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Question and answer

Collection published: 10 December 2012

Last updated: 30 September 2013

q and a series Question-and-answer articles in BMC Biology provide an easily digestible and often lively guide to topics of current interest or fundamental importance. Some are pedagogic (for example, on epistasis or cooperativity), some question the meaning of widely used terms (biodiversity, pathogenicity), some are both topical and pedagogic (on fructose toxicity, or on what we have learned from the 2010-2011 influenza pandemic), some are topical, pedagogic and quirky (on the definition of life); and the video and audio Q&As (with edited transcripts) represent the point of view of prominent individuals.

		Question and Answer Q&A: Evolutionary capacitance Joanna Masel BMC Biology 2013, 11:103 (30 September 2013) Full text \| PDF \| Editor’s summary Joanna Masel explains how evolvability may be conferred by molecular "switches" that can expose cryptic mutations and allow selection to act on them, with the potential for adaptive changes in phenotype.
		Question and Answer Q&A: Antibiotic resistance: what more do we know and what more can we do? Gerard D Wright BMC Biology 2013, 11:51 (17 May 2013) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Editor’s summary Antibiotic resistance is both an ancient phenomenon and a worsening medical problem. Gerard Wright explains why, and what should be done about it.
		Question and Answer Q&A: Who needs a centrosome? Mónica Bettencourt-Dias BMC Biology 2013, 11:28 (11 April 2013) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Editor’s summary The centrosome is classically regarded as the microtubule-organizing center of the cell. But cells can divide without them, and exactly what they do is largely mysterious. In a Q&A article in a series on cell geometry, Monica Bettencourt-Dias asks what we do know and what we don’t, about normal centrosomes and the abnormalities underlying disease.
		Question and Answer Q&A: Extinctions and the impact of Homo sapiens Robert M May BMC Biology 2012, 10:106 (20 December 2012) Abstract \| Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Editor’s summary Robert May explores in Q&A format the reasons for the acceleration of extinctions due to the activities of a single species (ours), and asks why it matters.
		Question and Answer Q&A: What is regeneration, and why look to planarians for answers? Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado BMC Biology 2012, 10:88 (8 November 2012) Abstract \| Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Editor’s summary What controls regeneration? Alejandro Sanchez Alvarado explores this old question in biology in a Q&A explaining what we understand from planarians - non-parasitic flatworms all of whose tissues can regenerate.
		Question and Answer Q&A: 'Toxic' effects of sugar: should we be afraid of fructose? Luc Tappy BMC Biology 2012, 10:42 (21 May 2012) Abstract \| Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Editor’s summary Before the colonial era of sugar plantations we consumed, on average, about 15-fold less fructose than we do today. Luc Tappy explains, in question and answer format, the special features of fructose metabolism and discusses the evidence that high fructose intake has contributed to the current epidemic of obesity and metabolic disease.
		Question and Answer Q&A: What is a pathogen? A question that begs the point Liise-anne Pirofski, Arturo Casadevall BMC Biology 2012, 10:6 (31 January 2012) Abstract \| Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| 1 comment \| Editor’s summary Arturo Casadevall and Liise-anne Pirofski explain in Q&A format the emergent properties of microbial pathogenesis that make the question impossible to answer, and the emergence of new pathogens almost impossible to predict.
		Question and Answer Q&A: What is the Golgi apparatus, and why are we asking? Sean Munro BMC Biology 2011, 9:63 (30 September 2011) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| 2 comments \| Editor’s summary Sean Munro explains in Q&A format why the Golgi apparatus remains a gently seething cauldron of controversy more than 120 years after its discovery.
		Question and Answer Q&A: Who is H. sapiens really, and how do we know? Mason Liang, Rasmus Nielsen BMC Biology 2011, 9:20 (31 March 2011) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| 1 comment \| Editor’s summary Modern sequencing technology has made it possible to scavenge the DNA of extinct hominin ancestors for evidence of interbreeding with Homo sapiens. Liang and Nielsen examine the evidence, what it tells us and how sure we can be
		Question and Answer Q&A: What is biophysics? Huan-Xiang Zhou BMC Biology 2011, 9:13 (2 March 2011) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Editor’s summary In a Q&A to mark the relaunch of PMC Biophysics as BMC Biophysics, Huan-Xiang Zhou explains the scope of modern biophysics and its impact on physics as well as on biology.
		Question and Answer Q&A: What is biodiversity? Anne E Magurran BMC Biology 2010, 8:145 (15 December 2010) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Editor’s summary As the UN International Year of Biodiversity comes to a close, Anne Magurran asks what biodiversity is, why it matters, and what are the different ways in which we measure it.
		Question and Answer Q&A: H1N1 pandemic influenza - what's new? Stephen J Turner, Peter C Doherty, Anne Kelso BMC Biology 2010, 8:130 (11 October 2010) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Editor’s summary Stephen Turner, Peter Doherty and Anne Kelso ask, in Q and A format, what may be the remaining dangers of influenza A (H1N1), now no longer pandemic, and what it has taught us about managing future pandemics.
		Question and Answer Q&A: Antibiotic resistance: where does it come from and what can we do about it? Gerard D Wright BMC Biology 2010, 8:123 (20 September 2010) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| 1 comment \| Editor’s summary As long as we continue to use antibiotics the development of resistance is inevitable. Gerard Wright explains why it is an increasing problem, and what can be done about it.
		Question and Answer Q&A: Single-molecule localization microscopy for biological imaging Ann L McEvoy, Derek Greenfield, Mark Bates, Jan Liphardt BMC Biology 2010, 8:106 (11 August 2010) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| 1 comment \| Editor’s summary In Q&A format, Ann McEvoy, Jan Liphardt and colleagues explain the principles of single-molecule localization microscopy and how it can be used for understanding cell biology
		Question and Answer Q&A: Robotics as a tool to understand the brain Daniel M Wolpert, J Randall Flanagan BMC Biology 2010, 8:92 (23 July 2010) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Editor’s summary Wolpert and Flanagan outline in Q&A format how a robotically controlled virtual reality can be used to explore how the brain works.
		Question and Answer Video Q&A: Non-coding RNAs and eukaryotic evolution - a personal view John Mattick BMC Biology 2010, 8:67 (16 July 2010) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central \| 1 comment \| Editor’s summary In a Q&A with video option, John Mattick explains why he thinks the key to the evolution of complex organisms and cognition lies in non-coding RNA.
		Question and Answer Q&A: Life, synthetic biology and risk Steven A Benner BMC Biology 2010, 8:77 (14 June 2010) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Editor’s summary What is life? In a Q&A, Steven Benner explains, in the light of recent developments in Craig Venter's laboratory, his point of view on the definition of life, and on the dangers of both natural and synthetic forms.
		Question and Answer Q&A: ChIP-seq technologies and the study of gene regulation Edison T Liu, Sebastian Pott, Mikael Huss BMC Biology 2010, 8:56 (14 May 2010) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central \| Editor’s summary Edison Liu and colleagues explain in Q&A format how ChIP-seq technology allows investigation of transcriptional regulation on a genomic scale, and what is next.
		Question and Answer Video Q&A: What is autism? - A personal view Martin Raff BMC Biology 2010, 8:42 (12 April 2010) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central \| Editor’s summary In an interview available either as video or as text, Martin Raff explains what he thinks is wrong with current views of autism, and what genomics will contribute.
		Question and Answer Q&A: Promise and pitfalls of genome-wide association studies John FY Brookfield BMC Biology 2010, 8:41 (12 April 2010) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central \| Editor’s summary The interpretation of genome-wide association studies is subject to important population-genetic considerations and the risk of statistical artefact.
		Question & Answer Q&A: What can microfluidics do for stem-cell research? Marie Csete Journal of Biology 2010, 9:1 (11 February 2010) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed
		Question & Answer Q&A: Quantitative approaches to planar polarity and tissue organization Emily Marcinkevicius, Rodrigo Fernandez-Gonzalez, Jennifer A Zallen Journal of Biology 2009, 8:103 (29 December 2009) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central \| Editor’s summary Zallen and colleagues explain in Q&A format the complex process by which the cells of a tissue establish planar polarity, in which their spatial properties are coordinated, and how failures may be reflected in human developmental defects.
		Question & Answer Q&A: What are pharmacological chaperones and why are they interesting? Dagmar Ringe, Gregory A Petsko Journal of Biology 2009, 8:80 (13 October 2009) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Editor’s summary Small molecules that stabilize mutant proteins with high specificity can be used to treat protein misfolding and metabolic diseases: in a Q&A highlighting recent successes, Dagmar Ringe and Gregory Petsko explain how.
		Question & Answer Q&A: What have we found out about the influenza A (H1N1) 2009 pandemic virus? Stephen J Turner, Lorena E Brown, Peter C Doherty, Anne Kelso Journal of Biology 2009, 8:69 (18 September 2009) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central \| Editor’s summary Stephen Turner and colleagues follow up their earlier Q&A on influenza A (H1N1) 2009 and ask what we now know about its transmissibility, pathogenicity and variability, and the likelihood of more severe disease in the Northern hemisphere winter.
		Question & Answer Q&A: Cooperativity James E Ferrell Journal of Biology 2009, 8:53 (16 June 2009) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central \| Editor’s summary James Ferrell explains in Q&A format how cooperativity can tune the behaviour of biological macromolecules to their physiological functions, and can be achieved in many different ways.
		Question & Answer Q&A: What do we know about influenza and what can we do about it? Peter C Doherty, Stephen J Turner Journal of Biology 2009, 8:46 (26 May 2009) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central \| Editor’s summary Peter Doherty and Stephen Turner explain in Q&A format what we know of what determines the pathogenicity and transmissibility of influenza viruses, and the prospects for effective protection.
		Question & Answer Q&A: Epistasis Frederick P Roth, Howard D Lipshitz, Brenda J Andrews Journal of Biology 2009, 8:35 (22 May 2009) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central \| Editor’s summary The term epistasis has at least three meanings in biology. Brenda Andrews and colleagues explain in Q&A format how in its classical sense, epistasis allows biological pathways to be defined.
		Question & Answer Q&A: Genetic analysis of quantitative traits Trudy FC Mackay Journal of Biology 2009, 8:23 (17 April 2009) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central \| Editor’s summary Quantitative traits, such as human height and cholesterol levels, are controlled by large numbers of genes with small effects, and cannot be analyzed by Mendelian genetics. Trudy MacKay explains in Q&A format what is required to identify the many contributing genes for these traits.
		Question & Answer Q&A: What did Charles Darwin prove? Paul Harvey Journal of Biology 2009, 8:11 (23 February 2009) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central \| Editor’s summary Paul Harvey argues that Darwin was an accomplished 21st-century biologist and marvels that in his extensive studies on the inheritance of variation he failed to discover Mendel’s laws.
		Question & Answer Q&A: Systems biology James E Ferrell Journal of Biology 2009, 8:2 (26 January 2009) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central

		Question and Answer Q&A: Evolutionary capacitance Joanna Masel BMC Biology 2013, 11:103 (30 September 2013) Full text \| PDF \| Editor’s summary Joanna Masel explains how evolvability may be conferred by molecular "switches" that can expose cryptic mutations and allow selection to act on them, with the potential for adaptive changes in phenotype.
		Question and Answer Q&A: Antibiotic resistance: what more do we know and what more can we do? Gerard D Wright BMC Biology 2013, 11:51 (17 May 2013) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Editor’s summary Antibiotic resistance is both an ancient phenomenon and a worsening medical problem. Gerard Wright explains why, and what should be done about it.
		Question and Answer Q&A: Who needs a centrosome? Mónica Bettencourt-Dias BMC Biology 2013, 11:28 (11 April 2013) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Editor’s summary The centrosome is classically regarded as the microtubule-organizing center of the cell. But cells can divide without them, and exactly what they do is largely mysterious. In a Q&A article in a series on cell geometry, Monica Bettencourt-Dias asks what we do know and what we don’t, about normal centrosomes and the abnormalities underlying disease.
		Question and Answer Q&A: Extinctions and the impact of Homo sapiens Robert M May BMC Biology 2012, 10:106 (20 December 2012) Abstract \| Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Editor’s summary Robert May explores in Q&A format the reasons for the acceleration of extinctions due to the activities of a single species (ours), and asks why it matters.
		Question and Answer Q&A: What is regeneration, and why look to planarians for answers? Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado BMC Biology 2012, 10:88 (8 November 2012) Abstract \| Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Editor’s summary What controls regeneration? Alejandro Sanchez Alvarado explores this old question in biology in a Q&A explaining what we understand from planarians - non-parasitic flatworms all of whose tissues can regenerate.
		Question and Answer Q&A: 'Toxic' effects of sugar: should we be afraid of fructose? Luc Tappy BMC Biology 2012, 10:42 (21 May 2012) Abstract \| Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Editor’s summary Before the colonial era of sugar plantations we consumed, on average, about 15-fold less fructose than we do today. Luc Tappy explains, in question and answer format, the special features of fructose metabolism and discusses the evidence that high fructose intake has contributed to the current epidemic of obesity and metabolic disease.
		Question and Answer Q&A: What is a pathogen? A question that begs the point Liise-anne Pirofski, Arturo Casadevall BMC Biology 2012, 10:6 (31 January 2012) Abstract \| Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| 1 comment \| Editor’s summary Arturo Casadevall and Liise-anne Pirofski explain in Q&A format the emergent properties of microbial pathogenesis that make the question impossible to answer, and the emergence of new pathogens almost impossible to predict.
		Question and Answer Q&A: What is the Golgi apparatus, and why are we asking? Sean Munro BMC Biology 2011, 9:63 (30 September 2011) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| 2 comments \| Editor’s summary Sean Munro explains in Q&A format why the Golgi apparatus remains a gently seething cauldron of controversy more than 120 years after its discovery.
		Question and Answer Q&A: Who is H. sapiens really, and how do we know? Mason Liang, Rasmus Nielsen BMC Biology 2011, 9:20 (31 March 2011) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| 1 comment \| Editor’s summary Modern sequencing technology has made it possible to scavenge the DNA of extinct hominin ancestors for evidence of interbreeding with Homo sapiens. Liang and Nielsen examine the evidence, what it tells us and how sure we can be
		Question and Answer Q&A: What is biophysics? Huan-Xiang Zhou BMC Biology 2011, 9:13 (2 March 2011) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Editor’s summary In a Q&A to mark the relaunch of PMC Biophysics as BMC Biophysics, Huan-Xiang Zhou explains the scope of modern biophysics and its impact on physics as well as on biology.
		Question and Answer Q&A: What is biodiversity? Anne E Magurran BMC Biology 2010, 8:145 (15 December 2010) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Editor’s summary As the UN International Year of Biodiversity comes to a close, Anne Magurran asks what biodiversity is, why it matters, and what are the different ways in which we measure it.
		Question and Answer Q&A: H1N1 pandemic influenza - what's new? Stephen J Turner, Peter C Doherty, Anne Kelso BMC Biology 2010, 8:130 (11 October 2010) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Editor’s summary Stephen Turner, Peter Doherty and Anne Kelso ask, in Q and A format, what may be the remaining dangers of influenza A (H1N1), now no longer pandemic, and what it has taught us about managing future pandemics.
		Question and Answer Q&A: Antibiotic resistance: where does it come from and what can we do about it? Gerard D Wright BMC Biology 2010, 8:123 (20 September 2010) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| 1 comment \| Editor’s summary As long as we continue to use antibiotics the development of resistance is inevitable. Gerard Wright explains why it is an increasing problem, and what can be done about it.
		Question and Answer Q&A: Single-molecule localization microscopy for biological imaging Ann L McEvoy, Derek Greenfield, Mark Bates, Jan Liphardt BMC Biology 2010, 8:106 (11 August 2010) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| 1 comment \| Editor’s summary In Q&A format, Ann McEvoy, Jan Liphardt and colleagues explain the principles of single-molecule localization microscopy and how it can be used for understanding cell biology
		Question and Answer Q&A: Robotics as a tool to understand the brain Daniel M Wolpert, J Randall Flanagan BMC Biology 2010, 8:92 (23 July 2010) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Editor’s summary Wolpert and Flanagan outline in Q&A format how a robotically controlled virtual reality can be used to explore how the brain works.
		Question and Answer Video Q&A: Non-coding RNAs and eukaryotic evolution - a personal view John Mattick BMC Biology 2010, 8:67 (16 July 2010) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central \| 1 comment \| Editor’s summary In a Q&A with video option, John Mattick explains why he thinks the key to the evolution of complex organisms and cognition lies in non-coding RNA.
		Question and Answer Q&A: Life, synthetic biology and risk Steven A Benner BMC Biology 2010, 8:77 (14 June 2010) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Editor’s summary What is life? In a Q&A, Steven Benner explains, in the light of recent developments in Craig Venter's laboratory, his point of view on the definition of life, and on the dangers of both natural and synthetic forms.
		Question and Answer Q&A: ChIP-seq technologies and the study of gene regulation Edison T Liu, Sebastian Pott, Mikael Huss BMC Biology 2010, 8:56 (14 May 2010) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central \| Editor’s summary Edison Liu and colleagues explain in Q&A format how ChIP-seq technology allows investigation of transcriptional regulation on a genomic scale, and what is next.
		Question and Answer Video Q&A: What is autism? - A personal view Martin Raff BMC Biology 2010, 8:42 (12 April 2010) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central \| Editor’s summary In an interview available either as video or as text, Martin Raff explains what he thinks is wrong with current views of autism, and what genomics will contribute.
		Question and Answer Q&A: Promise and pitfalls of genome-wide association studies John FY Brookfield BMC Biology 2010, 8:41 (12 April 2010) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central \| Editor’s summary The interpretation of genome-wide association studies is subject to important population-genetic considerations and the risk of statistical artefact.
		Question & Answer Q&A: What can microfluidics do for stem-cell research? Marie Csete Journal of Biology 2010, 9:1 (11 February 2010) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed
		Question & Answer Q&A: Quantitative approaches to planar polarity and tissue organization Emily Marcinkevicius, Rodrigo Fernandez-Gonzalez, Jennifer A Zallen Journal of Biology 2009, 8:103 (29 December 2009) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central \| Editor’s summary Zallen and colleagues explain in Q&A format the complex process by which the cells of a tissue establish planar polarity, in which their spatial properties are coordinated, and how failures may be reflected in human developmental defects.
		Question & Answer Q&A: What are pharmacological chaperones and why are they interesting? Dagmar Ringe, Gregory A Petsko Journal of Biology 2009, 8:80 (13 October 2009) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Editor’s summary Small molecules that stabilize mutant proteins with high specificity can be used to treat protein misfolding and metabolic diseases: in a Q&A highlighting recent successes, Dagmar Ringe and Gregory Petsko explain how.
		Question & Answer Q&A: What have we found out about the influenza A (H1N1) 2009 pandemic virus? Stephen J Turner, Lorena E Brown, Peter C Doherty, Anne Kelso Journal of Biology 2009, 8:69 (18 September 2009) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central \| Editor’s summary Stephen Turner and colleagues follow up their earlier Q&A on influenza A (H1N1) 2009 and ask what we now know about its transmissibility, pathogenicity and variability, and the likelihood of more severe disease in the Northern hemisphere winter.
		Question & Answer Q&A: Cooperativity James E Ferrell Journal of Biology 2009, 8:53 (16 June 2009) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central \| Editor’s summary James Ferrell explains in Q&A format how cooperativity can tune the behaviour of biological macromolecules to their physiological functions, and can be achieved in many different ways.
		Question & Answer Q&A: What do we know about influenza and what can we do about it? Peter C Doherty, Stephen J Turner Journal of Biology 2009, 8:46 (26 May 2009) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central \| Editor’s summary Peter Doherty and Stephen Turner explain in Q&A format what we know of what determines the pathogenicity and transmissibility of influenza viruses, and the prospects for effective protection.
		Question & Answer Q&A: Epistasis Frederick P Roth, Howard D Lipshitz, Brenda J Andrews Journal of Biology 2009, 8:35 (22 May 2009) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central \| Editor’s summary The term epistasis has at least three meanings in biology. Brenda Andrews and colleagues explain in Q&A format how in its classical sense, epistasis allows biological pathways to be defined.
		Question & Answer Q&A: Genetic analysis of quantitative traits Trudy FC Mackay Journal of Biology 2009, 8:23 (17 April 2009) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central \| Editor’s summary Quantitative traits, such as human height and cholesterol levels, are controlled by large numbers of genes with small effects, and cannot be analyzed by Mendelian genetics. Trudy MacKay explains in Q&A format what is required to identify the many contributing genes for these traits.
		Question & Answer Q&A: What did Charles Darwin prove? Paul Harvey Journal of Biology 2009, 8:11 (23 February 2009) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central \| Editor’s summary Paul Harvey argues that Darwin was an accomplished 21st-century biologist and marvels that in his extensive studies on the inheritance of variation he failed to discover Mendel’s laws.
		Question & Answer Q&A: Systems biology James E Ferrell Journal of Biology 2009, 8:2 (26 January 2009) Full text \| PDF \| PubMed \| Cited on BioMed Central