The Scientist

Slow synaptic transmission grabs the Nobel for Physiology or Medicine.

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Going from gene sequence to protein function presents a great challenge to genome biology. In the September 15 EMBO Reports, Simpson et al. suggest that the systematic identification of subcellular localization can significantly enhance our ability to assign functions to unknown ORFs (EMBO Reports 2000, 1:287-292). Simpson et al. outline a strategy for such an approach. They adapted the Gateway cloning system to allow rapid, directional cloning of ORFs by recombination, and generate amino- and c

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The yeast protein Sup35 is essential for translation termination, but its prion [PSI+] form reduces the fidelity of the termination process. Conversion of Sup35 into the prion form could therefore alter the sequence of multiple proteins at the same time, perhaps providing an engine for evolutionary change. In the 28 September Nature, True and Lindquist find that in nearly half of a long list of culture conditions tested, the presence of [PSI+] exerted a substantial effect on strain growth (Natur

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In the 28 September Nature Altshuler et al. (Nature 2000, 407:513-516) and Mullikin et al. (Nature 2000, 407:516-520) report on the discovery of thousands of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). These human sequence variants, in which two alternate bases occur at one position, are present at a frequency of up to one per kilobase. A dense map of SNPs would allow certain variants to be associated with disease states. Previous efforts to uncover SNPs have struggled with the effort involved in am

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A recent study shows that homocysteine levels reflect the extent of myocardial damage in acute ischemia.

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