477

Reward Timing in the Primary Visual Cortex (17 March 2006)

M. G. Shuler and M. F. Bear

Neurons in the primary visual cortex respond differently to a flash of light after it has been paired with a reward, unexpectedly showing that cognitive information is coded at this level in the cortex.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5767/1606

aE-Catenin Controls Cerebral Cortical Size by Regulating the Hedgehog Signaling Pathway (17 March 2006)

W.-H. Lien, O. Klezovitch, T. E. Fernandez, J. Delrow, V. Vasioukhin

Specialized junctions between neurons during development help control the number of cells in the brain, and thus final brain size.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5767/1609

See related Perspective at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/311/5767/1560

State-Dependent Learned Valuation Drives Choice in an Invertebrate (17 March 2006)

L. Pompilio, A. Kacelnik, S. T. Behmer

Grasshoppers prefer foods that they previously encountered when very hungry, illustrating a sophisticated form of learning unexpected in an insect.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5767/1613

PSYCHOLOGY

Chimpanzees Recruit the Best Collaborators (3 March 2006)

A. P. Melis, B. Hare, M. Tomasello

Like humans, chimps will preferentially recruit especially skilled species-mates to solve difficult problems.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5765/1297

See related Perspective at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/311/5765/1248

Altruistic Helping in Human Infants and Young Chimpanzees (3 March 2006)

F. Warneken and M. Tomasello

Toddlers can recognize that an adult needs help with a task and assist, indicating empathy and altruism; young chimpanzees do the same, but less effectively.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5765/1301

See related Perspective at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/311/5765/1248

GENETICS

Germline Mutations in Genes Within the MAPK Pathway Cause Cardio-facio-cutaneous Syndrome (3 March 2006)

P. Rodriguez-Viciana, O. Tetsu, W. E. Tidyman, A. L. Estep, B. A. Conger, M. Santa Cruz, F. McCormick, K. A. Rauen

Mutations that functionally alter an intensely studied cellular signaling pathway are found in young patients with a developmental delay disorder.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5765/1287

Genome-Wide Prediction of C. elegans Genetic Interactions (10 March 2006)

W. Zhong and P. W. Sternberg

Construction of a comprehensive gene interaction network for C. elegans, guided by data from yeast and fruit flies, identifies previously undescribed interacting protein pairs.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5766/1481

See related Perspective at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/311/5766/1381

Large-Scale Sequence Analysis of Avian Influenza Isolates (17 March 2006)

J. C. Obenauer, J. Denson, P. K. Mehta, X. Su, S. Mukatira, D. B. Finkelstein, X. Xu, J. Wang, J. Ma, Y. Fan et al.

Sequences from 169 isolates of avian influenza viruses, including many different strains, reveal that all have a motif located in a nonstructural gene that is necessary for virulence.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5767/1576

See related Perspective at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/311/5767/1562

Genomic Islands and the Ecology and Evolution of Prochlorococcus (24 March 2006)

M. L. Coleman, M. B. Sullivan, A. C. Martiny, C. Steglich, K. Barry, E. F. DeLong, S. W. Chisholm

As with other bacteria, genetic differences between closely related strains of phytoplankton are clustered in genomic islands, probably acquired by phage-assisted lateral gene transfer.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5768/1768

Genome-Wide Detection of Polymorphisms at Nucleotide Resolution with a Single DNA Microarray (31 March 2006)

D. Gresham, D. M. Ruderfer, S. C. Pratt, J. Schacherer, M. J. Dunham, D. Botstein, L. Kruglyak

Hybridization of yeast DNA from a test strain to a microarray with redundant reference DNA simply and rapidly identifies most of the polymorphisms between the two strains.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5769/1932

IMMUNOLOGY

Toll-Like Receptor Triggering of a Vitamin D–Mediated Human Antimicrobial Response (24 March 2006)

P. T. Liu, S. Stenger, H. Li, L. Wenzel, B. H. Tan, S. R. Krutzik, M. T. Ochoa, J. Schauber, K. Wu, C. Meinken et al.

In humans, vitamin D is necessary for efficient induction of antimicrobial peptides that act against tuberculosis, perhaps explaining the therapeutic effect of sunlight.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5768/1770

Selective Stimulation of T Cell Subsets with Antibody-Cytokine Immune Complexes (31 March 2006)

O. Boyman, M. Kovar, M. P. Rubinstein, C. D. Surh, J. Sprent

The paradoxical stimulation of memory immune cells is explained by an unusual activation of a growth factor when bound to an antibody usually thought to be inhibitory.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5769/1924

See related Perspective at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/311/5769/1875

A Critical Role for the Innate Immune Signaling Molecule IRAK-4 in T Cell Activation (31 March 2006)

N. Suzuki, S. Suzuki, D. G. Millar, M. Unno, H. Hara, T. Calzascia, S. Yamasaki, T. Yokosuka, N.-J. Chen, A. R. Elford et al.

A signaling enzyme known to participate in innate immunity in mice is unexpectedly also required for adaptive immune responses in T cells.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5769/1927

CELL BIOLOGY

Progressive Disruption of Cellular Protein Folding in Models of Polyglutamine Diseases (10 March 2006)

T. Gidalevitz, A. Ben-Zvi, K. H. Ho, H. R. Brignull, R. I. Morimoto

In experiments in nematodes that may simulate some neurodegenerative diseases, abnormal, glutamine-rich proteins disrupt the cell’s normal disposal of misfolded proteins.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5766/1471

See related Perspective at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/311/5766/1385

A Mitotic Lamin B Matrix Induced by RanGTP Required for Spindle Assembly (31 March 2006)

M.-Y. Tsai, S. Wang, J. M. Heidinger, D. K. Shumaker, S. A. Adam, R. D. Goldman, Y. Zheng

Lamin B, a structural protein of the interphase nucleus also coordinates assembly of the mitotic spindle.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5769/1887

Kaposi’s Sarcoma–Associated Herpesvirus Fusion-Entry Receptor: Cystine Transporter xCT (31 March 2006)

J. A. R. Kaleeba and E. A. Berger

The Kaposi’s sarcoma–associated herpesvirus enters human cells by binding to a transporter that shuttles metabolic precursors into cells.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5769/1921

PLANT SCIENCE

Rice Domestication by Reducing Shattering (31 March 2006)

C. Li, A. Zhou, T. Sang

The retention of rice grains on the plant after ripening—a trait important for domestication—is the result of a single nucleotide change in a transcription factor gene.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5769/1936

Cellulose Synthase–Like CslF Genes Mediate the Synthesis of Cell Wall (1,3;1,4)-b-D-Glucans (31 March 2006)

R. A. Burton, S. M. Wilson, M. Hrmova, A. J. Harvey, N. J. Shirley, A. Medhurst, B. A. Stone, E. J. Newbigin, A. Bacic, G. B. Fincher

An enzyme identified in rice generates a complex sugar found in the cell walls of many grains that are as important as human and animal food.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/311/5769/1940

See related Perspective at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/311/5769/1872