All Articles Tagged As: genomics

The cooperative view: New evidence suggests a symbiogenetic origin for the centrosome (5/8/2008)

The origin of the centrosome, a component of animal cells that functions in cell division. ...> Full Article

8 new human genome projects offer large-scale picture of genetic difference (5/1/2008)

Projects give view of structural differences among individuals and find previously unknown human DNA ...> Full Article

Scientists Find a Fingerprint of Evolution Across the Human Genome (4/9/2008)

Splicing exerts selective pressure on DNA sequence ...> Full Article

Scientists visualize the machinery of mRNA splicing (4/6/2008)

Recent research has provided a glimpse of the ancient mechanism that helped diversify our genomes; it illuminated a relationship between gene processing in humans and the most primitive organisms by creating the first crystal structure of a crucial self-splicing region of RNA. ...> Full Article

Genetic Study Of Latin Americans Sheds Light On A Troubled History (3/24/2008)

A recent molecular analysis of ancestry across Latin America has revealed a marked differentiation between regions and demonstrated a "genetic continuity" between pre-and post Columbian populations. This study provides the first broad description of how the genome diversity of populations from Latin America has been shaped by the colonial history of the region. The research involved the collaboration of teams at universities across Latin America, the US and Europe, led by Dr. Andres Ruiz-Linares from University College London. ...> Full Article

Finding deep roots, new genome software infers ancestry with high accuracy (3/21/2008)

New genomics analysis software developed by computer scientists at Stanford appears far more adept than prior methods at unraveling the ancestry of individuals. ...> Full Article

Surprising discovery from first large-scale analysis of biodiversity and biogeography of viruses (3/20/2008)

Modern microbialites may be endemic remnants of ancient ecosystems ...> Full Article

Biologists surprised to find parochial bacterial viruses (3/5/2008)

Intriguing find reveals more mysteries from Mexico's Cuatro Cienegas ...> Full Article

Viruses Evolve To Play By Host Rules (3/4/2008)

Biologists have examined the complete genomes of viruses that infect the bacteria E. coli, P. aeruginosa and L. lactis and have found that many of these viral genomes exhibit codon bias, the tendency to preferentially encode a protein with a particular spelling. ...> Full Article

Honey bee invaders exploit the genetic resources of their predecessors (2/27/2008)

Like any species that aspires to rule the world, the honey bee, Apis mellifera, invades new territories in repeated assaults. A new study demonstrates that when these honey bees arrive in a place that has already been invaded, the newcomers benefit from the genetic endowment of their predecessors. ...> Full Article

Evolutionary History of SARS Supports Bats As Virus Source (2/20/2008)

Scientists who have studied the genome of the virus that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) say their comparisons to related viruses offer new evidence that the virus infecting humans originated in bats. ...> Full Article

Genome of marine organism tells of animals' one-celled ancestors (2/15/2008)

The newly sequenced genome of a one-celled, planktonic marine organism, reported today (Thursday, Feb. 14) in the journal Nature, is already telling scientists about the evolutionary changes that accompanied the jump from one-celled life forms to multicellular animals like ourselves. ...> Full Article

Evolving complexity out of 'junk DNA' (2/13/2008)

'Junk DNA' could hold the secret of the evolutionary origin of complex animals, according to new research from Dartmouth College (NH, USA) and the University of Bristol (UK). ...> Full Article

Cats' Family Tree Rooted in Fertile Crescent, Study Confirms (1/30/2008)

The Fertile Crescent of the Middle East has long been identified as a "cradle of civilization" for humans. In a new genetic study, researchers at the University of California, Davis, have concluded that all ancestral roads for the modern day domestic cat also lead back to the same locale. ...> 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

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

Genome Scan Shows Polynesians Have Little Genetic Relationship To Melanesians (1/19/2008)

The origins and current genetic relationships of Pacific Islanders have generated interest and controversy for many decades. Now, a new comprehensive genetic study of almost 1,000 individuals has revealed that Polynesians and Micronesians have almost no genetic relation to Melanesians, and that groups that live in the islands of Melanesia are remarkably diverse. ...> 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

Evolution Of Male-female Differences Within A Shared Genome (1/6/2008)

One of the major components of the world's biological diversity are the differences between males and females in traits related to mating, including weapons used when competing for mates and display traits used to seduce them. Such gender differences are thought to arise because selection acts differently on each sex. The conflicting interests of males and females in reproduction are thought to be a key source of sex-specific selection on such traits. ...> Full Article

New route for heredity bypasses DNA (1/6/2008)

A group of scientists in Princeton's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology has uncovered a new biological mechanism that could provide a clearer window into a cell's inner workings. ...> Full Article

Research Scientists Discover Remarkable Editing System For Protein Production (1/5/2008)

Findings Could Help Identify Causes For Neurological and Other Diseases ...> Full Article

Human Genetic Variation: Science's 'Breakthrough Of The Year' (1/1/2008)

In 2007, researchers were dazzled by the degree to which genomes differ from one human to another and began to understand the role of these variations in disease and personal traits. Science and its publisher, AAAS, the nonprofit science society, recognize "Human Genetic Variation" as the Breakthrough of the Year, and identify nine other of the year's most significant scientific accomplishments. ...> 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

New plant study reveals a 'deeply hidden' layer of the transcriptome (12/29/2007)

Cells keep a close watch over the transcriptome - the totality of all parts of the genome that are expressed in any given cell at any given time. Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the University of Missouri-Kansas City teamed up to peel back another layer of transcriptional regulation and gain new insight into how genomes work. ...> 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

Pinot Noir Grape Sequenced (12/27/2007)

Viticulture, the growing of grapes (Vitis vinifera) chiefly to make wine, is an ancient form of agriculture, evidence of which has been found from the Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages. We have a detailed understanding of how nurture affects the qualities of a grape harvest leading to the concept of terroir (the range of local influences that carry over into a wine). The nature of the grapes themselves has been less well understood but our knowledge of this is substantially increased by the publication of a high quality draft genome sequence of a Pinot Noir grape by an Italian-based multinational consortium. ...> Full Article

Life's six-legged survivors - evolutionary study shows beetles are in it for the long run (12/26/2007)

Most modern-day groups of beetles have been around since the time of the dinosaurs and have been diversifying ever since. ...> Full Article

NIH Launches Human Microbiome Project, (12/25/2007)

Roadmap Effort to Use Genomic Technologies To Explore Role of Microbes in Human Health and Disease ...> Full Article

Researchers study viruses at deep-sea vents (12/24/2007)

A University of Delaware research team has received a $1.2 million National Science Foundation grant to study one of the least appreciated of all life forms--viruses. ...> 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

Researchers spearhead key genome initiative (12/16/2007)

The complete collection of genes - the genome - of a moss has been sequenced, providing scientists an important evolutionary link between single-celled algae and flowering plants. ...> Full Article

Genome study places modern humans in the evolutionary fast lane (12/14/2007)

Countering a common theory that human evolution has slowed to a crawl or even stopped in modern humans, a new study examining data from an international genomics project describes the past 40,000 years as a time of supercharged evolutionary change, driven by exponential population growth and cultural shifts. ...> 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

Team discovers bacterial surprise (12/7/2007)

A DNA shift never before seen in nature ...> 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

Microbes in Ancient Ice Could Explain How Life Adapts to Harsh Environments (12/2/2007)

Study will analyze the microbes' DNA for clues to life's origin ...> Full Article

New research to decode the genetic secrets of prolific potato pest (12/1/2007)

The full weight of a consortium of world-leading scientists - including those who helped decode the entire human genome - is being thrown at a parasitic worm less than 1mm long. ...> Full Article

Scientists melt million-year-old ice in search of ancient microbes (11/28/2007)

Researchers have thawed ice estimated to be at least a million years old from above Lake Vostok, an ancient lake that lies hidden more than two miles beneath the frozen surface of Antarctica. ...> Full Article

Fruit fly study advances genetics (11/17/2007)

The humble fruit fly has played a lead role on the scientific stage for more than a century. Tiny picnic pests to us, flies from a single species, Drosophila melanogaster, have provided a bounty of Nobel Prize-winning discoveries for researchers in the fields of genetics and developmental biology, and helped serve as models of human diseases such as Parkinson's and cancer. ...> 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

Are there rearrangement hot spots in the human genome? (11/13/2007)

The debate over the validity of genomic rearrangement "hotspots" has its most recent addition in a new theory put forth by researchers at the University of California San Diego. The study, published on November 9 in PLoS Computational Biology, holds that there are indeed rearrangement hotspots in the human genome. ...> Full Article

Genomic revelations from fly's family tree (11/12/2007)

Fruit fly genomes provide window to genome function, clues for mammal studies ...> Full Article

Twelve Fly Genomes Published (11/8/2007)

The complete genomes of 12 related species of the fly Drosophila are published this week in the journal Nature. One of the 12, Drosophila melanogaster, is widely used in studies of genetics and development, and its genome was published in 2000. The new work refines understanding of fruit fly genomics, but it also has implications for understanding the human genome. ...> Full Article

Scientists Devise Novel, Low-Cost Method of Sifting Genome's High-Value Regions (11/7/2007)

Technique Opens New Horizons For Scientists Seeking Disease-Related Genes ...> Full Article

Human Microbiome Projects to sequence 150 bacteria, sample human metagenome (11/4/2007)

A $2.3 million grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute will enable researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center in Houston to determine the genetic code of bacteria that colonize healthy humans and study the structure of microbial communities from five regions of the human body. ...> Full Article

Domestic Cat Genome Sequenced (11/2/2007)

The DNA of a 4-year-old Abyssinian cat named Cinnamon, whose well-documented lineage can be traced back several generations to Sweden, has been sequenced. Cinnamon is one of several mammals that are currently being analyzed using "light" (two-fold) genome sequence coverage. To make sense of Cinnamon's raw sequence data, a multi-center collaboration of scientists leveraged information from previously sequenced mammalian genomes as well as previous gene-mapping studies in the cat. In doing so, they found that Cinnamon's sequences spanned about 65% of the euchromatic (gene-containing) regions of the feline genome. ...> 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

Consortium Publishes Phase II Map of Human Genetic Variation (10/23/2007)

Scientists published analyses of its second-generation map of human genetic variation, which contains three times more markers than the initial version unveiled in 2005. ...> Full Article

Scientists map out first Asian genome (10/22/2007)

Scientists have successfully completed the first sequence map of the diploid genome of an Asian individual. ...> 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

New Resequencing Technology Accelerates Discovery Of Subtle DNA Variations (10/19/2007)

A new technology will allow researchers to more easily discover subtle and overlooked genetic variations that may have serious consequences for health and disease. ...> Full Article

Combining new gene chips with fast sequencing technology brings universal sequence a step closer (10/17/2007)

A new technique that combines gene chip technology with the latest generation of gene sequencing machines to allow fast and accurate sequencing of selected parts of the genome has been developed. ...> Full Article

Inconsistencies With Neanderthal Genomic DNA Sequences (10/15/2007)

Were Neanderthals direct ancestors of contemporary humans or an evolutionary side branch that eventually died out? ...> Full Article

Scientists Sequence Genome of Soil-Dwelling Green Alga (10/12/2007)

Results have implications for understanding early evolutionary events ...> Full Article

Spread Of Endogenous Retrovirus K Is Similar In The DNA Of Humans And Rhesus Monkeys (10/11/2007)

According to paleontologic and molecular studies, the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is the closer relative to the humans (Homo sapiens) and that both lineages had a common ancestor at 5 to 7 million years ago. ...> Full Article

Which Came First, the Chicken Genome or the Egg Genome? (10/9/2007)

Researchers have answered a similarly vexing (and far more relevant) genomic question: Which of the thousands of long stretches of repeated DNA in the human genome came first? And which are the duplicates? ...> 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

Census of protein architectures offers new view of history of life (10/4/2007)

The present can tell you a lot about the past, but you need to know where to look. A new study appearing this month in Genome Research reveals that protein architectures - the three-dimensional structures of specific regions within proteins - provide an extraordinary window on the history of life. ...> 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

Genome of parasitic worm cracked by scientists (9/25/2007)

New insight into the worm that causes the disease elephantiasis ...> 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

Ultraconserved Elements in the Genome: Are They Indispensable? (9/6/2007)

Three years ago, "ultraconserved elements" were discovered in the genomes of mice, rats, and humans. These are DNA sequences 200 base pairs in length or longer — some are over 700 base pairs long — showing 100-percent identity among the three species. They have been perfectly conserved since the last common ancestor of mice, rats, and humans, which lived some 85 million years ago. ...> Full Article

A major advance in plant biology: the grapevine genome is completely sequenced (9/4/2007)

A major achievement has been reached in plant biology: the first detailed analysis of the grapevine genome has just been published. The joint effort carried out by scientists from Genoscope and INRA in France and from several Universities and the Istituto di Genomica Applicata (IGA) in Italy has produced a high-quality draft of the genome sequence of Vitis vinifera, the first for a fruit crop, cultivated for both fruit and beverage. ...> Full Article

Genetic Trigger For The Cambrian Explosion Possibly Unraveled (9/4/2007)

A team of scientists led by young Croatian evolutionary geneticist Tomislav Domazet-Lošo from Ruder Boškovic Institute (RBI) in Zagreb, Croatia, developed a novel methodological approach in evolutionary studies. Using the method they named 'genomic phylostratigraphy', its authors shed new and unexpected light on some of the long standing macroevolutionary issues, which have been puzzling evolutionary biologists since Darwin. ...> Full Article

One Species' Genome Discovered Inside Another Species' Genome (8/31/2007)

Bacterial to animal gene transfers shown to be widespread, with implications for evolution and control of diseases and pests ...> Full Article

A computer simulation shows how evolution may have speeded up (8/29/2007)

Is heading straight for a goal the quickest way there? If the name of the game is evolution, suggests new research at the Weizmann Institute of Science, the pace might speed up if the goals themselves change continuously. ...> Full Article

Physical outline of the bovine genome revealed (8/25/2007)

Scientists are completing a biological map that is critical for the sequencing of the bovine genome. ...> Full Article

Scientists Aim To Sequence And Catalog Conifer Genes For Future Biofuels Research (8/23/2007)

Jeffrey Dean, professor of forest biotechnology in the University of Georgia Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, is spearheading a project at the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute (JGI) that will greatly expand the gene catalog for pines and initiate the first gene discovery efforts in five other conifer families. ...> Full Article

Conquest of land began in shark genome (8/17/2007)

When the first four-legged animals sprouted fingers and toes, they took an ancient genetic recipe and simply extended the cooking time, say University of Florida scientists writing in Wednesday's issue of the journal PLoS One. ...> Full Article

Researchers Unravel Complexity In Genetic Code (8/15/2007)

Findings indicate alternative splicing is highly regulated ...> Full Article

Genomics Study Provides Insight Into The Evolution Of Unique Human Traits, Including Endurance Running (8/2/2007)

Today, researchers from the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center (UCDHSC), along with colleagues from Stanford University, report the results of a large-scale, genome-wide study to investigate gene copy number differences among ten primate species, including humans. ...> Full Article

Process Paves Way for Zebrafish Knockout Bank (7/28/2007)

A new, more efficient technique for generating systematic zebrafish gene knockouts may soon provide the genomic research community with a comprehensive zebrafish gene knockout bank. In last week's online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH); the University of California, Los Angeles; and Peking University in Beijing, China, reported developing a technology to knockout zebrafish genes in a stable, targeted manner. ...> Full Article

Mastodon Extends The Time Limit On DNA Sequencing (7/25/2007)

In a new paper in PLoS Biology, Michael Hofreiter from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, and colleagues from Switzerland and the United States, announce the sequencing of the complete mitochondrial genome of the mastodon (Mammut americanum), a recently extinct relative of the living elephants that diverged about 26 million years ago. ...> Full Article

Charting Ever-Changing Genomes (7/23/2007)

Instead of immutable proprietary software, any species' genetic information resembles open source code that is constantly tweaked and optimized to meet the users' specific needs. But which parts of the code have withstood the test of time and which parts have undergone rapid evolutionary change has been difficult to assess. ...> Full Article

Sequencing Method Yields Fuller Picture (7/20/2007)

Sequence data for both chromosomes can be inferred under the right circumstances, USC biologists say. ...> Full Article

Rapid Evolution Of Non-Coding DNA Since The Split Between Human And Chimp Genome (7/18/2007)

A difference of only a few percent in DNA sequence is thought to separate the human and chimp genomes. New research published in Genome Biology identifies the subset of sequences that may have driven the evolution of our two species. ...> Full Article

Evidence Of Very Recent Human Adaptation: Up To 10 Percent Of Human Genome May Have Changed (7/16/2007)

A Cornell study of genome sequences in African-Americans, European-Americans and Chinese suggests that natural selection has caused as much as 10 percent of the human genome to change in some populations in the last 15,000 to 100,000 years, when people began migrating from Africa. ...> Full Article

Anemone Genome Gives New View Of Multi-Celled Ancestors (7/8/2007)

The first analysis of the genome of the sea anemone shows it to be nearly as complex as the human genome, and researchers say it provides major insights into the common ancestor of not only humans and sea anemones, but of nearly all multi-celled animals. ...> Full Article

Scientists To Sequence Eucalyptus Genome (7/6/2007)

An ambitious international effort has been launched today to decode the genome of Eucalyptus, one of the world's most valuable fibre and paper-producing trees. ...> Full Article

New Findings Challenge Established Views About Human Genome (6/17/2007)

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

Nimblegen Systems Adds Dna Methlyation Arrays And Services To Growing Product Portfolio (5/16/2007)

NimbleGen Systems, Inc. announced today the addition of DNA methylation analysis microarrays and services to its growing suite of genomic and epigenetic analysis tools. In addition to microarray designs allowing researchers to survey whole genomes, promoter regions, CpG islands, and ENCODE-defined regions, researchers can customize the content of their arrays based on individual study goals. ...> Full Article

Lab-on-a-chip Device To Speed Proteomics Research (5/7/2007)

In recent years, the science of biology has been dominated by genomics - the study of genes and their functions. The genomics era is now making way for the era of proteomics - the study of the proteins that genes encode. ...> Full Article

Neanderthal Genome Video Update (4/25/2007)

Nature has put a wonderful short set of videos on their web site about the Neanderthal Genome Project. The project, which hopes to decode and publish the Neanderthal Genome, within a couple years, is steadily making progress, and is releasing new information in regular intervals. ...> Full Article

Placental Mammals Newer Than Previously Thought (4/21/2007)

Despite great progress over the past decade, the evolutionary history of placental mammals remains controversial. While a consensus is emerging on the topology of the evolutionary tree, although with occasional disagreement, divergence times remain uncertain. The age of earlier nodes and in particular the root, remain especially uncertain in the absence of definitive placental fossils deeper into the Cretaceous. ...> Full Article

Primate Research Center Plays Key Role in Rhesus Genome Project (4/16/2007)

When the Human Genome Project was completed in 2003, it was hailed as a groundbreaking health achievement. Now, scientists in Oregon have played a key role in the latest significant breakthrough that will greatly impact genetic studies aimed at treating and curing disease. Researchers at the Oregon National Primate Research Center at Oregon Health & Science University took part in the analysis of the newly completed rhesus macaque monkey genome. The results of this monumental project, which involved 35 institutions and 170 researchers, are published in the current edition of the journal Science. ...> Full Article

Researchers use 'nanopore channels' to precisely detect DNA (4/11/2007)

Researchers at Purdue's Birck Nanotechnology Center have shown how "nanopore channels" can be used to rapidly and precisely detect specific sequences of DNA as a potential tool for genomic applications in medicine, environmental monitoring and homeland security. ...> Full Article

New Science of Metagenomics Will Transform Modern Microbiology (4/8/2007)

The emerging field of metagenomics, where the DNA of entire communities of microbes is studied simultaneously, presents the greatest opportunity -- perhaps since the invention of the microscope -- to revolutionize understanding of the microbial world, says a new report from the National Research Council. The report calls for a new Global Metagenomics Initiative to drive advances in the field in the same way that the Human Genome Project advanced the mapping of our genetic code. ...> Full Article

Unscrambling the Gibbon Genome (3/9/2007)

The arboreal, branch-swinging antics of the gibbon are nothing compared to the acrobatics its genome has undergone during evolution. While the genomes of humans and other primates still resemble that of their common ancestor, the massive genomic scrambling of the gibbon genome has rendered it a complex puzzle. Solving that puzzle, scientists believe, could help reveal how evolution experiments with genomic rearrangement, as well as how chromosomes can become unstable in cancer and other genetic diseases. ...> Full Article

Neanderthal DNA Sequencing (11/15/2006)

Work on the Neanderthal Genome Project is starting to bear fruit as two scientific papers are published in journals Nature and Science. So far a large portion of the Neanderthal DNA has been assembled. The Neanderthal, who became extinct 24,000 years ago may be our closest relative. ...> 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

Mapping The Neandertal Genome (9/21/2006)

Scientists in Germany and the US are beginning a groundbreaking study to sequence the DNA of Neandertal fossils. The project is to be jointly directed by Svante Paabo, director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and Dr. Michael Eghom, Vice-President of Molecular Biology for 454 Life Sciences. ...> Full Article