I
n this issue, we are inaugurating the first of a series of invited very short reviews at the cutting edge of fields covered in DNA and Cell Biology. This series is entitled DNACB Bits. Drs. Mainou and Dermody have contributed the first in this series entitled In Search of Cathepsins: How Reovirus Enters Host Cells. They describe how the resistant protein capsid of this dsRNA virus is altered in the endosomal compartment by resident proteolytic enzymes to uncoat the virion, and thus enables the virus to begin replication in the cytoplasm. These and other studies may lead to the development of new antiviral therapies, target host, and not viral pathways.
The next article in our Table of Contents is a review by Mirouze. This article was originally invited to be included in the recently published Special Focus Supplement on Epigenetics; however, reviewers had not accepted the revisions in time to be included in that issue. We elected to choose a figure from this review for the cover art for this final issue of 2012.
Recently, there have been several studies that have clearly shown that the playing field is not level for women in science; the senior author of one of these studies is our former Editor-in-Chief at DNA and Cell Biology Jo Handelsman [Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2012 Oct 9;109(41):16474–16479. Epub 2012 Sep 17]. Further, it seems that young female students are discouraged from pursuing some science programs in higher education [www.iop.org/education/teacher/support/girls_physics/file_58196.pdf]. These are disappointing and discouraging findings. This is the 21st century, and these hurdles should already have been overcome in the developed G20 world. Clearly, much more work needs to be done with perceptions to combat prejudice and with facilitating ambitious goals. To accomplish this, we all have to work together. We will all benefit by creating and nurturing a new meritocracy where the best and brightest can realize their objectives.
