All Articles Tagged As: genes

First study hints at insights to come from genes unique to humans (3/23/2008)

Among the approximately 23,000 genes found in human DNA, scientists currently estimate that there may be as few as 50 to 100 that have no counterparts in other species. Expand that comparison to include the primate family known as hominoids, and there may be several hundred unique genes. ...> Full Article

Scientists rebuild ancient proteins to reveal primordial Earth's temperature (2/11/2008)

Using the genetic equivalent of an ancient thermometer, a team of scientists has determined that the Earth endured a massive cooling period between 500 million and 3.5 billion years ago. ...> Full Article

Genome scientists discover that evolution sometimes 'reinvents the wheel' (1/24/2008)

If a particular biological innovation is good enough to evolve once, it may sometimes be good enough to evolve multiple times independently in different species. ...> Full Article

Evolution Of Human Genome's 'Guardian' Gives People Unique Protections From DNA Damage (1/21/2008)

Human evolution has created enhancements in key genes connected to the p53 regulatory network -- the so-called guardian of the genome -- by creating additional safeguards in human genes to boost the network's ability to guard against DNA damage that could cause cancer or a variety of genetic diseases, an international team of scientists led by Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center writes in the Jan. 22 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Because genetically engineered mouse models are increasingly powerful tools in understanding the risks and mechanisms of human diseases -- and rodents do not have the same evolution-based safeguards in p53 function as humans -- the study also underscores the need for additional considerations in the interpretation of research using rodent models. ...> Full Article

Geneticist Uses New Computational Methods to Search for a Neanderthal Legacy and for Disease Genes (1/20/2008)

Each year, Jurassic Park seems less like science fiction. Scientists are decoding woolly mammoth DNA. They also are decoding DNA from an extinct species much closer to us in genetic makeup - the Neanderthal. ...> Full Article

Evolution of the Sexes: What a Fungus Can Tell Us (1/10/2008)

Fungi don't exactly come in boy and girl varieties, but they do have sex differences. In fact, a new finding from Duke University Medical Center shows that some of the earliest evolved forms of fungus contain clues to how the sexes evolved in higher animals, including that distant cousin of fungus, the human. ...> Full Article

Mechanics of gene transcription (1/9/2008)

The molecular machinery behind gene transcription -- the intricate transfer of information from a segment of DNA to a corresponding strand of messenger RNA -- isn't stationed in special "transcription factories" within a cell nucleus, according to Cornell researchers. Instead, the enzyme RNA polymerase II (Pol II) and other key molecules can assemble at the site of an activated gene, regardless of the gene's position. ...> Full Article

Study Maps Life in Extreme Environments, Creating Potential for Molecular Bioengineering and Dynamical Models of Cells (12/31/2007)

A team of biologists have developed a model mapping the control circuit governing a whole free living organism. This is an important milestone for the new field of systems biology and will allow the researchers to model how the organism adapts over time in response to its environment. This study marks the first time researchers have accurately predicted a cell's dynamics at the genome scale (for most of the thousands of components in the cell). The findings, which are based on a study of Halobacterium salinarum, a free-living microbe that lives in hyper-extreme environments, appear in the latest issue of the journal Cell. ...> Full Article

Scientists Reveal Role of Gene in Sensitivity to Thermal Pain (12/30/2007)

The skin is the largest human sensory organ. What is not fully understood is how the skin responds to stimuli, especially to pain. Research by Nevena Milenkovic, Christina Frahm, Professor Gary Lewin and Dr. Alistair Garratt of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin-Buch, Germany, has now demonstrated that Stem Cell Factor (SCF) and its receptor, c-Kit, play a central role in tuning the responsiveness of sensory neurons to heat stimuli. "As yet, c-Kit is the first example of a single gene being required for normal noxious heat sensitivity of C-fibers," according to the neurobiologists. Their paper has just been published online in Neuron *. ...> Full Article

Similarities between genetic diseases create hope for treatment (12/29/2007)

Two rare neurodegenerative diseases -- Huntington's disease and spinocerebellar ataxia 1 - share genetic modifiers in the cellular pathways that cause nerve cell damage, a fact that may make studying them and developing treatments more attractive to biotech companies, said a Baylor College of Medicine researcher. ...> Full Article

Copy number variation may stem from replication misstep (12/28/2007)

Genome rearrangements, resulting in variations in the numbers of copies of genes, occur when the cellular process that copies DNA during cell division stalls and then switches to a different genetic "template," said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in a report that appears today in the journal Cell. ...> Full Article

Gene neighbors may have taken turns battling retroviruses (12/22/2007)

A cluster of antiviral genes in humans has likely battled retroviral invasions for millions of years. New research by Sara Sawyer, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research fellow in the Basic Sciences Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, now finds that in addition to the previously identified TRIM5 gene that can defend against retroviruses like HIV, a related gene right next door, called TRIM22, may have participated in antiviral defense. ...> Full Article

Losses Of Long-established Genes Contribute To Human Evolution (12/21/2007)

While it is well understood that the evolution of new genes leads to adaptations that help species survive, gene loss may also afford a selective advantage. A group of scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz led by biomolecular engineering professor David Haussler has investigated this less-studied idea, carrying out the first systematic computational analysis to identify long-established genes that have been lost across millions of years of evolution leading to the human species. ...> Full Article

Losses of long-established genes contributed to human evolution, scientists find (12/17/2007)

The evolution of new genes is not the only way for a species to change. The loss of genes may also lead to adaptations that help species survive, but this idea has not been well studied. Now, scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have carried out the first systematic computational analysis to identify long-established genes that were lost during the millions of years of evolution leading to the human species. Their findings appear in the December 14 issue of PLoS Computational Biology. ...> Full Article

ArrayExpress database doubles in size to 100,000 hybridisations (12/17/2007)

ArrayExpress, the publicly available database of transcriptomics data at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory's European Bioinformatics Institute [EMBL-EBI], has doubled in size in 2007, reaching the 100,000-hybridisation milestone. The database now holds snapshots of gene expression [identifying which genes are specifically expressed in a particular tissue or in response to a drug, for example] for more than 180 species under thousands of experimental conditions. ...> Full Article

Genetic switch for circadian rhythms discovered (12/16/2007)

University of California, Irvine researchers have identified the chemical switch that triggers the genetic mechanism regulating our internal body clock. ...> Full Article

In Fruit Flies, Homosexuality Is Biological But Not Hard-Wired (12/15/2007)

While the biological basis for homosexuality remains a mystery, a team of neurobiologists reports they may have closed in on an answer -- by a nose. ...> Full Article

Same Genetic Machinery Generates Skin Color Evolution in Fish and Humans (12/14/2007)

When humans began to migrate out of Africa about 100,000 years ago, their skin color gradually changed to adapt to their new environments. And when the last Ice Age ended about 10,000 years ago, marine ancestors of ocean-dwelling stickleback fish experienced dramatic changes in skin coloring as they colonized newly formed lakes and streams. New research shows that despite the vast evolutionary gulf between humans and the three-spined stickleback fish, the two species have adopted a common genetic strategy to acquire the skin pigmentation that would help each species thrive in their new environments. ...> Full Article

New Lab Method Detects DNA Damage in the Genome (12/13/2007)

In laboratory experiments using budding yeast, the same type used in baking and brewing, scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, developed a new approach to determine the location of unrepaired breaks in DNA. This new approach should better inform research as unrepaired DNA damage often underlies the development of cancer. The research findings appear in the December, 2007, issue of PloS Biology. ...> Full Article

More 'functional' dna in genome than previously thought (12/13/2007)

Surrounding the small islands of genes within the human genome is a vast sea of mysterious DNA. While most of this non-coding DNA is junk, some of it is used to help genes turn on and off. As reported online this week in Genome Research, Hopkins researchers have now found that this latter portion, which is known as regulatory DNA and contributes to inherited diseases like Parkinson's or mental disorders, may be more abundant than we realize. ...> Full Article

Epigenetic marks a clue to multiple functions of the brain (12/9/2007)

A team of scientists has catalogued chemical tags attached to more than 800 genes from 76 human brain samples and collected the first evidence of how these special, inherited epigenetic "marks" might account for different brain functions. The results appear in the December issue of The American Journal of Human Genetics. ...> Full Article

Plants see the light to help beat the big freeze (12/8/2007)

Light quality signals enhance plant freezing tolerance ...> Full Article

Human gene count tumbles again (12/4/2007)

New analysis reveals several thousand genes to be spurious, leads to gene count revision ...> Full Article

Scientists Map Imprinted Genes in Human Genome (12/4/2007)

Scientists at Duke University have created the first map of imprinted genes throughout the human genome, and they say a modern-day Rosetta stone – a form of artificial intelligence called machine learning – was the key to their success. ...> Full Article

Bees Are The New Silkworms (12/1/2007)

Moths and butterflies, particularly silkworms, are well known producers of silk. And we all know spiders use it for their webs. But they are not the only invertebrates who make use of the strength and versatility of silk. ...> Full Article

Discovery of gene for black coat color in dogs has broad implications (11/29/2007)

The discovery of a gene responsible for black coat color in dogs may help researchers understand fundamental processes in humans, including the regulation of body weight and stress hormones. ...> Full Article

Researchers has identified a gene for the ability to smell the odor of sweat (11/25/2007)

Some people are oblivious to the odor in the locker room after a game, while others wrinkle their noses at the slightest whiff of sweat. Research by Prof. ...> Full Article

Researchers Discover that a Handshake Could Signal High Quality Genes (11/24/2007)

Handgrip strength is an important measure of health and reproductive fitness. ...> Full Article

Gene In Male Fish Lures Females Into Sex (11/19/2007)

A gene has been found in male cichlid fish that evolved to lure female fish so that male cichlids can deposit sperm in the females mouths. A study in the online open access journal BMC Biology reveals that the gene is associated with egg-like markings on the fins of cichlid fishes and uncovers the evolutionary history of these markings, which are central to the success of the fishes' exotic oral mating behaviour. ...> Full Article

Genetic technology reveals how poisonous mushrooms cook up toxins (11/18/2007)

Researchers discover remarkably small genes that produce mushroom toxin - a unique pathway previously unknown in fungi. ...> Full Article

Simple reason helps males evolve more quickly (11/17/2007)

The observation that males evolve more quickly than females has been around since 19th century biologist Charles Darwin noted the majesty of a peacock's tail feather in comparison with the plainness of the peahen's. ...> Full Article

Ancient retroviruses spurred evolution of gene regulatory networks in primates (11/14/2007)

When ancient retroviruses slipped bits of their DNA into the primate genome millions of years ago, they successfully preserved their own genetic legacy. Today an estimated 8 percent of the human genetic code consists of endogenous retroviruses (ERVs)--the DNA remnants from these so-called 'selfish parasites.' ...> Full Article

Changing environment organizes genetic structure (11/14/2007)

Study finds biological complexity arises from self-organizing structure of genes ...> Full Article

All Male or All Female Litter? Sex-ratio Meiotic Drive System Identified In Fruit Flies (11/10/2007)

If you met a person who had 10 children, all of whom were girls, you would probably find this surprising. Yet this kind of distorted sex ratio does occur in groups as diverse as mammals, insects, and plants, where some parents consistently produce litters in which the sex ratio is dramatically skewed. ...> Full Article

Genetics plays role in determining sexual orientation (11/9/2007)

Is sexual orientation something people are born with -- like the colour of their skin and eyes -- or a matter of choice? ...> Full Article

When Are Genes 'Adventurous' And When Are They Conservative? (11/8/2007)

Taking a chance on an experiment – this is one of the impulses that drive evolution. Living cells are, from this angle, great subjects for experimentation: Changes in one molecule can have all sorts of interesting consequences for many other molecules in the cell. Such experiments on genes and proteins have led the cell, and indeed all life, on a long and fascinating evolutionary journey. ...> Full Article

A 'Risk Distribution Law' for Evolution (11/5/2007)

When are the genes adventuresome, and when are they conservative? ...> Full Article

Researchers sniff out gene that gives dogs black fur (10/31/2007)

A discovery about the genetics of coat color in dogs could help explain why humans come in different weights and vary in our abilities to cope with stress, a team led by researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine reports. ...> Full Article

Secrets Behind Butterfly Wing Patterns Uncovered (10/30/2007)

The genes that make a fruit fly's eyes red also produce red wing patterns in the Heliconius butterfly found in South and Central America, finds a new study by a UC Irvine entomologist. ...> Full Article

Colorful View For First Land Animals (10/28/2007)

When prehistoric fish made their first forays onto land, what did they see? According to a study published in the online open access journal, BMC Evolutionary Biology, it's likely that creatures venturing out of the depths viewed their new environment in full colour. ...> Full Article

Ancient DNA Reveals That Some Neanderthals Were Redheads (10/27/2007)

Ancient DNA retrieved from the bones of two Neanderthals suggests that at least some of them had red hair and pale skin, scientists report in the journal Science. The international team says that Neanderthals' pigmentation may even have been as varied as that of modern humans, and that at least 1 percent of Neanderthals were likely redheads. ...> Full Article

Why Sex Chromosomes Evolve So Rapidly (10/24/2007)

In animals with separate sexes, embryos commit to becoming male or female at an early stage. Often this key decision is made by sex determination genes on the sex chromosomes. The genes involved in sexual development have changed remarkably little during evolution. In contrast, the sex determination genes and the sex chromosomes themselves are among the most rapidly changing features of the genome. ...> Full Article

Bacteria Use Plant Defence for Genetic Modification (10/23/2007)

Bacteria that cause tumours in plants modify plant genomes by skilfully exploiting the plants' first line of defence. ...> Full Article

Key Found To Moonlight Romance On The Reef (10/22/2007)

Researchers have discovered what could be the aphrodisiac for the biggest moonlight sex event on Earth. ...> Full Article

Neandertals, Humans Share Key Changes To 'Language Gene' (10/21/2007)

A new study reveals that adaptive changes in a human gene involved in speech and language were shared by our closest extinct relatives, the Neandertals. The finding reveals that the human form of the gene arose much earlier than scientists had estimated previously. It also raises the possibility that Neandertals possessed some of the prerequisites for language. ...> Full Article

Massive Reanalysis Of Genome Data Solves Case Of The Lethal Genes (10/20/2007)

It is better to be looked over than overlooked, Mae West supposedly said. These are words of wisdom for genome data-miners of today. Data that goes unnoticed, despite its widespread availability, can reveal extraordinary insights to the discerning eye. ...> Full Article

Researcher discovers binocular vision gene (10/19/2007)

A team of researchers have identified an important gene responsible for binocular vision. ...> Full Article

Earliest Evolution of Vision Genes Discovered (10/17/2007)

'Opsin' genes found in aquatic relatives of corals, jellyfish, sea anemones ...> Full Article

A gene divided reveals details of natural selection (10/11/2007)

In a molecular tour de force, researchers have provided an exquisitely detailed picture of natural selection as it occurs at the genetic level. ...> Full Article

Evolution Transforms 'Junk' DNA into Genetic Machinery (10/6/2007)

Evolution has mastered the art of turning trash to treasure - though, for scientists, witnessing the transformation can require a bit of patience. In new genetic research, scientists have traced the 170 million-year evolution of a piece of "junk" DNA to its modern incarnation as an important regulator of energy balance in mammals. ...> Full Article

Genetic differences in clover make one type toxic (10/4/2007)

Botanical "cloak and dagger" ...> Full Article

In dogs, a shortcut to mapping disease genes (10/2/2007)

Genomic tool may accelerate studies of dog diseases, many of which also affect humans ...> Full Article

Individual Differences Caused by Shuffled Chunks of DNA in the Human Genome (9/30/2007)

Researchers offer a new view of what causes the greatest genetic variability among individuals - suggesting that it is due less to single point mutations than to the presence of structural changes that cause extended segments of the human genome to be missing, rearranged or present in extra copies. ...> Full Article

Wasp genetics study suggests altruism evolved from maternal behavior (9/29/2007)

Researchers have used an innovative approach to reveal the molecular basis of altruistic behavior in wasps. The research team focused on the expression of behavior-related genes in Polistes metricus paper wasps, a species for which little genetic data was available when the study was begun. ...> Full Article

Gene Involved In Human Language Development Also Involved In Bat Echolocation (9/24/2007)

When it comes to the FOXP2 gene, humans have had most to shout about. Discoveries that mutations in this gene lead to speech defects and that the gene underwent changes around the time language evolved both implicate FOXP2 in the evolution of human language. ...> Full Article

Why some species 'explosively' diversify (9/20/2007)

A new study of finger-sized Australian lizards sheds light on one of the most striking yet largely unexplained patterns in nature: Why is it that some groups of animals have evolved into hundreds, even thousands of species, while other groups include only a few? ...> Full Article

Researcher IDs binocular vision gene (9/14/2007)

In work that could lead to new treatments for sensory disorders in which people experience the strange phenomena of seeing better with one eye covered, MIT researchers report that they have identified the gene responsible for binocular vision. ...> Full Article

Researchers glimpse pathogen's bag of tricks (9/14/2007)

Genome sequence of plant pathogen reveals highly variable sites that may promote its virulence ...> Full Article

Why Genes Of One Parent Are Expressed Over Genes Of The Other: New Ideas In Genomic Imprinting (9/12/2007)

How we come to express the genes of one parent over the other is now better understood through studying the platypus and marsupial wallaby -- and it doesn't seem to have originated in association with sex chromosomes. ...> Full Article

Genes' life stories unfold (9/10/2007)

Scientists develop method to decipher gene history at genome-wide level; initial use in fungi turns up evolutionary surprises ...> Full Article

Extra gene copies were enough to make early humans' mouths water (9/10/2007)

To think that world domination could have begun in the cheeks. That's one interpretation of a discovery, published online September 9 in Nature Genetics, which indicates that humans carry extra copies of the salivary amylase gene. ...> Full Article

A global view: Researchers build microRNA atlas (9/7/2007)

Building a comprehensive microRNA expression atlas is not easy. Just ask the Rockefeller University scientists who, in a massive collaborative effort involving 50 investigators from six countries, led the project. In three years, they catalogued microRNA expression patterns in more than 250 healthy and diseased cell and tissue samples - human and rodent - from 26 different organ systems, and in the process discovered several dozen new microRNAs as well. ...> Full Article

Selection on genes underlying schizophrenia during human evolution (9/6/2007)

Several genes with strong associations to schizophrenia have evolved rapidly due to selection during human evolution, according to new research in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. ...> Full Article

Genes involved in human height discovered (9/5/2007)

Whole genome study reveals first robust genetic link to height in humans ...> Full Article

Insect genes provide clues to help beat the heat (8/25/2007)

New findings from insect studies at Queen's and U of T may help to protect our brains from extremely high fevers that sometimes trigger seizures, particularly in infants and small children. ...> Full Article

Brain gene flicks the switch on gender (8/24/2007)

University of Adelaide researchers have discovered a way of creating a male mouse without a Y chromosome by manipulating a single gene in the developing foetus. ...> Full Article

Interaction Of Just Two Genes Governs Coloration Patterns In Mice (8/16/2007)

Biologists at Harvard University and the University of California, San Diego, have found that a simple interaction between just two genes determines the patterns of fur coloration that camouflage mice against their background, protecting them from many predators. The work, published recently in the journal PLoS Biology, marks one of the few instances in which specific genetic changes have been linked to an organism's ability to survive in the wild. ...> Full Article

Researchers Find Gene For Left-Handedness (8/5/2007)

An international group of scientists, led by a team from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at Oxford University, have discovered a gene that increases an individual's chances of being left-handed. A report of the study is published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. ...> Full Article

Molecular Biologists Employ Reporter Genes To Track Cells And Organisms (8/4/2007)

To help molecular biologists in the difficult task of keeping abreast of current events in the world of cells and organisms, they employ reporter genes to 'broadcast' specific happenings. ...> Full Article

New Method Better Identifies Functionally Related Genes On The Bacterial Chromosome (8/1/2007)

The moment a bacterial pathogen makes contact with its host, its goal is simple: to infect. To do the job, it has to turn a specific array of genes on and off and show a little know-how in adapting to its new environment. A new tool developed at Rockefeller University allows scientists to identify more precisely than before this specific array of genes - known and unknown - that are expressed as a result of this interaction as well as determine what functions they may perform. ...> Full Article

New Fruit Fly Gene Discovery May Change Ideas About How New Genes Are Formed (7/27/2007)

Scientists thought that most new genes were formed from existing genes, but Cornell researchers have discovered a gene in some fruit flies that appears to be unrelated to other genes in any known genome. ...> Full Article

Entomologist On International Team That Identified Mosquito's Immune System Genes (6/29/2007)

Understanding how the immune system evolved in insects can help scientists gain new insight into human response to infection, says an Iowa State University entomologist. ...> Full Article

Study Shows Genes Play An Unexpected Role In Their Own Activation (6/28/2007)

Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have discovered how a single molecular "on switch" triggers gene activity that might cause effects ranging from learning and memory capabilities to glucose production in the liver. ...> Full Article

Circadian Rhythms Dominate All Life Functions, Plays Significant Role In Metabolism (6/21/2007)

New research from Colorado State University shows that the function of all genes in mammals is based on circadian - or daily - rhythms. The study refutes the current theory that only 10 percent to 15 percent of all genes were affected by nature's clock. While scientists have long known that circadian rhythms regulate the behavior of the living, the study shows that daily rhythm dominates all life functions and particularly metabolism. The new study presents oscillation as a basic property of all genes in the organism as opposed to special function of some genes as previously believed. ...> Full Article

Important Secret In Gene Replication Uncovered (6/15/2007)

A team of researchers led by University of Virginia Health System geneticists has uncovered a major secret in the mystery of how the DNA helix replicates itself time after time. It turns out that it is not just the sequence of the bases (building blocks) in the DNA, but also how loosely or tightly the chromatin (the material that makes up chromosomes) is packed at different points of the chromosome that is critical. ...> Full Article

Some Language Preferences May Be Genetic (6/1/2007)

Genetic differences may influence the type of language spoken by different human groups, according to University of Edinburgh researchers. ...> Full Article

For Many Insects, Winter Survival Is In The Genes (5/31/2007)

Many insects living in northern climates don't die at the first signs of cold weather. Rather, new research suggests that they use a number of specialized proteins to survive the chilly months. ...> Full Article

New Genetic Data Overturn Long-Held Theory Of Limb Development (5/27/2007)

Long before animals with limbs (tetrapods) came onto the scene about 365 million years ago, fish already possessed the genes associated with helping to grow hands and feet (autopods) report University of Chicago researchers in the May 24, 2007, issue of Nature. ...> Full Article

Gene That Allows Us to Taste Sugars Identified (5/25/2007)

USC College neuroscientist Emily Liman reveals a pathway from the tongue to the brain. ...> Full Article

Genes Affect Aggression In Mice Species (5/24/2007)

Imagine if a naturally occurring chemical in your body could help make you feel more calm and relaxed - but it would only work during the long days of summer. ...> Full Article

Clock Gene Plays Role In Weight Gain (5/21/2007)

Scientists at the University of Virginia and the Medical College of Wisconsin have discovered that a gene that participates in the regulation of the body's biological rhythms may also be a major control in regulating metabolism. Their finding shows that mice lacking the gene Nocturnin, which is regulated by the circadian clock in the organs and tissues of mammals, are resistant to weight gain when put on a high fat diet and also are resistant to the accumulation of fat in the liver. This new understanding of weight gain could potentially lead to therapies for inhibiting obesity and for treating its effects on health. ...> Full Article

Scientists Attach Genes To Mini-Chromosomes In Maize (5/17/2007)

A team of scientists at the University of Missouri-Columbia has discovered a way to create engineered mini-chromosomes in maize and attach genes to those mini-chromosomes. This discovery opens new possibilities for the development of crops that are multiply resistant to viruses, insects, fungi, bacteria and herbicides, and for the development of proteins and metabolites that can be used to treat human illnesses. ...> Full Article

Researchers Find Cause of Muscle-Stiffness Disease (5/15/2007)

Imagine a dog running after a ball, only to stiffen up and fall over because of a genetic muscle cell disorder. It may sound almost comical, but this disorder, called Myotonia congenita, affects dogs, cats, horses, water buffalo, and even people. ...> Full Article

Genetic Roots Of Bipolar Disorder Revealed (5/10/2007)

The likelihood of developing bipolar disorder depends in part on the combined, small effects of variations in many different genes in the brain, none of which is powerful enough to cause the disease by itself, a new study shows. However, targeting the enzyme produced by one of these genes could lead to development of new, more effective medications. The research was conducted by scientists at the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), with others from the Universities of Heidelberg and Bonn and a number of U.S. facilities collaborating in a major project called the NIMH Genetics Initiative. ...> Full Article

Researchers Explore Genetics Of Canine Speed (5/8/2007)

Whippets are bred for speed. These dogs have the appearance of a small greyhound and have been clocked sprinting to speeds approaching 40 miles per hour over a 200-yard racing course. Recently, scientists at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), discovered a genetic mutation that helps to explain why some whippets run even faster than others. ...> Full Article

Team Sheds Light on Long-Sought Cold Sensation Gene (5/7/2007)

For years, scientists have struggled to identify the genes responsible for mammals' sensation of cold. Finally, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and the Novartis Research Foundation have shown that a gene called TRPM8 is responsible for the bulk of this ability in mice. ...> Full Article

Gene Helps Distinguish Self from Non-Self During Neural Development (5/7/2007)

Like the elegant branching of a tree, the dendritic limbs of developing nerve cells must organize themselves to cover as much space as they can evenly and efficiently. To complicate matters, they must also take care to avoid overlapping with their sister dendrites. ...> Full Article

Coral Genome Project Suspects Coral Genome Bigger Than Humans (5/3/2007)

The humble coral may possess as many genes - and possibly even more - than humans do. And remarkably, although it is very distant from humans in evolutionary terms, coral has many of the immune system genes that protect people against disease. ...> Full Article

Australian Marsupials Challenge Gene Theory (5/3/2007)

Scientists studying the kangaroo genome have cast doubt on the credentials of a gene thought to be crucial to the process of inactivating one sex chromosome in women. ...> Full Article

Scientists Learn To Change Body Clock From 24-Hour-Cycle To A 27-Hour-Cycle (5/1/2007)

Wheel-running mice have helped scientists to identify an altered body clock gene that can make a normal day up to three hours longer. The altered gene, named "after hours" or Afh, is a variant of a gene called Fbxl3 which was previously unknown to play a role in keeping mammals internal body clocks running on time. ...> Full Article

Scientists Find Missing Link to Understand How Plants Make Vitamin C (4/29/2007)

Vitamin C is possibly the most important small molecule whose biosynthetic pathway remained a mystery. That is until now. ...> Full Article

Researchers Zero In On Genes That Turn A Plant's Ability To Self-pollinate On And Off (4/26/2007)

Some plants need a partner to reproduce. Pollen from one plant pollinates the stigma of another, and a seed is formed. But other plants can self-pollinate, a handy survival mechanism for a lonely plant. ...> Full Article

Two-Protein Team Would Be Lost Without Each Other (4/25/2007)

Researchers are developing a more detailed picture of the complex interplay between genes and proteins in the rapidly growing root tips of plants ...> Full Article

Researchers Discover Key to Memory Storage in Brain (4/25/2007)

For years, scientists have known little about how the brain assigns cells to participate in encoding and storing memories. Now a team of researchers from UCLA and the University of Toronto has discovered that a protein called CREB controls the odds of a neuron playing a role in memory formation. ...> Full Article

Junk Dna Now Looks Like Powerful Regulator (4/24/2007)

Large swaths of garbled human DNA once dismissed as junk appear to contain some valuable sections, according to a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of California-Santa Cruz. The scientists propose that this redeemed DNA plays a role in controlling when genes turn on and off. ...> Full Article

Scientists Identify Genes Activated During Learning and Memory (4/21/2007)

Researchers have long recognized that for learning and memory to take place, certain genes must be activated to alter neuron activity inside the brain. Disruptions in normal gene expression within these neurons can lead to alarming consequences, such as seizures and epilepsy. But identifying and cataloging all the genes involved in learning is a daunting task. In the March 13 issue of BMC Neuroscience, Carnegie Mellon University scientists show how an innovative computational approach can provide a rapid way to identify the likely members of this long sought-after set of genes. ...> Full Article

Family Study Hunts Schizophrenia-Risk Genes In Latinos (4/20/2007)

Three regions of chromosomes 1, 5 and 18 very likely contain genes that contribute to schizophrenia in persons of Mexican and Central American ancestry, investigators of an international genetics study conducted in the U.S., Mexico, Guatemala and Costa Rica reported this month. ...> Full Article

Human-Chimp Gene Study Upsets Long-Held View (4/19/2007)

Put a human and a chimpanzee side by side, and it seems obvious which lineage has changed the most since the two diverged from a common ancestor millions of years ago. Such apparent physical differences, along with human speech, language and brainpower, have led many people to believe that natural selection has acted in a positive manner on more genes in humans than in chimps. ...> Full Article

Scientists Unlock Secret Of What Makes Plants Flower (4/19/2007)

A protein acting as a long-distance signal from leaf to shoot-tip tells plants when to flower, says new research published in Science Express on Thursday 19 April 2007. ...> Full Article

Research Team Identifies Additional Genetic Risk Factors For Crohn's Disease (4/17/2007)

Variations could improve understanding of disease process, lead to new therapies. ...> Full Article

Scientists Explain Why We Vary In Attractiveness (4/17/2007)

Newcastle University researchers believe they have solved a mystery that has puzzled evolutionary scientists for years ... if 'good' genes spread through the population, why are individuals so different? ...> Full Article

Genetic Archaeology Finds Clues to Pregnancy in Male Pipefish and Seahorses (4/16/2007)

Genetic archaeology is providing a new clue to one of the greatest gender mysteries in the fish world: how did male pregnancy evolve in a family of fish? ...> Full Article

Good Behavior, Religiousness May Be Genetic (4/15/2007)

Study of Twins Shows that Altruistic Behavior not Strictly Environmental ...> Full Article

New Study Zeroes In On The Genetic Roots Of Alzheimer's (4/14/2007)

Scientists have known for more than a decade that individuals with a certain gene are at higher risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease. Now a new study helps explain why this is so. ...> Full Article

Researchers Find Fragile X And Down Syndromes Linked To Faulty Brain Communication (4/14/2007)

The two most prevalent forms of genetic mental retardation, Fragile X and Down syndromes, may share a common cause, according to researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine. The problem, a crippled communication network in the brain, may also be associated with autism. ...> Full Article

Discovery Of Gene Mutation That Causes Infertility In Male Mice Gives Promise Of Similar Finding In Infertile Men (4/12/2007)

Discovery of gene mutation that causes infertility in male mice gives promise of similar finding in infertile men ...> Full Article

Scientists find genes involved in the battle between Hessian flies and wheat (4/10/2007)

Wheat has ways to battle the tiny, red wormlike insects that nibble on the plant's leaves and can destroy crops worldwide, but the Hessian fly larvae that survive eventually evolve methods to overcome plant defenses. ...> Full Article

Genetic Switch Can Control Memory (4/9/2007)

McGill University researchers have discovered that a mutant gene improves the long-term memory of laboratory mice, a discovery they hope will one day lead to a better quality of life for Alzheimer’s patients and others suffering from memory impairment. ...> Full Article

Researchers Identify Gene That Plays Key Role in Body Size (4/6/2007)

An international team of scientists, including researchers from Cornell University, has found a mutation in a single gene that plays a key role in determining body-size differences within and among dog breeds and probably is important in determining the size of humans as well. ...> Full Article

Gene induces eyes in odd spots (4/3/2007)

A gene thought to play a relatively minor role in eye development is powerful enough on its own to initiate the formation of eyes in strange spots on a fruit fly's body, Indiana University Bloomington scientists have learned. ...> Full Article

Genetic Chimeras May Be Loved More By Dad (4/2/2007)

Marmosets, small monkeys that live in the forests of Central and South America, are usually born as twins. Their early development is quite interesting. Through the exchange of embryonic stem cells in the womb, they become genetic “chimeras,” which means they carry genes of their brother or sister in their own tissues. ...> Full Article

Scientists Identify How Development of Different Species Uses Same Genes Differently (4/2/2007)

Biologists at New York University have identified how different species use common genes to control their early development and alter how these genes are used to accommodate their own features. ...> Full Article

Could USA Presidential DNA Trail Reveal Middle-Eastern Origins? (3/30/2007)

University of Leicester study into ancestry of Thomas Jefferson shows rare class of DNA ...> Full Article

Simulated populations used to probe gene mapping (3/28/2007)

Forward-time simulation proves practical for studying complex diseases ...> Full Article

Researchers confirm association between gene and intelligence (3/16/2007)

A team of scientists, led by psychiatric geneticists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has gathered the most extensive evidence to date that a gene that activates signaling pathways in the brain influences one kind of intelligence. They have confirmed a link between the gene, CHRM2, and performance IQ, which involves a person's ability to organize things logically. ...> Full Article

Genes Transfer is Common Between Organisms (3/15/2007)

Two new studies by University of California, Berkeley, scientists highlight the amazing promiscuity of genes, which appear to shuttle frequently between organisms, especially more primitive organisms, and often in packs. ...> Full Article

Gene Mutations That Survive Negative Selection Spread Fastest Via Positive Selection (3/11/2007)

Although the human and chimpanzee genomes are distinguished by 35 million differences in individual DNA "letters," only about 50,000 of those differences alter the sequences of proteins. Of those 50,000 differences, an estimated 5,000 may have adaptive consequences in the evolutionary divergence between these two species, according to a study published in the March 6, 2007, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ...> Full Article

The Genetics of Bisexuality (3/1/2007)

A new genetic population model indicates that if a gene exists for homosexual behavior, that it would rapidly spread in populations. The same model also predicts widespread bisexuality. ...> Full Article

Early Europeans unable to stomach milk (2/27/2007)

The first direct evidence that early Europeans were unable to digest milk has been found by scientists at UCL (University College London) and Mainz University. ...> Full Article

Studies of population genetics, evolution are an exercise in bad taste (2/20/2007)

Scientific studies of why foods such as Brussels sprouts and stout beer are horribly bitter-tasting to some people but palatable to others are shedding light on a number of questions, from the mechanisms of natural selection to understanding how our genes affect our dietary habits. ...> Full Article

Lactose tolerance gene proves Natural Selection in humans (2/7/2007)

This unassuming gene, may be the strongest genetic evidence that Darwin's natural selection has occurred (and still does occur) in humans. ...> Full Article

Gene Swapping VS Gene Theft (1/30/2007)

Researchers at Rice University have created a mathematical model that argues that evolution doesn't proceed solely through breeding and genetic mutations. The theory suggests that organisms also swap large sections of DNA. ...> Full Article

Skull Is First Fossil Proof of Human Migration Theory out of Africa (1/16/2007)

The skull was originally unearthed from a riverbed near Hofmeyr, South Africa, in 1952 but was never accurately dated. Frederick E. Grine, an anthropologist and anatomist at Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York, saw the skull in an office in Cape Town, South Africa, and was struck by its similarities to the skulls of the first modern humans found in Europe. ...> Full Article

Human Neanderthal Interbreeding (11/8/2006)

Researchers with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the University of Chicago have published a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that provides circumstantial evidence that humans and Neanderthals interbred at some point in history. ...> Full Article

Ghost in your genes (10/30/2006)

Scientists from several backgrounds have determined that if your grandparents suffered environmental exposure to toxins that it may have caused changes in your genes. ...> Full Article

Search for Adam (6/24/2005)

Geneticist Spencer Wells has produced a new documentary for National Geographic, in which, through DNA tries to find biblical "Adam" or the first man. Using the y chromosome, which is virtually unchanged from father to son, he will take samples from people all over the earth in hopes of finding a common ancestor. ...> Full Article

Quest for the Phoenicians (10/20/2004)

This unsatisfying documentary felt incomplete, and was very vague on a lot of information, and ultimately didn't accomplish the objectives it set out to complete. It felt more like an infomercial than a National Geographic Special. ...> Full Article