Molecular mechanisms of self-recognition in Brassica self-incompatibility

Plants have mechanisms to promote outbreeding and thereby to increase their genetic diversity. In species that are self-incompatible, self-pollen is rejected by the stigma. This mechanism has been the subject of intense study for many years and, in the past two years, significant progress has been made in identifying the genes involved in Brassica. Self-recognition involves two genes, one of which determines the male and the other the female specificity. Considerable progress has also been made on the mechanism by which self-recognition leads to pollen rejection, although the delineation of all the genes involved is still not complete.     

Genes and deafness

Many different genes appear to be involved in the development and function of the mammalian inner ear. Some of the genes involved during early inner ear morphogenesis have been identified using mutations or targetted transgenic interruption, while a handful of genes involved in pigmentation anomalies associated with hearing impairement have been cloned. Several genes involved in syndromic late-onset hearing loss have also been isentified. However, the lajority of cases of hereditary hearing impairement from childhood probably involve genes expressed in the sensory neuroepithelia of the inner ear, and none of the genes or mutations causing this type of deafness have yet been identified. Here, we review the progress that has been made in finding genes for deafness and in using mouse mutants to elucidate the biological basis of the hearing deficit.     

Mechanobiological osteocyte feedback drives mechanostat regulation of bone in a multiscale computational model

Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology - Significant progress has been made to identify the cells and signaling molecules involved in the mechanobiological regulation of bone remodeling. It is...     

Cancer proteomics: from signaling networks to tumor markers

Along with the great strides that have been made towards understanding cancer, has come a realization of the complexity of molecular events that lead to malignancy. Proteomics-based approaches, which enable the quantitative investigation of both cellular protein expression levels and protein–protein interactions involved in signaling networks, promise to define the molecules controlling the processes involved in cancer.     

Cancer proteomics: from signaling networks to tumor markers

Along with the great strides that have been made towards understanding cancer, has come a realization of the complexity of molecular events that lead to malignancy. Proteomics-based approaches, which enable the quantitative investigation of both cellular protein expression levels and protein–protein interactions involved in signaling networks, promise to define the molecules controlling the processes involved in cancer.     

Cellular differentiation in the shoot epidermis

The recent advances in defining genes involved in shoot epidermal cell differentiation are impressive, especially the characterisation of genes involved in cellular patterning. The additional influences of environment and hormones on cellular patterning have recently been emphasised, and important connections have been made to changes in vegetative and reproductive growth phases. Despite these advances the cellular basis for differentiation remains less well defined, but now genetic and cell biological analysis from yeast may provide important models on which to develop further understanding.     

Gamete recognition in higher plants: an abstruse but charming mystery

Although much effort has been made to uncover the mechanism underlying double fertilization, little knowledge has been acquired for understanding the molecular base of gamete recognition, mainly because of technical limitations. Still,progress has been made in terms of the mechanism, including the identification of candidate molecules that are involved in gamete recognition in angiosperms. New cues for gamete recognition have been found by the successful separation of the gametes and construction of gamete-specific cDNA libraries in several species, and the application of molecular approaches for studying this process by mutations. Thus, the topic is considered an abstruse but charming mystery.     

Introduction. Oxidative stress in mitochondria disorders of aging

These special issues of Biological Signals and Receptors are intended to describe mitochondrial DNA damage, oxidative stress and human diseases, including neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases, disorders associated with aging, and ischemia-perfusion injury. Traditionally, mitochondria have been viewed as the 'powerhouse' of the cell, i.e., the site of the oxidative phosphorylation machinery involved in adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production. Consequently, much of the research conducted on mitochondria over the past 4 decades has focused on elucidating both those molecular events involved in ATP synthesis by oxidative phosphorylation and those involved in the biogenesis of the oxidative phosphorylation machinery. While monumental achievements have been made, and continue to be made, in the study of these remarkable but extremely complex processes essential for the life of most animal cells, it has been only in recent years that a large body of biological and biomedical scientists have come to recognize that mitochondria participate in other important processes. Two of these are cell death and aging which, not surprisingly, are related processes both involving, in part, the oxidative phosphorylation machinery. This new awareness has sparked a new and growing area of mitochondrial research that has become of great interest to a wide variety of scientists ranging from those involved in elucidating the role of mitochondria in cell death and aging to those interested in either suppressing or facilitating these processes as it relates to identifying new therapies or drugs for human disease.     

Regulation of nitrogen metabolism in Mycobacterium tuberculosis: a comparison with mechanisms in Corynebacterium glutamicum and Streptomyces coelicolor

The mechanisms governing the regulation of nitrogen metabolism in Corynebacterium glutamicum and Streptomyces coelicolor have been extensively studied. These Actinomycetales are closely related to the Mycobacterium genus and may therefore serve as a models to elucidate the cascade of nitrogen signalling in other mycobacteria. Some factors involved in nitrogen metabolism in Mycobacterium tuberculosis have been described, including glutamine synthetase and its adenylyltransferase, but not much data concerning the other components involved in the signalling cascade is available. In this review a comparative study of factors involved in nitrogen metabolism in C. glutamicum and S. coelicolor is made to identify similarities with M. tuberculosis on both a genomic and proteomic level. This may provide insight into a potential global mechanism of nitrogen control in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.     

Granule formation in animal tissues byCandida albicans

Summary 1. Granule formation byCandida albicans in the internal organs of experimental animals is described. This appears to be the first time such an observation has been made.2. Ring formation by fungi under different conditions is cited, and although different explanations have been proposed by different authors, the supposition is made that a common growth pattern is involved.Supported in part by a grant from the Eli Lilly Company and partly by an institutional grant from the American Cancer Society.     

Function of tetraspan proteins in the myelin sheath

During the past few years, significant advances have been made in elucidating the mechanisms by which point mutations and altered gene dosages in tetraspan genes cause neurological disease. In addition, several new myelin tetraspans have been identified that are involved in adhesion, molecular trafficking, growth regulation, and migration of oligodendrocytes and Schwann cells.     

Human Th17 cells in infection and autoimmunity

IL-17-producing T cells (Th17) have been identified in mice as a distinct lineage of CD4⁺ T helper cells. Since their discovery, efforts have been made in characterizing human Th17 cells and the factors involved in their differentiation and in understanding the role these cells play in protective immunity and autoimmune diseases.     

拟南芥表皮毛发育的分子机制

拟南芥（Arabidopsis thaliana）表皮毛是存在于地上部分表皮组织的一种特化的、典型的单细胞结构。近几年,对其发育的分子调控机制的研究取得了很大进展,已克隆出大量的控制表皮毛不同发育阶段的基因,通过对这些基因的功能解析揭示出表皮毛发育及生长调节的内在分子机制。该文对拟南芥表皮毛发育的最新研究进展进行综述,并展望了关于表皮毛的研究方向及潜在的应用价值。     

Subversion of host cell signaling by Orientia tsutsugamushi

Progress has been made in deciphering the mechanisms on Orientia tsutsugamushi-host interaction. The genome sequencing, microarray and proteomic analyses of this ancient bacterium have provided a wealth of new information. This paper reviews the general characteristics of O. tsutsugamushi and recent developments especially in signaling events involved in the bacteria--host interaction.     

Genetics and engineering of microbial exopolysaccharides for food: approaches for the production of existing and novel polysaccharides.

Microbial exopolysaccharides (EPSs) are used in the food industry for their unique properties as viscosifiers, stabilisers, emulsifiers or gelling agents. In recent years, significant progress in the understanding of the genetics and biochemistry of microbial EPS synthesis by both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria has been made. Biosynthesis pathways have been elucidated, and several of the genes involved have been characterised. This knowledge can now be applied to start EPS engineering or to improve EPS production.     

Evolutionary expressed sequence tag analysis of Drosophila female reproductive tracts identifies genes subjected to positive selection

Genes whose products are involved in reproduction include some of the fastest-evolving genes found within the genomes of several organisms. Drosophila has long been used to study the function and evolutionary dynamics of genes thought to be involved in sperm competition and sexual conflict, two processes that have been hypothesized to drive the adaptive evolution of reproductive molecules. Several seminal fluid proteins (Acps) made in the Drosophila male reproductive tract show evidence of rapid adaptive evolution. To identify candidate genes in the female reproductive tract that may be involved in female-male interactions and that may thus have been subjected to adaptive evolution, we used an evolutionary bioinformatics approach to analyze sequences from a cDNA library that we have generated from Drosophila female reproductive tracts. We further demonstrate that several of these genes have been subjected to positive selection. Their expression in female reproductive tracts, presence of signal sequences/transmembrane domains, and rapid adaptive evolution indicate that they are prime candidates to encode female reproductive molecules that interact with rapidly evolving male Acps.     

The pathway of recombination in phage T4

Summary A study has been made of the effect of modifying the products of the early T4 genes on the frequency with which haploid segregants are generated by recombination from a phage harbouring a standard genetic duplication. Alterations in the products of genes 32, 44, 46, 47 and 59 have been found to significantly decrease the segregation frequency and are, therefore, considered to be involved in the T4 recombination pathway.