The mechanism of the molecular CISS effect in chiral nano-junctions.

The chirality induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect has been up to now measured in a wide variety of systems but its exact mechanism is still under debate. Whether the spin polarization occurs at an interface layer or builds up in the helical molecule is yet not clear. Here we have investigated the current transmission through helical polyalanine molecules as a part of a tunnel junction realized with a scanning tunneling microscope.

An updated Checklist of the Mediterranean fishes of Israel, with illustrations of recently recorded species and delineation of Lessepsian migrants.

This checklist of the Mediterranean fishes of Israel enumerates 469 species which is an addition of 62 species since the previous checklist of 2005. This new checklist includes 58 Condrichthys and 411 Osteicthys species. Most newly-recorded species are of Red Sea origin (Lessepsian migrants)-38 species, 25 species are from previously poorly investigated habitats, mainly deep water, while two species reached the Mediterranean most likely by ballast water and two are aquaculture escapees.

Biocatalytic reversible control of the stiffness of DNA-modified responsive hydrogels: applications in shape-memory, self-healing and autonomous controlled release of insulin.

The enzymes glucose oxidase (GOx), acetylcholine esterase (AchE) and urease that drive biocatalytic transformations to alter pH, are integrated into pH-responsive DNA-based hydrogels. A two-enzyme-loaded hydrogel composed of GOx/urease or AchE/urease and a three-enzyme-loaded hydrogel composed of GOx/AchE/urease are presented. The biocatalytic transformations within the hydrogels lead to the dictated reconfiguration of nucleic acid bridges and the switchable control over the stiffness of the respective hydrogels.

Spatiotemporal Gene Expression Analysis of the Germline Uncovers a Syncytial Expression Switch.

Developmental programs are executed by tightly controlled gene regulatory pathways. Here, we combined the unique sample retrieval capacity afforded by laser capture microscopy with analysis of mRNA abundance by CEL-Seq (cell expression by linear amplification and sequencing) to generate a spatiotemporal gene expression map of the syncytial germline from adult hermaphrodites and males. We found that over 6000 genes exhibit spatiotemporally dynamic expression patterns throughout the hermaphrodite germline, with two dominant groups of genes exhibiting reciprocal shifts in expression at late pachytene during meiotic prophase I.

Enhancing identification of cancer types via lowly-expressed microRNAs.

The primary function of microRNAs (miRNAs) is to maintain cell homeostasis. In cancerous tissues miRNAs' expression undergo drastic alterations. In this study, we use miRNA expression profiles from The Cancer Genome Atlas of 24 cancer types and 3 healthy tissues, collected from >8500 samples.

Look Out Autophagy, Ubiquilin UPS Its Game.

Mutations in Ubiquilin-2 are linked to the onset of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, but its connection to disease processes has remained unknown. Hjerpe et. al now report that Ubiquilin-2 enables the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) to single-handedly clear aggregated proteins, a cellular function previously thought to rely at least partially on autophagy.

Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system for studying the nuclear lamina and laminopathic diseases.

The nuclear lamina is a protein-rich network located directly underneath the inner nuclear membrane of metazoan nuclei. The components of the nuclear lamina have been implicated in nearly all nuclear functions; therefore, understanding the structural, mechanical, and signal transducing properties of these proteins is crucial. In addition, mutations in many of these proteins cause a wide range of human diseases, the laminopathies.

Photoinactivation of photosystem II: is there more than one way to skin a cat?

We briefly review the main mechanisms proposed for photodamage to photosystem II (PSII), at the donor and acceptor sides, and then discuss the mechanism whereby filamentous cyanobacteria inhabiting biological sand crusts such as Microcoleus sp. are able to avoid serious damage to their photosynthetic machinery. We show that the decline in fluorescence following exposure to excess light does not reflect a reduction in PSII activity but rather the activation of a non-radiative charge recombination in PSII.

Unsupervised feature selection under perturbations: meeting the challenges of biological data.

Motivation: Feature selection methods aim to reduce the complexity of data and to uncover the most relevant biological variables. In reality, information in biological datasets is often incomplete as a result of untrustworthy samples and missing values. The reliability of selection methods may therefore be questioned.

Families of membranous proteins can be characterized by the amino acid composition of their transmembrane domains.

Summary: In eukaryotes, membranous proteins account for 20-30% of the proteome. Most of these proteins contain one or more transmembrane (TM) domains. These are short segments that transverse the bilayer lipid membrane.

Translocation of histone proteins across lipid bilayers and Mycoplasma membranes.

We show that the three core histones H2A, H3 and H4 can transverse lipid bilayers of large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) and multilamellar vesicles (MLVs). In contrast, the histone H2B, although able to bind to the liposomes, fails to penetrate the unilamellar and the multilamellar vesicles. Translocation across the lipid bilayer was determined using biotin-labeled histones and an ELISA-based system.

Chameleon States: High-Valent Metal-Oxo Species of Cytochrome P450 and Its Ruthenium Analogue.

Chameleon states: the ruthenium and iron metalloporphyrin analogues of compound I of cytochrome P450 (1; L = thiolate) possess low-lying states that change their electronic structure with solvent polarization. The ground state of the ruthenium complex is a low-spin electrophilic state, whereas the ground state of the iron complex is triradicaloid.