Tag Archives: genome

Scientists sequence genome of ‘sacred lotus,’ which likely holds anti-aging secrets

By Guest PostJune 7, 2013Health, Scienceanti aging secrets, australia, China, chinese academy, corn, crops, crysten blaby haas, disease, evolution, genetic defects, genetic endowment, genetic repair mechanisms, genome, germination defects, human health, humans, jane shen miller, Japan, liaoning province, longevity, molecular biologists, nelumbo nucifera, northeastern china, origin of life, powerful genetic system, rice, robert vanburen, sabeeha merchant, sacred lotus, sciences, scientists, sequence, shaohua li, spiritual purity, symbol, university of Illinois, unusual genetics, urbana-champaign, US, wheat, william schopf, wuhan botanical garden

A team of 70 scientists from the U.S., China, Australia and Japan today reports having sequenced and annotated the genome of the “sacred lotus,” which is believed to have a powerful genetic system that repairs genetic defects, and may hold secrets about aging successfully. The scientists sequenced more than 86 percent of the nearly 27,000 genes of the plant, Nelumbo nucifera, which is revered in China and elsewhere as a symbol of spiritual purity and longevity.

“The lotus genome is an ancient one, and we now know its ABCs,” said Jane Shen-Miller, one of three corresponding authors of the research and a senior scientist with UCLA’s Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life. “Molecular biologists can now more easily study how its genes are turned on and off during times of stress and why this plant’s seeds can live for 1,300 years. This is a step toward learning what anti-aging secrets the sacred lotus plant may offer.” (more…)

Endangered Lemurs’ Genomes Sequenced

By Guest PostMarch 31, 2013Natureaakrosh ratan, african agriculturalists, anthropologist, aquarium, aye aye populations, aye ayes, biologist, dna samples, ecological niche, edward louis, endangered lemur, european descent, forest habitats, fragmentation, Galaxy, genetically distinct, genome, george perry, henry doorly zoo, human dna sequence, human genetic diversity, loss, Madagascar, madagascar biodiversity, national science foundation, omaha, open source, oscar bedoya reina, penn state university, population, regions of madagascar, richard burhans, sequence, simon malcomber, software, southeast asian, stephan schuster, type of lemur, webb miller, woodpecker

Three populations of aye-ayes on Madagascar studied

For the first time, the complete genomes of three populations of aye-ayes–a type of lemur–have been sequenced and analyzed.

The results of the genome-sequence analyses are published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). (more…)

Aging Cells Lose Their Grip on DNA Rogues

By Guest PostFebruary 3, 2013Scienceabigail peterson, aging bodies, aging cells, balls of protein, barbara mcclintock, brown university, chromatin, chromosomes, computational biologist, desirable genes, DNA, edward peckham, eliza hamm, enzyme, essential genes, euchromatin formations, faire, genetic material, genome, genomic havoc, heterochromatin, heterochromatin prison system, high stakes warfare, hiv drugs, human fibroblast cells, human retrotransposons, jayameenakshi manivannan, jill kreiling, john sedivy, l1, marco de cecco, mobile strands, molecular parasites, nicola neretti, nobel prize, nucleosomes, parasitic strands, reverse transcriptases, rna, sara hillenmeyer, senescent, senescent cells, steven criscione, technique, transposable elements, transposons, transposons in maize, useful genes

Transposable elements are mobile strands of DNA that insert themselves into chromosomes with mostly harmful consequences. Cells try to keep them locked down, but in a new study, Brown University researchers report that aging cells lose their ability to maintain this control. The result may be a further decline in the health of senescent cells and of the aging bodies they compose.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Even in our DNA there is no refuge from rogues that prey on the elderly. Parasitic strands of genetic material called transposable elements — transposons — lurk in our chromosomes, poised to wreak genomic havoc. Cells have evolved ways to defend themselves, but in a new study, Brown University researchers describe how cells lose this ability as they age, possibly resulting in a decline in their function and health. (more…)

New Key to Organism Complexity Identified

By Guest PostJanuary 26, 2013Scienceangstroms, animal kingdom, berkeley lab, caenorhabditis elegans, california, canonical, critical transcription factors, cryo electron microscopy, dna binding proteins, dna promoter, drosophila, eva nogales, fruit fly, gene expression, gene pool, genome, george kassavetis, humans, james kadonaga, jie fang, level of gene, lobe a, macromolecular complex, mice, michael cianfrocco, model, molecular mechanism, organism, patricia grob, protein coding genes, rearranged, rna, single substructural element, species, split personality, structural states, tamar juven gershon, tfiid, transcription factors, university

Berkeley Scientists Find that a Critical Transcription Factor Co-exists in Two Distinct States

The enormously diverse complexity seen amongst individual species within the animal kingdom evolved from a surprisingly small gene pool. For example, mice effectively serve as medical research models because humans and mice share 80-percent of the same protein-coding genes. The key to morphological and behavioral complexity, a growing body of scientific evidence suggests, is the regulation of gene expression by a family of DNA-binding proteins called “transcription factors.” Now, a team of researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley has discovered the secret behind how one these critical transcription factors is able to perform – a split personality. (more…)

Mutations in Genes that Modify DNA Packaging Result in form of Muscular Dystrophy

By Guest PostNovember 22, 2012Sciencebiopsies, chromatin structure, chromosome 4, culture, daniel g miller, devastating disease, dna sequence, facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, family history, fshd, genetic deletions, genetic disorder, genetic material, genome, leiden university, medical geneticists, michael bamshad, muscle cell, muscle toxic dux4, mutation, protein, rabi tawil, rochester, silvere, smchd1 gene, stephen tapscott, symptom, the netherlands, university, van der maarel, Washington

A recent finding by medical geneticists sheds new light on how facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy develops and how it might be treated. More commonly known as FSHD, the devastating disease affects both men and women.

FSHD is usually an inherited genetic disorder, yet sometimes appears spontaneously via new mutations in individuals with no family history of the condition.

“People with the condition experience progressive muscle weakness and about 1 in 5 require wheelchair assistance by age 40,” said Dr. Daniel G. Miller, University of Washington associate professor of pediatrics in the Division of Genetic Medicine. Miller and his worldwide collaborators study the molecular events leading to symptoms of FSHD in the hopes of designing therapies to prevent the emergence of symptoms or reduce their severity. (more…)

Cracking the Oyster’s Code

By Guest PostSeptember 23, 2012Natureair exposure, analysis, atlantic, bioengineering project, cell, death, delaware, DNA, dynamic environment, evolution, factor, genetic code, genome, genome project, gulf coast, heat shock, immune response, oyster, pacific oyster, parasites, pathogen, patrick m gaffney, stress, survival, temperature fluctuation, toxic chemical, toxic metal, university

International team of scientists finds adaptations to stress in oyster genome

When it comes to stress, oysters know how to deal. The tough-shelled mollusks can survive temperature fluctuations, toxic metals and exposure to air, and a new study of their genetic makeup is helping to explain how.

An international team of scientists, including the University of Delaware’s Patrick M. Gaffney, professor of marine biosciences, sequenced the genome of the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, in a Nature paper published on Sept. 19. (more…)

Yale Team Finds Order Amidst the Chaos Within the Human Genome; Mom and Dad’s Contributions Counted and Fossil DNA Not Dead After All

By Guest PostSeptember 6, 2012Sciencebiochemically, bottleneck, chao cheng, data mining, DNA, ekta khurana, elements, encode, encyclopedia, evolutionary remnant, fossil dna, gender specific, gene expression, genome, genome dynamic, human genome, joel rozowsky, junk, key function, koon kiu yan, mark gerstein, marker, middle manager, military, model organism, molecular interaction, non coding, protein, pseudogenes, regulation, rnas, social network, statistical model, worm, yale, yale researcher

The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project is the effort of hundreds of scientists to describe the workings of the human genome. Their research, outlined in 30 papers published in multiple journals Sept. 5, has confirmed our genome is far more complex than originally thought. Regions that contain instructions for making proteins, which carry out life’s functions, account for only about 1 percent of our genome. ENCODE has shed light on the other 99%. Almost 80 percent of the genome is biochemically active, much of it involved in some sort of regulation of genes. Vast regions of our DNA once considered “junk” contain some 400,000 regulators called enhancers, which play a key role activating or silencing genes despite residing far away from the gene itself. Yale University researchers played a key role ENCODE, helping to author 9 of the 30 papers published in four journals on Sept. 5. Some of their work is described below.

The massive Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) unveiled Sept. 5 reveals a human genome vastly more rich and complex than envisioned even a decade ago. In a key supporting paper published in the journal Nature, the lab of Yale’s Mark Gerstein, the Albert L. Williams Professor of Biomedical Informatics, has found order amidst the seeming chaos of trillions of potential molecular interactions. (more…)

More Sophisticated Wiring, Not Just a Bigger Brain, Helped Humans Evolve Beyond Chimps

By Guest PostAugust 26, 2012Scienceamino acids, autism, bipolar syndrome, brain disease, brain region, brain tissue, cellular protein, chimp, chimp brain, chimpanzee, circadian rhythm, clock, daniel geschwind, DNA, expression, foxp1, foxp2, frontal cortex, frontal lobe, function, gene manufacture, genevieve konopka, genome, hippocampus, human, human brain, human evolution, human gene, hypothesis, jeremy davis turak, kellen winden, plasticity, schizophrenia, striatum, tara friedrich, ucla

Human and chimp brains look anatomically similar because both evolved from the same ancestor millions of years ago. But where does the chimp brain end and the human brain begin?

A new UCLA study pinpoints uniquely human patterns of gene activity in the brain that could shed light on how we evolved differently than our closest relative. The identification of these genes could improve understanding of human brain diseases like autism and schizophrenia, as well as learning disorders and addictions.

The research appears Aug. 22 in the advance online edition of the journal Neuron. (more…)