Mammalian body cells lack ancient viral defense mechanism

A team led by Chris Sullivan, a professor of molecular biosciences at The University of Texas at Austin, has provided the first positive evidence that RNA interference (RNAi), a biological process in which small RNA molecules ...

Innate virus-killing power discovered in mammals

Scientists have a promising new approach to combating deadly human viruses thanks to an educated hunch by University of California, Riverside microbiology professor Shou-Wei Ding, and his 20 years of research on plants, fruit ...

Novel nanoparticle delivers powerful RNA interference drugs

Silencing genes that have malfunctioned is an important approach for treating diseases such as cancer and heart disease. One effective approach is to deliver drugs made from small molecules of ribonucleic acid, or RNA, which ...

Human Argonaute proteins: To slice or not to slice?

What makes one Argonaute a slicer and another one not? Human Argonaute proteins are key players in the gene regulation process known as RNA interference, RNAi. Professor Joshua-Tor's group of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory ...

Structure of RNAi complex now crystal clear

Researchers at the Whitehead Institute and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have defined and analyzed the crystal structure of a yeast Argonaute protein bound to RNA. This complex plays a key role in the RNA interference ...

Scientists find the structure of a key 'gene silencer' protein

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have determined the three-dimensional atomic structure of a human protein that is centrally involved in regulating the activities of cells. Knowing the precise structure of this ...

Study reveals how a common virus eludes the immune system

Viruses have numerous tricks for dodging the immune system. In the September 7, 2009 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology, Stagg et al. reveal a key detail in one of these stratagems, identifying a protein that enables cyto-megalovirus ...

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