Biologists, like cyberwonks, are always inventing new words and acronyms to confuse us--just try dipping into the cell cycle literature now and then. As new discoveries are made, dictionaries don't seem to hold enough words to describe them. Remember 'analogous' and 'homologous'? Many a college student memorized the difference as applied to the evolution of structures like limbs and wings. Insect wings and bird wings are analogous; bird wings and human arms are homologous. But in modern evolut

When scientists announced the genomic sequence of the small mustard plant Arabidopsis last December, they also recognized the role played by federal agencies in supporting the project, particularly the role played by the National Science Foundation.1 Among NSF staffers, researchers chose DeLill Nasser, head of NSF's eukoryotic genetics program, for special mention.2,3 Nasser was too ill with cancer to accept an award from the group in person at a special Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory meeting Dec

As foot and mouth disease raced across England and into Europe, shock waves spread well ahead and deep scars remained behind. The United Kingdom sagged under the weight of withering tourism, huge agricultural losses, and wholesale disruptions in the movement of people. Prime Minister Tony Blair called out the army and even postponed national elections. Air passengers arriving in Atlanta disinfected their shoes while cattlemen from Kentucky to Kansas wondered whether the plague would strike here

When a research team led by Ingo Potrykus of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and Peter Beyer of the University of Freiburg in Germany announced last year that they had produced beta carotene, or provitamin A, in rice grains,1 the news created quite a stir.2 For one thing, getting "golden rice," as it was quickly dubbed (for its color, not its monetary value) required a biotech tour de force. Potrykus and Beyer inserted two genes from daffodil and one from a bacterium into ri

Amid last month's hoopla over the human genome sequence and what it says about humans, plant biologists announced two new efforts aimed at a firmer understanding of plant evolution--who is related to whom and how--a discipline better known as systematics. Constructing evolutionary family trees is harder than investigating personal genealogies--biologists don't have the equivalent of birth registrations or family bibles to consult. Fossils tell them what ancient plants use to look like, but placi

Reprinted with permission from the American Society of Plant Physiologists Plant Physiology, flagship journal of the American Society of Plant Physiologists, inaugurated its 75th year of publication with a special January 2001 anniversary issue. According to Editor in Chief Natasha Raikhel of Michigan State University, "The January special issue focuses on conceptual breakthroughs of the past 25 years as perceived by over 40 authors who have been at the leading edge of this unprecedented surge

Courtesy National Science Foundation Headlines on the morning of December 14, 2000, trumpeted the end of a presidential election that promised to go on forever. But if California Institute of Technology molecular biologist Elliot Meyerowitz had his way, the front page would have read differently: "Plant Genome Sequenced" at the top, then, lower down, "Election Decided - See Page 2." In a tour de force that capped a year of genome blockbusters, European, Japanese, and American scientists complet

Photo: Ori Fragman, Hebrew University Hordeum spontaneum, the plant studied for BARE-1 retroelements. With genome sequences arriving almost as regularly as the morning paper, the public's attention is focused on genes--new genes to protect crops against pests; rogue genes that make bacteria resistant to antibiotics; faulty genes that, if fixed, could cure diseases such as muscular dystrophy. What many people don't realize is that genes account for only part of an organism's DNA, and in many c

Courtesy of Photographic Services, Indiana University Jeffrey Palmer Mention gene sequencing and most people probably think of disease cures and supercrops. But genes mean a whole lot more, including deep insight into how present-day species got here. Indiana University biology professor Jeffrey Palmer practically invented the field of plant molecular systematics and phylogeny--using genes to inform taxonomic relationships and evolutionary history. According to Palmer's colleague at India

The Monsanto Co., now a division of Pharmacia Corp., recently admitted that its Roundup Ready soybeans contain two extra bacterial DNA sequences derived from the original transformation event about 10 years ago. The genetically modified (GM) plants are tolerant to Monsanto's herbicide Roundup, or glyphosate, so farmers can kill bothersome weeds without harming their crop. Plants manufacture essential aromatic amino acids such as phenylalanine through the shikimic acid pathway, housed in t

According to biotech critics, genetically modified crops carry insidious hitchhikers in the form of antibiotic resistance genes. Activists argue that the genes could somehow move into pathogenic bacteria, rendering antibiotics ineffective and thereby eliminating an important weapon in medicine's arsenal against disease. Molecular breeders include selectable markers--conferring resistance to drugs such as kanamycin and streptomycin--with beneficial genes they introduce into pet plants such

Editor's Note: On May 2, the National Academy of Sciences announced the election of 60 new members and 15 foreign associates from nine countries in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Nearly half of the new members are life scientists. In this article, The Scientist presents photographs of some of the new members and comments from a few of them on their careers and on past and current research. A full directory of NAS members can be found online a