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.

Genome-wide measurements on mouse liver cells show that transcription, and a particular key transcription factor, have a smaller than expected influence on the mouse circadian system.

The transcription machinery used to regulate gene expression and self-renewal in human embryonic stem cells is different from that found in other cells.

A chromatin boundary factor that is only active during early embryo development has been discovered in Drosophila.

A DNA–protein complex can find target sequences of bases in another DNA molecule by sliding along it.

A genome-organizing protein that is present only in the olfactory system of mice has been found to orchestrate changes in the relative numbers of different odor-sensing neurons on the basis of how active these neurons are.

Similarities in the way that nucleosomes are organized into chromatin in archaea and eukaryotes suggest that chromatin might have been involved in gene regulation before its role in DNA packaging evolved.

A protein that can recognize regions of DNA with a high proportion of unmethylated CpG dinucleotides, and then recruit polycomb group proteins to these CpG islands, has been identified.

Preventing premature interactions between microtubules and protein-based structures called kinetochores ensures that chromosomes are segregated by meiosis rather than mitosis in reproductive cells.

A combination of cellular, biochemical, genetic and genomic techniques have revealed a new molecular player in the production of fat cells in mice, which could improve our understanding of obesity.