Researchers describe new technique for cataloging RNA targets in rare brain disease
...ed an astounding set of 340 Nova RNA "tags": short stretches of RNA that harbor binding sites for Nova. By comparison, research using previously available methods, involving work done over the last seven years, had resulted in three RNA targets of Nova. Darnell and colleagues focused on 18 CLIP tags that were ...Genes control severity of heart failure, study finds
...edical Center researchers have discovered multiple stretches of DNA containing genes that modify the heart's pumping ability and survival with the disease. The findings could point researchers to genes that determine the severity of heart failure in patients, according to the Duke team. "Our goal is to find no...Philippines: Park expansion creates nation's largest contiguous protected area
...amless protected area larger than Switzerland that stretches 476,588 hectares (1.2 million acres). The combine... a popular destination for national tourists and stretches eastward, to cover both flanks of the Sierra Madre Mountain Range. It also protects a stretch of uni...Gene may protect against heart disease rather than be harmful as previously thought
...red in degree of severity. They were searching for stretches of DNA that some mice with less severe lesions had inherited in common. From this study, they identified a locus, or area in the mouse genome, linked to the size of atherosclerotic lesions. With other variables controlled for, the mice with one versi...'Panning for gold' in the maize genome
...mplementary methods that remove from analysis vast stretches of DNA that do not contain genes. The approaches,...ntire genome. As both methods yielded short stretches of sequence, a major challenge was to reassemble these into complete genes. To do this, the Cold Sp...Rice centromere, supposedly quiet genetic domain, surprises
...geable size. Most centromeres are composed of vast stretches of what was once called "junk DNA," seemingly nonsense genetic sequences with no apparent coding function. "They're humongous," Jiang explains. The DNA within centromeres is "highly repetitive, and it is resistant to mapping, cloning and sequencing,...Traditional Inuit ice treks guided from space
...enabling users to bypass ice ridges, moving ice or stretches of open water. The radar-based satellite images can differentiate between stable 'land-fast' ice and ice that is moving or prone to fracture. "During the winter season the ice edge moves further and further from the community," said Qamaniq. "We s...New Seascape initiative stretches from Costa Rica to Ecuador and protects key marine habitats
...ers are consolidating a marine protected area that stretches from Costa Rica to Ecuador and helps safeguard some of the world's richest marine habitats and dozens of endangered species. The project, known as the Eastern Tropical Pacific Seascape, covers 211 million hectares (521 million acres) and extends fro......ze, a process called RNA interference. These short stretches of nucleotides combine with other cellular protein...d colleagues have developed a system whereby short stretches of 2'-O-methyl oligonucleotides whose sequence mirrors the targeted siRNA or microRNA, bind and inhi...Pacific leatherback turtle could go extinct in 10 years
... years to consolidate a marine protected area that stretches from Ecuador to Costa Rica. The 24th Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Conservation and Biology is focusing on the relationship between humans and sea turtles this year. Once only a forum for an exchange of ideas, the symposium today has evolved into o...Stanford study questions identity of alleged Romanov bones
...ubts the researchers could have obtained such long stretches of DNA sequence (a string of 1,223 bases, DNA's chemical building blocks) from old bones. Citing standards for ancient DNA analysis that were established several years after the 1994 publication, Knight contends that DNA from skeletal remains that sp...Faulty DNA replication linked to neurological diseases
...d. "Individuals can be carriers of relatively long stretches of nucleotide repeats, with no apparent clinical consequences. But then some as yet unknown event triggers the addition of an extra triplet or two, and the threshold is crossed," Mirkin said. "Once replication stalls, there is no way back." Mirkin hy......itance of prions is rare; while many proteins have stretches of amino acids similar to the aggregation sequence, few also contain sequences that permit inheritance. Osherovich and colleagues were able to create an artificial prion by fusing the oligopeptide repeats to an expanded polyglutamine tract. By creat...Discovery helps explain how cells package DNA
...g what goes on in the cell." For example, certain stretches of DNA must be reachable at certain times to control cell division and to turn genes on or off. "If the DNA isn't properly packaged, that's not going to work right," he says. The proper packaging of DNA is important for cancer cells, too. Cancer is c...Analysis uncovers critical stretches of human genome
Hundreds of stretches of DNA may be so critical to life's machinery that... the three mammalian species. They looked for long stretches of DNA, at least 200 base-pairs in a row, that were identical among humans, rats and mice. Statistic...Surprising 'ultra-conserved' regions discovered in human genome
...sequences that code for ribosomal RNA contain long stretches of bases that are perfectly conserved throughout evolution. Unlike the ultra-conserved elements uncovered in this study, though, ribosomal RNA is ancient and is common to all species. "The ultra-conserved elements are not nearly as old as the previo...Earth, sky tapped in unique global climate change study
...xperiment Station scientists. Thick white plastic stretches over 14-foot tall galvanized steel arches like giant, protective umbrellas to shelter 80 plots of juniper, post oak and little bluestem grass. But while the awnings prohibit nature from having her way with the young plants, the researchers may jack u......nging from cancer to Alzheimer's. Amazingly, vast stretches of vibrant seafloor lay unexplored just a few miles from major ports such as Miami, and the team expects to make important discoveries as they tap these previously hidden biomedical treasure troves for the first time. FAU's Department of Ocean Engine......archers have lately begun to suspect that the long stretches of apparently useless, or junk, DNA might possess a hidden function. In the past year, evidence has been pouring in, not just from yeast but from mammals, that these apparently silent regions produce RNAs, which are associated with transcriptional ac......the Lomonosov Ridge. This sub-ocean mountain range stretches from northern Greenland, across the Polar Sea, to Siberia. Extracting sediments from below the Arctic seabed is a major logistical exercise. The expedition will therefore be carried out by three icebreakers: the Vidar Viking, a specially equipped dri...