Best practices in bioinformatics training for life scientists.

The mountains of data thrusting from the new landscape of modern high-throughput biology are irrevocably changing biomedical research and creating a near-insatiable demand for training in data management and manipulation and data mining and analysis. Among life scientists, from clinicians to environmental researchers, a common theme is the need not just to use, and gain familiarity with, bioinformatics tools and resources but also to understand their underlying fundamental theoretical and practical concepts. Providing bioinformatics training to empower life scientists to handle and analyse their data efficiently, and progress their research, is a challenge across the globe.

iAnn: an event sharing platform for the life sciences.

Summary: We present iAnn, an open source community-driven platform for dissemination of life science events, such as courses, conferences and workshops. iAnn allows automatic visualisation and integration of customised event reports. A central repository lies at the core of the platform: curators add submitted events, and these are subsequently accessed via web services.

A homologue of the Aspergillus velvet gene regulates both cephalosporin C biosynthesis and hyphal fragmentation in Acremonium chrysogenum.

The Aspergillus nidulans velvet (veA) gene encodes a global regulator of gene expression controlling sexual development as well as secondary metabolism. We have identified the veA homologue AcveA from Acremonium chrysogenum, the major producer of the beta-lactam antibiotic cephalosporin C. Two different disruption strains as well as the corresponding complements were generated as a prelude to detailed functional analysis.

Nitric oxide synthase (NOS)-interacting protein interacts with neuronal NOS and regulates its distribution and activity.

Mechanisms governing the activity of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), the major source of nitric oxide (NO) in the nervous system, are not completely understood. We report here a protein-protein interaction between nNOS and NOSIP (nitric oxide synthase-interacting protein) in rat brain in vivo. NOSIP and nNOS are concentrated in neuronal synapses and demonstrate significant colocalization in various regions of the central and peripheral nervous systems.

Spinal upregulation of the nitric oxide synthase-interacting protein NOSIP in a rat model of inflammatory pain.

Nitric oxide and nitric oxide synthases are key players in synaptic plasticity events in the spinal cord, which underly the development of chronic pain states. To date, little is known about the molecular mechanisms regulating the activity of nitric oxide synthases in nociceptive systems. The present study was aimed at the immunohistochemical determination of the expression of a nitric oxide synthase-interacting protein (NOSIP) in the rat spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia and studying its regulation in states of nociceptive hypersensitivity in a rat model of post-inflammatory pain.