Latest Gene Stories

1 step closer to understanding the biology behind disease-associated genetic variantsResearchers have developed a new strategy to improve the outcome of genome-wide association (GWA) studies.GWA studies involve rapidly scanning markers across the genomes of many people. By doing this, scientists can look for the association between certain genetic markers or variants within the population, and a particular trait, including disease. However, the challenge is to take these initial association...

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have provided more clues to one of the least understood phenomena in some cancers: why the "ends caps" of cellular DNA, called telomeres, lengthen instead of shorten.In a study published online June 30 in Science Express, the Johns Hopkins researchers say they have identified two genes that, when defective, may cause these telomere elongations.Telomeres contain repeated sequences of DNA that, in normal cells, shorten each time a cell divides. Without...

The natural world contains great diversity in the shape and size of organisms.  But how does this variety evolve?  The group of David Stern at Princeton University is investigating changes in morphology in fruit flies and has managed to show how a gene enhancer (a piece of DNA that controls the timing and level of a gene's expression) can change its function through stepwise changes in DNA sequence to give rise to differences in animals' appearance.  Alistair McGregor of the...

Knowledge could improve microorganism as a renewable energy sourceA new computer model of blue-green algae can predict which of the organism's genes are central to capturing energy from sunlight and other critical processes.Described in a paper published in the journal Molecular BioSystems, the model could advance efforts to produce biofuel and other energy sources from blue-green algae, known as cyanobacteria. Researchers from the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory,...

With the BeeSpace Navigator, University of Illinois researchers have created both a curation tool for genetic biologists and a new approach to searching for information.The project was a collaboration between researchers at the Institute for Genomic Biology and the department of computer science. Led by Bruce Schatz, professor and head of medical information science at the U. of I., the team described the software and its applications in the web server issue of the journal Nucleic Acids...

--Genome Wowser, a Free App, Provides DNA Data for Researchers-- PHILADELPHIA, June 22, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Navigating the human genome with software that you can view on an iPad® sounds pretty impressive, until perhaps you reflect that nature has already encoded trillions of copies of this in your chromosomes. Then again, printing that data using ink and paper would produce a mind-staggering pile of pages--so viewing it on an iPad® may be impressive after all. Now the...

Research published in G3: Genes|Genomics|Genetics identifies the complete genome sequences and new laboratory strains of yeast available to the research communityIf you think yeast is most useful for beer and pizza crust, here's something else to chew on: a team of U.S. researchers has identified and compared the genetic codes for all known species of yeasts closely related to bakers' and brewers' yeast. This information, published in the Genetics Society of America's new open-access journal,...

A team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, have uncovered a novel mechanism regulating gene expression and transcription linked to Spinocerebellar ataxia 7, an inherited neurological disorder. The discovery promises to have broad ramifications, suggesting that abundant non-coding transcripts of ribonucleic acid (RNA) may be key players in neurological development and function, and could be powerful targets for future clinical...

(Ivanhoe Newswire) "“ Researchers have found new clues about aging, by identifying a new pathway that sets the clock for programmed aging in normal cells. The study focused on a toxic protein called progerin and its interaction with telomeres, which cap the ends of chromosomes. Telomeres wear away during cell division. When they degrade sufficiently, the cell stops dividing and dies.The researchers found that dysfunctional and short telomeres activate production of progerin, which is...

When Noah and Alexis Beery were diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age 2, their parents thought they at last had an answer to the problems that had plagued their twin infants from birth. However, that proved only a way station on a journey to find an answer to the children's problems that combined their mother's determination, the high tech world of next-generation sequencing in the Baylor Human Genome Sequencing Center and the efforts of talented physicians from across the country.In a report...