Genomics

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Building blocks of DNA and RNA could have co-existed in the primordial Earth

Scientists have long debated which genetic information carrier - DNA or RNA - started life on Earth, but a new study suggests life could have begun with a bit of both.

4 Jun 2020

Researchers evaluate long-term impact of bighorn sheep translocations

Translocation is an important management tool used for nearly 100 years to increase bighorn sheep population numbers in Wyoming and to restore herds to suitable habitat throughout their historical range. Y

4 Jun 2020

Review reveals exceptions to the purported rules of sex chromosome evolution theory

For nearly a century, biologists have modeled the evolution of sex chromosomes--the genetic instructions that primarily determine whether an individual will develop into a male or female (or a certain mating type)--resulting in an impressive theoretical framework.

4 Jun 2020

Study identifies gene responsible for eye loss in cavefish

Mexican cavefish spend their entire lives in the dark. With no need for vision, many of them lost functional eyes.

3 Jun 2020

Bacteria that live in soil and on people have widespread antibiotic-destroying genes

The latest generation of tetracyclines - a class of powerful, first-line antibiotics - was designed to thwart the two most common ways bacteria resist such drugs.

3 Jun 2020

Researchers unravel mechanisms behind organ-specific elimination of chromosomes in plants

Whilst we often think of somatic cells in an organism as containing the same DNA and therefore the same number of chromosomes, it is surprising, how often this is not the case.

3 Jun 2020

UCL scientists discover genes responsible for maintaining healthy hearing

Scientists at UCL have discovered sets of regulatory genes, which are responsible for maintaining healthy hearing. The finding, made in fruit flies, could potentially lead to treatments for age-related hearing loss (ARHL) in humans.

From University College London 3 Jun 2020

Scientists decode ancient DNA extracted from Dead Sea Scrolls

An interdisciplinary team from Tel Aviv University, led by Prof. Oded Rechavi of TAU's George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Prof. Noam Mizrahi of TAU's Department of Biblical Studies, in collaboration with Prof. Mattias Jakobsson of Uppsala University in Sweden, the Israel Antiquities Authority and Prof. Christopher E. Mason of Weill Cornell Medicine, has successfully decoded ancient DNA extracted from the animal skins on which the Dead Sea Scrolls were written.

3 Jun 2020

New insights into recombination of sex chromosomes during meiosis

As chromosomes go, X and Y make an unlikely pair. The X is large and contains thousands of genes critical for life.

29 May 2020

gnomAD Consortium releases first set of discoveries on human genetic variation

For the last eight years, the Genome Aggregation Database Consortium (and its predecessor, the Exome Aggregation Consortium, or ExAC), has been working with geneticists around the world to compile and study more than 125,000 exomes and 15,000 whole genomes from populations around the world.

29 May 2020

Research project launched to find new treatments for rare genetic diseases

The University Carlos III Madrid, Almirall, S.A. and the MEDINA Foundation have launched a project to find new treatments for recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa and other genetic diseases caused by nonsense mutations.

29 May 2020

Study identifies potent neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2

A joint research team led by Sunney Xie, Director of Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Genomics at Peking University has successfully identified multiple highly potent neutralizing antibodies against the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, the causative virus of the respiratory disease COVID-19, from convalescent plasma by high-throughput single-cell sequencing.

29 May 2020

ADHD-associated genetic variants have reduced progressively in human lineage

According to a study published in the Scientific Reports journal, the frequency of genetic variants linked to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has reduced progressively in the evolutionary human lineage from the Palaeolithic to the present day.

29 May 2020

Gene linked to dementia increases the risk of developing severe COVID-19

Having a faulty gene linked to dementia doubles the risk of developing severe COVID-19, according to a large-scale study.

From University of Exeter 28 May 2020

New CRISPR-Cas9 based method for directed protein evolution

"Directed evolution" is the process by which scientists produce tailor-made proteins for cell biology, physiology and biomedicine in the laboratory.

28 May 2020

Study highlights crucial role of immune-system molecule in Huntington's disease

More than a decade before people with Huntington's disease show symptoms, they can exhibit abnormally high levels of an immune-system molecule called interleukin-6 (IL-6), which has led many researchers to suspect IL-6 of promoting the eventual neurological devastation associated with the genetic condition.

28 May 2020