Genetics and Genomics News and Research

Latest Genetics and Genomics News and Research

Many proteins share important roles in the formation and function of synapses, study finds

Not just three, but even five proteins share important roles in the formation and function of synapses and can substitute for each other. This discovery was made by a team of the research focus "Mental Health & Neuroscience" of the Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences Krems (KL Krems) and the CavX PhD program of the Medical University of Innsbruck.

26 Oct 2022

Rare and protective loss-of-function mutations offer possible NAFLD drug targets

A significant genome-wide association study on the nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has just been published in Nature Genetics by researchers from Amgen subsidiary deCODE Genetics.

26 Oct 2022

New explanation for how chromosome recombination is regulated during sexual reproduction

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research and the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) suggest an explanation for the century-old mystery of how chromosome recombination is regulated during sexual reproduction.

From The Max Planck Institute 25 Oct 2022

Bacteria do engage in photosynthesis, research suggests

Knowing whether or not marine microbes engage in photosynthesis -; the use of sunlight to turn carbon dioxide and water into energy -; could help scientists to learn if ocean bacteria play a role in the global carbon cycle.

25 Oct 2022

NATA accreditation for BGI Australia to perform whole exome sequencing

The National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) has accredited BGI Australia’s lab to conduct clinical Whole Exome Sequencing in Australia, opening the door for the multinational life sciences company to offer clinical sequencing services for locating potential disease-causing genetic changes.

25 Oct 2022

New genome-wide association study of dyslexia

For the first time, researchers have identified a large number of genes that are reliably linked to dyslexia.

25 Oct 2022

Genome Editing Has A New Code

In this interview, we speak to Samantha Maragh, the leader of the genome editing program at NIST, about the genome editing vocabulary and what this means for researchers worldwide.

From National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 21 Oct 2022

Black death and the development of immune genes

The Black Death, which wiped off up to 50% of the European population in less than five years, was the single-worst mortality catastrophe in recorded history.

21 Oct 2022

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

Native predatory fish may provide a form of biocontrol on invasive mullet species

Jacks and barracuda in Heʻeia fishpond were found to feed on Australian mullet, an invasive species introduced to Oahu waters in the 1950s.

20 Oct 2022

Discovering H2O2 sensing capacity in plants that control immunity

All aerobic organisms produce the molecule hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). When present in low concentrations, it acts as a crucial secondary signal to control a variety of biological processes, including but not limited to plant-microbe interactions, abiotic stress tolerance, pollen tube growth, root hair formation, leaf cell expansion, and Casparian strip formation.

20 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

Large 'omics' dataset reveals a year in the biological life of Arctic Ocean

A major new project will help benchmark biodiversity change in the Arctic Ocean and guide conservation efforts by identifying unique species and assessing their extinction risk.

18 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