and higher weight makes much sense from a biological perspective, #he says. Some of the earliest studies evaluating diets low in saturated fat
#New protein discovery could change biotech forever The quest started with trying to make better yogurt.
Bacteria that uses a tiny molecular machine to kill attacking viruses could change the way that scientists edit the DNA of plants,
animals and fungi, revolutionizing genetic engineering. The protein, called Cas9, is quite simply a way to more accurately cut a piece of DNA.#
#oethis could significantly accelerate the rate of discovery in all areas of biology, including gene therapy in medicine, the generation of improved agricultural goods,
and the engineering of energy-producing microbes, #says Luciano Marraffini of Rockefeller University. The biotech revolution that created drugs like EPO for anemia
and interferon for multiple sclerosis and crops like Monsanto s Roundup Ready soybeans was based on relatively crude methods for inserting a gene from one organism into another.
For a decade some biologists have been touting a new approach, dubbed synthetic biology, that makes more genetic alterations
in order to treat living things more like machines that can be engineered. The ability to make modular changes in the DNA of bacteria
and primitive algae has resulted in drug and biofuel companies such as Amyris and LS9. But figuring out how to make changes in the genomes of more complicated organisms has been tough.
Although it s possible to insert a single gene from one species into another, it s much harder to cut the genetic code in specific places to make real copy-editing possible.
Two techniques for doing so were placed among the top innovations of 2012 by Science, and NIH director Francis Collins wrote in a blog post that they are#oerevealing tantalizing new possibilities for treating human diseases#in a blog post.
But one zinc finger nucleases, can cost $6, 000 per edit, and a second, Transcription Activator-Like Effector Nucleases (TALENS), appears only a fifth as efficient as Cas9.#
#oeit is spreading like wildfire from everyone who knows about it and it certainly is very tantalizing,
#says George Church of Harvard university.##oeit s easy to get in and start doing lots of experiments.#
The bacteria used to culture milk are particularly prone to becoming infected with viruses that kill them, lowering productivity.
The bacteria were keeping track of telltale bits of genetic code from viruses that might try to infect them,
and, somehow, they were using these codes to kill those viruses when they attacked. CRISPR was a primitive immune system.
somehow the bacteria had the ability to target specific bits of genetic code. If scientists could harness that,
a protein that had the ability to cut genetic material. Emmanuelle Charpentier of Umea University of Sweden had picked up hints of one likely protein.
they found that the bacteria combined Cas9 with genetic material to create#oehoming molecules#that attack viruses.
Bacteria, like human beings and almost every other living thing, keeps its genetic code in a library of DNA molecules.
That kills viruses but scientists use it to cut DNA in exactly the place they want.
Caribou Biosciences, to commercialize her work. In the short term, Church says, the potential of cas9 is that it could be used to study genetics in a way that was heretofore impossible.
Let s say there are three changes in the DNA in or around a gene that might cause a disease.
Right now, it s hard to study them directly. But now, Church says, you could take a cell from a person who has had already their DNA sequenced,
as he is doing with his Personal Genome Project. Then you d create what s known as an induced pluripotent stem cell
this could be done by changing the genes of a human stem cell (in the case of a Neanderthal)
Sangamo Biosciences has been working to commercialize the earlier zinc finger nuclease technology as a form of medicine for more than a decade.
biotech is currently accelerating four times faster than digital technology, and the revival of extinct species is
To preserve biodiversity and genetic diversity. To undo harm that humans have caused in the past. To restore diminished ecosystems.
Will the genetic differences be too great for them to survive, or will those differences make them ultra-adaptable where they will thrive to the point of becoming a pest to their surroundings.
some pregnancies produce living offspring of the extinct species. 3.)Allele replacement for precision crossbreeding of a living species with an extinct species is a new genome-editing technique developed by Harvard
geneticist, George Church. If the technique proves successful (such as with the passenger pigeon), it might be applied to the many other extinct species that have left their#oeancient DNA#in museum specimens
or top scientists, how many would be willing to pay for genetic material from the likes of Abraham lincoln, JFK, Paul mccartney, Richard Branson, or Steve jobs?
Genetic research like this is very expensive, and this recent awareness campaign will undoubtedly draw in millions.
I m just a dumb biologist so#Diagram showing how directional virtual fencing operates. The black-and-white dashed line (8) shows where a conventional fence would be placed.
and Polypay genetics, were basically right-handed. You ll want to take a look at the data, of course, but, basically, animals are no different than you and
The recipe was created by Michael Fox, former vice president of the Humane Society of the U s. and the author of more than 40 books on animal care, behavior and bioethics.
since genetically modified crops And it is proving nearly as controversial, since it raises profound questions about who owns the information on
Food may benefit directly from genetic tailoring and potentially from producing meat directly in a lab. Automation will help agriculture via large-scale robotic
Of particular interest will be synthetic biology, which allows efficiently reprogramming unicellular life to make fuels, byproducts accessible from organic chemistry and smart devices.
Livestock biometrics: Collars with GPS, RFID and biometrics can automatically identify and relay vital information about the livestock in real time.
Scientifically viable in 2017; mainstream and financially viable in 2020. Crop sensors: Instead of prescribing field fertilization before application,
The creation of entirely new strains of food animals and plants in order to better address biological and physiological needs.
Synthetic biology: Synthetic biology is about programming biology using standardized parts as one programs computers using standardized libraries today.
Includes the broad redefinition and expansion of biotechnology, with the ultimate goals of being able to design,
build and remediate engineered biological systems that process information, manipulate chemicals, fabricate materials and structures,
produce energy, provide food, and maintain and enhance human health and our environment. Scientifically viable in 2013;
Bio-Waste Optimizers 31. Guardians of Privacy Future Sports Sports have become the ultimate form of storytelling.
Genetic Modification Designers and Engineers 34. Body modification Ethicists 35. Athlete Qualification Analyzers 36. Cradle to Grave Lifecycle Managers 37.
Bio-Factories Based on using living systems bio-factories represent a new process for creating substances that are either too tricky
or too expensive to grow in nature or to make with petrochemicals. The rush to develop bio-factories as a means for production
not only promises to revolutionize the chemical industry but also transform the economy. Hundreds of products are already in the pipeline. 110.
Bio-Factory Doctors Strategists, and Developers 112. DNA Scientists 113. Gene Sequencers 114. Treatment Monitors Micro-Colleges The systems used to create colleges centuries ago seems justifiably primitive by today s standards.
Learning formulas for nearly every degree are based on hours, one of the least important considerations when it comes to assessing talent.
Bio-Meat Factory Engineers 131. Supply Chain Optimizers 132. Urban Agriculturalists Why ship food all the way around the world when it can be grown next door 133.
Biohacking Inspectors and Security 134. Swarmbot and Drone Operators and Managers 135. Plant Educators An intelligent plant will be capable of re-engineering itself to meet the demands of tomorrow s marketplace.
Think of the doomsday vault as the external hard drive backing up the genetic data of the world s plant-based food.
Genetic variants found in certain species, for example, confer resistance to disease or drought. That s why you have to collect everything.
There may be genes in that material that are gonna be of immense value in the future Mike Bonman told 60 minutes when the vault first opened in 2008.
They strongly activated several genes that have been linked to IBD in humans. When it comes to such diseases
the host s own biology, their microbes, and environmental factors like food-borne illnesses that can trigger inflammation.
when the cicadas will emerge biologists believe. After cicadas emerge from the ground and mate the females lay eggs at the edges of tree branches
It's all in their genes and their development and that is the adaptation that they have acquired to achieve these mass emergences.
In terms of heart attack and stroke deaths Its unfortunate but your longevity may be more likely to be influenced by your zip code than your genetic code Frieden said.
implicated in peptic ulcers both in the stomach and the small intestine according to a 2000 study in the journal Medical Microbiology and Immunology.
If it has well now is a good time to prepare for the next virus that's going around.
A 1996 study in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention found that a high consumption of these veggies was associated with a decreased risk of cancer.
including environmental stressors bacterial infections and viruses — work together to build up and steadily threaten a population before rearing back smacking down and taking an actual toll in
when exposed to the virus but scientists still don't know what exactly causes the cells to react in this way.</
if a bacterial infection virus or some combination of infections are to blame and are currently working to figure this out.</
and big brained Harvard evolutionary biologist Jason Lieberman said during a public lecture on Nov 6 here at the American Museum of Natural history.
s risk of breast cancer depends on many things including her genetics lifestyle and plain old chance.
s control such as family history and genetics. But some aspects of a woman' s lifestyle also affect her risk.
and currently researchers feed lab meat in part with blood from cow fetuses according to a 2012 Discover Magazine post by Christina Agapakis a synthetic biologist at UCLA. Researchers have proposed that they could one day use algae to feed cultured meat
These are just a few examples of how humans are contributing to the sixth-largest mass extinction in the history of the planet according to most biologists.
which don't provide suitable habitat for most animals) threatening the future existence of orangutans said Lee Hannah a senior fellow in climate change biology at Conservation International a global group devoted to saving endangered animals
Chapulines Chapulines are grasshoppers of the genus Sphenarium and are eaten widely throughout southern Mexico. They're often served roasted (giving them a satisfying crunch)
To be fair to whoever came up with the common name seahorse it's a bit more accurate than the direct translation of the animal's Latin genus name Hippocampus
The world's level ofâ biodiversity is also down by 30 percentâ since the 1970s according to a report by the World Wildlife Fund a conservation group.
Ultimately the loss of biodiversity will hurt you as you dear humans are part of the web of life.
Even so from 2000 to 2010 for example about 93000 square miles (240000 square kilometers) of the Amazon rainforest were razed covering an area roughly the size of the United kingdom. 3. Protect areas with high biodiversity Not all areas are created equal.
which has one of the highest levels of biodiversity on the planet but is threatened by deforestation and development.
which is unrecognized a major factor in the decline of coral reefs top spots for biodiversity (see Resolution#3). 6. Better manage fisheries
It's a broad field using tools from biology medicine psychology sociology and other fields.
Meanwhile plant geneticist Paul Gepts of the University of California Davis said the U s. Department of agriculture statistics show progressively smaller shares of Americans'income going to food freeing them up to spend more money elsewhere.
By altering the genetics of crops and by using non-genetic strategies in farming such as crop rotation Gepts said noting that these methods have received less interest from private companies.
Farmers do need not necessarily to produce a higher overall tonnage of food but food production in certain places such as parts of Africa needs to be improved Wolpe said.
Genetic engineering or transplanting a foreign gene directly into a crop's genome has sparked fears of health and environmental havoc.
The old-fashioned technique of breeding plants is still very active drawing on natural biodiversity he said.
The benefits and the dangers of genetic modification are said overhyped he explaining that the practice focuses on one gene at a time
while many important traits such as drought tolerance depend on the influence of many genes within a plant.
What's Genetic engineering? 5. Are patents necessary to spur the innovation we need? Panel moderator Fred Kaufman an economic journalist noted that this issue is being tried in a case currently before the U s. Supreme court. A farmer is challenging the company Monsanto's right to prevent farmers from planting seeds from crops grown from its genetically modified soybeans.
I like to call sort of a biological defense system Lydell Newby the Mall of America's senior manager of environmental services told local news station KARE 11.
It converts its restaurants'fryer fat into biodiesel fuel for the mall's security vehicles according to the site's MOABLOG.
Donald Pfister a Harvard university biologist who studies fungi suggests that Siberian tribesmen who ingested fly agaric may have hallucinated that the grazing reindeer were flying.
if the two were related sort of a geologic genetic test. But even though the two volcanoes had erupted at about the same time in the past their chemistry was wildly different.
That's a much smaller number than anyone anticipated study lead author Hans ter Steege a tropical forest ecologist at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden Netherlands said in a statement.
Many of these tree types run a high risk of becoming extinct even before biologists can discover them the researchers said.
and stasis lead study author Sandra Rehan an assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of New Hampshiretold Livescience There was a period where there was no genetic diversification happening for millions of years a real dearth of speciation.
The findings should generate great interest in the field said John Ascher assistant professor in the department of biological sciences at the National University of Singapore
whether behaviors drive the evolutionary process which in my opinion has been sidelined in evolutionary biology. Now because we have the means to look at it directly in the fossil record we can try looking for it.
In a separate study in the same issue of Science researchers found that by 3500 years ago all of the genetic makeup of modern Europe was mostly in place.
and her colleagues analyzed the fossils'MITOCHONDRIAL DNA genetic information carried in the cytoplasm of the cell that is only passed on from the mother finding usable information in 25 of the individuals.
Fishers and farmers Of the skeletons they analyzed all five of the most ancient samples came from a genetic lineage associated with pre-farming hunter-gatherers.
Of the Neolithic skeletons eight had genetics consistent with farming whereas 12 of the more modern samples had genetic lineages more consistent with belonging to a hunter-gatherer group.
Isotope analysis also revealed the latter group subsisted on a diet of mainly freshwater fish while the farmers ate more domesticated animals.
Genetic melting pot In the second study researchers analyzed the MITOCHONDRIAL DNA from more than 364 fossil remains found at more than 20 sites within the Saxony-Anhalt region of Germany which dated to between 5500 and 1550 B c. The team concluded that the modern
maternal genetic makeup of Europe was mostly in place by about 3500 years ago study co-author Wolfgang Haak a molecular archaeologist at the University of Adelaide in Australia wrote in an email.
or stuck around for a little while longer in isolation but they did not contribute much of a genetic legacy to modern Europe.
and biochemist at Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel Germany said in a statement. Having people who practiced a very different survival strategy nearby must have been odd
We address a longstanding debate in archaeology that has implications beyond northern Germany researcher Almut Nebel a molecular geneticist at Christian-Albrechts University told Livescience.
Genetic analysis revealed the domestic pigs had colorful coats and spots that likely would have seemed exotic and strange to the hunter-gatherers
The wrinkled teeth and flexible ankles that R. eurasiaticus possessed suggest adaptations that arose very early in the evolutionof multituberculates helped pave the way for later members of the order (a scientific classification of organisms that includes families of genuses). Judging
But during the five-month-long breeding season the birds'social organization completely changes said Jessica Yorzinski an evolutionary biologist at Purdue University in Lafayette Ind.
 The result is interesting as it provides provocative information to suggest that there might be lateralization in the bee brain as there is in vertebrate brains said Gene Robinson a researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who wasn't involved in the study.
and a mate for instance) or perhaps they are linked in some more direct way at the genetic level Vallortigara said.
The kind of economic biases we see in different species including humans might really have a biological basis in terms of these species being prepared for different environments Rosati said.
Using animals as a method of seed dispersal is actually a useful form of mutualism the plants get to spread their genes
First as a biologist I don't consider questions comparing the intelligence of different species to be useful.
Indeed it's bad biology to rob nonhumans of their cognitive and emotional capacities and we're not inserting something human into these animals that they don't already possess.
The researchers obtained these results by applying a combination of high-tech gene sequencing techniques and analytical chemistry to a collection of hand-picked wild tomato relatives from the Andes mountains.
The Andean collection allowed the researchers to study how the gene responsible for turning on AT2 production varies depending on a plant's geographic location.
and the gene probably was inactivated multiple times says Last. This suggests the AT2 production genes evolved
and adapted as the wild tomato plants spread and encountered different environmental challenges. Eventually genes die
if they're not being used Last explains. However it appears that different pressures in the south caused the gene to actively protect the tomato from a variety of intruders.
This work and research through the NSF-funded Solanum Trichome Project will help agricultural planners devise new strategies to protect tomato crops.
While a captive population had been established back in 1983 genetic work showed that there were too few to encompass all of the parrot s genetic diversity.
In the meantime the species remains a beacon of hope for those determined to retain all our biological heritage for our children.
We had no idea that this sense even existed Thomas Seeley a behavioral biologist at Cornell University told Scientificamerican.
The study was funded by the National institutes of health and by the Biotechnology and Biological sciences Research Council of the United kingdom. Pass it on:
or small intestine of the bees to see which genes were activated. Bee immunity The bees that ate the honey chemicals showed activation in genes that are known to help bees fight parasites
and break down pesticides while those who ate the normal bee candy showed no such activation.
One particular chemical p-Coumaric acid in particular was tied to the gene activation. The findings suggest that honey isn't just providing bees with a quick source of fast food
P-Coumaric acid may ï nd use as an additive to honey substitutes to allow beekeepers to maintain colonies during food shortages without compromising the ability of their bees to defend themselves against the pesticides
With new discoveries in astrophysics evolutionary biology molecular genetics geology and paleoanthropology a continuous story has emerged starting from the Big bang. This is both a new cosmology that humanity is embedded in and a grand tour of science.
and a genetic system that stores information directs the construction of proteins regulates every function of the organism
They still carry primitive genomes from their days as prokaryotes. The emergence of Eukaryotic life opened the door for all higher forms of life that would follow including us!</
</p><p>Curiously geneticists have also found that at about this time the total human population On earth plummeted to perhaps just a few thousand individuals.
Geneticists Create a Plant That Can't Stop Growing In the comedy Little Shop of Horrors a carnivorous plant named Audrey Jr. grew nonstop by feasting on unsuspecting human beings.
But researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular biology and Applied Ecology (IME) in MÃ nster Germany have isolated the genetic switch that tells the tobacco plant to stop growing flower and die.
By suppressing that gene the scientists have tricked the plants into growing like Jack's beanstalk even the older leaves stay green and healthy.
but it still just keeps on growing and growing Dirk Prã fer a professor at the Department of Functional and Applied Genomics at IME said in a statement.
Genetic research on plants has produced also a variety of switchgrass (an important source of biofuels) that grows faster
By switching off a gene called UPBEAT1 the switchgrass never receives a signal to stop growing leading scientists to believe they can use the modified plant to create a higher-yielding biofuel crop.
By inserting a gene from bioluminescent marine bacteria researchers at Bioglow Inc. developed a tobacco plant with faintly glowing green leaves.
The scientists at IME hope to use their genetic engineering technique to create larger longer-lived food plants.
which generates extremely large numbers of small DNA tags copied from the genes of organisms being examined.
It's a very interesting and surprising result because of the whole body protection from radiation said Gary Firestone a molecular biologist at the University of California Berkeley who studies DIM
To see how caffeine affected these cells the researchers recorded the electrical activity of honeybee brains bathed in a caffeine-containing liquid.
Research by Rachel Carmody a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard university's FAS Center for Systems Biology in Cambridge Mass. and colleagues shows that food processing eating a carrot that's pureed rather than whole for example changes the calories we get from it.
#Camels May be Link to Deadly MERS Virus A potential source of the newmiddle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) virus has been identified:
camels may be a carrier of the virus according to a new study. Blood tests of 50 dromedary (one hump) camels in Oman a country in the Arabian peninsula found that all had developed antibodies against the MERS virus a sign that the camels may have been infected in the past with the MERS virus
or a very similar one the researchers said. However the actual virus was not found in the animals. oethese new results suggest that dromedary camels may be one reservoir of the virus that is causing MERS infection in humans the study researchers from National Institute for Public health
and the Environment in Bilthoven The netherlands said in a statement. oedromedary camels are a popular animal species in the middle East where they are used for racing
and also for meat and milk so there are different types of contact of humans with these animals that could lead to transmission of a virus the researchers said.
if the virus is circulating in these animals in this region as well the researchers said. The MERS virus has been found to grow in cells taken from bats the researchers said.
Bats are suspected also to be the source of the closely related SARS virus) . However humans do not have much direct contact with bats so another animal such as camels
or livestock may be an intermediate source the researchers said. The study cannot prove that humans caught the virus from camels.
Before researchers can confirm that camels are a source of MERS future studies are needed to identify the actual virus in camels
and compare it to the MERS virus the researchers said. The study is published in today's (Aug 9) issue of the journal The Lancet Infectious diseases.
Follow Rachael Rettner@Rachaelrettner. Follow Livescience@livescience Facebook &google+.+Original article on Livescience. com e
Though genetically modified foods have been touted as a potential solution to feeding a hungry world NIAB researchers didn't use genetic engineering to create their superwheat.
and breeding them to make them as productive and resilient as possible Tina Barsby director of NIAB told the Daily mail. You can sometimes become too focused on one technology like GM genetic modification
It's much more complicated than a virus and has many more genes Torrey said. The microbe is known famously to infect rats
and change their behavior causing them to be less afraid of the smell of cat urine.
Genetic predisposition or age at the time of infection could play a role Torrey said.
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011