The discovery of several genes linked to Parkinson disease (PD) in recent years has spawned extensive research efforts to elucidate the underlying mechanism of this prevalent neurological disorder.

Timing is everything, even with regard to metabolism.

Viruses are masters of disguise when it comes to slipping past host-mediated defenses.

MICRO TWISTS:Courtesy of Allison C. Mallory, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical ResearchA scanning electron micrograph of Arabidopsis shows the importance of microRNAs in development. A mutation in the CUC1 transcription factor rendering it impermeable to silencing by miR-164 results in flowers that have extra petals, missing sepals and altered floral organ position (at right).Among structural and regulatory RNAs, the newest kids on the block have sparked a flurry of breakthrough discoveries in

CAUGHT ON FILM:Courtesy of David Davies and Peg DyrckxPseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm development occurs in five stages. 1. Reversible attachment: Cells transiently affix to substratum, and surface induced gene expression results in a protein profile significantly different from planktonic bacteria. 2. Irreversible attachment: Cells reorient themselves, clusters develop, motility is lost, and the las quorum sensing regulon becomes activated. 3. Maturation I: Cell clusters become thicker than 10 &

Irish researchers have discovered 122 novel introns that appeared in the genomes of Caenorhabditis elegans and Caenorhabditis briggsae since the two species diverged 80 to 120 million years ago, shedding light on how new introns arise and are subsequently spread among genes. The genomes of both worms contain roughly 100,000 introns, of which more than 6000 are unique to one species or the other. Kenneth Wolfe and Avril Coghlan identified 81 new introns in C. elegans and 41 new introns in C. brig

INDUCING DISTINCT YEAST PRION STRAINS:©2004 Nature Publishing Group[PSI+] using amyloid fibers derived from a recombinant Sup35p fragment [Sup-NM] at 4°C, 23°C and 37°C. White and pink and/or sectored colonies are strong and weak [PSI+] variants, respectively. (Nature, 428:323–7, 2004)In the relative quiet following the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the United Kingdom, BSE returned to the headlines recently with a sole case found in the United States a

David Nance ARS Image GalleryMore than half of the world's population depends on rice as a principal source of calories and nutrition. And from a scientific perspective, the genome of this prolific grain offers clues for others, including corn, wheat, and barley. While its cereal cousins dwarf rice's 400-Mb genome, nearly all of the proteins found in these other staples have homologs in rice. As such, rice serves as a model for all cereal agriculture. Unraveling its code may enable scientists to

Evidence of disease in 'healthy' cows points to the discovery of a novel prion strain

Dr. R. Thomas Broker Among model organisms, bacteria hold a unique place, as both models of infection and pathogenesis, and as research tools. More to the point, molecular biology was built upon the cell walls of lowly bacteria: The processes of DNA replication, RNA transcription, and protein translation, not to mention gene regulation, were all worked out in bacteria. Those early studies provided the foundations to understanding the more complex processes in eukaryotes. Despite their relati

Courtesy of Vincent A. Fischetti  ENIGMATIC ENZYME: Computer-generated ribbon model of the C-terminal end of the M protein sequence containing the conserved LPXTG motif (red). This region is also found in all C-terminal-anchored surface proteins from gram-positive bacteria. Imagine an enzyme assembled from multiple peptides, each the product of a different gene. Imagine that of the 60 amino acids in the sequence, only 40 are identifiable in the standard repertoire; the others are novel i

CISS brings distributed computing power to Canadian researchers.