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Science,
2000]
A powerful, top-down, holistic approach in biological research is to identify all of the components of a particular cellular process, so that one can define the global picture first and then use it as a framework to understand how the individual components of the process fit together. On page 116 of this issue, Wahout et al. report that they have started to compile a global map of interactions between all of the proteins in the worm Caenorhabditis elegans (1). These investigators commandeered a small number of well-studied proteins to establish the technical and conceptual framework for this mammoth protein-binding project. Their ultimate goal is to illuminate all of the protein-protein interactions in this animal, and to combine this information with that from other functional genomics approaches to work out what each worm gene does.
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Cell,
2008]
Muscle contractions are driven by neurotransmitters released at neuromuscular junctions. In this issue, Beg et al. (2008) report that protons, in the absence of neurotransmitters and neurons, can stimulate muscle contractions involved in the defecation cycle of the worm Caenorhabditis elegans. Their results identify protons as a new intercellular messenger and suggest that proton-mediated intercellular communication may be a widespread phenomenon.
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Curr Biol,
2015]
A recent study identifies a role for a Toll pathway with likely non-canonical features in the developmental specification of BAG neurons in Caenorhabditis elegans. These neurons function to sense carbon dioxide, which is shown to facilitate avoidance of pathogenic bacteria.
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Dev Cell,
2014]
HORMA domain proteins are required for the careful orchestration of chromosomal organization during meiosis. Kim et al. (2014) and Silva et al. (2014) now provide structural and functional insights into the roles of C. elegans HORMA proteins, revealing parallels to the function of the HORMA protein MAD2 in mitotic checkpoint signaling.
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Cell Host Microbe,
2014]
During acute infection our behavior tends to change. Despite how common sickness behavior is, its molecular basis is not well understood. In a study published in Cell, Kim and colleagues (Meisel etal., 2014) implicate bacterial secondary metabolites as triggers of neural TGF-? signaling, which results in behavioral change during infection.
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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.