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Two biologists at the University of California, San Diego have discovered the first of a new class of cellular motor proteins that "rewind" sections of the double-stranded DNA molecule that become unwound, like the tangled ribbons from a cassette tape, in "bubbles" that prevent critical genes from being expressed.

"When your DNA gets stuck in the unwound position, your cells are in big trouble, and in humans, that ultimately leads to death" said Jim Kadonaga, a professor of biology at UCSD who headed the study. "What we discovered is the enzyme that fixes this problem."

Blacksburg, Va. -- Wind, water, and waves erode billions of tons of soil from the earth's surface. As a result, many rivers are plagued with excessive amounts of suspended sediment. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, such eroded sediment is the largest nonpoint source pollution in the environment.

A new discovery by London biologists may yield new ways of handling the problem of transplant rejection. In a research article published in the November 2008 print issue of The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org), the scientists confirm the two-way transfer of a molecule (called "MHC") that instructs the immune system to tell "self" from "non-self." By disrupting the transfer of this molecule, newly transplanted organs should become "invisible" to the host's immune system.

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — In trying to find out why HER2-positive breast cancer can be more aggressive than other forms of the disease, UC Davis Cancer Center researchers have surprisingly discovered that HER2 itself is the culprit. By shutting down its own regulator gene, HER2 creates a permissive environment for tumor growth.

Building on recent research showing that the regulator — labeled LRIG1 and commonly called "Lig-1" — limits the growth-promoting signals of HER2, the research team set out to clarify the role of Lig-1 in breast cancer.

A new study uses a sophisticated genetic strategy to reveal new roads past an apparent dead end in the historical record of a distinctive civilization that dominated the Mediterranean Sea during the first millennium BC. The research from National Geographic and IBM's Genographic Project, published by Cell Press in the November 14th issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics, describes a methodology that may prove to be useful for discovering previously undetected signals left by migrations for any historically documented expansion.

DURHAM, N.C.— A fungus called microsporidia that causes chronic diarrhea in AIDS patients, organ transplant recipients and travelers has been identified as a member of the family of fungi that have been discovered to reproduce sexually. A team at Duke University Medical Center has proven that microsporidia are true fungi and that this species most likely undergoes a form of sexual reproduction during infection of humans and other host animals.

Researchers studying neurofibromatosis type 1 – a rare disease in which tumors grow within nerves – have found that the tumors are triggered by crosstalk between cells in the nerves and cells in the blood. The researchers, who were funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Defense (DOD), also found that a drug on the market for treating certain kinds of blood cancer curbs tumor growth in a mouse model of neurofibromatosis type 1. A clinical trial of the drug is underway in people with the disease.