A new synopsis
outlines the study
by Brunner et al. that reveals a functional rule for N-terminal
acetylation in higher eukaryotes, called the (X)PX rule, and
describing a generic method that prevents this modification and
thus allows the study of N-terminal acetylation in any given
protein.
A collection
of essays, perspectives, and reviews, produced with support
from Google.org, describes how genomics can revolutionize our
understanding of emerging infectious disease. The collection has
contributions from nearly all the PLoS Journals; PLoS
Biology offers an introductory Editorial from Jonathan Eisen and
Catriona MacCallum, a Perspective
from W. Florian Fricke et al. on the role of genomics in
biosecurity, and Google.org's Perspective from Rajesh Gupta et al.
advocating an Infectious Disease Genomics Project. You can
listen to an audio interview discussion of the issues raised
by this collection.
A new synopsis
explains a study by
Walther et al. showing that non-neuronal, peripheral
serotonin deficiency causes diabetes mellitus, and identifying an
intracellular role for serotonin in the regulation of insulin
secretion.
Immune activation is often associated with inflammation, but
inflammation's role in the expansion of antigen-specific immune
responses remains unclear. This primer
focuses on recent
findings by Gumperz et al. that show how specific natural
killer T cells are activated by inflammatory messengers, thus
illuminating the cellular and molecular links between immunity
and inflammation.
This synopsis
discusses the Lebrand et
al. study exploring how neurons, glia, and callosal axons
operate as a "ménage à trois" in the development of the
corpus callosum.