The navigation of axons to their final destination can involve a sequence of steps that require different sets of guidance receptors. In this issue, Colak et al. show that regulated intra-axonal protein synthesis coupled to nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) controls a switch in Robo3.2 expression that is critical for navigation.

This Commentary discusses new data from the laboratory of Matthias Hentze (Schell et al., in this issue) that begins to dissect the RNA-protein and protein-protein interactions important for the process of nonsense-mediated decay (NMD). Schell and co-workers have developed a novel tool for analysis of such interactions in vivo. Using a proteomics approach, they have identified two different pro...

Two experiments investigated Zajone's (1968) hypothesis that mere repeated exposure to stimuli is a sufficient condition to enhance individuals' attitudes toward those stimuli. In the first experiment, no significant differences in preference were obtained following exposure to high- and low-redundancy sequences of nonsense syllables. In the second study, the effects of repeated exposure were m...

Although introns in 5'- and 3'-untranslated regions (UTRs) are found in many protein coding genes, rarely are they considered distinctive entities with specific functions. Indeed, mammalian transcripts with 3'-UTR introns are often assumed nonfunctional because they are subject to elimination by nonsense-mediated decay (NMD). Nonetheless, recent findings indicate that 5'- and 3'-UTR intron stat...

. role of dialectics in cognitive processes and 'human71'earning%four . empirical, studies' were undertaken. In study one,.vto investigate the thalectic.proceSs in affective assessment, subjects. earned opposite. and same word assOciations-thai had been paired for liked and disliked words.. An analysis of the-results showed, that both thesame and opposite grotxpt thowed a positive reinforcement...

The history of biomedical research clearly shows that, with exception of a very few, scientific findings could be realised only with the help of animal experiments. Unfortunately, in the past the life of animals was treated negligently and, at times, in fact criminally. Only the researchers' willingness to apply ethical principles toward laboratory animals could create a climate in which resear...

Smg1 is a key component of nonsense-mediated decay (NMD) in Caenorhabditis elegans and mammals. Here we report that two nonsense alleles of the ortholog of Smg1 do not affect NMD in Drosophila melanogaster.