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Vol. 13 / No. 11 / December 2014 THE MEMBER MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY CONTENTS NEWS FEATURES PERSPECTIVES 2 12 22 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE GOING GLOBAL WITH GENOMICS EDUCATION Time machine Using active-learning approaches 18 in a lecture hall 4 ‘SCIENCE AND ART MIX SO NEWS FROM THE HILL BEAUTIFULLY TOGETHER’ 24 The policy year in review MINORITY AFFAIRS 20 Like water in a desert 5 PUT A SMILE AROUND YOUR NECK MEMBER UPDATE 26 18 OUTREACH 6 Science to a beat JOURNAL NEWS 6 Protein, you can’t hide anymore! 30 7 Englund writes about his ‘passion for PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT parasites’ How to write a teaching philosophy statement 7 How enzymes came to be when you don’t have a lot of classroom 8 Metalloproteins and their metals experience (or even if you do) 9 Investigating the link between noncoding RNAs and alcoholic liver disease 32 10 Niacin and triglycerides OPEN CHANNELS 32 Mugs for scientists 11 33 The giving list: supporting science with NIH UPDATE 20 annual donations Money, sex and cell tracking 32 6 12 26 Researchers at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History want to advance the genomics of as many life forms on Earth as possible. But first they need to figure out the small details that will make or break the effort. Image courtesy of James Di Loreto, Smithsonian DECEMBER 2014 ASBMB TODAY 1 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE ing the Clock gene, he quickly recog- relative to wild-type strains when In a spectacular, two-page paper nized that it encoded a transcription grown under a 12-hour-to-12-hour published in 2005, Kondo and col- THE MEMBER MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY factor – it had a distinct bHLH DNA light-to-dark cycle. Amazingly, vari- leagues showed that this Kai complex FOR BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY Time machine binding domain. That discovery ants with a long period — such as 28 undergoes rhythmic changes in phos- By Steven McKnight represented a critical, missing piece of hours — out-competed the wild-type phorylation with a period of 24 hours OFFICERS COUNCIL MEMBERS the puzzle. In short order, Takahashi strain when grown under a 15-hour- (10). In other words, a complex reas- Steven McKnight Natalie Ahn and others established that the genes to-15-hour light-to-dark cycle (9). sembled from recombinant proteins President Squire J. Booker controlling circadian rhythm specify These experiments demonstrated has all of the properties of a biochem- Karen G. Fleming his is the story of a spectacular Jeremy M. Berg the parts list for a negative transcrip- the importance of circadian time- ical clock — a virtual time machine. Past President Gregory Gatto Jr. triumph of biochemistry. The Daniel Leahy Author’s note tion feedback cycle such that the keeping for biological fitness of cya- Complexes composed of mutated Kai Karen Allen story builds upon the founda- Secretary Anjana Rao T pathway could be understood in clear nobacteria. Among the many mutants I’ve decided it’s prudent to take a variants known to have a short period Jared Rutter tion of more than four decades of Toni Antalis and simple terms (8). discovered to affect timekeeping in Brenda Schulman break from the debate about the in living cells displayed a short oscil- Treasurer research on circadian rhythm. Michael Summers quality of reviewers on National Perhaps the coolest piece of the cyanobacteria, the most prevalent Centuries ago, the French botanist latory period in the test tube, and Institutes of Health study sec- circadian rhythm puzzle came from class fell into the kaiA, kaiB and kaiC complexes composed of long-period EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS Jean-Jacques d’Ortous de Mairan ASBMB TODAY EDITORIAL tions. The American Society for studies of the single-celled marine genes. The products of these three variant polypeptides displayed a long Dorothy Beckett Advisory BOARD considered how it might be that Mary Roberts Biochemistry and Molecular microbe Synechococcus elongates genes organize into a complex cen- oscillatory period. Charles Brenner Co-chairs, 2015 Annual the leaves of acacia trees zipper up Chair Biology governing council met — a cyanobacterium. Susan Golden, tered with a KaiC hexamer having the That the reconstituted, recom- Meeting Program at night and then open at dawn for Michael Bradley Carl Johnson, Takao Kondo and oth- approximate ratio of KaiA:KaiB:KaiC Committee maximal capture of sunlight. The in mid-November with Richard binant Kai complex has all of the Floyd “Ski” Chilton ers used forward genetics to discover of 1:1:4. The KaiC hexamer has both Peter J. Kennelly Nakamura, director of the NIH’s working parts necessary to create an Cristy Gelling most sensible interpretation, at least Chair, Education and cyanobacterial variants with altered autophosphorylation and autode- Peter J. Kennelly Center for Scientific Review. The isolated and fully accurate biochemi- Professional Development for a simple-thinking person like me, Rajini Rao discussion was enlightening, and circadian periods. In a particularly phosphorylation activities, with KaiA Committee would have been that the earliest rays cal clock represents a breathtaking Yolanda Sanchez the data presented will inform beautiful series of experiments, they enhancing autophosphorylation and discovery. This, my friends, is the Daniel Raben Shiladitya Sengupta of sunlight might trigger the leaves to Chair, Meetings Committee my future columns on this topic. showed that short or long period KaiB attenuating the stimulatory beauty of biochemistry. The field Carol Shoulders open up to optimize photosynthesis. variants were at a fitness disadvantage effect of KaiA. Takita Felder Sumter No, in the complete absence of In the meantime, I encourage needed genetics to open the door, Chair, Minority Affairs ASBMB TODAY you to take a quick poll on the Committee sunlight, the leaves of the acacia tree but it was hardcore biochemistry that Angela Hopp ASBMB Today website about the REFERENCES Thomas Baldwin opened right at dawn, giving evidence showed us the precise workings of the Editor, [email protected] 1. De Mairan, J.J.O. Histoire de l’Academie Royale des Sciences, ARS, Paris. 35 – 36 (1729). Chair, Outreach Committee that the plant has a built-in clock (1). current state of our NIH peer- Kai time machine. What a triumph Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay 2. Konopka, R.J. & Benzer, S. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 9, 2112 – 2116 (1971). Bob Matthews Sr. Science Writer, This internal timing device allows review system. Visit www.asbmb. of science! 39 Chair, Public Affairs [email protected] org/asbmbtoday to participate in 3. Zehring, W.A. et al. Cell , 369 – 376 (1984). Advisory Committee the plant to anticipate when the sun Marnay Meyer 4. Bargiello, T.A. et al. Nature 312, 752 – 754 (1984). should be coming up. In hindsight, the poll. Steven McKnight (steven. Kathleen Collins Designer, [email protected] 5. Vitaterna M.H. et al. Science 264, 719 – 725 (1994). Chair, Publications the advantage of anticipation is [email protected]) Lauri Pantos 89 Committee 6. Antoch, M.P. et al. Cell , 655 – 667 (1997). is president of the American Publications Technology obvious. tists showed that expression of the 7. King, D.P. et al. Cell 89, 641 – 653 (1997). Society for Biochemistry and Martha J. Fedor Manager, [email protected] Insight into the nature of the regu- period gene was itself rhythmic over a Editor-in-chief, JBC 8. Lowrey, P.L. & Takahashi, J.S. Adv Genet. 74, 175 – 230 (2011). Molecular Biology and chairman Ciarán Finn latory system controlling circadian 24-hour period. of the biochemistry department at the University Herbert Tabor Web Assistant, [email protected] 9. Ouyang, Y. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95, 8660 – 8664 (1998). Co-editor, JBC rhythm got a huge boost from fruit Two decades of research in the lab of Texas-Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Karen Schools Colson 10. Nakajima, M. et al. Science 308, 414 – 415 (2005). A. L. Burlingame Director of Publications, fly genetics a bit more than 40 years of Joe Takahashi enhanced the under- Editor, MCP [email protected] ago. In an unusually inspired series of standing of how things fit together. Edward A. Dennis Barbara Gordon experiments, Ron Konopka and the Takahashi took exactly the same Joseph L. Witztum Executive Director, approach as Benzer and Konopka Co-editors, JLR [email protected] late Seymour Benzer found muta- tions that cause fruit flies to have a — forward genetics. Instead of fruit Wanted: lab pranks longer than normal period of circa- flies, Takahashi was sufficiently bold Have you ever pranked a colleague in the lab? Have you been dian rhythm, a shorter than normal to use chemical mutagenesis and For information on advertising, contact Fox Associates Inc. the victim of a (hopefully harmless) prank? Send us your story at 800-440-0231 or [email protected]. period, or no circadian rhythm at all. forward genetics with mice as his for a special feature in April. Email [email protected]. Remarkably, all of these mutations experimental species. Like Benzer mapped to the exact same gene — the and Konopka, Takahashi found his fly period gene (2). gene — Clock — wherein a specific www.asbmb.org/asbmbtoday Beautiful, beautiful genetics — yes. ENU-induced mutation resulted in a PRINT ISSN 2372-0409 But advances toward mechanism had lengthened circadian period (5). Like Take the ASBMB Today readership survey Articles published in ASBMB Today reflect solely the to wait decades until the period gene Young, Rosbash and Hall, Takahashi authors’ views and not the official positions of the We value your opinion. Put your email address in the form for American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular could be cloned. This was achieved painstakingly chased down his Clock Biology or the institutions with which the authors are the final question to enter our drawing for $20 Amazon gift affiliated.

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