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Genes Dev,
2003]
Obesity and the occurrence of diabetes are on the rise. Much of this is attributable to a more sedentary lifestyle and high caloric intake in industrialized countries and is a major cause of a variety of health problems. Obesity and diabetes are intimately linked to insulin, which increases glucose uptake in cells and serves as a primary regulator of blood glucose levels. Insulin has been an important target of investigation for decades, as indicated by its sequence determination by Sanger and colleagues in 1955, and is now the subject of renewed interest.
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Neuron,
2004]
Two papers in the current issues of Neuron (Gallegos and Bargmann) and Cell (Emoto et al.) identify a conserved kinase, SAX-1/Trc, and a large protein required for Trc activity, SAX-2/Fry, as essential elements in the control of dendritic branching and tiling in Drosophila and C. elegans. The tiling and ectopic branching phenotypes of trc mutants appear to be independently generated. Thus, this kinase is the first signaling protein to be associated specifically with tiling.
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Dev Cell,
2019]
Bacterial avoidance and innate immune response are two ways by which C.elegans respond to pathogenic bacteria. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Kumar etal. (2019) and Singh and Aballay (2019) demonstrate that bacterial colonization is essential to induce both responses, which may be associated with somatic and reproductive longevity.
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Dev Cell,
2015]
Adherens junctions (AJs) play a crucial role in epithelial tissue development and tumorigenesis, and the mechanisms controlling their assembly and disassembly have therefore attracted considerable attention. A paper from Tsur et al. (2015) in this issue of Developmental Cell now shows how sumoylation and desumoylation of E-cadherin promotes its recruitment to AJs.
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Cell,
2009]
The TRIM-NHL family of proteins is conserved among metazoans and has been shown to regulate cell proliferation and development. In this issue, Hammell et al. (2009) and Schwamborn et al. (2009) identify two members of this protein family, NHL-2 in worms and TRIM32 in mice, as positive regulators of microRNA function.
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Genetics,
2012]
An article by Polley and Fay in this issue of GENETICS provides an excellent opportunity to introduce or reinforce concepts of reverse genetics and RNA interference, suppressor screens, synthetic phenotypes, and phenocopy. Necessary background, explanations of these concepts, and a sample approach to classroom use of the original article, including discussion questions, are provided.
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Genome Biol,
2013]
Integral nuclear pore proteins associate with subsets of snoRNA and tRNA genes transcribed by RNA polymerase III and promote 3 transcript processing in nematodes.
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Curr Biol,
2012]
New research characterizes a tubulin acetyltransferase that acts inside the microtubule lumen and has two separable activities that greatly affect microtubule architecture and functionality.
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Curr Biol,
2009]
Some protein complexes bind DNA elements and then spread to exert gene regulation over broad domains. The Caenorhabditis elegans dosage compensation complex is one example, and new studies have teased out rules for its recruitment and spreading over X chromosomes.
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Cell,
2013]
Animals are often in discrete behavioral states, but it is unclear how one specific state is generated and opposes alternative states. Flavell etal. now identify molecular and neural components in C.elegans that are involved in the generation of dwelling and roaming states.