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Horses' Unique Genetic Adaptation for Superior Endurance Revealed

Researchers have revealed a secret behind horses' exceptional endurance – a mutation in the KEAP1 gene that boosts energy production while protecting against cellular oxidative stress.

28 Mar 2025

How B Cells Know When to Mutate—and When to Chill

Study reveals B cells suppress mutations during rapid division, enhancing immune response and offering critical insights for vaccine and treatment development.

27 Mar 2025

Scientists Unlock the Mechanism Behind piRNA's Defense Against Jumping Genes

Adverse genetic mutations can cause harm and are due to various circumstances. "Jumping genes" are one cause of mutations, but cells try and combat them with a specialized RNA called piRNA.

22 Mar 2025

New Insights into How B Cells Strategically Clone High-Affinity Antibodies

A vaccine's ability to generate long-lasting, high-affinity antibodies hinges on a delicate balance. Upon exposure to a vaccine or pathogen, B cells scramble to refine their defenses, rapidly mutating in hopes of generating the most effective antibodies.

20 Mar 2025

Advanced Imaging Deciphers B Cell Dynamics in Lymph Nodes

Germinal centers are machines of rapid evolution. Germinal centers are tiny clusters in the lymph nodes that refine antibodies through proliferation and mutation to create high-affinity B cells that are suited to control various infections.

20 Mar 2025

Rethinking Cancer: Moving Beyond Genetic Mutations to a Holistic View

It's time for researchers to reconsider the current paradigm of cancer as a genetic disease, argued Sui Huang from the Institute for Systems Biology, USA, and colleagues in a new essay published March 18th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology.

19 Mar 2025

Study Reveals How Syngap1 Gene Affects Touch-Based Perception in Mice

You may scarcely notice it, but much of what you do every day requires your brain to engage in perceptual learning.

14 Mar 2025

‘Rescue’ Mutations Protect Liver From Damage in Patients With Genetic Disorder

Acquired DNA mutations found in the SERPINA1 gene can protect liver cells from damage in patients with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, new research shows.

11 Mar 2025

DENND1B Gene Linked to Obesity in Dogs and Humans

Dogs are a compelling model of human obesity, in part because they develop obesity due to similar environmental influences as people.

8 Mar 2025

Mapping DNA's Hidden Switches: A Methylation Atlas

A new study, led by PhD student Jonathan Rosenski under the guidance of Prof. Tommy Kaplan from the School of Computer Science and Engineering and Prof. Yuval Dor from the Faculty of Medicine at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Hadassah Medical Center, has been published in Nature Communications, presenting the first comprehensive atlas of allele-specific DNA methylation across 39 primary human cell types.

7 Mar 2025

Colossal Creates the Colossal Woolly Mouse, Showcasing Breakthroughs in Multiplex Genome Editing and Trait Engineering on the Path to a Mammoth

In an extraordinary achievement of advanced multiplexed genome engineering, Colossal Biosciences announces the birth of the Colossal Woolly Mouse—mice engineered to express multiple key mammoth-like traits that provide adaptations to life in cold climates.

5 Mar 2025

New Insights Into Ageing Revealed

The way in which blood stem cells evolve over a lifespan differs greatly between humans and mice, new research reveals. The findings provide a new understanding of the critical factors that influence tissue ageing.

5 Mar 2025

Understanding Cell States Could Lead to More Personalized Leukemia Therapies

Myeloid leukaemias are among the most aggressive blood cancers and have low survival rates. Today, leukaemia patients undergo genetic analysis to identify mutations and select the most appropriate treatment.

26 Feb 2025

New ctDNA Model Enhances Metastatic Cancer Surveillance

In metastatic cancer surveillance, monitoring the actual concentrations of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) may be critical. Researchers showed that absolute ctDNA concentration thresholds can be defined to rule out or predict impending cancer progression.

25 Feb 2025

LUC7 Proteins Play Key Role in RNA Splicing Control

RNA splicing is a cellular process that is critical for gene expression. After genes are copied from DNA into messenger RNA, portions of the RNA that don't code for proteins, called introns, are cut out and the coding portions are spliced back together.

21 Feb 2025

Targeting NMDA Receptor Subunit Shows Promise for Fragile X Syndrome

Building on more than two decades of research, a study by MIT neuroscientists at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory reports a new way to treat pathology and symptoms of fragile X syndrome, the most common genetically-caused autism spectrum disorder.

21 Feb 2025

New Discoveries Challenge Textbook Knowledge of Mitochondrial Respiration

In an article published in the journal Trends in Biochemical Sciences, Alicia Kowaltowski, full professor at the University of São Paulo's Institute of Chemistry (IQ-USP) in Brazil, advocates the "rewriting" of textbooks on the location of the electron transport chain in mitochondria and the role of sodium in mitochondrial respiration.

20 Feb 2025

Mismatch Repair Genes Found to be Key Drivers of Huntington's Disease

A new UCLA Health study has discovered in mouse models that genes associated with repairing mismatched DNA are critical in eliciting damages to neurons that are most vulnerable in Huntington's disease and triggering downstream pathologies and motor impairment, shedding light on disease mechanisms and potential new ways to develop therapies.

12 Feb 2025

Mutant Vimentin Promotes Aggressive Breast Cancer Growth

Vimentin is a type III intermediate filament (IF) protein typically expressed in cells that differentiate into connective tissue, blood vessels, and lymphatic tissue (mesenchymal cells).

12 Feb 2025

Study Uncovers Immune Cell Interaction Driving Aggressive Brain Tumor Growth

A type of aggressive, treatment-resistant brain tumor has a distinct population of immune cells that support its growth, according to new research led by investigators at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

11 Feb 2025