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The Sugar Lnc

By Sabrina Richards | May 1, 2012

Genes that react to cellular sugar content are regulated by a long non-coding RNA via an unexpected mechanism.

MEGA MITOCHONDRIA: Researchers find that two flowering plants in the Silene genus (above) have comparatively enormous genomes in their mitochondria, an organelle with a high mutation rate.Yale University

Ginormous Genome

By Sabrina Richards | May 1, 2012

Researchers find organisms with huge, highly mutable genomes, overturning a common expectation in evolutionary biology.

PLAYING OFFENSE: T cells, like the one pictured here, do not attack cancer cells when in the presence of certain signals. New research shows that what was thought to be a suppressive signal may actually help activate an anticancer immune attack. NIAID

Tumor Turnabout

By Megan Scudellari | May 1, 2012

A cytokine involved in suppressing the immune system may activate it to kill cancer cells.

CANCER OR MORE BOYS: A mutated form of the human gene for breast cancer is also responsible for producing more male progeny in C. elegans worms, pictured here.Photo Researchers, Inc., Sinclair Stammers

Finding Phenotypes

By Edyta Zielinska | April 1, 2012

Genes shared across species that produce different phenotypes—deafness in humans and directional growth in plants—may reveal new models of disease.

EDDY EDIBLES: This NASA satellite image shows a 150-kilometer-wide, deep-water eddy (blue) 800 miles south of Africa, made visible by its planktonic bloom.NASA

Whirlpool Bistros

By Edyta Zielinska | April 1, 2012

Fish adapt to feed for months along the entire depth of massive oceanic whirlpools that are rich in nutrients and plankton.

INTEGRIN TRAP: Rab25 proteins bind integrins in the cell membrane and shuttle them to lysosomes. If the Rab25 shuttles the integrins to a lysosome where CLIC3 is absent, then they are degraded (A). If CLIC3 is present on the surface of the lysosome, the integrins survive and are shuttled to the rear of the cell where they help the cell detach from the extracellular matrix (ECM) and become metastatic (B). Precision Graphics

A Malignant Alliance

By Megan Scudellari | April 1, 2012

Two proteins interact to save adhesion molecules from degradation, potentially contributing to a more aggressive cancer.

CROSSTALK: IgA producing B cells (green) appear in large numbers in the villi (purple) of the small intestine, where they help keep microbiota from suppressing metabolic functions of the epithelium (gray).Amiran Dzutsev & Natalia Shulzhenko

Biota Babble

By Edyta Zielinska | March 1, 2012

Editor’s choice in immunology

TAGGING FATE: Like the Moirai, the three fates in Greek mythology, the promoter sequence can decide the lifespan of some messenger RNAs (shown here) as they are first transcribed in the nucleus. shunyufan/istockphoto.com

Promoting Death

By Edyta Zielinska | March 1, 2012

Editor’s choice in biochemistry

03_12_medilit

How to Make Eyeball Stew

By Hannah Waters | March 1, 2012

Editor’s choice in developmental biology

HUNGRY FOR PROTEIN: Colored scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a group of Legionella pneumophila bacteria. CDC Public Health Image Library

Forced Feeding

By Edyta Zielinska | February 1, 2012

Editor’s choice in drug development

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