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Tag Archives: gene
The shape of the genome influences genetics
Fission yeast genome……Credit: Wistar Institute It looks like a loose ball of yarn, as in the picture above. In fact, it’s the genome of a common yeast (S. pombe). The human genome spends most of its time in a ball something like this. The familiar “X” shaped chromosomes occur only at the time of cell [...]
Posted in News: DNA Decoding Also tagged 3C, chromosome conformation capture, chromosomes, DNA, genetics, genome, genome shape, RNA, sequencing Leave a comment
New finding: Noncoding RNA is the agent of gene silencing
This is news about research by Ingrid Grummt and colleagues at the German Cancer Research Center (Heidelberg, Germany) and their progress in discovering how instructions coded in DNA are correctly sequenced (silenced or activated). But first, an analogy: Way way back in the cave-person era of computing (say 1954), a ‘programmer’ would stand at a [...]
Posted in News: Cell Biology Also tagged DNA, epigenetics, gene regulation, methylation, methyltransferase, mRNA, ncRNA, non-coding RNA, pRNA, RNA Leave a comment
Histones: DNA packaging and much more
DNA winds around histones….Credit: Max Planck Society Most everybody knows that DNA is the carrier of the genetic code, the instructions for how life reproduces, grows, and maintains. Cell biologists have long known that DNA comes with a very complex packaging material, proteins called histones, which help the 2 meter (6 foot) strand of DNA [...]
Posted in Impact: DNA Decoding Also tagged biochemistry, cell biology, DNA, epigenetics, fruit fly, gene expression, histones, nucleus 1 Comment
A new field for medicine: Genetic risk intervention
If you’ve heard anything about personal genome testing, it’s that such tests can sometimes reveal people are carriers of genetic mutations that increase the risk of certain diseases. There are many examples with more added each year, such as the BRCA1/BRCA2 genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer. If you’re a woman whose genome has [...]
Posted in Impact: Major Disease Cures Also tagged BRCA1, BRCA2, genome, mastectomy, molecular biology, personal genetics, prophylactic medicine, risk intervention 1 Comment
A form of muscular dystrophy depends on ‘junk’ DNA
Back in February of this year (2010) a study in Nature reported on finding a segment of human DNA, one of the areas in the so-called ‘junk genes,’ that contributed to a form of coronary artery disease. [SciTechStory: Junk DNA that actually does something] Now there is another study, in the magazine Science [A Unifying [...]
Posted in Impact: DNA Decoding Also tagged chromosome 4, FSHD, genetics, genome, junk DNA, muscular dystrophy, RNA, transcription Leave a comment
Reversing silenced genes improves quality of induced stem cells
As has been the case for more than a decade, the promise of stem cells to create breakthroughs in cell biology and medicine has been hampered by the difficulty in obtaining sufficient quantities of high quality pluripotent stem cells (cells capable of changing into almost any other kind of cell). Human embryonic stem cells are [...]
Posted in News: Stem Cells Also tagged DNA, embryonic stem cells, genetic, iPSC, molecular genetics, pluripotent, RNA, stem cells, transcription Leave a comment
The growing GWAS controversy
There’s nothing like ignorance to fuel a controversy, even if it’s scientific ignorance. A controversy is brewing over the idea of personalized medicine based on the analysis of an individual’s genome through genome-wide association studies, or GWAS. Enabled by the ever decreasing cost of analyzing the human genome, some scientists believe it is possible to [...]
Posted in Impact: DNA Decoding Also tagged BRCA1, DNA, genetics, genome, genome-wide association studies, GWAS, molecular genetics, mutation, personalized medicine Comments closed
New technique: DNA transfer to overcome mitochondrial genetic diseases
Most of the time when something refers to genetics, it’s assumed this means the DNA found in the nucleus of cells. However, in one of the three domains of life, Eukarya (all plants and animals), DNA is also found in the mitochondria of cells. One or more mitochondria are found in all eukaryotic cells, where [...]
Posted in Impact: Genetic Modification Also tagged DNA, embryo, Eukarya, genetic modification, genetics, mitochondria, mitochondrial myopathy Leave a comment
There’s more to gene expression than biochemistry
At a guess, ninety-nine percent of biologists’ attention to DNA and gene expression is based on biochemistry. That’s good, since the biochemistry is obviously important and difficult enough to analyze. However, there is something else – it’s called physics. Cells, cell components, and DNA all exist in the physical world and therefore are also affected [...]
Posted in News: Cell Biology Also tagged biochemistry, biophysics, cells, DNA, gene expression, lasers, mechanical stress, physics Leave a comment
Part of what makes us human may be what’s missing