EFTA00768853.pdf

From: F1000 Biology Update To: Jeff Epstein <[email protected]> Subject: Disease-mediated trophic cascades in the Serengeti and how to inhibit the mycobacterial proteasome. Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:27:17 +0000 View in your defult web browser. 18-Nov-2009 Search F1000 Biology Submit Please note: The search function will not work for all email clients. Click here to search F1000 Biology. 2,Fac 2Faculty of 1000 Biology ulty Faculty of 1000 Biology Post-publication peer review at its best In this issue... GA_ F1000 Blog & YouTube Channel Editor's Choice: A disease-mediated trophic cascade in the Serengeti and its implications for ecosystem C Broad Impact: Inhibiting the nwcobacterial proteasome Rate Your Workplace and Be Heard! Hidden Jewel: Extracellular DNA is required for root tip resistance to fungal infection FI000 Biology Reports: Latest articles (including one by Chad A Cowan) IiJ Full access to some of F1000 Biology's most popular recent evaluations F1000 Blog and YouTube Channel Richard Grant explains the role of Associate Faculty Members on our blog and more videos from our visit to the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago have been posted on our Youtube channel. back to top EFTA00768853 Editor's Choice: A disease-mediated trophic cascade in the Serengeti and its implications for ecosystem C Few global issues receive as much attention as the carbon cycle and climate change, and for good reason. Trees are known to be a major carbon sink and, as such, rainforests have been the focus of increased protection. However, a recent study published in PLoS Biology, highlighted by Blake Suttle and Oswald Schmitz of the Ecology Faculty, has shown that disease control in herbivores in the Serengeti had the surprising effect of creating a new carbon sink out of a previous net carbon source. Blake Suttle and Oswald Schmitz explain "This exceptional study addresses the applied question of what regulates tree cover in African savannas while also building basic ecological theory on disease as a top-down driver of ecosystem dynamics." They continue "Bayesian state-space models reveal that eradication of rinderpest virus in the 1960s led to an irruption in the Serengeti wildebeest population, which increased grazing pressure on savanna grasses and decreased fuel loads, in turn, reducing fire frequency, the primary direct determinant of savanna tree density over large spatial scales." And conclude "In a fascinating twist, [the authors] close with an exploration of the modern management implications of their work, suggesting that local governments could draw revenues for carbon sequestration based on maintaining a large grazer herd, selling carbon offsets to visitors and the emerging international market." Read all comments in full. back to top Broad Impact: Inhibiting the mycobacterial proteasome In this must-read article, the authors found that some oxathiazol-2-one compounds can kill non-replicating Mycobacterium tuberculosis by inhibiting the proteasome. As tuberculosis is a major global health problem, this research is potentially very important. Adam S Duerfeldt and Brian Blagg of the Pharmacology & Drug Discovery Faculty explain "Tuberculosis is a contagious and deadly disease that infects roughly one third of the world's population. The current treatment regimen was developed in the 1970s and involves a minimum 6-month treatment with drug cocktails." Jean Pieters of the Microbiology Faculty continues "During latent mycobacterial infection, non-replicative status causes longer treatment of disease with conventional anti-mycobacteria agents than any other infectious disease, possibly leading to the emergence of drug-resistant strains or failure of therapy." Karin Romisch of the Cell Biology. Faculty goes on to say EFTA00768854 "Despite structural differences, most known proteasome inhibitors affect both human and mycobacterial proteasomes and therefore cannot be used as treatment for tuberculosis. The authors of this paper screened a drug library and found two new compounds which specifically inhibit the mycobacterial proteasome." However, Bradley Morgan of the Pharmacology & Drug Discovery Faculty warns "The oxathiazol-2-one compounds discovered in the paper are not likely to result in useful drug candidates due to the relative instability of this moiety in a biological milieu, as represented by the half-life of the analogs in RPMI medium, which is shown in the supplemental material. Nevertheless, this paper demonstrates the possibility of identifying and designing specific inhibitors of the proteasomes of pathogenic organisms that are becoming resistant to current therapies." Read all comments in full. back to top Rate Your Workplace and Be Heard! Take The Scientist's 2010 Best Places to Work Survey For 2010 we're doing things a little bit differently with our annual survey series. We are opening all 3 surveys at once -- Academia, Industry and Postdocs -- and publishing the results throughout the year. If you are working in life sciences in an academic, industry, private or government institution, click here to be heard. Do you find your position rewarding? Positive environment? Good leadership? Benefits? Empowered or powerless? Tell us about your work environment. Take the survey and you could WIN a $250 Amazon gift card - must enter by November 24! Surveys are confidential and individual responses are not shared. Pass this along to your colleagues -- the more responses we receive the better the results will be. Take the Survey Today, Visit http://www.bptIv.org/ back In ion Hidden Jewel: Extracellular DNA is required for root tip resistance to fungal infection This paper, selected by Tal Isaacson and Jocelyn Rose of the Plant Biology Faculty, describes how root cap cells in peas secrete DNA to defend against fungal pathogens. Tal Isascson and Jocelyn Rose explain "It has been known for some time that the tips of roots are far more resistant to infection by microbial pathogens than the adjacent elongation zone, and there are good reasons for EFTA00768855 thinking that the secreted mucilage from the root caps contributes to this phenomenon." They continue "...depolymerizing the DNA results in enhanced infection by the fungus Nectria haematococca and ...the rate of that depolymerization shows some correspondence to the rate of infection. Radiolabeling is used to show that the secreted DNA is synthesized by living cells, rather than resulting from cell lysis." And conclude "...the discovery is fascinating and will undoubtedly lead to the identification of novel defence strategies and secretion processes." Read all comments in full. back to top F1000 Biology Reports See the latest 8 articles published in F1000 Biology Reports including Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells: an up-to-the- R[F1000 Reports Logo] minute review by Developmental Biology Faculty Member Chad A Cowan and Frank Lau, Tim Ahfeldt, Kenji Osafune, Hidenori Akustsu. back to top F1000 on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedln Follow Faculty of 1000 on Twitter: Our feed is Twitter Logo open to all and contains breaking news, updates and links to specific evaluations that catch our eye. Facebook Logo F1000 is now on Facebook. Become a fan! PAInlcedIn Logo Join or start a discussion on our LinkedIn group. back to top Access to Five Full Biology Evaluations In this study, the effect that vision of the body has on the perception of pain NS as nvestigated...MORE Selected b Alumit lshai (University of Zurich, Switzerland) %lust Read Visually induced analgesia: seeing the body reduces pain. F1000 Factor 6.0 Longo MR et al. J Neumsci 2009 Sep 30 29(39):12125-30 EFTA00768856 I found this article interesting because I was very surprised that loss of central tolerance to a single antigen was sufficient to cause autoimmune diabetes in a mouse strain not genetically prone to this disease...MORE Selected b I Thomas Kay (St. Vincent's Institute of Medical Research, Australia) Thymus-specific deletion of insulin induces autoimmune diabetes. FI000 Factor 9.0 Fan Yet al. EMBO J2009 Sep 16 28(18):2812-24 Cleaving human genomic DNA just once is quite a feat. The authors have accomplished this feat using a highly sequence-selective chemical approach...MORE Selected by I Scott K Silverman (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA) Site-selective scission of human genome by artificial restriction CM Must Read DNA cutter. 1- 1 ono 1-actor 6.0 Ito K et al. Chem Commit; (Camb) 2009 Nov 21 (43):6542-4 The authors suggest the novel idea that the dynamically unbalanced kinase activity contributions of Aktl and Akt2 modulate cancer malignancy via differential regulation of microRNA-200 (miR-200), and, thus, the authors possibly present a potential new clinical target for the inhibition of cancer progression....MORE Selected by I Gongda Xue and Brian Hemmings (Friedrich Miescher Institute, Switzerland) 1.1u.t Iliad MicroRNAs differentially regulated by Akt isoforms control EMT and stem cell renewal in cancer cells. -1000 Factor 4.8 I Iliopoulos D et al. Sci Signal 2009 2(92):ra62 The developmental origin of Merkel cells has long been debated. This report conclusively demonstrates the developmental origin of these unique skin cells...MORE Selected by I Aislyn M Nelson and Ellen A Lumpkin (Baylor College of Medicine, USA) Epidermal progenitors give rise to Merkel cells during embryonic Must Read development and adult homeostasis. Fi000 actiu 6.4 I Van Keymeulen A et al. J Cell Biol 2009 Oct 5 187(1):91-100 back to top Does your institute currently have access to F1000 Biology? If not, why not recommend to your librarian? Over 90% of the world's top institutions currently subscribe to F1000 Biology and many more are trialling. If your institution does not have access, then please recommend the service to your library so that they can arrange a free 30-day trial. You can use our online form to send your recommendation. If you prefer, there is a printable form (PDF). Alternatively, you may qualify for free access via HINARI or Faculty Member sponsorship: see http://www.f1000biology.com/aboutihinari. back to top You have received this message because you asked to receive u tes from Faculty of 1000 Biology. Your registered email addn.ss is: Please click here if you do not wish to receive any further messages from this Gram : Unsubseri tion For further information or enquiries please contact Customer Services at: EFTA00768857  F1000 Biology, Faculty of 1000 Ltd Science Navigation (imp. Middlesex House. 34-42 Cleveland Street. London. WIT 4LB, United Kingdom EFTA00768858