Genetics & Molecular Biology
Boosting an exercise-related gene in the brain works as a powerful anti-depressant in mice—a finding that could lead to a new anti-depressant drug target, according to a Yale School of Medicine report in Nature Medicine.
“The VGF exercise-related gene and target for drug development could be even better than chemical antidepressants because it is already present in the brain,” said Ronald Duman, professor of psychiatry and senior author of the study.
Depression affects 16 percent of the population in the United States, at a related cost of $83 billion each year. Currently available anti-…
amorca |
Embryonic stem cells (ESC) can both self-renew or differentiate into the many cells of the organism and it is crucial to understand the mechanism behind this capability if we want to use them in clinic.
Developmental regulator genes are responsible for the activation of many ESC differentiation-pathways and, as such, they are a fundamental key to understand them. And now, research about to be published in Nature Cell Biology, reveals that these genes -always believed to be inactive in ESC before differentiation start - when apparently silent (non-active) are in fact poised, already on the…
A variant of the gene CDC2 could possibly be used as a risk marker for Alzheimer’s disease. The gene variant is considerably more common among Alzheimer’s patients. This is shown in a dissertation from the Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University in Sweden.
Alzheimer’s disease has several different causes. Since many patients have a close relative who also developed the disease, heredity is believed to be one of the most important factors.
“There is a previously identified Alzheimer’s gene that indicates an elevated risk of developing the disease, but we want to find more genes with a…
Headlines last week reported that researchers successfully produced stem cells from cloned monkey embryos. Using a process that has become almost routine with mice, scientists can now make make primate embryonic stem cells that are genetically identical to a given DNA donor. Once we learn to do this in humans, the possibility of stem cell based treatments for heart disease, neurodegeneration, and more will be closer to reality. But in the US and elsewhere, can we develop the political will to let this research move forward?
In case you missed the headlines, the story is this: a group of…
RDX is a common military explosive, and it’s dangerous not just because it explodes - it’s also toxic. Places where RDX is used, produced, or stored often present a serious hazardous waste problem, such at the Massachusetts Military Reservation on Cape Cod, where the local aquifer has been contaminated with RDX. A group of researchers from the University of York in the UK and Canada’s Biotechnology Research Institute have shown how it might be possible to clean up RDX with explosives-eating transgenic plants.
Plants that use man-made explosives as a nitrogen source are not so easy to find…
Some people just don't express emotions. It used to be considered strictly cultural, a society's image manifested in physical expectations, but now true inability to express emotions (alexithymia) is thought to be hereditary.
The largest study so far has provided new data in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. The role of genetic and environmental factors for developing alexithymia is still unclear, and the aim of this study was to examine these factors in a large population-based sample of twins.
The Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20) was included in a mail survey of…
A discovery about the genetics of coat color in dogs could help explain why humans come in different weights and vary in our abilities to cope with stress, a team led by researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine reports.
The study, published in the Nov. 2 issue of Science, answers a longtime mystery: What determines coat color in dogs? While researchers have known since the 1900s that most mammals share the same genetic mechanism to determine coat color, by the 1950s they began to suspect that dogs were different.
Now after swabbing the inner cheeks of hundreds of dogs and…
New evidence that genetics plays a key role in obesity is published today in the International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications. The findings relate to the genetics of modern Pima Indians who have an unusually high rate of obesity but could be extrapolated to all people. Their obesity is thought to be linked to a thrifty metabolism that allowed them to metabolize food more efficiently in times when little was available but causes problems when food is in abundance.
Mark Rowe, David McClellan, and colleagues at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, USA, have studied the…
Tilapia, a fish that originates from southern regions, has been introduced in over 100 countries. It is the second most commonly produced fish in aquaculture in the world after carp. 99% is produced and consumed in China.
Raising tilapia is easy and inexpensive. It adapts well to fresh or salt water and fattens fast. Unlike most salmoniforms in aquaculture (salmon, trout, perch, bream), for which fishmeal and fish oil constitute an essential part of their diet, tilapia is lower down in the trophic or food chain and feeds on algae, plankton or small animals. In extensive and semi-extensive…
A review of Dr Lonnie W Aarssen's “Some Bold evolutionary predictions for mating in humans”
Quite often papers are published which get slated for being “politically incorrect” I recently witnessed a rather interesting example of that. However when reading papers that acquire this dubious title I find it useful to look at the paper on it’s own merits. Dr Lonnie W. Aarssen’s “Some Bold evolutionary predictions for mating in humans” is an interesting example. My initial impression of the paper is that it simply asserts that human beings are subject to the same mating rules as other primates,…