Genetics News And Research - March 2012 Archives

Can our genes be making us fat? (3/31/2012)

A new study in the March issue of the Journal of Food Science, published by the Institute of Food Technologists, reported that two specific genes (TAS2R38 -- a bitter taste receptor -- and CD36 -- a possible fat receptor), may play a role in some people's ability to taste and enjoy dietary fat. By understanding the role of these two genes, food scientists may be able to help people who have trouble controlling how much fat they eat. ...> Full Article

New gene therapy approach developed for red blood cell disorders (3/31/2012)

A team of researchers led by scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College has designed what appears to be a powerful gene therapy strategy that can treat both beta-thalassemia disease and sickle cell anemia. They have also developed a test to predict patient response before treatment. ...> Full Article

Plant DNA speaks English, identifies new species (3/30/2012)

Since January this year, new species of plants can be described or diagnosed online-only and in plain English, rather than in Latin printed on paper. An international team of botanists has now taken advantage of these changes and diagnosed a new species of Brunfelsia based on its DNA barcode and in English. The study has been published in the open access journal PhytoKeys. ...> Full Article

Tiny reader makes fast, cheap DNA sequencing feasible (3/30/2012)

Researchers have devised a nanoscale sensor to electronically read the sequence of a single DNA molecule, a technique that is fast and inexpensive and could make DNA sequencing widely available. ...> Full Article

'Nanoslinky': A novel nanofluidic technology for DNA manipulation and measurement (3/29/2012)

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have developed their own version of this classic Slinky "walking down the stairs" scenario -- albeit 10 million times smaller -- as a novel technology for manipulating and measuring DNA molecules and other nanoscale materials. ...> Full Article

Scientists develop tools to make more complex biological machines from yeast (3/28/2012)

Scientists are one step closer to making more complex microscopic biological machines, following improvements in the way that they can "re-wire" DNA in yeast, according to research published today in the journal PLoS ONE. ...> Full Article

Need for speed (3/27/2012)

In fruit fly egg cells, oskar RNA carries a stamped ticket detailing its destination and guaranteeing it will travel fast enough, scientists at EMBL Heidelberg have found. The study, published in NSMB, provides clues to how a single molecule could receive tickets for different destinations, depending on what type of cell it is in. ...> Full Article

First complete full genetic map of promising energy crop (3/26/2012)

Researchers in Wales and the United States have collaborated to complete the first high-resolution, comprehensive genetic map of a promising energy crop called miscanthus. ...> Full Article

Study demonstrates cells can acquire new functions through transcriptional regulatory network (3/25/2012)

Researchers at the RIKEN Omics Science Center have successfully developed and demonstrated a new experimental technique for producing cells with specific functions through the artificial reconstruction of transcriptional regulatory networks. As an alternative to induced pluripotent stem cells, the technique promises to enable faster and more efficient production of functional cells for use in cancer therapy and a variety of other areas. ...> Full Article

Scientists map hotspots for genetic exchange in chimpanzees (3/24/2012)

Scientists at the University of Oxford and the University of Chicago have constructed the world's first genetic map in chimpanzees of recombination -- the exchange of genetic material within a chromosome that makes us all unique. The study, published today in Science Express, shows surprising differences compared to how the process occurs in the human genome. ...> Full Article

'A Lethal Inheritance' (3/23/2012)

Every family has secrets, only some can be deadly. In "A Lethal Inheritance: A Mother Uncovers the Science Behind Three Generations of Mental Illness," science writer Victoria Costello weaves the scientific into the personal, taking a journey to the far reaches of neuroscience to discover the complex interplay between genes and environment that drives mental illness, and what it tells us about how parents can overcome deadly genetics. ...> Full Article

Genomic data in GBIF moves a step closer (3/22/2012)

Important progress has been achieved towards including genomic-level information in the data made freely available through GBIF.Successful alignment of informatics standards for recording species occurrences and gene-sequence descriptions has opened up new possibilities for integrating the different types of data.The mapping of three standards was completed at a GBIF-led workshop in Oxford, UK, bringing together experts from Europe, the United States, China and Japan. ...> Full Article

Sending out an SOS: How telomeres incriminate cells that can't divide (3/21/2012)

The well-being of living cells requires specialized squads of proteins that maintain order. Degraders chew up worn-out proteins, recyclers wrap up damaged organelles, and-most importantly-DNA repair crews restitch anything that resembles a broken chromosome. If repair is impossible, the crew foreman calls in executioners to annihilate a cell. As unsavory as this last bunch sounds, failure to summon them is one aspect of what makes a cancer cell a cancer cell. ...> Full Article

Defect in transport system causes DNA chaos in red blood cells (3/20/2012)

Researchers from BRIC, University of Copenhagen, have just found a mechanism of the protein Codanin-1, shedding light on the blood disease CDAI. The findings contribute with important knowledge on how our DNA structure is maintained and how our genes are regulated. ...> Full Article

Men respond more aggressively than women to stress and it's all down to a single gene (3/19/2012)

The pulse quickens, the heart pounds and adrenalin courses through the veins, but in stressful situations is our reaction controlled by our genes, and does it differ between the sexes? Australian scientists, writing in BioEssays, believe the SRY gene, which directs male development, may promote aggression and other traditionally male behavioral traits resulting in the fight-or-flight reaction to stress. ...> Full Article

Scientists develop gene therapy approach to grow blood vessels in ischemic limbs (3/18/2012)

A research discovery by a team of Stanford and European scientists offers hope that people with atherosclerotic disease may one day be able to avoid limb amputation related to ischemia. A new research report appearing online in the FASEB Journal suggests that the delivery of genes for two molecules naturally produced by the body, called "PDGF-BB" and "VEGF" may successfully cause the body to grow new blood vessels that can save ischemic limbs. ...> Full Article

Exercise changes your DNA (3/17/2012)

Researchers reporting in the March issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, have found that when healthy but inactive men and women exercise for a matter of minutes, it produces a rather immediate change to their DNA. Perhaps even more tantalizing, the study suggests that the caffeine in your morning coffee might also influence muscle in essentially the same way. ...> Full Article

Correcting human mitochondrial mutations (3/16/2012)

Researchers at the UCLA stem cell center and the departments of chemistry and biochemistry and pathology and laboratory medicine have identified, for the first time, a generic way to correct mutations in human mitochondrial DNA by targeting corrective RNAs. ...> Full Article

Crystal structure of archael chromatin clarified in new study (3/16/2012)

Researchers at the RIKEN SPring-8 Center in Harima, Japan have clarified for the first time how chromatin in archaea, one of the three evolutionary branches of organisms in nature, binds to DNA. The results offer valuable clues into the evolution of chromatin structure in multi-cellular organisms and promise insights into how abnormalities in such structure can contribute to cancers and gene disorders. ...> Full Article

Will a genetic mutation cause trouble? Ask Spliceman (3/15/2012)

New, free Web-based software described in the journal Bioinformatics analyzes DNA sequences to determine if mutations are likely to cause errors in splicing of messenger RNA. When gene splicing goes awry, a wide variety of diseases can result. ...> Full Article

Study reveals how protein machinery binds and wraps DNA to start replication (3/14/2012)

Scientists have deciphered molecular-level details of the complex choreography by which intricate cellular proteins recognize and bind to DNA to start the DNA replication process. The research may point to ways to block unwanted cell division. ...> Full Article

Protecting living fossil trees (3/13/2012)

Scientists are working to protect living fossil trees in Fiji from the impact of climate change with cutting-edge DNA sequencing technology. ...> Full Article

An insight into human evolution from the gorilla genome sequence (3/12/2012)

Researchers announce today that they have completed the genome sequence for the gorilla, the last genus of the living great apes to have its genome decoded. While confirming that mankind's closest relative is the chimpanzee, the team shows that much of the human genome more closely resembles the gorilla than it does the chimpanzee genome. This is the first time scientists have been able to compare the genomes of all four living great apes: humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans. ...> Full Article

R-loops break down gene silencing (3/12/2012)

UC Davis researchers have figured out how the human body keeps essential genes switched "on" and silences the vast stretches of genetic repeats and "junk" DNA. ...> Full Article

Biologists offer clearer picture of how protein machine systems tweak gene expression (3/11/2012)

Indiana University biologists have found that specific types of RNA polymerase enzymes, the molecular machines that convert DNA into RNA, can differ in function based on variation in the parts -- in this case protein subunits -- used to assemble those machines. ...> Full Article

A foot in the door to genetic information (3/11/2012)

In the cell nucleus, DNA wraps around what are called histone proteins, forming regularly spaced spherical bodies called nucleosomes. Thus, large portions of the genetic material are inaccessible to the gene reading machinery. Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center have now simulated at high time resolution how short DNA segments repeatedly detach spontaneously from the nucleosome. The group has been the first to demonstrate that the spool-shaped histone proteins have an active role in opening access to the genetic information. ...> Full Article

Turning off small RNA (3/10/2012)

Scientists have known for years that minuscule strings of genetic material called small RNA are critically important to our genetic makeup, but finding out what they do hasn't been easy. Now a scientist from Michigan Technological University and his team have developed a way to turn off small RNAs and find out just how important they can be. ...> Full Article

Commentary in Nature: How do you stop a synthetic-biology disaster? (3/9/2012)

In a new Nature editorial, experts argue that at least $20 million to $30 million in government research is needed over the next decade to adequately identify and address the possible ecological risks of synthetic biology, an emerging research area focused on the design and construction of new biological parts with potential applications in areas ranging from energy to chemicals and pharmaceuticals. ...> Full Article

Adapting personal glucose monitors to detect DNA (3/8/2012)

An inexpensive device used by millions of people with diabetes could be adapted into a home DNA detector that enables individuals to perform home tests for viruses and bacteria in human body fluids, in food and in other substances, scientists are reporting in a new study. The report on this adaptation of the ubiquitous personal glucose monitor, typically used to test blood sugar levels, appears in ACS' journal Analytical Chemistry. ...> Full Article

The laws of attraction: Making magnetic yeast (3/7/2012)

The ability to detect and respond to magnetic fields is not usually associated with living things. Yet some organisms, including some bacteria and various migratory animals, do respond to magnetic fields. In migratory animals like fish, birds, and turtles, this behavior involves small magnetic particles in the nervous system. In a new study, scientists take a major step forward in understanding these processes by inducing magnetization in yeast. ...> Full Article

Delivering RNA with tiny sponge-like spheres (3/6/2012)

A new RNA interference method holds promise for treating cancer and other diseases. ...> Full Article

Analyzing complex plant genomes with the newest next-generation DNA sequencing techniques (3/5/2012)

Richard Cronn and colleagues have published an overview of newly developed, up-and-coming DNA sequencing techniques. The authors summarize "targeted enrichment" strategies that can be used to obtain specific DNA sequences from complex plant genomes. ...> Full Article

Sperm counts! (3/4/2012)

In a new study appearing in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, Timothy Karr, a researcher at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute examines messenger RNA (mRNA) transcripts present in the sperm of both fruit flies and humans. A close correlation is observed between fly and human mRNAs and in both cases, transcripts were delivered to the egg during fertilization. ...> Full Article

In the genes, but which ones? (3/4/2012)

A team of researchers, led by David I. Laibson '88, the Robert I. Goldman Professor of Economics, and Christopher F. Chabris, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Union College, has found that virtually all claims that intelligence is associated with specific genes are wrong. ...> Full Article

Researchers develop better control for DNA-based computations (3/3/2012)

A North Carolina State University chemist has found a way to give DNA-based computing better control over logic operations. His work could lead to interfacing DNA-based computing with traditional silicon-based computing. ...> Full Article

The splice of life: Proteins cooperate to regulate gene splicing (3/2/2012)

In a step toward deciphering the "splicing code" of the human genome, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have comprehensively analyzed six of the more highly expressed RNA binding proteins collectively known as heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoparticle proteins. ...> Full Article

An 'immortal' devil's genome and the secrets of a cancer that's catching (3/1/2012)

Researchers reporting in the Feb. 17 issue of the Cell Press journal Cell have sequenced the complete genome of one immortal devil. The genomes of the Tasmanian devil and its transmissible cancer may help to explain how that cancer went from a single individual to spreading through the population like wildfire. ...> Full Article

Genome sequencing finds unknown cause of epilepsy (3/1/2012)

In one of the first successful attempts to use whole-genome sequencing to track down the cause of a neurological disease in a patient, UA researchers have identified a previously unknown mutation in a sodium channel protein as the likely cause of a severe form of epilepsy. ...> Full Article