One of the distinguishing features of Alzheimer's disease is the globs of protein, known as amyloid plaques, that form in the brain. Amyloid fibers are very strong, and there is no known way to break them down. But scientists at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research have found a protein that disassembles amyloids in yeast.

What the researchers wanted to know: What is the relationship between Sup35, a yeast protein that forms amyloid fibers, and Hsp104, another yeast protein?

What they did: The scientists did many experiments with the isolated proteins—particularly, adding small and large amounts of Hsp104 to Sup35 and seeing whether Sup35 would still form amyloid fibers.

What they found: While small amounts of Hsp104 helped Sup35 turn into amyloids, large amounts stopped the amyloids from forming. And adding Hsp104 could actually disassemble amyloid fibers—if left long enough, fibers could be "completely obliterated," the authors write.

What it means to you: The study is a window into the workings of amyloids and could eventually help with treatments for Alzheimer's.

Caveats: This is yeast, so the results are far, far away from being able to help humans.

Find out more: On amyloid plaques: http://www.alzheimersdisease.com/

Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research: http://www.wi.mit.edu/home.html

Read the article: Shorter, J., and S. Lindquist. "Hsp104 Catalyzes Formation and Elimination of Self-Replicating Sup35 Prion Conformers." Science. June 18, 2004, Vol. 304, No. 5678, pp. 1793–1797.

Abstract online: http://www.sciencemag.org/