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A gene is a unit of heredity in a living organism. It normally resides on a stretch of DNA that codes for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. All living things depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains.

Meiotic drive systems can be maintained for long evolutionary timespans

Meiotic drivers, which are a sort of selfish gene, are, in fact, selfish. They are found in nearly all species’ genomes, including humans, and unfairly convey their genetic information to more than half of their offspring, resulting in infertility and impaired organism health.

21 Oct 2022

All normal human tissues express remnants of widespread retrovirus

Ancient viral remnants in the human genome are active in both healthy and diseased tissues, restricting their applicability as disease indicators, according to a study published on October 18th, 2022, in the open access journal PLOS Biology by Aidan Burn at Tufts University in Boston, USA and colleagues.

20 Oct 2022

Saving ocean habitats with newer genomic technologies

In an essay published on October 17th, 2022 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, Madeleine van Oppen of the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the University of Melbourne and Melinda Coleman of the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries argue that genetic and genomic technologies have tremendous potential for protecting marine life but are currently underutilized.

20 Oct 2022

New gene linked to the growth of colon cancer discovered

Researchers at Mount Sinai’s Tisch Cancer Institute have discovered a new gene that is crucial to the development of colon cancer and established that inflammation in the region surrounding the tumor can contribute to the development of tumor cells.

20 Oct 2022

Novel method for comparing single-cell trajectories with tree alignment

The genes that are activated in a single cell can now be determined thanks to advances in high-throughput biological studies. However, interpreting the resulting complex datasets might be difficult.

From Osaka University 20 Oct 2022

Harsh parenting leads to depression later in life

Strict parenting can influence how the body reads the children’s DNA. These modifications can become “hard-wired” into the DNA of kids who consider their parents to be harsh, enhancing their biological risk for depression in adolescence and later life.

20 Oct 2022

Dual threat may lead cyanobacteria to take in more carbon

The types of ocean bacteria known to absorb carbon dioxide from the air require more energy – in the form of carbon – and other resources when they're simultaneously infected by viruses and face attack from nearby predators, new research has found.

19 Oct 2022

Innovative method opens myriad new avenues for understanding the biology behind COVID-19

A highly innovative method using the latest technology has generated a comprehensive list of SARS-CoV-2 viral and human proteins that interact with each other, with one such interaction showing the virus directly influencing proteins that regulate the human immune system.

18 Oct 2022

An accurate overview of gene activity could provide targeted therapies

Normal gene activity in the afflicted cells is changed during pathological events. Therefore, obtaining a precise picture of gene activity could hold the key to the creation of new, targeted therapies.

18 Oct 2022

The influence of fatty acid metabolism on plant immunity

Most people do not realize that fatty acids can be found in a nutritious salad. Although fatty acids, lipids, and fats may seem unappealing, they are essential to human life and to the plants that are consumed.

17 Oct 2022

Molecular insights into the photosynthesis process

The most essential foundation of life on Earth is photosynthesis. Plants and single-celled algae use sunlight’s energy to turn it into sugar and biomass.

17 Oct 2022

Prolonged longevity in mice with gene clusters

Numerous candidate genes that affect longevity have recently been found, according to research from the Interventions Testing Program, which is supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA).

14 Oct 2022

The mechanism behind the satiating effect of milk protein

Quark and cheese are primarily casein-based in terms of protein content. The stomach’s digestion of casein results in the production of protein fragments (peptides) that have an unpleasant flavor, despite casein itself not having a bitter flavor.

13 Oct 2022

A more efficient way to deliver gene therapies to the CNS

For gene therapy, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) poses a formidable obstacle. The BBB, which is made up of cells that are closely packed together, prevents poisons and pathogens from accessing brain tissue while also blocking potential treatments for diseases that impact the CNS.

12 Oct 2022

Discovery and characterization of a new antifungal compound

Antimicrobial resistance has prompted scientists to search for novel compounds everywhere. A multinational group of European scientists reports the discovery of solanimycin, a novel antifungal antibiotic.

12 Oct 2022

Building designer plant cuticles with important protective functions

Scientists are working to bioengineer a common defense mechanism that most plants develop naturally to protect against drought, insects and other environmental stresses.

11 Oct 2022

Adults with congenital blindness experience striking recoveries of night vision after gene therapy

Adults with a genetic form of childhood-onset blindness experienced striking recoveries of night vision within days of receiving an experimental gene therapy, according to researchers at the Scheie Eye Institute in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

11 Oct 2022

The science behind gene activation in plants

Researchers explain how a particular variety of GFP can be utilized to allow people to visually observe protein synthesis in this study.

10 Oct 2022

Distinct roles of aging and genetics on expression phenotypes

Research conducted by the University of California, Berkeley, found that individual distinctions in human DNA matter less as people age and become more susceptible to aging disorders like diabetes and cancer.

10 Oct 2022

Insights into the evolution of banana domestication

People on the island of New Guinea are said to have domesticated bananas 7,000 years ago. However, the history of banana domestication is convoluted, and their categorization is widely discussed, as the boundaries between species and subspecies are frequently ambiguous.

10 Oct 2022