(American Society for Microbiology) Some trees growing in nutrient-poor forest soil may get what they need by cultivating specific root microbes to create compounds they require. These microbes are exceptionally efficient at turning inorganic minerals into nutrients that the trees can use. Researchers from France report their findings in the July 2010 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

Researchers have shown that the ADAM10 protein can inhibit the formation of beta-amyloid, which is responsible for Alzheimer's disease. ADAM10 acts like a pair of molecular scissors to cut the protein from which beta-amyloid is formed, effectively preventing the formation of beta-amyloid. This makes ADAM10 a key molecule in Alzheimer's therapy.

Mutations in a gene known as "Fritz" may be responsible for causing human genetic disorders such as Bardet-Biedl syndrome, developmental biologists, human geneticists and cell biologists have found.

(Michigan State University) The apparently random self-assembly of molecular threads into the proteins that make the body work is far less frantic than previously thought, Michigan State University scientists say. That discovery could be a key to help unlock the nature of some diseases. How proteins spontaneously "fold" from wiggling chains of amino acids into a wide variety of functional -- or malfunctioning -- 3-D molecules is one of the biggest mysteries in biochemistry.

Vanishing bile duct syndrome (VBDS) is an important cause of jaundice, and results from destruction of bile ducts in the liver. However, this syndrome is rare in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection. Nevirapine, an anti-retroviral that is being increasingly used, was implicated as the cause of VBDS in a patient described in a recent report.