Scientists have uncovered tens of thousands of new protein interactions, accounting for about a quarter of all estimated protein contacts in a cell. A multinational team of scientists have sifted through cells of vastly different organisms, from amoebae to worms to mice to humans, to reveal how proteins fit together to build different cells and bodies.

A 'gene signature' that could be used to predict the onset of diseases, such as Alzheimer's, years in advance has been developed in research published in the open access journal Genome Biology.

The CRISPR-Cas9 system has been in the limelight mainly as a revolutionary genome engineering tool used to modify specific gene sequences within the vast sea of an organism's DNA. Cas9, a naturally occurring protein in the immune system of certain bacteria, acts like a pair of molecular scissors to precisely cut or edit specific sections of DNA. More recently, however, scientists have also begun to use CRISPR-Cas9 variants as gene regulation tools to reversibly turn genes on or off at whim.

This is a representation of the fluoride ion channel (center) with monobodies attached (top and bottom). Although present almost everywhere - food, soil, toothpaste and especially tap water -, the fluoride ion is highly toxic to microorganisms and cells. To avoid death, cells must remove fluoride that has accumulated inside them, a process accomplished via ion channels - protein tunnels through the cell membrane that only allow specific substances to pass through.