Genetics & Molecular Biology

Open Source Species- Charting The Ever-Changing Genome

The genetic makeup of any species is more like customized open source code than something that is fixed and can be easily documented. The parts of our 'code' that have withstood the test of time and the parts have undergone rapid evolutionary cha ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 19 2007 - 4:09pm

One Species, Many Genomes

Faster growth, darker leaves, a different way of branching- wild varieties of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana are often substantially different from the laboratory strain of this small mustard plant, a favorite of many plant biologists. Which detailed diffe ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 20 2007 - 10:08am

Hydra Gene Appears From Nowhere

Scientists thought that most new genes were formed from existing genes, but Cornell researchers have discovered a gene in some fruit flies that appears to be unrelated to other genes in any known genome. The new gene, called hydra, exists in only a small n ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 23 2007 - 4:43pm

Mastodon Genome Sets New Record For Oldest DNA Sequencing

Michael Hofreiter from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, and colleagues from Switzerland and the United States, announce the sequencing of the complete mitochondrial genome of the mastodon (Mammut americanum), a recently ex ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 23 2007 - 10:57pm

Your Friends May Be In Your Genes

As we develop, the company we keep may be increasingly influenced by our genes, according to a new study led by Virginia Commonwealth University researchers. Researchers report that as individuals develop, genes become increasingly important in influencing ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 6 2007 - 4:31pm

Study Links NOS-3 Gene To Brain Aneurism Formation

University of Cincinnati (UC) neurovascular researchers have identified a gene that—when suppressed or completely absent—may predispose a person to brain aneurysms. Todd Abruzzo, MD, and his colleagues demonstrated that “knocking out” a gene known as endot ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 7 2007 - 9:22am

Genetic Variation And Predisposition To Schizophrenia

In a study published in the August 17 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Amanda J. Law, Associate Professor at the University of Oxford and colleagues at NIH describe for the first time a genetic variation that causes a gene to be overexpressed ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 10 2007 - 3:15pm

Are Mothers The Key To Type 2 Diabetes?

According to the Centers for Disease Control, 7% of the U.S. population has diabetes, and 90-95% of those cases are classified as type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is caused by external factors-namely diet and exercise- but is also influenced by several gen ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 10 2007 - 8:43pm

Why Don't Sharks Have Fingers?

While studying the mechanisms of development in shark embryos, University of Florida scientists identified genetic activity that is required for digit development in limbed animals. Previous work suggested that the transition from fins to limbs involved th ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 14 2007 - 8:40pm

Ancient Microbes Revived From Antarctic Ice May Be Spreading Their Genes

After being encased in Antarctic ice for 8 million years, ancient microbes thawed by a team of researchers revved up their metabolic engines again and began making proteins and replicating. These are the oldest organisms ever brought back to life after a d ...

Article - Michael White - Aug 15 2007 - 11:28am