DNA gets broken, and this could give rise to cancer. However, the broken end of the DNA is able to use a similar sequence for repair, and researchers at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at Delft University of Technology have found out how this works, in a paper published in Molecular Cell.
DNA archive.
According to an analysis of the nuclear DNA of polar bears, brown bears and black bears published in Science, polar bears evolved around 600,000 years ago, making them five times older than previously thought. This extra time explains how they have managed to adapt so well to the conditions of the arctic.
Following on from the creation of a cell based on a synthetic genome and the synthetic mouse mitochondrial genome in 2010, and proteins based on ‘unnatural’ DNA sequences and the poem inserted as a synthetic gene into a bacterium in 2011, the next step towards synthetic life is the creation of a synthetic genetic polymer, XNA, that is capable of heredity and evolution.
Today, 20 April 2012, we would like to wish you a very happy DNA Day. DNA Day commemorates Watson & Crick’s 1953 publication of the structure of DNA, without which we wouldn’t have this blog…
Under the Baltimore classification, viruses can be classified into DNA viruses and RNA viruses – but this may be overturned by the discovery of a virus with a DNA-RNA hybrid genome, according to a paper published in Biology Direct.
Want some DNA on a shirt? In Our Genes is a genetic art company producing organic clothes with artistically-rendered DNA prints of some challenging human diseases. On the market so far are shirts featuring the FOXL2 gene, genes behind ovarian cancer and genes for heart disease.
In DNA: The Double Helix, your job is to make exact copies of a DNA molecule from three random organisms and find out which organisms they are. Move the codons to copy the DNA and then pick the organism. Harder than it looks!
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder after a stressful event such as assault or terrorist attacks, but some people seem to develop it while others don’t. Why? It seems to be in their genes. UCLA scientists have linked two genes involved in serotonin production to a higher risk of developing PTSD, in a paper published in the April 3 online edition of the Journal of Affective Disorders.
Biochemies are plush giant DNA building blocks that clip together magnetically to teach children about DNA (or just to look cool on your desk!)
The Red and Nearly Ginger Association and the Australian Genome Research Facility are launching the world’s first available DNA screen for red hair. Researchers have found that it is possible to determine hair colour from the genes with fairly high accuracy.
