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The relative contributions of RNA production, processing and degradation rates to cellular RNA levels are not well understood. Using pulsed metabolic RNA labeling of stimulated dendritic cells in conjunction with nCounter RNA quantification, RNA sequencing and computer modeling, Regev and colleagues unravel principles that determine RNA expression levels.
Frontini et al. propose to improve therapeutic angiogenesis by targeting perivascular smooth muscle cells rather than endothelial cells. They show that FGF9 causes smooth muscle cells to wrap around nascent endothelial tubes, generating blood vessels that are longer lasting and vasoreactive.
The sialic acid–dependent interaction of the co-inhibitory receptors CD24 and SiglecG prevents excessive inflammatory responses to pathogen infection. Chen et al. show that microbial sialidases exacerbate sepsis by disrupting this interaction and that sialidase inhibitors reduce mortality in an intestinal perforation mouse model of sepsis.
Bantscheff et al. use chemoproteomics to measure the affinity of small molecules for megadalton protein complexes in cell extracts. Differences in the selectivity of HDAC inhibitors observed when native HDAC complexes are compared with their purified catalytic subunits suggest the limitations of using isolated recombinant proteins in certain drug screens.
The two copies of each chromosome in a diploid organism may contain different patterns of genetic variants. Fan et al. describe a microfluidic device capable of isolating each of the sister chromatids from single cells, allowing whole-genome haplotyping by sequencing and arrays.
