, regulates lipid metabolism in mice.

A DNA variant upstream of the lactase-phlorizin hydrolase gene is associated with lactose intolerance.

mutations cause progressive osseous heteroplasia.

Dominant myelin basic protein epitopes prevents autoimmunity and can be hidden from T cells by the action of asparagine endopeptidase.

Computational subtraction uses the human genome to detect possible microbial causes for infectious diseases.

1 secretion, resulting in accelerated resolution of inflammation.

Pathological angiogenesis can cause loss of vision and is associated with many diseases of the eye for which there exists no effective treatment. In January 8 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, two papers by teams from The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, USA, described the unexpected antiangiogenic activity of a fragment of the human protein tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase (TrpRS), a molecule also known to be involved in protein synthesis and cell proliferation. Atsushi Otani an

Extracellular elastic fibers are central to effective organ function, but the molecules that control the formation of these elastic fibers remains unclear. Two papers in January 10 Nature showed that the protein called fibulin-5 (also known as DANCE) is an elastin-binding protein essential for in vivo elastic fiber development.Hiromi Yanagisawa and colleagues from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, Dallas, observed that fibulin-5 knockout mice developed marked elastinopathy owing t

A carnivorous pitcher plant uses a fringe of edible white hairs to lure and trap termites in large numbers.

Uncoupling proteins (UCPs) are molecules that usually generate heat in the mitochondria of brown adipose tissue, but their function in other tissues remains unclear. In 3 January Nature, Karim Echtay and colleagues from the Medical Research Council's Dunn Human Nutrition Unit, Cambridge, UK, show that UCPs may have a role in decreasing reactive oxygen species concentrations inside mitochondria.Echtay et al. observed that superoxide increases mitochondrial proton conductance through effects on UC

The p53 protein works to suppress cancer cells by the induction of senescence, apoptosis and cell cycle arrest, but its role in the longevity of organisms remains unknown. In 3 January Nature, Stuart Tyner and colleagues from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA, show that p53 has a role in controlling ageing in mice.Tyner et al. generated mice with a mutation that confers phenotypes consistent with activated p53. They found that mutated mice are highly resistant to tumors but display early

Transcription factor component JunB, although less active than Jun, has the potential to substitute functionally for Jun.