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- Klionsky, Daniel J., et al.
(author)
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Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy in higher eukaryotes
- 2008
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In: Autophagy. - : Landes Bioscience. - 1554-8627 .- 1554-8635. ; 4:2, s. 151-175
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Research in autophagy continues to accelerate,1 and as a result many new scientists are entering the field. Accordingly, it is important to establish a standard set of criteria for monitoring macroautophagy in different organisms. Recent reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose.2,3 There are many useful and convenient methods that can be used to monitor macroautophagy in yeast, but relatively few in other model systems, and there is much confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure macroautophagy in higher eukaryotes. A key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers of autophagosomes versus those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway; thus, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation needs to be differentiated from fully functional autophagy that includes delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (in most higher eukaryotes) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of the methods that can be used by investigators who are attempting to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as by reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that investigate these processes. This set of guidelines is not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to verify an autophagic response.
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2. |
- Richards, Stephen, et al.
(author)
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The genome of the model beetle and pest Tribolium castaneum.
- 2008
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In: Nature. - 1476-4687. ; 452:7190, s. 949-55
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Tribolium castaneum is a representative of earth’s most numerous eukaryotic order, a powerful model organism for the study of generalized insect development, and also an important pest of stored agricultural products. We describe its genome sequence here. This omnivorous beetle has evolved an ability to interact with a diverse chemical environment as evidenced by large expansions in odorant and gustatory receptors, as well as p450 and other detoxification enzymes. Developmental patterns in Tribolium are more representative of other arthropods than those found in Drosophila, a fact represented in gene content and function. For one, Tribolium has retained more ancestral genes involved in cell-cell communication than Drosophila, and some are expressed in the growth zone crucial for axial elongation in short germ development. Systemic RNAi in T. castaneum appears to use mechanisms distinct from those found in C. elegans, but nevertheless offers similar power for the elucidation of gene function and identification of targets for selective insect control.
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