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Credit: Proc Natl Acad Sci, 103:13682-7, 2006 / ® 2006 National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A" /> Credit: Proc Natl Acad Sci, 103:13682-7, 2006 / ® 2006 National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A The paper: M. Ekroos and T. Sjögren, "Structural basis for ligand promiscuity in cytochrome P450 3A4," Proc Natl Acad Sci, 103:13682-7, 2006. (Cited in 78 papers)

Credit: brainmaps.org" /> Credit: brainmaps.org The paper: C. Padoa-Schioppa & J.A. Assad, "Neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex encode economic value," Nature, 441:223-6, 2006. (Cited in 76 papers) The finding: Researchers from Harvard Medical School measured neuronal firing rates in macaques who had been offered different juice rewards. By varying the amounts and types of

Credit: brainmaps.org" /> Credit: brainmaps.org The paper: G. A. Jacoby et al. "qnrB, another plasmid-mediated gene for quinolone resistance," Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 50:1178-82, 2006. (Cited in 65 papers) The finding: Eight years after discovering qnrA, the first plasmid-mediated gene for resistance to the broad-spectrum antibiotic quinolone, George Jacoby of the

Credit: © Dr Gopal Murti / Photo Researchers, Inc." /> Credit: © Dr Gopal Murti / Photo Researchers, Inc. The paper: M. Certo et al., "Mitochondria primed by death signals determine cellular addiction to anti-apoptotic BCL-2 family members," Cancer Cell, 9:351-65, 2006. (Cited in 116 papers) The finding: Anthony Letai's team at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Credit: © Professors Pietro M. Motta & Tomonori Naguro / Photo Researchers, Inc." /> Credit: © Professors Pietro M. Motta & Tomonori Naguro / Photo Researchers, Inc. The paper: T. Yorimitsu et al., "Endoplasmic reticulum stress triggers autophagy," J Bio Chem, 281:30299-304, 2006. (Cited in 48 papers) The finding: Universit

Credit: Courtesy of Jed Fuhrman / University of Southern California" /> Credit: Courtesy of Jed Fuhrman / University of Southern California The paper: M.L. Sogin et al., "Microbial diversity in the deep sea and the underexplored 'rare biosphere,'" Proc Nat Acad Sci, 103:12115-20, 2006. (Cited in 81 papers) The finding: In 2006, Mitchell Sogin of the Marine Biological La

Credit: © Biophoto Associates / Photo Researchers, Inc." /> Credit: © Biophoto Associates / Photo Researchers, Inc. The paper: M. Shogren-Knaak et al., "Histone H4-K16 acetylation controls chromatin structure and protein interactions." Science, 311:844-7, 2006. (Cited in 132 papers) The finding: Craig Peterson's group at the University of Massachusetts Medical

Credit: © Cell Press" /> Credit: © Cell Press The paper: X. Zhang et al., "Genome-wide high-resolution mapping and functional analysis of DNA methylation in Arabidopsis," Cell, 126:1189-201, 2006. (Cited in 94 papers) The finding: The researchers created a Web tool to view the DNA methylation and gene expression data. "It's extremely useful,"

Credit: © Biophoto Associates / Photo Researchers, Inc." /> Credit: © Biophoto Associates / Photo Researchers, Inc. The paper: D. Grimm et al., "Fatality in mice due to oversaturation of cellular microRNA/short hairpin RNA pathways," Nature, 441:537-41, 2006. (Cited in 147 papers) The finding: While studying the potential of RNA interference (RNAi) to treat he

Credit: Courtesy of Jonathan Pritchard / Public Library of Science" /> Credit: Courtesy of Jonathan Pritchard / Public Library of Science The paper: B.F. Voight et al., "A map of recent positive selection in the human genome," PLoS Biology, 4:446-58, 2006. (Cited in 138 papers) The finding: In 2006, Jonatha

Credit: Courtesy of Jane Elith" /> Credit: Courtesy of Jane Elith The paper: J. Elith et al., "Novel methods improve predictions of species' distributions from occurrence data," Ecography, 29:129-51, 2006. (Cited in 128 papers) The finding: Jane Elith of the University of Melbourne and Catherine Graham of SUNY Stony Brook led the te

Credit: Courtesy of Meyer Instruments Inc / www.meyerinst.com" /> Credit: Courtesy of Meyer Instruments Inc / www.meyerinst.com The paper: J.R. Whitlock et al., "Learning induces long-term potentiation in the hippocampus," Science, 313:1093-7. (Cited in 91 papers) The finding: In 2006, Mark Bear's group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology w

Credit: Courtesy of the J. Craig Venter Institute" /> Credit: Courtesy of the J. Craig Venter Institute The paper: J. Glass et al., "Essential genes of a minimal bacterium," Proc Natl Acad Sci, 103:425-30, 2006. (Cited in 65 papers) The finding: To identify the essential genes of Mycoplasma genitalium, the smallest free-living bacterium, John Glass an

Credit: Courtesy of Dan Barouch" /> Credit: Courtesy of Dan Barouch The paper: D.M. Roberts et al., "Hexon-chimaeric adenovirus serotype 5 vectors circumvent preexisting antivector immunity," Nature, 441:239-243, 2006. (Cited in 52 papers) The finding: In 2006, Dan Barouch wanted to develop a vaccine vector that would not be suppressed by preexisting immunity. His gro

Credit: Courtesy of Dan Barouch" /> Credit: Courtesy of Dan Barouch The paper: J. Wang et al., "Platensimycin is a selective FabF inhibitor with potent antibiotic properties," Nature, 441:358-61, 2006. (Cited in 91 papers) The discovery: Sifting through South African soil samples, scientists at Merck Research Laboratories found a new compound called

Credit: James King-Holmes / Photo Researchers, Inc" /> Credit: James King-Holmes / Photo Researchers, Inc The paper: P. Ahnesorg et al., "XLF interacts with the XRCC4-DNA ligase IV complex to promote DNA nonhomologous end-joining," Cell, 124:301-13, 2006. (Cited in 76 papers) The finding: When Stephen Jackson at Cambridge University read a 2003 PNAS paper describing a patient's defective DNA repair that didn't involve any known repair proteins, he

Credit: Nevit Dilmen / Wikimedia Commons" /> Credit: Nevit Dilmen / Wikimedia Commons The paper: S. Mariathasan et al., "Cryopyrin activates the inflammasome in response to toxins and ATP," Nature, 440:228-32, 2006. (Cited in 121 papers) The finding: By observing mice deficient in the adaptor protein cryopyrin, Vishva Dixit of Genentech and his colleagues discovered cryopyrin's role in activating the inflammasome, a complex of proteins essential for the innate

Credit: Rade Pavlovic" /> Credit: Rade Pavlovic The paper: S.F. Grant et al., "Variant of transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) gene confers risk of type 2 diabetes," Nat Gen, 38:320-3, 2006. (Cited in 177 papers) The finding: As part of a genome-wide association study, Kári Stefánsson of deCODE Genetics and colleagues associated variants of the gene transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) with type 2 diabetes. TCF7L2 plays a role in Wnt

Credit: Kenneth Eward / Photo Researchers, Inc" /> Credit: Kenneth Eward / Photo Researchers, Inc The paper: S. Shenoy et al., "β-Arrestin-dependent, G protein-independent ERK1/2 activation by the β2 adrenergic receptor," J Biol Chem, 281:1261-73, 2006. (Cited in 50 papers) The finding: In 2005, while screening for G protein-independent arrestin signaling on the widely studied ERK pathway, Robert Lefkowitz's group at Duke University

Credit: Left: David Hall / Photo Researchers, Inc" /> Credit: Left: David Hall / Photo Researchers, Inc The paper: F. Delsuc et al., "Tunicates and not cephalochordates are the closest living relatives of vertebrates," Nature, 439:965-8, 2006. (Cited in 116 papers) The finding: Using a data set of 146 nuclear genes, including tunicate data from the Oikopleura dioica genome project, Frédéric Delsuc and his colleagues from the Univers