The Third Reviewer

Fabio Papes, Darren W. Logan, Lisa Stowers

Potential predators emit uncharacterized chemosignals that warn receiving species of danger. Neurons that sense these stimuli remain unknown. Here we show that detection and processing of fear-evoking odors emitted from cat, rat, and snake require the function of sensory neurons in the vomeronasal organ. To investigate . . . → Read More: The Vomeronasal Organ Mediates Interspecies Defensive Behaviors through Detection of Protein Pheromone Homologs

Jacek Krol, Volker Busskamp, Ilona Markiewicz, Michael B. Stadler, Sebastian Ribi, Jens Richter, Jens Duebel, Silvia Bicker, Hans Jörg Fehling, Dirk Schübeler, Thomas G. Oertner, Gerhard Schratt, Miriam Bibel, Botond Roska, Witold Filipowicz

Adaptation to different levels of illumination is central to the function of the retina. Here, we demonstrate that levels of . . . → Read More: Characterizing Light-Regulated Retinal MicroRNAs Reveals Rapid Turnover as a Common Property of Neuronal MicroRNAs

Zheng Li, Jihoon Jo, Jie-Min Jia, Shih-Ching Lo, Daniel J. Whitcomb, Song Jiao, Kwangwook Cho, Morgan Sheng

NMDA receptor-dependent synaptic modifications, such as long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD), are essential for brain development and function. LTD occurs mainly by the removal of AMPA receptors from the postsynaptic membrane, but the underlying . . . → Read More: Caspase-3 Activation via Mitochondria Is Required for Long-Term Depression and AMPA Receptor Internalization

Chan-Yen Ou, Vivian Y. Poon, Celine I. Maeder, Shigeki Watanabe, Emily K. Lehrman, Amy K.Y. Fu, Mikyoung Park, Wing-Yu Fu, Erik M. Jorgensen, Nancy Y. Ip, Kang Shen

Polarized trafficking of synaptic proteins to axons and dendrites is crucial to neuronal function. Through forward genetic analysis in C. elegans, we identified a cyclin . . . → Read More: Two Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Pathways Are Essential for Polarized Trafficking of Presynaptic Components

Christopher J. Bohlen, Avi Priel, Sharleen Zhou, David King, Jan Siemens, David Julius

Toxins have evolved to target regions of membrane ion channels that underlie ligand binding, gating, or ion permeation, and have thus served as invaluable tools for probing channel structure and function. Here, we describe a peptide toxin from the Earth . . . → Read More: A Bivalent Tarantula Toxin Activates the Capsaicin Receptor, TRPV1, by Targeting the Outer Pore Domain