Ruthlessness gene discovered

jane2007 submitted, created time 9 months 4 days (www.nature.com)

Now there is a scientific excuse for the ruthlessness of selfish dictators. They can owe their behaviour partly to their genes, according to a study.

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Actin Filaments Mediate Mechanical Gating during Osmosensory Transduction in Rat Supraoptic Nucleus Neurons

medal submitted, created time 1 year 8 months (www.jneurosci.org)

"Osmosensory transduction is a bidirectional process displayed by neurons involved in the control of thirst and antidiuretic hormone release, and is therefore crucial for body fluid homeostasis. Although this mechanism is known to involve the activation of nonselective cation channels during hypertonicity-evoked shrinking, and the inhibition of these channels during hypotonicity-evoked swelling, the basis for this regulation is unknown."

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Can Hormones Alter Nuclear Permeability?

digiview submitted, created time 1 year 11 months (www.jbc.org)

Vasopressin and other hormones that increase cytosolic Ca2+ and activate protein kinase C increased permeability across the nuclear membrane. Localized photorelease of caged Ca2+ near the nuclear envelope resulted in a local increase in nuclear permeability. Neither activation nor inhibition of protein kinase C affected nuclear permeability. These findings provide evidence that hormones linking to certain G protein-coupled receptors increase nuclear permeability via cytosolic Ca2+.

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