#Heart Cells Transformed Into'Biological Pacemaker'Electronic pacemakers can be lifesaving for people with abnormal
Now in experiments in pigs researchers have come up with a new method for making a biological pacemaker that might one day serve as an alternative to electronic ones the researchers said.
Making this pacemaker involves injecting a gene into heart muscle cells which transforms these normal heart cells into special cells that can initiate a heartbeat.
It is possible that one day we might be able to save lives by replacing electronic hardware with an injection of genes.
The method relies on a virus to insert the gene into the heart cells and although this virus cannot replicate itself
or integrate into the genome the pig experiments showed that a small amount of virus did end up in other organs in the animals besides the heart according to the study published today (July 16) in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
New biological pacemaker In healthy people a small region of the heart called the sinoatrial node fires the electrical impulses that determine heart rate.
If this region is not working properly people can develop heart rhythm problems and have symptoms such as fatigue fainting or even cardiac arrest.
The researchers injected a gene called TBX18 into a small area of the heart muscle. This gene converted this area of heart muscle cells into sinoatrial node cells.
In essence we create a new sinoatrial node in a part of the heart that ordinarily spreads the impulse
Within a few days the pigs that received the TBX18 gene had faster heartbeats than pigs that did not receive the gene.
In addition the hearts of pigs with the biological pacemaker were able to speed up during exercise
and slow down during rest much better than the hearts of pigs without the biological pacemaker.
The pigs with the TBX18 gene were also more physically active than the pigs without the gene according to the study.
because over time the pigs'bodies started to reject cells with the injected virus. The researchers are now testing how long the treatment lasts.
and provide an encouraging indication that a biological pacemaker might eventually be ready for human translation Dr. Nikhil Munshi
In the study a small amount of virus ended up in the pigs'spleens and lungs after it was injected
In addition it could be problematic if the virus ends up in multiple places in the heart and forms more than one biological pacemaker.
because the plants couldn't adapt to post-impact climate swings researchers report today (Sept. 16) in the journal PLOS Biology.
which differ depending on your genes. The gene that codes for the PTC receptor exists in two common forms (and a few rare forms)
which result in bitterness proteins with slightly different shapes. This in turn has an effect on how sensitive you are to bitterness but that s not the end of the story.
Instead our olfactory system can discriminate between thousands of different smells due to loads of different receptors all coded for by specific genes.
Different people have different genes. Given the number of different types of receptors involved the chances of having dinner with someone with the same set of receptors as you are quite low.
Carcinogens can result in tumors by damaging the genome or disrupting the cell's metabolic processes.
#New Technique Busts Chocolate Counterfeiters Scientists say they have figured out how to identify the genetic origin of the cacao fruit a finding that should help put a damper on counterfeit chocolate.
which can be subject to existing methods of genetic testing to verify their origins cacao has been a tougher nut to crack.
The technique works on single cacao beans and can be scaled up to handle large samples quickly according to Dapeng Zhang a research geneticist at the USDA
The next step is getting the genetic test to handle larger numbers of samples and to be used by buyers in the field Zhang said.
But one expert noted that devising a genetic test won t make the chocolate taste any better.#
#oeit s going to cost a lot of money for a company to (test)# said Louis Grivetti a professor emeritus of nutritional sciences at the University of California Davis. Grivetti notes that a genetic test will help differentiate between different kind of cacao varieties
#oeyes you can run a genetic test#Grivetti said. That may be the case but so what?
While the hors d'oeuvres were in keeping with the intrepid spirit of the evening Gene Rurka the man behind the menu had another motive in serving creepy crawlies to A-list explorers.
whose aim is to free the seed that is to make sure that the genes in at least some plant seeds can never be locked away from use by intellectual property rights.
In order to continually improve our crops to feed the world s rapidly growing population farmers and plant breeders need access to the best genetic resources.
OSSI creates a pool of genetic resources that are freely available for all to use share save replant
Mycologists scientists who study fungi estimate there are up to five million species of fungi On earth. Of these only about 2%or 100000 species have been described formally.
Mycologists Bryn Dentinger and Laura Suz from the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew UK used DNA sequencing to identify three new species in a packet of dried porcini mushrooms purchased from a supermarket
for quality and adherence to international regulations such as the Convention on Biological Diversity. Like an apple a mushroom is the fruit of the fungus.
But discoveries of novel species are the new norm in modern mycology a change being driven by advances in our ability to sequence DNA.
It s very important to better understand fungi as they underpin the terrestrial biology of Earth.
The use of modern DNA technologies and classification tools may allow development of bioactive compounds for medicine enhanced agricultural productivity environmental damage repair industrial applications such as biofuels
and Chris Kratt who create children's programs on biology. Liturgusa fossetti honors James Stephen Fossett an aviator and explorer who died in an air crash in 2007.
Innovation Helps Cannabis Industry Flourish DENVER The legalization of recreational marijuana sales in Colorado is turning an underground industry into a big business and ushering in innovations in everything from genetics to growing methods.
Meanwhile other researchers are digging into the cannabis genome. Canadian researchers mapped the genome of the common strain Cannabis sativa in 2011.
Now the Cannabis Genomic Research Initiative led by ecologist Nolan Kane of the University of Colorado at Boulder seeks to sample DNA from multiple cannabis species. Pot's future This genetic innovation has some cannabis users
and growers concerned. As big business moves in they worry that agricultural companies will create genetically modified plants
As president of the American Soybean Association he also tries to keep up with everything from biotechnology advances to biodiesel policy changes.
At first I thought I would find an evolutionary biologist who would partner with me through the whole project.
Stromatolites are part biologic and part geologic comprised of living cyanobacteria bound together with nonliving sediments like silt and sand.
Astrobiologists are studying the beginnings of life On earth by sending extremophiles out of Earth's atmosphere to see
but people unfortunately like their ivory tusks said the study's lead researcher George Wittemyer an assistant professor of fish wildlife and conservation biology at Colorado State university.
Alarming increases in illegal killing for ivory are driving African elephants rapidly into extinction said Peter Leimgruber a conservation biologist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute who was involved not in the study.
The finding detailed in the journal Frontiers in Zoology earned a team of international scientists the Ig Nobel in Biology.
genetics and aging. Similar to your complexion or the color of your eyes you may simply be born with teeth that appear more yellow (or more white) than other people's teeth.
Melanistic or all black jaguars occur due to a genetic mutation. This mutation causes the skin
We found the earliest evidence for a parasite that causes Schistosomiasis in humans said study co-author Dr. Piers Mitchell a biological anthropologist at the University of Cambridge in England.
As follow-up work the team wants to analyze the genetic material from the parasite to see
and the other part of the body will extend forward said Greg Byrnes an integrative biologist at Siena College in New york. It's like an accordion that's opening and closing.
Byrnes and Jayne detailed their work today (Aug 19) in the journal Biology Letters. Follow Joseph Castro on Twitter.
Varner a doctoral student in biology at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City was unaware of the fire until she returned to her field site on Pinnacle Ridge in 2012 and discovered it was destroyed.
and sugar may not be the only additives in your morning cup of coffee. Tough growing conditions and rising demand are leading some coffee producers to mix in wheat soybean brown sugar rye barley acai seeds corn twigs and even dirt.
But these additives could be a serious problem for people with soy or wheat allergies said Suzana Lucy Nixdorf a researcher at Universidade Estadual de Londrina in Brazil.
This means that it contains three genomes each with two sets of chromosomes. Each of these three genomes comes from a different wild grass.
These grasses combined to give the bread wheat we know today. The trouble is that this giant genome makes bread wheat genetically very different to its wild relatives
so it cannot be breed easily with related grasses to create new varieties. This means that the genome of wheat is restricted to a small pool compared to many other cereal crops.
This limits the potential for improving wheat yield by conventional breeding in which different varieties are crossed together to give new combinations of traits.
This doesn t happen readily in the wild because of the different genome structures but their work could increase the availability of novel genes
and therefore generate new characteristics for selection by breeding. The photosynthesis research team at Rothamsted Research also in the UK is trying a different tactic for increasing wheat yield.
so crossing them created more genetic variation and therefore greater scope for breeding wheat with desirable characteristics.
which maintain their yield under environmental and biological stresses. This will be the key to safeguarding our wheat crop in the years ahead.
Genetically modified organisms have been altered through genetic engineering to promote certain traits such as drought resistance in corn or herbicide resistance in rice.
genetic engineering speeds up the process by plucking beneficial genes from one organism and incorporating them into another.)
Genetic engineering is a tool that can be used to create a variety of products according to THE WHO so genetically modified ingredients should be tested on a case-by-case basis for safety.
These additives might also be modified genetically as in fact are 90 percent of the soy cotton canola corn
More than half of all terrestrial biodiversity lives in forests. But humans are failing to preserve these crucial ecosystems Steer told reporters before the launch.
and king cobra while not members of this genus are considered commonly cobras because they possess hoods poisonous fangs
Op-Ed & Insights Last month I was asked to write an essay for a forthcoming issue of the journal Current Biology on the biology of fun.
Based on a field study of Golden Marmots in Pakistan's Khunjerab National park UCLA biologist Daniel Blumsteinsuggested that play might expose individuals to predation.
University of Idaho biologist John Byersreports on a few field studies that show that play can be risky including observations of young lambs falling to their death while playing.
and genetics. Although I talk a lot about NCDS -or noncommunicable diseases-some cancers are caused actually by infections.
The good news though is that the two viruses that cause these cancers are largely preventable by vaccine-Hepatitis b
and human pappiloma virus. Plain and simple tobacco is bad. Causing 22%of all cancer deaths worldwide the good fight against tobacco tobacco advertising
One biologist recently conducted a census of organisms at fairy circles. His results detailed in the journal Science last year revealed a species of sand termite Psammotermes allocerus lived at the majority of patches.
However when the researchers reconstructed the genomes of the tuberculosis samples they found the strains didn't fit into any branches of the disease that are associated commonly with human infection.
The previous study whose authors included six of the same authors as the more recent study concluded that the most recent common ancestor of TB was 70000 years old according to the paper published in the journal Nature Genetics.
These dates are worked out by measuring the amount of genetic diversity among all known strains of TB bacteria
which genetic changes occur during evolution to work out how much time was needed for all that diversity to evolve said Terry Brown a life sciences faculty member at the University of Manchester in England who was involved not in the study.
I think the youngest estimate I've ever read said Ruth Hershberg an assistant professor of microbial evolutionary genomics at the Ruth
Boucher a biologist pointed out that although the biggest emissions reduction would obviously come from becoming a vegan replacing beef with poultry would get you more than 90 percent of the way there
but if a French research project pans out passenger jets could soon fuel up with biofuels derived from this agricultural byproduct.
The effort aims to use straw to create a biofuel that can be mixed with kerosene in a 50/50 blend.
Biofuels are a type of combustible matter holding potential energy in the form of carbon that was bonded chemically in the recent past (when considered on a geologic time scale.
The new fuel would put agricultural waste to work instead of diverting food crops to make biofuels.
Biofuels have developed in response to the high costs of oil production and to the problem of pollution created during petroleum extraction and refining processes.
But critics have said biofuel production causes food shortages by replacing edible crops with plants intended for use in fuels.
Meanwhile spikes in food prices over the past few years have tampered government enthusiasm for biofuels that divert food crops even as the European union intends to reach an annual output of 2 million tons of aviation biofuels by 2020.
The process of creating these new fuels wouldn't be very different from that used for typical biofuels.
No extra crops would need to be grown to make the biofuel and the dependability of the fuel source could insulate airlines from spikes in fuel prices c
The mystery of an ancient battle between two warring troops of elephants has been solved thanks to a modern genetic analysis of the lumbering beasts.
So Roca and his colleagues conducted a thorough genetic analysis of the elephants found in Eritrea the descendants of the losers in the ancient battle.
We showed using pretty much every genetic marker that they were savanna elephants Roca told Livescience.
and gain insight into the special biological and cultural qualities of the region. Organised from the bottom up ecotourism can be sensitive to local concerns
While Madagascar is one of the world s top biodiversity hotspots lemurs easily represent the country s brand#for drawing ecotourists.
This vast forest is rich in biodiversity including no fewer than 13 lemur species. With good transport links to the capital
Researchers from universities around the world have worked with local schools to develop a heightened appreciation of the unique biodiversity there.
and productivity on farms as well as help us monitor for any biosecurity threats including Colony Collapse Disorder a global phenomenon where worker bees from a beehive
This will help us understand how to maximise their productivity as well as monitor for any biosecurity threats.
#Pine tree Yields Longest Genome Ever Sequenced Scientists say they've generated the longest genome sequence to date unraveling the genetic code of the loblolly pine tree.
since the age of the dinosaurs and they have some of the biggest genomes of all living things.
and has a lengthy genome to match with 23 billion base pairs. That's more than seven times the size of the human genome which has 3 billion base pairs.
These pairs form sequences called genes that tell cells how to make proteins. It's a huge genome.
But the challenge isn't just collecting all the sequence data. The problem is assembling that sequence into order study researcher David Neale a professor of plant sciences at the University of California Davis said in a statement.
To simplify this huge genetic puzzle Neale and colleagues assembled most of the sequence from part of a single pine nut#a haploid part of the seed with just one set of chromosomes to piece together.
The new research showed that the loblolly genome is bloated with repetitive DNA. In fact 82 percent of the genome repeats itself the researchers say.
Understanding the loblolly pine's genetic code could lead to improved breeding of the tree which is used to make paper
and lumber and is being investigated as a potential biofuel the scientists say. The loblolly pine joins other recently sequenced conifers including the Norway spruce (Picea abies)
which has 20 billion base pairs. For their next project the researchers are eyeing the sugar pine a tree with 35 billion base pairs.
The research was detailed this week in the journals Genetics and Genome Biology. Follow Megan Gannon on Twitter and Google+.
+Follow us@livescience Facebook & Google+.+Original article on Livescience Â
#Ancient Sheep Poop Reveals Desert Island's Secret Past On the floor of a cave in a remote desert island in Mexico scientists stumbled across a mat of urine-hardened poop dating back to more than 1500
years ago. The fossilized dung offers surprising evidence that bighorn sheep once lived on the uninhabited island a new study claims.
It's a very clear result study researcher Clinton Epps a conservation geneticist at Oregon State university said in a statement.
although seasonal influenza activity is declining flu viruses continue to circulate and cause illness in parts of the U s. For example in New york state the numbers from the second week of April show influenza is still widespread with more than 2500 lab-confirmed cases.
and take everyday preventive actions to stop the virus'spread the CDC says. These include washing hands limiting contact with sick people
By drawing on genetic archaeological linguistic and ecological evidence the researchers found that chili farming was born in central-east Mexico.
By tracing back the ancestry of any domesticated plant we can better understand the genetic evolution of that species and the origin of agriculture a major step in human evolution in different regions of the world.
Genetic material from dozens of samples of farm-raised and wild chili peppers seemed to point to northeastern Mexico as the origin of domestication for C. annuum the researchers found.
Hastorf also thinks it is interesting that the genetic data pointed to northeastern Mexico as the origin for chili farming.
and liver according to a study published in the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. Breathing can cause an animal to lose a lot of water.
To figure out what might be causing the changes Teixeira and a team of researchers analyzed genes in the bark of five high-quality cork trees and five low-quality cork trees growing in Portugal.
but they have more genes that produce huge amounts of phenolic compounds UV-absorbing chemicals that collect inside the bark.
Teixeira says that after more genetic testing it may be possible to select the best cork oaks for breeding
But after the chicken genome was sequenced in 2004 researchers noticed the birds lacked the gene that encodes T1r2 a crucial component of the sweet-taste receptor.
This same pattern was seen in other bird genomes. If a species is missing one of those two parts then the species can't taste sweet at all said Maude Baldwin a doctoral student of evolutionary biology at Harvard university and one of the researchers on the study.
When scientists sequenced the genomes of cats lions tigers and cheetahs true carnivores that also don't have a taste for sweets#they found these species still have a nonfunctional pseudogene (a nonfunctional gene that's lost its protein-coding powers) for the sweet-taste receptor.
But in bird genomes scientists never even found a trace of a pseudogene for a sweet tooth Baldwin told Live Science.
To figure out what made hummingbirds like sweets despite their lack of the sweet-taste receptor Baldwin and colleagues cloned the genes for the T1r1-T1r3 taste receptors from omnivorous chickens insectivorous swifts and nectivorous hummingbirds.
The researchers then tested how the taste-receptor proteins produced by these genes reacted to different flavors in a cell culture.
For chickens and swifts the receptor had a strong reaction to the amino acids behind umami flavors.
The hummingbird receptor on the other hand was stimulated only weakly by umami flavors but it did responded strongly to the sweet flavors of carbs the researchers found.
Birds are the descendants of carnivorous dinosaurs so maybe this gene was lost early on because of the diet of their ancestors Baldwin said.
Livestock affect most of the world's biodiversity hotspots Liu said. They make up 20 percent of all of the earth's land mammals
Diarrhea or loose bowel movements also is caused by many factors most commonly by viruses bacteria or an allergic reaction.
I hear allergy myths all the time said Dr. John Costa medical director of the Brigham and Women's Hospital Allergy and Clinical Immunology Practice in Boston.
The top 10 is designed to bring attention to the unsung heroes who are addressing the biodiversity crisis by working to complete an inventory of Earth's plants animals
Centre Valbio which is funded partially by the National Science Foundation is a pivotal hub for researching rainforest biodiversity and conservation and for conducting outreach to the community and policy makers.
</p><p>Perhaps six or seven months of the year these snakes are living thirsty said Coleman Sheehy III an evolutionary biologist at the University of Florida
I really do think it helps with some of the major insect problems that we have Robert Venette a biologist with the U s. Forest Service in Minnesota told NPR.
Stunning Photos of Amazon Biodiversity It's a headline-making conservation story and truly deserving of international attention:
Half of them are strict conservation areas some appropriate for tourists others only for biological research.
the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund a private nonprofit organization that designs and manages financial mechanisms for biodiversity conservation;
and create an allergy action plan said Bassett a fellow of the American College of Allergy Asthma and Immunology. 9 Weirdest Allergies Mistake 2:
and ecology Sandra Rehan lead NHAES researcher and assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of New hampshire's College of Life sciences and Agriculture (COLSA) said in a statement.
and has led to the launch of a longer-term project to monitor the biodiversity of bees in New hampshire.
The researchers plan to use genomic screening on the winged guests of the bee hotel to identify which species suffer low genetic variability.
This trait the researchers explained may indicate certain genetic issues that can lead to the decline
In 2009 Spanish biologists used frozen tissue to clone a Pyrenean ibex. The clone only lived for seven minutes
and eventually fossilized said lead study author Camilla Crifã a biologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama during the study.
The discovery of these bacteria also revealed clues to the dental hygiene and diets of these centuries-old humans according to the study detailed today (Feb 24) in the journal Nature Genetics. 5 Surprising Ways to Banish Bad
and other debris but the level of preservation of biomolecules is remarkable a microbiome entombed
The team reconstructed the genome of a major bacterial pathogen and recovered some of the first evidence of food molecules from ancient dental plaque.
We were stepping over all these dead trees on the ground that had been killed by the initial blast Tim Mousseau a professor of biology at the University of South carolina said in a statement.
and Anders Møller of the Universitã Paris-Sud have made ongoing investigations into the biology of radioactive areas like Chernobyl and Fukushima Japan.
which has a genetic mutation that increases the chances of developing intestinal cancer. Mice fed a diet where a fifth of the food was powdered carrot had fewer and smaller tumours than mice who were fed a normal diet.
and biomarkers related to intestinal cancer#she said. All cancers are a result of damaged DNA.
So commonly consumed foods that reduce this damage could be a significant step in preventing cancer especially in individuals who have a genetic predisposition to the disease.
Behavioral psychologists pharmacologists physicians epidemiologists and biologists among others also should weigh in. Protecting our families from harm should not be trumped by invented theories about lost pleasure.
I studied animal biotechnology and conservation at Delaware Valley College in Pennsylvania but I was on track to being a zookeeper even before that as a student at John Bowne High school in Queens.
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