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Science,
1994]
Like people, cells die in different ways: accident, murder, old age, even suicide. In fact, cellular suicide isn't just a curiosity, it's necessary for the health of the organism. During embryonic development, for example, it helps weed out superfluous nerve cells, as well as immune cells that might attack and damage the body's own tissues. Like a spy-plane pilot who carries a little vial of poison under his seat in case he's captured, cells carry in their nuclei a genetic program for suicide that can be set in motion, should the cell receive orders to self-destruct. Now, after years of eluding researchers, the genes that carry out the suicide program are coming into the light...
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Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A,
2003]
The discovery of transgene silencing in plants and double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) interference in the worm Caenorhabditis elegans has led to the latest revolution in molecular biology, RNA interference (RNAi). Over 10 years ago it was noted that several transgenic plant lines each containing the same ectopic transgene not only failed to be expressed but also inhibited the expression of the endogenous gene. Similarly, a determined Craig Mello and Andy Fire, attempting to reduce gene function using using antisense RNA in the worm, discovered a minor contaminant in their antisense RNA preparation effectively and repeatedly reduced expression of the endogenous gene. In both cases, dsRNA homologous to the gene of interest was responsible for these observations. In the last 4 years, these discoveries have been extended to include protozoa,
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Curr Biol,
2011]
Recent work on a Caenorhabditis elegans transmembrane ATPase reveals a central role for the aminophospholipid phosphatidylethanolamine in the production of a class of extracellular vesicles.
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Nat Cell Biol,
2011]
Aurora A kinase is a key regulator of cell division, whose functions were attributed to its ability to phosphorylate diverse substrates. Aurora A is now shown to have a kinase-independent role in the regulation of chromatin-mediated microtubule assembly.
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Elife,
2015]
Chromosome separation is regulated by a cycle that involves a protein undergoing an unusual topological conversion.
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Curr Biol,
2015]
As a microtubule-organizing center, the centrosome undergoes a dramatic increase in size - via expansion of the pericentriolar material - during mitosis. Recent work reveals shared assembly properties of a protein scaffold that facilitates and supports this expansion, a process critical to spindle assembly.
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Cell,
2014]
Li et al. demonstrate that a single interneuron can regulate analog- and digital-like behaviors guided by two different postsynaptic neurons. Releasing a single neurotransmitter onto downstream neurons that express receptors with distinct biophysical properties enables a small set of neurons to direct a range of functional responses.
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Nat Chem Biol,
2009]
Screening a library of expressed cyclic peptides identified clones that reverse the cytotoxicity of alpha-synuclein in yeast and Caenorhabditis elegans. The results suggest a new approach for intervention in Parkinson's disease, and perhaps a druggable target.
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Curr Biol,
2017]
A landmark study has revealed that an interleukin-17-like signaling system modulates a neural circuit that controls the aggregation behavior of nematodes.
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Curr Biol,
2013]
In the defecation motor program of Caenorhabditis elegans, a pacemaker rhythm generated by the intestine leads to the activation of motor neurons controlling enteric muscle contraction. A new study demonstrates that this signal is conveyed by a neuropeptide that is released from intestinal cells and acutely depolarizes the motorneurons, acting much like a classical neurotransmitter.