DNA

Naked DNA Vaccination May Conquer Arthritis and Multiple Sclerosis

A novel modification of a new technology born of genetic engineering, and known as naked DNA vaccination, holds the potential of overcoming autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. The vaccine is currently being successfully tested in animals. In multiple sclerosis (MS) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the body essentially attacks itself, caus...

Focus on DNA transcription

Biological chemists at the University of north Carolina at Chapel Hill, state about the discovery of how living organisms convert genetic instructions into action. The UNC scientists have found a previously unknown chemical site on a key enzyme that regulates production of the genetic messenger known as RNA. When the chemical site is occupied, it markedly speeds up the// proces...

Chromosome Ends Trigger DNA Damage Response For Telomere Protection

Researchers from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have suggested that a localized DNA damage response at telomeres after replication is essential for recruiting the //processing machinery that promotes formation of a chromosome end protection complex. Telomeres, the ends of linear chromosomes, represent a problem for the control of genome stability and the DNA damage machinery...

Methyl-DNA binding Proteins To Fight Cancer

Russians researchers are exploring the possibility for using Kaiso protein for early detection of cancer. They are developing this new approach to treat intestinal cancer at the Bioengineering Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences, //under Anna Prokhorchuk's guidance jointly with American colleagues sponsored by the international CRDF foundation and the Federal Agency for Science and Inno...

DNA biochip for genetic screening

A scientist from the University of Houston has developed a chemical process for building a device that could help doctors predict a patient’s response to drugs or screen patients for thousands of genetic mutations and diseases, all with one simple lab test. The DNA chip is similar to a computer chip but imbedded with DNA molecules instead of electronic circuitry. It is designed to pro...

DNA helps in cellular function

Biological chemists at the University of north Carolina at Chapel Hill, state about the discovery of how living organisms convert genetic instructions into action. The UNC scientists have found a previously unknown chemical site on a key enzyme that regulates production of the genetic messenger known as RNA. When the chemical site is occupied, it markedly speeds up the// process...

Compressed DNA aids gene patients

Scientists have invented a method of compressing DNA which could make gene therapy powerful. The advance which is now being tried out on cystic fibrosis patients, may allow the modified genes to slip right into the cell nucleus.A single strand of DNA contains a complete blueprint for building an entire human.// This means that the DNA molecule is long and unwieldy. Doctors are looking fo...

DNA of deceased ones stored in Funeral Homes

Some social service providers, are volunteering to help store the DNA of deceased loved ones in the funeral homes in order to prevent disease in their descendants .The DNA could help future generations// determine whether they are genetically predisposed to conditions such as breast or colon cancer. According to Bernard Naegele, president of Cincinnati-based DNA Analysis Inc., the gene...

DNA transcription to be focused

Biological chemists at the University of north Carolina at Chapel Hill, state about the discovery of how living organisms convert genetic instructions into action. The UNC scientists have found a previously unknown chemical site on a key enzyme that regulates production of the genetic messenger known as RNA.// When the chemical site is occupied, it markedly speeds up the process by...

Jumping genes eliminate sections of DNA

A recent study reveals that jumping genes appear to be able to delete sections of DNA, an effect that could cause disease and have profound implications for the evolution of the human genome. It was known previously that components of DNA called Line 1 elements jumped around, inserted themselves in the middle of genes and had disruptive effects,// but this is the first time it has been sh...

Melanoma caused by low DNA repair capacity

Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer and it has been shown through previous research studies that the risk is increased by exposure to sunlight, whose UV rays cause damage to DNA that triggers cancer. However, it has not been clear why some people are more prone than others to melanoma. Researchers have now found out through a study involving a group of 312 people with melanoma t...

Dog DNA reveals man's link with best friend

Since the start in recent years of intense genetic sequencing, more than 150 species, mostly bacteria, have been completed, but the study appearing this week in the journal Science is the first for a companion animal. // A standard size poodle named Shadow, the family pet of gene researcher J. Craig Venter, provided the specimen that researchers used to sequence the canine genes. <B...

Dog DNA reveals man's link with best friend

Since the start in recent years of intense genetic sequencing, more than 150 species, mostly bacteria, have been completed, but the study appearing this week in the journal// Science is the first for a companion animal. A standard size poodle named Shadow, the family pet of gene researcher J. Craig Venter, provided the specimen that researchers used to sequence the canine genes. <BR...

DNA Testing For More Accurate Results

Experts have now developed a DNA test capable of identifying myelodysplasia ( MDS ).MDS is a blood disorder that can lead to leukemia or // fatal infections and bleeding. Patients often don’t find out they have the disease until it’s too late for early treatment. About 15,000 to 20,000 people a year are diagnosed with MDS. The condition is most common in those over age 60. Researchers t...

Traffic Smoke May Damage DNA

In a study conducted by Department of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, of Taiwan, scientists have found // that the traffic fumes inhaled during working at a toll station can damage the DNA of the persons inhaling the fumes. The research studied 47 female highway toll station workers who were exposed to traffic fumes versus workers of an office setting. Using average and...

Approval for DNA test to detect cystic fibrosis

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of US had approved the first test that// uses DNA in blood to diagnose cystic fibrosis. The test is called Tag-It Cystic Fibrosis Kit and it can analyze DNA samples from the blood and detect genes that carry the strains of the disease, both in children and in adults. The test can not only predict the advent of the disease in people, but it can also id...

Detecting DNA Damage With In-Vivo Alkaline Comet Assay

The comet assay has gained rapid importance in detecting various forms of DNA damage and repair.// The conventional methods have numerous disadvantages and are time consuming, resource intensive and require a large proliferating cell population. The comet assay attracts adherents by it’s simplicity, speed, versatility and economy and is an ideal alternative supplementary in-vivo study...

Preserving the DNA of a loved one

Researchers say that families can now hang on to their departed loved one's DNA// through a new profile preservation service offered by a US genetic testing company. The service is being offered by a New Jersey-based firm called Orchid Cellmark . Orchid says the DNA information would be useful for medical, legal and genealogy issues as well as generation of reports. An individual's DNA ca...

DNA Directory Under Construction For Indian Criminals !

India may soon have a legal framework in place for creating a DNA fingerprinting database //of convicts. A draft providing for the creation of such a database and its admissibility in courts as evidence is ready and is likely to be tabled in parliament this year. The first draft of the bill is being circulated among ministries of law, home affairs and science. The final draft will be...

DNA and clones

American researchers have revealed the first clues to the high failure rate of cloning and gene therapy - the concentration of genes at the core of the nucleus.The discovery, announced at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, shows that DNA has an internal structure that scientists were previously unaware existed. It also provides clu...

Evoprinter, a multigenomic comparative tool for rapid identification of functionally important DNA

Deciphering the regulatory mechanisms that control coordinate gene expression is a long-standing goal of biology. The comparison of orthologous DNA sequences from multiple vertebrate or invertebrate // species holds promise in identifying the cis-regulatory elements central to the dynamic interplay between a gene and its transcriptional regulators. This cross-species comparison, termed ph...

New DNA Breakthrough Can Change Future Of Medicine

In a collaborative work Scientists now been able to map the most common minor differences in human genome.// This breakthrough could change the face of future medicine. The study called 'HapMap' study by an international team have now been able to chart genetic differences between 269 individuals that originate from different parts of the world like Africa, the Far East and Western Euro...

DNA Identity Mix-Up In Bone Marrow Donors, And Miscarriages Of Justice Involved

In what may sound as a typical open-and-shut case, a clear DNA match was made between semen from a serious sexual assault// and a blood sample from a known criminal. However, the criminal in question was in jail when the assault took place. Forensic scientists had already matched the crime sample to the DNA profile of another person who was their prime suspect. It was only after careful d...

DNA Vaccine Trials Against HIV Virus In Sweden Nurture Hope

Swedish researchers have expressed hope regarding the DNA vaccine trials conducted against the AIDS/HIV virus. The first phase of the clinical trials have already been completed among 40 HIV- negative // volunteers. DNA vaccines represent the latest innovation in the area of vaccine biology. It involves direct injection of one or more genes coding for specific antigens into the human...

DNA Underwent Changes Due To Culture

Natural selection is reported to have been responsible for much of the DNA among human beings during the course of the past 50,000 years. The tendency of human beings to live in settlements and cultivate fields can also be traced // to this natural selection process. One way to look for genes that have recently been changed by natural selection is to study mutations called single-nuc...

Excess Intake of Alcohol Results in Permanent DNA Damage.

In Australia a research headed by Dr Michael Fenech studied the damage of excess alcohol on human DNA. The results of the study stated that excess intake of // alcoholic beverages resulted in increased risk of permanent damage to the DNA. During the course of the study, six men aged 21-26 stuck to a diet low in plant phenols for two days, and then drank 300 millilitres of...

Little Known DNA Repair Enzyme May Be A Tumor Suppressor Gene

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have demonstrated that loss of DNA // repair enzyme’s activity in mouse cells leads to dramatic chromosomal instability. The DNA in our cells is constantly subject to environmental, chemical and cellular impacts. Thanks to nature, our cells contain several enzymes dedicated to detecting and repairing any damage caused by these impacts. Failu...

One million people to donate their DNA and personal information

One million people will be donating their blood samples and their personal information about their lifestyle, diet, habit and their disease// information to one of the two biggest medical research projects, the British Project called Biobank or the American Project. The American project is still in its infancy and the Biobank would be started very soon. The Project would be collecting bl...

Specific Immune Mechanism against DNA viruses

Professor Ruslan Medshitov and his Post doc Daniel Stetson have reported in the Journal Immunity that the host immune system responds in a different mechanism to viral DNA infection. // Viruses are classified based on their Genetic material into DNA and RNA viruses and researchers have found that immune response which acts in recognisation of these viral products in the host is differ...

DNA damage and cancer risk, increased due to red meat diet

Colorectal cancer is the second most common cancer found in developed countries. According to the International Agency for Cancer Research in Lyon, France more than 940,000 cases of colorectal // cancer are diagnosed each year. It mainly affects people over 60 years of age and in about 5% of the people the cancer is inherited. Health experts tell that in about 70% of the cases...

Well Preserved DNA In Fossil Bones Discovered

The Weizmann Institute of Science’s researchers have discovered ancient DNA in fossil bones which are apparently well preserved. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences// (PNAS) has published the reports of the scientists. The fossil DNA provides information with regard to population dynamics, evolution, diets and diseases, and the migrations of both human beings and animals....

Students Seek Help From Prisoners for Kidnapped Child's Release

Students from Patna's Don Bosco Academy are seeking the help of prisoners from Beur jail in Patna to locate their missing friend Nirmalendu//. The lined up the streets near the jail and begged for money to fulfill the ransom demands made by the child's kidnappers. Nirmalendu was kidnapped in Phulwarisharief while he was on his way to school. His schoolmates are now appealing to the pris...

A Cicero Woman held accountable in baby kidnapping

A Cicero woman apparently kidnapped a couple’s 26 day old baby from a Stroger Hospital clinic and took to her heels, according to authorities//. The woman is now in police custody. Aurelia Gonzalez, charged with aggravated kidnapping had appeared before Judge Raymond Myles of the criminal court. The kidnapping took place after Gonzalez sought permission from the baby’s father to hold...

Yeast Genome Unravels Genes Critical For Maintaining DNA Integrity

Researchers in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine said that genetic material in the yeast cell guards the genome from lethal DNA damage. // The researchers feel that it very important in the creation of a database of disease-causing combinations of mutated human genes. Jef Boeke described about a genetic network that is existing in the genome of the yeast cells w...

The Little Known Facts of Junk DNA

Researchers at the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at Johns Hopkins have found a new technology to analyze and understand the secrets of the junk DNA//. Junk DNA contains critical regions for controlling gene function. These genes that regulate various similar actions need not be the same in all species. The study will be published online at Science Express. The resear...

Controversial Theory Says DNA Can Be Pushed To "Dark States"

Researchers at Oregon State University are pumping for a controversial theory, which says that supposedly stable DNA bases can be forced// into "dark states" where they can be easily dismantled by ultraviolet radiation. This new idea appears to contravene some of the most accepted theories in biochemistry. The theory, not long ago dismissed as impossible by much of the science community...

GAO Investigation Questions Validity of DNA Testing Kits

Home DNA testing kits claiming to analyze consumers' DNA for genes which affect diseases like heart disease, cancer, or diabetes are misleading because they provide// results that are ambiguous, medically unproven, or both, according to federal investigators. These were the results from an investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which has led to a Senate hearing in...

Inventor of DNA fingerprinting Wins Accolades

Professor Sir Alec Jeffrey, Royal Society Wolfson Research Professor and inventor of DNA Fingerprinting at the University of Leicester, wins prestigious// international accolade which will be awarded to him later this year. He is to be awarded the Dr H.P. Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics 2006 by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in recognition of the disc...

Skin Test plus DNA Testing To Detect Mental Illness

According to the recent study it is said that researchers are going to improve the already available test kits to detect mental illness by DNA profiling//. They are going to develop test kits which can help the physicians to detect illness such as schizophrenia and autism. The skin tests are to be developed at the first genetics laboratory in the Highlands, which opened near Inverness....

Age-Related Sperm DNA Damage

A new study by scientists at the Lawrence Livermore Berkeley National Library revealed that the DNA in the sperm of men begins to fragment //as they age, and the effects of dwarfism begins to take its toll. The study was carried out on the sperms collected two years ago, over a four-month period, .from 97 healthy men between the age of 22 and 80 years .A technique called flow cytometry w...