Genetics & Molecular Biology

Using single-molecule manipulation, researchers at Harvard University say they have uncovered a fundamental feedback mechanism that the body uses in regulating the clotting of blood. A new physical, quantitative, and predictive model of how the body works to respond to injury could improve treatment of bleeding disorders. It also gives insight into how bleeding disorders, such as type 2A von Willebrand disease, disrupt this regulation system, potentially leading to new avenues for treatment and diagnosis. The team, co-led by Timothy A. Springer, Latham Family Professor of Pathology at Harvard…

One of the biggest recent breakthroughs in stem cell research is the ability to reprogram non-stem cells into stem cells using genetic engineering. The hitch with this technique is that genetic engineering like this can have side effects: stem cells produced in this way can turn into tumors in mice (and presumably humans, but we haven't tried that yet). And thus researchers have been looking for ways to reprogram stem cells without genetic engineering. One promising way to do this is to use chemicals that can mimic the effects of the genes typically used for reprogramming. (The jargon for…

Scientists in Portugal and France managed to follow the patterns of gene expression in food-poisoning bacteria Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) live during infection for the first time. The work about to be published in PLoS Pathogens shows how the bacterial genome shifts to better adapt to infection by activating genes involved in virulence and subversion of the host defences, as well as adaptation to the host conditions. This is the first time that the molecular interactions between L. monocytogenes and its host, as they occur during the different steps of infection, are followed…

"The men are getting really angry and the women are a little too gleeful,” wrote New York Times columnist Lisa Belkin commenting on the overwhelming response she got for an article on a new study that found that men, too, may have a “biological clock” ticking when it comes to having what biologists would call “high quality” offspring. The headlines reporting the study make ominous pronouncements along the lines of “Older fathers may mean lower IQs in their children,” a conclusion that brings Belkin so far as “[to] hope that somehow it equalizes relationships of sexes.” Couples all over…

FOXP2 may be the gene that makes us human - or so the hype goes. Hyped or not, FOXP2 is rightly a focus of intense research, since it is a gene that clearly has a major effect on human speech. Mutations in FOXP2 are responsible for some rare but strange language disorders, such as the inability to learn grammatical skills or make the proper mouth/facial movements to properly articulate words.  Chimps and mice have FOXP2, but they obviously can't talk (although, amazingly, FOXP2 mutations in song birds diminish the birds' ability to learn songs). Scientists have been suggesting for some…

Following on the heels of 'missing links' in the popular media earlier this month, you might expect that research on mice carrying a "humanized version" of a gene believed to influence speech and language will have references to cartoons and mice that talk. In reality, it's nothing so outrageous but the research can still teach us about our evolutionary past - even if the mice don't speak. Wolfgang Enard of the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and colleagues are interested in the genomic differences that set humans apart from their primate relatives. One important difference…

I happened to get my hands on some interesting literature on pre-natal genetic screening, literature that amply reinforces my impression that clinical genetic testing is still in the dark ages. Let's say you (or your wife/fiance/girlfriend) are pregnant, and you're interested in taking a blood test to see if your baby is going to develop a neural tube defect, like spina bifida. Should you take the test? In this case, it's a no-risk test (unlike amniocentesis) that involves measuring a blood protein called AFP. Here's what the pamphlet I've got says: - There is a 1:1000 chance that your baby…

Take a look at your dog. If you don't have a dog, then check this out: Figure 1. What dogs may look like.     Good. Now that you know what a dog looks like, if you don't think that they're cute, then you're officially a moron.      Highfalutin' readers will already know that dogs are basically just friendly wolves.   Seriously.   At least 12,000 years ago, a bunch of wolves turned into dogs. No one really really knows how it happened, but some scientists believe that wolves hanging around human settlements to eat garbage became dogs by accident.…

It appears that some superbugs have evolved to develop the ability to manipulate the immune system - and that can be a good thing, say a team of researchers at The University of Western Ontario. Some processes that reduce the lethal effects of toxins from superbugs allow humans and microbes to co-evolve, a discovery that may lead to novel alternatives to antibiotics that specifically target the toxic effects of these superbugs. Staphylococcus (staph) aureus is the leading cause of infections in hospitals and the second most common cause of infections in the general population. By itself, it…

I just saw over on Science Daily that they have found lots of new Green Flourescent Proteins in Amphioxus, aka the lancelet (which is the closest invertebrate relative to our phylum, Chordata). The article, with a nice green glowing picture, is here. I thought this was a semi-boring animal until I discovered "The Amphioxus Song."  It CAN'T be boring if it's got a song about it, right?  Plus, I love science songs, especially when they are relevant enough to share with students! Here's a snip from the song: A fish-like thing appeared among the annelids one day. It hadn't any parapods…