Human Genome Sciences goes eukaryotic

Human Genome Sciences (HGS) has been in the business of synthesizing proteins with therapeutic potential—en masse and from Escherichia coli —at its process development and protein production facility in Rockville, Maryland. To circumvent the biochemical limitations of bacteria, HGS has plans to construct a new facility that will permit continuous and batch culture of eukaryotic cells, engineered to express appropriately glycosylated proteins (including antibodies). William Haseltine, the chief executive officer of HGS, intends to profit from lessons learned by others, having scrutinized procedures optimized by Ares-Sorono (Montreaux, Switzerland) and Bayer (Berkeley, California). According to Haseltine, the latter sets the "gold standard" in its synthesis of human factor VIII. First in line for eukaryotic synthesis are the β-lymphocyte activating factor (BLyS), C-POP (an anti-apoptosis antagonist of the Fas ligand) and 'triferon'—a newly identified, naturally occurring interferon that resembles the α, β and γ interferons, "with a little bit extra".

Nomenclature news

Convened last month by the human and mouse gene nomenclature committees, the second International Gene Nomenclature Workshop brought together experts representing many species, aficionados of gene families, representatives of the major databases, annotation experts and delegates from pharmaceutical companies. All of them would agree with an observation made by Confucius: "if names are not correct, language is without an object". (This may come as a rude surprise to those who have blithely published papers with scant regard to gene nomenclature.) A gene in a database can be identified by a number, but when humans become interested in that gene, a name is required and the work of the relevant nomenclature committee begins. A gene name or symbol should be 'user-friendly' and stable (standardized nomenclature is only useful if actually used!); it thus cannot distil all information pertaining to the gene it represents. An accepted name can, however, constitute the nucleation point of an electronic information network. Web interphases such as Lotuslink (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/LocusLink/) provide links between gene names, curated sequence and descriptive information such as nomenclature, sequence accession numbers, UniGene clusters, map information and relevant web sites. The nomenclature committees aim to increase their collaborative efforts with genetic communities and to inspire more journals to support their efforts (this one does, and is grateful for the regular advice it receives). Details of the workshop, including abstracts, are available (http://www.gene.ucl.ac.uk/nomenclature/INW2.html).

Encounter 2001—a hairy mission

Have you dreamt of sending your DNA to the stars? If so, you can realize this dream for a mere US $49.95! The Encounter 2001 web site (http://www.encounter2001.com) is selling flight packages that entitle space cadets to send a photo, a written message, a drawing and a 'DNA sample' in the form of six to ten strands of hair on a 'millenial voyage'. If everything goes according to plan, a small spacecraft containing an optical disk and hair samples from up to 1.5 million humans will be launched in 2001. Once it leaves the earth's orbit, the spacecraft should fly past Jupiter, using the planet's gravity to propel itself out of the solar system—presumably in search of galactic neighbours in possession of multiplex PCR technology.

Telomeres bend over backwards

Telomeres were traditionally thought to 'hang loose', with their 3´ overhang tails extending as linear stretches from chromosomal ends. A glimpse of telomere structure provided by an electron microscope suggests a different state of affairs, as revealed in a study led by Jack Griffith, of the University of North Carolina, and Titia de Lange, of the Rockefeller University (Cell 97, 503–514; 1999). Both in vitro-generated telomeres and telomeres isolated from mouse and human cells appeared to be folded back on themselves to form telomere loops (t-loops). The vulnerable 3´ overhang is neatly tucked back into the duplex telomeric repeat, forming a D loop (displacement loop) in which the single-stranded sequence invades and base pairs with homologous sequence of the double-stranded DNA. The size of the telomeric 'lasso' varies according to the length of the telomeres—with small loops for short telomeres and larger ones for longer telomeric stretches—and loops can encompass up to 20 kb of telomeric sequence. These findings reveal the mammalian cell's strategy for protecting its chromosomal ends from exposure to the DNA damage surveillance system, which would otherwise recognize normal chromosome ends as DNA breaks and instigate inappropriate cellular repair or checkpoint responses. This latest twist in the tale of telomeres poses new questions for telomere biologists, including how t-loop formation is regulated and how telomerase gains access to telomeres embedded within t-loops.

Who cloned the first mammal?

There is no doubt that Klaus Ilmensee and Peter Hoppe published the first report of the successful cloning of a mouse (Cell 23, 9–18; 1981). The reliability of their data, however, was subsequently questioned by many scientists in the field, the results never repeated and essentially ignored. Ilmensee now argues (Nature 398, 19–20; 1999) that in light of recent successes in mammalian cloning, "the time has come for the correct evaluation of (their) earlier results on the first cloning of a mammal". Davor Solter, of the Max-Planck Institute of Immunobiology, disagrees; he suggests that "one could equally well argue that the success of the Apollo missions confirms Jules Verne's or Cyrano de Bergerac's description of voyages to the Moon" (Nature 399, 13; 1999).

Psst, Bob. . .you're unzipped.