Latest Genome Stories

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online With the sequencing of three new members of a group of creatures known as lophotrochozoans, researchers from a pair of US universities and the Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute (JGI) have more than doubled the number of genomes from these often overlooked marine creatures. Scientists from the JGI, Rice University, and the University of California-Berkeley announced on Thursday that they had sequenced and published the...

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online In research that could help the development of next-generation biofuels, an international team of scientists has successfully sequenced the genome of the most basic form of cotton plant. The US Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute (JGI), along with representatives of 30 other institutions from across the globe, has completed a high-quality draft assembly of the Gossypium raimondii genome, a forerunner of the modern...

In the twentieth century the sequencing of an entire genome of a higher (eukaryotic) organism was a truly exceptional event – by the end of the year 2000, only four such sequences were available.  Since then, technological advances have put whole-genome sequencing within the reach of many more groups and new sequences have appeared at regular intervals. Viola Nolte in the group of Christian Schlötterer at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna has just published the first...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Researchers wrote in the journal BMC Biology that the genome of conifers like spruce, pine, and fir have essentially remained the same for the past 100 million years. The team analyzed the genome of conifers and compared it to that of flowering plants. Both plant groups stem from the same acceptor, but diverged about 300 million years ago. They compared the genome macrostructure for 157 gene families present both in conifers and...

New method to directly sequence small genomes without library preparation For the first time, researchers sequenced DNA molecules without the need for the standard pre-sequencing workflow known as library preparation. Using this approach, the researchers generated sequence data using considerably less DNA than is required using standard methods, even down to less than one nanogram of DNA; 500 times less DNA than is needed by standard practices. Libraries are collections of DNA...

Canada Our Time to Lead Ongoing Globe and Mail series explores the potential risks and rewards of genome mapping Exposed: The DNA Dilemma in print and online at ourtimetolead.ca TORONTO, Dec. 7, 2012 /CNW/ - On Saturday, December 8, 2012, The Globe and Mail will introduce Exposed: The DNA Dilemma, a two week series exploring the potential of genome sequencing to answer the questions: should you share your DNA? Should you give scientists the opportunity to explore and decode...

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- 23andMe has received grants totaling $573,000 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support three projects that utilize 23andMe's unique web-based research platform. These include projects to better understand the genetics of allergies; to assess accuracy of new sequencing technologies in clinical applications; and to develop tools that will take advantage of the genotypic and phenotypic information in the 23andMe...

Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Wheat is an incredibly important crop. Considered one of the “big three” global crops, wheat accounts for 20% of total calories consumed by human beings. As much as 35% of the entire planet depend on wheat for their very existence. With wheat being so important to the survival of the human race, an internal group of scientists decided it was time to learn more about this important grain and set out to complete the first...

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A scientist in Texas is claiming to have sequenced the genome of Bigfoot, alias Sasquatch or Yeti. Researcher Melba Ketchum led a team of scientists in a five-year DNA study purporting to confirm the existence of the hominin hybrid species commonly referred to as Bigfoot. The findings of this study are not yet published and are currently undergoing peer review. The study findings suggest that the mythical creature known as Bigfoot...

Pensoft Publishers Chromosome number is the most basic feature concerning the genome of a species, and it is known for about one third of higher plant species. In particular, for plants of Italy, Slovakia, and Poland, online chromosome number databases have been developed: 'Chrobase.it – Chromosome numbers for the Italian flora', 'Karyological database of ferns and flowering plants of Slovakia' and 'Chromosome number database – PLANTS', respectively. The three datasets account for...