The Scientist has asked a group of experts to comment periodically upon recent articles that they have found noteworthy. Their selections, presented herein every issue, are neither endorsements of content nor the result of systematic searching. Rather, the list represents personal choices of articles the columnists believe the scientific community as a whole may also find interesting. Reprints of any articles cited here may be ordered through The Genuine Article, 3501 Market St., Philadelphia,

The Scientist has asked a group of experts to comment periodically upon recent articles that they have found noteworthy. Their selections, presented herein every issue, are neither endorsements of content nor the result of systematic searching. Rather, the list represents personal choices of articles the columnists believe the scientific community as a whole may also find interesting. Reprints of any articles cited here may be ordered through The Genuine Article, 3501 Market St., Philadelphia,

Department of Microbiology & Immunology University of Illinois Chicago Cosy, Noesy, and HoHaHa! Respectively, these are abbreviations for two-dimensional scalar correlated spectroscopy, two-dimensional nuclear Overhauser enhancement spectroscopy, and Homonuclear Hartmann Hahn transfer experiment - three of the techniques used to study Megasphaera elsdenii. Apparently, we need to learn well the general rules for two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) determination of atomic conne

The Scientist has asked a group of experts to comment periodically upon recent articles that they have found noteworthy. Their selections, presented herein every issue, are neither endorsements of content nor the result of systematic searching. Rather, the list represents personal choices of articles the columnists believe the scientific community as a whole may also find interesting. Reprints of any articles cited here may be ordered through The Genuine Article, 3501 Market St., Philadelphia,

Department of Microbiology & Immunology University of Illinois Chicago A surface glycoprotein that is anchored via a lipid to the trypanosome cell membrane is transferred in vitro to red blood cell membranes, sensitizing the latter to attack by anti-trypanosome antibodies. M.R. Rifkin, F.R. Landsberger, "Trypanosome variant surface glycoprotein transfer to target membranes: a model for the pathogenesis of trypanosomiasis," PNAS, 87, 801-5, January 1990. (Rockefeller University, New York)

The Scientist has asked a group of experts to comment periodically upon recent articles that they have found noteworthy. Their selections, presented herein every issue, are neither endorsements of content nor the result of systematic searching. Rather, the list represents personal choices of articles the columnists believe the scientific community as a whole may also find interesting. Reprints of any articles cited here may be ordered through The Genuine Article, 3501 Market St., Philadelphia,

The Scientist has asked a group of experts to comment periodically upon recent articles that they have found noteworthy. Their selections, presented herein every issue, are neither endorsements of content nor the result of systematic searching. Rather, the list represents personal choices of articles the columnists believe the scientific community as a whole may also find interesting. Reprints of any articles cited here may be ordered through The Genuine Article, 3501 Market St., Philadelphia,

Department of Microbiology & Immunology University of Illinois Chicago - Through cloning and sequence analysis, researchers have identified the primary gene of the hereditary disease muscular dystrophy, thus leading to the characterizing of the primary protein product. Deletions contributing to an absence of the polypeptide dystrophin (0.002% of total muscle protein and 3,685 amino acids long) on the inner surface of the plasma membrane appear to be the primary cause for two types of muscul

LIFE SCIENCES BY SIMON SILVER Department of Microbiology & Immunology University of Illinois Chicago, Ill. " Obtaining diffraction-quality crystals of a membrane protein complex for the, first time ever and then obtaining a high-resolution, three-dimensional structure of this four-polypeptide complex by X-ray diffraction analysis was a major achievement in protein chemistry for 1958 Nobelists Deisenhofer and Michel. Their Nobel Prize lecture, like other science Nobel lectures, is published i

LIFE SCIENCES BY SIMON SILVER Department of Microbiology & Immunology University of Illinois Chicago, III. The cover and three articles in Science announce the identification of “the cystic fibrosis gene,” the gene in which the primary defect occurs to produce this devastating hereditary disease. The first paper reports locating the gene in a 250-kilobase region on chromosome 7; the second paper reports the 6.1 kilobase sequence of the gene and its presumedly membrane ATPase ami

LIFE SCIENCES BY SIMON SILVER Department of Microbiology & Immunology University of Illinois Chicago, IlL " The availability of a range of human growth factors made on a factory scale from, recombinant DNA technology, will radically advance treatment for wounds and other skin trauma. There is also a lot to learn about basic cell biology from the study of these proteins. P. ten Dijke, K.K. Iwata, “Growth factors for wound healing,” BioTechnology, 7, 793-8, August 1989. (Oncogene

LIFE SCIENCES BY SIMON SILVER Department of Microbiology & Immunology University of Illinois Chicago, Ill. " Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with a several million-fold increase in template DNA (in a few hours of temperature cycling with a thermo-stable DNA polymerase) has become a powerful tool for both basic and applied molecular biology. T.J. White, N. Arnheim, H.A. Erlich, “The polymerase chain reaction,” Trends in Genetics, 5, 185-9, June 1989. (Hoffmann-LaRoche, Emeryville,