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Healthy prions protect nerves
The proteins that can cause CJD have a vital role in the nervous system.
- Alison Abbott
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Letter |
Animal cryptochromes mediate magnetoreception by an unconventional photochemical mechanism
Animals use the Earth's magnetic field for orientation but the biophysical basis of this is unclear. The light-dependent magnetic sense of Drosophila melanogaster was recently shown to be mediated by the cryptochrome (Cry) photoreceptor; here, using a transgenic approach, the type 1 and 2 Cry of the monarch butterfly are shown to both function in the magnetoreception system of Drosophila, and probably use an unconventional photochemical mechanism.
- Robert J. Gegear
- , Lauren E. Foley
- & Steven M. Reppert
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Letter |
Genome-wide erasure of DNA methylation in mouse primordial germ cells is affected by AID deficiency
The extent of epigenetic reprogramming in mammalian primordial germ cells (PGCs) and in early embryos, and its molecular mechanisms, are poorly understood. DNA methylation profiling in PGCs now reveals a genome–wide erasure of methylation, with female PGCs being less methylated than male ones. A deficiency of the cytidine deaminase AID interferes with the genome–wide erasure of DNA methylation, indicating that AID has a critical function in epigenetic reprogramming.
- Christian Popp
- , Wendy Dean
- & Wolf Reik
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News |
Brother sperm train together
Mouse sperm cells team up with their kin in the race to fertilize eggs.
- John Whitfield
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News |
Genomics boosts brain-cancer work
Molecular findings start to open up avenues of diagnosis and treatment.
- Erika Check Hayden
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Letter |
Competition drives cooperation among closely related sperm of deer mice
Sperm can increase their swimming velocity and gain a competitive advantage over sperm from another male by forming cooperative groups, such that selection should favour cooperation of the most closely related sperm. Sperm of deer mice are now shown to aggregate more often with conspecific than heterospecific sperm, in accordance with this theory, whereas in a monogamous species lacking sperm competition, sperm indiscriminately group with unrelated conspecific sperm.
- Heidi S. Fisher
- & Hopi E. Hoekstra