Sequence in Biological News

Scientists sequence genome of the N2-fixing, soil-living bacterium Azotobacter vinelandii

Blacksburg, Va. A collaboration of researchers, which includes scientists at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) and Virginia Tech, have completed the genome sequence of Azotobacter vinelandii , uncovering important genetic information that will contribute to a more complete understandin...

Elephant shark genome sequence leads to discovery of color perception in deep-sea fish

The elephant shark, a primitive deep-sea fish that belongs to the oldest living family of jawed vertebrates, can see color much like humans can. This discovery, published in the March 2009 issue of Genome Research , may enhance scientists' understanding of how color vision evolved in early ve...

Ancestral genome of present-day African great apes & humans had burst of DNA sequence duplication

The genome of the evolutionary ancestor of humans and present-day apes underwent a burst of activity in duplicating segments of DNA, according to a study to be published in Nature Feb 12, the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birthday. "The new study shows big differences in the genomes ...

Scientists to sequence DNA of British wheat varieties

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have been awarded 1.7 million to decode the genome of wheat, in order to help farmers increase the yield of British wheat varieties. Bread wheat, with an estimated world harvest of more than 550 million tonnes, is one of the most important food crops in...

Genome sequence shows sorghum's immense potential

Athens, Ga. Southerners may best know sorghum as sweet, biscuit-topping syrup. But the small grain's uses range from a dependable, drought-tolerant food crop to biofuel source, says a University of Georgia researcher who led a team that recently sequenced the plant's genome. "Sorghum's importa...

Research consortium to sequence turkey genome

Blacksburg, Va. An international consortium of researchers has begun an effort to sequence the genome of the domesticated turkey, Meleagris gallopavo. The genome sequence will be obtained using the Roche GS-FLX sequencing platform and the recently launched Roche GS FLX Titanium PicoTiterPlate dev...

Washington University scientists first to sequence genome of cancer patient

For the first time, scientists have decoded the complete DNA of a cancer patient and traced her disease - acute myelogenous leukemia - to its genetic roots. A large research team at the Genome Sequencing Center and the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis ...

Genome sequence of small marine creature sheds light on vertebrate origins

Genome Research is publishing several papers related to analyses of the amphioxus ( Branchiostoma floridae ) genome sequence. The amphioxus, or lancelet, is a cephalochordate residing in shallow regions of tropical and temperate seas, bearing resemblance to a small fish, however lacking pairs o...

A protein sequence associated with Huntington’s disease may become life-saving vaccine component

On June 10, 2008 the scientific journal " Vaccine " published a paper by the Massachusetts based biotech company Cure Lab, Inc., demonstrating that a protein sequence important in neurodegenerative Huntington's disease can be safely used as a new generation of vaccine adjuvants. The major comp...

Leiden scientists sequence first female DNA

Geneticists of Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) are the first to determine the DNA sequence of a woman. She is also the first European whose DNA sequence has been determined. This has been announced by the researchers this morning, during a special press conference at Bessensap, a yearly me...

Duck-billed platypus genome sequence published

The first analysis of the genome sequence of the duck-billed platypus was published today by an international team of scientists, revealing clues about how genomes were organized during the early evolution of mammals. The research was supported in part by the National Human Genome Research Institu...

Washington University unveils draft sequence of corn genome

Feb. 25, 2008 -- A team of scientists led by Washington University in St. Louis has begun to unlock the genetic secrets of corn, a crop vital to U.S. agriculture. The researchers have completed a working draft of the corn genome, an accomplishment that should accelerate efforts to develop better c...

Scientists complete genome sequence of fungus responsible for dandruff, skin disorders

Scientists from P&G Beauty announced that they successfully sequenced the complete genome for Malassezia globosa (M. globosa) , a naturally occurring fungus responsible for the onset of dandruff and other skin conditions in humans. Results of the genome sequencing are published in todays online ...

Microarray sequence capture speeds large-scale resequencing of targeted genomic regions

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and Roche NimbleGen Inc., a fully integrated part of Roche Applied Science, today have published details of a highly efficient and cost-effective method for capturing targeted regions of the genome via NimbleChip microarrays in preparation for high-through...

First individual genome sequence published

Independent sequence and assembly of the six billion base pairs from the genome of one person ushers in the era of individualized genomics Researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), along with collaborators at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and the University of California ...

ISU researchers help map first plant-parasitic nematode genome sequence

AMES, Iowa -- There are numerous plant-parasitic nematodes in the world, but only a handful are responsible for the largest part of an estimated $157 billion in agricultural damage globally every year. Nematodes are small worms that burrow into plant roots and feed off living cells. Now, Iowa S...

Scientists sequence genome of parasite responsible for common sexually transmitted infection

Researchers have decoded the genetic makeup of the parasite that causes trichomoniasis, one of the most common sexually transmitted infections (STIs), revealing potential clues as to why the parasite has become increasingly drug resistant and suggesting possible pathways for new treatments, diagnos...

Sleep enforces the temporal sequence in memory

We have usually quite strong memories of past events like an exciting holiday or a jolly birthday party. However it is not clear how the brain keeps track of the temporal sequence in such memories: did Paul spill a glass of wine before or after Mary left the party? Previous findings from a resea...

Scientists sequence DNA of woolly mammoth

Experts in ancient DNA from McMaster University (Canada) have teamed up with genome researchers from Penn State University (USA) for the investigation of permafrost bone samples from Siberia. The project also involved paleontologists from the American Museum of Natural History (USA) and researcher...

Breaking the mold: Research teams sequence three fungus genomes

From garden compost to forest greenery, the mold Aspergillus fumigatus lurks across much of the world. And so does its impact. The most common mold causing infection, A. fumigatus triggers allergic reactions, asthma attacks--and even deadly infections among people with weakened immune systems. ...

Brazilians sequence genes of pig and poultry killers

Brazilian researchers have sequenced the genomes of two bacteria that cause significant damage to pig and poultry farming in Brazil and elsewhere. The researchers are now analysing the results in an attempt to identify bacterial proteins that could be used to develop vaccines and diagnostic kits ...

Genome Sequence for Haemophilus Influenzae Completed

Otters cavorting in the water is a scene with which we're all familiar. Yet, unlike many other mammals that spend a considerable amount of time in the water–polar bears, seals, dolphins, and whales–river otters do not have a thick layer of body fat to keep warm. They rely, instead, on a few unique ...

Public collections of DNA and RNA sequence reach 100 gigabases

The world's three leading public repositories for DNA and RNA sequence information have reached 100 gigabases [100,000,000,000 bases; the 'letters' of the genetic code] of sequence. Thanks to their data exchange policy, which has paved the way for the global exchange of many types of biological inf...

Deep thinking: Scientists sequence a cold-loving marine microbe

At home in the deep, dark Arctic Ocean, the marine bacterium Colwellia psychrerythraea 34H keeps very cool--typically below 5° degrees Celsius. How does the bacterium function in this frigid environment? To find out, scientists at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) and collaborators have seq...

Researchers uncover sequence of major rice pathogen

In a genomics milestone, an international consortium of researchers has for the first time lifted the veil from a fungal plant pathogen by sequencing the genome ?or set of all genes ?of the most destructive enemy of rice: Magnaporthe grisea, the fungus that causes rice blast disease. Dr. Ralph De...

Found: Missing sequence of the human Y chromosome

Scientists report today in the journal Genome Research that they have successfully cloned and characterized a previously intractable DNA sequence: a 554-kilobase-pair genomic segment near the centromere of the human Y chromosome. This sequence contains eight putatively active genes that could be im...

GATA: a graphic alignment tool for comparative sequence analysis

Sometimes a potential target for a drug seems very promising on paper; things are often very different in reality. Its the case of telomerase inhibitors to treat cancer; they are supposed to strip the "immortal" (able to divide indefinitely) aspect of cancer cells. Yet, something in the cell seems...

Viral DNA sequence a possible trigger for breast cancer

A small sequence of DNA in the envelope (Env) protein of a mouse breast tumor virus (called MMTV) can transform breast cells into cancer cells, according to a study by Katz et al. in the February 7 issue of The Journal of Experimental Medicine. The ability of this motif to transform cells single-ha...

Mary had a lot of lambs: Researchers identify way to accelerate sheep breeding

...ally produced hormone commonly found in many animals. The change in the DNA sequence of the M allele does not change the amino acid sequence of the protein. This means that it may be an accurate indicator for the phe...

Understanding how weeds are resistant to herbicides

...logy in the Keck Center at the U of I. The genetic sequence will allow scientists to study herbicide resistanc...me of having the genetic data. "Once we obtain the sequence of a resistance gene, we can develop molecular tes...er it is resistant or not because we know the gene sequence and we know the mutation and the mechanism." Ha...

Drug-proof zebrafish reveal secrets of addiction

...lth, Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen, worked with an international team of researchers to carry out the experiments. She said, "Addictive drugs all trigger a sequence of widespread long-lasting consequences on brain physiology, most of which are only partially understood. Because a major step in the development of a...

August 2009 Geology and GSA Today media highlights

...iated sulfate and pyrite within a well-preserved, 10 million year limestone sequence from the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary in southwest Namibia. Surprisingly, this 10 million year sequence of limestones contains sulfur isotopes in pyrite that are consistently heav...

Scientists decoding genomic sequences of H1N1 using isolates from outbreak in Argentina

...I Director W. Ian Lipkin, MD, John Snow Professor of Epidemiology, and professor of Neurology and Pathology at Columbia University, plan to completely sequence up to 150 virus specimens from nasopharyngeal swabs and cultures over the next 10 days, and will share their findings with the larger scientific commu...

Sex in the Caribbean: Environmental change drives evolutionary change -- eventually

... reproduction it survived. Otherwise it was destined for extinction, millions of years later. Closure of the Isthmus of Panama involved a protracted sequence of volcanic and tectonic events. During the final phase, between about 4.5 and 3.5 million years ago, the Caribbean underwent a major change from a pe...

After dinosaurs, mammals rise but their genomes get smaller

... and three plants, specifically with regard for the long terminal repeat (LTR) sequences of transposable elements, a curious sort of "jumping" genetic sequence initially dropped into genomes by viruses. IU School of Informatics (Bloomington) bioinformaticians Mina Rho and Haixu Tang oversaw the survey of mamm...

ISU researchers find possible treatment for spinal muscular atrophy

... becomes mRNA by splicing out certain parts of the sequence that are non-coding, meaning they don't help the f... intronic sequences, sometimes referred to as junk sequence because it is originally copied from junk DNA. S...ein because of the presence of a specific intronic sequence in the gene or DNA. To make SMN2 behave as SMN1,...

Protein that promotes cancer cell growth identified

...naling can be restored by reconstituting the cells with wildtype Caspase-8. sequence homology studies helped to identify a RXDLL motif in the protein, a sequence that has been shown in other proteins to function in cell signaling. The re...

Scientists discover gene mutation responsible for hereditary neuroendocrine tumor

...d that Sdh5 is required for activation of another protein called Sdh1 that is also part of the SDH complex. Studies in Humans "The amino acid sequence of yeast Sdh5 is 44 percent identical to its human counterpart, which we've named hSDH5. This gave us some confidence that the Sdh5 functions we disco...

Reviews of microbial gene language published in special issue of Trends in Microbiology

...actions. However related genes that have a common function can be missed in sequence comparisons if those genes arose from different evolutionary paths. The Gen...ives. The Human Microbiome Project (HMP), for example, plans to extensively sequence the metagenomes of five human body sites and look for correlations between ...

Mystery E. coli genes essential for survival of many species

...t the University of Dundee has examined the genome sequence of this workhorse of the laboratory and spotted th... Bacteriology . The effort over recent years to sequence genomes of various important species has uncovered...is work is a good example of where having a genome sequence opens up many possible avenues of enquiry. It also...