Germ and gene tag team

Tag Team Ubiquitin Ligases

Cullin-RING (CRL) and RING1-IBR-RING2 (RBR) are two distinct types of ubiquitin ligases. In this issue, Scott et al. show that CRLs activate the RBR enzyme ARIH1 to initiate ubiquitin chains on CRL substrates, thereby marking an unexpected and important advance in our understanding of both enzymes.

Tag team at the telomeres

Tag team at the telomeres I t takes two crews of proteins to keep the telomeres in fi ne fettle, as Kim et al. show. TRF1 and TRF2 are just two of the proteins that ensure that a cell's telomeres remain long and structurally sound. Another protein, TIN2, links up with both molecules and with other proteins to form complexes that help maintain the telomeres. However, researchers weren't sure whe...

Tag team action at the synapse.

Communication between neurons relies on chemical synapses and the release of neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft. Neurotransmitter release is an exquisitely regulated membrane fusion event that requires the linking of an electrical nerve stimulus to Ca(2+) influx, which leads to the fusion of neurotransmitter-filled vesicles with the cell membrane. The timing of neurotransmitter release i...

Male germ cell gene expression.

Formation of the male gamete occurs in sequential mitotic, meiotic, and postmeiotic phases. Many germ cell-specific transcripts are produced during this process. Their expression is developmentally regulated and stage specific. Some of these transcripts are product of genes that are male germ cell-specific homologs of genes expressed in somatic cells, while some are expressed from unique genes ...

The 'tag team' : tools, tasks and roles in collaborative software development