Genetics

Genetics

Stolen genes

The genes borrowed from spiders and insects help the bacteriophage to penetrate into their cells, find parasitic bacteria – wolbachia there, and destroy them.

12.10.2016

Genetics

Are you sweeter or fatter?

Some people do not like sweets and prefer fatty foods due to a mutation in the MC4R gene. Mutations in this gene are often found in people suffering from obesity.

05.10.2016

Genetics

Genes for immunity are not the main thing

Generalization of all data on factors affecting immunity showed that genetics determines only 20-40% of individual differences in the immune system.

30.09.2016

Genetics

Greetings to the descendants

Three stories about non-classical methods of inheritance that can pass for telegony: how inheritance can occur that is not related to the transmission of their parents' genes to descendants.

26.09.2016

Genetics

The slow walkers continue to reveal their secrets

Tardigrades protect their DNA from ionizing radiation by stabilizing it with a special protein. A number of other protective mechanisms were also found in the genome of slow walkers.

21.09.2016

Genetics

The evolutionary tree of elephants has been rewritten

DNA analysis from the remains of extinct animals has forced scientists to reconsider the evolutionary history of elephants. In the past, elephants have crossed with mammoths more than once.

20.09.2016

Genetics

Rap1 is a potential target for the fight against obesity

Mice in whose hypothalamus this gene was suppressed did not develop resistance to leptin, gained less weight than their relatives, ate less and burned fat more efficiently

19.09.2016

Genetics

Transcriptome of arabidopsis

A detailed atlas of gene expression of the Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis thaliana), a model object of plant genetics, will clarify the functions of many genes and find genes previously unknown.

09.09.2016

Genetics

Eh, the relief of the musculature…

A group of French geneticists found out that some of the viral genes embedded in human DNA many years ago may be responsible for gaining muscle mass in males.

08.09.2016

Genetics

Archived transposons

So that mobile genetic elements – transposons – do not spoil the necessary genes, the cell constantly keeps the "jumping DNA" in a tightly packed state.

07.09.2016

Genetics

Glioma was replaced

The cell line, often used in the study of brain cancer, has nothing in common with the original one. However, cells from the American collection of typical cultures are probably also derived from human glioma.

06.09.2016

Genetics

Diabolical Evolution against Cancer

Mutations in the genome of the marsupial devil have allowed some animals to acquire resistance to infectious cancer, fatal in almost 100 percent of cases.

05.09.2016

Genetics

A new target for the treatment of alcoholism

To get rid of alcohol addiction, you need to prevent the formation of an interneuronal connection "drinking – pleasure". This can be achieved using the enzyme PRDM2.

31.08.2016

Genetics

Genes and diseases: new data

DNA analysis of more than 60 thousand people allowed us to identify more than three thousand mutations indicating a high probability of a number of diseases. Most of the identified mutations are described for the first time.

26.08.2016

Genetics

Vision and hearing in one gene

An international team of scientists has shown that a mutation of the Slc4a10 gene, which was previously known to be responsible for vision, leads to hearing loss in aging animals.

26.08.2016

Genetics

Junk DNA Affects Skeletal Development

Another message about the functionality of "genomic garbage" was published by Portuguese geneticists: the number of edges in the formation of the skeleton depends on the "meaningless" parts of the genome.

23.08.2016

Genetics

Another reason for the extinction of Neanderthals?

Neanderthals were too sensitive to substances formed by the combustion of wood and coal, and could well have died out from diseases arising from fire smoke.

23.08.2016

Genetics

Why do women live longer than men

The new study adds empirical evidence to the "protected X chromosome hypothesis" proposed to explain why males age faster than females.

22.07.2016

Genetics

We are what they ate

For thousands of years, man has adapted to living conditions: weather, predators, the change of day and night and, of course, food. The eating habits of those times are still hidden in our genes.

20.07.2016

Genetics

The Gordian node of the X chromosome

Geneticists from Harvard University (USA) have found out what makes an extra X chromosome curl up into a ball (the so-called Barr body) and how to flexibly control its shape.

19.07.2016