Back-to-back scientific papers are offering a revolutionary look at the battlefield on which plant diseases are fought – and often lost – to bacteria.

When he started compiling an online database of seashells 15 years ago, Dr. Gary Rosenberg did not envision that his meticulous record-keeping would eventually shed light on a 40-year-old evolutionary debate.

The bacteria responsible for the plague and some forms of food poisoning "paralyze" the immune system of their hosts in an unexpected way, according to a new study in the September 8, 2006 issue of the journal Cell, published by Cell Press.

Understanding medical research problems often relies on the direct, linear relationship between the sequence of a protein and the DNA encoding that protein. In fact, colinearity of DNA and protein sequences is thought to be a fundamental feature of the universal genetic code. However, a paper published today in Science by a team from the Brussels Branch of the global Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) and the Seattle-based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), shows that a protein can be rearranged so that it is no longer colinear with its encoding DNA.

The unusual mollusks of oceanic cold seeps--strange clams, mussels and sea snails that thrive in the sulfur and methane-rich environments--are on average older than the marine mollusk community as a whole, according to a new report in the 8 September issue of the journal Science, published by AAAS, the nonprofit science society.

Mayo Clinic virologists have discovered that a specific human protein is essential for HIV to integrate into the human genome. Their findings show that when HIV inserts itself into a chromosome, a key step that enables it to establish a "safe haven," it requires a specific protein -- LEDGF/p75 (p75). This protein forms a molecular tether between chromosomes and HIV's integrating protein (integrase). If the connection can be disrupted in the future, it might lead to new therapy for HIV or safer methods of gene therapy. The details appear today in the journal Science.

A weakened immune response resulting from HIV infection can lead to trouble when it comes to treating malaria, according to a new study appearing in the Oct. 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online.

Researchers at CSIRO Livestock Industries' Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) in Geelong – with the Department of Primary Industries Victoria – are investigating Koi herpesvirus as a means of controlling the introduced fish.

Biologists at the University of Rochester have discovered that an old and relatively unpopular theory about how a single species can split in two turns out to be accurate after all, and acting in nature.