DNA polymerase V is a DNA repair enzyme that's activated in times of high DNA damage, but it's extremely error prone compared to other DNA polymerase enzymes. So why would cells evolve such an error-prone repair engine?

A recent study by researchers at the University of Southern California suggests that this enzyme is economic in its motions and fast to engage problem DNA that it is an asset to the cell despite its tendency to create random mutation.

What do you think?

To read the study, click here

Malaria is a hot button issue for many human rights activists. It is the most deadly communicable disease on earth, killing over 1 million people every year. Yet it is one of the least studied diseases. Many claim this paradox is due to the fact that virtually all deaths from malaria occur in undeveloped countries and decimate populations with no financial resources.

There are some drugs that can be used in the treatment of malaria, but over time the parasites evolve immunity to the drug, renderring them ineffective. Every ten years or so a new malaria drug must be developed. Resaerchers have attempted to develop vaccines to malaria before, but haven't been able to produce enough proteins specific to Plasmodium (the malaria causing parasite) to initiate a host reaction, until now.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have expressed enough Pfs48/45 (a Plasmodium protein) to develop a vaccine that initiates antibody production in mice and non-human primates. Protection against malaria may be on the horizon.

To read more about this research, click here

A recent study performed at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology in Austria suggests that the right kind of fat can make mammals faster.

Mice fed on sunflower oil, with high levels of n-6 fatty acids, sprinted 6.3% faster than mice fed on linseed oil, which contains high levels of n-3 fatty acids. In a previous study the researchers found that a range of mammals with high n-6 fatty acid diets had higher maximum running speeds.

Improvements in running speed offer obvious advantages in eluding predators and catching prey, suggesting that animals with higher poly-unsaturated fat diets might have had an evolutionary advantage.

This research was presented at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Meeting on June 29th. To visit the website for the Society for Experimental Biology click here.