Zebrafish could become genetics 'lab rat' of choice
... mouse, scientists have been searching for another vertebrate animal that would allow these genetic experiments....at make it a valuable model for genetic studies of vertebrate development, one deficiency of this model system is the absence of methods for cell-mediated gene tr...... on their identification of a crucial regulator of vertebrate heart formation. The heart is formed from cells...question posed in the headline by Celion Dion, the vertebrate heart will beat in a position defined by low concentrations of Wnt activity and high concentrations ...New predatory dog-sized dinosaur unearthed on Madagascar
...ing in Madagascar continue to reveal startling new vertebrate fossils," says H. Richard Lane, geology and paleontology program director in NSF's division of earth sciences, which funded the research. "Masiakasaurus is one of several such recent discoveries by this prolific team, with, I'm sure, more to come." ...... analyzed by Julia Clarke, a doctoral candidate in vertebrate paleontology atYale University, and Mark Norell, chair and curator of the Division of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History. The discovery is particularly important because the new bird comes from a part of the evolutionary tree clos...New species of early bird discovered in Mongolia by team of research scientists
...oved to be one of the worlds richest locations for vertebrate fossils from near the end of the age of dinosaurs. Apsaravis ukhaana, the size of a small pigeon, was found buried in sandstone deposited from adjacent sand dunes, and yields a great deal of data important for assessing the early evolution of mode...Genetic basis of Alexander disease discovered
... Astrocytes are one of the major cell types in all vertebrate nervous systems that maintain the function of neurons and their myelin sheaths. Scientists already know that GFAP proteins increase when spinal or brain injuries occur, but are not sure why. "This is going to open the door to understanding how astroc......red the two essential primary factors that specify vertebrate head and trunk formation. As published in Genes & ...covery uncovers a surprisingly simple mechanism of vertebrate head and trunk specification. BMP hormones act as morphogens; they are molecules that specify cell f......e RAG1 and RAG2 genes, infected an early jawed vertebrate such as a primitive shark. The microbe jumped into this ancestor's genome, allowing it to crank out antibodies generated by transposition reactions. Agrawal's discovery, shared with her Yale University adviser, David G. Schatz, and colleague Quinn M....Tiny RNA may be universal regulator of developmental timing in animals
... to a renaissance in developmental biology in both vertebrate and invertebrates that continues to this day. Similarly, the discovery of how broadly the let-7 timing RNA is conserved across the animal kingdom - from worms to flies to mice to humans - will trigger further study of how timing is regulated....Fugu fish sequencing project potential boon to gene hunters
..."This genetic information from a distantly related vertebrate will help us read the book of human life with new ...ng it will therefore allow us to obtain a complete vertebrate genome extremely rapidly." Under the terms of the consortium's agreement, the JGI will be respons...Researchers identify molecule that senses osmotic pressure in vertebrates
...s the most aggressively defended setpoint value in vertebrate animals including humans. An increase in osmotic pressure leads to the sense of thirst and drinking behavior, and osmoreceptors in the hypothalamus send signals to nerve cells that manufacture antidiuretic hormone (ADH), the primary regulator of body...Dinosaurs: New study counters age-old theory
...h is directed at understanding the evolution of vertebrate cardiovascular systems. His research shows that heart size in all animals depends on two factors: the vertical distance of the head above the heart, and whether the animal was cold- or warm-blooded. For example, the giraffe has exceptionall......ese results clearly suggested that the trigger for vertebrate and invertebrate eye formation is evolutionarily c...uestion whether the ancestral structure from which vertebrate and invertebrate eyes evolved was already a fully-formed eye, or whether it was a simpler structure ...Alcohol and the human fetal brain
...as yeast, but have never been reported to do so in vertebrate animals such as humans. "We hope this study will help readers better understand why drinking alcoholic beverages during pregnancy can be particularly damaging to the fetus, especially the fetal brain." explained Juchau, "We also hope to continue thes...New evidence indicates huge vegetation loss accompanied mass extinction
...ed 85 percent to 90 percent of all marine and land vertebrate species 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian Period and the beginning of the Triassic. New evidence from researchers at the University of Washington and the South African Museum shows the extinction was accompanied by a massive loss of ve......dwide than their better known cousins. These two vertebrate classes are collectively referred to as the herpetofauna but the focus of general concern has been almost exclusively on amphibians. Now, however, scientists are hoping that the general public will recognize what they have long known: that reptiles ...Microscopic bone evidence supports dinosaur-bird evolution link
... a UW geological sciences professor and curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Burke museum. Rensberger and Mahito Watabe of the Hayashibara Museum of Natural Sciences in Okayama, Japan, made their comparisons using fossilized dinosaur bones collected from the Gobi Desert in China and from the Hell Creek geo...NYU announces establishment of a center for comparative functional genomics
...tant regulator of neural activity in the brains of vertebrate animals, including humans. The existence of this plant protein offersthe opportunity of isolating and testing new drugs that could aid in the treatment of neurological diseases, as well as developing new methods to improve growth of agriculturally i...UCSF research reveals how the embryo brings its heart together
Early in the life of every vertebrate embryo, be it human or hamster, there is a moment ...is the first lipid molecule shown to be crucial in vertebrate development and greatly expands the roster of molecular candidates scientists must consider in effor......s. Knowing how the brain develops, even in a lowly vertebrate such as a fish, will greatly help our understanding of diseases such as Parkinson's disease, spina bifida, Alzheimers disease and other afflictions of humans that have an inherited component or which are the result of incomplete embryonic developmen...