Genes News and Research

RSS

Experts sequence the faba bean genome

The faba bean genome, which at 13 billion bases is more than four times the size of the human genome, has been sequenced for the first time and is published today (08 March 2023), in Nature. This is an extraordinary technical achievement and crucial to efforts to breed beans with optimum nutritional content and sustainability of production.

8 Mar 2023

Study pinpoints a splicing deregulation that causes therapeutic vulnerability in pediatric AML

Pediatric acute myeloid leukemia or pAML is a childhood blood cancer, one that has proved confounding to clinicians and researchers, with a high relapse rate and relatively few identified genetic mutations (compared to the adult version) that might explain its cause.

8 Mar 2023

Scientists discover mechanism behind how plants can develop long-term immunity to stress

A mechanism behind how plants can develop long-term immunity to stress has been discovered by scientists at the University of Sheffield.

8 Mar 2023

Researchers discover how specific mutation in a bacterium results in phage resistance

As antibacterial resistance continues to render obsolete the use of some antibiotics, some have turned to bacteria-killing viruses to treat acute infections as well as some chronic illnesses.

7 Mar 2023

The mechanism of barley grain number determination

Flowering plants with indeterminate inflorescences frequently generate more floral structures than needed. An international research team led by the IPK Leibniz Institute discovered that floral primordia initiations in barley are molecularly distinct from grain maturation.

6 Mar 2023

Randomness governs the responsiveness of tumor cells to chemotherapy

According to a recent study done by the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, cancer cells have an inbuilt unpredictability in their capacity to respond to chemotherapy, which is another tool in their armory for fighting treatment.

6 Mar 2023

Quantitative method evaluates sexual conflict evolution

Males of a species that evolve sexual conflict traits can create issues for females and, eventually, the entire population.

6 Mar 2023

First wiring map of neurons in insect brain complete

Researchers have built the first ever map showing every single neuron and how they’re wired together in the brain of the fruit fly larva.

6 Mar 2023

Largest-ever genetic analysis provides insight into domestications and origin of traits in grapevine

In the largest ever genetic analysis of grapevine varieties, including samples from previously undocumented specimens in private collections, researchers provide new insights into how, when, and where wine and table grapevines were domesticated, which has been a longstanding question.

3 Mar 2023

New insights into the underlying mechanism that causes arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy

Researchers from the group of Eva van Rooij in collaboration with the UMC Utrecht identified a new mutation that leads to the cardiac disease arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM).

3 Mar 2023

CRISPR/Cas method could help save rice crops threatened by climate change

A review of gene editing techniques suggests that the CRISPR/Cas (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/Cas) method could be a possible 'savior' for rice crops threatened by climate change and high food demand.

3 Mar 2023

New signals of natural selection in humans identified

A team of global experts has discovered new signals of natural selection in humans.

2 Mar 2023

Novel way to block the death of nerve cells in MND

Scientists have found a novel way to block the transportation of mutant RNA and subsequent production of toxic repeat proteins which lead to the death of nerve cells in the most common subtypes of motor neurone disease (MND) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

2 Mar 2023

New model, C. elegans, helps pursue research on Parkinson's disease

A tiny worm called the C. elegans is enabling scientists to explore the emerging theory that Parkinson's disease starts in the gut.

1 Mar 2023

Study shows how pesticides render certain strawberries bland

Have you ever bitten into a plump, red strawberry, only to find it bland and watery? Certain pesticides might be responsible. A team reporting in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry has found that two common strawberry fungicides can impact cellular mechanisms, creating berries with subdued flavor and sweetness, as well as a lower nutritional value.

28 Feb 2023

New method can rapidly detect COVID-19 infections with near-perfect accuracy

By inspecting the body's immune response at a molecular level, a research team has developed a new way to test patients for COVID-19.

28 Feb 2023

Effective and faster methodology detects RNA viruses based on the triplex-forming probe technology

Experts from the University of Barcelona, the Institute for Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia (IQAC-CSIC), the Institute of Microelectronics of Barcelona (IMB-CNM-CSIC) and the Aragon Nanoscience and Materials Institute of Aragon (INMA) -;a joint institute of the CSIC and the University of Zaragoza-; have developed a new method to detect RNA viruses based on the triplex-forming probe technology.

28 Feb 2023

Study reveals why the FMO5 gene produces an enzyme with a different activity

Our body produces lots of enzymes that break down toxic substances. One class of such enzymes are the flavin-containing monooxygenases (FMOs), which are present in all tetrapods. Humans have five different FMO genes, of which the first four display the same activity. However, the fifth FMO gene triggers a different breakdown reaction. University of Groningen biochemists have succeeded in resurrecting the ancestral genes of all tetrapod FMOs to show how this divergence has occurred. Their results appear on 24 February in Nature Communications.

28 Feb 2023

Women over 50 with genetic BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation face a high risk of cancer

Although genetic mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 are associated with a younger onset of breast and ovarian cancer, women with these genetic mutations continue to face a high risk of cancer incidence after age 50, even if they have not been previously diagnosed with cancer.

27 Feb 2023

New molecular understanding of how head injury may contribute to glioma risk

Researchers from the UCL Cancer Institute have provided important molecular understanding of how injury may contribute to the development of a relatively rare but often aggressive form of brain tumor called a glioma.

27 Feb 2023