Molecule Walks Like a Human
A research team, led by UC Riverside's Ludwig Bartels, is the first to design a molecule that can move in a straight line on a flat surface.

Cyclin A1 promoter hypermethylation in human papillomavirus-associated cervical cancer
This methylation study indicated that cyclin A1 is a potential tumor marker for early diagnosis of invasive cervical cancer.

A Switch Between Life And Death
Cells in an embryo divide at an amazing rate to build a whole body, but this growth needs to be controlled. Researchers have now discovered how one of these signaling pathways controls the life and death of cells in the fruit fly.

DNA Gets Kinky Easily At The Nanoscale
Scientists have answered a long-standing molecular stumper regarding DNA: How can parts of such a rigid molecule bend and coil without requiring large amounts of force?

Study pinpoints protein's role in cancer spread
Edinburgh scientists have identified the way a specific cell protein can trigger the spread of cancer. The study by researchers in the Cell Signalling Unit, University of Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre could pave the way for new drugs which limit the pr

Molecular DNA switch found to be the same for all life
The molecular machinery that starts the process by which a biological cell divides into two identical daughter cells apparently worked so well early on that evolution has conserved it across the eons in all forms of life on Earth.

Scientists discover why cornea is transparent and free of blood vessels, allowing vision
Scientists at the Harvard Department of Ophthalmology's Schepens Eye Research Institute and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI) are the first to learn why the cornea, the clear window of the eye, is free of blood vessels--a unique phenomenon that m

Mapping the protein world
Today macromolecular models are built by computers – thanks to sophisticated software and in particular a package called ARP/wARP. Developed by Victor Lamzin at the Hamburg Outstation of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and Anastassis Pe

Misfolded Protein Clumps Found To Be Common To Dementia, Lou Gehrig's Disease
Scientists have identified a misfolded, or incorrectly formed, protein common to two devastating neurological diseases, frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis...

RNA polymerase II and the integration of nuclear events
In this review, recent progress relating to the integration of nuclear events was discussed, e.g. deciphering how RNAP II functions in the various RNA processing reactions needed to synthesize a mature mRNA.

Messenger RNAs are recruited for nuclear export during transcription
A study showing that export factors are recruited to the sites of transcription to promote efficient mRNA export...

On the importance of being co-transcriptional
The article reviews the evidence for functional coupling.

Multiple links between transcription and splicing
This review focuses on the roles of cis- and trans-acting factors that regulate transcription, on constitutive and alternative splicing.

Single translation—dual destination: mechanisms of dual protein targeting in eukaryotes
A review article that describes proteins that harbour one signal, two separate signals or an overlapping ambiguous signal may follow dual distribution in the cell.

Protein synthesis in eukaryotes: The growing biological relevance of cap-independent translation initiation
This review summarizes features of both cap-dependent and IRES-dependent mechanisms of translation initiation and discusses the role of cis-acting elements, which include the 5'cap, the 5'-untranslated region (UTR) and the poly(A) tail as well as the poss

Australian Scientists Crack DNA Replication Mystery
A team of scientists led by Professor Nick Dixon at the Research School of Chemistry at The Australian National University have cracked one of the great DNA mysteries...

Genes Can Answer To More Than One Master
Like discovering a car that has more than one engine under the hood, cell biologists are learning to their surprise that alternate molecular machines can drive the basic process of transcription that orchestrates the expression of genes...

Clearing Jams In Copy Machinery
Bacteria and humans use a number of tools to direct perhaps the most important function in cells -- the accurate copying of DNA during cell division.

Faulty DNA Replication Linked To Neurological Diseases
Lengthy sequences of DNA -- with their component triplet of nucleotides repeated hundreds, even thousands of times -- are known to be abnormal, causing rare but devastating neurological diseases...

Novel Mechanism For DNA Replication Discovered
Since the discovery of the structure of DNA by James Watson and FrancisCrick in 1953, the paradigm for DNA replication has stated that the DNA itself codes for the appropriate pairings for replication.