Tag Archive for 'Gene'

Scientists Find Link between Immune System, Memory and Structure of Brain

Apr 27, 2017 by News Staff

In two separate studies, researchers have demonstrated that both the structure of the brain and several memory functions are linked to immune-related genes. The...

Barley (Hordeum vulgare). Image credit: Kang B.C.H.

Researchers Sequence Barley Genome

Apr 27, 2017 by News Staff

The International Barley Genome Sequencing Consortium, which is led by Dr. Nils Stein of the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research,...

Red-eyed Nasonia vitripennis. Image credit: Li et al, doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-00990-3.

Scientists Use CRISPR-Cas9 to Create Red-Eyed Mutant Wasps

Apr 20, 2017 by News Staff

Genetic scientists from the University of California, Riverside, and the W.M. Keck Science Department of Claremont McKenna, Pitzer and Scripps Colleges,...

Transmission electron microscopy image of a candidate Klosneuvirus particle detected in the Klosterneuburg waste water treatment plant biomass. The particle exhibits features reminiscent of Mimiviridae including a faceted, multi-layered envelope surrounding a central core. Image credit: Schulz et al.

Klosneuviruses: New Group of Giant Viruses Discovered

Apr 11, 2017 by News Staff

Researchers from Austria and the United States have identified a group of giant viruses — Klosneuviruses — that harbor components of many other...

A variation in the human circadian clock gene CRY1 is associated with a familial form of delayed sleep phase disorder, providing genetic underpinnings for ‘night owls.’ Clock and Bmal1 are circadian activator proteins. Image credit: Patke et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.03.027.

Researchers Identify ‘Night Owl’ Gene Variant

Apr 11, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of scientists led by the Rockefeller University has discovered that a variant of the human gene CRY1 (cryptochrome circadian clock...

Gerstner et al found that a mutation in the gene FABP7 is associated with fragmented sleep in humans. Image credit: Wok & Apix.

‘Sleep Gene’ Identified: FABP7

Apr 7, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of scientists from the United States and Japan has seen how a particular gene, called the fatty acid binding protein 7 (FABP7), is...

The scientists have tried to extract ancient DNA from two stingless bees Trigonisca ameliae. This image shows Trigonisca ameliae bee in Colombian copal. Image credit: Dr David Penney / University of Manchester.

Social Bees Have Kept Symbiotic Gut Bacteria for 80M Years, New Study Says

Mar 30, 2017 by News Staff

About 80 million years ago (Cretaceous period), a group of bees began exhibiting social behavior. Today, their descendants — honey bees, stingless...

Calculating an individual’s GPS requires information from a genome-wide association study that finds specific genetic variants linked to particular traits. Image credit: Alexas Fotos.

Genetic Researchers Predict Children’s Reading Ability from DNA

Mar 30, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of scientists from the United Kingdom, the United States, and Sweden has used a genetic scoring technique to predict reading performance...

This drawing shows several of the most important brain structures. Image credit: National Institute for Aging.

Researchers Identify Two Genes Responsible for Brain’s Aging

Mar 16, 2017 by News Staff

A duo of researchers at Columbia University has identified two genes (TMEM106B and GRN) that greatly impact normal brain aging, starting at around age...

This is an artist’s rendition of a woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius). Image credit: Flying Puffin / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Wrangel Island Mammoths Experienced ‘Genomic Meltdown’ Just Prior to Extinction, Says New Study

Mar 3, 2017 by News Staff

According to a new study published in the journal PLoS Genetics, dwindling populations created a ‘mutational meltdown’ in the genomes of the last wooly...

According to Soderquest et al, T-bet plays an important role in coordinating the body’s immune responses. Image credit: Werbe Fabrik.

‘Molecular Switch’ that Causes Mucosal Autoimmune Diseases Discovered

Feb 21, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

According to an international team of researchers led by University College London and King’s College London, the discovery of a ‘molecular switch’...

Williams et al show that dietary supplementation with a single molecule (vitamin B3 or NAM) or Nmnat1 gene therapy significantly reduces vulnerability to glaucoma by supporting mitochondrial health and metabolism. Image credit: Mizianitka.

Vitamin B3 Protects Mice from Glaucoma, Study Finds

Feb 20, 2017 by News Staff

Vitamin B3, also known as niacin and nicotinic acid, prevents eye degeneration in glaucoma-prone mice, according to a study published in the Feb. 17 issue...

Eirini Marouli et al report 83 height-associated coding variants with lower minor-allele frequencies and effects of up to 2 cm per allele, greater than ten times the average effect of common variants. Image credit: Popular Science Monthly, D. Appleton and Company, 1887.

Researchers Find New Genetic Variants that Influence Human Adult Height

Feb 1, 2017 by News Staff

Eighty-three height-associated genetic variants have been discovered in a large-scale study led by researchers from Queen Mary University of London, Montreal...

A DNA coverage plot for Escherichia coli following 60 generations (96 h) of growth in the presence and absence of doxycycline: data in the presence (three inner annuli, ‘Dox’) and absence (three outer annuli, ‘No-Dox’) indicate potential genetic mechanisms supporting positive r (growth rate), K (carrying capacity) and resistance adaptation; a change in DNA detected in the sequencing protocol is shown in red (reduction) and blue (increase; and white is complete loss), respectively, with respect to no mean change (in grey); the inner ring (black) indicates genome position and three replicates for each treatment were sequenced; the white region marked dlp12 shows the deletion of prophage dlp12 only during doxycycline treatment; the outer text labels summarize the estimated frequencies of mutations common to all three replicate populations, indicating positive selection for the doxycycline efflux operon, acr, with the prophage deletion at even higher frequency. Image credit: C. Reding-Roman et al, doi: 10.1038/s41559-016-0050.

New Study Highlights How Antibiotics Can Stimulate Bacterial Reproduction

Feb 1, 2017 by News Staff

The growth of bacteria can be stimulated by antibiotics, according to a study published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. A DNA coverage plot...

The study by N.F. Watson et al shows the transcriptomic effects of habitual short sleep on dysregulated immune response and provides a potential link between sleep deprivation and adverse metabolic, cardiovascular, and inflammatory outcomes. Image credit: Geralt.

Sleep Deprivation Suppresses Your Immune System, Study of Twins Shows

Jan 29, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A University of Washington-led team of researchers studying monozygotic (identical) twins has found that chronic sleep deprivation suppresses immune system....

Colorized scanning electron micrograph of HIV-1, grown in cultured lymphocytes; virions are seen as small spheres on the surface of the cells. Image credit: C. Goldsmith.

Recently-Discovered Antiviral Protein Inhibits HIV-1 in Non-Human Primates

Jan 18, 2017 by News Staff

A team of scientists led by the University of Colorado Boulder has discovered that a gene called SLFN11 — which encodes a protein known as Schlafen...

Roasted beans of Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica). Image credit: University of California, Davis.

Researchers Sequence Genome of Arabica Coffee

Jan 17, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of researchers led by University of California, Davis, geneticists has publicly released the first public genome sequence of Arabica...

Brattas et al. report that ERVs are bound by TRIM28 in human neural progenitor cells. This results in the establishment of local heterochromatin that affects nearby gene expression, suggesting a role for ERVs in the control of transcriptional networks in the developing human brain. Interestingly, ERVs bound by TRIM28 are mostly enriched for elements that integrated around 35–55 million years ago, thus not binding to the most recent ERVs as well as ancient elements. Image credit: Per Ludvik Brattas et al, doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2016.12.010.

Study: Endogenous Retroviruses in Genome Important for Human Brain

Jan 13, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

About 8% of the human genome is composed of endogenous retroviruses. According to a new study published in the journal Cell Reports, these retroviruses...

Stephanie M. Reeve et al. identified two plasmid-borne genes that confer high-level resistance to trimethoprim for the first time in MRSA isolates from U.S. hospitals; a series of charged propargyl-linked antifolates overcome this resistance via direct inhibition of the acquired resistance elements. This colorized scanning electron micrograph depicts a grouping of MRSA bacteria. These bacteria are methicillin-resistant, and are from one of the first isolates in the U.S. that showed increased resistance to vancomycin as well. Note the increase in cell wall material seen as clumps on the organisms’ surface. Image credit: Janice Haney Carr / Public Health Image Library / CDC.

New Experimental Antibiotics Show Promise against MRSA

Jan 4, 2017 by News Staff

New experimental antibiotics developed by chemists at the University of Connecticut successfully treat methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)...

Four newly identified CRISPR-Cas9 inhibitor proteins encoded by Listeria monocytogenes prophages prevent Cas9 binding and gene editing in bacteria and human cells, including currently the most widely used Cas9 from Streptococcus pyogenes. Image credit: Benjamin J. Rauch et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2016.12.009.

Researchers Discover Off-Switch for CRISPR-Cas9 System

Jan 3, 2017 by News Staff

A team of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco, has discovered a way to inactivate the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system using newly...

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