Papers to watch

Different kinds of error bars can mean very different things. The authors suggest eight simple rules to assist with effective use and interpretation of error bars. This paper is a must read for every scientist who thinks that triplicate plates from a single experiment counts as n=3!

Andy Groves
House Ear Institute, USA

The authors use a deceptively simple screen, based on activation of a methylated reporter plasmid by cDNAs co-transfected into HEK293 cells, to identify GADD45a (growth arrest and DNA-damage-inducible protein 45 alpha) as a player in the elusive pathway of active DNA demethylation. The surprise is that GADD45a-mediated DNA demethylation appears to require association with the DNA repair endonuclease XPG.

Anjana Rao
Harvard Medical School, USA

This new study describes a completely novel, direct relationship between stress resistance, aging and longevity and ubiquitin-mediated protein turnover. ... The authors demonstrated the forkhead transcription factor DAF-16, a key player of the insulin/IGF-1 pathway, to be targeted for degradation by the E3 enzyme RLE-1 in C. elegans.

Thorsten Hoppe
Hamburg University, Germany

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