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The latest articles from Journal of Biology (ISSN 1475-4924) published by
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Music, memory and emotionBecause emotions enhance memory processes and music evokes strong emotions, music could be involved in forming memories, either about pieces of music or about episodes and information associated with particular music. A recent study in BMC Neuroscience has given new insights into the role of emotion in musical memory.
http://jbiol.com/content/7/6/21
Lutz JänckeJournal of Biology 2008, 7:212008-08-08doi:10.1186/jbiol82Journal of Biology1475-49247212008-08-08Drug-therapy networks and the prediction of novel drug targetsA recent study in BMC Pharmacology presents a network of drugs and the therapies in which they are used. Network approaches open new ways of predicting novel drug targets and overcoming the cellular robustness that can prevent drugs from working.
http://jbiol.com/content/7/6/20
Zoltan Spiro, Istvan A Kovacs and Peter CsermelyJournal of Biology 2008, 7:202008-07-31doi:10.1186/jbiol81Journal of Biology1475-49247202008-07-31Genomics technology for assessing soil pollutionTranscription and metabolite analysis is a powerful way to reveal physiological shifts in response to environmental pollution. Recent studies on earthworms, including one in BMC Biology, show that the type of pollution and its availability for uptake by organisms can differentially affect transcription and metabolism.
http://jbiol.com/content/7/6/19
Nico M van Straalen and Dick RoelofsJournal of Biology 2008, 7:192008-07-14doi:10.1186/jbiol80Journal of Biology1475-49247192008-07-14Stage debut for the elusive Drosophila insulin-like growth factor binding proteinInsulin-like growth factor (IGF) binding proteins provide a layer of complexity to the insulin/IGF signaling system in mammals, but only now, in a recent study in Journal of Biology, has one such protein been functionally characterized in Drosophila.
http://jbiol.com/content/7/6/18
Nazif Alic and Linda PartridgeJournal of Biology 2008, 7:182008-07-07doi:10.1186/jbiol79Journal of Biology1475-49247182008-07-07Making the jump: new insights into the mechanism of trans-translationThe transfer-messenger ribonucleoprotein (tmRNP), which is composed of RNA and a small protein, small protein B (SmpB), recycles ribosomes that are stalled on broken mRNAs lacking stop codons and tags the partially translated proteins for degradation. Although it is not yet understood how the ribosome gets from the 3' end of the truncated message onto the messenger portion of the tmRNA to add the tag, a recent study in BMC Biology has shed some light on this astonishing feat.
http://jbiol.com/content/7/5/17
Jacek Wower, Iwona K Wower and Christian ZwiebJournal of Biology 2008, 7:172008-06-30doi:10.1186/jbiol78Journal of Biology1475-49247172008-06-30Zoological detective stories: the case of the facetotectan crustacean life cycleThe reconstruction of complete animal life cycles is sometimes a considerable problem, even though the knowledge of the full life cycle may have far-reaching evolutionary implications. A new study published in BMC Biology on artificially induced metamorphosis in an enigmatic crustacean group that was only known from larval stages sheds new light on the evolution of parasitism.
http://jbiol.com/content/7/5/16
Gerhard ScholtzJournal of Biology 2008, 7:162008-06-26doi:10.1186/jbiol77Journal of Biology1475-49247162008-06-26Spatially patterned gradients of synaptic connectivity are established early in the developing retinaRetinal neurons receive input from other cells via synapses and the position of these synapses on the neurons reflects the retinal regions from which information is received. A new study in Neural Development establishes that the spatial distribution of excitatory synaptic inputs emerges at the onset of synapse formation rather than as a result of changes during neuronal reorganisation.
http://jbiol.com/content/7/5/15
Susana Cohen-CoryJournal of Biology 2008, 7:152008-06-09doi:10.1186/jbiol76Journal of Biology1475-49247152008-06-09Process rather than pattern: finding pine needles in the coevolutionary haystackThe geographic mosaic theory is fast becoming a unifying framework for coevolutionary studies. A recent experimental study of interactions between pines and mycorrhizal fungi in BMC Biology is the first to rigorously test geographical selection mosaics, one of the cornerstones of the theory.
http://jbiol.com/content/7/5/14
David R NashJournal of Biology 2008, 7:142008-05-28doi:10.1186/jbiol75Journal of Biology1475-49247142008-05-28Colugos: obscure mammals glide into the evolutionary limelightSubstantial molecular evidence indicates that tree-shrews, colugos and primates cluster together on the mammalian phylogenetic tree. Previously, a sister-group relationship between colugos and primates seemed likely. A new study of colugo chromosomes indicates instead an affinity between colugos and tree-shrews.
http://jbiol.com/content/7/4/13
Robert D MartinJournal of Biology 2008, 7:132008-05-01doi:10.1186/jbiol74Journal of Biology1475-49247132008-05-01Systemic 5-fluorouracil treatment causes a syndrome of delayed myelin destruction in the central nervous systemBackground:
Cancer treatment with a variety of chemotherapeutic agents often is associated with delayed adverse neurological consequences. Despite their clinical importance, almost nothing is known about the basis for such effects. It is not even known whether the occurrence of delayed adverse effects requires exposure to multiple chemotherapeutic agents, the presence of both chemotherapeutic agents and the body's own response to cancer, prolonged damage to the blood-brain barrier, inflammation or other such changes. Nor are there any animal models that could enable the study of this important problem.
Results:
We found that clinically relevant concentrations of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU; a widely used chemotherapeutic agent) were toxic for both central nervous system (CNS) progenitor cells and non-dividing oligodendrocytes in vitro and in vivo. Short-term systemic administration of 5-FU caused both acute CNS damage and a syndrome of progressively worsening delayed damage to myelinated tracts of the CNS associated with altered transcriptional regulation in oligodendrocytes and extensive myelin pathology. Functional analysis also provided the first demonstration of delayed effects of chemotherapy on the latency of impulse conduction in the auditory system, offering the possibility of non-invasive analysis of myelin damage associated with cancer treatment.
Conclusions:
Our studies demonstrate that systemic treatment with a single chemotherapeutic agent, 5-FU, is sufficient to cause a syndrome of delayed CNS damage and provide the first animal model of delayed damage to white-matter tracts of individuals treated with systemic chemotherapy. Unlike that caused by local irradiation, the degeneration caused by 5-FU treatment did not correlate with either chronic inflammation or extensive vascular damage and appears to represent a new class of delayed degenerative damage in the CNS.
http://jbiol.com/content/7/4/12
Ruolan Han, Yin M Yang, Joerg Dietrich, Anne Luebke, Margot Mayer-Pröschel and Mark NobleJournal of Biology 2008, 7:122008-04-22doi:10.1186/jbiol69Journal of Biology1475-49247122008-04-22