Articles
Volume 6 (2008) - September 2008
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Research article
Malcolm Burrows, Stephen R Shaw, Gregory P Sutton BMC Biology 2008, 6:41 (30 September 2008) Froghoppers jump by flexing a bow-like structure between their hind legs and wings made of hard cuticle and a rubbery protein called resilin, which stores the energy needed to propel the insect forwards in a catapult-like jump.
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Methodology article
Use of the viral 2A peptide for bicistronic expression in transgenic mice Georgios Trichas, Jo Begbie, Shankar Srinivas BMC Biology 2008, 6:40 (15 September 2008) Germline transmission of a bicistronic vector using the 2A peptide to allow co-translational cleavage is stable in mice and shows no developmental side-effects, giving a superior alternative to the internal ribosomal entry site for expressing multiple transgenes.
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Research article
Docosahexaenoic and eicosapentaenoic acids increase prion formation in neuronal cells Clive Bate, Mourad Tayebi, Luisa Diomede, Mario Salmona, Alun Williams BMC Biology 2008, 6:39 (12 September 2008) Cholesterol depletion will not help combat prion diseases because although inhibitors of cholesterol synthesis reduce the formation of disease-associated prion protein isoforms (PrPSc), polyunsaturated fatty acids that reduce cholesterol levels actually significantly increase PrPSc formation.
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Research article
Céline Serbielle, Shafinaz Chowdhury, Samuel Pichon, Stéphane Dupas, Jérôme Lesobre, Enrico O Purisima, Jean-Michel Drezen, Elisabeth Huguet BMC Biology 2008, 6:38 (10 September 2008) Parasitic wasps suppress the immune systems of their caterpillar hosts by injecting a polydnavirus, exposing the viral cystation virulence factors to strong selection and maintaining this complex tri-component system through such virus-host co-evolution.
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Research article
Erythropoietin enhances hippocampal long-term potentiation and memory Bartosz Adamcio, Derya Sargin, Alicja Stradomska, Lucian Medrihan, Christoph Gertler, Fabian Theis, Mingyue Zhang, Michael Müller, Imam Hassouna, Kathrin Hannke, Swetlana Sperling, Konstantin Radyushkin, Ahmed El-Kordi, Lizzy Schulze, Anja Ronnenberg, Fred Wolf, Nils Brose, Jeong-Seop Rhee, Weiqi Zhang, Hannelore Ehrenreich BMC Biology 2008, 6:37 (9 September 2008) Erythropoietin (EPO), the blood-boosting hormone used for medical treatment and athletic doping, enhances hippocampus-dependent memory in mice by directly influencing neurons rather than as a side-effect of increased red blood cell production.
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