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Tag: "mutation" at biology news

Fruit fly's beating heart helps identify human heart disease genes

...ve an equivalent in the fruit fly. "If there is a mutation in a gene that causes a disease in the fruit fly, then there is a very good chance that there is a corresponding gene in humans," Rockman said. "It is an enormous breakthrough to demonstrate that a human gene can induce disease in a fly. With this no...

'Accelerated evolution' converts RNA enzyme to DNA enzyme in vitro

... functions might also have occurred through random mutation and selection. For the study, an RNA ribozyme was converted to a corresponding deoxyribozyme through in vitro evolution. The ribozyme was first prepared as a DNA molecule of the same RNA sequence but with no detectable catalytic activity. A large n...

Carbon nanotubes that detect disease-causing mutations developed by Pitt researcher

...otubes' electrical properties to find a particular mutation in the gene that causes hereditary hemochromatosis, a disease in which too much iron accumulates in body tissues. "The size compatibility between the detector and the detected species-DNA molecules in this case-makes this approach very attractive fo...

Pitt professor's theory of evolution gets boost from cell research

... until offspring appear with two copies of the new mutation and change suddenly, seemingly appearing out of th... capacity to produce protective proteins, and then mutation can occur. This revelation has enormous implications for the notion that organisms routinely change...

Liver cancer linked to cellular repair pathway

... colleagues also discovered a new Hedgehog pathway mutation in a patient with liver cancer that may lead to overactivation of Hedgehog and trigger abnormal cell growth, promoting cancer development. In test tube and cell culture experiments, blocking the Hedgehog pathway reduced growth of cancer cells by over...

'Virus chip' detects new virus in prostate tumors

...prostate tumors with two copies of the RNASEL gene mutation than in those with at least one normal copy. "This is a virus that has never been seen in humans before," said Eric Klein, MD, a collaborator in the research and head of urologic oncology at the Glickman Urologic Institute of Cleveland Clinic. "Thi...

New nanosensor uses quantum dots to detect DNA

...heir lab by detecting a sample of DNA containing a mutation linked to ovarian cancer. The Johns Hopkins team described the new DNA nanosensor in a paper published in the November 2005 issue of the journal Nature Materials. "Conventional methods of finding and identifying samples of DNA are cumbersome and ti...

ASU researchers 'wire' DNA to identify mutations

... What they found was that just a single base pair mutation in a DNA molecule, such as substituting an A for a G, can cause a significant change in the conductance of the molecule. The measurement is extremely sensitive, as the alteration of a single base in the DNA stack can either increase or decrease the c...

Mutations in the BRAF gene predict sensitivity to a novel class of cancer drugs

...K protein. "We find that all tumors with the BRAF mutation and some with the RAS mutation are sensitive to drugs that inhibit MEK," explained Dr. Neal Rosen, Professor of Medicine and a memb...

Researchers discover new form of cancer gene regulation

The Quaking gene, first described as a mutation in mice that causes rapid tremor, is thought to suppress tumor formation and protect humans from cancer. Now, a team of researchers from Northwestern University and the University of Wisconsin has shown that the Quaking gene likely suppresses tumor...

Common viruses may cause cancer

... partners carried a particular "predisposing" gene mutation (in the oncogenes E1A or Myc, or in the tumor suppressor gene p53), then a significant proportion of the resulting hybrid cells were highly proliferative and thus potentially cancerous. Whether such proliferating hybrid cells are produced by viruses...

Recreating 'Flowers for Algernon' with a happy ending

...n is what enables learning to take place. The NF1 mutation creates hyperactive Ras, which disrupts cellular conversation and undermines the learning process. "The act of learning creates physical changes in the brain, like grooves on a record," said Silva. "But surplus Ras tips the balance between switch...

Sangamo BioSciences demonstrates its ZFP treatment protects cells from HIV infection

...'s president and CEO. "Individuals with a natural mutation of their CCR5 gene have been shown to be resistant to HIV infection. Several major pharmaceutical companies have initiated programs to develop small molecule drugs to block HIV binding to CCR5, but in recent months two trials have been halted, one d...

Looking for the genes that affect a person's level of response to alcohol

...plained Schuckit, "finding that those worms with a mutation in that gene were fairly insensitive to alcohol. We also knew that alcohol has an effect on what this gene controls, which is potassium flow. Our current results appear to show that the corollary of this gene in humans helps to control the intensit...

Genetic analysis of cavefish reveals more about evolution

...ssibilities: the two cave populations had the same mutation in the same gene, they showed different mutations in the same gene, or they had mutations in distinct but closely linked genes. To clarify their results, the researchers performed a complementation test fish in both caves, which yielded only albino o...

New view of cancer: 'Epigenetic' changes come before mutations

...ew growth. The second step involves an initiating mutation within the population of epigenetically disrupted ...f chromosomes in the development of leukemia. This mutation normally has been considered the first step in cancer development. The third step is genetic and ep...

New technique multiplies life span in simple organisms

...ion was combined with caloric restriction and/or a mutation in one or two genes, RAS2 and SCH9, that control the storage of nutrients and resistance to cell damage. Human cells with reduced SIR2 activity also appear to confirm that SIR2 has a pro-aging effect, Longo said, although those results are not inclu...

Role of microRNA identified in thyroid cancer

...rint for the creation of a particular protein. Any mutation in the gene could affect the production of the protein. But recent studies have shown that protein production can also be manipulated indirectly through miRNAs. "MiRNAs can latch on to part of the messenger RNA and scramble its ability to properly c...

Anti-cancer drugs may hold promise for premature aging disorder

...ll's nuclear membrane, called the lamina. The gene mutation implicated in progeria causes a section of 50 amino acids within the lamin A protein to be deleted, resulting in a mutated protein that is called progerin. This protein fails to integrate properly into the lamina, thereby disrupting the nuclear scaff...

NIAID researchers show how promising TB drug works

... mutants possessing FGD1 and F420 must be due to a mutation in the M. tb protein that directly interacts with ... evidently acquired resistance to PA-824 through a mutation that made the protein unable to bind to the drug, Dr. Barry says. With the discovery of the specifi...

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