Latest Gene Stories

Developmental genes often take inputs from two independent sources Albert Erives, associate professor in the University of Iowa Department of Biology, and his graduate student, Justin Crocker, currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Janelia Farm Research Campus, have conducted a study that reveals important and useful insights into how and why developmental genes often take inputs from two independent “morphogen concentration gradients.” The...

HZI researchers discover multiple versions of microbial defense genes that lend themselves to being exploited by biotechnology Even bacteria have a kind of “immune system” they use to defend themselves against unwanted intruders – in their case, viruses. Scientists at the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, Germany, were now able to show that this defense system is much more diverse than previously thought and that it comes in multiple versions. Their goal...

A study led by Oscar Fernandez-Capetillo has deciphered the components of the machinery that duplicates DNA, the replisome, on which most chemotherapeutic agents currently act The Genomic Instability Group led by researcher Óscar Fernández-Capetillo at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), has for the first time obtained a panoramic photo of the proteins that take part in human DNA division, a process known as replication. The research article, published today in the...

A new level of variation in messenger RNAs exposed Like musicians in an orchestra who have the same musical score but start and finish playing at different intervals, cells with the same genes start and finish transcribing them at different points in the genome. For the first time, researchers at EMBL have described the striking diversity of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) that such start and end variation produces, even from the simple genome of yeast cells. Their findings, published today in...

Researchers at the University of Bonn decode a kind of trigger switch for the conversion of fat cells For a long time, scientists have dreamt of converting undesirable white fat cells into brown fat cells and thus simply have excess pounds melt away. Researchers at the University of Bonn have now gotten a step closer to this goal: They decoded a "toggle switch" in mice which can significantly stimulate fat burning. The results are now being presented in the scientifc journal "Nature...

An international research team including Christian Schlötterer and Alistair McGregor of the Vetmeduni Vienna has discovered a completely new mechanism by which evolution can change the appearance of an organism.  The researchers found that the number of hairs on flies’ legs varies according to the level of activity of a so-called microRNA.  The results, published in the journal Current Biology, shed a completely new light on the molecular mechanisms of evolution. It has long been...

The spleen is rarely noticed, until it is missing. In children born without this organ, that doesn't happen until they become sick with life-threatening bacterial infections. An international team of researchers led by scientists from Rockefeller's St. Giles Laboratory of Human Genetics and Infectious Diseases has now identified the defective gene responsible for this rare disorder. The findings, reported today in Science Express, may lead to new diagnostic tests and raises new questions...

3-year study offers new evidence about where scientists should be looking A structural biologist at the Florida State University College of Medicine has made discoveries that could lead scientists a step closer to understanding how life first emerged on Earth billions of years ago. Professor Michael Blaber and his team produced data supporting the idea that 10 amino acids believed to exist on Earth around 4 billion years ago were capable of forming foldable proteins in a high-salt...

University of Gothenburg New research into ageing processes, based on modern genetic techniques, confirms theoretical expectations about the correlation between reproduction and lifespan. Studies of birds reveal that those that have offspring later in life and have fewer broods live longer. And the decisive factor is telomeres, shows research from The University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Telomeres are the protective caps at the end of chromosomes. The length of telomeres influences how...

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online They may be responsible for everything in your life, from conception to death, they may be inside every living cell in your body – but you do not own your own genes, legally speaking. According to a report in Genome Medicine, patents essentially cover the entire human genome, hampering research and raising the question of “genomic liberty.” The legal standing of genomic patents could change next month when the Supreme Court...