#In triplicate, genes make maize tolerant to toxic soilrendering some of the world's toxic soils far less unfriendly the U s. Department of agriculture Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research
In this effort when plant scientists searched the maize genome for clues as to why some plants can tolerate toxic aluminum in soil they found three copies of the same gene known to affect aluminum tolerance according to new USDA/Cornell-led research.
The MATE1 gene which was found in triplicate in aluminum-tolerant maize turns on in the presence of aluminum ions
He added that the extra gene copies had a cumulative effect of coding for more protein that transports aluminum-binding citric acid into the soil.
The study Aluminum tolerance in maize is associated with higher MATE1 gene copy number appeared online March 11 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The finding points to the importance of looking for multiple copies of a gene for higher expression of certain traits.
which provided the aluminum-tolerant maize germplasm where the 3-copy allele was discovered. Lead author Lyza Maron a senior research associate at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research at Cornell also collaborated with researchers at the University of Florida Gainesville the University of Missouri Arizona Genomics Institute
By sequencing the genomic regions that harbor the MATE1 gene in aluminum-tolerant and aluminum-sensitive plants she found a similar MATE1 allele (version of a gene) in both types of plants.
But when she examined copy number variation she found the aluminum-tolerant plant had three copies
while the intolerant plant had only one copy of the MATE1 allele. Copy number variation is documented well in the human genome Kochian said
when viruses from humans and animals exchanged genes to create a new virus in a process called reassortment.
Recent research using mice confirms that genes from bird flu and human flu can combine to create dangerous new flu strains.
and Sickkids Research Institute announced today that they have mapped successfully the genes in the fungus that causes Dutch elm disease.
and their colleagues to carry the gene for producing human lysozyme in their milk. Story Source:
Additionally this opens the door to examine the use of gene silencing as a control mechanism for this devastating fungus.
and 96%genome sequences are anchored on 12 chromosomes based upon BAC-based physical map. After the comprehensive analysis they found that the compact genome of O. brachyantha was caused by the silencing of LTR (Long terminal Repeats) retrotransposons and massive internal deletions of ancient elements.
Compared with the rice genome the team found that many gene families were expanded in rice where tandem duplications
and gene movements mediated by double-strand break repair are responsible for the amplification of these genes.
Quanfei Huang Project Manager from BGI said This work revealed many important genomic mechanisms underlying Oryza genome such as the genome size variation gene movement and transition of euchromatin
#oewith relevant genes integrated in the right place in cyanobacteria s genome we have tricked the cells to produce butanol instead of fulfilling their normal function#he says.
After that more genes will have to be modified so that the end product becomes longer hydrocarbons that can fully function as a substitute for gasoline.
and genes human and bee brains function very similarly. Thus we can use the honeybee to investigate how caffeine affects our own brains and behaviours.
and it is known for passing genes on more reliably. The results of this project were published ahead of print in the Journal of Animal Science.
After developing the initial line of Enviropigs researchers found that the line had certain genes that could be unstable during reproduction or impractical in commercial use.
We have demonstrated that the gene can be transferred by breeding through many generations in a stable fashion.
Newly discovered mutations in a single potato gene are likely to have contributed to the widespread success of the potato
The team of scientists headed by Wageningen UR Plant Breeding has published its findings on the gene allowing potato to grow
The authors also describe a variety of mutations in the tuber formation regulator gene which occur in different combinations in modern potato cultivars giving rise to early medium
and late varieties depending on the combination of the gene variants present in the tetraploid crop.
Knowledge of the genes underlying the mechanism of early development will allow plant breeders to tailor new potato varieties to various geographic locations.
Together the transcriptome and genome can be used as a reference for pinpointing differences in slender false brome genes
and gene activity that may contribute to its invasive capabilities. Slender false brome is an invasive grass that is native to Europe Asia and North africa.
To allow future studies to identify the functions of slender false brome genes the authors also compared the false brome transcriptome to those of well-studied agricultural species including rice and sorghum.
If false brome possesses a gene that has already been studied in an agricultural species it will be easier to identify the gene's supposed function.
#Human Y chromosome much older than previously thoughtthe discovery and analysis of an extremely rare African american Y chromosome pushes back the time of the most recent common ancestor for the Y chromosome lineage tree to 338000 years ago.
University of Arizona geneticists have discovered the oldest known genetic branch of the human Y chromosome--the hereditary factor determining male sex.
The new divergent lineage which was found in an individual who submitted his DNA to Family tree DNA a company specializing in DNA analysis to trace family roots branched from the Y chromosome tree before the first appearance of anatomically modern humans in the fossil record.
Our analysis indicates this lineage diverged from previously known Y chromosomes about 338000 ago a time
and evolutionary biology and a research scientist at the UA's Arizona Research Labs. This pushes back the time the last common Y chromosome ancestor lived by almost 70 percent.
Unlike the other human chromosomes the majority of the Y chromosome does not exchange genetic material with other chromosomes
If two Y chromosomes carry the same mutation it is because they share a common paternal ancestor at some point in the past.
The more mutations that differ between two Y chromosomes the farther back in time the common ancestor lived.
When none of the genetic markers used to assign lineages to known Y chromosome groupings were found the DNA sample was sent to Family tree DNA for sequencing.
Fernando Mendez a postdoctoral researcher in Hammer's lab led the effort to analyze the DNA sequence which included more than 240000 base pairs of the Y chromosome.
Hammer said the most striking feature of this research is that a consumer genetic testing company identified a lineage that didn't fit anywhere on the existing Y chromosome tree
Hammer said the newly discovered Y chromosome variation is extremely rare. Through large database searches his team eventually was able to find a similar chromosome in the Mbo a population living in a tiny area of western Cameroon in Sub-saharan africa.
This was surprising because previously the most diverged branches of the Y chromosome were found in traditional hunter-gatherer populations such as Pygmies
and the click-speaking Khoesan who are considered to be diverged the most human populations living today.
Instead the sample matched the Y chromosome DNA of 11 men who all came from a very small region of western Cameroon Hammer said.
or Y chromosome Adam that suggest all of humankind descended from exactly one pair of humans that lived at a certain point in human evolution.
whether in Africa or among African-americans in the U s. and that some of these may further increase the age of the Y chromosome tree.
There has been a lot of hype with people trying to trace their Y chromosome to different tribes but this individual from South carolina can say he did it.
determining cell wall chemistry to find plants with ideal genes. NREL's new High-Throughput Analytical Pyrolysis tool (HTAP) can thoroughly analyze hundreds of biomass samples a day
Difference in Signal Intensity Identifies Gene Manipulationsthe lignin in a plant is crucial for its development
HTAP integrates a molecular beam mass spectrometer with the pyrolysis unit to quickly determine chemical signatures (phenotypes) on small amounts of biomass samples that can be used for among other things identifying the genes controlling the chemical makeup.
Combining the HTAP chemical phenotypes with information such as genetic markers can signal there is a gene nearby that controls those chemical phenotypes--for better or worse.
Know the genes associated with the traits and you gain the ability to manipulate the cell wall to your advantage.
HTAP provides the information that combined with other genetic information tells us there's a gene controlling the plant's cell wall chemistry located somewhere on this chromosome--at the same location every time Davis said.
and can pinpoint the gene that has an effect on lignin content cellulose content or some other factor affecting recalcitrance (the plant's resistance to give up its structural sugars).
and breeders can determine what genes in the cloned trees are responsible for the advantageous biofuel potential.
#Selfish gene may undermine genome policefor a bunch of inanimate chemical compounds the nucleic and amino acids caught up in the infamous selfish segregation distorter (SD) saga have put on quite a soap opera for biologists
A gene exploits a rival gene's excesses sabotaging any sperm that bear a rival's chromosome.
When male flies make their sperm the SD gene (call it A) manages to rig meiosis--the specialized cell division that makes sex cells
--so that maturing sperm that bear chromosomes with the susceptible allele (call that one a) end up defective and discarded.
In the Genetics study conducted at Brown University scientists uncover new clues about how the SD gene might be gaming the system against a. It's a plot
Mendel's first law is that different alleles of a gene will segregate said Robert Reeenan professor of biology and the study's senior author.
If we have two alleles--big A and little a--then Mendel says 50 percent of the sperm at random will get the big A
. But some SD (A) alleles are so strong they pretty much kill off all the non-SD (a) chromosomes.
Most genes like most people are good upstanding citizens but some genes want to hog all the resources hog all the benefit.
The SD backstorywhat makes the a allele susceptible to SD's subterfuge is the number of copies it harbors of a runaway snippet of genetic code called Responder.
A few copies of Responder are no problem but hundreds of copies make a susceptible. Some alleles have thousands of copies
and only one in a thousand survives. Genomes try to root out parasites like Responder by creating
and Gell show that engineered mutations in the police gene named Aubergine (others on the force in the experiments are called Piwi Squash
and Zucchini) amplify SD chromosomes'success in eliminating Responder-laden sperm compared to that of SD chromosomes without Aubergine's help.
We used homologous recombination to knock in a mutation specifically on the SD chromosome to compromise Aubergine
the chromosome became more selfish. Reenan and Gell did not go so far as to determine
whether known SD-promoting genes called Enhancer of SD Stabilizer of SD and Modifier of SD act by interfering with Aubergine or its buddies on the force but Reenan said that is among the next things his group will look into.
but when the selfish genes come in the form of viruses or other kinds of transposons there can be trouble.
So investigating the tactics of selfish genes is not merely the stuff of biological soap operas.
It shows that workers retain a highly active transcriptome possibly expressing many of the ancestral genes that are required for our solitary wasp to be successful on her own.
Conversely queens appear to shut down a lot of their genes presumably in order to be really good reproducers. Longstanding analyses based on the fossil record holds ants and wasps in a clade known as Vespoidea with bees as a sister group.
and bees though further genome sequences and comparative data will help to resolve this controversy The dataset offers a first chance to analyse subfamily relationships across large numbers of genes
'Their work suggests that novel genes play a much more important role in social behaviour than we previously thought.
which leaves are saved from predation because of alterations in its genes finds an study published in Biomed Central's open access journal BMC Plant Biology.
Between two leaves of the same tree there can be many genetic differences--this study found ten SNP including ones in genes that regulate terpene production
or they may occur in genes important to how the cell behaves. Cancer cells often have genetic mutations
At a genetic level there were ten genes which contained differences between these leaves. Amanda Padovan who led this project explained The main defence against predation of Eucalyptus is a cocktail of terpene oils including monoterpenes sesquiterpenes and FPCS
It is known that mir399 is important for P translocation in plants by suppressing A p signalling pathway gene.
It is based on the newly identified oncogene IKBKE which helps regulate immune response. The study appeared in the Feb 13 online issue of Oncogene.
The IKBKE gene is part of a family of enzyme complexes involved in increasing cellular inflammation.
IKBKE overexpression has been associated with breast and prostate cancers. However it had not been linked to environmental carcinogen such as tobacco smoke until now.
and develop new gene-targeted therapies that can circumvent resistance said the authors. In this study the researchers also reported for the first time that IKBKE is a target of STAT3 a transcription factor that plays a key role in many cellular processes such as cell growth
The scientists describe development of a synthetic genetic system that produces vigorous adult males with lethal information encoded in their sex-determination genes.
and the associated antibiotic-resistant genes that find their way into the ground water and ultimately the food supply.
That means they will drop genes they're not using because there is a metabolic burden a high energy cost to keeping them.
and E coli which carries resistant genes directly from animals through their feces into the environment.
If we can put an anaerobic barrier at the point where a lagoon drains into the environment we will essentially exert selective pressure for the loss of antibiotic-resistant genes
but it's enough to have bacteria notice a deficiency in their ability to obtain energy from the environment and feel the stress to dump resistant genes.
His study of the Haihe River in China funded by the Chinese government and published last year found tetracycline resistance genes are common in the environment there as well.
Prevention here is basically don't let these genes proliferate. Don't let them amplify in the environment.
and enters the nucleus a gene is expressed that produces a zinc transporter called ZIP8. The transporter then rapidly mobilizes to the cell's wall where it can then shuttle zinc from the bloodstream into the cell.
Known as RNA gene silencing this suppression plays an important role in regulating plant growth and development.
The team identify around 12.7%of the almost 70000 genes as unique and outline those associated with rubber biosynthesis rubber wood formation disease resistance and allergenicity.
While general interconnections among these allow for gene flow their great diversity leads to independent evolution and specialization in isolation.
places along the chromosomes that map to specific complex traits such as yield. The analysis pointed to a gene that Jackson has been interested in
since 2001 when he was first to clone it: a maize gene called FASCIATED EAR2 (FEA2.
Not long after cloning the gene Jackson had a group of gifted Long island high school students part of a program called Partners for the Future perform an analysis of literally thousands of maize ears.
Their task was to meticulously count the number of rows of kernels on each ear.
The lab's current research has shown now that by producing a weaker-than-normal version of the FEA2 gene--one
A next step in the research is crossbreed to the weak FEA2 gene variant or allele associated with higher kernel yield with the best maize lines used in today's food crops to ask
if it will produce a higher-yield plant. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
The manipulation of corn plant genes that has been going on for millennia--resulting in the production of multicolored Indian corn cobs of various colors like red purple blue
The ability to comprehensively measure genes and proteins helps us understand the range of molecular machinery that a plant uses to do its life functions said ORNL's Robert Hettich.
and functions of the genes that define the chickpea plant. It also reveals clues on how the sequence can be useful to crop improvement for sustainable and resilient food production toward improved livelihoods of smallholder farmers particularly in marginal environments of Asia and Sub-saharan africa.
The global research partnership succeeded in identifying an estimated 28269 genes of chickpea after sequencing CDC Frontier a kabuli (large-seeded) chickpea variety.
not only access to'good genes'to speed up breeding but also to genomic regions that will bring genetic diversity back from landraces
#Scarecrow gene: Key to efficient crops, could lead to staple crops with much higher yieldswith projections of 9. 5 billion people by 2050 humankind faces the challenge of feeding modern diets
Cornell researchers have taken a leap toward meeting those needs by discovering a gene that could lead to new varieties of staple crops with 50 percent higher yields.
The gene called Scarecrow is discovered the first to control a special leaf structure known as Kranz anatomy
if C4 leaves shared endodermal genes with roots and stems the genetics that controlled those cell types may also be shared.
Slewinski looked for experimental maize lines with mutant Scarecrow genes which he knew governed endodermal cells in roots.
#Global gene pool of goat is seriously under threatamongst the range of domestic livestock species the goat is not just the'black sheep
The risk of the gene pool of the goat disappearing has increased due to intensive animal husbandry systems that use a very limited number of breeds.
The scientists used a big data approach to hunt down interactions between gene variants previously associated with increased risk for type-2 diabetes
In people carrying a double dose of one such predisposing gene variant the researchers pinpointed a highly statistically significant inverse association of beta carotene blood levels with type-2 diabetes risk along with a suspiciously high positive association of gamma
Moreover the fact that both beta carotene and gamma tocopherol interact with the same gene variant to influence diabetes risk
albeit in opposite directions suggests that the protein the gene called SLC30A4 codes for may play a crucial role in the disease.
The genomes of some 50 to 60 percent of the U s. population carry two copies of that very gene variant which previous studies have shown to confer a slightly increased risk of contracting type-2 diabetes.
This variant was one of 18 each found by other researchers to have a mild association with type-2 diabetes risk that the Butte team incorporated into its analysis. These gene/disease connections had been identified via so-called genome-wide association studies
if certain versions of any gene variants occur with substantially greater frequency in one group than in the other.
The most well-studied gene variations are substitutions of one type of chemical unit of DNA for another one at a single position along the genome.
But genes don't act in a vacuum he added. If food is hard to find nobody gets fat obesity predisposition or not.
This enabled the researchers to perform a novel study pairing each of the 18 type-2-diabetes-implicated gene variants with each of the five suspect environmental substances to see how for individuals carrying a particular gene variant
It also may throw light on precisely how these substances affect the production or performance of the protein for which the implicated gene codes.
He noted that blood levels of alpha tocopherol--another form of Vitamin e that predominates in most supplements--showed no deleterious interaction with the predisposing gene variant in the new study.
and therefore contributing to better movement of genes and a successful regeneration of these trees.
and leopards to ensure genetic diversity and gene flow. The results of the study that focused on tigers were published in Ecology
and Gene Likens of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook N y. The severe pine beetle epidemic in Colorado
and fosmid clones technologies yielding 343 Mb draft genome with 18071 predicted protein-coding genes.
Compared with other sequenced insect species they found that the diamondback moth possesses a relatively larger set of genes
and a moderate number of gene families suggesting the expansion of certain gene families. Additionally the genome-based phylogeny demonstrated that DBM was a basal lepidopteran species
They investigated a set of genes preferentially expressed at the larval stage that contribute to odorant chemoreception food digestion and metabolic detoxification.
and glucosinolate sulfatase GSS) genes may be crucial for DBM to become a successful cruciferous herbivore.
In this study researchers found DBM has a larger set of insecticide resistance-related genes than silkworm (B. mori) that had little exposure to insecticide over 5000 years of domestication.
They identified in DBM obvious gene duplications of four gene families that participated in xenobiotic detoxification in insects including ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter families the P450 monooxygenases (P450s) glutathione
and identify a gene (called NSS) involved in protecting the virus against the immune response of infected animals.
The researchers made viruses missing the NSS gene and found they made mice in the laboratory less sick than viruses containing the NSS gene.
The researchers also discovered that SBV rapidly grows in the brain and spinal cord of aborted lambs and calves.
We modify the expression of a certain gene --or rather the information contained within it
Researchers then insert the modified gene back into the plant using a bacterium. The role of the bacterium is to act as a sort of shuttle service for the modified gene.
Producing more biomassthe principle is transferable and could be used on other kinds of plants; at the moment the scientists are working also on potato plants on behalf of a Japanese chemical company.
But in order to be able to do that we first need to gain a better understanding of the deregulation of genes says Prã fer who hopes cultivation experiments might begin next year.
#A history lesson from genes: Using DNA to tell us how populations changewhen Charles darwin first sketched how species evolved by natural selection he drew
Intrigued by recent research on the Neanderthal genome that suggests more interbreeding with Homo sapiens than previously thought Pritchard wanted to develop a general method for estimating gene flow between different groups within the same species over time.
If you try to make a tree of population histories within a species there's always the possibility that you've got genes flowing from one branch to another Pritchard said.
'Pritchard and Pickrell developed software called Treemix that compares how often variants of a particular gene from different populations appear in the same species. It then calculates how closely groups are related
The study identified two independent sets of genes responsible for making the fruit of modern commercial tomatoes 100 times larger than their wild ancestors.
for example in DNA around genes conferring larger fruit size or genes for resistance to diseases afflicting tomato plants.
These stretches of genetic uniformity illustrate the need to increase overall genetic diversity in modern varieties
way of identifying genes that are important for photosynthesis in maize and in rice. Their research helps to prioritize candidate genes that can be used for crop improvement
and revealed new pathways and information about how plants fix carbon. The findings published in Comparative analyses of C4
The technologies that our team developed to identify regulatory genes that enhance photosynthesis in C4 crops can be extended to identify control points for other processes including nitrogen and phosphate efficiency as well as a plant's response to environmental stresses like heat
and technology to better understand important genes and genomes for a variety of significant crops using model plants.
The regulatory genes that impact photosynthesis are critically important for enhancing growth and yield and improving carbon capture in both food and bioenergy crops said Mockler.
We can use short preserved gene sequences to yield the genome (or at least large sections of it) from pathogenic variants of influenza viruses for example or from completely new pathogens explains Greenwood.
Our work shows that wild tomato species harbor alleles that could be useful for improvement of antioxidant traits in cultivated tomato Doä anlar noted.
We can measure entire root systems for thousands of plants to give geneticists the information they need to search for genes with the best characteristics.
For instance certain genes may help plants survive in nitrogen-poor soils or in areas where drought is a problem.
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