Genetic News and Research

RSS

Discovery of R-Loops Reveals Key Vulnerability in HIV-1 Life Cycle

Researchers at the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) at Heidelberg University Hospital have decoded a previously unknown mechanism by which HIV-1 selects its integration targets in the human genome.

17 Sep 2025

Soil DNA Reveals Hundreds of Unknown Bacterial Genomes

Most bacteria cannot be cultured in the lab-and that's been bad news for medicine. Many of our frontline antibiotics originated from microbes, yet as antibiotic resistance spreads and drug pipelines run dry, the soil beneath our feet has a vast hidden reservoir of untapped lifesaving compounds.

16 Sep 2025

A Molecular Magnifying Glass for Tracking Protein Misfolding in Living Cells

A novel strategy developed at Rice University allows scientists to zoom in on tiny segments of proteins inside living cells, revealing localized environmental changes that could indicate the earliest stages of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and cancer.

15 Sep 2025

Cheesemaking Inspires New Insights into Fungal Evolution and Food Security

Many scientific discoveries are serendipitous-the result of chance. Seeing evolution in action in a cheese cave turned out to be exactly that for Benjamin Wolfe, associate professor of biology, and his colleagues.

15 Sep 2025

Study Identifies Dcir as a Brake on Immune Responses to Aspergillus Infection

People are exposed to millions of fungal spores every day, even potentially harmful ones like those from Aspergillus fumigatus.

13 Sep 2025

Engineered Base Editor Corrects ACTA2 Mutation in Rare Childhood Disease

Multisystemic smooth muscle dysfunction syndrome (MSMDS) is a rare condition associated with stroke, aortic dissection (tearing) and death in childhood.

13 Sep 2025

New Research Shows How Genes Shape Gut Bacteria

Maintaining the abundance and happiness of the good bacteria in our stomachs is a profitable endeavor supported by supplements and fad diets that promise to be the secret to gut health.

12 Sep 2025

New Genomic Analysis Platform Launched for Tracking for Zoonotic Pathogens

Zoonotic pathogens, capable of crossing between animals and humans, pose escalating threats due to antimicrobial resistance, genetic diversification, and complex transmission patterns.

11 Sep 2025

Understanding How Bacteria Exploit Plant Growth Hormones to Attack Crops

Aphids, grasshoppers and other bugs aren't the only pests that can quickly wipe out a crop. Many harmful bacteria have evolved ways to bypass a plant's defenses.

11 Sep 2025

Genes Actively Work to Shape a Healthy Gut Microbiome

New research from the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre has found that genes play an active role in shaping the bacteria found in our gut, questioning the idea that gut health is influenced only by diet.

11 Sep 2025

PhoBITs Enable Unprecedented Control of Cellular Pathways with Blue Light

Imagine being able to flip a light switch to control disease pathways inside a living cell. A team of visionary researchers at the Texas A&M University Health Science Center (Texas A&M Health) is making this dream a reality with their groundbreaking genetic tools known as photo-inducible binary interaction tools, or PhoBITs.

10 Sep 2025

Researchers Discover Giant DNA Elements Hidden in the Human Mouth

Researchers including those at the University of Tokyo have made a surprising discovery hiding in people's mouths: Inocles, giant DNA elements that had previously escaped detection.

10 Sep 2025

Genome-Wide Study Connects Human Genetic Variation to Mycobiome Diversity and Disease

A new genome-wide study uncovers evidence of the first three-way relationships between human genetic variation, variation in the fungal component of the human microbiome - known as the mycobiome - and risk of developing chronic disease.

10 Sep 2025

New Method Discovers Genetic Switches More Quickly

Researchers led by Dubravka Vučićević at the Max Delbrück Center have developed a new method for discovering how DNA controls genes. Published in “Cell Genomics,” their technique can reveal the genetic “switches” that regulate important genes more quickly than existing methods.

10 Sep 2025

Unraveling How Fly Embryos Solve the Fundamental Problem of "Tissue Tectonic Collision"

Combining classic comparative approaches, including collecting species from the wild, and cutting-edge light-induced gene manipulation technology, researchers from Japan and Germany have discovered how developing fly embryos solve the fundamental problem of "tissue tectonic collision" when the rapidly expanding head and torso tissues crash into each other.

10 Sep 2025

spVelo: A New Method for Integrating Spatial and Temporal Data in RNA Velocity Analysis

Essentially all cells in an organism's body have the same genetic blueprint, or genome, but the set of genes that are actively expressed at any given time in a cell determines what type of cell it will be and its function.

8 Sep 2025

New Research Highlights a More Efficient CAR T Treatment

This review article focuses on the transformative potential of in vivo CAR T cell treatment in overcoming the constraints of standard CAR T cell production.

8 Sep 2025

Blocking SUMO2 Protein may be a Winning Strategy Against Synovial Sarcoma

In the sport of sumo, a bout most commonly ends when one competitor is pushed or thrown outside of a ring of straw bales partially buried in clay.

8 Sep 2025

Discovery of De Novo Genes Sheds Light on Peach Evolution and Traits

The emergence of new genes is a central driver of evolutionary innovation. While mechanisms such as duplication and horizontal gene transfer have been widely studied, de novo gene birth represents a unique pathway where functional genes arise from noncoding DNA.

8 Sep 2025