Genetics News And Research - June 2010 Archives

23andMe novel, Web-based/participant-driven GWAS replicates genetic associations (6/30/2010)

23andMe Inc., a leading personal genetics company, has published the first data to come out of its novel participant-driven research program in the journal PLoS Genetics which replicates known genetic associations, validating 23andMe's methodology and unleashing more efficient genetic research. In addition several novel SNP associations were revealed. Over 9,000 people contributed data. In addition to the replications of known genetic associations, several novel SNP associations were revealed. A PLoS Genetics editorial accompanies the study. ...> Full Article

23andMe novel, Web-based-participant-driven GWAS replicates genetic associations (6/30/2010)

23andMe Inc., a leading personal genetics company, has published the first data to come out of its novel participant-driven research program in the journal PLoS Genetics which replicates known genetic associations, validating 23andMe's methodology and unleashing more efficient genetic research. In addition several novel SNP associations were revealed. Over 9,000 people contributed data. In addition to the replications of known genetic associations, several novel SNP associations were revealed. A PLoS Genetics editorial accompanies the study. ...> Full Article

New study finds more variation in human genome than expected (6/29/2010)

Scientists are finding more variation in the human genome than they had expected, according to a new study from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The study is one of the first to take an in-depth look at transposons, segments of DNA that can replicate themselves and move to new sites in each individual's genome. The researchers found that new occurrences of transposons were surprisingly prevalent in human and in lung cancer genomes. ...> Full Article

'Jumping genes' find new homes in humans more often than previously thought (6/28/2010)

Transposons, or "jumping genes," make up roughly half of the human genome. Geneticists previously estimated that they replicate and insert themselves into new locations roughly one in every 20 live births. New research suggests every newborn is likely to have a new transposon somewhere in his or her genome. Transposons cause genetic instability and can inactivate tumor suppressor genes. ...> Full Article

The language of RNA decoded: Study reveals new function for pseudogenes and noncoding RNAs (6/28/2010)

A cancer genetics team from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center makes a discovery that dramatically increases the known pool of functional genetic information. ...> Full Article

Gene therapy a step closer to mass production (6/27/2010)

Researchers in Latvia and Finland have synthesized and studied a range of organic compounds able to carry genetic material into individual cells where it can remedy the diseases caused by defective genes. Still under development, these compounds are much more readily produced than the viral carriers now in use and avoid their side-effects. Most importantly, they are much more effective than other organic carrier substances developed so far. ...> Full Article

Genetically modified cell procedure may prove useful in treating kidney failure (6/27/2010)

A protein whose primary role is in the embryonic development of kidneys may play a future role in treating kidney failure. Indiana University School of Medicine researchers have successfully treated acute kidney injury in laboratory experiments using cells that were genetically reprogrammed to produce the protein. The research suggests there could be a potential future treatment using such cells delivered intravenously instead of surgically. ...> Full Article

Sequencing of the human body louse genome (6/26/2010)

The results of the sequencing and analysis of the human body louse genome, which were published on June 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, offer new insights into the intriguing biology of this disease-vector insect. ...> Full Article

Genetics in bloom (6/26/2010)

Some of the molecular machinery that governs flower formation has been uncovered in the daisy-like Gerbera plants. Researchers writing in the open-access journal BMC Plant Biology have published a pair of articles detailing how the complex Gerbera inflorescence is formed and how this process differs from other model plants, such as the more simple flowers of Arabidopsis species. ...> Full Article

New genetic analysis reveals principles of phenotypic expression (6/25/2010)

In the journal Chaos, which is published by the American Institute of Physics, scientists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham report powerful new techniques for studying the phenotypes related to genetic differences in the budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The researchers took yeast cultures from an extensive library of approximately 5,000 mutated strains and subjected them to hydroxyurea -- an anti-cancer drug with known effects on the cell cycle. ...> Full Article

Data mining algorithm explains complex temporal interactions among genes (6/24/2010)

Researchers at Virginia Tech, New York University, and the University of Milan, Italy, have created a data mining algorithm they call GOALIE that can automatically reveal how biological processes are coordinated in time. ...> Full Article

Freely available data supporting next generation of human genetic research (6/23/2010)

The 1000 Genomes Project, an international public-private consortium to build the most detailed map of human genetic variation to date, announces the completion of three pilot projects and the deposition of the final resulting data in freely available public databases for use by the research community. In addition, work has begun on the full-scale effort to build a public database containing information from the genomes of 2,500 people from 27 populations around the world. ...> Full Article

Gene therapy reverses type 1 diabetes in mice (6/22/2010)

Researchers have developed an experimental cure for Type 1 diabetes, a disease that affects about one in every 400 to 600 children and adolescents. They will present their results in a mouse model of Type 1 diabetes on Sunday at the Endocrine Society's 92nd Annual Meeting in San Diego. ...> Full Article

The 3-dimensional transcription film (6/21/2010)

Research scientists at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology (CNRS/Inserm/University of Strasbourg) have managed to sequence DNA transcription initiation "image by image" to show how DNA is copied onto RNA. Some of the mechanisms of this crucial stage have now been revealed. The results of this work, which was carried out jointly with a team from Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tenn.), are due for publication in the journal Nature on June 17. ...> Full Article

New world Helicobacter pylori genome sequenced, dynamics of inflammation-related genes revealed (6/20/2010)

An international team of researchers led by scientists at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech have sequenced the genome of an Amerindian strain of the gastric bug Helicobacter pylori, confirming the out-of-Africa migration of this bacterial stowaway to the New World. Experiments in animals have highlighted how specific genes in the bacterial strain may be crucial to the onset of inflammation and disease. ...> Full Article

Should the results of individual genetic studies be disclosed to participants? (6/19/2010)

Individual results of genetic research studies should not be disclosed to participants without careful consideration. The view held by many ethicists that individual genetic research findings should always be reported to participants involved in genetic research studies was perhaps misguided and can lead to misunderstanding. ...> Full Article

Another step closer to fully sequencing the salmon genome (6/18/2010)

The economically important, environmentally sensitive Atlantic salmon species is one step closer to having its genome fully sequenced, thanks to an international collaboration involving researchers, funding agencies and industry from Canada, Chile and Norway. ...> Full Article

Study shows adding UV light helps form 'Missing G' of RNA building blocks (6/17/2010)

For scientists attempting to understand how the building blocks of RNA originated on Earth, guanine has proven to be a particular challenge. By adding UV light to a model prebiotic reaction, researchers have discovered a route by which guanine could have been formed. ...> Full Article

How the wrong genes are repressed (6/16/2010)

The mechanism by which "polycomb" proteins critical for embyronic stem cell function and fate are targeted to DNA has been identified by UCL scientists. The discovery, which has implications for the fields of stem cell and tissue engineering, is detailed in research published today in the journal Molecular Cell. ...> Full Article

Size matters - when it comes to DNA (6/15/2010)

A new study at the University of Leicester is examining a sequence of DNA -- known as telomeres -- that varies in length between individual. ...> Full Article

Biologists identify genes regulating sleeping and feeding (6/14/2010)

In the quest to better understand how the brain chooses between competing behaviors necessary for survival, scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and New York University have isolated two genes in the fruit fly Drosophila that work together to mediate the need to sleep and the need to eat. The study, which appears in the online version of Current Biology, offers insights that may be used to understand sleep- and metabolism-related disorders in humans. ...> Full Article

New autism susceptibility genes identified (6/13/2010)

Mount Sinai researchers and the Autism Genome Project Consortium announced today that they have identified new autism susceptibility genes that may lead to the development of new treatment approaches. These genes, which include SHANK2, SYNGAP1, DLGAP2 and the X-linked DDX53-PTCHD1 locus, primarily belong to synapse-related pathways, while others are involved in cellular proliferation, projection and motility, and intracellular signaling. ...> Full Article

Research: Major breakthrough will revolutionize the screening and treatment of genetic diseases (6/12/2010)

A research team led by Dr. Nada Jabado at the MUHC Research Institute and Dr. Jacek Majewski at McGill University has proven for the first time that it is possible to identify any genetic disease in record time thanks to a powerful and reliable exome sequencing method. The exome, a small part of the genome, is of crucial interest with regard to research on genetic diseases as it accounts for 85 percent of mutations. ...> Full Article

Mutation causes intense pain (6/11/2010)

A mutation that enhances the function of a specific ion channel has been identified as the cause of a rare inherited pain disorder. The research, published by Cell Press in the June 10 issue of the journal Neuron, proposes a potential treatment for the disorder and may lead to a better understanding of chronic pain in humans. ...> Full Article

Government funding for synthetic biology on the rise (6/10/2010)

A new analysis by the Synthetic Biology Project at the Woodrow Wilson Center found that the US government has spent around $430 million on research related to synthetic biology since 2005, with the US Department of Energy funding a majority of the research. ...> Full Article

Epigenetic gene silencing may hold key to fatal lung vascular disease (6/9/2010)

A rare but fatal disease of blood vessels in the lung may be caused in part by aberrant silencing of genes rather than genetic mutation. Pulmonary arterial hypertension has been linked to genetic causes in a small percentage of patients. But University of Chicago researchers have now found that a form of epigenetics -- the modification of gene expression -- causes the disease in an animal model and could contribute to the disease in humans. ...> Full Article

New study shows that the major events of the Jewish diaspora can be seen in the genomes of the Jewish people (6/5/2010)

Through the use of sophisticated genomic analysis, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have found that the genetic influences of the Jewish people have retained their genetic coherence, as well as their cultural and religious traditions, even as Jewish communities migrated from the Middle East into Europe, North Africa and across the world. ...> Full Article

Cell biologist pinpoints how RNA viruses copy themselves (6/4/2010)

Nihal Altan-Bonnet, assistant professor of cell biology, Rutgers University in Newark, and her research team have made a significant new discovery about RNA (Ribonucleic acid) viruses and how they replicate themselves.Certain RNA viruses -- Poliovirus, Hepatitis C virus and Coxsackievirus -- and possibly many other families of viruses copy themselves by seizing an enzyme from their host cell to create replication factories enriched in a specific lipid. ...> Full Article

Blocking DNA repair protein could lead to targeted, safer cancer therapy (6/3/2010)

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) and the School of Medicine have discovered that inhibiting a key molecule in a DNA repair pathway could provide the means to make cancer cells more sensitive to radiation therapy while protecting healthy cells. The findings are reported in Science Signaling and provide new insights into mechanisms of how the body fixes environmentally induced DNA damage and into the deadly neurological disease ataxia-telangiectasia. ...> Full Article

Genome-wide association studies need larger sample sizes (6/2/2010)

While genome-wide association studies have identified several genetic risk factors for common cancers, their predictive power is limited by their small effect sizes, according to a new study published online May 26 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. ...> Full Article

Genome comparison tools found to be susceptible to slip-ups (6/1/2010)

Tools used to align genomes from different species have serious quality-control issues, according to a new study that compared the alignments of 28 species' genomes. ...> Full Article