The principal potassium ion channel in human sperm, Slo3, is primarily activated by calcium ions and controls the membrane potential of human sperm by intracellular calcium ion levels rather than intracellular pH.
David B Doroquez, Cristina Berciu ... Daniela Nicastro
The three-dimensional structures of 50 sensory cilia present in the head of the adult C. elegans hermaphrodite have been reconstructed to provide a foundation for investigations into the mechanisms by which the diversity of cilia structures is generated and how this structural diversity is related to specific sensory neuron functions.
As mice learn to associate events separated in time, neurons within the CA1 region of the hippocampus progressively reorganize their firing patterns, leading to a relay of cellular activity that bridges the two events.
Charlotte J Stagg, Velicia Bachtiar ... Heidi Johansen-Berg
In the brain at rest, the degree of coordinated activity within the motor network is inversely related to levels of the inhibitory transmitter GABA in primary motor cortex.
The first in vitro analysis of full-length human Kif15 provides insight into how hKif15 and its inhibitory binding partner hTpx2 modulate mitotic spindle architecture.
Apoptotic cells release molecules to recruit macrophages, but do not cause inflammation because they also secrete AMP that functions as a ‘calm down’ signal.
Associative learning, but not passive odorant exposure, induces a novel long lasting functional plasticity in the periphery of mouse olfactory system, making previously encountered odors easier to detect in the future.
The mRNA that encodes a Drosophila sodium channel enables neurons to adapt to acute temperature changes, via a mechanism independent of its protein-coding role.
Jennifer L Stamos, Matthew Ling-Hon Chu ... William I Weis
Phosphorylation of the Wnt receptor LRP6 directly inhibits glycogen synthase kinase-3 by acting as a pseudosubstrate that stabilizes an active conformation of the enzyme, identical to autoinhibition by phosphorylation of its N terminus.
A combination of imaging experiments and computer simulations on a model lipid membrane integrate the 'picket fence' and 'raft' models, and suggest that the interplay between actin binding, lipid phase separation and curvature compartmentalize the membrane.
Peptide and nitrate transporters have been converted into fluorescent reporters of transport activity and have been used to measure various transport properties including the dual affinity of the nitrate transceptor
A pathway directed by the KRAS oncoprotein leads to aberrant hypermethylation and transcriptional silencing of many genes including tumor suppressors, thereby promoting tumor development.
Alexandra Naba, Karl R Clauser ... Richard O Hynes
Many extracellular matrix proteins that are up-regulated during breast tumor progression enhance metastasis, and some are prognostic indicators of poor survival.
The ERK8 kinase blocks the export of glycosyl-tranferases from the Golgi to the endoplasmic reticulum, and thus subsequent O-glycosylation of proteins that otherwise enhance cell motility and tissue invasion.
Jacqueline SR Chin, Shane R Ellis ... Joanne Y Yew
Triacylglycerides found in the males of 11 species of Drosophila form a largely overlooked, novel, sex-specific class of pheromones that act to suppress courtship behaviour.
Byron C Williams, Joshua J Filter ... Michael L Goldberg
The mechanism of inhibition by unfair competition is central to determining the protein phosphorylation states that govern cell cycle transitions between M phase and interphase.
A novel complex composed of various components of a chromatin remodeling complex, a chromatin remodeling factor and a transcription factor suppresses the dedifferentiation of intermediate neural progenitors back into neuroblasts in Drosophila.
Miriam I Rosenberg, Ava E Brent ... Claude Desplan
Pair-rule genes in the wasp Nasonia function as in Drosophila in patterning anterior segments, and similar to ancestral insects in patterning posterior segments, illustrating a mixed-mode transition state between short and long germ embryogenesis.
Experiments on E. coli show that multiple mechanisms contribute to extreme resistance to ionizing radiation in bacteria, with mutations to three genes for DNA repair having a prominent role in one evolved population.
Quantitative analysis of protein and mRNA expression across a minimally perturbed cell cycle in human myeloid cells has identified myeloid-specific and cell cycle-regulated gene expression, including examples of isoform- and phosphorylation-specific regulation, with all data made available in a searchable, online database.
Mark van Breugel, Rainer Wilcken ... Christopher M Johnson
The X-ray structure of the SAS-6 cartwheel hub from Leishmania major demonstrates that SAS-6 can be sufficient to determine centriolar cartwheel symmetry.
Misty R Jenkins, Jane C Stinchcombe ... Gillian M Griffiths
Inhibition of the catalytic activity of the Zap70 kinase reveals that discrete TCR-regulated events control the remodelling of the actin cytoskeleton when the cytotoxic T cell interacts with its target.
