BACKGROUND In mammals, genetically-directed cell labeling technologies have not yet been applied to the morphologic analysis of neurons with very large and complex arbors, an application that requires extremely sparse labeling and that is only rendered practical by limiting the labeled population to one or a few predetermined neuronal subtypes. METHODS AND FINDINGS In the present study we hav...

WRKY transcription factors are encoded by a large gene superfamily with a broad range of roles in plants. Recently, several groups have reported that proteins containing a short VQ (FxxxVQxLTG) motif interact with WRKY proteins. We have recently discovered that two VQ proteins from Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), SIGMA FACTOR-INTERACTING PROTEIN1 and SIGMA FACTOR-INTERACTING PROTEIN2, act a...

Iron (Fe) deficiency is counteracted by a suite of responses to ensure maintenance of vital processes for which Fe is essential. Here, we report on transcriptional changes upon Fe deficiency, investigated in two Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) accessions, Columbia (Col-0) and C24. Functional modules of the Arabidopsis Fe deficiency syndrome were inferred from clustering of Fe-responsive gene...

In growing plant cells, the combined activities of the cytoskeleton, endomembrane, and cell wall biosynthetic systems organize the cytoplasm and define the architecture and growth properties of the cell. These biosynthetic machineries efficiently synthesize, deliver, and recycle the raw materials that support cell expansion. The precise roles of the actin cytoskeleton in these processes are unc...

A key step of the cell cycle is the entry into the DNA replication phase that typically commits cells to divide. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms regulating this transition in plants. Here, we investigated the function of FBL17 (F BOX-LIKE17), an Arabidopsis thaliana F-box protein previously shown to govern the progression through the second mitosis during pollen developm...

The actin-related protein2/3 (Arp2/3) complex functions as a regulator of actin filament dynamics in a wide array of eukaryotic cells. Here, we focus on the role of the Arp2/3 complex subunit ARPC1 in elongating tip cells of protonemal filaments of the moss Physcomitrella patens. Using RNA interference (RNAi) to generate loss-of-function mutants, we show dramatic defects in cell morphology mani...

The orbit/mast gene of Drosophila encodes a microtubuleassociated protein required for correct mitotic spindle organisation in embryos, larval neuroblasts and cultured cells (Inoue et al., 2000; Lemos et al., 2000). The Orbit/Mast protein is required to maintain spindle bi-polarity and to ensure the attachment of kinetochores to microtubules to facilitate chromosome congression (Maiato et al., ...

Although forms of dementia arising late in life had been identified by Kraepelin and his colleagues in the 1800s, it was not until 1907 that Alois Alzheimer identified the presenile form of dementia with unique neuropathologic features that now bears his name. Alzheimer described a 51year-old woman who presented with personality changes and soon developed progressively worsening memory loss, di...

Tauopathies encompass a broad family of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, which are characterized by the fibrillization of the microtubuleassociated tau protein. The normal function of tau is to stabilize and promote the assembly of microtubules in neuronal axons. Sequestration of tau into amyloid fibrils results in destabilization of the microtubule network and may con...