Genetics & Molecular Biology

We posted a new preprint from the lab on arXiv and would love your comments. This work was born of our efforts to look at evolution of transcription factor binding in early embryos across Drosophila. When we started doing experiments comparing the three most commonly studied species, the model D. melanogaster, D.pseudoobscura and D. virilis, we quickly ran in to issue: even though these species look superficially fairly similar, and develop in roughly the same way, they don’t really like to live at the same temperature, and even when they are grown in common conditions, they…

Sr35 has been identified as a gene that enables resistance to a new race, or strain, of stem rust, a disease that is producing large wheat yield losses throughout Africa and Asia and threatening global food security. By transferring this gene to commercial wheat varieties, wheat breeders will have a distinct advantage in controlling the epidemic, the researchers say. “A new race of a wheat disease, called stem rust Ug99, has been spreading over large distances since 1999, threatening important wheat production areas of the world,” said co-author Jorge Dubcovsky, a wheat geneticist at UC…

Aaron Hernandez, until today a young, rich ($40 million contract) tight end for the New England Patriots football team, has been arrested and charged with the murder of Odin Lloyd, who had been dating his fiancée’s sister. The key piece of evidence: Bubblicious bubble gum. Prosecutors say they can prove Hendandez purchased gum at a gas station hours before the murder and that they believe a chewed piece of gum found at a crime scene will have DNA from Hernandez, which would place him in the vehicle involved and thus as the murderer. It can happen to anyone. Not only could it implicate…

Researchers in the U.S., Europe and Japan have produced the first comparison of both the DNA sequences and which genes are active, or being transcribed, between the domestic tomato and its wild cousins. The results give insight into the genetic changes involved in domestication and may help with future efforts to breed new traits into tomato or other crops, said Julin Maloof, professor of plant biology in the College of Biological Sciences at the University of California, Davis and senior author of the study in PNAS. Breeding new traits into tomatoes often involves crossing them with wild…

Mealybugs only eat plant sap but sap doesn't contain all the essential amino acids the insects need to survive - so mealybugs have developed a symbiotic relationship with two species of bacteria, one living inside the other in a situation unique to known biology, to manufacture the nutrients sap doesn't provide. The net result: The bacteria get a comfy mealybug home, and the bugs get the nutrition they need to live. University of Montana microbiologist John McCutcheon describes such mutually beneficial relationships used to solve life's little problems as "almost hilariously complicated. But…

Glycoproteins are sugar-protein hybrid molecules that the protective mucus that lines our lungs and stomach and are also part of the fluid that lubricates our joints, the synovial fluid, and cover all our cells, with the sugar parts, the glycans, sticking out like a tiny forest of antennae.  Researchers at ETH Zurich and Empa have also identified a surprising effect that glycans have on the water molecules that surround them. Nicholas Spencer, professor for Surface Science and Technology in the Department of Materials and Rowena Crockett at the Empa, along with their colleagues,…

Since February 2013, China experienced an outbreak of the novel H7N9 avian flu, causing 131 cases of infection, and a death toll of 39. This particular H7N9 strain is considered to be one of the most worrisome pathogens since the H5N1 pandemic in 1997; a reputation based on the virus’ ability to spread easily across species and to infect humans. According to the May 23, 2013 Science paper published by the Joint Influenza Research Centre (State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Shantou PR, China), Drs. Y. Guan and Y. Shu reported that H7N9 infects the upper respiratory tract of…

The US Supreme Court recently sided with patient advocacy groups that a company cannot patent your genes.  Sounds like a pretty clear case, but the decision also creates some exceedingly odd loopholes, and even loopholes within loopholes, to say nothing of the fact that Justice Scalia dissented with the uncontroversial, basic science introduction to the case. Get ready to go down the rabbit hole... Our story begins with Myriad Genetics, which discovered and sequenced the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, certain variants of which drastically increase your risk for BReast…

The U.S. Supreme Court just released a groundbreaking decision about the ability to patent genes – the assembly instruction for life.   Amid much discussion about potential implications for the biotech industry, a separate, extremely troubling aspect of this decision has largely slid under the radar: one of the SCOTUS Justices dissented with basic science saying he is "unable to affirm... knowledge or even my own belief" in high school biology . Apparently the idea of DNA → RNA → protein is too controversial for Justice Scalia. The question was whether Myriad Genetics could claim…

Should food with ingredients from genetically engineered crops - "GMOs" - be labeled?  Many argue that consumers have a "right to know" about this.  Ok, if the real reason for labeling is to provide consumers with knowledge, then the label should read: "Contains ingredients from biotech enhanced crops approved by the USDA, FDA and EPA" That would tell people what is unique about these crops.  Humans have been genetically modifying crops for centuries using a variety of methods.  The difference for genetically engineered crops is that they must be fully…