Interaction of just 2 genes governs coloration patterns in mice
...ple pathway may be evolutionarily conserved across mammals that display lighter bellies and darker backs, from mice to tuxedo cats to German Shepherds." Hoekstra and co-authors Cynthia C. Steiner at UCSD and Jesse Weber at Harvard studied Peromyscus, a mouse that is the most widespread mammal in North Amer...Antioxidant overload may underlie a heritable human disease
... been demonstrated in simpler organisms but not in mammals and/or disease states, he said. In the current study, the researchers examined mice carrying a human mutation earlier linked to so-called protein aggregation skeletal myopathies and cardiomyopathies, in which weakening skeletal and heart muscle con...Satellite tracking reveals threats to Borneo pygmy elephants
...still know so little about one of the biggest land mammals on Earth, said Matthew Lewis, program officer for WWFs Species Conservation Program. The only reason we now have a good understanding of where these elephants travel from day to day is because satellite collar technology has given us access to the mo......ivities in these regions. The migration of large mammals over large distances is a prominent yet threatened occurrence. Using remote sensing and landscape modeling, researchers can describe and predict major landscape changes that may affect these migrations. In Landscape analysis and ungulate movement i...Lost forest yields several new species
...rich in biodiversity, containing a number of large mammals such as chimpanzees, bongos, buffalo, elephants, leopards, several types of monkey including a subspecies of colobus only found here, and others, although most of these large-bodied species were found at low densities, probably due to poaching. The s...New study demonstrates important role of glia in circadian timing
... know about circadian mechanisms in Drosophila and mammals says that they are quite similar. He stresses that, although there is much work left to be done, there are potentially broad implications for understanding the etiology of diseases that are affected by altered biological timing mechanisms, such as th...Cost-effective method for gene silencing is featured in Cold Spring Harbor Protocols
...terns in fruit flies and frogs, preparing DNA from mammals for genotyping, and identifying protein-protein interactions in virtually any species. For a complete list of articles in the August release of Cold Spring Harbor Protocols , please see http://www.cshprotocols.org/TOCs/toc8_07.dtl ....MGH researchers confirm that bone marrow restores fertility in female mice
...d, in contrast to the long-held belief that female mammals are born with a finite supply of eggs that is depleted throughout life. Both those papers have been extremely controversial, and the current study was designed to follow up the 2005 paper and to address criticisms raised by other researchers. In ...Rare example of Darwinism seen in action
... to look for this conflict in a species other than mammals that also have evolved placental reproduction. We worked with the fish family Poeciliidae and other families in the order Cyprinodontiformes , which included the poeciliids, said David Reznick, a professor of biology at UCR and a leading authori...St. Jude study solves mystery of mammalian ears
...pecialized cells in the inner ear amplify sound in mammals appears to have been settled more in favor of boun...ing could explain why dogs, cats, humans and other mammals have such sensitive hearing and the ability to discriminate among frequencies. The work also highlig...Malaria -- Effective insecticide-repellent synergy against mosquito vectors
... impregnated with pyrethroids, of low toxicity for mammals and highly active against mosquitoes. Unfortunately, excessive and inappropriate use of this family of insecticide, particularly by spraying, has induced a disturbing rise in the number of resistant individuals in the Anopheles populations. The mosqu...Cancer cures could work for canines and humans
... and prostate cancer. Dr Mobasheri says we are all mammals with similar genes and studying the bioenergetics of canine tumours will allow us to gain a comparative understanding of human tumour metabolism. He said: We are using high throughput screening techniques to identify new biomarkers of prognostic sign...One man's junk may be a genomic treasure
... sequences might be a widely used strategy used in mammals to organize functional domains. Without boundary elements, the coding portion of the genome is like a long, run-on sequence of words without punctuation, said Rosenfeld. Decoding the information written in junk DNA could open new areas of medica...Penn researchers discover how microRNAs control protein synthesis
...eases. While scientists know that most miRNAs in mammals repress the translation of RNA to protein, the molecular steps by which they achieve regulation are largely unknown. By studying the relationship between human miRNAs and the regulatory protein Argonaute2 (Ago2), lead author Marianthi Kiriakidou, MD,...From the corner of the eye: Paying attention to attention
...brain networks that enable humans and other higher mammals to achieve this feat. In a study published in the July 5, 2007 issue of Neuron, the researchers report two classes of brain cells with distinct roles in visual attention, and highlight at least two mechanisms by which these cells mediate attention......there were no DNA remains at all- not from plants, mammals or insects. The explanation, he says, is that the ice in the middle of the ice sheet is very thick- over three kilometres, and the greater pressure produces a higher temperature at the base, and so the DNA material, which cannot tolerate warmth, dis...Wolves of Alaska became extinct 12,000 years ago, scientists report
...gers, leopards, puma and wolves. The ancient large mammals broke their teeth frequently when they ate, crunch... she said. The saber-toothed cat and other large mammals became extinct about 10,000 to 11,000 years ago when their prey disappeared due to factors that incl...Key to tackling malaria may lie in bed nets for adults and older children
... humans, the nets can divert them to feed on other mammals which do not host the malaria parasite, reducing the number of humans bitten and of mosquitoes carrying the parasite. Dr Killeen and colleagues acknowledge that the financial implications of promoting net use by all age groups across malaria-endem...Stressed-out African naked mole-rats may provide clues about human infertility
.... The neurobiological process underlying the way mammals respond to social and environmental cues are still largely unknown, he continued. In a wider comparative study of African mole-rat species, we are also researching into genes that may give rise to the quite different forms of social bonding and affil...Omega-3 fatty acids protect eyes against retinopathy, study finds
...studied mice genetically altered with a gene which mammals normally lack that converts omega-6 into omega-3 fatty acids. They found that the mice with higher amounts of omega-3 had a nearly 50 percent decrease in retinopathy. Omega-3 fatty acids create chemical compounds known as bioactive mediators, whic...