Genome Study Links Paternal Age to Conditions Such As Autism
J.B.S. Haldane proposed in the 1930s that children might inherit more mutations from their fathers than their mothers. This year, thanks to whole-genome sequencing of…
Genetics
Ancient Genome Reveals Relationships between Denisovans and Present-Day Humans
A newly published study compares the Denisovan genome with those of the Neandertals and eleven modern humans from around the world, finding that modern populations…
Extra Gaits in Horses Traced to Single Mutation
In horses, unusual gaits have been traced to a single mutation. This endows them with a wider repertoire of gaits, showing that some seemingly complex…
DNA Storage Record Broken: 1 Gram Could Hold As Much as 455 Exabytes
Researchers have been able to encode a draft of an entire book into DNA. The 5.27 MB file contains 53,246 words, 11 JPG images, as…
Molecular Code for How PPR Proteins Recognize their RNA Targets Discovered
A team of scientists have cracked a code underlying recognition of RNA molecules by a superfamily of RNA-binding proteins called pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) proteins, providing…
Investigating the Evolutionary Model of Muller’s Ratchet
Two new studies examined the process is known as Muller’s ratchet, giving a quantitative understanding of the ratchet’s processes and showing why populations my not…
A Step Toward Developing Sight-Saving Gene Therapy
Using exome sequencing, a team of scientists have discovered the human gene that causes a relatively rare but devastating type of early-onset blindness, providing an…
New Class of Proteins Inhibit HIV Infection in Cell Cultures
A newly published study details how Yale scientists constructed an entirely new class of proteins that inhibit HIV infection in cell cultures. Yale Cancer Center…
Genomic Analysis of Colon Cancer Reveals New Potential Drug Targets
A new genome-scale analysis to characterize somatic alterations in colorectal carcinoma is the largest analysis of its kind, involving more than 150 researchers at dozens…
Molecular and Statistical Tools Analyze Complex Differences between Genomes
To better understand the human genome and its variability from person to person, scientists at Harvard Medical School developed a set of molecular and statistical…
A New and Possibly More Effective Method for Editing Genomes
A team of scientists at the Berkeley Lab has discovered the mechanism behind the RNA-guided cleavage of double-stranded DNA that is central to the bacterial…
Stem Cells Regenerate Tissue in an Uninjured Mammal
Using 2-photon intravital microscopy and focusing on the stem cell behavior in the hair follicle of a mouse, researchers at Yale were able to study…
De Novo Somatic Mutations Likely Cause Hemimegalencephaly
A team of scientists analyzed and compared DNA sequences from 20 patients with hemimegalencephaly, finding that de novo somatic mutations in a trio of genes…
Mysterious Gene Mutation Provides Window into the Biology of Language Cognition
David Skuse, a psychiatrist and an expert on language development working at the Institute of Child Health at University College London, encountered a mysterious ailment…
Role of the SMN Gene in Spinal Muscular Atrophy
A new study from scientists at the University of North Carolina suggests that previous assumptions regarding the SMN gene, which is linked with spinal muscular…
Using Zebrafish to Decipher the Roles of Genes Associated with Autism
In an effort to identify the genes involved and develop treatments for human brain disorders, such as autism, researchers have taken a new approach. By…
Transgenic Mosquitoes Can’t Transmit Malaria
A team of researchers from UC Irvine and the Pasteur Institute in Paris have produced a model of the Anopheles stephensi mosquito that impairs the…
Bonobo Genome Completed, Differs from Humans by 1.3 Percent
Biologists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology have completed the sequencing and analysis of the genome of the bonobo, finding that the bonobo…