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LEF and TCF transcription factors (referred to collectively as LEF/TCFs) are pivotal players in the molecular pathology of cancer of the intestinal tract. Mutant components of the Wnt signal transduction cascade invariably lead to the inappropriate activation of LEF/TCFs in the cancer cell. A new study provides evidence for an unexpected amplification step in this cascade. The inappropriate activity of the Wnt pathway in colorectal cancer cells induces the expression of LEF1, which is normally not expressed in intestinal epithelium.
Cytokines regulate growth and functions of a variety of cells including immune and hematopoietic cells. The SOCS family proteins negatively regulate cytokine signaling, thereby preventing overactivation of cytokine-stimulated cells. A new study provides evidence that inactivation of SOCS-1, one of the SOCS family members, can be responsible for abnormal growth of hepatocellular carcinoma cells, suggesting that SOCS-1 may act as a tumor suppressor.
Cryptomonad algae result from a secondary endosymbiotic event and retain their enslaved red algal nucleus as a minute nucleomorph, the smallest nuclear genome known. Knowledge of the sequence of this diminutive nucleus provides important information and insights about basic genome organization such as chromosome domain organization and folding, mitotic chromosome segregation and other processes such as how four genomes are coordinately regulated in these unusually complex cells.
It has been suggested that natural killer (NK) cells contribute to host defense against infections, but genetic evidence has been lacking. A new study of mouse strains susceptible to infection by cytomegalovirus indicates that the Klra8 (formerly Ly49H) stimulatory receptor is essential to resisting the virus. Such a receptor may have evolved as a response of NK cells to viral strategies to evade the immune system.
The availability in computerized form of the published literature on genes is a potentially rich source of information for the interpretation of microarray data. Automated text processing confronts substantial challenges due to variability in the language used by authors, but even incomplete linking of gene clusters to the literature can reveal functional information that is useful in explaining gene expression patterns.
The chromosomes of sperm cells are tightly packaged into a complex of DNA and protamines. Converting the chromatin from a nucleohistone to a nucleoprotamine structure may serve both biophysical and developmental functions. Several recent genetic studies have shown unexpected findings of the dosage requirements for the genes involved in sperm chromatin remodeling.
