Naturally blond hair is found almost entirely in Northern Europe and Oceania – but is it from the same gene? In the Solomon Islands, 5-10% of the population is blond and research led by Stanford University School of Medicine has shown that the mutation leading to blond hair arose separately here. The research was published in Science.
protein archive.
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.
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.
Personalised medicine doesn’t get much more personal than this. For more than two years, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have been focusing on one person’s genetic profile – that of their colleague and fellow geneticist, Dr Michael Snyder.
In early 2011, an E coli strain known as O104 emerged in Germany, and was responsible for close to 4,000 cases of illness and 48 deaths. San Francisco company AvidBiotics has used the draft genome of this form of E coli to create a highly targeted bactericidal protein, showing that targeted agents for use against emerging bacterial pathogens could be generated within days-to-weeks of acquiring the pathogen’s genome sequence.
Researchers have made a step forward in the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, a serious genetic disorder, by using a stretch of RNA to trigger mice into producing a back-up version of a missing protein.
Human serum albumin (HAS) is a key protein in human blood plasma, and is used in the treatment of burns, trauma and blood loss, as well as in cell culture. The demand for HSA is high and can outstrip supply, leading to potential issues of counterfeiting, as has happened in China, and there is also a risk of virus transmission. A team of researchers in China has successfully produced HAS in transgenic rice (Oryza sativa), published in PNAS.
Welcome to the Genome Engineering game for November – FoldIt. Its aim is to predict the structure of a protein by using crowdsourcing and distributed computing and relaying on people’s ability to solve puzzles. And it’s fun too.
Hints and tips from American Biotechnologist: New technique for watching proteins in action in intact cells.
Hints and tips from American Biotechnologist: Selecting a gel for western blotting
