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Credit: © Russell Kightley / rkm.com.au" /> Credit: © Russell Kightley / rkm.com.au The paper: Deleault et al., "Formation of native prions from minimal components in vitro," Proc Natl Acad Sci, 104: 9741-6, 2007. (Cited in 53 papers) The finding: To test whether misfolded, disease-causing prion proteins could form from their normal counterparts without being see

Credit: © hybrid medical animation / Photo Researchers, Inc." /> Credit: © hybrid medical animation / Photo Researchers, Inc. The paper: S. Koussevitzky et al., "Signals from chloroplasts converge to regulate nuclear gene expression," Science, 316:715–9, 2007. (Cited in 58 papers) The finding: Joanne Chory, a Salk Institute molecular biologist, used Arabidopsis

A team led by Yin-Yuan Mo, a tumor cell biologist at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, measured global protein levels in mouse carcinoma tumors

Using the bacterium Streptococcus thermophilis, a team led by Philippe Horvath at the Danish food ingredient company Danisco, integrated bacteriophage sequences into "clustered regularly interspersed short palindromic repeat" (CRISPR) regions to generate phage-resistant bacterial strains. "They directly confirmed the prediction," says Eugene Koonin, a computational biologist at the US National Center for Biotechnology Information.

Credit: WAPMC" /> Credit: WAPMC The paper: S. Lavergne and J. Molofsky, "Increased genetic variation and evolutionary potential drive the success of an invasive grass," Proc Natl Acad Sci, 104:3883–8, 2007. (Cited in 37 papers) The finding: To compare genetic diversity between invasive and indigenous plants, University of Vermont evolutionary ecologists Sébastie

Credit: Ajin Mandaokar / Washington State University" /> Credit: Ajin Mandaokar / Washington State University The paper: B. Thines et al., "JAZ repressor proteins are targets of the SCFCOI1 complex during jasmonate signaling," Nature, 448: 661-8, 2007. (Cited in 81 papers) The finding: John Browse of Washington State University and colleagues used transcript profiling and d

Credit: courtesy of Jayasankar Jasti, Hiroyasu Furukawa, Eric B. Gonzales, Eric Gouaux" /> Credit: courtesy of Jayasankar Jasti, Hiroyasu Furukawa, Eric B. Gonzales, Eric Gouaux The paper: E. Gouaux et al. "Structure of acid-sensing ion channel 1 at 1.9 Å resolution and low pH," Nature, 449:316-23, 2007. (Cited in 68 papers) The finding: Neuroscientist Er

Credit: AP Liao, et al. / public library of science" /> Credit: AP Liao, et al. / public library of science The paper: M.J. Evans, et al., "Claudin1 is a hepatitis C virus co-receptor required for a late step in entry," Nature, 446:801-5, 2007. (Cited in 81 papers) The finding: In attempts to find out why hepatitis C virus (HCV) would not infect any cell type except liver, Matthew Evans at

Credit: Courtesy of Janez Plavec" /> Credit: Courtesy of Janez Plavec The paper: A. Grimson, et al., "MicroRNA targeting specificity in mammals: determinants beyond seed pairing," Mol Cell, 27:91-105, 2007. (Cited in 109 papers) The bottom line: Massachusetts Institute of Technology biologist David Bartel and colleagues constructed an algorithm to predict miRNA target sites on untranslated

Credit: Courtesy of Thomas von Zglinicki and PLoS Biology" /> Credit: Courtesy of Thomas von Zglinicki and PLoS Biology The paper: J. F. Passos et al., "Mitochondrial dysfunction accounts for the stochastic heterogeneity in telomere-dependent senescence," PLoS Biology, 5:1138, 2007. (Cited in 31 papers) The study: To investigate why cells senesce at different rates, Thomas von Zglinicki of

Credit: Courtesy of Fungal Biodiversity Center, Utrecht, the Netherlands" /> Credit: Courtesy of Fungal Biodiversity Center, Utrecht, the Netherlands The paper: H.J. Pel et al., "Genome sequencing and analysis of the versatile cell factory Aspergillus niger CBS 513.88," Nat Biotechnol, 25:221-31, 2007. (Cited in 65 papers) The gist: Hein Stam and colleagues at DSM Food Sciences in The Neth

Credit: Generated using Polyview-3D / A. Porollo, J. Meller (2007) Versatile Annotation and Publication Quality Visualization of Protein Complexes Using POLYVIEW-3D" /> Credit: Generated using Polyview-3D / A. Porollo, J. Meller (2007) Versatile Annotation and Publication Quality Visualization of Protein Complexes Using POLYVIEW-3D The paper: J. Villén et al., "Large-scale p

Credit: Opabinia regalis / wikimedia.org" /> Credit: Opabinia regalis / wikimedia.org The paper: V. Hornak, et al., "Comparison of multiple Amber force fields and development of improved protein backbone parameters," Proteins Struc Funct Bioinfo, 65:712-25, 2006. (Cited in 58 papers) The gist: To improve a 25-year-old set of equations, called the Amber force field,

Credit: Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 280, issue 41, 10/14/05, courtesy of Yuko Fujiwara, University of Tennessee Cancer Institute, Memphis, TN" /> Credit: Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 280, issue 41, 10/14/05, courtesy of Yuko Fujiwara, University of Tennessee Cancer Institute, Memphis, TN The paper: J. Chun et al., "GPR92 as a new G(12/13)- and G(q)-coupled lysophosphatidic acid receptor tha

Credit: Wenche Eikrem and Jahn Throndsen / University of Oslo" /> Credit: Wenche Eikrem and Jahn Throndsen / University of Oslo The paper: E. Derelle et. al., "Genome analysis of the smallest free-living eukaryote Ostreococcus tauri unveils many unique features," Proc Natl Acad Sci, 103:11647-52, 2006. (Cited in 74 papers) The study: French, Belgian, and US scientists

Credit: COURTESY OF Jennifer M. Warner / Department of Biology, University of North Carolina-Charlotte" /> Credit: COURTESY OF Jennifer M. Warner / Department of Biology, University of North Carolina-Charlotte The paper: S. Leininger et al., "Archaea predominate among ammonia-oxidizing prokaryotes in soils," Nature, 442:806-9, 2006 (Cited in 84 papers) The surprise:

Credit: Frank Vincentz / wikimedia.org" /> Credit: Frank Vincentz / wikimedia.org The paper: M. Lagouge et al., "Resveratrol improves mitochondrial function and protects against metabolic disease by activating SIRT1 and PGC-1α," Cell, 127:1109-22, 2006. (Cited in 139 papers) The finding: In 2006, Johan Auwerx of the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology in France and colleagues trea

Credit: © Pekka Parviainen / Photo Researchers, Inc." /> Credit: © Pekka Parviainen / Photo Researchers, Inc. The paper: Ove Nilsson et al. "CO/FT regulatory module controls timing of flowering and seasonal growth cessation in trees," Science, 312:1040-3, 2006. (Cited in 58 papers). The finding: While trying to speed up breeding in flowering trees, Ove Nilsson's group

Credit: Thomas Splettstoesser / wikimedia.org" /> Credit: Thomas Splettstoesser / wikimedia.org The paper: C.-L. Wei et al., "A global map of p53 transcription-factor binding sites in the human genome," Cell, 124:207-19, 2006. (Cited in 184 papers) The technique: Yijun Ruan, of the Genome Institute of Singapore, and colleagues wanted a better way to study where transcription factors (TFs) bind to DNA. They deve

Credit: ® CAMR/A. Barry Dowsett / Photo Researchers, Inc." /> Credit: ® CAMR/A. Barry Dowsett / Photo Researchers, Inc. The paper: T. Tobe et al., "An extensive repertoire of type III secretion effectors in Escherichia coli O157 and the role of lambdoid phages in their dissemination," Proc Nat Acad Sci, 103:14941-6, 2006. (Cited in 38 papers.) The study: Some virulent bacteria infec