Phagocytosis, the gobbling up of invading pathogens by professional phagocytes, is critical for innate immunity. In the 30 April Early Edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Scott Kobayashi and researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, MT, describe a study of the gene expression changes induced by phagocytosis (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.010123497).Kobayashi et al. used oligonucleotide microarrays to monitor the

The insect foraging (for) gene encodes a cyclic GMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) that affects foraging behavior. In Drosophila two different for alleles have been found, and the two alleles affect food-searching behavior under different ecological conditions. In the April 26 Science, Ben-Shahar et al. describe changes in for expression during bee development (Science 2002, 296:741-744).They studied the honeybee (Apis mellifera), which undergoes an age-related developmental switch from hive wor

Comparative genomics provides a powerful approach to identifying conserved non-coding sequences that regulate gene transcription. In the April 30 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nicholas Kaplinsky and colleagues report the use of cross-species genomic DNA comparison to isolate conserved non-coding sequences in grass genomes (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2002, 99:6147-6151).Kaplinsky et al. compared the genomic sequences of rice and maize, two domesticated species in the Poaceae family

There is some evidence that schizophrenia may have a genetic contribution, and susceptibility loci have been reported on chromosome 1q. In the April 26 Science Douglas Levinson and colleagues report their failure to confirm this genetic linkage in a larger sample (Science 2002, 296:739-741).They genotyped 16 microsatellite markers in 779 informative pedigrees containing almost a thousand affected sibling pairs, and an additional 1918 schizophrenic individuals. Statistical analysis of this large

Mammalian peripheral tissues have circadian clocks that keep time by generating daily rhythms of transcription. In an Advanced Online Publication in Nature, Kai-Florian Storch and colleagues at Harvard Medical School, report a comparative analysis of the circadian variation in gene expression in mouse liver and heart (Nature 2002, DOI 10.1038/nature744).Storch et al. used oligonucleotide microarrays to follow changes in the expression of over 12,000 genes over a 24 hour period. They applied a fi

Mutations in the tumor suppressor genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 account for a small percentage of breast cancer cases. In 22 April Advanced Online Publication from Nature Genetics, Meijers-Heijboer and colleagues from the CHEK-Breast Cancer Consortium report the identification of a mutation in the CHEK2 gene that increases the risk of breast cancer in both women and men (Nat Genet 2002, DOI: 10.1038/ng879).They performed a genome-wide linkage search in a family with BRCA-independent breast cancer and id

Gene therapy with retroviral vectors can increase the risk of developing leukemia.

The protein kinase Akt promotes cell survival by phosphorylating and inhibiting FOXO forkhead transcription factors. FOXO factors have been linked to stress responses and the regulation of longevity. In the April 19 Science, Hien Tran and colleagues at Boston's Children's Hospital define a role for the FOXO3a family member in the response to DNA damage (Science 2002, 296:530-534).Tran et al. created a Rat-1 fibroblast cell line expressing a tamoxifen-inducible FOXO3a protein. FOXO3a expression r

The 'green revolution' refers to the development of improved crops, such as the high-yield semi-dwarf (sd) rice variant called IR8 that saved the world from a chronic food shortage in the 1960s. In the April 18 Nature, Sasaki et al. describe the molecular characterization of the IR8 variant (Nature 2002, 416:701-702).Mutation of the sd1 gene is the reason for IR8's short stature. Sasaki et al. report that sd1 encodes an oxidase enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of the plant hormone gibberellin

CDK7 is a kinase thought to play dual roles in transcription and cell cycle regulation by phosphorylating the carboxy-terminal domain of RNA polymerase II and also phosphorylating other cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs). In the April 16 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Matthew Wallenfang and Geraldine Seydoux at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine describe a study of the C. elegans cdk-7 gene (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2002, 99:315-320).They conducted a genome-wide screen

Somatic point mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have been linked to aging and cancer. Each cell contains a large number of mtDNA molecules, so any mutation requires a process of clonal expansion in order to reach homoplasmy (close to 100%) and to exert a phenotypic influence. In the April 16 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Ekaterina Nekhaeva and colleagues document the frequency of mtDNA mutations in human tissues (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2002, 99:5521-5526).They employed a

In the April 12 Science, Olivier Hanotte and colleagues describe efforts to define the genetic history of African cattle pastoralism, their origins and migrations (Science 2002, 296:336-339).Hanotte et al. performed a continent-wide sampling of indigenous African cattle including 50 populations from 23 countries. They analyzed cow samples using 15 autosomal microsatellite markers to calculate principal component values and to construct interpolation maps. Hanotte et al. present extensive statist