Genetics & Molecular Biology

As the genome sequencing technologies progress, and the costs per genome sequenced go down, the number of genomes sequenced increases. So far, several hundreds of genomes have been sequenced, with many more on their way. Now, the first lizard genome has b ...

Article - Gunnar De Winter - Sep 14 2011 - 10:54pm

Women And STEM: Maybe Our Sex Hormones Are Sexist

Bias in science academia is a big topic, but it's selective. If there are fewer women, it is regarded as a hostile environment but if there are no Republicans that is their choice. Penn State researchers have added something new into the mix- horm ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 2 2011 - 12:39pm

AMPK: A Genetic Basis For Being A Couch Potato?

Feel lazy? Maybe you can blame your genes. Specially-bred mice which had two genes removed, which control the protein AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), an enzyme that is switched on when you exercise, didn't want to run a ny more. "Mice love ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 5 2011 - 5:24pm

Jumping Genes And Replication

Jumping genes, or more technically, transposons (see figure 1), are sequences of DNA that can move around the genome and find themselves a new place. In eukaryotic DNA, these jumping genes can constitute a sizeable portion of the genome (up to 50% of the ...

Article - Gunnar De Winter - Sep 8 2011 - 6:23am

Virus Controls Caterpillar And Turns It Into Goo

Some viruses change the behavior of their host, notable examples being the zombie ants and cat-loving rodents. Another example of such a ‘mind-controlling’ virus is the baculovirus, controlling its host, the gypsy moth caterpillar. A new study has identif ...

Article - Gunnar De Winter - Sep 9 2011 - 12:47pm

Gamete-Targeted Lentiviral Transgenesis: Glowing Cats Fight AIDS

A genome-based immunization strategy may 'illuminate' ways to combat AIDS and other diseases. Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) causes AIDS in cats as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) does in people, by depleting the body's infectio ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 11 2011 - 1:01pm

Enzyme HDAC3 May Be Why That High-Fat Diet Is Bad For You

We all know a high-fat diet is going to be bad for most people, but why? A study in mice showed that those lacking the gene-expression-controlling enzyme HDAC3 that were fed a high-fat diet experienced rapid thickening of the heart muscle and heart failure ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 12 2011 - 7:08pm

Synthetic Yeast Chromosomes

A research team at John Hopkins Medical Institutions has introduced synthetic chromosomes into yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, see figure 1), in an effort to better understand how genomes work, and potentially allow some ‘control’ at genome level. As par ...

Article - Gunnar De Winter - Sep 15 2011 - 10:35am

Whole genome sequencing of a family- predicting the future?

Although genetic sequencing sounded exciting- I'll send you a tube full of spit, you tell me what diseases I'm going to get- the reality was less thrilling, and less useful. There are diseases with very specific and even single mutations, but the ...

Blog Post - Becky Jungbauer - Sep 15 2011 - 9:02pm

Epigenetic Code Evolves Rapidly

Recently, a lot of attention has gone to epigenetics, or heritable changes in gene expression caused by mechanisms other than changes in DNA sequence. An example of such a mechanism is DNA methylation, where a methyl group (CH 3) binds to cytosine or aden ...

Article - Gunnar De Winter - Sep 18 2011 - 5:07am