Computational Investigation of the High-Temperature Chemistry of Small Hydroxy Ethers: Methoxymethanol, Ethoxymethanol, and 2-Methoxyethanol.

In the search for alternative energy carriers that can replace conventional fossil fuels, sustainably produced oxygenated hydrocarbons represent a promising class of potential candidates. An illustrative member of this class of alternative biofuels are oxymethylene ethers (OMEs). This study makes a contribution to this objective by investigating hydroxy ethers, specifically methoxymethanol, ethoxymethanol, and 2-methoxyethanol.

Oh lazy sister, where art thou?

Mitotic divisions achieve equal re-partition of chromosomes into daughter cells. In their recent work in , Sen, Harrison et al. propose that the risk of mis-segregation in human mitotic cells is higher than previously thought and identify the existence of an early-anaphase correction mechanism.

The FEBS Journal: hidden gems.

Every quarter, The FEBS Journal presents some of its 'hidden gems'-original research and review-type articles that provide a significant advance or discuss recent developments in the molecular or cellular life sciences. These articles are of high value to the scientific community, and we like to take the opportunity to promote these contributions from previous issues of the journal, as we feel their scientific content merits a boost in exposure.

Introducing Emerging Methods and Technologies.

With the current issue of The FEBS Journal, we are introducing a new category of invited review article contributions on Emerging Methods and Technologies. These articles provide an overview and discussion of recent, emerging methods that significantly advance and improve research efforts in the different fields of molecular and cellular research of our The FEBS Journal authors and readers. Deputy Editorial Manager Manuel Breuer and our Emerging Methods and Technologies Commissioning Editor Eric Chevet introduce the series.

The FEBS Journal: hidden gems.

Every quarter, The FEBS Journal presents some of its "hidden gems"-original research and review-type articles that provide a significant advance or discuss recent developments in the molecular or cellular life sciences. These articles are of high value to the scientific community, and we like to take the opportunity to promote these contributions from previous issues of the journal, as we feel their scientific content merits a boost in exposure.

The FEBS Journal: hidden gems.

Every quarter, The FEBS Journal presents some of its 'hidden gems' - original research and review-type articles that provide a significant advance or discuss recent developments in the molecular or cellular life sciences. These articles are of high value to the scientific community, and we like to take the opportunity to promote these contributions from previous issues of the journal, as we feel their scientific content merits a boost in exposure.

COVID-19 breakthroughs: separating fact from fiction.

The newly recognised coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, causative agent of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), has caused a pandemic with huge ramifications for human interactions around the globe. As expected, research efforts to understand the virus and curtail the disease are moving at a frantic pace alongside the spread of rumours, speculations and falsehoods. In this article, we aim to clarify the current scientific view behind several claims or controversies related to COVID-19.

Kdm5/Lid Regulates Chromosome Architecture in Meiotic Prophase I Independently of Its Histone Demethylase Activity.

During prophase of the first meiotic division (prophase I), chromatin dynamically reorganises to recombine and prepare for chromosome segregation. Histone modifying enzymes are major regulators of chromatin structure, but our knowledge of their roles in prophase I is still limited. Here we report on crucial roles of Kdm5/Lid, one of two histone demethylases in Drosophila that remove one of the trimethyl groups at Lys4 of Histone 3 (H3K4me3).

A negative loop within the nuclear pore complex controls global chromatin organization.

The nuclear pore complex (NPC) tethers chromatin to create an environment for gene regulation, but little is known about how this activity is regulated to avoid excessive tethering of the genome. Here we propose a negative regulatory loop within the NPC controlling the chromatin attachment state, in which Nup155 and Nup93 recruit Nup62 to suppress chromatin tethering by Nup155. Depletion of Nup62 severely disrupts chromatin distribution in the nuclei of female germlines and somatic cells, which can be reversed by codepleting Nup155.

HURP permits MTOC sorting for robust meiotic spindle bipolarity, similar to extra centrosome clustering in cancer cells.

In contrast to somatic cells, formation of acentriolar meiotic spindles relies on the organization of microtubules (MTs) and MT-organizing centers (MTOCs) into a stable bipolar structure. The underlying mechanisms are still unknown. We show that this process is impaired in hepatoma up-regulated protein (Hurp) knockout mice, which are viable but female sterile, showing defective oocyte divisions.

The meiotic recombination checkpoint suppresses NHK-1 kinase to prevent reorganisation of the oocyte nucleus in Drosophila.

The meiotic recombination checkpoint is a signalling pathway that blocks meiotic progression when the repair of DNA breaks formed during recombination is delayed. In comparison to the signalling pathway itself, however, the molecular targets of the checkpoint that control meiotic progression are not well understood in metazoans. In Drosophila, activation of the meiotic checkpoint is known to prevent formation of the karyosome, a meiosis-specific organisation of chromosomes, but the molecular pathway by which this occurs remains to be identified.

Mars, a Drosophila protein related to vertebrate HURP, is required for the attachment of centrosomes to the mitotic spindle during syncytial nuclear divisions.

The formation of the mitotic spindle is controlled by the microtubule organizing activity of the centrosomes and by the effects of chromatin-associated Ran-GTP on the activities of spindle assembly factors. In this study we show that Mars, a Drosophila protein with sequence similarity to vertebrate hepatoma upregulated protein (HURP), is required for the attachment of the centrosome to the mitotic spindle. More than 80% of embryos derived from mars mutant females do not develop properly due to severe mitotic defects during the rapid nuclear divisions in early embryogenesis.

Morphogenesis of the mammalian blastocyst.

The first 4 days of mouse pre-implantation development are characterized by a period of segmentation, including morphogenetic events that are required for the divergence of embryonic and extra-embryonic lineages. These extra-embryonic tissues are essential for the implantation into the maternal uterus and for the development of the foetus. In this review, we first discuss data showing unambiguously that no essential axis of development is set up before the late blastocyst stage, and explain why the pre-patterning described during the early phases (segmentation) of development in other vertebrates cannot apply to mammalian pre-implantation period.