Breaking Report: Cell Culture

Also on my desk today:

Simcox A. Progress towards Drosophila epithelial cell culture. Methods Mol Biol. 2013;945:1-11. doi: 10.1007/978-1-62703-125-7_1. PMID: 23097097.

Breaking Report: Integrator Complex

On my desk to read today?

Chen J, Ezzeddine N, Waltenspiel B, Albrecht TR, Warren WD, Marzluff WF, Wagner EJ. An RNAi screen identifies additional members of the Drosophila Integrator complex and a requirement for cyclin C/Cdk8 in snRNA 3'-end formation. RNA. 2012 Oct 24. PMID: 23097424.

Breaking Report: in vivo RNAi Screen Focused on Chromosome Instability

On my desk to read today? This open access report on an in vivo RNAi screen.

Shaukat Z, Wong HW, Nicolson S, Saint RB, Gregory SL. A screen for selective killing of cells with chromosomal instability induced by a spindle checkpoint defect. PLoS One. 2012;7(10):e47447. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0047447. PMID: 23077619.

Full-Genome Screen Identifies Swell-Activated Chloride Channel. Breaking Report.

On my desk to read today? This open access report of a screen performed at the DRSC.

Stotz & Clapham. Anion-sensitive fluorophore identifies the Drosophila swell-activated chloride channel in a genome-wide RNA interference screen. PLoSOne. 2012;7(10):e46865. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0046865. PubMed PMID: 23056495.

miRNA Resource. Breaking report.

There are functional and practical at-the-bench connections between RNAi as a technique and the biology of miRNAs. So I try to keep aware of what's happening in the miRNA world, particularly when it comes to new tools. The DRSC makes some miRNA reagents available (e.g. UAS-miRNAs) and miRNA resource collections have been published by various groups. This report describes a new set of tools for interrogating miRNA function.

Schertel1 et al. (2012) in Genetics. Functional Characterization of Drosophila microRNAs by a Novel in vivo Library.  The PubMed citation was not available at the time of this posting. This link should take you to the relevant page at Genetics.

Caution! For in vivo RNAi ageing studies. Recent report.

On my desk to read today? This open access paper reporting effects of in vivo Drosophila RNAi that can confound studies on aging.

Alic N, Hoddinott MP, Foley A, Slack C, Piper MD, Partridge L. Detrimental Effects of RNAi: A Cautionary Note on Its Use in Drosophila Ageing Studies. PLoS One. 2012;7(9):e45367. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0045367. PubMed PMID: 23028964.