Genetik Ufku

How has our understanding of the brain evolved? And what can its progress tell us about the way science works? Armin Schneider explores these questions in his review of Charles Gross' new collection of essays on the history of neuroscience in Fire in the Quill.

The Robo3 receptor controls midline crossing by axons. Deleting Robo3 in specific commissural neurons with a conditional knockout reveals their contribution to sensory and motor integration, and models human neurological conditions.

Geneticists have long known that centromeres suppress crossing over, but considerable evidence indicates that they appear to recombine. Confirmation of gene conversion in maize centromeres explains this paradox.

Data from maize show that centromeres strongly suppress crossing over and instead undergo frequent genetic exchange in the form of gene conversion.

Upon DNA damage, a cytosolic form of the mitochondrial enzyme fumarase moves into the nucleus where, by virtue of its enzymatic activity, it participates in the cell's response to DNA damage. This potentially explains its known role as a tumor suppressor.

A surprising level of evolutionary plasticity is revealed by analysis of differences between related yeasts in the mechanisms regulating the essential cellular process of ribosomal gene expression.

In this essay, Abigail Shearin and Elaine Ostrander discuss the proposed genomic mechanisms for the extraordinary level of phenotypic variation observed in the domestic dog and the evidence detailing the variants responsible for the many shapes, sizes, textures, and colors of man's best friend.

It is easy to dismiss reconstructed organisms and behaviors from the past as “mere speculation”, but empirical evidence, comparison with modern analogs, and biomechanical modeling can provide remarkable insights.

A new snake from Upper Cretaceous rocks in India is found with hatchling sauropod dinosaurs, demonstrating that large, gape-limited snakes were probably capable of taking in moderate-sized vertebrate prey.

While disruption of p53 is selectively neutral within non-stressed hematopoiesis, it confers a strong selective advantage upon irradiation, leading to expansion of p53 mutant clones and lymphoma development.

In this essay, Abigail Shearin and Elaine Ostrander discuss the proposed genomic mechanisms for the extraordinary level of phenotypic variation observed in the domestic dog and the evidence detailing the variants responsible for the many shapes, sizes, textures, and colors of man's best friend.

It is easy to dismiss reconstructed organisms and behaviors from the past as “mere speculation”, but empirical evidence, comparison with modern analogs, and biomechanical modeling can provide remarkable insights.

A new snake from Upper Cretaceous rocks in India is found with hatchling sauropod dinosaurs, demonstrating that large, gape-limited snakes were probably capable of taking in moderate-sized vertebrate prey.

While disruption of p53 is selectively neutral within non-stressed hematopoiesis, it confers a strong selective advantage upon irradiation, leading to expansion of p53 mutant clones and lymphoma development.

Pea aphids extracting sap from the stem and leaves of garden peas. Nymph aphids surrounding the mother aphid were produced parthenogenetically and viviparously; sexual reproduction can be induced by shorter amounts of daylight. A study conducted by The International Aphid Genomics Consortium (e1000313) reveals significant features of the whole genome sequence of the pea aphid, shedding light on its unusual life cycle and interaction with endosymbiotic bacteria.

Image Credit: Shipher Wu (photograph) and Gee-way Lin (aphid provision), National Taiwan University.

The genome of the pea aphid shows remarkable levels of gene duplication and equally remarkable gene absences that shed light on aspects of aphid biology, most especially its symbiosis with Buchnera.

An unusual mechanism of ion channel regulation generates voltage-dependent gating in the absence of a canonical voltage-sensing domain.

Here, the authors demonstrate that variations of absolute humidity explain both the onset of wintertime influenza transmission and the overarching seasonality of this pathogen in temperate regions.

Persisters are specialized survivor cells that arise in populations of E. coli after antibiotic-mediated DNA damage induces the production of a small membrane-acting peptide TisB, which causes reversible dormancy. The TisB-dependent persisters are tolerant to multiple antibiotics.