and developed the ability to react with oxide minerals rather than breathe oxygen as we do to convert organic nutrients into biological fuel.
and convert it into biological fuel their excess electrons flow into the carbon filaments and across to the positive electrode
Douglas Capone a professor and chair of biological sciences at the University of Southern California says that the research is notable both for understanding the nitrogen cycle
and spread diseases such as the ongoing outbreak of Cryptococcus in Canada and the Pacific Northwest of the United states. Though some might disagree most biologists think the purpose of sex is to create diversity among offspring.
Studies of a fungus called Cryptococcus show the process of sexual reproduction can result in extra bundles of genetic material
or chromosomes that can be beneficial to the organism s survival. The results are published in the journal PLOS Biology. hese studies turn our view of the functions of sex by 180 degrees
and reveal that sex doesn t just mix up already existing genetic diversity but can actually create it from scratchsays Joseph Heitman the study s senior author and professor and chair of molecular genetics and microbiology at the Duke university School of medicine.
The fungi Cryptococcus neoformans is a global pathogen that primarily infects individuals with compromised immune systems such as HIV/AIDS patients.
because if there are two identical genomes coming together the end product should be the same as if the fungi had cloned just itself through asexual reproductionsays Heitman. e were trying to get a sense of is it just spinning its wheels
or having more than the normal number of DNA-packaging chromosomes. Aneuploidy is well known to be deleterious in humans causing genetic disorders like Down s syndrome or trisomy 21.
But having an extra chromosome can actually be beneficial in microbes like Cryptococcus where it has been shown to confer drug resistance to the antifungal fluconazole.
For example offspring with an extra copy of chromosome 9 or 10 became drug resistant and were able to outcompete their parent
or adaptive the fungi can lose the chromosome just as easily as they gained it. In fact we showed that
and let them lose their extra chromosomes they also lose their new properties and go back to behaving just like their parent did. he key finding he says llustrates how unisexual reproduction introduces limited genetic diversity in clonal populations already well adapted to an environment
##and manmade products constructed from similar materials has to do with the hierarchical architecture of the biological materialsâ##the way the silica-based skeletons are built up from different structural elements some
and the Army Research Office through the Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies at Caltech supported the research.
A 21-member team organized by the American Academy of Microbiology established a set of recommendations on how advances in microbiology can be harnessed to improve agriculture.
When crops are optimized with the right genetics and colonized by the right microbes both organisms can flourish.
despite having A y chromosome rodents lacking the mjd1aenzyme developed as females. The findings are detailed in a study published in the journal Science.
or female says Peter Koopman a professor from the University of Queensland s Institute for Molecular Bioscience. ost mammals including humans
Plant senescence is estimated to involve 10 percent of genes in the genome. Plants use an expedited hypersensitive process to thwart pathogens by sacrificing infected cells to protect the surrounding healthy tissues.
NOTTINGHAM (UK)# Scientists have identified the genetic mutation responsible for the first blue chicken eggs in South american Mapuche fowl and their European descendants Araucana 200 to 500 years ago.
or#fancy#poultry breeders to identify at fine resolution the exact location of the mutation in the genome in blue egg laying chickens.
This makes it possible for genetic material from a retrovirus to become permanently incorporated into the DNA of an infected cell.
and diversity of species. It s quite remarkable#retroviruses are considered generally to integrate at random locations in the genome
Imprinted genes use molecules that bind to DNA (epigenetic tags) to quiet one half and let the other lead.
of molecular biology and genetics at Cornell University. Using mouse studies only about 100 genes with imprinted expression had been identified.
Because the genomes of horses and donkeys differ by approximately one in every 200 base pairs (differences called single nucleotide polymorphisms
what breeders call the maternal grandsire effect says co-senior author Doug Antczak equine geneticist at Cornell s College of Veterinary medicine.
Their findings appear in Theoretical and Applied Genetics. It was a surprise that we could trace the gene back so far
It seems to be a key gene in the barley genome, he says. Hickey has declined to patent the DNA marker preferring the information to be freely available to other researchers.
since 1999 threatening important wheat production areas of the world#says co-author Jorge Dubcovsky a wheat geneticist at University of California Davis and a Howard hughes medical institute investigator.#
says Changhuei Yang, professor of electrical engineering, bioengineering and medical engineering at the California Institute of technology (Caltech).
#Yeast reveals secret of hitchhiker mutations It takes a group effort of genetic mutations to give organisms the best shot at evolutionary survival a new study suggests.
Evolution occurs when an individual experiences a spontaneous beneficial mutation in its genome that improves its ability to adapt to its environment.
The common view was that a single mutation could boost the survival of an individual
and pass on the mutation to its offspring. Instead researchers studying 1000 generations of adaptation in 40 yeast populations have found that rather than just one mutation causing enhanced survival about five to seven mutations are required.
These extra mutations are termed hitchhikers because they don t appear to contribute to the enhanced fitness of the organism Our study indicates that evolution is more of a group effort says Gregory Lang an associate research scholar in the laboratory of David Botstein at Princeton university s Lewis-Sigler Institute
for Integrative Genomics. Lang is first author on the paper which appears in the journal Nature.
Drivers and hitchhikers The finding goes against the traditional view of evolution being determined by individual mutations that provide a large fitness advantage by themselves says Michael Desai a former Princeton fellow who is currently at Harvard university.
We found that small groups which we call cohorts of mutations were associated with increased survival.
No single mutation is driving adaptation. The whole group which includes hitchhikers drives adaptation together.
The relatively small subset of gene mutations that were found to enhance survival Botstein says suggests that there are only a limited number of ways in
The knowledge of how mutations drive evolution can inform our understanding of how tumors resist chemotherapeutics
Although the researchers refer to the groups of mutations as containing drivers and hitchhikers Desai says that additional research is being done to explore which mutations are necessary for adaptation and
which ones are along for the ride. He noted that the mutations are located not near each other nor do they appear to have similar functions.
The study helps expand our understanding of how evolution arises from a combination of genetic mutations
which are thought of as occurring spontaneously and environmental pressures says Botstein. We ve shown that this first component the genetics involves not just one gene mutation
but several that need to coexist before evolution can happen. By following genomic changes across cell populations over time this study allows a rare glimpse of evolution in progress says Stefan Maas of the National institute of health s National Institute of General Medical sciences which partially funded the research.
This systems biology approach yields insights that could help us understand how mutations spread through other evolving systems such as cancer cells
Previous evidence suggests that yeast may experience beneficial mutations that inactivate genes they no longer need.
if grown in conditions where the yeast can only reproduce asexually mutations that inactivate genes for proteins involved in sexual reproduction boost survival
whether the mutations identified in the new study confer specific survival advantages. The National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship the National Institute of General Medical sciences Centers of Excellence the National institutes of health the James S. Mcdonnell Foundation the Alfred P. Sloan
So we want to understand how they interact with cells once inside the body These latest findings come from an ongoing collaboration between biologist engineers
Oddly shaped flakes Preliminary research by Kane s biology group had shown that graphene sheets can indeed enter cells
That allows us to better interpret the biological impacts of these materials. It s really a wonderful collaboration.
A related paper published July 3 by the same research team in Biology Letters has shown clear and even stronger responses of Cuvier s beaked whales to simulated mid-frequency sonar exposures.
High school biology leaves off with this: In normal pollination sperm-carrying pollen grains land on the pistil s tip
In his lab at Brown University Mark Johnson associate professor of biology studies the true complexity of intercellular communications that conduct this process with exquisite precision.
The new paper in Current Biology describes the genetically prescribed life cycle of the pollen tube and how their expression destines the tube for self-sacrifice allowing flowering plants to reproduce.
Among the fundamental biology questions at play in the sex lives of flowers for example are how cells recognize each other know what to do
What they knew from a prior study is that the gene expression in pollen tubes that had grown through a pistil was much different than that of pollen tubes grown in the lab. Leydon s first step
therefore was to see which regulators of gene expression or transcription factors were at work in pistil-grown pollen tubes but not in the lab-grown ones.
when they aren t. He grew some normal arabadopsis plants some in which a mutation disabled only one of the transcription factors and other ones in
and share the same number of chromosomes but fertilization often fails at the pollen tube burst
Their results are published in the journal Nature Biotechnology. One billion acres#When Bt crops were introduced first the main question was how quickly would pests adapt
if these inclusions were actually biological in origin the researchers looked at 15 different samples of Farrel Quartzite
Stable carbon isotope analysis can determine the biological origin of these microfossils because they used carbon dioxide to create energy
During this process the organisms selectively incorporate more carbon 12 than carbon 13 from the available carbon producing a signature of biological origin.
whereby a small number of skilled geneticists is able to remove the nucleus of a donor woman egg (the part that plays host to some 25,
the geneticist who pioneered the technique, told me from his office at Oregon Health and Sciences University just outside Portland. his procedure uses a very high-tech imaging system microscopes, lasers,
It actually looks like a Play station 4. The nuclear DNA from a patient egg carrying MITOCHONDRIAL DNA mutations is removed
The baby will be free of risk from maternal mitochondrial mutations, but yet the biological child of the parents.
OHSU The resulting egg can then be fertilized with the intended father sperm using traditional in vitro fertilization,
and a growing number of geneticists is now exploring the role of misbehaving mitochondria in basic aging.)
Less than a tenth of 1%of the genome is actually going to be affected. It is not part of
Dr. Marcy Darnovsky, executive director of the California-based Center for Genetics and Society, in an open letter. nder the proposed arrangement,
Some of the bioreactors being used to cultivate the bioengineered Trichoderma fungus The bioengineered Trichoderma can be cultivated in bioreactors
chitin is the second-most common biopolymer on earth, occurring not only in crab and lobster shells,
With DNATRAX the bacteria is replaced by particles of non-biological DNA that can be collected with simple forensic swabs
Then simple polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology can identify the code and reveal the origin of the product in about an hour right down to
and interaction of silica-based nanoparticles with biological systems write the researchers. Because our research demonstrates a clear cardiovascular health risk associated with this trend steps need to be taken to help ensure that potential health
which weren't as soft and flexible as the biological tissue surrounding them. Over time this could cause irritation which would in turn lead to inflammation the build up of scar tissue and ultimately rejection.
In biology, molecular motors are highly complex protein assemblies that can produce work by consuming energy:
they take part in fundamental biological functions such as copying DNA andprotein synthesis, and underlie all motion processes.
This allows the drug to bypass the blood-brain barrier a biological fence that prevents the vast majority of drugs from entering the brain through the bloodstream.#
I. Kim is affiliated also with the Neuroscience Program the Institute for Genomic Biology the Beckman Institute and the departments of bioengineering of materials science and engineering and of nuclear plasma and radiological engineering at the U. of I d
Dozens of popular courses in psychology, statistics, biology and other fields are offered also primarily online.
which Dr. Joos defined as determination made through the application of socially agreed upon biological criteria for classifying persons as females and males.
which the moving parts that are in contact with blood are made of tissue that is better suited for the biological environment,
We didn t have any biologists on staff, so we couldn t clone anybody, ##he said.##
Mitochondria carry their own genomes, but some of the cellular components needed for respiration are produced partly by the nucleus,
#Ana Gomes#at Harvard Medical school and her colleagues compared the levels of MESSENGER RNA (mrna) molecules that convey genetic information around a cell for the cellular components needed for respiration in the skeletal muscle of 6 and 22-month-old mice.
and the two genomes communicate well, aging is kept at bay. But another molecule called NAD+keeps SIRT1 on the job;
In tests, their synapse circuits perform similar to normal biological neurons. Of course, duplicating synapse firings in nanotube circuits does not mean that scientists are ready to replace the human brain,
predicts in his#blogthat expected advances in molecular nanotechnology will one day enable us to replace brain cells with damage-resistant nanomaterials that process thoughts faster than today s biological brains.##
Biological brains die within minutes after the heart stops, but our new brain will simply turn itself off and wait for a new power supply.
#Secret code discovered in human DNA Genomes use the genetic code to write two separate languages. A secret second code hiding within DNA
##Ever since the genetic code was deciphered over 40 years ago, scientists have believed that it only described how proteins are made.
However, the revelation made by the research team led by John Stamatoyannopoulos of the University of Washington indicates that genomes use the genetic code to write two separate languages.##
##For over 40 years we have assumed that DNA changes affecting the genetic code solely impact how proteins are made,
##Now we know that this basic assumption about reading the human genome missed half of the picture.##
Scientists already knew that the genetic code uses a 64-letter alphabet called codons. The research team discovered that some of the codons can have two meanings one related to proteins, the other to gene control.
And it s those duons that are expected to change the way physicians interpret human genomes and give clues for the treatments of diseases.##
##The fact that the genetic code can simultaneously write two kinds of information means that many DNA changes that appear to alter protein sequences may actually cause disease by disrupting gene control programs
and will be run by Arthur Levinson, chairman and ex-CEO of biotech company Genentech. Google gave exclusive access to Time magazine for a story on the new venture.
With some longer term, moonshot thinking around healthcare and biotechnology, I believe we can improve millions of lives.
Scientists have predicted the end of chemotherapy after launching a landmark project to map 100,000 genomes to find the genes responsible for cancer and rare diseases.
Britain is the first country in the world to embark on a program to map the genomes of thousands of people in the hope of finding
Understanding humanity s genetic code is not only going to be fundamental to the medicine of the future.
Prof Farrer also predicted that genome sequencing to find the causes of the disease will become standard within our lifetime.
The first human genome was sequenced in 2003 following 13 years of work at a cost of 2 billion.
A genome consists of a person s 20,000 or so genes and the DNA in between.
Each genome consists of a code of 3 billion letters. Over the next four years, about 75,000 patients with cancer and rare diseases, plus their close relatives, will have their whole genetic codes,
or genomes, sequenced. Cancer patients will have the DNA of both healthy and tumour cells mapped,
making up the 100, 000 total. Scientists expect the project to be pivotal to the development of future personalised treatments based on genetics, with the potential to revolutionise medicine.
A 78 million partnership between Genomics England, the body set up by the Department of health to oversee the project,
they report in the journal Biomaterials. Collagen is the most abundant structural protein in the body
In this study, we generated a transgenic mouse model that expresses TLX under the control of the promoter of nestin, a neural precursor marker.
Transgenic TLX expression led to mice with enlarged brains with an elongated hippocampal dentate gyrus and increased numbers of newborn neurons.
the TLX transgenic mice exhibited enhanced cognition with increased learning and memory. These results suggest a strong association between hippocampal neurogenesis and cognition,
That s exactly what#Sanaria, a biotechnology founded in 2003 by long-time malaria researcher Stephen Hoffman and based in a suburb of Washington,
Genetic studies have shown that people with type 2 diabetes are more likely to have mutations in the gene that encodes a protein called insulin-degrading enzyme, or IDE.
are compounds far smaller than less common biological medicines like antibodies. They are developed using libraries of thousands or millions of known chemical substances.
if it has desired a effect on a biological target, such as an enzyme or other protein known to be involved in a disease.
Of particular interest will be synthetic biology, which allows efficiently reprogramming unicellular life to make fuels, byproducts accessible from organic chemistry and smart devices.
The creation of entirely new strains of food animals and plants in order to better address biological and physiological needs.
Synthetic biology: Synthetic biology is about programming biology using standardized parts as one programs computers using standardized libraries today.
Includes the broad redefinition and expansion of biotechnology, with the ultimate goals of being able to design,
build and remediate engineered biological systems that process information, manipulate chemicals, fabricate materials and structures,
produce energy, provide food, and maintain and enhance human health and our environment. Scientifically viable in 2013;
Some, like atopic dermatitis, remain poorly understood. he ability to obtain an unlimited number of genetically identical units can be used to study a range of conditions where the skin barrier is defective due to mutations in genes involved in skin barrier formation.
3d printed biological tissue 3d printing capabilities are limited rather despite the excitement that 3-D printing has generated.
A group at Princeton university has printed a bionic ear, combining biological tissue and electronics, while a team of researchers at the University of Cambridge has printed retinal cells to form complex eye tissue.
Most recently, her group printed biological tissue interwoven with a complex network of blood vessels. To do this, the researchers had to make inks out of various types of cells
and began working with biological cells and tissues for the first time, she hoped to treat them the same way as materials composed of synthetic particles.
Printing blood vessels was an encouraging step toward artificial tissues capable of the complex biological functions found in organs.
Tsai lab generated a transgenic mouse model, which enabled researchers to prevent the production of p25 without altering other proteins with essential roles in brain development.
says Daniel Levner, a bioengineer at the Wyss Institute at Harvard university. Levner and his colleagues at Bar Ilan University in Ramat-Gan, Israel, made the nanobots by exploiting the binding properties of DNA.
and control of the nanobots is equivalent to a computer system. his is the first time that biological therapy has been able to match how a computer processor works,
like a living cockroach, says Ángel Goñi Moreno of the National Center for Biotechnology in Madrid,
said Sachin Patel, M d.,Ph d.,the paper senior author and professor of Psychiatry and of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics.
materials scientist Jennifer Lewisand her team created a patch of tissue containing skin cells and biological structural material interwoven with blood-vessel-like structures.
A gelatin-based ink acts as extracellular matrixhe structural mix of proteins and other biological molecules that surrounds cells in the body.
then we want to harness biology to do the rest of the work, says Lewis. Via Technology Revie
Stanford Helen Blau, director of the Baxter Laboratory for Stem Cell biology, studies a more banal
At a biological level, the stem cells that repair muscle damage lose their ability with age to generate new muscle fibers.
Phd, a professor of radiology and biomedical engineering at the university. The technology involve a head-mounted display, custom video technology,
With the selection of suitable bacteria for the device helped biology-students from Delft University of Technology.
However, biologists, cooperating with designer, will help increase the lamp operating time to an acceptable level in the near future.
allows Medifocus to partner up with other biotech companies in helping to develop and commercialize targeted thermoactivated/released drugs and gene products which,
An expert on sustainable agriculture and the potential environmental risks of biotechnology Mellon holds a doctorate in molecular biology and a law degree.
Genetic engineering has yet to play an important role in drought tolerance. Only this year did agricultural biotech company Monsanto introduce its first drought tolerant seed variety Droughtgard.
According to the Monsanto website the variety has produced a five-bushel (or about 4 percent) yield advantage in field tests against competitor hybrids.
However successful crop genetics might be new plant varieties cannot compensate for the deficiencies in systems.
"The research was published online today (April 8) in the journal Bioinspiration & Biomimetics s
#Why Does Less Meat Mean Less Heat?(Op-Ed) Josh Balk is food policy director at The Humane Society of the United states (HSUS.
The microscope was designed originally for the lab of Nobel prize-winning U human genetics professor, Mario R. Capecchi,
large field-of-view and implantable features will allow researchers to use this in fields ranging from biochemistry to mining. b
and University of Lund microbiologist Tobias Olofsson says in a press release. When used alive these 13 lactic acid bacteria produce the right kind of antimicrobial compounds as needed depending on the threat.
"Silk Leaf is the first man-made biological leaf, "claimed Melchiorri.""It's very light, low energy-consuming,
it's completely biological.""The potential applications for the invention are countless. Aside from producing oxygen for astronauts,
"Dr. Geoffrey Ling, director of DARPA's Biological Technologies Office, said in a statement. The program aims to provide a more sophisticated alternative to prosthetic devices such as the split-hook device invented in 1912.
#Freaky engineered organism has 6-letter DNA in its genetic code The first report of a bacterium
whose genome contains man-made DNA building blocks opens the door for tailor-made organisms that could be used to produce new drugs and other products.
"What we have done is successfully store increased information in the DNA of a living cell,"study leader Floyd Romesberg, a chemical biologist at The Scripps Research Institute in La jolla,
Biomimicry: 7 Clever Technologies Inspired By nature DNA alphabet The field of synthetic biology involves tinkering with DNA to create organisms capable of novel functions in medicine, energy and other areas.
The DNA alphabet consists of four letters, or bases: adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine (A t, G and C). Adenine pairs with thymine,
RNA is a genetic material similar to DNA, except it has a different chemical backbone and replaces the base thymine with uracil (U). Living things translate DNA into proteins through a series of steps.
Now that the scientists have demonstrated an organism can incorporate artificial DNA letters into its genome, the next step will be showing it can convert the DNA into new proteins,
"The research paves the way for"designer"organisms with custom-made genomes that are capable of performing useful tasks, like making drugs.
which have man-made DNA sequences in their genomes. The researchers are now working on expanding the DNA alphabet of yeast cells,
To measure gene activity the researchers used a powerful tool known as a DNA MICROARRAY which yields a quantitative measurement of the activity of every gene in the human genome simultaneously about 20000 genes in total.
The team compared these gene activity results with data from other species in particular the mouse brain.
Examples from the prenatal gene expression (left) and reference (right) atlases. Image: Allen Institute for Brain science) The map of a healthy developing brain also provides clues to the origin of developmental disorders such as autism the researchers said.
#Synthetic yeast chromosome paves the way for designer genomes A chunk of the genetic blueprint for yeast has been created
and joined them together to create a synthetic version of a chromosome the structure that contains DNA inside cells from brewer's yeast.
The ability to create such chromosomes is a major step for the field of synthetic biology which aims to engineer microbes to produce useful products.
For me one of most exciting aspects is the fact that we've so extensively edited the sequence of natural chromosome
and then synthesized the entire thing from scratch said study leader Jef Boeke a synthetic biologist at NYU Langone Medical center who was previously at Johns hopkins university.
How Synthetic Yeast Chromosome Was created Boeke was leader of the study detailed on March 27 in the journal Science.
and biofuels and the ability to create custom-made yeast would provide useful too for the biotech industry.
To create the artificial chromosome Boeke and his team used computer software to design a modified version of yeast chromosome III which they called syniii
and incorporated it into brewer's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). They chose this chromosome because it is the smallest of yeast's 16 chromosomes controlling how the cells mate
and experience genetic changes. It took the researchers seven years to stitch together the synthetic chromosome from pieces of DNA.
The language of DNA consists of four letters A t G and C which form bonds called base pairs.
The syniii chromosome contains 272871 base pairs slightly fewer than the 316617 base pairs in chromosomes of native yeast or natural yeast on
which the simulated one is based. Undergraduate students at Johns hopkins university did much of the work fusing together short pieces of DNA into longer segments as part of a class project
and some of these former students were co-authors on the study Unraveling the Human genome: 6 Molecular Milestones Boeke's team made more than 500 tweaks to the native genome removing repeated sections
and so-called junk DNA (not known to encode proteins the molecules that perform vital tasks inside cells) including so-called jumping genes
which randomly move around in the chromosome. The researchers also added tags to the DNA to label it as native or synthetic.
The completed chromosome was remarkably normal Boeke said adding that the yeast with the synthetic DNA behave almost identically to wild yeast cells.
Using a technique known as scrambling the scientists can shuffle the yeast genes like a deck of cards.
In recent years scientists have created synthetic chromosomes from bacteria and viruses but this is the first time anyone has built a chromosome from a eukaryote an organism
whose cells have nuclei. Craig Venter and his team at the J. Craig Venter Institute who created the first synthetic bacterium in 2010 praised the new achievement.
This work is another remarkable example of how synthetic biology can be used to rewrite chromosome sequences at a sizable scale Venter
The research will lead to a better understanding of the rules of genome structure and behavior in yeast one of the most important model systems for understanding biological processes they added.
Ultimately the researchers plan to synthesize a complete yeast genome with all 16 chromosomes. Boeke's team plans to synthesize larger chromosomes
and do it faster and more cheaply. Despite its utility the work poses questions about the ethics of creating man-made genomes especially in more complex organisms such as animals.
There will always be challenges to new ideas and new ways of doing things and concerns some very legitimate about safety matters Boeke said.
and animals for a long time spanning from selective breeding to transgenic species he added. Right now the cost of synthesizing chromosomes is prohibitively high
but that could change if the technology improves Boeke said. He predicts that designer mini-chromosomes will be developed first building on gene therapy
which seeks to treat diseases by replacing defective genes with functional ones. Synthesizing plant and animal genomes is a long way off Boeke said
but the day will come. Follow Tanya Lewis on Twitter and Google+.+Follow us@livescience Facebook & Google+.
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