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
HLB is caused by the bacteria of the genus Candidatus Liberibacter. Symptoms of the disease include blotchy mottled leaves sections of yellow
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.
Astonishing ten new species of semiaquatic freshwater earthworms revealedthe semiaquatic earthworms in the genus Glyphidrilus are somewhat unfamiliar species that live between the terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems of rivers streams canals
A study describing ten newly discovered species of the genus has been published in the open access journal Zookeys.
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
and Southern Americaa team of scientists have described twenty four new species of dipterans belonging to Quichuana genus of which only a further 24 species were known.
A ten-year study in forests of the American continent has resulted in the description of 24 new insect species from the Quichuana genus that are also known as'flower flies'.
and this genus belongs to the Syrphidae family which is a group with similar characteristics to that of bees and wasps but with a different taxonomic order.
and one of the authors of the study the species of the Quichuana genus are not well known as they live in tropical forest areas where insect studies are scarce.
Double the amount of Quichuana speciesthanks to these studies 24 more species have been discovered meaning that the number of documented species in this genus has doubled.
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.
#Natural gene selection can produce orange corn rich in Provitamin a for Africa, U s. Purdue researchers have identified a set of genes that can be used to naturally boost the Provitamin a content of corn kernels a finding that could help combat Vitamin a deficiency in developing countries and macular degeneration in the elderly.
Professor of agronomy Torbert Rocheford and fellow researchers found gene variations that can be selected to change nutritionally poor white corn into biofortified orange corn with high levels of Provitamin a carotenoids--substances
that the human body can convert into Vitamin a. Vitamin a plays key roles in eye health and the immune system as well as in the synthesis of certain hormones.
and the U s. Identifying the genes that determine carotenoid levels in corn kernels will help plant breeders develop novel biofortifed corn varieties for Africa
Previous research by Rocheford and his colleagues identified two genes that contribute to Provitamin a carotenoid levels in corn kernels
and assess the potential usefulness of genes associated with carotenoid levels in corn. They evaluated data sets from about 200 genetically diverse lines of corn at varying scopes of investigation--from the entire corn genome to stretches of DNA surrounding small sets of genes.
They uncovered four genes that had not previously been linked to carotenoid levels in corn kernels.
Though many genes likely contribute to carotenoid levels in corn we're pretty confident that our previous and current research has identified now several genes that are the major players Rocheford said.
Their study found that a combination of visually selecting corn with darker orange kernels and using a number of these favorable genes could be an effective way to rapidly convert white and yellow corn varieties to orange corn with higher levels of Provitamin a and total carotenoids.
We now have the genetic information needed to begin developing a major public-private sector collaboration with the goal of providing orange corn with high levels of Provitamin a to farmers throughout Sub-saharan africa he said.
The study also showed that using a more targeted approach to predicting the usefulness of a small set of genes was as effective as evaluating the whole corn genome said Brenda Owens doctoral candidate and first author of the study.
Having this smaller list of genes to select for means that we can make the improvement of carotenoid levels in corn a simpler faster process for plant breeders she said.
Where previously only the location of the genes on the genome and some of the gene variants were known a large part of the total variation has now been identified
We have used already data from the project to identify variations in genes that are associated with both embryo death
and combined the genetic variations with computer modeling techniques to map how important genes differ within balsam poplar
which genes control climate adaptation and how these vary between individuals. This type of modeling of variation in genetic makeup represents an important advance in understanding how climate change may impact biodiversity.
Genome sequencing revealed that the isolated B. pumilus contained three unique gene clusters for the production of antimicrobial peptide compounds known as bacteriocins.
Determining target genesthe expression of specific genes in a particular root cell determine its fate--the zone in which it will function Subramanian explained so he is identifying
Micro-RNA regulates the levels of the target gene's activity he explained. This means keeping its activity under a particular threshold confining the activity to specific cell types
When the genome of the black Perigord truffle was mapped in 2010 we thought that the fungus had sufficient genes to create its flavour on its own junior professor Richard Splivallo from the Institute for Molecular Life sciences at the Goethe University explained.
and the encoding genes that are responsible for the detoxification process in the fall armyworm. They also want to look for equivalent enzymes in related species and compare these.
In a first-of-its kind study that combined molecular and environmental data professor Meng-Hua Li et al. performed a search for genes under environmental selection from domesticated sheep breeds.
These were used to identify 17 genes that are involved in energy metabolism endocrine and autoimmune regulation.
One particular gene candidate TBC1D12 had a pattern of global distribution indicating that variants were deleterious in hot equatorial climates
In looking for biofuels microbes in the cow rumen we found that Prevotella bryantii a bacterium that is known to efficiently break down (the plant fiber) hemicellulose gears up production of one gene more than others
When searching a database for similar genes in other organisms the researchers found them in microbes from the human gut.
We have found that this gene is required for many many different physiological processes such as drought toleranceâ#he said. â#oewe observed that mutant plants are drought susceptible as well as susceptible to insect feeding.
Kim compared these lines to determine which genes and proteins account for tolerance. When Kim returned in July for his second three-month stay he brought seeds from two Korean lines--Sukang
If the same proteins are expressed differentially in Glover's varieties Kim will validate the genes he identified as important to tolerance in his Korean varieties.
If it is related to tolerance the same gene should be in other tolerant varieties. Kim added.
At that level we know the gene is expressed in the same way. His work at SDSU will decrease the time it takes to improve preharvest sprouting tolerance in Korean white wheat.
Although it is fragmented a very sample the gene sequence offers very interesting information Miguel PÃ rez-Enciso says.
because it is missing a duplicated KIT gene which would make it this colour. This coincides with the majority of paintings from that period in
Using DNA sequencing technology housed at the UO's Genomics Core Facility scientists sequenced the bacterial 16s RIBOSOMAL RNA gene isolated from the samples.
That gene which biologists call a barcode gene allowed researchers to identify and measure the diversity of bacteria based on millions of DNA fragments produced from bacterial communities collected from the surfaces of leaves said Jessica Green a professor at both the UO and Santa fe Institute.
Our ability to use molecular techniques like 16s RIBOSOMAL RNA gene sequencing to characterize nearly all of the bacteria on a leaf is going to make it possible to see how very different members of forest communities interact said Wright.
#Mystery of cereal grain defense explainedcrop scientists at Washington state University have explained how genes in the barley plant turn on defenses against aging and stressors like drought heat and disease.
Professor Diter von Wettstein and assistant research professor Sachin Rustgi showed that specific genes act as a switch that enables barley to live longer
Von Wettstein and Rustgi discovered that two barley genes called JIP60 and JIP60-like play a major role in the protective actions triggered by a key plant defense hormone called jasmonate or JA.
Rustgi said it was a surprise to discover that the JIP60 genes are connected also to boron sensitivity and disease resistance in cereal grains.
The genes lie in close proximity to these other plant traits providing a unique target for future crop breeding programs.
#Most famous wheat gene discovered, clears way for non-GMO breedingwashington State university researchers have found the most famous wheat gene a reproductive traffic cop of sorts that can be used to transfer valuable genes from other plants
The real exciting part of this gene is that it has tremendous potential for application said Kulvinder Gill a WSU professor who reports his findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
For some 35 million years the wild ancestors of wheat routinely traded genes as they accidentally crossbred with each other.
Instead of being diploid with two sets of chromosomes like humans and most other living things it became polyploid with in the case of bread wheat seven sets of six related chromosomes.
Starting in 1958 just five years after the discovery of DNA's double-helix structure researchers suspected that a specific gene controls the orderly pairing of wheat chromosomes during reproduction.
If this gene was not present there would be chaos in the nucleus said Gill.
Six chromosomes would pair with each other and sometimes five chromosomes would go to one cell and one to the other resulting in a sterile plant.
Because of this gene wheat can be fertile. Without this gene it would be more like sugar cane where it is a mess in the nucleus
and it can only be propagated vegetatively. But the gene also prevents wheat from breeding with related ancestors that can contain a vast array of traits preferred by growers.
This gene would not allow rye chromosomes to pair with wheat said Gill. We cannot get a single gene transfer into wheat
as long as this gene is present. Interest in the gene called Ph1 has spawned scores of research papers making it
what Gill called the most famous wheat gene. In 2006 British researchers writing in the journal Nature said they identified the gene.
In this paper said Gill we show that their gene is not the Ph1. Knowing their findings would be controversial Gill
and his colleagues spent a year repeating the experiments that led to their conclusion. They are now moving on.
Now that we have the gene we can actually use that gene sequence to temporarily silence the gene
and make rye and other chromosomes pair with wheat and transfer genes by a natural method into wheat without calling it GMO Gill said.
Their first effort involves transferring a gene from jointed goatgrass a wild relative of wheat to confer resistance to stripe rust.
The fungus is considered the world's most economically damaging wheat pathogen costing U s. farmers alone some $500 million in lost productivity in 2012.
While facilitated by technology the actual exchange of genetic material is similar to what has taken long place in nature only faster.
Incorporating the gene transfer into the overall breeding process researchers can develop a new variety in five years said Gill.
If we let wheat evolve for another few millions years in the wild maybe it will develop enough variation
but we don't have that kind of time said Gill. We need to solve this problem today.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Washington state University. The original article was written by Eric Sorensen.
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