Update | Research Focus 355 The membrane – water interface region of membrane proteins: structural bias and the anti-snorkeling effect Jie Liang, Larisa Adamian and Ronald Jackups Jr 357 Testis-specific histone H3 expression in somatic cells Je ´ ro ˆ me Govin, Ce ´ cile Caron, Sophie Rousseaux and Saadi Khochbin Opinion 360 Dimer-based model for heptaspanning membrane receptors Rafael Franco, Vicent Casado ´ , Josefa Mallol, Sergi Ferre ´ , Kjell Fuxe, Antonio Corte ´ s, Francisco Ciruela, Carmen Lluis and Enric I. Canela 367 SNARE complexes and neuroexocytosis: how many, how close? Cesare Montecucco, Giampietro Schiavo and Sergio Pantano 373 Ultradian metronome: timekeeper for orchestration of cellular coherence David Lloyd and Douglas B. Murray 378 CIF and other mysteries of the store-operated Ca 21 -entry pathway Victoria M. Bolotina and Peter Csutora Review 388 Major cutbacks at chromosome ends Peter M. Lansdorp 396 Bridging gaps in phospholipid transport Dennis R. Voelker 405 Eukaryotic transcription factors as direct nutrient sensors Christopher A. Sellick and Richard J. Reece 413 Shedding light on ADAM metalloproteinases Ari-Pekka J. Huovila, Anthony J. Turner, Markku Pelto-Huikko, Iivari Ka ¨ rkka ¨ inen and Rebekka M. Ortiz TRENDS in July 2005 Vol. 30, No. 7 pp. 355 – 422 Biochemical Sciences Editor Fiona G. Hutton Assistant Editor Vicky Ashton Editorial Coordinator Joanna Pinto Illustrations The Studio Cover Design Geraldine Woods Publishing Manager O. Claire Moulton Editorial Enquiries Trends in Biochemical Sciences Elsevier, 84 Theobald’s Road, London, UK WC1X 8RR tel: +44 (0)20 7611 4400 fax: +44 (0)20 7611 4470 e-mail: tibs@elsevier.com Subscription Enquiries E-mail: ct.subs@qss-uk.com Advisory Editorial Board J. Witkowski (Editor in Chief), Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, USA M. Bienz, MRC, Cambridge, UK S. Cockcroft, University College London, UK J. Dixon, University of California, USA T. Gibson, EMBL, Germany C-H. Heldin, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Sweden M. Hentze, EMBL, Germany R. Kornberg, Stanford University, USA T. de Lange, Rockefeller University, USA A. Lamond, University of Dundee, UK G. Petsko, Brandeis University, USA T. Pollard, Yale University, USA D.W. Russell, UT Southwestern Medical Center, USA P. Schimmel, The Scripps Research Institute, USA P.H. von Hippel, University of Oregon, USA M. Yanagida, Kyoto University, Japan Forthcoming articles Pumps, paradoxes and ploughshares: mechanism of the MCM2–7 DNA helicase T.S. Takahashi, D.B. Wigley and J.C. Walter Small non-coding RNAs as magic bullets F. Eckstein Ironing out the problem: new mechanisms of iron homeostasis E. Masse ´ and M. Arguin The spliceosome: a novel multi-faceted target for therapy J. Tazi, S. Durand and P. Jeanteur Oxidative activation of antioxidant defence P.G. Winyard, C.J. Moody and C. Jacob Detergent-resistant membranes should not be identified with membrane rafts D. Lichtenberg, F.M. Gon ˜ i and H. Heerklotz HIF-1a and p53: the ODD couple? D.R. Fels and C. Koumenis Scaffold proteins dictate Rho GTPase-signaling specificity M.J. Marinissen and J.S. Gutkind Cover: In a recent study, the membrane–water interface region was examined in detail for the first time using computational analysis, and the results revealed that this interface region has an important role in constraining protein secondary structure. On pages 355– 357, Jie Liang, Larisa Adamian and Ronald Jackups Jr highlight recent work demonstrating that, in the interface region, the side chains of tryptophan and tyrosine reverse orientation and tend to point towards the membrane core, thus changing from snorkeling to anti-snorkeling. www.iubmb.org