Genetics & Molecular Biology

Gene, gene expression, gene silencing and RNAi

Gene Expression?–What is a Gene? A gene codes for a homogeneous ‘functional unit’ – classically a protein, or rRNA, tRNA (other RNAs are emerging).  The DNA sequence defines the gene, along with processing steps that determine the product. Generally gene ...

Blog Post - Ashwani Kumar - Nov 8 2012 - 3:36am

Fat And Jolly Scientifically Verified- Enjoy Your Thanksgiving

It used to be a stereotype that being fat meant you had a happy personality.  Then culture went out of its way to vilify fat people and make them miserable- when they weren't vilifying culture or food companies for making people fat. Now researchers c ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 22 2012 - 9:51am

CSI Evolution: Genes Stolen, Bigelowiella Natans Algae Implicated

Millions of years ago, tiny animal thieves going by the alias protozoa held algae captive and then exploited and stole their genes for energy production, thereby evolving into a new and more powerful species. But the little protozoan outlaws couldn't ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 28 2012 - 2:11pm

Bread Wheat Genome Sequenced

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) accounts for 20% of the calories consumed by the entire world and is one of the Big Three globally important crops, along with rice and corn.  ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 28 2012 - 3:42pm

Most Harmful Mutations Surviving In People Arose In The Last 10,000 Years

Evolutionarily speaking, most of the harmful mutations that still exist in people are recent, which makes the case that nature is still out to get us, even in modern times. A study dated the age of more than 1 million single-letter variations in the human ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 29 2012 - 11:30am

MicroRNAs: Powerful Regulators Of Embryonic Cell Fate

In 1972, a term related to the parts of a genome sequence that don't have a known function was introduced. Like physicists with the 'God particle', a lot of biologists wish they could take back the term 'junk DNA' because it has b ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 3 2012 - 2:00pm

GMO Corn And Genetic Prioritization May Save Us From Climate Change Food Issues

If we will need climate-resistant corn and other food production plants sooner rather than later, applying a genetic-analysis method used to study and prioritize the genes in humans could improved the likelihood of finding critical genes in food productio ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 5 2012 - 8:00am

BAF60c Gene Turns Carbs Into Fat

Fatty liver disease, diabetes and obesity are health issues that are not going to be solved during the holiday season.  The solution to much of it, healthier eating, is not realistic and so researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, examining ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 6 2012 - 2:30pm

Convergent Evolution? Biological Adaptation To Thin Air And A Gene Trait Quirk

Tibetan and Ethiopian highlanders share a biological adaptation that enables them to thrive in the low oxygen levels of high altitudes, but the ability to pass on the trait appears to be linked to different genes in the two groups. The adaptation is the s ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 7 2012 - 5:00am

Harlequin weaponry

In recent years, Britain has been invaded by Harlequin ladybirds, which are threatening our native species.  In this picture, a native seems to be trying to mount a harlequin, although I cannot see any little larvae resulting from this activity! ...

Blog Post - Robert H Olley - Dec 12 2012 - 2:20pm