PDZ-peptide complexes: as exciting as ever

In this issue, Babault et?al. present a structural analysis of the PDZ domain of the PTPN4 phosphatase, free and bound to target peptides. This allows them to enhance the cell-killing properties of a pro-apoptotic peptide dramatically.     

Mouse duplicate genes are as essential as singletons

Duplicate genes in mouse are widely thought to have functional redundancy, and to be less essential than singleton genes. We analyzed nearly 3900 individually knocked out mouse genes and discovered that the proportion of essential genes is approximately 55% in both singletons and duplicates. This suggests that mammalian duplicates rarely compensate for each other, and that the absence of phenotypes in mice deficient for a duplicate gene should not be automatically attributed to paralogous compensation.     

蝗灾同水旱灾害一样凶猛

小小的蝗虫怎么会成了灾?还被称为“天灾”,与水、旱并称三大自然灾害,因何而起,如何能治?