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Tag Archives: Gene expression

Book Review: Born Anxious

12 Wednesday Apr 2017

Posted by sedeer in Books, Development, Disease, Genetics, Humans

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Behavior, biology, Developmental biology, Gene expression, Health, Popular science, science, science and society, Science in Society

I enjoyed Born Anxious more than I expected to but less than I hoped. Written by Daniel Keating, a psychology professor at the University of Michigan, it synthesizes over a decade of research on how stress affects the course of our lives. Keating presents an interesting and convincing case that experiences early in life — or even in previous generations — can set biological switches that have wide-ranging consequences, affecting health, social well-being, and professional success. Continue reading →

Controlling development by the numbers

30 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by sedeer in Development, Genetics, Vertebrates

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

animals, backbone, biology, Developmental biology, Gene, Gene expression, notochord, Popular science, science

An embryo of the sea squirt Ciona. The nuclei of the 40 notochord cells are highlighted in red  and the contours of a few notochord cells are defined by green fluorescent protein. All other visible nuclei are colored in blue. (Image Credit: Janice H. Imai and Anna Di Gregorio)Genes have to be carefully coordinated to switch on at just the right moment in development in order to make a mature, complex embryo out of just a single cell. Scientists working at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York have discovered how this coordination is accomplished. In a paper just published in PLOS Biology, they describe how the gene Brachyury controls the timing of a cascade of genes involved in a crucial process in vertebrate development. Continue reading →

Correction: Plants micro-RNAs might not regulate animal genes

09 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by sedeer in Genetics, Humans, Mammals, Plants

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

biology, digestion, DNA, Gene expression, GMO, Health, horizontal transfer, Human, MicroRNA, Mouse, nutrition, Popular science, RNA, science

Around a year ago I wrote about a study which showed that micro-RNAs from plants that were eaten could regulate genes in the animal that ate them.  It was an exciting and important finding.  The study claimed that the miRNAs survived passage through the digestive tracts of mice, got into their bloodstream and traveled to their liver, where they regulated genes involved in cholesterol metabolism.  This week I read a post on Virginia Hughes’ blog Only Human where she discusses several follow-up studies which haven’t been able to reproduce the original results.  That doesn’t necessarily mean the study was wrong, but it certainly raises doubts.  In her post, Virginia also links to a rebuttal letter she received from the author of the original study, so it looks like the debate is on!  I’ll try to keep an eye on the subject and report back about it as things develop, but in the meantime read Virginia’s excellent summary of the current state of affairs.  Showing that creatures can directly regulate genes in organisms of another kingdom of life would be a major finding, so I’m really glad that there’s debate about it.  That’s how science should work: we should try to repeat studies, remain critical and open-minded, and challenge each other.

How short can genes get?

20 Saturday Oct 2012

Posted by sedeer in Form, Genetics

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

biology, DNA, Gene, Gene expression, genetic regulation, Polyadenylation, Popular science, Regulation of gene expression, RNA, RNA processing, science, terminator

Static thumb frame of Animation of the structure of a section of DNA. The bases lie horizontally between the two spiraling strands. (Image credit: Wikipedia)A team of scientists at Aarhus University in Denmark reported a remarkable discovery in this month’s issue of the journal Genes & Development.  Genetic regulation is a complex and intricate affair carefully orchestrated by an array of proteins and other factors.  While the basics are well understood, the researchers discovered that the length of the gene itself may also have a role, adding another twist to the already complex and intricate story of genetic regulation.

Continue reading →

Through the gut: how plants in food regulate genes in animals

27 Sunday May 2012

Posted by sedeer in Genetics, Humans, Mammals, Plants

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

biology, digestion, DNA, Gene expression, GMO, Health, horizontal transfer, Human, MicroRNA, Mouse, nutrition, Popular science, RNA, science

In an exciting discovery reported last year, a team of Chinese researchers found that some of the genetic material in our food might survive digestion and go on to regulate our genes and affect our physiology.  This new mechanism for genetic interactions between very different species raises interesting evolutionary questions and will probably have implications for the study of health and nutrition, but it’s important to understand what the study was actually about, particularly since this will likely affect the debate around GMO foods. Continue reading →

Gene expression: shape matters

31 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by sedeer in Bacteria, Form, Genetics

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

biology, DNA, Escherichia coli, Gene expression, genetic regulation, Mutation, Popular science, science, shape

Electron micrograph of Escherichia coli (Image via Wikipedia)A recent paper describes how the mutation of a single gene is sufficient to turn a harmless bacterium found in our gut into an invasive pathogen. Taken alone, this isn’t terribly surprising; many genes regulate the expression of other genes and some (“master” genes) act as switches that control a whole host of other genes.  The gene mutated in this study isn’t one of these “master” genes, though; it’s a structural gene and there’s a much more  intriguing reason for its broad impact on the bacterium.

Read the more intriguing story…

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All text and original images by Sedeer El-Showk. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

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