The deleterious effects of ethanol on the developing human brain are poorly understood. Here it is reported that ethanol, acting by a dual mechanism [blockade of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptors and excessive activation of GABA(A) receptors], triggers widespread apoptotic neurodegeneration in the developing rat forebrain. Vulnerability coincides with the period of synaptogenesis, which in humans extends from the sixth month of gestation to several years after birth. During this period, transient ethanol exposure can delete millions of neurons from the developing brain. This can explain the reduced brain mass and neurobehavioral disturbances associated with human fetal alcohol syndrome.

Colletotrichum species are fungal pathogens that devastate crop plants worldwide. Host infection involves the differentiation of specialized cell types that are associated with penetration, growth inside living host cells (biotrophy) and tissue destruction (necrotrophy). We report here genome and transcriptome analyses of Colletotrichum higginsianum infecting Arabidopsis thaliana and Colletotrichum graminicola infecting maize. Comparative genomics showed that both fungi have large sets of pathogenicity-related genes, but families of genes encoding secreted effectors, pectin-degrading enzymes, secondary metabolism enzymes, transporters and peptidases are expanded in C. higginsianum. Genome-wide expression profiling revealed that these genes are transcribed in successive waves that are linked to pathogenic transitions: effectors and secondary metabolism enzymes are induced before penetration and during biotrophy, whereas most hydrolases and transporters are upregulated later, at the switch to necrotrophy. Our findings show that preinvasion perception of plant-derived signals substantially reprograms fungal gene expression and indicate previously unknown functions for particular fungal cell types

In budding yeast genes that encode G1 cyclins and proteins involved in DNA synthesis are transcriptionally activated in late G1. A transcription factor, called SBF, is composed of Swi4 and Swi6 proteins and activates transcription of G1 cyclin genes. A different, but related, complex called MBF binds to MCB elements (Mlu I cell cycle box) found in the promoter of most DNA synthesis genes. MBF contains Swi6 and a 120-kilodalton protein (p120). MBF was purified and the gene encoding p120 (termed MBP1) was cloned. A deletion of MBP1 was not lethal but led to deregulated expression of DNA synthesis genes, indicating a direct regulatory role for MBF in MCB-driven transcription. Mbp1 is related to Swi4. Strains deleted for both MBP1 and SWI4 were inviable, demonstrating that transcriptional activation by MBF and SBF has an important role in the transition from G1 to S phase.

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The DNA binding protein FIS is involved in processes like site specific DNA inversion, lambda excision and stimulation of stable RNA synthesis in Escherichia coli. The amount of FIS protein is subject to dramatic changes during growth. We demonstrate that fis is part of an operon with one ORF of unknown function preceding the fis gene. Regulation of fis synthesis occurs at the transcriptional level. Within 15 min after nutritional upshift a large burst of fis mRNA is produced which levels off when cells begin to grow. By mutational analysis using promoter‐lacZ fusions we demonstrate that the fis promoter is autoregulated by FIS. Growth phase regulation of the fis promoter depends on the presence of a GC motif downstream of the −10 region. We show that the fis promoter is subject to stringent control and discuss this unusual feature with respect to the known and putative functions FIS serves in E. coli.

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