Latest Mutation Stories
Milk consumption has been linked to improved health, with decreased risks of diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and colon cancer. A group of scientists in Sweden found that lactoferricin4-14 (Lfcin4-14), a milk protein with known health effects, significantly reduces the growth rate of colon cancer cells over time by prolonging the period of the cell cycle before chromosomes are replicated. In a new study, investigators report that treatment with Lfcin4-14 reduced DNA damage in colon cancer cells...
A Chinese research team, led by Anhui Medical University and BGI, has found the strong genetic evidences of mevalonate kinase gene (MVK) mutations link to disseminated superficial actinic porokeratosis (DSAP). It is a major step toward discovering the genetic pathogenesis of DSAP, and sheds an eye-opening insight into its further molecular diagnosis and treatment. The latest study was published online in Nature Genetics. DSAP is a rare, non-cancerous, non-contagious skin disorder that...
Huntington's gene mutation carriers: Severity of the genetic mutation related to learning efficiency People who bear the genetic mutation for Huntington's disease learn faster than healthy people. The more pronounced the mutation was, the more quickly they learned. This is reported by researchers from the Ruhr-Universität Bochum and from Dortmund in the journal Current Biology. The team has thus demonstrated for the first time that neurodegenerative diseases can go hand in hand with...
An international team of scientists have shown at an unprecedented level of detail how cells prioritize the repair of genes containing potentially dangerous damage. The research, published in the journal Nature and involving academics from the University of Bristol, the Institut Jacques-Monod in France and Rockefeller University in the US, studied the action of individual molecules in order to understand how cellular repair pathways are triggered. The genetic information that forms the...
Researchers from the Guy Rouleau Laboratory affiliated with the CHUM Research Centre and the CHU–Sainte-Justine Research Centre have discovered the genetic cause of a rare disease reported only in patients originating from Newfoundland: hereditary spastic ataxia (HSA). This condition is characterized by lower-limb spasticity (or stiffness) and ataxia (lack of coordination), the latter leading to speech and swallowing problems, and eye movement abnormalities. The disease is not deadly,...
Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Researchers from deCODE Genetics, an Icelandic firm, recently discovered that a father’s age is connected to an increased risk of autism and schizophrenia. The study states that random mutations can become more prevalent with increased paternal age. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, it is the first report by scientists that quantifies the effect of the disorders. The findings were published recently in the online edition of the...
In a discovery that defies the popular meaning of the word "wire," scientists have found that Mother Nature uses DNA as a wire to detect the constantly occurring genetic damage and mistakes that ― if left unrepaired ― can result in diseases like cancer and underpin the physical and mental decline of aging. That topic ― DNA wires and their potential use in identifying people at risk for certain diseases ― is the focus of a plenary talk here today during the 244th National Meeting...
TAU research says genetics can reveal your geographic ancestral origin While your DNA is unique, it also tells the tale of your family line. It carries the genetic history of your ancestors down through the generations. Now, says a Tel Aviv University researcher, it's also possible to use it as a map to your family's past. Prof. Eran Halperin of TAU's Blavatnik School of Computer Science and Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, along with a group of researchers from...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Exposure to radioactive material released into the environment has caused mutations in butterflies found in Japan, according to a new study out of the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa. An increase in leg, antennae and wing shape mutations among butterflies collected following the 2011 Fukushima accident were found by the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports. Laboratory experiments exposed the link between these...
Max Planck scientist investigates the evolutionary model of Muller's ratchet From protozoans to mammals, evolution has created more and more complex structures and better-adapted organisms. This is all the more astonishing as most genetic mutations are deleterious. Especially in small asexual populations that do not recombine their genes, unfavorable mutations can accumulate. This process is known as Muller's ratchet in evolutionary biology. The ratchet, proposed by the American geneticist...
