New research shows plants can shuffle and paste gene pieces to generate genetic diversity
...lves into another function, though this is not the usual fate because the duplicate copy usually mutate into oblivion." The discovery of thousands of Pack-MULEs in the rice genome indicates that this may be an important mechanism to create new genes and new functions in rice and in other plants where...Tracing genes, biologists show lizard migration is traced to Florida
...troduced brown lizards have gotten larger than the usual brown lizard size. And the brown lizards have become prey to the Nile Monitor, a seven-foot-long lizard native to Africa, but also introduced in Florida, most likely a refugee from a pet store or hobbyist who wanted a unique pet. "The green......hers, some freshwater fish are opting out of their usual diet of insects and crustaceans and dining instead on invasive European quagga mussels: the River's junk food. This change may have negative effects on fish growth and may also affect other freshwater animals. Although this research is focused on the...New signs of life found at the Poles
...obiologist Dr Charles Cockell says, "Although it's usual to find micro-organisms thriving under quartz and translucent rocks in hot deserts because enough light gets through, we wouldn't have expected this type of colonization in the polar regions where most of the rocks are opaque. Also, the harsh UV- rad...Binocular rivalry: Fulfilling visual expectations
...lus is artificial, the brain is functioning in its usual way. Watson, Pearson, and Clifford used binocular rivalry to demonstrate the importance of feedback in our interpretation of the visual image. For two images to generate binocular rivalry, they must provide conflicting evidence about what is prese...Molecule awakens and maintains neural connections
...tein rendering it unable to interact with Dasm1's usual partners inside the cell. This treatment impaired dendrite growth, "which gives us hints that there is a signaling pathway within the cell activated by Dasm1 that we need to explore," she said. The next step, the researchers say, is to knock out the...Research suggests unborn children may be at risk from environmental pollution
... over the five days of the conference. Many of the usual suspects will be covered including radiation, parental smoking, viruses and air pollution. But other concepts that have so far received little attention will also be highlighted. These include, for example, diet in early life, melatonin and circadi...Recent evolution at a single gene may have brought down heart disease risk in some human groups
...ution remains a subject for speculation; given its usual occurrence late in life, heart disease itself is considered to have been an unlikely driving force....Plumbing trees' plumbing reveals their engineering skill
...ng its pipes, valves and faucets. In contrast, the usual approach -- drilling core samples and separating tree root samples for study -- is like taking a wrecking ball to the house and sifting through the debris to understand the plumbing system. The researchers, led by biologist Robert Jackson, published ...Researchers report new gene test for isolated cleft lip and palate
... is the sum of several recurring variations in the usual DNA sequence of a species that are spaced out, like signposts, along a gene or chromosome. In this case, they found that distinct combinations of sequence variations in and around the gene IRF6 correlated with an increased chance that a child would ...Rare mutations can significantly increase risk factor for heart disease
...blood and urine samples, and imaging studies. The usual approach to identifying relevant genes, Hobbs said, is for researchers to identify a mutation in individuals with low levels of HDL and look for the frequency of that mutation in the general population. In this study, however, the researchers increas......IM gives a sharper image of the sample without the usual background blur. The whole sample can continue living and growing as it is viewed under the microscope, something that current microscopes do not allow. SPIM also minimizes the amount of light-induced damage and extends the life of the sample, by usi...The telomere crisis: A crucial stage in breast cancer
...ery time they divide," Gray explains, "because the usual DNA replication processes don't copy DNA all the w...elomere crisis -- just as in the tissue samples of usual ductal hyperplasia -- and highest during the crisis, as in the samples of ductal carcinoma in situ. ...New hypoxic event found off Oregon coast
...high nutrient waters support even more growth than usual of microscopic marine plants, which ultimately sink and decay, leading to consumption of even more of the remaining oxygen in the water. "Hypoxic conditions such as this have been documented in other nearshore upwelling ocean regions of the world," s...FDA approves VYTORIN, first and only to powerfully reduce LDL cholesterol through dual inhibition
...ater degree than atorvastatin. At the recommended usual starting doses, VYTORIN 10/20 mg lowered LDL cholesterol by 50 percent vs. 37 percent for atorvastatin 10 mg and 44 percent for atorvastatin 20 mg. The impact on clinical outcomes of these differences in lipid altering effects is unknown. In the 12...JCI Table of Contents, 15 July 2004
... of Marfan syndrome, but rather the absence of the usual amount of normal protein. An accompanying commentary by Peter Byers, of the University of Washington, provides history on Marfan disease and detailed information on the structure and function of fibrillin-1 and how reduction of the normal amount of t...Findings suggest need for new view of p53 cancer protein's interaction with DNA
...DNA? Since DNA binding is crucial to the protein's usual function, the answer to this question is key to drug development efforts aimed at countering the effects of p53 mutations. Scientists thought that they had a good window on the p53 protein's interactions with DNA from structural studies that showed a...Sleepless over Seattle: Migrating songbirds forgo sleep but keep their wits
... be migrating, they slept about a third as much as usual and entered more quickly into REM sleep, the stage of sleep typically associated with dreaming in humans. At night, when the birds were active, the brain recordings showed they were fully awake. The researchers also put the birds through tests of the...UW study: Migrating birds offer insight into sleep
...ting" times, they slept about one-third as much as usual and moved more quickly into REM sleep, marked by rapid eye movements. At night, when the birds were active, the brain recordings showed they were fully awake, and they did not appear to make up their lost nocturnal sleep with increased napping during...Genetic mutation found that is major contributor to type 1 diabetes
... a bacterial or viral infection, it throws off the usual well-balanced activity of the immune system, initiating an autoimmune response that eventually attacks the patient's own tissue. They already are exploring the gene's potential role in other autoimmune diseases as well such as lupus, thyroid disease,...