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For a comprehensive review of the most interesting recent articles published in the biological sciences, visit Faculty of 1000 Biology, an online literature awareness tool published by BioMed Central. Faculty of 1000 Biology systematically highlights exciting recent publications on the basis of recommendations of a faculty of well over 1,000 of the world's leading researchers. |
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Oliver Fiehn
University of California, Davis, United States of America
PLANT BIOLOGY
 Confirmation
 Tech Advance
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This is the first report carefully examining different extraction methods for yeast cells and subsequent metabolite profiling with respect to effectivity of quenching metabolism, leakage and eventual recovery of intracellular metabolites. This is a breakthrough paper for yeast and microbial metabolomics, giving solid ground for further methodological improvements and guidelines for how method validation must be carried out in other organisms.
Evaluated 21 Nov 2005 |
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Julia Kehr
Max-Planck-Institut fur Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Germany
PLANT BIOLOGY
Tech Advance
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This interesting article describes the successful increase of homologous recombination events in tobacco protoplasts by using zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) that introduce site-specific chromosome breaks. The ZFNs can be engineered to target any gene of interest and the described method has, therefore, a high potential to allow directed studies of gene functions in higher plants.
Evaluated 21 Nov 2005 |
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Stephen Holbrook
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, United States of America
STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY
 Hypothesis
 New Finding
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The authors propose to use RNA aptamer and ribozyme sequence and structure conservation to search for new functional RNA motifs in genomic sequences. They find putative examples of streptomycin, chloramphenicol, neomycin B and ATP aptamers in microbial genomes (i.e. streptomyces). Although the authors use computation to screen out some hits, there is a need for better methods to eliminate false positives. Experimental verification is also a must.
Evaluated 28 Nov 2005 |
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Elizabeth Kellogg
University of Missouri-St. Louis, United States of America
DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
New Finding
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This paper presents a well-supported multigene phylogeny for the rice tribe Oryzeae and, thus, provides a necessary broad context for evolutionary studies in Oryza. Importantly, the authors estimate the date of the stem node of Oryza, corresponding to the split between Oryza and its sister genus Leersia, at about 14 million years ago (mya). The date of the earliest speciation event in Oryza (the crown node) is estimated at about 9 mya.
Evaluated 18 Nov 2005 |
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Helen Chamberlin
Ohio State University, United States of America
DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
Hypothesis
Tech Advance
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I like this paper because it applies established lab protocols and computational algorithms in an innovative way to determine cell lineage in large multicellular organisms. The authors propose - and then experimentally and computationally test - the idea that mutations in microsatellite sequence that occur during DNA replication can be used to determine the developmental relationship among cells in a single organism, in the same way that sequence differences are used to determine the evolutionary relationship among populations or species. This approach has the potential to establish the developmental relationship among cells in a particular organ, determine the original source of tumor cells, and track the conserved and divergent cell lineage patterns in individuals of the same species.
Evaluated 18 Nov 2005 |
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