PAPERS TO WATCH

K. Okada et al., "The muscle protein Dok-7 is essential for neuromuscular synaptogenesis," Science, 312:1802-5, Jun 23, 2006.

This study, Dok-7, a member of a family of target docking proteins of tyrosine kinases, is shown to be a necessary player in enhancing the activation of muscle-specific kinase (MuSK) and in the development of the neuromuscular junction (NMJ).

H. Benjamin Peng
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology,
Hong Kong

M. Komatsu et al., "Loss of autophagy in the central nervous system causes neurodegeneration in mice," Nature, 441:880-4, Jun 15, 2006.

This paper ? demonstrates the importance of basal autophagy in preventing the accumulation of diffuse, soluble proteins that can cause neuronal cell death.

Daniel Klionsky
University of Michigan, United States of America

Y. Dong et al., "AgDscam, a hypervariable immunoglobulin domain-containing receptor of the Anopheles gambiae innate immune system," PLoS Biol, 4:e229, Jun 20, 2006.

This outstanding, thought-provoking paper shows that mosquitoes, which lack the VDJ-based adaptive immune system of vertebrates, may generate adaptive immune responses by using alternative splicing to create a diverse repertoire of immune recognition receptors.

Michael Gold
University of British Columbia, Canada

These papers were selected from multiple disciplines from the Faculty of 1000, a web-based literature awareness tool (www.f1000biology.com).