A recent paper in BMC Biology reports that actin stress fibers in adjacent cultured endothelial cells are linked through adherens junctions. This organization might provide a super-cellular network that could enable coordinated signaling and structural responses in endothelia.

See research article http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/8/11

An international collaborative effort has recently uncovered the genome of the zebra finch, a songbird model that has provided unique insights into an array of biological phenomena.

See research articles http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/9/131, http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/11/220/, http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2202/11/46/ and http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/8/28/

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that regulate the expression of numerous target genes. Yet, while hundreds of miRNAs have been identified, little is known about their functions. In a recent report published in Silence, Zheng and colleagues demonstrate a technique for robust and specific knockdown of miRNA expression in Caenorhabditis elegans using modified antisense oligonucleotides, which could be utilized as a powerful tool for the study of regulation and function of miRNAs in vivo.

See research article http://www.silencejournal.com/content/1/1/9

Pollen tubes follow attractants secreted by the ovules. In a recent paper in BMC Plant Biology, Stewman and colleagues have quantified the parameters of this attraction and used them to calibrate a mathematical model that reproduces the process and enables predictions on the nature of the female attractant and the mechanisms of the male response.

See research article: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2229/10/32

A recent study in BMC Evolutionary Biology has reconstructed the molecular phylogeny of a large Mediterranean cave-dwelling beetle clade, revealing an ancient origin and strong geographic structuring. It seems likely that diversification of this clade in the Oligocene was seeded by an ancestor already adapted to subterranean life.

See research article http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/10/29

Two recent studies in BMC Biology and Evolution raise important questions about a textbook case of frequency-dependent selection in scale-eating cichlid fishes. They also suggest a fascinating new line of research testing the effects of handed behavior on morphological asymmetry.

See research article http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/8/8.

A phylogeographic analysis of gene sequences important in determining body size in dogs, recently published in BMC Biology, traces the appearance of small body size to the Neolithic Middle East. This finding strengthens the association of this event with the development of sedentary societies, and perhaps even has implications for the inception of human social inequality.

See research article http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/8/16/

Understanding the spatio-temporal subversion of host cell signaling by bacterial virulence factors is key to combating infectious diseases. Following a recent study by Buntru and co-workers published in BMC Biology, we review how fluorescence (Forster) resonance energy transfer (FRET) has been applied to studying host-pathogen interactions and consider the prospects for its future application.

See research article http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/7/81.

A recent study in BMC Evolutionary Biology has shown that genetically similar individual ring-tailed lemurs are also more similar in their scent composition, suggesting a possible mechanism of kin recognition. Theoretical and experimental studies reveal challenges ahead in achieving a true systems-level understanding of this process and its outcomes.

See research article http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/9/281.

Acoel and platyhelminth worms are particularly attractive invertebrate models for stem-cell research because their bodies are continually renewed from large pools of somatic stem cells. Several recent studies, including one in BMC Developmental Biology, are beginning to reveal the cellular dynamics and molecular basis of stem-cell function in these animals.

See research article http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-213X/9/69.

There have been notable advances in the scientific understanding of regeneration within the past year alone, including two recently published in BMC Biology. Increasingly, progress in the regeneration field is being inspired by comparisons with stem cell biology and enabled by newly developed techniques that allow simultaneous examination of thousands of genes and proteins.

See research articles http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/7/83 and http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/8/5.

By combining Drosophila genetics and proteomics Gluderer et al. report in this issue of Journal of Biology the isolation of a novel growth-regulatory complex consisting of Bunched and Madm. Future study of this complex will address the precise mechanism of growth control, regulation of complex activity, the interface with other growth pathways and a potential role in human cancer.

See research article at http://jbiol.com/content/9/1/9.

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is a favorite model for the study of aging. A wealth of genetic and genomic studies show that metabolic regulation is a hallmark of life-span modulation. A recent study in BMC Biology identifying metabolic signatures for longevity suggests that amino-acid pools may be important in longevity.

See research article http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/8/14.

A recent global analysis of gene expression during the differentiation of neuronal stem cells to neurons and oligodendrocytes indicates a complex pattern of changes in the expression of both protein-coding transcripts and long non-protein-coding RNAs.

See research article http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2202/11/14.

The THO complex is a key component in the co-transcriptional formation of messenger ribonucleoparticles that are competent to be exported from the nucleus, yet its precise function is unknown. A recent study in BMC Biology on the role of the THOC5 subunit in cell physiology and mouse development provides new clues to the role of the THO complex in cell differentiation.

See research article http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/8/1.

Small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) are among the most evolutionarily ancient classes of small RNA. Two experimental screens published in BMC Genomics expand the eukaryotic snoRNA catalog, but many more snoRNAs remain to be found.

See research articles http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/10/515 and http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/11/61.

Delineation of the mechanisms that establish and maintain the polarity of epithelial tissues is essential to understanding morphogenesis, tissue specificity and cancer. Three-dimensional culture assays provide a useful platform for dissecting these processes but, as discussed in a recent study in BMC Biology on the culture of mammary gland epithelial cells, multiple parameters that influence the model must be taken into account.

See research article http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/7/77.

How much functional specialization can one component histone confer on a single nucleosome? The histone variant H2A.Z seems to be an extreme example. Genome-wide distribution maps show non-random (and evolutionarily conserved) patterns, with localized enrichment or depletion giving a tantalizing suggestion of function. Multiple post-translational modifications on the protein indicate further regulation. An additional layer of complexity has now been uncovered: the vertebrate form is actually encoded by two non-allelic genes that differ by expression pattern and three amino acids.

See research articles http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/7/86 and http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/9/31.

Daphnia pulex is the first crustacean to have its genome sequenced. Availability of the genome sequence will have implications for research in aquatic ecology and evolution in particular, as addressed by a series of papers published recently in BMC Evolutionary Biology and BMC Genomics.

See research articles http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/9/78, http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/10/527, http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/9/79, http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/10/175, http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/10/172, http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/10/169, http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/10/170 and http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/9/243.

A major challenge in bacterial pathogenesis is understanding the molecular basis of the switch from saprophytism to virulence. Following a recent whole-genome transcriptomic analysis using tiling arrays, an article published in BMC Genomics reports the first use of RNA-seq in Listeria monocytogenes in order to identify genes controlled by sigma B, a transcriptional regulator with a critical role in virulence.

See research article http://biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/10/641

A recent paper in BMC Biology reports the first large-scale insertional mutagenesis screen in a non-drosophilid insect, the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum. This screen marks the beginning of a non-biased, 'forward genetics' approach to the study of genetic mechanisms operating in Tribolium.

See research article http://biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/7/73

Although proteins involved in determining apical-basal cell polarity have been directly linked to tumorigenesis, their precise roles in this process remain unclear. A recent report in BMC Biology clarifies the signaling pathways that control cell polarity, proliferation and apoptosis downstream of the tumor suppressor and apical-basal polarity determinant Scribble.

See research article http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/7/62.

The use of cultivation-independent approaches to map microbial diversity, including recent work published in BMC Biology, has now shown that protists, like bacteria/archaea, are much more diverse than had been realized. Uncovering eukaryotic diversity may now be limited not by access to samples or cost but rather by the availability of full-length reference sequence data.

See research article http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/7/72