Drosophila gastrulation: identification of a missing link

Drosophila gastrulation serves as a model system to elucidate the genetic and molecular mechanisms involved in morphogenetic movements. The ligand of the FGF receptor Heartless, which is involved in mesoderm movement, has now been isolated and shown to be a link between a morphogen gradient and cell behavior.     

FTO and obesity: the missing link

The field of vascular molecular imaging is searching for the "holy grail" of an imaging technique that will quantitatively and reliably assess vulnerable coronary plaques. Fluorescence imaging with indocyanine green specifically identifies lipid-rich plaques in rabbits and in humans and represents a promising, though invasive, approach.     

Hamilton's missing link

Hamilton's famous rule was presented in 1964 in a paper called "The genetical theory of social behaviour (I and II)", Journal of Theoretical Biology 7, 1-16, 17-32. The paper contains a mathematical genetical model from which the rule supposedly follows, but it does not provide a link between the paper's central result, which states that selection dynamics take the population to a state where mean inclusive fitness is maximized, and the rule, which states that selection will lead to maximization of individual inclusive fitness. This note provides a condition under which Hamilton's rule does follow from his central result.     

Programmed cell death: a missing link is found

Two families of proteins have advanced our understanding of the molecular basis of programmed cell death (PCD) in animal cells - the caspases and Bcl-2-related proteins. While caspases lie at the heart of the death programme, Bcl-2-related proteins act as key intracellular regulators. Although there has been considerable progress in elucidating the biochemical functions of caspases, how Bcl-2-related proteins regulate caspase activation and thereby PCD, has remained a mystery. One key to resolving this mystery seems to lie with a new third family of proteins related to the Caenorhabditis elegans cell-death protein CED-4, which connects Bcl-2-related proteins to caspases. An important step in defining this new family has been made by the identification of a human CED-4 homologue.     

Chromosome segregation: a kinetochore missing link is found

During mitosis the kinetochore assembles on centromeric chromatin. The component that connects the chromatin-associated inner domain to the microtubule-binding outer domain has eluded researchers. Two new studies identify a conserved molecular linkage between the inner and outer kinetochore.     

Mixotrophy: the missing link in consumer-resource-based ecologies

Theoretical Ecology - The classical separate treatments of competition and predation and difficulties in providing a sensible theoretical basis for mutualism attest to the inability of traditional...     

The cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway: a missing link in neuroimmunomodulation

This review outlines the mechanisms underlying the interaction between the nervous and immune systems of the host in response to an immune challenge. The main focus is the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway, which we recently described as a novel function of the efferent vagus nerve. This pathway plays a critical role in controlling the inflammatory response through interaction with peripheral a7 subunit-containing nicotinic acetylcholine receptors expressed on macrophages. We describe the modulation of systemic and local inflammation by the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway and its function as an interface between the brain and the immune system. The clinical implications of this novel mechanism also are discussed.     

Marine bioprocess engineering: the missing link to commercialization

Success of US biotechnology has been and continues to be dependent on new discoveries and their timely transformation into useful products through bioprocess engineering and a systems approach. Bioprocess engineering is an essential element of ‘generic applied’ or ‘precompetitive’ research. For marine biotechnology, like biopharmaceutical biotechnology, bioprocess engineering represents the key. The many hundreds of tantalizing bioactive compounds discovered and isolated from varied marine organisms over the past decades have led to only minimal commercialization due to the limited availability of the compounds in question. To address international competitiveness and the revitalization of key US industries, the National Science Foundation launched the Engineering Research Centers Program in the mid 1980s. The essential feature of this program is a partnership among academia, industry and the government to develop next-generation technology through cutting-edge research, relevant education and innovative technology transfer. MarBEC (Marine Bioproducts Engineering Center) is a recently established multi-disciplinary engineering-science cooperative effort of the University of Hawaii and the University of California at Berkeley. Additional partners include three federal laboratories—Argonne National Laboratory, the Edgewood Research, Development and Engineering Center and the Eastern Regional Research Center of the US Department of Agriculture—and the Bishop Museum. MarBEC's research program consists of four major thrusts: Production Systems; Marine Bioproducts and Bioresources; Separation and Conversion; and Bioproduct Formulation.     

Small molecules: the missing link in the central dogma

Small molecules have critical roles at all levels of biological complexity and yet remain orphans of the central dogma. Chemical biologists, working with small molecules, expand our understanding of these central elements of life.