Study finds important genes in defense responsewhen corn plants come under attack from a pathogen they sometimes respond by killing their own cells near the site of the attack committing cell suicide to thwart further damage from the attacker.
Researchers at North carolina State university have identified a number of candidate genes and cellular processes that appear to control this so-called hypersensitive defense response (HR) in corn.
The 44 candidate genes appear to be involved in defense response programmed cell death cell wall modification
because one particular resistance gene Rp1-D21 doesn't turn off. It's similar to a human having an autoimmune response that never stops Balint-Kurti says.
The researchers examined the entire corn gene blueprint--some 26.5 million points in the 2 to 3 billion base pair genome--to find the genes most closely associated with HR.
All of the processes associated with the top candidate genes have been associated previously with HR Balint-Kurti said.
A particular worry is unaddressed that the need for management of evolution that spans multiple sectors will lead to the spread of new infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance genes between natural human health and agricultural systems.
of which have value as gene donors for crop improvement. However until now the full range of these potentially valuable CWR species had not been identified.
and via gene banks to ensure their wealth of resilient characteristics are available to plant breeders.
while taking samples and placing them in gene banks as a safety back up where the genetic material can be kept for up to 300 years.
'It is very important that we conserve these species in secure gene banks but it is critical to conserve them in their natural habitat as they will continue to adapt to changes in the climate as well as threats from pests and diseases.''
and positions of genes in the coffee plant show that they evolved independently from genes with similar functions in tea and chocolate
In other words coffee did not inherit caffeine-linked genes from a common ancestor but instead developed the genes on its own.
The findings will appear on Sept. 5 in the journal Science. Why Coffee? With more than 2. 25 billion cups consumed daily worldwide coffee is the principal agricultural product of many tropical countries.
By looking at the coffee genome and genes specific to coffee we were able to draw some conclusions about
and tomato coffee harbors larger families of genes that relate to the production of alkaloid
Upon taking a closer look the researchers found that coffee's caffeine enzymes are more closely related to other genes within the coffee plant than to caffeine enzymes in tea and chocolate.
By looking at which families of genes expanded in the plant and the relationship between the genome structure of coffee and other species we were able to learn about coffee's independent pathway in evolution including--excitingly--the story of caffeine.
Instead it maintained a structure similar to the grape's. As such evolutionary diversification of the coffee genome was driven likely more by duplications in particular gene families as opposed to en masse when all genes in the genome duplicate.
The organisms were classified as two new species in a new genus Dendrogramma enigmatica and Dendrogramma discoides in the new family Dendrogrammatidae.
An international team of scientists has made now a breakthrough by showing that many genes controlling the development of the brain
Rabbit domestication has occurred primarily by altering the frequencies of gene variants that were already present in the wild ancestor.
Our data shows that domestication primarily involved small changes in many genes and not drastic changes in a few genes states Kerstin Lindblad-Toh co-senior author Director of Vertebrate Genome
The team observed very few examples where a gene variant common in domestic rabbits had replaced completely the gene variant present in wild rabbits;
if you release domestic rabbits into the wild there is an opportunity for back selection at those genes that have been altered during domestication
The scientists found no example where a gene has been inactivated during rabbit domestication and there were many more changes in the non-coding part of the genome than in the parts of the genome that codes for protein.
which genes they carry but how their genes are regulated i e. when and how much of each gene is used in different cells explains Miguel Carneiro.
The study also revealed which genes that have been altered during domestication. The researchers were amazed by the strong enrichment of genes involved in the development of the brain
and the nervous system among the genes particularly targeted during domestication. But that of course makes perfect sense in relation to the drastic changes in behaviour between wild and domestic rabbits concludes Kerstin Lindblad-Toh.
The study shows that the wild rabbit is a highly polymorphic species that carries gene variants that were favourable during domestication
and that the accumulation of many small changes led to the inhibition of the strong flight response--one of the most prominent phenotypic changes in the evolution of the domestic rabbitwe predict that a similar process has occurred in other domestic animals
and that we will not find a few specific domestication genes that were critical for domestication. It is very likely that a similar diversity of gene variants affecting the brain
and the nervous system occurs in the human population and that contributes to differences in personality
and behaviour says Leif Andersson. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Uppsala University.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal References e
#Less than $200 million would conserve precious Atlantic Forest in Brazil, say researchersbrazil could conserve its valuable Atlantic Forest by investing just 0. 01 per cent of its annual GDP according to a new study.
#Water thermostat could help engineer drought-resistant cropsduke University researchers have identified a gene that could help scientists engineer drought-resistant crops.
The gene called OSCA1 encodes a protein in the cell membrane of plants that senses changes in water availability
and hundreds of genes are involved. The problem is confounded by the fact that drought is accompanied often by heat waves
Pei and Duke colleagues Fang Yuan James Siedow and others identified a gene that encodes a protein in the cell membranes of plant leaves
The gene was identified in Arabidopsis thaliana a small unassuming plant related to cabbage and canola that is the lab rat of plant research.
and plants with defective versions of the gene side by side in the same pot and exposed them to drought stress the mutant plants experienced more wilting.
The team's next step is to manipulate the activity of the OSCA1 gene and related genes and see how those plants respond to drought--information that could lead to crops that respond more quickly and efficiently to dehydration.
Plants that enter drought-fighting mode quickly and then switch back to normal growth mode quickly when drought stress is gone should be able to allocate energy more efficiently toward growth Pei said.
Unexpected diversity in New zealand tree, kanuka genus Kunzeaat the stroke of a pen a New zealand endemic tree has for the last 31 years been regarded incorrectly the same as a group of'weedy'Australian shrubs and small trees.
and the allied New zealand endemic Leptospermum sinclairii were merged in 1983 with three other Australian species under the oldest available name (L. ericoides) as a new combination in the related genus Kunzea.
The shift from an approach focused on single candidate genes to the large-scale computational approach analyzing all of them is made possible by the availability of the poplar genome
and light levels and they examined variation in those genes as they vary across environmental gradients.
what genes fall under those fingerprints. Watch a video of Tuskan on the importance of selection in trees at http://bit. ly/Tuskan14fingerprints.
and 45000 genes to figuring out what's not just statistically significant but biologically meaningful wasn't easy said study first author Luke Evans of West Virginia University.
and selection such that the alleles or gene variants that we have identified have great promise to provide robust long-term improvements to biofuel feedstocks.
That's a massive number of naturally occurring variants a lot in cell wall chemistry genes and other known productivity genes.
The researchers also identified specific mutations in genes important in adaptation to factors such as climate
Before scientists sequenced its genes people assumed that chickens and all birds taste things the same way that mammals do:
The gene for tasting sweetness is present in their genomes but it's nonfunctional. Scientists suspect that an interplay between taste receptors
It has no trace of a sweet-taste receptor gene. Faced with this all-or-nothing scenario Maude Baldwin co-first author of the paper had one reaction.
After cloning the genes for taste receptors from chickens swifts and hummingbirds--a three-year process--Baldwin needed to test what the proteins expressed by these genes were responding to.
She joined forces with another scientist at another International Taste and Smell meeting. Yasuka Toda a graduate student of the University of Tokyo and co-first author of the paper had devised a method for testing taste receptors in cell culture.
and hummingbird taste receptors into hybrid chimeras to understand which parts of the gene were involved in this change in function.
and are capable of activating genes that change the protein composition in the cell. A team of scientists--headed by Prof.
The scientists believe that the CES transcription factor collects in specific regions of the DNA in order to effectively control gene function.
and while two individuals with the same phenotype may look alike their genes may differ substantially.
Several of these regions contained genes known to be involved with growth in humans. They then studied these regions to look for indications that the changes were persisted ones that
The results of the genetic comparison indicated that there was a statistical difference between the two groups indicative of multi gene adaptation.
The first advance was the ability to produce genetically engineered pigs as a source of donor organs by NHLBI's collaborator Revivicor Inc. The pigs had the genes that cause adverse immunologic reactions in humans knocked out and human
genes that make the organ more compatible with human physiology were inserted. The second advance was the use of target-specific immunosuppression
The gene that synthesizes the enzyme alpha 1-3 galactosidase transferase was knocked out in all piglets
The researchers found that in one group with a human gene) the average transplant survival was more than 200 days dramatically surpassing the survival times of the other three groups (average survival 70 days 21 days
This longest-surviving group was the only one that had the human thrombomodulin gene added to the pigs'genome.
or species. These markers are genes or DNA sequences with known locations on a chromosome.
Genomic prediction differs from traditional predictions in that it skips the marker-detection step. The method simply uses all markers of the entire genome to predict a trait.
But many economically important traits are controlled by a large number of genes with small effects. Because the genomic prediction model captures all these small-effect genes predictability is improved vastly.
Without genomic prediction breeders must grow all possible crosses in the field to select the best cross (hybrid.
In genetics dominance describes the joint action of two different alleles (copies) of a gene.
For example if one copy of a gene has a value of 1 and the other copy has a value of 2 the joint effect of the two alleles may be 4 indicating that the two alleles are not additive.
In this case dominance has occurred. Epistasis refers to any type of gene-gene interaction. By incorporating dominance
and epistasis we took into account all available information for prediction Xu said. It led to a more accurate prediction of a trait value.
and other crops might be improved genetically without the need to introduce foreign genes according to researchers writing in the Cell Press publication Trends in Biotechnology on August 13th.
The simple avoidance of introducing foreign genes makes genetically edited crops more natural than transgenic crops obtained by inserting foreign genes said Chidananda Nagamangala Kanchiswamy of Istituto Agrario San Michele in Italy.
Most transgenic fruit crop plants have been developed using a plant bacterium to introduce foreign genes and only papaya has been commercialized in part because of stringent regulation in the European union (EU). The researchers say that genetically edited plants modified through the insertion deletion
or altering of existing genes of interest might even be deemed as nongenetically modified depending on the interpretation of the EU commission and member state regulators.
Transfer of foreign genes was the first step to improve our crops but GEOS will surge as a natural strategy to use biotechnology for a sustainable agricultural future.
which is both environmentally friendly and effective. â#The Oxitec method works by introducing a female-specific gene into the insects that interrupts development before females reach a reproductive stage.
If genetics do play a role she suspects multiple genes may interact with environmental factors to determine tolerance;
and Institute for Genomic Biology director Gene Robinson who also led the new analysis . When he and his colleagues looked at brain gene activity in honey bees after they had faced down an intruder the team found that some metabolic genes were suppressed.
These genes play a key role in the most efficient type of energy generation in cells a process called oxidative phosphorylation.
It was a counterintuitive finding because these genes were regulated down Robinson said. You tend to think of aggression as requiring more energy not less.
In the new study postdoctoral researcher Clare Rittschof used drugs to suppress key steps in oxidative phosphorylation in the bee brains.
In a Phd project at the National Food Institute Technical University of Denmark the latest technologies within whole genome sequencing were exploited to develop new methods to identify genes which are important for the survival of MRSA in pigs.
which can identify genes important for the survival of MRSA in pigs. High-throughput approaches can identify those genes in the total gene pool of the bacteria
which are essential or the presence of which is advantageous for the bacteria under some given circumstances.
By studying which genes are essential for the bacteria in pigs it may be possible for researchers to identify the factors important for the bacterium to colonise on pigs.
They do this by changing their genes either by mutating or by transferring resistance genes among themselves.
It is therefore important not to overconsume antibiotics but only to use the necessary amount.
or glycolate two products of the gene DJ-1 can stop and even counteract this process:
and Genetics with rather different research programs--but both happened to stumble upon the gene DJ-1 and joined forces.
This gene originally thought of as an oncogene has been linked to Parkinson's disease since 2003. Recent studies showed that DJ-1 belongs to a novel glyxolase family.
The major function of these genes is assumed to detoxify aggressive aldehyde by-products from mitochondrial metabolism. The Dresden research team now showed that the products of DJ-1 D-lactate
The study was conducted by Gene Towne research associate and the Konza Prairie Biological Station fire chief and Joseph Craine research assistant professor both in the Division of Biology.
#Study advances DNA revolution, tells butterflies evolutionary historyby tracing nearly 3000 genes to the earliest common ancestor of butterflies
The researchers identified 2696 genes by breaking down the DNA down and piecing it back together Kawahara said.
because many of the genes code for traits that make African rice resistant to environmental stress such as long periods of drought high salinity in the soils and flooding.
and move genes more rapidly through conventional breeding methods or through genetic modification techniques noted Wing who is also a member of the UA's BIO5 Institute and holds the Axa Endowed Chair of Genome Biology and Evolutionary Genomics at the International Rice Research
In analyzing the 33000 genes that make up the African rice genome the researchers discovered that during the process of domestication Africans
and have enabled since the discovery of hundreds of agriculturally important genes including genes that code for faster breeding cycles
By understanding the entire genus at a genome level we have a whole new pool of genetic variation that can be used to combat pests
One example he said would be adding disease resistance genes from all of the wild rice varieties to a species of cultivated rice creating a new super-crop that is resistant to diseases and pests.
Analyzing the RNA transcriptome shows which genes are active under different circumstances. The UC Davis team published a paper last year comparing the RNA transcripts of domestic tomato
Using the new genome data the researchers found genes related to dehydration resistance fruit development and fruit ripening.
They also found genes that contribute to volatile compounds related to fruit scent and flavor. The UC Davis portion of the work was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.
The researchers say the pesticide may be affecting how genes are turned on and off in the progeny of an exposed animal even though its DNA and gene sequences remain unchanged.
This is called transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. In recent years the Skinner lab has documented epigenetic effects from a host of environmental toxicants including DDT plastics pesticides fungicides dioxins hydrocarbons and the plasticizer bisphenol-A or BPA.
which are governed by all kinds of genes. In order to bring them together in a cow in the best
and New hampshire cottontails to travel the large distances between fragmented habitats necessary to maintain gene flow among populations of cottontails Kovach said.
and used information about genetic relatedness to make estimates of gene flow. They identified four major genetic clusters of New england cottontails in the region.
This research which was funded in part by the NH Agricultural Experiment Station is presented in the article A multistate analysis of gene flow for the New england cottontail an imperiled habitat specialist in a fragmented landscape in the journal Ecology and Evolution.
We found that some bees are working very very hard--as we would have expected said University of Illinois Institute for Genomic Biology director Gene E. Robinson who led the research.
#Asian genes in European pigs result in more pigletspigs which are bred commercially in Europe are found to have varied a highly mosaic of different European and Asian gene variants.
The Asian genes in particular result in a large number of piglets in European pig breeds. In the latest issue of the science journal Nature Communications researchers from Wageningen University explain that a number of important characteristics of European pigs have Asian origins.
They previously demonstrated that the genetic diversity among commercial pigs is greater than within the existing populations of wild boar.
An example is the AHR gene of which many European pigs have the Asian version. Sows with the European gene have significantly fewer piglets than carriers of the Asian version.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Wageningen University and Research Centre. Note:
In the first experiment the scientists studied the relative abundances of gut-microbe genes in two groups of the creosote-eating Mojave woodrats.
DNA was isolated from the microbes to identify genes involved in detoxification. The scientists found that a woodrat's diet determines the composition of its gut microbes.
and grammar--were significantly heritable with genes accounting for about 43 percent of the overall twins'deficit.
#Chromosome-based draft of the wheat genome completedseveral Kansas State university researchers were essential in helping scientists assemble a draft of a genetic blueprint of bread wheat also known as common wheat.
which also includes faculty at Kansas State university recently published a chromosome-based draft sequence of wheat's genetic code
A chromosome-based draft sequence of the hexaploid bread wheat genome is one of four papers about the wheat genome that appear in the journal Science.
For the first time they have at their disposal a set of tools enabling them to rapidly locate specific genes on individual wheat chromosomes throughout the genome Akhunov said.
This resource is invaluable for identifying those genes that control complex traits such as yield grain quality disease pest resistance and abiotic stress tolerance.
Akhunov Shichen Wang a programmer and bioinformatics scientist in plant pathology and Jesse Poland assistant professor of plant pathology collaborated with the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium to order genes along the wheat chromosomes.
and director of the Wheat Genetics Resource Center and Bernd Friebe research professor who developed genetic material that was essential for obtaining the chromosome-based sequence of the wheat genome.
A second paper in Science details the first reference sequence of chromosome 3b the largest chromosome in common wheat.
The wheat genome only has 21 chromosomes but each chromosome is very big and therefore quite complicated Akhunov said.
The largest chromosome 3b has nearly 800 million letters in its genetic code. This is nearly three times more information than is in the entire rice genome.
So trying to sequence this chromosome --and this genome--end-to-end is complicated an extremely task. In order to analyze the vast amount of genetic information researchers used a technique called shotgun sequencing.
This divided the wheat genome into chromosomes and then split each chromosome into smaller segments.
Chromosomal segments were analyzed by short gene sequences and overlapping sequences were stitched together with computer software.
The chromosome-based daft sequence the critical step before the full wheat genome is sequenced Akhunov said.
The sequencing approach developed for the 3b chromosome can now be applied for sequencing the remaining chromosomes in wheat.
The consortium estimates the full genome sequence will be available in three years. The research is funded by the U s. Department of agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
#Scientists track gene activity when honey bees do and dont eat honey: Significant differences depending on dietmany beekeepers feed their honey bees sucrose
In a new study described in Scientific Reports researchers took a broad look at changes in gene activity in response to diet in the Western honey bee (Apis mellifera)
and Institute for Genomic Biology director Gene Robinson who performed the new analysis together with entomology graduate student Marsha Wheeler.
The researchers focused on gene activity in response to feeding with honey high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) or sucrose.
They found that those bees fed honey had a very different profile of gene activity in the fat body than those relying on HFCS or sucrose.
Hundreds of genes showed differences in activity in honey bees consuming honey compared with those fed HFCS or sucrose.
Some of the genes that were activated differently in the honey-eating bees have been linked to protein metabolism brain-signaling and immune defense.
I. entomology professor and department head May Berenbaum who reported that some substances in honey increase the activity of genes that help the bees break down potentially toxic substances such as pesticides.
#Transplanting gene into injured hearts creates biological pacemakerscardiologists at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute have developed a minimally invasive gene transplant procedure that changes unspecialized heart cells into biological pacemaker cells
It is possible that one day we might be able to save lives by replacing hardware with an injection of genes.
n and his team heralds a new era of gene therapy in which genes are used not only to correct a deficiency disorder
In the study laboratory pigs with complete heart block were injected with the gene called TBX18 during a minimally invasive catheter procedure.
On the second day after the gene was delivered to the animals'hearts pigs who received the gene had significantly faster heartbeats than pigs who did not receive the gene.
#Transplanting gene into injured hearts creates biological pacemakerscardiologists at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute have developed a minimally invasive gene transplant procedure that changes unspecialized heart cells into biological pacemaker cells
It is possible that one day we might be able to save lives by replacing hardware with an injection of genes.
n and his team heralds a new era of gene therapy in which genes are used not only to correct a deficiency disorder
In the study laboratory pigs with complete heart block were injected with the gene called TBX18 during a minimally invasive catheter procedure.
On the second day after the gene was delivered to the animals'hearts pigs who received the gene had significantly faster heartbeats than pigs who did not receive the gene.
#Gene discovery could lead to better soybean varieties for northern United Statesresearchers from Purdue University
and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have discovered a soybean gene whose mutation affects plant stem growth a finding that could lead to the development of improved soybean cultivars for the northern United states. Purdue agronomy professor Jianxin Ma (pronounced Jen-SHIN'Ma)
and collaborators identified a gene known as Dt2 which causes semideterminacy in soybean plants. Semideterminate soybean plants--mid-size plants that continue vegetative growth even after flowering--can produce as many
This gene could help us improve the yield potential and adaptability of soybeans for specific growing areas Ma said.
Ma--who had identified previously Dt1 the gene that causes indeterminancy in soybeans--used an integrated genetic approach to isolate
After identifying the gene he inserted it into indeterminate cultivars to confirm that it caused the plants to become semideterminate.
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