This month in BioMed Roundup:

• Sparrow et al. reported that with the Internet, people are more likely to encode where information is stored rather than the information itself.
• Hashimoto et al. showed that a single missense mutation is linked to intellectual impairment.
• Stransky et al. used large-scale sequencing to reveal additional genetic mutations present in head and neck cancer.
• Sheltzer et al. reported that additional chromosomes cause general genomic instability in yeast.

Jump to:

• Neuroscience/Psychology
• Biochemistry
• Medicine
• Cell/Developmental Biology
• Genetics
• Immunology
• Plant Biology

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NEUROSCIENCE/PSYCHOLOGY

Cartilage Acidic Protein–1B (LOTUS), an Endogenous Nogo Receptor Antagonist for Axon Tract Formation (5 August 2011)
Y. Sato et al.
A molecule that functions in normal olfactory tract development could provide clues to failed neuronal regeneration in adults.

Integrating What and When Across the Primate Medial Temporal Lobe (5 August 2011)
Y. Naya and W. A. Suzuki
Structures of the medial temporal lobe provide distinct but complementary signals to encode temporal-order information.

Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips (5 August 2011)
B. Sparrow et al.
Owing to Internet search, we are more likely to encode “where” aspects of memory rather than "what."

Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor β2 Subunits in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex Control Attention (12 August 2011)
K. Guillem et al.
An important molecular mechanism involved in cognition has been unraveled.

Schema-Dependent Gene Activation and Memory Encoding in Neocortex (12 August 2011)
D. Tse et al.
New hippocampal-dependent learning is in parallel consolidated with existing memories in the neocortex.

MED23 Mutation Links Intellectual Disability to Dysregulation of Immediate Early Gene Expression (26 August 2011)
S. Hashimoto et al.
A single missense mutation is linked to intellectual impairment.


BIOCHEMISTRY

Extending the Carbon Chain: Hydrocarbon Formation Catalyzed by Vanadium/Molybdenum Nitrogenases (5 August 2011)
Y. Hu et al.
The molybdenum nitrogenase enzyme can reduce carbon monoxide, albeit inefficiently, in addition to its native substrate, nitrogen.

High-Speed Atomic Force Microscopy Reveals Rotary Catalysis of Rotorless F₁-ATPase (5 August 2011)
T. Uchihashi et al.
Intrinsic cooperativity drives cyclic propagation of conformational states in the stator ring of an adenosine triphosphate–driven rotary motor.
See related Perspective

Structural Basis for Tail-Anchored Membrane Protein Biogenesis by the Get3-Receptor Complex (5 August 2011)
S. Stefer et al.
Docking of cytoplasmic and membrane receptors facilitates conformational changes that drive protein insertion.

The Structure of the Kinesin-1 Motor-Tail Complex Reveals the Mechanism of Autoinhibition (12 August 2011)
H. Y. K. Kaan et al.
A tail domain autoinhibits a dimeric kinesin by preventing relative movement of the two motor domains.

Expanding the Genetic Code of Escherichia coli with Phosphoserine (26 August 2011)
H.-S. Park et al.
Engineered bacterial translation can be used to direct site-specific insertion of an amino acid into proteins.


MEDICINE

The Leukemogenicity of AML1-ETO Is Dependent on Site-Specific Lysine Acetylation (5 August 2011)
L. Wang et al.
A protein that drives the growth of leukemia does so only when it carries a specific posttranslational modification.

Mutational Inactivation of STAG2 Causes Aneuploidy in Human Cancer (19 August 2011)
D. A. Solomon et al.
Tumors harbor mutations that disrupt chromatid separation during cell division, leading to chromosomal abnormalities.
See related Perspective

Exome Sequencing of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Reveals Inactivating Mutations in NOTCH1 (26 August 2011)
N. Agrawal et al.
The Mutational Landscape of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (26 August 2011)
N. Stransky et al.
The mutational profile of head and neck cancer is complex and may pose challenges to the development of targeted therapies.
See related Perspective


CELL/DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY

Drosophila Sex lethal Gene Initiates Female Development in Germline Progenitors (12 August 2011)
K. Hashiyama et al.
Primordial germ cells are directed toward oogenesis even before they migrate to the gonads of the fruit fly.
See related Perspective

Aneuploidy Drives Genomic Instability in Yeast (19 August 2011)
J. M. Sheltzer et al.
Extra chromosomes cause general genomic instability in yeast.
See related Perspective

Nectins Establish a Checkerboard-Like Cellular Pattern in the Auditory Epithelium (26 August 2011)
H. Togashi et al.
Interactions between adhesion molecules support the checkerboard-like patterning of cells in the cochlea.
See related Perspective


GENETICS

The Plant Cell Wall–Decomposing Machinery Underlies the Functional Diversity of Forest Fungi (5 August 2011)
D. C. Eastwood et al.
Comparative genomic analysis of "dry rot" fungus shows both convergent evolution and divergence among fungal decomposers.



IMMUNOLOGY

Inhibitory Fcγ Receptor Engagement Drives Adjuvant and Anti-Tumor Activities of Agonistic CD40 Antibodies (19 August 2011)
F. Li and J. V. Ravetch
Engagement of an inhibitory receptor improves the anti-tumor efficacy of a monoclonal antibody.
See related Perspective


PLANT BIOLOGY

Chaperonins Facilitate KNOTTED1 Cell-to-Cell Trafficking and Stem Cell Function (26 August 2011)
X. M. Xu et al.
Active transfer of a transcription factor between plant cells is required for stem cell maintenance.
See related Perspective

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