Pea chloroplast protein transporter crystal structure reveals a novel GTPase involved in transmembrane protein import.

The neurotransmitter acetylcholinesterase is required for neuronal and muscular development in the zebrafish embryo.

Cardiac hypertrophy is an adaptive response to an increase in blood pressure which, despite initial benefits, leads to heart failure and is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. In January Nature Medicine, Masanori Asakura and colleagues from Osaka University Faculty of Medicine, Osaka, Japan show that shedding of heparin-binding epidermal growth factor (HB-EGF) by ADAM12 plays an important role in the development of cardiac hypertrophy.Asakura et al. found that in cultured rat

The mechanisms that control the termination of the mammalian inflammatory response in vivo remain unclear. In 20/27 December Nature Akio Ohta & Michail Sitkovsky from National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA show that G-protein-coupled A2a adenosine receptors have an essential role in the attenuation of inflammation and tissue damage in vivo.Ohta & Sitkovsky studied mice deficient in the A2a adenosine receptor and observed that sub-threshold doses of an inflammatory stimulus caused

Red wines strongly inhibit the synthesis of endothelin-1, a vasoactive peptide that is crucial in the development of coronary atherosclerosis.

Suppressing interferon gamma or the entire immune system is unlikely to be the best way to treat autoimmune diseases.

Single-celled choanoflagellates have a unique receptor tyrosine kinase that may be linked to the origin of multicellular animals.

Mitotic recombination can be reproducibly induced in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells using the Cre/loxP rare-cutter restriction enzymes.

Adipose-derived protein Acrp30 is a recently identified hormone released from fat tissue that has a role in glucose metabolism, but its molecular effects remain elusive. In December 15 Journal of Clinical Investigation, Terry Combs and colleagues from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, show that a moderate rise in circulating levels of Acrp30 inhibits both the expression of hepatic gluconeogenic enzymes and the rate of endogenous glucose production. Combs et al. studied the ef

KChIP2 (Kv Channel-Interacting Protein 2) is preferentially expressed in the adult heart and has a role in sustaining the normal rhythmic beating, but its role in cardiac pathology remains unclear. In December 14 Cell, Hai-Chien Kuo and colleagues from University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, USA, show that a defect in KChIP2 is sufficient to confer a marked genetic susceptibility to ventricular tachycardia that would ordinarily lead to sudden death in humans.Kuo et al. used KChIP2-/- mice

Natural viral proteins cannot constantly be used as optimal vaccines because they do not always stimulate efficiently the immune system. In December 1 Journal of Clinical Investigation, Jeffrey Ahlers and colleagues from National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA, show that sequence modification of natural viral proteins to increase epitope affinity for class II MHC molecules (epitope enhancement) can improve immunogenicity.Ahlers et al. found that modification of a Th cell epitope to increase

Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is a rate-limiting enzyme in prostaglandin biosynthesis with a potential role in promoting colon carcinogenesis, but the mechanism of COX-2 overexpression remains unknown. In December 1 Journal of Clinical Investigation, Dan Dixon and colleagues from University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA, show that altered expression of the mRNA stability factor HuR promotes cyclooxygenase-2 expression in colon cancer cells.The COX-2 mRNA carries an A/U-rich element (ARE), a cis-acting