Genetics News And Research - February 2009 Archives
Researchers Antonio G. Pisabarro (Professor of Microbiology) as well as José Luis Lavín and José Antonio Oguiza, from the Genetic and Microbiology Group at the Public University of Navarre, have taken part in the international project for the sequencing of the genome of the Postia placenta fungus.
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AssociationViewer will explore links between genes and disease
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Better sequence searches of genes and proteins
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 | Researchers decipher protective shield used by hundreds of viruses ...> Full Article |
Research performed at the UC Santa Cruz Center for Biomolecular Science & Engineering suggests that mobile repetitive elements -- also known as transposons or "jumping genes" -- do indeed affect the evolution of gene regulatory networks.
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Researchers in the field of synthetic biology are still a long way from being able to assemble living cells from scratch in the laboratory. But according to UC Santa Cruz biochemist David Deamer, their efforts are yielding clues to the mystery of how life began on Earth.
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Findings may lead to novel treatments for diseases resistant to current RNAi
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 | Scientists from the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute and Berkeley Lab have developed a set of molecular tools that provide important insight into the complex genomes of multicellular organisms. The strategy promises to clarify the longstanding mystery of the role played by vast stretches of DNA sequence that do not code for the functional units -- genes -- that nevertheless may have a powerful regulatory influence. The research is described in the Feb. 12 Nature. ...> Full Article |
There may be greater genetic variation between different yeasts of the same species than between humans and chimpanzees. This is one of the findings of a study from the University of Gothenburg that is being published in the scientific journal Nature. This study heralds a new era in evolutionary genetics research -- the mapping of an individual's DNA.
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 | Linker histone H1 is important for chromosome structure and gene regulation ...> Full Article |
Roughly 10 million years ago, a major genetic change occurred in a common ancestor of gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans. Segments of DNA in its genome began to form duplicate copies at a greater rate than in the past, creating an instability that persists in the genome of modern humans and contributes to diseases like autism and schizophrenia. But that gene duplication also may be responsible for a genetic flexibility that has resulted in some uniquely human characteristics.
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Scientists from the California Institute of Technology have uncovered the Transformer like properties of molecules responsible for carrying and depositing proteins to their correct locations within cells. The research could eventually lead to novel treatments for diseases that result from flaws in protein delivery as well as the development of new types of antibiotics.
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Data corroborate the company's promise to deliver high-quality, high-throughput commercial human DNA sequencing at a low cost
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 | The genome of a marine bacterium living 2,500 meters below the ocean's surface is providing clues to how life adapts in extreme thermal and chemical gradients, according to an article published Feb. 6 in the journal PLoS Genetics, an open-access publication published by the Public Library of Science. ...> Full Article |
 | The bacterium behind one of mankind's deadliest scourges, tuberculosis, is helping researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Brookhaven National Laboratory move closer to answering the decades-old question of what controls the switching on and off of genes that carry out all of life's functions. ...> Full Article |
 | The last step of the cell cycle is the spectacularly dynamic and complicated mitosis phase, which leads to the duplication of one mother cell into two daughter cells. In mitosis, fibrous structures called spindles form. Scientists have tried for years to unravel the process of spindle assembly. Now, researchers at Carnegie's Department of Embryology have found that two proteins used in other functions -- dynein and Nudel -- are essential to regulate assembly of the spindle matrix. ...> Full Article |
 | Aldehyde tags put chemical modifications where they're needed ...> Full Article |
Findings may lead to novel treatments for diseases resistant to current RNAi
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A study of the genetic code of more than 1,000 people, published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, has found that at least one in 200 human genes can be inactivated in apparently healthy people. The findings suggest that, though these genetic mutations can be harmful, they generally have little effect on the individual and could occasionally even be beneficial in evolutionary terms. The study also found that individuals carry on average 46 of these inactivating mutations.
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Scientists at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, in Portugal, are to date the only research group in the world capable of isolating the sperm cells in the pollen grain of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. This technique was crucial in a study to be published in the latest issue of the journal Cell, which describes how mobile sequences of DNA (called transposable elements) are silenced in the sperm cells, thus ensuring suppression of the mutagenic effects of these DNA elements.
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In plant pollen grains, sperm cells, which carry the genetic material to be passed on to progeny, are cocooned within larger "companion" cells that provide sperm with energy and nourishment. A team of plant geneticists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory led by Robert Martienssen, Ph.D., has now discovered that the companions also provide sperm with small RNA molecules that protect sperm DNA from damage, thus helping the next generation to inherit a stable genome.
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A quartet of studies by researchers at the California Institute of Technology highlight a special feature on gene regulatory networks recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Researchers have uncovered a vast new class of previously unrecognized mammalian genes that do not encode proteins, but instead function as long RNA molecules, and seem to play critical roles in both health and disease, including cancer, immune signaling and stem cell biology.
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Fish can recognize a face based on UV pattern alone
Ancient DNA from rare fossil reveals that polar bears evolved recently and adapted quickly
'Anaconda' meets 'Jurassic Park': Study shows ancient snakes ate dinosaur babies
Scientists locate apparent hydrothermal vents off Antarctica
Mars Express heading for closest flyby of Phobos
Artificial bee silk a big step closer to reality
Predicting the fate of stem cells
Artificial foot recycles energy for easier walking
New fiber nanogenerators could lead to electric clothing
Juggling enhances connections in the brain
Tracking down the human 'odorprint'
Fill 'er up - with algae
Scientists discover quantum fingerprints of chaos
Researchers help identify cows that gain more while eating less
Genome sequencing complete on plodding amoeba that flips into free-swimming flagellate