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Tag Archives: genetics
Epigenetic memory: Another path for genetic inheritance
As we have all been schooled, DNA determines what is inherited. If it isn’t encoded in the genes, it won’t be passed on. Except it is becoming ever more apparent this isn’t completely true. There is another way that characteristics can be passed to the next generations; it’s called epigenetic memory. Or at least it’s [...]
Posted in News: Epigenetics Also tagged Dean, DNA, epigenetic memory, FLC, histones, Howard, inheritance, stress response 1 Comment
Human genetics: The mysterious unequal mutation by sex
By the numbers, geneticists thought about mutations like this: There are six billion pieces (nucleotides) of genetic information in the genome. Three billion provided by the mother and three billion from the father. Based on evolutionary studies, previous estimates reckoned about 100-200 mutations would be passed on to each child. It was assumed that because [...]
Protein complexity could be our demise
Did you know that badly folded proteins could be the cause of our species’ destruction? Neither did I. I know about nuclear bombs, climate change, asteroid strike and even pandemic as possible doomsday scenarios. I’m aware of predictions that in the not too distant future mankind might be overpowered by or merge with artificial intelligence [...]
Posted in Impact: Proteomics Also tagged Alzheimer’s, DNA, folding, gene-pool, genetic drift, natural selection, pandemic, Parkinson’s, prions, proteins 1 Comment
Part of what makes us human may be what’s missing
Here’s one of those scientific questions that contains a highly suggestive fact: Why is it that the tiny water flea (Daphnia pulex) has a record 31,000 genes and the human – the infinitely more complex human – has only 23,000 genes? Here’s another similar question: How is it that the human species is so different [...]
Posted in Impact: Epigenetics Also tagged biogenetics, Daphnia, DNA, epigenetics, evolution, gene, genome, junk DNA, Kingsley, missing DNA, penis spines Leave a comment
Reprogramming cells: The post stem cell future?
Sixth in a series of posts inspired by ten topics in ‘Insights of the Decade’ from the December 17, 2010 special issue of Science Magazine The topics are: Inflammation, climatology, tricks of light, alien planets, the microbiome, cell reprogramming, Martian water, the DNA time machine, cosmology and epigenetics. The original articles are now behind a [...]
Posted in Impact: Stem Cells Also tagged cell biology, cell reprogramming, DNA, embryonic stem cells, epigenetics, genetic modification, Gurdon, iPSC, pluripotent, proteomics, stem cells, Yamanaka Leave a comment
Oh Daphnia, why so many genes?
Ms. Water flea, Daphnia pulex…..credit: Wiki Commons This equal sign, =, is about as big the known champion of the gene-filled genome. Little Daphnia pulex, variously labeled a crustacean (like shrimp) or ‘the water flea,’ is the first of its subphylum to have its genome sequenced. Lo and behold: Daphnia’s genome has more genes – [...]
Posted in Impact: DNA Decoding Also tagged cloning, copy number variation, Daphnia, DNA, Environmental Genomics, gene-pool, genome, phenotype, water flea Leave a comment
Hoogsteen base pairs: An alternate structure in DNA
Reverse Hoogsteen base pairing…..Wikipedia Commons I know some of my biases. One of them is knee-jerk skepticism about taking little-tested scientific results and blowing them up to “…a cure for cancer” or “…revolutionize the electronics industry.” However, like most people I also have a bias to be curious about interesting, if somewhat unusual scientific findings. [...]
Posted in Impact: DNA Decoding Also tagged base pairs, biochemistry, DNA, double-helix, epigenetics, genetic coding, histones, Hoogsteen, NMR, proteins, RNA 1 Comment
The microbiome: Our life in common with microorganisms
Fifth in a series of posts inspired by ten topics in ‘Insights of the Decade’ from the December 17, 2010 special issue of Science Magazine The topics are: Inflammation, climatology, tricks of light, alien planets, the microbiome, cell development, Martian water, the DNA time machine, cosmology and epigenetics. The original articles are now behind a [...]
Posted in Impact: Cell Biology Also tagged Archaea, bacteria, bacteriology, cell biology, DNA, extremophile, hyperthermophile, immune system, microbiology, microbiome, microorganism, pathogen, thermophile, virome, Yellowstone Leave a comment
Optogenetics: Controlling live neurons with light
“We can activate or inactivate individual neurons or muscle cells, essentially turning the worm into a virtual biorobot.” Dr. Aravinthan D. T. Samuel, professor of physics at Harvard Center for Brain Science (Massachusetts, USA) is talking about optogenetics, one of the newest fields in science. The pioneer work was done around 2002. The name, optogenetics, [...]
Posted in News: Neuroscience Also tagged biorobot, C. elegans, genetic modification, GM, laser, neuron, optical control, optics, optogenetics, photonics Leave a comment
Sci-Fi movie review: Splice
[Splice. Directed by Vincenzo Natali. Released June, 2010. DVD/Blu-Ray released. As usual, the review contains many spoilers.] By the end it’s obvious Splice is a gothic horror movie. As science fiction it does have a modern biochemistry lab for a set, at least in the beginning; and the story is about gene splicing and synthetic [...]
Posted in Review Also tagged Frankenstein, gene splicing, genetic modification, science fiction, Splice, synthetic life Leave a comment
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, gene, genome, genome shape, RNA, sequencing Leave a comment
DNA redundancy: Genetic sequence copies are more prevalent and important than thought
Did you know that our DNA has many copies of some gene sequences, and that it is important? Not long ago and perhaps even now, neither did many genetic scientists. It’s been known in a general way that there is a lot of redundancy in the human genome. It’s even been called ‘a repetitive landscape.’ [...]
Posted in News: DNA Decoding Also tagged Agilent, bases, copy sequences, DNA, human genome, multicopy genes, nucleotide Leave a 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, gene, genome, junk DNA, muscular dystrophy, RNA, transcription Leave a comment
Update: Research on ‘old-age genes’ challenged
Thesis, antithesis, synthesis – is a primary pathway of science. Researchers trot out a hypothesis (hopefully backed up with evidence). Other researchers challenge the hypothesis, often through their own research results. Eventually the original hypothesis is confirmed, rejected, or in some way modified. Science moves on. The process may start with scientists presenting a research [...]
Posted in News: DNA Decoding Also tagged DNA, genetic variance, genome, gerontology, GWAS, old-age genes, SNPs Leave a comment
The Human Genome Project: Ten years later
Ten year retrospectives are a popular form of gazing at near history. So it is with looking at the results of the first complete sequencing of the human genome (first draft released June 26, 2000). The Human Genome Project was a three billion dollar multi-year program that finally achieved the long sought genome-wide catalog of [...]
Posted in Impact: DNA Decoding Also tagged DNA, genome, GWAS, Human Genome Project, major disease cures, medicine, RNA, SNP Leave a comment
Synthetic life, as developed by Craig Venter et al
May 21, 2010: This is one of those days when one story is likely to dominate the science news. It will also be writ large in the world’s news. Craig Venter, the name has to come first, and his research team has claimed creation of the first synthetic life. It should also be a good [...]
Posted in Impact: Synthetic Biology Also tagged artificial life, DNA, DNA transplant, genome, microbiology, Splice, synthetic biology, synthetic life, Venter Leave a comment
Testing your genetics with a drug store kit
Selling genetic testing kits over-the-counter (OTC) in a drug store (apothecary, chemists, pharmacy)…? People might be inclined to say, “Only in America.” Not really. Like it or not, and I suspect most people at this point are more than a little skeptical, this sort of do-it-yourself (which is actually a spit-in-a-bottle-and-mail-it-in) testing is going to [...]
Posted in Spun Also tagged apothecary, DNA, drug store, over-the-counter, personal genome, pharmacy, test kit Leave a comment
Small steps toward understanding the epigenome
“You can think of it this way,” said Ren. “Neurons and skin cells share the identical set of genetic material – DNA – yet their structure and function are very different. The difference can be attributed to differences in their epigenome. This is analogous to computer hardware and software. You can load the same computer [...]
Posted in Impact: Cell Biology Also tagged adult cells, cell biology, chromatin, DNA, epigenetics, epigenome, fibroblasts, histones, mitochondria, nESC, nucleus, organic chemistry, RNA, stem cells 1 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, gene, genome, genome-wide association studies, GWAS, molecular genetics, mutation, personalized medicine Comments closed
Epigenetics and introns: Life beyond DNA
The discovery and gradual elucidation of DNA and the genetic code over the last half century was certainly one of the most important achievements in science during that time – or arguably, any time. DNA and genetics also, rightfully, have dominated much of the thinking and interest in the biological sciences. So, without taking away [...]
Genetic pause control
Did you know that the genetic production process (gene expression) can be paused? A few years ago, most geneticists didn’t know either, and now it appears that the ability to pause genetic expression is not limited to a handful of genes (as originally thought) and may be a general capability for cells at all stages [...]
Posted in News: DNA Decoding Also tagged c-Myc, chromosome, DNA, DSIF, genes, mRNA, NELF, nucleus, polymerase enzyme, protein, stem cells, transcription Leave a comment
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, gene, genetic modification, mitochondria, mitochondrial myopathy Leave a comment
A new layer of genetic information: DNA sub-code
To some it sounds like something out of a spy story – sub-codes within the genetic code. Ah the hidden code; Dan Brown would be proud of the discovery. The actual discovery is perhaps not so thrilling, but potentially much more important than novelistic entertainment. Two researchers, Professor Yves Barral (ETH Zurich, Switzerland), and Dr. [...]
Posted in News: DNA Decoding Also tagged cell biology, DNA, gene expression, molecular biology, regulation, RNA, sub-code, transcription, tRNA Leave a comment
Evolution treats transcription factors differently than DNA
People with reddish hair have genes for that, but what gets the job done – that is, growing reddish hair – isn’t the DNA or gene, it’s the transcription of the genes by molecules of protein, mainly RNA polymerase transcribing into messenger RNA (mRNA), which takes the designs coded in DNA and guides the production [...]
Posted in News: Proteomics Also tagged DNA, epigenetics, evolution, genes, molecular biology, protein, proteomics, speciation, species, transcription, tRNA Leave a comment
lincRNA: A recently discovered RNA organizes stem cell differentiation