ALBERT

Description: The evolution of insect resistance threatens the effectiveness of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins that are widely used in sprays and transgenic crops. Resistance to Bt toxins in some insects is linked with mutations that disrupt a toxin-binding cadherin protein. We show that susceptibility to the Bt toxin Cry1Ab was reduced by cadherin gene silencing with RNA interference in Manduca sexta, confirming cadherin's role in Bt toxicity. Native Cry1A toxins required cadherin to form oligomers, but modified Cry1A toxins lacking one alpha-helix did not. The modified toxins killed cadherin-silenced M. sexta and Bt-resistant Pectinophora gossypiella that had cadherin deletion mutations. Our findings suggest that cadherin promotes Bt toxicity by facilitating toxin oligomerization and demonstrate that the modified Bt toxins may be useful against pests resistant to standard Bt toxins.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Soberon, Mario -- Pardo-Lopez, Liliana -- Lopez, Idalia -- Gomez, Isabel -- Tabashnik, Bruce E -- Bravo, Alejandra -- 1R01 AI066014/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2007 Dec 7;318(5856):1640-2. Epub 2007 Nov 1.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Instituto de Biotecnologia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Apartado Postal 510-3, Cuernavaca 62250, Morelos, Mexico. mario@ibt.unam.mx〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17975031" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Using data collected at the Pierre Auger Observatory during the past 3.7 years, we demonstrated a correlation between the arrival directions of cosmic rays with energy above 6 x 10(19) electron volts and the positions of active galactic nuclei (AGN) lying within approximately 75 megaparsecs. We rejected the hypothesis of an isotropic distribution of these cosmic rays with at least a 99% confidence level from a prescribed a priori test. The correlation we observed is compatible with the hypothesis that the highest-energy particles originate from nearby extragalactic sources whose flux has not been substantially reduced by interaction with the cosmic background radiation. AGN or objects having a similar spatial distribution are possible sources.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Pierre Auger Collaboration -- Abraham, J -- Abreu, P -- Aglietta, M -- Aguirre, C -- Allard, D -- Allekotte, I -- Allen, J -- Allison, P -- Alvarez, C -- Alvarez-Muniz, J -- Ambrosio, M -- Anchordoqui, L -- Andringa, S -- Anzalone, A -- Aramo, C -- Argiro, S -- Arisaka, K -- Armengaud, E -- Arneodo, F -- Arqueros, F -- Asch, T -- Asorey, H -- Assis, P -- Atulugama, B S -- Aublin, J -- Ave, M -- Avila, G -- Backer, T -- Badagnani, D -- Barbosa, A F -- Barnhill, D -- Barroso, S L C -- Bauleo, P -- Beatty, J -- Beau, T -- Becker, B R -- Becker, K H -- Bellido, J A -- Benzvi, S -- Berat, C -- Bergmann, T -- Bernardini, P -- Bertou, X -- Biermann, P L -- Billoir, P -- Blanch-Bigas, O -- Blanco, F -- Blasi, P -- Bleve, C -- Blumer, H -- Bohacova, M -- Bonifazi, C -- Bonino, R -- Boratav, M -- Brack, J -- Brogueira, P -- Brown, W C -- Buchholz, P -- Bueno, A -- Busca, N G -- Caballero-Mora, K S -- Cai, B -- Camin, D V -- Caruso, R -- Carvalho, W -- Castellina, A -- Catalano, O -- Cataldi, G -- Cazon-Boado, L -- Cester, R -- Chauvin, J -- Chiavassa, A -- Chinellato, J A -- Chou, A -- Chye, J -- Clark, P D J -- Clay, R W -- Colombo, E -- Conceicao, R -- Connolly, B -- Contreras, F -- Coppens, J -- Cordier, A -- Cotti, U -- Coutu, S -- Covault, C E -- Creusot, A -- Cronin, J -- Dagoret-Campagne, S -- Daumiller, K -- Dawson, B R -- de Almeida, R M -- De Donato, C -- de Jong, S J -- De La Vega, G -- de Mello Junior, W J M -- de Mello Neto, J R T -- De Mitri, I -- de Souza, V -- Del Peral, L -- Deligny, O -- Selva, A Della -- Fratte, C Delle -- Dembinski, H -- Di Giulio, C -- Diaz, J C -- Dobrigkeit, C -- D'Olivo, J C -- Dornic, D -- Dorofeev, A -- Dos Anjos, J C -- Dova, M T -- D'Urso, D -- Duvernois, M A -- Engel, R -- Epele, L -- Erdmann, M -- Escobar, C O -- Etchegoyen, A -- Facal San Luis, P -- Falcke, H -- Farrar, G -- Fauth, A C -- Fazzini, N -- Fernandez, A -- Ferrer, F -- Ferry, S -- Fick, B -- Filevich, A -- Filipcic, A -- Fleck, I -- Fonte, R -- Fracchiolla, C E -- Fulgione, W -- Garcia, B -- Garcia Gamez, D -- Garcia-Pinto, D -- Garrido, X -- Geenen, H -- Gelmini, G -- Gemmeke, H -- Ghia, P L -- Giller, M -- Glass, H -- Gold, M S -- Golup, G -- Albarracin, F Gomez -- Berisso, M Gomez -- Herrero, R Gomez -- Goncalves, P -- Goncalves do Amaral, M -- Gonzalez, D -- Gonzalez, J G -- Gonzalez, M -- Gora, D -- Gorgi, A -- Gouffon, P -- Grassi, V -- Grillo, A -- Grunfeld, C -- Guardincerri, Y -- Guarino, F -- Guedes, G P -- Gutierrez, J -- Hague, J D -- Hamilton, J C -- Hansen, P -- Harari, D -- Harmsma, S -- Harton, J L -- Haungs, A -- Hauschildt, T -- Healy, M D -- Hebbeker, T -- Heck, D -- Hojvat, C -- Holmes, V C -- Homola, P -- Horandel, J -- Horneffer, A -- Horvat, M -- Hrabovsky, M -- Huege, T -- Iarlori, M -- Insolia, A -- Ionita, F -- Italiano, A -- Kaducak, M -- Kampert, K H -- Keilhauer, B -- Kemp, E -- Kieckhafer, R M -- Klages, H O -- Kleifges, M -- Kleinfeller, J -- Knapik, R -- Knapp, J -- Koang, D-H -- Kopmann, A -- Krieger, A -- Kromer, O -- Kumpel, D -- Kunka, N -- Kusenko, A -- La Rosa, G -- Lachaud, C -- Lago, B L -- Lebrun, D -- Lebrun, P -- Lee, J -- Leigui de Oliveira, M A -- Letessier-Selvon, A -- Leuthold, M -- Lhenry-Yvon, I -- Lopez, R -- Lopez Aguera, A -- Lozano Bahilo, J -- Maccarone, M C -- Macolino, C -- Maldera, S -- Malek, M -- Mancarella, G -- Mancenido, M E -- Mandat, D -- Mantsch, P -- Mariazzi, A G -- Maris, I C -- Martello, D -- Martinez, J -- Martinez Bravo, O -- Mathes, H J -- Matthews, J -- Matthews, J A J -- Matthiae, G -- Maurizio, D -- Mazur, P O -- McCauley, T -- McEwen, M -- McNeil, R R -- Medina, M C -- Medina-Tanco, G -- Meli, A -- Melo, D -- Menichetti, E -- Menschikov, A -- Meurer, Chr -- Meyhandan, R -- Micheletti, M I -- Miele, G -- Miller, W -- Mollerach, S -- Monasor, M -- Monnier Ragaigne, D -- Montanet, F -- Morales, B -- Morello, C -- Moreno, E -- Moreno, J C -- Morris, C -- Mostafa, M -- Muller, M A -- Mussa, R -- Navarra, G -- Navarro, J L -- Navas, S -- Nellen, L -- Newman-Holmes, C -- Newton, D -- Thi, T Nguyen -- Nierstenhofer, N -- Nitz, D -- Nosek, D -- Nozka, L -- Oehlschlager, J -- Ohnuki, T -- Olinto, A -- Olmos-Gilbaja, V M -- Ortiz, M -- Ostapchenko, S -- Otero, L -- Pakk Selmi-Dei, D -- Palatka, M -- Pallotta, J -- Parente, G -- Parizot, E -- Parlati, S -- Pastor, S -- Patel, M -- Paul, T -- Pavlidou, V -- Payet, K -- Pech, M -- Pekala, J -- Pelayo, R -- Pepe, I M -- Perrone, L -- Petrera, S -- Petrinca, P -- Petrov, Y -- Ngoc, Dieppham -- Ngoc, Dongpham -- Pham Thi, T N -- Pichel, A -- Piegaia, R -- Pierog, T -- Pimenta, M -- Pinto, T -- Pirronello, V -- Pisanti, O -- Platino, M -- Pochon, J -- Porter, T A -- Privitera, P -- Prouza, M -- Quel, E J -- Rautenberg, J -- Reucroft, S -- Revenu, B -- Rezende, F A S -- Ridky, J -- Riggi, S -- Risse, M -- Riviere, C -- Rizi, V -- Roberts, M -- Robledo, C -- Rodriguez, G -- Rodriguez Frias, D -- Rodriguez Martino, J -- Rodriguez Rojo, J -- Rodriguez-Cabo, I -- Ros, G -- Rosado, J -- Roth, M -- Rouille-d'Orfeuil, B -- Roulet, E -- Rovero, A C -- Salamida, F -- Salazar, H -- Salina, G -- Sanchez, F -- Santander, M -- Santo, C E -- Santos, E M -- Sarazin, F -- Sarkar, S -- Sato, R -- Scherini, V -- Schieler, H -- Schmidt, F -- Schmidt, T -- Scholten, O -- Schovanek, P -- Schussler, F -- Sciutto, S J -- Scuderi, M -- Segreto, A -- Semikoz, D -- Settimo, M -- Shellard, R C -- Sidelnik, I -- Siffert, B B -- Sigl, G -- De Grande, N Smetniansky -- Smialkowski, A -- Smida, R -- Smith, A G K -- Smith, B E -- Snow, G R -- Sokolsky, P -- Sommers, P -- Sorokin, J -- Spinka, H -- Squartini, R -- Strazzeri, E -- Stutz, A -- Suarez, F -- Suomijarvi, T -- Supanitsky, A D -- Sutherland, M S -- Swain, J -- Szadkowski, Z -- Takahashi, J -- Tamashiro, A -- Tamburro, A -- Tascau, O -- Tcaciuc, R -- Thomas, D -- Ticona, R -- Tiffenberg, J -- Timmermans, C -- Tkaczyk, W -- Todero Peixoto, C J -- Tome, B -- Tonachini, A -- Torresi, D -- Travnicek, P -- Tripathi, A -- Tristram, G -- Tscherniakhovski, D -- Tueros, M -- Tunnicliffe, V -- Ulrich, R -- Unger, M -- Urban, M -- Valdes Galicia, J F -- Valino, I -- Valore, L -- van den Berg, A M -- van Elewyck, V -- Vazquez, R A -- Veberic, D -- Veiga, A -- Velarde, A -- Venters, T -- Verzi, V -- Videla, M -- Villasenor, L -- Vorobiov, S -- Voyvodic, L -- Wahlberg, H -- Wainberg, O -- Waldenmaier, T -- Walker, P -- Warner, D -- Watson, A A -- Westerhoff, S -- Wieczorek, G -- Wiencke, L -- Wilczynska, B -- Wilczynski, H -- Wileman, C -- Winnick, M G -- Wu, H -- Wundheiler, B -- Xu, J -- Yamamoto, T -- Younk, P -- Zas, E -- Zavrtanik, D -- Zavrtanik, M -- Zech, A -- Zepeda, A -- Ziolkowski, M -- Kegl, B -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2007 Nov 9;318(5852):938-43.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17991855" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Bravo-Abad, Jorge -- Soljacic, Marin -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2008 May 2;320(5876):623-4. doi: 10.1126/science.1157494.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Physics and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. jbravo@mit.edu〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18451291" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Salazar-Bravo, Jorge -- Phillips, Carleton J -- Bradley, Robert D -- Baker, Robert J -- Yates, Terry L -- Ruedas, Luis A -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2006 Feb 24;311(5764):1099-100; author reply 1099-100.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16497914" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Background The Codon Adaptation Index (CAI) is a measure of the synonymous codon usage bias for a DNA or RNA sequence. It quantifies the similarity between the synonymous codon usage of a gene and the synonymous codon frequency of a reference set. Extreme values in the nucleotide or in the amino acid composition have a large impact on differential preference for synonymous codons. It is thence essential to define the limits for the expected value of CAI on the basis of sequence composition in order to properly interpret the CAI and provide statistical support to CAI analyses. Though several freely available programs calculate the CAI for a given DNA sequence, none of them corrects for compositional biases or provides confidence intervals for CAI values. Results The E-CAI server, available at http://genomes.urv.es/CAIcal/E-CAI, is a web-application that calculates an expected value of CAI for a set of query sequences by generating random sequences with G+C and amino acid content similar to those of the input. An executable file, a tutorial, a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section and several examples are also available. To exemplify the use of the E-CAI server, we have analysed the codon adaptation of human mitochondrial genes that codify a subunit of the mitochondrial respiratory chain (excluding those genes that lack a prokaryotic orthologue) and are encoded in the nuclear genome. It is assumed that these genes were transferred from the proto-mitochondrial to the nuclear genome and that its codon usage was then ameliorated. Conclusion The E-CAI server provides a direct threshold value for discerning whether the differences in CAI are statistically significant or whether they are merely artifacts that arise from internal biases in the G+C composition and/or amino acid composition of the query sequences.