The centrosome yields its secrets

Virology. Resurrected influenza virus yields secrets of deadly 1918 pandemic.

Natural product-inspired cascade synthesis yields modulators of centrosome integrity.

In biology-oriented synthesis, the scaffolds of biologically relevant compound classes inspire the synthesis of focused compound collections enriched in bioactivity. This criterion is, in particular, met by the scaffolds of natural products selected in evolution. The synthesis of natural product-inspired compound collections calls for efficient reaction sequences that preferably combine multipl...

Caspase-14 reveals its secrets

Caspase-14 is a unique member of the evolutionarily conserved family of cysteinyl aspartate-specific proteinases, which are mainly involved in inflammation and apoptosis. However, recent evidence also implicates these proteases in proliferation and differentiation. Although most caspases are ubiquitously expressed, caspase-14 expression is confined mainly to cornifying epithelia, such as the sk...

Supercooled water reveals its secrets.

W hen a substance remains liquid below its melting point, it is said to be in a metastable supercooled state. In the region where the substance can be supercooled, the crystal is still the stable state, but crystallization can be avoided if the cooling occurs fast enough. The supercooled phase diagram of water has received particular attention (1). The anomalous thermodynamic properties of wate...

Tagged fibrocystin sheds its secrets.

Autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease (ARPKD), a rare monogenic disorder with an incidence of 1:20,000 live births, is characterized by massive bilateral kidney enlargement due to cystic dilation of the renal tubules.1 In addition, liver cysts and hepatic fibrosis are also observed in patients with ARPKD. In neonates and infants, ARPKD manifests as severe kidney failure in utero, oligoh...