Length of sex act in flies dictated by genetics
...LIS New research on fruit flies has revealed that genes which are part of the animal's "biological clock" ... these clock-related genes. Mutations in the clock genes "period" and "timeless" caused male flies to copulate significantly longer than usual. This shows th...Anticancer drug zebularine specifically targets tumor cells
... starring role. "The concept that the silencing of genes is a critical part of the cancer process is a majo... bring about this change by demethylating specific genes in the cells--in particular, the p21 gene. "Our results demonstrate that zebularine can be selective...Genetically-engineered 'marathon mouse' keeps on running
...alled PPAR-delta -- a master regulator of numerous genes -- to enhance that protein's activity. According t...anism of action of the protein on the multitude of genes involved in the physiological changes they observed....Testing the fitness of biological clocks
...e careful to employ "point" mutations in the clock genes that didn't stunt the growth of the microscopic plants. They then mixed the algae with disrupted clocks with algae with normally functioning clocks. When the mixture was placed in an environment with a 24-hour day/night cycle, the normal algae grew d...Researchers find clues about how antibodies specialize
... targets the variable region of the immunoglobulin genes -- while leaving the rest of the genetic material ...sk how the process goes awry to cause mutations of genes that could lead to cancer," says Alt. RPA is found throughout the body, and is known to be involved ...In gene regulation, small is beautiful
...s, called transcription factors, prompt particular genes to be active or to stay quiet. Their role is crucial, because errors in gene regulation can lead to diseases ranging from diabetes to cancer. Creating synthetic versions, known as artificial transcription factors or ATFs, could help scientists probe ...Genetic clues found for common congenital brain disorder
...er had a genetic basis." "Knowing more about the genes also should improve our ability to make a prenatal...ch has always relied upon ultrasound. Finding the genes will help us inform parents about the risks of having another affected child." "This discovery prov...Virus known for its photo ops makes its movie screen debut
... coli. T4 might then be used to deliver beneficial genes to damaged or infected human tissue." The researc...also could be partly responsible for spreading new genes among organisms rapidly and preparing their hosts for future environmental changes. This is part of ...Heartless worms hold clues to cardiac arrhythmias, sudden death
...To test this concept, they chose several candidate genes known to interact with HERG or other related potassium channels, knocked them out, and looked for improvements in the pumping defect. For two of the candidates, pumping improved -- the arrhythmia got better. One of these was a protein called KCR1, wh...Researchers report new gene test for isolated cleft lip and palate
...exity. One productive inroad has been to isolate genes linked to "syndromic" cleft lip and palate, hoping...a nice step forward because there may be dozens of genes that contribute to the condition," said Murray. Murray said the mutation that causes the cleft rem...Newly discovered protein may be key to muscular dystrophy
... snf-6, and found that its sequence was similar to genes in a family of mammalian neurotransmitter transporters. Because analysis of mutants indicated defects in acetylcholine activity, they tested whether the expressed protein, SNF-6, transports acetylcholine in mammalian cells grown in culture. They foun...Nucleic acid-amplification testing further safeguards nation's blood supply
...han other screening tests because it detects viral genes rather than antibodies or antigens. The appearance of antibodies requires time for the donor to develop an immune response, and detection of antigens requires time for a higher level of virus to appear in the bloodstream. With the use of NAT for H...Gene associatied with lupus identified
...discovery will lead to the identification of other genes associated with lupus and other immune disorders." Behrens believes that dozens of genes may be responsible for lupus and that discovering the combination of these genes will be important t...UCR earns $1.5 million grant to examine how engineered crop genes stray
...henomenon was illustrated recently when engineered genes from corn grown in the United States strayed into ...ocus on natural processes that affect dispersal of genes such as wind, timing of plant flowering, or proximity to compatible wild relatives. A second team......ne, and scientists have been investigating how the genes in the human genome actually contribute to the bio...an rhythms -- the cyclic, clock-like expression of genes in the body. The team, led by Steve Kay, Ph.D., and John Hogenesch, Ph.D., uses a combination of g...International symposium on nutritional genomics
... will present the latest findings linking diet and genes to heart disease, diabetes, asthma and some cancer... Nutritional genomics is the study of how diet and genes interact to influence health and disease. It's well known that diet choices are linked to obesity an...Study narrows search for genes placing men at increased risk for prostate cancer
...n three different regions of the genome containing genes that may make men more vulnerable to this common c...cer-prone families, to identify specifically which genes lead to increased prostate cancer susceptibility. "This study will help us predict better who is a...Other highlights in the August 18 JNCI
...l-established risk factors for the disease, but no genes that confer prostate cancer susceptibility have be... four other regions that might hold susceptibility genes were identified among specific subsets of families. Further fine mapping studies will be needed to i...Tips from the journals of the American Society for Microbiology
...in which discrete sets of differentially expressed genes are associated with genetically determined suscept... Quantitative gene expression profiling implicates genes for susceptibility and resistance to alveolar bone loss. Infection and Immunity, 72. 8: 4471-4479.)......neutral DNA evolution," in regions thought to lack genes and other functionally important sequences. "If yo...ons. Mutations are of course also occurring in the genes and those are of interest because they can create new phenotypes and cause variation among traits. S...