Chromatid cohesion: acetylation joins the sisters

The replication-fork-associated protein Eco1 is required for the establishment of sister chromatid cohesion, which plays an essential role in faithful chromosome segregation. Three recent studies in yeast and humans reveal that the acetyltransferase activity of Eco1 targets the cohesin subunit Smc3 to facilitate the establishment of cohesion.     

The sea urchin joins the genome era

The complete genome sequence of Thermoplasma acidophilum, an acid- and heat-loving archaeon, has recently been reported. Comparative genomic analysis of this 'extremophile' is providing new insights into the metabolic machinery, ecology and evolution of thermophilic archaea.     

Plant cytokinesis: KNOLLE joins the club

Dividing plant cells assemble a new intracellular compartment, the cell plate, which grows centrifugally by vesicle fusion to partition the cytoplasm. Genetic studies in Arabidopsis are revealing the molecular signals that specify this special membrane transport pathway.     

Further evidence of joint time-place control of rats' behavior: results from an 'open hopper' test

Rats were trained on an interval time-place task. Food was intermittently available on each of four levers for 4 min in a 16-min session. After baseline training the rats received 'open hopper' sessions in which food was available on all levers for all of the 16-min sessions. Despite the absence of any contingencies for doing so, the rats continued to press the levers in the 'correct' sequence, for roughly the 'correct' amount of time. This confirms that the rat behavior was controlled, in part, by a representation of an elapsed interval of time. The rats responding was more variable in 'open hopper' sessions and error increased (in an exponential fashion) as the session proceeded. This finding suggests that the rats may have used shifts in the location of food availability to minimize the accumulation of error throughout baseline sessions.