Spontaneous signaling from death-domain-containing receptors can result in inappropriate cell death. An inhibitory protein has recently been identified, called silencer of death domains (SODD), that binds to the death domain of tumor necrosis factor receptor 1, thereby negatively regulating downstream signaling.

In this issue of Neuron, Stachniak et al. (2014) determine that the chemogenetic silencer hM4Di-DREADD suppresses presynaptic glutamate release, and by generating an axon-targeted hM4Di variant they demonstrate that it can be used to locally silence synaptic transmission in neural circuits.

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, transcriptionally silent heterochromatin at HML and HMR loci is established by silencers that recruit SIR complex and promote its propagation along chromatin. Silencers consist of various combinations of two or three binding sites for origin recognition complex (ORC), Abf1 and Rap1. A single ORC, Abf1 or Rap1 site cannot promote silencing, but can enhance silencing ...

Imaginal disc development in Drosophila requires coordinated cellular proliferation and tissue patterning. In our studies of TGFβ superfamily signaling components, we found that a protein null mutation of Smad2, the only Activin subfamily R-Smad in the fruit fly, produces overgrown wing discs that resemble gain of function for BMP subfamily signaling. The wing discs are expanded specifically al...

Although the driving noise of electric vehicles has been reduced compared with that internal combustion engine vehicles, a new interior problem is emerging. It crucial to reduce heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, which one main causes noise. Therefore, in this study, metasilencer an acoustic metasurface structure presented. The was designed restrain travel direction sound...

An adaptive-passive quarter-wave tube resonator silencer was experimentally tested using recorded in-duct reciprocating engine exhaust noise. The exhaust noise was re-played through a loudspeaker attached to one end of a duct, and the adaptive passive system was able to track changes in engine speed and provide attenuation of the noise at the fundamental firing frequency of the engine and the t...