Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have analyzed rust fungi from more than 160 sugarcane samples from 25 countries to provide a valuable resource for plant breeders and pathologists who are searching for genetic resistance to the deadly orange and brown rusts.
Researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have performed the first complete genomic sequencing of a brain cancer cell line, a discovery that may lead to personalized treatments based on the unique biological signature of an individual’s cancer and a finding that may unveil new molecular targets for which more effective and less toxic drugs can be developed.
The Association for Molecular Pathology releases a position statement on the oversight of laboratory developed tests to foster discussion among stakeholders and meets wit the Food & Drug Administration.
Researchers have developed a new tool to deliver DNA in gene therapy. DNA delivered to the retina with a peptide called PEG-POD was expressed 215 times more efficiently than delivery of DNA alone. The finding highlights PEG-POD as a tool for non-viral gene therapy treatments for eye disorders such as age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.
Dr. Harry Ostrer, professor of pediatrics, pathology and medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center will be conducting genetic screening at four college campuses in Boston on February 1st and 2nd. Individuals interested in being screened must sign-up online at www.med.nyu.edu/genetics.
The same evolutionary genetic advantages that have helped increase human lifespans also make us uniquely susceptible to diseases of aging such as cancer, heart disease and dementia, reveals a study to be published in a special PNAS collection on "Evolution in Health and Medicine."
In the decade since the Human Genome Project produced the first map of DNA sequences in the human genome, scientists have combed through genome data to identify genes and gene variants that cause human disease. A new study suggests that researchers may need to search farther afield to pinpoint rare but powerful disease-causing mutations.
A new genome study has provided the first precise explanation of the biological events contributing to deadly epidemics of severe infection. This method can be used to track and help prevent devastating epidemics in the future.
Based on a true story, the film "Extraordinary Measures" highlights a condition called Pompe disease. Shawn Lipinski, a certified genetic counselor at the University of Virginia Children’s Hospital, works with Pompe disease patients and is available to discuss this condition.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, today announced an unprecedented effort to identify the genetic changes that give rise to some of the world’s deadliest childhood cancers. The team has joined forces to decode the genomes of more than 600 childhood cancer patients treated at St. Jude, who have contributed tumor samples for this historic effort.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers have discovered a gene activity signature that predicts a high risk of cancer recurrence in certain breast tumors that have been treated with commonly used chemotherapy drugs. The findings could lead to a genetic test that directs the best initial treatment.
Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) have, for the first time, identified specific genetic variations that predict clinical outcomes in patients with gastric (stomach) cancer.
Crop genetics play key role in understanding the impact of environmental stress.
What produces the pink tomatoes so popular in the Far East? Using metabolomics, Weizmann Institute researchers found that a number of traits unique to pink tomatoes can be traced to a mutation on a single gene.
Sequencing the genome of the wasp Nasonia -- published in the Jan. 15 issue of the journal Science -- is providing new insights into the methods that the bacterial parasite Wolbachia uses to manipulate the sex lives of its hosts.
The sequencing of the soybean genome will be announced in a paper forthcoming in the January 14 issue of the journal Nature. Authored by Jeremy Schmutz of the Joint Genome Institute and the HudsonAlpha Genome Sequencing Center and 43 other researchers from 18 institutions, the paper details results pointing to key evolutionary events that may be responsible for the plant’s unusual capabilities.
A genetic mutation can significantly increases a woman’s risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. But experts from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center warn that genetic testing is not appropriate for all women.
New research shows that migraine and depression may share a strong genetic component. The research is published in the January 13, 2010, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Investigators in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital have identified a link between specific modifications of the dystrophin gene and the age of cardiac disease onset in patients with Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD). This information could help clinicians provide early cardiac intervention for BMD patients based on genetic testing results performed on a blood sample.
The first comprehensive comparison of Y chromosomes from two species sheds new light on Y chromosome evolution. Contrary to a widely held scientific theory that the mammalian Y chromosome is slowly decaying or stagnating, new evidence suggests that in fact the Y is continuously reinventing itself.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists are part of a team that has sequenced the majority of the soybean genome, providing an unprecedented look into how this important legume crop converts four critical ingredients--sunlight, water, carbon dioxide and nitrogen--into protein and oil, the basic building blocks for many consumer products. The research team from 18 federal, state, public and private organizations published their research today in the journal Nature.
Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found that a “longevity gene” helps to slow age-related decline in brain function in older adults. Drugs that mimic the gene’s effect are now under development, the researchers note, and could help protect against Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and colleagues have identified the first genetic variant associated with aggressive prostate cancer, proving the concept that genetic information may one day be used in combination with other factors to guide treatment decisions.
While genetics play a key role in children’s initial reading skills, a new study of twins is the first to demonstrate that environment plays an important role in reading growth over time.
Fossils may provide tantalizing clues to human history but they also lack some vital information, such as revealing which pieces of human DNA have been favored by evolution because they confer beneficial traits — resistance to infection or the ability to digest milk, for example. Now, researchers describe a method for pinpointing these preferred regions that offers greater precision and resolution than ever before, and the possibility of deeply understanding both our genetic past and present.
University of Michigan researchers have discovered the rules that dictate the three-dimensional shapes of RNA molecules, rules that are based not on complex chemical interactions but simply on geometry.
Researchers at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Vienna (Austria) have identified a key regulator of white versus brown adipose cell fate. The findings are reported in the January 7 issue of the journal Cell.
A canine chromosome 7 locus that confers a high risk of compulsive disorder susceptibility has been identified through a collaboration between the Behavior Service at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, the Program in Medical Genetics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the Broad Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The findings are published in the January 2010 edition of Nature Molecular Psychiatry.
Scientists at the University of Idaho have discovered not only that different species sometimes use the same gene to produce the same adaptation, but also that how they use it can lead to different outcomes.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine say a recent discovery suggests that inherited genetic variations exist between whites and blacks living in the U.S., leading to less efficient metabolism of glucose and predisposition to diabetes in blacks.
A team of Columbia scientists have discovered two genes that, when simultaneously activated, are responsible for the most aggressive forms of human brain cancer. This finding was made possible by the assembly of the first comprehensive network of molecular interactions that determine the behavior of these cancer cells.
Nationwide Children’s Hospital recently was awarded an initial $5.5 million contract from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to serve as a Biospecimen Core Resource (BCR) for The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), a program co-managed by the NCI and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), both part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
A Chicago research team is one year into a three-year project to collect and analyze the genetic sequence and variations of every gene expressed by 1,000 tumors with a long-term goal of translating genomic discoveries into diagnostic tools and therapeutic strategies.
A group of Norwegian and American researchers have shown that common variations in genes associated with microcephaly – a neuro-developmental disorder in which brain size is dramatically reduced – may explain differences in brain size in healthy individuals as well as in patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders.
Researchers from the UC San Diego, School of Medicine and colleagues have identified a new gene, ETS-1, that is linked to human congenital heart defects. The landmark study, recently published online in the journal of Human Molecular Genetics, provides important insights into some of the most prevalent forms of congenital heart defects in humans.
The most widely used human embryonic stem cell lines lack genetic diversity, a finding that raises social justice questions that must be addressed to ensure that all sectors of society benefit from stem cell advances, according to a University of Michigan research team.
DNA replication is a basic function of living organisms, allowing cells to divide and multiply, all while maintaining the genetic code and proper function of the original cell. The process, or mechanism, by which this is accomplished presents many challenges as the double helical (coil-shaped) DNA divides into two strands that are duplicated by different methods, yet both strands complete the replication at the same time. New research by a team from UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in conjunction with the University of Illinois and published in the Dec. 17 issue of Nature, has addressed this fundamental problem. The study identifies three essential ways the synthesis of the two strands is coordinated by enzymes, settling scientific deliberations on how the two DNA strands are copied in the same time span.
Aided by next-generation DNA sequencing technology, an international team of researchers has gained insights into how more than 60 carcinogens associated with cigarette smoke bind to and chemically modify human DNA, ultimately leading to cancer-causing genetic mutations.
Genes that don’t themselves directly affect the inherited characteristics of an organism but leave them increasingly open to variation may be a significant driving force of evolution, say two Johns Hopkins scientists.
A new study involving data from more than 20,000 individuals has uncovered several DNA sequences linked to impaired pulmonary function. The research, an analysis that combined the results of several smaller studies, provides insight into the mechanisms involved in reaching full lung capacity. The findings may ultimately lead to better understanding of lung function and diseases like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the fourth leading cause of death in the United States.
The sequences of nonsense DNA that interrupt genes could be far more important to the evolution of genomes than previously thought.
Genetic research has shown that the best family medical history includes specific diagnoses and ages of onset for every disease or condition that appears in first- and second-degree relatives and even in some third-degree relatives. A new Web site in development will help.
How do fruit flies get high cholesterol and become obese? The same way as people do – by eating a diet that’s too rich in fats.
A commonly inherited gene deletion can increase the likelihood of immune complications following bone marrow transplantation. When the gene is missing from the donor’s genome but present in the recipient’s, transplants have a greater risk of a serious side-effect known as graft-versus-host disease, in which immune cells from the donor attack tissues in the recipient.
A new study of maize has identified thousands of diverse genes in genetically inaccessible portions of the genome. New techniques may allow breeders and researchers to use this genetic variation to identify desirable traits and create new varieties that were not easily possible before.
This week, scientists are revealing the genetic instructions inside corn, one of the big three cereal crops. Corn, or maize, has one of the most complex sequences of DNA ever analyzed, says University of Wisconsin-Madison genomicist David Schwartz, who was one of more than 100 authors in the article in the journal Science.
In recent years, scientists have decoded the DNA of humans and a menagerie of creatures but none with genes as complex as a stalk of corn, the latest genome to be unraveled. A team of scientists led by The Genome Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis published the completed corn genome in the Nov. 20 journal Science, an accomplishment that will speed efforts to develop better crop varieties to meet the world’s growing demands for food, livestock feed and fuel.
Research recently funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 aims to develop computational tools that will utilize next-generation petascale computers to understand genomic evolution.
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, found in everything from cosmetics to sunscreen to paint to vitamins, caused systemic genetic damage in mice, according to a comprehensive study conducted by researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.
In the largest, most comprehensive genetic analysis of childhood-onset inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), an international research team has identified five new gene regions, including one involved in a biological pathway that helps drive the painful inflammation of the digestive tract that characterizes the disease.
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