Researcher creates neurons that light up as they fire

Researcher creates neurons that light up as they fire

In a scientific first that potentially could shed new light on how signals travel in the brain, how learning alters neural pathways, and might lead to speedier drug development, scientists at Harvard have created genetically-altered neurons that light up as they fire.

US 'Materials Genome Initiative' takes shape

US 'Materials Genome Initiative' takes shape

More details have emerged about the intriguingly named Materials Genome Initiative (MGI), a US$100-million materials-research programme under which a variety of US science-funding agencies are working to halve the time it takes for newly discovered materials to reach the market.

Bacterial genes tell the tale of an outbreak’s evolution

Bacterial genes tell the tale of an outbreak’s evolution

Researchers at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Children’s Hospital Boston have retraced the evolution of an unusual bacterial infection as it spread among cystic fibrosis (CF) patients by sequencing scores of samples collected during the outbreak, since contained. A significant achievement in genetic pathology, the work also suggests a new way to recognize adaptive mutations — to see evolution as it happens — and sheds light on how our bodies resist infection.

Food We Eat Might Control Our Genes

Food We Eat Might Control Our Genes

“You are what you eat.” The old adage has for decades weighed on the minds of consumers who fret over responsible food choices. Yet what if it was literally true? What if material from our food actually made its way into the innermost control centers of our cells, taking charge of fundamental gene expression?

Sex explains why the fit don't always survive

Sex explains why the fit don't always survive

 New research from The Australian National University has shown how genetic variation persists through generations, rather than being bred out in an evolution towards a ‘perfect type’.

Kangaroo genome now sequenced

Kangaroo genome now sequenced

The tammar wallaby is the first Australian marsupial to have its genome sequenced. Researchers were surprised to find out that many of the wallaby genes are similar to those found in humans. Because baby wallabies (aka: joey) develop in a pouch outside the mother's body it is easier to study mammalian development in these animals. Having the genome sequence just makes that research as well as other research on the animals that much more informative. I was surprised to learn how well the wallaby sense of smell is. The baby wallabies have as many as 1500 genes just for olfactory (smell) receptors.

Predicting How Individuals Differ from Their Genome Sequences

Predicting How Individuals Differ from Their Genome Sequences

It now only costs a few thousand Euros to sequence the genome of an individual human. However, for most of us, knowing our genome sequence would not be useful. Each human has more than 20 000 genes, and in each of us several thousand of these genes carry mutations. We do not know what happens when most human genes are altered, which means that we cannot yet make many useful predictions about our health from the sequence of our genome. Put another way, for most common human diseases we do not know most of the genes that are important, and so we cannot predict whether a person will develop a disease from their DNA sequence.

Is empathy in our genes?

Is empathy in our genes?

A large part of how we relate to people emotionally may be hardwired into our DNA. A new study suggests that character traits such as being open, caring, and trusting are so strongly linked to a certain gene variation that a total stranger, simply by watching us listen to another person, may be able to guess whether we have the variation with a high degree of accuracy.

Neanderthal Genes Comic

Neanderthal Genes Comic

Social gene spotted in 20 seconds, say researchers

Link: Social gene spotted in 20 seconds, say researchers

Researchers say people can spot whether a complete stranger has a certain “social gene” in just 20 seconds.

Two variants of the “oxytocin receptor gene” have been linked with social traits.

People judging the empathy of strangers - by studying the way they listened to people - predicted the genetic variant, a University of Toronto study showed.

The hormone oxytocin has a role in birth, production of milk and bonding between mother and baby.

Non-coding RNA relocates genes when it's time to go to work

Link: Non-coding RNA relocates genes when it's time to go to work

Cells develop and thrive by turning genes on and off as needed in a precise pattern, a process known as regulated gene transcription. In a paper published in the Nov. 9 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say this process is even more complex than previously thought, with regulated genes actually relocated to other, more conducive places in the cell nucleus.

Single gene can make you appear kinder

Link: Single gene can make you appear kinder

How kind you are could be affected by a change in a single gene. What’s more, others can tell if you have the gene even if you don’t speak a single word.

There are several variations of the gene that codes for the receptor for the hormone oxytocin. Aleksandr Kogan at the University of Toronto, Canada, and colleagues wanted to check whether these variations influence behaviour, since high levels of oxytocin are believed to make people more sociable.

Parasites drove human genetic variation: Adapting to pathogens was more important than climate and diet in driving natural selection.

Link: Parasites drove human genetic variation: Adapting to pathogens was more important than climate and diet in driving natural selection.

Modern humans began to spread out from Africa approximately 100,000 years ago. They settled in distant lands, where they had to adapt to unfamiliar climates, find different ways to feed themselves and fight off new pathogens. A study now suggests that it was the pathogens, particularly parasitic worms, that had the biggest role in driving natural selection — but that genetic adaptation to them may also have made humans more susceptible to autoimmune diseases.

Gene Regulation And The Difference Between Human Beings And Chimpanzees

Link: Gene Regulation And The Difference Between Human Beings And Chimpanzees

When the DNA sequences of Homo sapiens and Pan troglodytes were sequenced, the difference between the sequences of coding genes was smaller than expected based on the phenotypic differences between both species. If not the coding genes, then what is responsible for these dissimilarities?

The Ghost in Your Genes (video)

Link: The Ghost in Your Genes (video)

(thanks, Klint)

Biology stands on the brink of a shift in the understanding of inheritance. The discovery of epigenetics – hidden influences upon the genes – could affect every aspect of our lives.

At the heart of this new field is a simple but contentious idea – that geneshave a ‘memory’. That the lives of your grandparents – the air they breathed, the food they ate, even the things they saw – can directly affect you, decades later, despite your never experiencing these things yourself. And that what you do in your lifetime could in turn affect your grandchildren.

Process important to brain development studied in detail

Link: Process important to brain development studied in detail

Knowledge about the development of the nervous system is of the greatest importance for us to understand the function of the brain and brain disorders. Researchers at Uppsala University have examined the key step when genes are read and found that genes that are active in the brain are transcribed with a special mechanism. The findings, reported in the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, can be of importance in our understanding of the genetic causes of certain brain diseases.

DNA testing divides American Indians

Link: DNA testing divides American Indians

When American Indian identity is based on culture as much as blood, gene tests can tear tribes apart

BLASTED from arid, rocky land where rattlesnakes once thrived, theChukchansi Gold Resort and Casino stands like a modern castle in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Saturday night and the car park is heaving with gleaming pick-ups lured from the small towns of central California.

The Brain The Language Fossils Buried in Every Cell of Your Body

Link: The Brain The Language Fossils Buried in Every Cell of Your Body

A British family with a bizarre speech deficit 
has led linguists to FOXP2: a gene that begins to 
explain how our ancestors acquired language.

Mapping mollusks: Researchers use genetic tools to complete family tree

Link: Mapping mollusks: Researchers use genetic tools to complete family tree

Using genetic tools, researchers at Harvard and collaborating institutions have completed the most comprehensive evolutionary tree ever produced for mollusks. Pictured is a bivalve collected in Moreton Bay on the eastern coast of Australia. In a scientific first, the results suggest that bivalves, a class of animals that includes clams and oysters, are most closely related to gastropods such as snails and slugs. Credit: Gonzalo Giribet

How have humans and mice changed since we diverged about 75 million years ago from a small, furry common ancestor? Apart from the obvious, of course.

Link: How have humans and mice changed since we diverged about 75 million years ago from a small, furry common ancestor? Apart from the obvious, of course.

As a starting point, it’s worth noting there’s nothing magical about a genome sequence – it’s merely a very long string of letters representing the sequence of nucleotides in an organism’s DNA.

But for evolutionary biologists, this string of letters is a treasure-trove of information about a species’ evolutionary history. The recent development of efficient and affordable tools to sequence and compare genomes of different species – reflected in the rapidly accumulating data-bank of “comparative genomics” – has allowed scientists to tap into this amazing resource on a scale scarcely imaginable just a few years ago.