EGF takes dual control of mRNA E GF coordinates the nuclear and cy t o p l a s m i c activities of an RNA-binding protein to ensure a specifi c mRNA is translated at the right time and place in neu-rons, say Tsai et al. mRNAs localize to specifi c regions within neurons, where they can be translated to quickly generate large amounts of a protein in the place where it is needed. Due to the large...

ells with shortening telomeres hit two successive barriers: they first stop dividing as they become senescent, and later undergo a cell death process termed crisis. Although crisis may, as suggested by others, be controlled by overall telomere length, and colleagues now blame the onset of senescence on a particular structure at the end of telomeres. The important structure is a single-stranded ...

The different ties that bind B efore they separate into daughter cells during mitosis, sister chroma-tids are held together by cohesin complexes. But these complexes aren't the same along the entire length of the chro-matids, according to Canudas and Smith: The version of cohesin that links sister telomeres is different from the form that fastens centromeres together (1). Cohesin consists of fo...

ells with shortening telomeres hit two successive barriers: they first stop dividing as they become senescent, and later undergo a cell death process termed crisis. Although crisis may, as suggested by others, be controlled by overall telomere length, and colleagues now blame the onset of senescence on a particular structure at the end of telomeres. The important structure is a single-stranded ...

interference resulted in some cohesin loading onto meiotic chromosomes. This partial loading of cohesin resulted in similar defects in DNA repair that were now competent to activate the DNA damage checkpoint. The involvement of cohesin in the DNA damage response during a specialized cell division in which the sister chromatid is not the preferred partner in repair raises the question of what ro...

The genus Stenotrophomonas (Gammaproteobacteria) has a broad environmental distribution. Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is its best known species because it is a globally emerging, multidrug-resistant (MDR), opportunistic pathogen. Members of this species are known to display high genetic, ecological and phenotypic diversity, forming the so-called S. maltophilia complex (Smc). Heterogeneous resis...

During meiosis, chromosomes acquire unique features: the two pairs of sister chromatids form axial elements (Aes) that synapse and form the synaptonemal complex (sC), telo-meres attach to the nuclear membrane where they form a cluster that later disassembles, meiotic recombination between the two pairs of sister chromatids happens and chiasmata are formed as an obligatory structure that keeps t...

that interphase nuclei could be converted to mitotic University of Edinburgh chromosomes only if topoisomerase II was endoge-Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology nously present or added back after depletion of the King's Buildings extract. Edinburgh EH9 3JR More recently, a similar convergence of data from Scotland divergent approaches has revealed the importance of the SMC (structural maint...

Sexual reproduction is one of the great success stories of evolution, allowing the reshuffling of genetic material from two parents to create new gene combinations for the next generation. to this end, diploid organisms produce gametes containing a randomly selected haploid comple ment of their genome. the necessary chromosome gymnastics occur in two sequential meiotic cell divisions (petronczk...

A ll organisms have mechanisms to ensure that dividing cells produce new cells with the proper number of chromosomes. The dividing cell closely monitors that chromosomes are copied exactly once and then distributed correctly to daughter cells. After replication, the chromosomes (now comprising two chromatids) align at the center of the cell, and are attached to a structure known as the spindle ...