Genetics News And Research - August 2009 Archives

Researchers are developing an enzyme function database (8/31/2009)

Project seeks to link new genome data with decades of research ...> Full Article

New ultrasensitive electronic sensor array speeds up DNA detection (8/29/2009)

A novel electronic sensor array for more rapid, accurate and cost-efficient testing of DNA for disease diagnosis and biological research has shown "excellent" sensitivity at detecting trace amounts of DNA. ...> Full Article

Scientists develop new method to detect copy number variants using DNA sequencing technologies (8/28/2009)

The new technique can detect key genetic variations overlooked by current methods ...> Full Article

The blossoms of maturity (8/27/2009)

A newly discovered signaling pathway ensures that plants remember to flower -- even without positive signals from the environment ...> Full Article

Researcher demonstrates that messenger RNA are lost in translation (8/26/2009)

Study questions current dogma ...> Full Article

Gene discovery reveals a critical protein's function in hearing (8/26/2009)

Discovery of a deafness-causing gene defect in mice has helped identify a new protein that protects sensory cells in the ear, according to a study by University of Iowa and Kansas State University researchers. The findings appear in the Aug. 21 issue of the open-access journal PLoS Genetics. ...> Full Article

Aurora B answers an XIST-ential question (8/26/2009)

Mitotic release of chromatin-binding RNA gives insight into X chromosome silencing ...> Full Article

New reagents for genomic engineering of mouse models to understand human disease (8/25/2009)

A new set of tools allow researchers to specifically target DNA changes through genetic recombination in mice ...> Full Article

Strategy Paper Proposes Genomics Research to Fight Threats to Canadian Forest Health (8/25/2009)

Research describes the opportunities for and potential benefits arising from employing genomics research to better manage forest health. Genomics research and the enabling resources it creates can help address some of the major threats and challenges - including invasive and indigenous insect pests, invasive plants and climate change - now faced by the stewards of the country's forests and associated industries. ...> Full Article

New images capture cell's ribosomes at work (8/24/2009)

UC Berkeley researchers have captured elusive nanoscale movements of ribosomes at work, shedding light on how these cellular factories take in genetic instructions and amino acids to churn out proteins. The achievement could eventually lead to significant advances in the fight against infectious diseases. ...> Full Article

Scientists take early steps toward mapping epigenetic variability (8/24/2009)

The study of eipigenetic variability in cells and tissues could someday help diagnose diseases more precisely and provide more targeted treatments for chronic ailments. Details, summarized by Brown University researchers and others, are published online in the latest edition of PLoS Genetics. ...> Full Article

New DNA test uses nanotechnology to find early signs of cancer (8/23/2009)

Using tiny crystals called quantum dots, Johns Hopkins researchers have developed a highly sensitive test to look for DNA attachments that often are early warning signs of cancer. ...> Full Article

Scientists use self-assembled DNA scaffolding to build tiny circuit boards (8/22/2009)

Scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and IBM's Almaden Research Center have developed a new technique to orient and position self-assembled DNA shapes and patterns -- or "DNA origami" -- on surfaces that are compatible with today's semiconductor manufacturing equipment. These precisely positioned DNA nanostructures, each no more than one one-thousandth the width of a human hair, can serve as scaffolds or miniature circuit boards for the precise assembly of computer-chip components. ...> Full Article

Evolutionarily preserved mechanism governs use of genes (8/21/2009)

Researchers at Uppsala University have found that the protein coding parts of a gene are packed in special nucleosomes. The same type of packaging is found in the roundworm C. elegans, which is a primeval relative of humans. The mechanism can thereby be traced back a billion years in time, according to the study presented in the journal Genome Research. ...> Full Article

To contract or not to contract: Decision controlled by 2 microRNAs (8/20/2009)

New research has provided insight into the molecular regulators of the function of muscle cells in the walls of blood vessels, i.e., vascular smooth muscle cells. Specifically, the acquisition and/or maintenance of the ability of VSMCs to contract and relax, thereby modulating blood pressure and distributing blood to the areas of the body that need it most, was found to be controlled in mice by two small RNA molecules known miR-143 and miR-145. ...> Full Article

Researchers propose model for disorders caused by improper transmission of chromosomes (8/19/2009)

University of Georgia scientists have developed a model system for plants and animals that shows the loss of a key structural protein can lead to the premature separation of one DNA copy called a chromatid. The new model shows for the first time that the loss of this protein can lead to aneuploidy -- the name given to birth disorders caused by extra or too few chromosomes. ...> Full Article

Researchers sequence exomes of 12 people (8/18/2009)

In a pioneering effort that generated massive amounts of DNA sequence data from 12 people, a team supported by the National Institutes of Health has demonstrated the feasibility and value of a new strategy for identifying relatively rare genetic variants that may cause or contribute to disease. The proof-of-concept findings were published online today in the journal Nature. ...> Full Article

First human gene implicated in regulating length of human sleep (8/17/2009)

Scientists have discovered the first gene involved in regulating the optimal length of human sleep, offering a window into a key aspect of slumber, an enigmatic phenomenon that is critical to human physical and mental health. ...> Full Article

Raising the alarm when DNA goes bad (8/16/2009)

Scientists have known for a long time that when DNA is damaged, a key enzyme sets off a cellular "alarm bell" to alert the cell to start the repair process, but until recently little was known about how the cell detects and responds to this alarm. In a study published today in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, have identified a whole family of proteins capable of a direct response to the alarm signal. ...> Full Article

Newly found DNA catalysts cleave DNA with water molecule (8/16/2009)

Better tools for manipulating DNA in the laboratory may soon be possible with newly discovered deoxyribozymes (catalytic DNA) capable of cleaving single-stranded DNA, researchers at the University of Illinois say. ...> Full Article

Protein plays unexpected role protecting chromosome tips (8/15/2009)

Scientists show 'Swiss Army knife' has surprising functions and a possible tie to metastatic cancer ...> Full Article

Magnetic microbe genome attracting attention for biotech research (8/14/2009)

The smallest organisms to use a biological compass are magnetotactic bacteria, however mysteries remain about exactly how these bacteria create their cellular magnets. In a study published online in Genome Research, scientists have used genome sequencing to unlock new secrets about these magnetic microbes that could accelerate biotechnology and nanotechnology research. ...> Full Article

Scientists help launch the first standard graphical notation for biology (8/14/2009)

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and their colleagues in 30 laboratories worldwide have released a new set of standards for graphically representing biological information -- the biology equivalent of the circuit diagram in electronics. This visual language should make it easier to exchange complex information, so that biological models are depicted more accurately, consistently and in a more readily understandable way. ...> Full Article

Unlikely genetic suspect implicated in common brain defect (8/12/2009)

A genetic search using patients and mouse models has uncovered an unlikely gene critically involved in Dandy-Walker malformation, a common birth defect which causes mental retardation, motor delays and sometimes autism. This newly discovered function of the gene, which is never expressed in the brain, reveals a previously unknown role of the skull in directing brain development. ...> Full Article

Research scientists find early evolution maximized the 'spellchecking' of protein sequences (8/11/2009)

As letters of the alphabet spell out words, when amino acids are linked to one another in a particular order they "spell out" proteins. But sometimes the cell machinery for building proteins in our bodies makes a mistake and the wrong amino acid is inserted. The consequences can be devastating, resulting in a garbled protein that no longer has the correct function, possibly leading to cancers and other diseases. ...> Full Article

Carnegie donates landmark clones to biology (8/10/2009)

Surprisingly little is known about the interactions that proteins have with each other and the protective membrane that surrounds a cell. These membrane proteins regulate nutrients, sense environmental threats, and are the communications interface between and within cells. Now researchers at the Carnegie Institution have cloned genes to produce membrane proteins that may initiate instructions for genes to turn on in the nucleus. They just donated 2,010 of them to the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center. ...> Full Article

New DNA and RNA aptamers offer unique therapeutic advantages (8/9/2009)

A novel class of drugs composed of single strands of DNA or RNA, called aptamers, can bind protein targets with a high strength and specificity and are currently in clinical development as treatments for a broad range of common diseases, as described in a comprehensive review article published online ahead of print in Oligonucleotides. ...> Full Article

Scientists isolate protein that may be 'boon' to medicine (8/8/2009)

Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have isolated a unique protein that appears to have a dual function and could lead to a "boon in medicine." The findings are published in the August issue of the Journal of Cell Biology. ...> Full Article

Protein complex key in avoiding DNA repair mistakes, cancer (8/8/2009)

Lymphoma and other cancers may occur when a delicate gene recombination process in antibody-making cells goes awry ...> Full Article

Engineer provides insights to decades-old DNA squabble (8/7/2009)

A group of nanoengineers, biologists and physicists have used innovative approaches to deduce the internal structure of chromatin, a key player in DNA regulation, to reconcile a longstanding controversy in this field. This new finding could unlock the mystery behind the origin of many diseases such as cancer. ...> Full Article

Parasites ready to jump (8/6/2009)

How the cell represses mobile genetic elements ...> Full Article

DNA computation gets logical (8/5/2009)

The world's smallest computers, made of DNA and other biological molecules, just got more "user friendly" thanks to research at the Weizmann Institute of Science. ...> Full Article

Scientists decoding genomic sequences of H1N1 using isolates from outbreak in Argentina (8/5/2009)

Results could shed light on genetic differences of outbreak between Argentina and other locations ...> Full Article

New location found for regulation of RNA fate (8/4/2009)

Thousands of scientists and hundreds of software programmers studying the process by which RNA inside cells normally degrades may soon broaden their focus significantly. ...> Full Article

Gene transcribing machine takes halting, backsliding trip along the DNA (8/3/2009)

Optical trapping shows first steps of gene expression, 1 molecule at a time ...> Full Article

'Artificial Golgi' may provide new insight into key cell structure (8/2/2009)

Scientists in New York and North Carolina are reporting assembly of the first functioning prototype of an artificial Golgi organelle. That key structure inside cells helps process and package hormones, enzymes, and other substances that allow the body to function normally. Their study is scheduled for the Aug. 12 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a weekly publication. ...> Full Article

Mapping the crocodile genome (8/1/2009)

The first ever genetic linkage map for a non-avian member of the Class Reptilia has been developed. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Genomics have constructed a first-generation genetic linkage map for the saltwater crocodile Crocodylus porosus. ...> Full Article

Little-known protein found to be key player (8/1/2009)

Italian and US scientists have found that a little-understood protein previously implicated in a rare genetic disorder also plays critical role in building and maintaining healthy cells. Even more surprising, the research published online this week in Nature shows that the protein builds structures by fusing intracellular membranes in a fundamentally new way. The research was conducted at Eugenio Medea Scientific Institute in Conegliano, Italy, and Rice University in Houston. ...> Full Article