Channeling headache

Channeling stress

From the pressure of an impending deadline to the frustration of sitting in traffic, stress is a normal feature of daily life. In most cases, the stressors are mild and we have both the mental and physical resources with which to cope. However, chronic exposure to high-stress situations is associated with many disease states and psychopathologies, and unfortunately, we don’t have to look far fo...

Channeling to the Nucleus

L-type voltage-gated calcium channels (LTCs) may control neuronal gene expression by increasing nuclear Ca(2+) levels or regulating Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent transcription factors. In the November 3 issue of Cell, Gomez-Ospina et al. demonstrate another signaling mechanism, in which a C-terminal fragment of LTC translocates to the nucleus in a calcium-dependent manner and directly regulates t...

Channeling the Central Dogma

How do neurons and networks achieve their characteristic electrical activity, regulate this activity homeostatically, and yet show population variability in expression? In this issue of Neuron, O'Leary et al. (2014) address some of these thorny questions in this theoretical analysis that starts with the Central Dogma.

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Insect Odorant Receptors: Channeling Scent

Odorant detection in insects involves heterodimers between an odorant receptor (OR) and a conserved seven-transmembrane protein called Or83b, but the exact mechanism of OR signal transduction is unclear. Two recent studies in Nature (Sato et al., 2008; Wicher et al., 2008) now reveal that these OR-Or83b heterodimers form odorant-gated ion channels, revealing a surprising new mode of olfactory t...