α1-Antitrypsin, Old Dog, New Tricks

α1-ANTITRYPSIN-OLD DOG NEW TRICKS: α1-ANTITRYPSIN EXERTS IN VITRO ANTI-INFLAMMATORY ACTIVITY IN HUMAN MONOCYTES BY ELEVATING cAMP

CaMKII: New Tricks for an Old Dog

Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is a pivotal signaling molecule in both the brain and the heart. In this issue of Cell, Erickson et al. (2008) demonstrate a mechanism for CaMKII activation by reactive oxygen species that provides a direct link between kinase activation and cardiac dysfunction.

GCN2, an old dog with new tricks.

Gcn2 was first described in budding yeast as a serine/threonine protein kinase involved in the response to amino acid starvation and this is its best characterized role to date. Recent work has revealed new and exciting roles for Gcn2, which affect many aspects of cellular physiology in response to a number of stresses in addition to starvation. Furthermore, the Gcn2 pathway has been implicated...

New Tricks by an Old Dog

It is generally recognized that the connecting peptide (C-peptide) of proinsulin fulfills an important function in the biosynthesis of insulin. It brings together the A-and B-chains such that the initial folding and interchain disulfide bonds can be formed. Evolutionary considerations suggest that a length of approximately 30 residues for the connecting segment, as is the case for human C-pepti...

Heterotrimeric G Proteins New Tricks for an Old Dog

Heterotrimeric G proteins are well known for their function in signal transduction downstream of seven transmembrane receptors. More recently, however, genetic analysis in C. elegans and in Drosophila has revealed a second, essential function of these molecules in positioning the mitotic spindle and attaching microtubules to the cell cortex. Five new publications in Cell (Afshar et al., 2004; D...