October 2012

Research articles

1. 1. Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics

   Molecular architecture of human polycomb repressive complex 2

   Claudio Ciferri, Gabriel C Lander ... Eva Nogales

   Electron microscopy has been used to produce the first three-dimensional image of the PRC2 gene-silencing complex.
2. 1. Cell Biology
   2. Immunology and Inflammation

   Sequence specific detection of bacterial 23S ribosomal RNA by TLR13

   Xiao-Dong Li, Zhijian J Chen

   A pattern recognition receptor called toll-like receptor 13 detects pathogens in a manner that is different to that seen in other pathogen sensors.
3. 1. Neuroscience

   Foggy perception slows us down

   Paolo Pretto, Jean-Pierre Bresciani ... Heinrich H Bülthoff

   Virtual reality experiments show that motorists slow down when driving in fog, but they speed up when visibility is reduced equally at all distances.
4. 1. Cell Biology

   A bacterial sulfonolipid triggers multicellular development in the closest living relatives of animals

   Rosanna A Alegado, Laura W Brown ... Nicole King

   The development of colonies of cells in choanoflagellates, water-dwelling organisms that feed on bacteria, is triggered by the presence of very low concentrations of a lipid molecule produced by certain types of bacteria.
5. 1. Cell Biology

   The unfolded protein response in fission yeast modulates stability of select mRNAs to maintain protein homeostasis

   Philipp Kimmig, Marcy Diaz ... Peter Walter

   A unique form of regulation has been observed in the unfolded protein response of S. pombe, along with a novel mechanism of post-transcriptional mRNA processing.
6. 1. Plant Biology
   2. Evolutionary Biology

   Herbivory-induced volatiles function as defenses increasing fitness of the native plant Nicotiana attenuata in nature

   Meredith C Schuman, Kathleen Barthel, Ian T Baldwin

   A 2-year field study has demonstrated that volatile compounds produced by plants when they are attacked by herbivores act as defenses by attracting predators to the herbivores and increasing the reproduction of the plants.
7. 1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression

   The starvation hormone, fibroblast growth factor-21, extends lifespan in mice

   Yuan Zhang, Yang Xie ... David J Mangelsdorf

   Transgenic mice with high levels of FGF21 live for longer than wild-type mice and do so without reducing food intake.