Journal name: Nature Methods Title of the article: Discovering multiple types of DNA methylation from individual bacteria and microbiome using nanopore sequencing Corresponding author: Gang Fang, PhD Bottom line: Bacterial DNA methylation occurs at diverse sequence contexts and plays important…
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Scientists discover new genetic disease that causes abnormal brain development in children
Scientists have discovered a new genetic disease, which causes some children's brains to develop abnormally, resulting in delayed intellectual development and often early onset cataracts. The majority of patients with the condition, which is so new it doesn't have a…
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A region within GLI1 gene could potentially be targeted as cancer treatment
Scientists from the Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago found that a region within the DNA of the cancer-promoting GLI1 gene is directly responsible for regulating this gene's expression. These findings,…
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Researchers discover previously-unknown function in enzyme critical for cancer growth
Considered the most lethal form of DNA damage, double-strand breaks must be repaired to prevent cell death. In developing therapies for hard-to-treat breast and ovarian cancers in patients with BRCA gene mutations, scientists aim to identify ways to keep cancer…
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Insights into the role of DNA repair and Huntington’s disease gene mutation open new avenues for drug discovery
Recent genetic data from patients with Huntington’s disease (HD) show that DNA repair is an important factor that determines how early or late the disease occurs in individuals who carry the expanded CAG repeat in the HTT gene that causes…
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Modified CRISPR/Cas9 complex targets specific histones
Finding a needle in a haystack is hard enough. But try finding a specific molecule on the needle. Rice University researchers have achieved something of the sort with a new genome editing tool that targets the supporting players in a…
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Technion team discovers new process for attacking cancer cells
When treating cancer, researchers are always searching for ways to remove cancer cells while minimizing damage to the rest of the body. One possible approach is to find processes unique to cancer cells, and which would allow specific targeting. If…
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Regulation of Gene Expression
Gene expression can be regulated by various cellular processes with the aim to control the amount and nature of the expressed genes. Expression of genes can be controlled with the help of regulatory proteins at numerous levels. These regulatory proteins…
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What are Viral Retroposons?
By Gillian D’Souza, MSc Retroposons are repetitive DNA fragments that are inserted into a host chromosome after reverse transcription from an RNA molecule. Credit: Katryna Kon/Shutterstock.com Retroposons that share structural similarities with retroviruses, such as the HIV virus, are called…
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Multiplex Ligation-Dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA)
Multiplex Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA) is a method for detecting copy number changes using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). MLPA is unique in that it can detect copy number changes in up to 50 different DNA sequences in a single reaction,…
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