Unravelling new complexity in the genome
A major surprise emerging from genome sequencing projects is that humans have a comparable number of protein-coding genes as significantly less complex organisms such as the minute nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans. Clearly something other than gene count is behind the genetic differe...Protein 'chatter' linked to cancer activation
...us threat to the stability of our genome. When the genome becomes unstable, it puts our bodies at greater risk of cancer. Zhu adds that patients with ataxia telangiectasia, ataxia telangiectasia-like disorder, and Nijmegen breakage syndrome experience an accelerated rate of loss of DNA from chromosome en...Features of replication suggest viruses have common themes, vulnerabilities
... pockets where it can make new copies of the viral genome while safe from surveillance and defense mechanisms of the host. " The virus has developed a very elegant strategy," says Ahlquist. "It creates for itself a new compartment for RNA synthesis, where it can collect its (constituent) components, organ...Gene regulation, not just genes, is what sets humans apart
...ry stretches of DNA are where proteins bind to the genome to initiate a genes function. And it is here that ...by the Duke team couldnt be done until the macaque genome was published in 2005 because they needed a third, closely related relative to compare the regulator...Scientists show that mitochondrial DNA variants are linked to risk factors for type 2 diabetes
... study, which highlights the role of mitochondrial genome variation in the pathogenesis of common diseases, ...ctly link inherited variation in the mitochondrial genome to metabolic markers for type 2 diabetes. Our study highlights the role of mitochondrial DNA varia...deCODE discovers cause of major subtype of glaucoma
...ter variations (SNPs) in the sequence of the human genome that appear to account for virtually all cases of a major subtype of glaucoma. The SNPs are located in the LOXL1 gene on chromosome 15, and confer respectively 26-fold and 8-fold increases in risk of exfoliation glaucoma compared to the low-risk vers......ts. Certain variants at different points on the genome tend to go together, likeblond hair and blue eyes ...ortant because ithelps predict what an individuals genome looks like based on informationfrom selected locations. In their Science Express study, published ...Anthrax bacterium's deadly secrets probed
... bacterium secretes simply from a knowledge of its genome sequence. Secreted proteins equip a bacterium ... users through the process for any bacterium whose genome is known. By identifying the secreted proteins it will be possible to determine some of the previou...Genetic analysis finds greater threat in frog-killing fungus
...rom the 100 frogs collected and had the pathogen's genome sequenced by the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, Calif. They compared genetic markers for the Sierra Nevada B. dendrobatidis samples with fungi collected from other regions around the world. "The genotypes of our...Biologists at Tufts University discover 1 reason why chromosomes break, often leading to cancer
...ILLE, Mass. In the past ten years, researchers in genome stability have observed that many kinds of cancer are associated with areas where human chromosomes break. They have hypothesized but never proven that slow or altered replication led to the chromosomes breaking. In a Tufts University study publi...New grants bolster efforts to generate faster and cheaper tools for DNA sequencing
...7 Looking ahead to a future in which each persons genome can be sequenced as a routine part of medical rese... to lower the cost of sequencing a mammalian-sized genome to $100,000, allowing researchers to sequence the genomes of hundreds or even thousands of people as...JCI table of contents: August 1, 2007
...y -- whereby a retrovirus that integrates into the genome of a treated patient is used to deliver the gene o...iseases because the retrovirus integrated into the genome at a site(s) that caused the cells to divide uncontrollably. Analysis of the sites of retroviral int...U-M researchers find family of 'on switches' that cause prostate cancer
... fusions at the university. Mapping of the human genome was only the beginning. Equipped with the comprehensive analysis of the human genome, we can now systematically examine the blueprint of disease at the molecular level. This essential knowledge may lead to better diagnostic tests and promising new tr...Discovery in plant virus may help prevent HIV and similar viruses
...lows the virus to easily integrate into the host's genome and then reproduce in other cells. Chen and his colleagues published a report on their study in the most recent issue of the journal The Plant Cell. The researchers found that in the laboratory research plant Arabidopsis, cauliflower mosaic virus...Research teams uncover risk genes for multiple sclerosis
...ch, in which the research teams scanned the entire genome of MS patients, their families and a control group...was significant and focused on that portion of the genome to assess whether it was, in fact, a key factor in the MS patients. MS is a disease of the central...Researchers find pathway that controls cell size and division
...hing of a cautionary tale about the limitations of genome sequencing. More and more often we are finding that metabolic enzymes have more than one function, said Levin, There is no hint from their sequence that they have other activities so you really need to delve deeper and apply different methods to iden...Strains of laboratory mice more varied than previously thought
...ing of the corresponding gene in the other. The genome of the laboratory mouse has been thought to be a m...the new study found that the majority of the mouse genome has unexpected levels of variation within their subspecies origin. The common laboratory mouse is ...First new multiple sclerosis gene found in 30 years
...er paper replicating similar findings from a whole genome analysis, which will appear on line in the New England Journal Medicine on July 29th. Multiple sclerosis is a disease that is caused by the breakdown of the fatty sheath surrounding axons, the long spindly portions of nerve cells that carry message...After a decades-long search, scientists identify new genetic risk factors for multiple sclerosis
...ategies. One team, which scanned the entire human genome for MS risk factors, was co-led by David Hafler, M...d Dr. Hafler, adding that all of the data from the genome scan will be made publicly available for future investigations. ...Gene-transcription machinery seen poised for action, held in check until needed
...t of the cells scheme for maintaining order in the genome and securely storing away genes until needed. Eight histones comprise a nucleosome, and long strings of nucleosomes coil in turn into chromatin, the basic material of chromosomes. Specific modifications to histones have been associated with either ge...