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Emerging model organisms featured in CSH Protocols
October 02, 2008Biological research has long relied on a small number of model organisms, species chosen because they are amenable to laboratory research and suitable for the study of a range of biological problems. However, the variety of organisms studied is currently undergoing a massive expansion, as the time and costs of sequencing genomes drops, as techniques for selectively altering the expression patterns of genes become more generally applicable, and as more and more biologists expand their interests from the purely mechanistic to include evolutionary considerations. Instead of focusing on the few standard model organisms, researchers are now introducing new species to the laboratory, opening up new avenues of research and allowing comparison and refinement of our understanding of already-established models. This month's issue of Cold Spring Harbor Protocols (www.cshprotocols.org/TOCs/toc10_08.dtl) introduces a new series of articles about the latest generation of model organisms.
Each article presents a new organism and provides a detailed explanation of why it is useful for laboratory research, along with information on husbandry, genetics and genomics, pointers towards further resources, and a set of basic laboratory protocols for working with that organism. The next few issues of Cold Spring Harbor Protocols will include organisms ranging from bat and butterfly to cave fish and choanoflagellates; cricket and finch, to quail, snail and tomato (see http://www.cshprotocols.org/emo for a complete list). These articles will also be published as a printed laboratory manual, scheduled for release by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press in November, 2008 (http://www.cshlpress.com/link/emop.htm).
October's issue of Cold Spring Harbor Protocols includes material on five emerging model organisms. Featured organisms include planarians, contributed by Michael Levin and colleagues (http://www.drmichaellevin.org/) and the snapdragon, from Andrew Hudson's laboratory (http://www.biology.ed.ac.uk/research/institutes/plant/pages/staff_pages/A_Hudson_staffpage.htm). Planarians have shown great value in the study of mechanisms of tissue regeneration, stem cell regulation, tissue turnover, pharmacological action of diverse drugs, cancer, and aging. The article about planarians is freely accessible on the website for Cold Spring Harbor Protocols (http://www.cshprotocols.org/cgi/content/full/2008/11/pdb.emo101). The snapdragon is a valuable model for biochemical and developmental genetics and is often used to examine the genetic basis for plant diversity. This article is also freely accessible on the website for Cold Spring Harbor Protocols (http://www.cshprotocols.org/cgi/content/full/2008/11/pdb.emo100).
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
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It's a little like finding out that Superman is actually Clark Kent. A team of biologists at Washington University in St. Louis has discovered that two vital cellular components, nuclear RNA Polymerases IV and V (Pol IV and V), found only in plants, are actually specialized forms of RNA Polymerase II, an essential enzyme of all eukaryotic organisms, including humans.
Understanding Extinct Microbes May Influence the State of Modern Human Health
The study of ancient microbes may not seem consequential, but such pioneering research at the University of Oklahoma has implications for the state of modern human health. Cecil Lewis, assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology, says results of this research raise questions about the microbes living on and within people.
Viruses, start your engines!
Peering at structures only atoms across, researchers have identified the clockwork that drives a powerful virus nanomotor. Because of the motor's strength--to scale, twice that of an automobile--the new findings could inspire engineers designing sophisticated nanomachines.
Common food additive found to increase risk and speed spread of lung cancer
New research in an animal model suggests that a diet high in inorganic phosphates, which are found in a variety of processed foods including meats, cheeses, beverages, and bakery products, might speed growth of lung cancer tumors and may even contribute to the development of those tumors in individuals predisposed to the disease.
Organic plant waste proves effective weed control for citrus trees
Interest in organic crop production is increasing around the world. Organics are healthy for consumers while adding environmental benefits and decreasing the amount of synthetic herbicides in foods, soil, and water.
Research team reports how, when life on Earth became so big
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E. coli engineered to produce important class of antibiotic, anti-cancer drugs
Researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have taken a major step forward in the field of metabolic engineering, successfully using the bacterium Escherichia coli to synthesize a class of natural products known bacterial aromatic polyketides, which include important antibiotic and anticancer drugs.
Unusual microbial ropes grow slowly in cave lake
Deep inside the Frasassi cave system in Italy and more than 1,600 feet below the Earth's surface, divers found filamentous ropes of microbes growing in the cold water, according to a team of Penn State researchers.
Snails and humans use same genes to tell right from left
Biologists have tracked down genes that control the handedness of snail shells, and they turn out to be similar to the genes used by humans to set up the left and right sides of the body.
CSHL scientists discover new way in which ubiquitin modifies transcriptional machinery to regulate gene activity
During gene transcription - the process inside the nucleus of cells by which DNA, the genetic material, is copied into RNA - a large, ever-changing multiprotein complex is enlisted to assist the DNA-copying enzyme in its challenging job.
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