Genetics & Molecular Biology

Daniel, who over at Genetic Future does an outstanding job staying on top of the science, technology, and business of personal genomics, has scored three fascinating guest posts about the mess of privacy and legal complications that come up when a personal genomics company goes bankrupt. When you get yourself genotyped by one of these companies, they get your data - and you should be concerned about where that data goes if the company goes under: Privacy policies are particularly important in the field of DTC genomics where the sensitivity of consumer data is rivaled only by that found in…

You may know that correlation studies have shown that the risk of becoming obese is 2.5 times higher for those who have double copies of the best known risk gene for being overweight or obese, the FTO gene (fat mass and obesity associated). New discoveries of that sort have led to a resurgence in concern that we may be slaves to our genes, but is that the case?  No, in every study obesity still required high calorie consumption, especially fat.   A low fat diet neutralizes the harmful effects of the gene. Several studies have found that exercise diminishes the effect of the risk…

Today is the 25th anniversary of the discovery of DNA fingerprinting.   So has it done anything important, like given us a real understanding of how men and women communicate? Well, no, but the University of Leicester Department of Genetics has revealed males and females at least communicate on the fundamental genetic level, an idea which counters scientific theory that the X and Y chromosomes - those that define the sexes - do not communicate at all.  In research published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, Zoë Rosser and colleagues say they have shown that exchange of DNA…

Explant Source:  Shoots from 2 years old plants of A. racemosus grown in the medicinal plant nursery, Department of Botany, University of Rajasthan, were taken as explants. Culture Medium : For all the experiments MS medium was used. The constituents given in Table 2a,  were dissolved in double distilled water and the different stock solutions were made. The volume of stock solution was maintained as per requirements of the experiments. The stock solutions were stored in the refrigerator and used with in a month of their preparation. Stocks of growth regulators were made according…

In vitro plantlet regeneration in Asparagus racemosus through shoot bud differentiation on nodal segments. Neetu Vijay and Ashwani Kumar   SUMMARY A highly reproducible in vitro regeneration system in Asparagus racemosus using nodal segments has been developed. Multiple shoots were induced in vitro from nodal segments through adventitious shoot bud regeneration as well as indirectly through callus. The ability of nodal segments to produce shoot buds varies depending upon their position on the main shoot of the field grown plants. Nodal segments obtained from 7th node to 9th node was…

Abstract Under identical culture conditions, only 8 out of 12 species and subspecies of the genus Daucus proved capable of somatic embryogenesis. Random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis indicated a polymorphism between the genomes of individual species that were capable of embryogenesis and those that were not. Two specific bands (1.1 kbp, 0.68 kbp) were detected only in the genomes of individuals with the capacity for embryogenesis. These were cloned and sequenced, and the homology of the nucleotide sequences of the various species was detected: this ranged from 74% to 92% for the…

Researchers say they have identified a genetic variation in people with type 2 diabetes that affects how the body's muscle cells respond to the hormone insulin. Previous studies have identified several genetic variations in people with type 2 diabetes that affect how insulin is produced in the pancreas. Today's study shows for the first time a genetic variation that seems to impair the ability of the body's muscle cells to use insulin to help them make energy. People with type 2 diabetes can have problems with the body not producing enough insulin and with cells in the muscles, liver and fat…

Do you ever wonder how many harmful mutations you carry in your genome? Even if you've never worried about how much of a mutant you are, geneticists have spent a lot of time thinking about this issue. They are interested in a) how much genetic variation is out there, and b) how much of that is potentially harmful and connected to disease? This month's issue of Genome Research has some new research on an individual's personal mutational load. By comparing the genomes of vertebrates, a group at Washington University found that the typical human genome probably carries between 800 and 900…

After earning the ire of computational biologists and network theorists last week, it's time to get to the positive side of networks and systems biology. If you hadn't guessed it before, the name of this blog reflects my interest in complex biological systems. When I rant about networks and comp. bio., it's tough love, and I really have the best interests of the field at heart. Here's something that ought to put my take on the field in context. It's from an interview with Stanford Economist Brian Arthur and his early direction of the economics research program at the complex systems-oriented…

Every week you probably see papers ( here and elsewhere) reporting the discovery of new genetic variants that affect the risk of coronary artery disease and heart attacks. It's an exciting time and the findings will undoubtedly lead to new biological insights into the mechanisms that cause heart attacks, which in turn may result in new types of treatments, but how much value is there to it individually now?   Is 'personalized medicine' for heart attacks on the way?    You have to look at the potential of these discoveries on two levels: the population and the individual.…