Control not at initiation? Bah, humbug!

Control not at initiation? Bah, humbug!

Initiation is often assumed to be rate-limiting for protein synthesis, but the presence of rare codons nonetheless can influence protein levels. In this issue of The EMBO Journal, Chu et al report that when rare codons are positioned near the start of the coding region, 'liberation' of the initiation codon for loading of the next 40S subunit may be rate‐limiting for initiation and therefore ove...

Choice? Bah! Humbug!

Bah humbug: Unexpected Christmas cards and the reciprocity norm.

The reciprocity norm refers to the expectation that people will help those who helped them. A well-known study revealed that the norm is strong with Christmas cards, with 20% of people reciprocating a Christmas card received from a stranger. I attempted to conceptually replicate and extend this effect. In Study 1, 755 participants received a Christmas card supposedly from a more- versus less-si...

Control of gene expression at the level of translation initiation.

Protein synthesis is controlled at the level of translation initiation. Cells rapidly respond to environmental changes by disassembly of polysomes and recruitment of specific mRNAs from inactive ribonucleoprotein particles into polysomes active in translation. Recent insights have elucidated specific protein and RNA sequence interactions that are required to mobilize translation of selective mR...

Not a Humbug: the evolution of patient-centred medical decision-making.

This 'Christmas Issue'-type paper uses the framework of 'A Christmas Carol' to tell about the evolution of decision-making in evidence-based medicine (EBM). The Ghost of the Past represents paternalistic medicine, the Ghost of the Present symbolises EBM, while the Ghost of the Future serves as a patient-centred system where research data and tools of decision science are jointly used to make op...