Genetics & Molecular Biology

Unravelling The Genetic Secrets Of Silk

Biologists at the University of California, Riverside have identified the genes, and determined the DNA sequences, for two key proteins in the "dragline silk" of the black widow spider- an advance that may lead to a variety of new materials for i ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 14 2007 - 4:15pm

Untangling The Logic Of Gene Circuits

How does a cell process information? Unlike computers, with CPUs to carry out calculations, and animals, which have brains that process sensory information, cells have no centralized device for processing the many internal and external signals with which t ...

Article - Michael White - Jun 26 2007 - 10:19pm

Cloning The Male Genome May Help Infertile Men

Artificially replicating the male genome could help men with very low sperm counts become fathers, a scientist told the 23rd annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (Tuesday 3 July). Professor Takumi Takeuchi, of Weil ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 3 2007 - 12:20pm

Rhythm Of Life- Genetics Tells Us Why Italian And English Flies Act Differently

Italian flies behave completely differently from English ones – and the difference lies in their genes, a new study from the University of Leicester has discovered. The finding in the world renowned Department of Genetics at the University of Leicester has ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 4 2007 - 2:42pm

Junk DNA In The Opossum Genome

Vertebrate genomes are full of junk. Despite the occasional confusing magazine article, the spurious claims by creationists, or obfuscatory statements by some scientists, we know that our genomes are stuffed full of DNA sequence that serves no functional r ...

Article - Michael White - Jul 5 2007 - 10:02pm

How Neutral Genetic Drift Shaped Our Genome

Johns Hopkins researchers have added to the growing mound of evidence that many of the genetic bits and pieces that drive evolutionary changes do not confer any advantages or disadvantages to humans or other animals. “For a long time, the basic belief of e ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 9 2007 - 11:29am

More Confusion About Junk DNA And Regulatory Sequences

Back in June, John Greally, a biologist at Albert Einstein, wrote a frustrating Nature commentary on the ENCODE project in which he repeatedly and wrongly suggested that before ENCODE, biologists were only paying attention to regulatory sequences: ...

Article - Michael White - Jul 25 2007 - 10:19am

Research Team Discovers Gallstone Gene

Scientists at the University of Bonn, together with colleagues from Romania, have discovered a gene variant that significantly increases the risk of developing gallstones. It is estimated that one in ten Europeans has this variant in their hereditary dispo ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 11 2007 - 11:50am

Ability To Listen To 2 Things At Once Is Largely Inherited, Says Study

Your ability to listen to a phone message in one ear while a friend is talking into your other ear—and comprehend what both are saying—is an important communication skill that’s heavily influenced by your genes, say researchers of the National Institute on ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 17 2007 - 12:40am

Is Premenstrual Depression Inherited?

A specific genetic variation may be tied to an increased risk for severe premenstrual depression, scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the National Institute of Mental Health have found. Known medically as premenstrual dysphori ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 17 2007 - 12:10pm