Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in collaboration with scientists at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) took a high resolution "action shot" of a protein switch that plays a crucial role in the development of the nervous system.

It turns out that sequencing the human genome determining the order of DNA building blocks -- has not completely cracked the code of how DNA directs various cellular processes. In addition to the sequence of the base pairs, the instructions are in the packaging how DNA is folded within a cell.

A 10-year, satellite-based analysis has shown for the first time that primary biological productivity in the oceans - the growth of phytoplankton that forms the basis for the rest of the marine food chain - is tightly linked to climate change, and would be reduced by global warming.

It may look like mistletoe wrapped around a flexible candy cane. But this molecular model shows how some proteins form loops in DNA when they chemically attach, or bind, at separate sites to the double-helical molecule that carries life's genetic blueprint.

It's not easy to make one plus one equal one.
But biological engineer Chang Lu has done just that with a new and cheaper method to electrically fuse cells - a vital technology for studying stem cells, creating clones and finding disease antibodies.

A study led by UC San Diego biologists shows that invasive Argentine ants appear to use genetic differences to distinguish friend from foe, a finding that helps to explain why these ants form enormous colonies in California.