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Paige Prescott

Human Genome Project Science - 7 views

www.ornl.gov/...info.shtml

Genetics human genome project DNA

shared by Paige Prescott on 25 Mar 12 - Cached
  • The human genome contains 3164.7 million chemical nucleotide bases (A, C, T, and G).
  • The average gene consists of 3000 bases, but sizes vary greatly, with the largest known human gene being dystrophin at 2.4 million bases.
  • Paige Prescott on 25 Mar 12
     
    check out when the last time this page was updated.  What information has changed in the last 4 years?
Nitchakan Chaiprukmalakan

Missing Lincs - Science News - 6 views

www.sciencenews.org/...Missing_Lincs

shared by Nitchakan Chaiprukmalakan on 25 Mar 12 - No Cached
    • Nitchakan Chaiprukmalakan
      Nitchakan Chaiprukmalakan on 01 Apr 12
       
      Scientists are finding more information about the importance of the non coding RNAs, lincRNAs.
  • Only now have scientists begun identifying the previously invisible contractors who make sure that materials get where they are supposed to be and in the right order to build a human being or any other creature. Some of these little-known workers belong to a class of molecules called long intergenic noncoding RNAs.
  • And the lincRNAs originate in what scientists used to view as barren wastelands between protein-coding genes. But new research is showing that these formerly underappreciated workers have important roles in projects both large and microscopic.
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • In the last few years, scientists have learned that lincRNAs, as well as other RNAs that are long and noncoding but not intergenic, perform a variety of jobs. Some serve as guides showing proteins where to go, while others tether proteins to different types of RNA, or to DNA. Some work as decoys, distracting regulatory molecules from their usual assignments. Some may even have multiple roles, all the while chattering away to other RNA within cells. (It is not idle gossip; RNA communication within cells may ward off diseases such as cancer.) And as the ultimate multitaskers, lincRNAs keep proper cellular development ticking along and help define what makes mice mice and people people.
  • That archive contains about 3 billion genetic letters, far more than the genomes of less complex organisms such as roundworms and fruit flies.
  • In 2005, the research revealed that even though genes that code for proteins make up only 1.5 percent of the mouse genome, more than 63 percent of the genome’s DNA is copied into RNA. In humans the number is even higher, with up to 93 percent of the genome made into RNA, even though protein-coding genes make up less than 2 percent of the genome.
  • At first, many scientists didn’t know what to make of the excess RNA. Some thought it was overexuberance on the part of the DNA-copying machinery. But gradually researchers began to realize that many of those extra RNAs had important jobs to do.
  • Some, though, appear to act like general contractors — not hammering in the nails and pouring the foundations of cells themselves, but dictating how the job should be done.
  • One of the most famous long noncoding RNAs, known as XIST, is also one of the most hands-on. XIST is in charge of shutting down one of the X chromosomes in every single cell of women and girls
  • XIST doesn’t have a long commute to work; it coats whichever X chromosome makes it, preventing other genes on the chromosome from being activated
  • One of the most well-studied linc­RNAs, named HOTAIR, wasn’t lucky enough to get a job close to home. It is copied from DNA on chromosome 12 but has to travel to chromosome 2 to shut down several genes in a group known as the HOXD cluster, genes important for proper development of an organism
  • Not only does HOTAIR help direct development, but it is also important throughout life to help cells pinpoint their location in the body.
  • Whether promoting health or mis­directing cells, lincRNAs don’t necessarily act alone.
  • A lincRNA known as HOTTIP also works with a crew of histone modifiers, but instead of shuttering genes, HOTTIP’s crews hang grand-opening signs to attract gene-activating machinery
  • In the recipe for humans, lincRNAs are in the thick of things from the very beginning. At least 26 different lincRNAs need to be on to keep an embryonic stem cell a stem cell
  • Just how lincRNAs choose which genes to turn on and off isn’t yet known. But Pier Paolo Pandolfi, a geneticist at Beth Israel Deaconess and Harvard Medical School, suspects that the lincRNAs are whispering to each other and to other RNAs, keeping tabs on all a cell’s goings-on. Pandolfi laid out his hypothesis for how this chatter might help control protein production and other processes in the Aug. 5 Cell.
  • The Columbia team and Pandolfi’s team independently found that tweaking levels of a few messenger RNAs that distract microRNAs from PTEN messenger RNA can lead to prostate cancer or a type of brain tumor called glioblastoma. Just messing with levels of a messenger RNA from another gene known as ZEB2 throws off PTEN protein levels and can lead to melanoma in mice, Pandolfi’s group reported in another paper in the Oct. 14 Cell.
  • Losing one noncoding RNA may be disastrous for a cell, but for want of noncoding RNAs whole species may never have evolved, argues Queensland’s Mattick. He and others say the real function of lincRNAs is to give evolution a sort of molecular clay from which to mold new designs.
  • Humans have several lincRNAs that are found in no other species. Many of those RNAs are made in the brain, leading scientists to speculate that the molecules may be at least partially responsible for that important organ’s evolution.
  • Paige Prescott on 25 Mar 12
     
    Is RNA the most important molecule in the cell? There is a lot of evidence leading to new understandings of RNA and it's role in many different mechanisms within a cell.
chanon chiarnpattanodom

HHMI Bulletin February 2012: The Twists and Turns of Immunity - 4 views

www.hhmi.org/...alt_antibody_assembly.html

Immune System DNA

shared by chanon chiarnpattanodom on 25 Mar 12 - No Cached
    • chanon chiarnpattanodom
      chanon chiarnpattanodom on 30 Mar 12
       
      Immune System-System the signals the creation of millions of antibodies that RECOGNIZE invading molecules
  • Paige Prescott on 25 Mar 12
     
    DNA folding and the immune system's production of antibodies
Paige Prescott

DNA The Code of Life | The Language of Life | deCODEme - 4 views

www.decodeme.com/genetic-code

dna

shared by Paige Prescott on 25 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • Genes are especially important segments of DNA that directly influence one or more traits. They are relatively small segments of chromosomes, where the sequence of DNA nucleotides encodes a recipe for making a protein. Small differences in the sequence of DNA nucleotides of a particular gene can lead to differences in the structure and behavior of the proteins they encode. It is these differences, in turn, that account for the variable characteristics of the people around you.
  • Paige Prescott on 25 Mar 12
     
    deCodeMe is a private company that sells DNA technology
chanon chiarnpattanodom

Stem cell therapy could repair some heart damage - Yahoo! News - 2 views

news.yahoo.com/HQDc2VjdGlvbnMEdGVzdAM-;_ylv=3

shared by chanon chiarnpattanodom on 02 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • Patients with advanced heart disease who received an experimental stem cell therapy
  • Study authors described the trial as the largest to date to examine stem cell therapy as a route to repairing the heart in patients with chronic ischemic heart disease and left ventricular dysfunction.
  • injections of their own stem cells, taken from their bone marrow, into damaged areas of their hearts.
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • The patients -- 82 of whom were men -- all had chronic heart disease, along with either heart failure or angina or both, and their left ventricles were pumping at less than 45 percent of capacity.
  • None of the participant
  • eligible for revascularization surgery
  • heart disease was so advanced
  • Those who received the stem cell therapy saw a small but significant boost in the heart's ability to pump blood, measuring the increase from the heart's main pumping chamber at 2.7 percent more than placebo patients.
  • However, other factors showed no improvement
  • heart's maximum oxygen consumption did not change
  • defects in the heart were not healed by the treatment
  • This is the kind of information we need in order to move forward with the clinical use of stem cell therapy," said lead investigator Emerson Perin
  • "With this mapping procedure, we have a roadmap to the heart muscle," said Perin
  • Heart disease is the leading killer in the United States, claiming nearly 600,000 lives per year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  • chanon chiarnpattanodom on 02 Apr 12
     
    A recent experiment was done on elderly patients who had heart diseases, those that had progressed too far for coronary surgery. Patients were injected with their own stem cells in the bone marrow into areas in the heart. The pumping capacity did improve a little, but overall the oxygen use and the defects did not change. This is a stepping stone towards using stem cells to treat people in difficult situations where a normal surgery would not.
Nickyz P.

Exercise Brings On DNA Changes - Science News - 2 views

www.sciencenews.org/...Exercise_brings_on_DNA_changes

shared by Nickyz P. on 30 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • These alterations turn on genes that regulate a cell’s energy.
  • Genes can be turned on or off  by a process known as methylation, in which a methyl group — consisting of one carbon atom and three hydrogen atoms — is added to DNA.
Nitchakan Chaiprukmalakan

Biotechdaily - Human Mitochondrial Mutations Repaired by New Technique - 2 views

www.biotechdaily.com/...repaired_by_new_technique.html

shared by Nitchakan Chaiprukmalakan on 01 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • researchers have identified a generic approach to correct mutations in human mitochondrial DNA by targeting corrective RNAs,
  • In adults, many aging disorders have been associated with defects of mitochondrial function, including diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, cancer, heart disease, stroke, and Alzheimer’s disease.
  • The introduction of nucleus-encoded small RNAs into mitochondria is critical for the replication, transcription, and translation of the mitochondrial genome,
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • The study defined a new role for a protein called polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPASE) in regulating the import of RNA into mitochondria. Reducing the expression--or output--of PNPASE decreased RNA import, which impaired the processing of mitochondrial genome-encoded RNAs. Reduced RNA processing inhibited the translation of proteins required to maintain the mitochondrial electron transport chain that consumes oxygen during cell respiration to produce energy. With reduced PNPASE, unprocessed mitochondrial-encoded RNAs accumulated, protein translation was inhibited, and energy production was compromised, leading to stalled cell growth.
  • Geng Wang developed a strategy to target and import specific RNA molecules encoded in the nucleus into the mitochondria and, once there, to express proteins needed to repair mitochondrial gene mutations.
  • First, the researchers had to find a way to stabilize the reparative RNA so that it was moved out of the nucleus and then localized to the mitochondrial outer membrane. This was accomplished by modifying an export sequence to direct the RNA to the mitochondrion. Once the RNA was in the area of the transport machinery on the mitochondrial surface, then a second transport sequence was required to direct the RNA into the targeted organelle. With these two modifications, a wide range of RNAs were targeted to and imported into the mitochondria, where they worked to repair defects in mitochondrial respiration and energy production in two different cell line models of human mitochondrial disease.
    • Nitchakan Chaiprukmalakan
      Nitchakan Chaiprukmalakan on 03 Apr 12
       
      This article shows the importance of the RNAs in making proteins for the mitochondria to work efficiently.  The article summarizes a method in repairing the mitochondria that is still being worked on.
  • wasin kusakabe on 01 Apr 12
     
    Mutations in the mitochondrial genome inflicts diseases
Rafael Chen

Plant Geneticist Identifies Drought-Tolerant Gene - 2 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...981028144738.htm

shared by Rafael Chen on 16 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • isolation of the gene that controls drought tolerance in plants
  • enable a plant's leaves to stay green long after the last watering
  • plant hormone abscisic acid triggers the closure of the plant's stomata
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • controlled by the ERA1
  • By suppressing the gene -- and thereby keeping the stomata closed -- he found it is possible to control water loss so plants last longer
  • useful in applications such as the cut flower industry
  • Rafael Chen on 16 Apr 12
     
    Genetically engineering plants with a drought resistant gene may be beneficial in creating plants whom leaves would stay green long after the last watering.
Paige Prescott

DNA and Genetics - 2 views

What is the future of genetics research?

started by Paige Prescott on 25 Mar 12 no follow-up yet
pet-chompoo sa-ngarmangkang

Artificial Liver - 1 views

biology.about.com/...aa040899.htm

shared by pet-chompoo sa-ngarmangkang on 01 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • pet-chompoo sa-ngarmangkang on 01 Apr 12
     
    Artificial Liver Dateline: 04/08/99 The Extracorporeal Liver Assist Device, or ELAD, is the first artificial liver to use cells from humans rather than from pigs. The device is used to sustain patients awaiting a liver transplant or whose own liver is not functioning and needs to recover.
adisa narula

The Top 10 Everything of 2009 - TIME - 1 views

www.time.com/...945379_1944416_1944420,00.html

dna genetics disease epigenetic

shared by adisa narula on 01 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • adisa narula on 01 Apr 12
     
    The decoding of the human genome nearly a decade ago fueled expectations that an understanding of all human hereditary influences was within sight. But the connections between genes and, say, disease turned out to be far more complicated than imagined.
nidthamsirisup

Study suggests why some animals live longer - 1 views

www.physorg.com/...2012-03-animals-longer.html

animals dna project genetics

shared by nidthamsirisup on 02 Apr 12 - No Cached
    • nidthamsirisup
      nidthamsirisup on 02 Apr 12
       
      A new method to detect proteins associated with longevity which helps further our understanding into why some animals live longer than others.
  • found a similar pattern in proteins associated with metabolism, cholesterol and pathways involved in the recycling of proteins
  • these species have optimised pathways that repair molecular damage, compared to shorter-lived animals, such as mice
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • The study, led by Dr. Joao Pedro Magalhaes and postgraduate student, Yang Li, is the first to show evolutionary patterns in biological repair systems in long-lived animals and could, in the future, be used to help develop anti-ageing interventions by identifying proteins in long-lived species that better respond to, for example, DNA damage
  • Proteins associated with the degradation of damaged proteins, a process that has been connected to ageing, were also linked with the evolution of longevity in mammals.
  • If we can identify the proteins that allow some species to live longer than others we could use this knowledge to improve human health and slow the ageing process.
  • “We developed a method to detect proteins whose molecular evolution correlates with longevity of a species. The proteins we detected changed in a particular pattern, suggesting that evolution of these proteins was not by accident, but rather by design to cope with the biological processes impacted by ageing, such as DNA damage. The results suggest that long-lived animals were able to optimise bodily repair which will help them fend off the ageing process.”
Nickyz P.

Concerns Raised about Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes - NYTimes.com - 2 views

www.nytimes.com/...lly-engineered-mosquitoes.html

shared by Nickyz P. on 16 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • These mosquitoes are genetically engineered to kill — their own children.
  • The results, and other work elsewhere, could herald an age in which genetically modified insects will be used to help control agricultural pests and insect-borne diseases like dengue fever and malaria.
chanon chiarnpattanodom

Genes an important factor in urinary incontinence - 1 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...110404142807.htm

Urinary Incontinence Genes

shared by chanon chiarnpattanodom on 11 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • chanon chiarnpattanodom on 11 Apr 12
     
    Scientists have studied how much is urinary incontinence controlled by genetics, rather than the environment by observing twins. 
chanon chiarnpattanodom

Genes an Important Factor in Urinary Incontinence - 1 views

Scientists have studied how much is urinary incontinence controlled by genetics, rather than the environment by observing twins. 

Urinary Incontinence Genes

shared by chanon chiarnpattanodom on 11 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • chanon chiarnpattanodom on 11 Apr 12
     
    Scientists have studied how much is urinary incontinence controlled by genetics, rather than the environment by observing twins. 
Rafael Chen

New Plant Mutation Produces Tap Root With Large Amounts Of Oil, Proteins, And Starch - 1 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...970707211536.htm

shared by Rafael Chen on 15 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • The discovery could lead to genetically engineered plants that store commercially useful substances in an enlarged root
  • The pickle mutation mimics what happens in seeds, which typically are the major structures accumulating and storing proteins and oil
  • In this mutation the cells destined to become primary root cells retain the character of embryonic cells
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • They fail to make the switch from embryonic to adult
  • The mutation has its greatest effect when gibberellin is not present during the first 24 hours of growth
  • Rafael Chen on 15 Apr 12
     
    A mutation in plants that makes the tap root accumulate large amounts of oils, proteins, and starch was discovered by scientist, this could lead to genetically engineered plants that store commercially useful substances in an enlarged root.
Oranicha Jumreornvong

EBSCOhost: "BUT IT DOESN'T RUN IN MY FAMILY" - 1 views

web.ebscohost.com/...detail

shared by Oranicha Jumreornvong on 15 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • Oranicha Jumreornvong on 15 Apr 12
     
    health right now Closing the GAPS in your knowledge of YOUR FAMILY TREE can quite literally save your LIFE SARA McGREGOR never worried about getting breast cancer. Neither did her two older sisters. After all, their mother and maternal grandmother never had the disease.
Kantham Hongdusit

Long-term in vivo expression of retrovirus-mediated gene transfer in mouse fibroblast i... - 1 views

www.pnas.org/...4626.full.pdf+html

shared by Kantham Hongdusit on 16 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • Kantham Hongdusit on 16 Apr 12
     
    A long term foreign gene expression can be embedded/transferred if a housekeeping gene promoter is present to drive the transcription. A mouse embryo fibroblast implants can be achieved when the embryo is embedded in a collagen matrix, which is a proof of the theory.
Changul Louis Yeum

Changes in Social Status Seen in Monkeys' Genes - 1 views

www.nytimes.com/...tus-seen-in-monkeys-genes.html

Genes gene

shared by Changul Louis Yeum on 12 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • Changul Louis Yeum on 12 Apr 12
     
    Social stress is known to have adverse health effects on both humans and primates. Now, researchers report that it also affects the immune system of female rhesus macaques at the genetic level.
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