Humans normally have 46 chromosomes in each cell, divided into 23 pairs. Two copies of chromosome 8, one copy inherited from each parent, form one of the pairs. Chromosome 8 spans about 146 million DNA building blocks (base pairs) and represents between 4.5 percent and 5 percent of the total DNA in cells.
Identifying genes on each chromosome is an active area of genetic research. Because researchers use different approaches to predict the number of genes on each chromosome, the estimated number of genes varies. Chromosome 8 likely contains between 700 and 1,100 genes.
Genes on chromosome 8 are among the estimated 20,000 to 25,000 total genes in the human genome.
An enzyme that binds differently to male and female sex chromosomes helps males to make up for their X chromosome shortage.
People with schizophrenia from families with no history of the illness were found to harbor eight times more spontaneous mutations - most in pathways affecting brain development - than healthy controls, in a study supported in part the National Institutes of Health?s (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). By contrast, no spontaneous mutations were found in people with schizophrenia who had family histories of the illness.
A study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has transformed scientists' understanding of Rett syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes autistic behavior and other disabling symptoms. Until now, scientists thought that the gene behind Rett syndrome was an "off" switch, or repressor, for other genes. But the new study, published today in Science, shows that it is an "on" switch for a startlingly large number of genes.
Geneticists of Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) are the first to determine the DNA sequence of a woman. She is also the first European whose DNA sequence has been determined. This has been announced by the researchers this morning, during a special press conference at 'Bessensap', a yearly meeting of scientists and the press in the Netherlands.
Men who come to the hospital with pneumonia generally are sicker than women and have a higher risk of dying over the next year, despite aggressive medical care, according to a study being presented Tuesday, May 20, at the 104th International Conference of the American Thoracic Society. Scientific sessions are scheduled May 16 to 21 in Toronto.
In two papers published today, deCODE scientists and academic colleagues from Europe and the U.S. expand upon the company's recent findings in the genetics of pigmentation traits in people of European descent, and demonstrate that certain of these common variants also confer risk of two types of skin cancer.
An Australian and British research team have discovered a gene mutation that causes epilepsy and mental retardation but only in women.
Scientists are beginning to unravel the question why people distinctly vary in size. In cooperation with scientists of the HelmholtzZentrum Munchen, an international genome-wide study has discovered ten new genes that influence body height and thus provides new insights into biological pathways that are important for human growth.
Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have illuminated a window into how abnormalities in microRNAs, a family of molecules that regulate expression of numerous genes, may contribute to the behavioral and neuronal deficits associated with schizophrenia and possibly other brain disorders.
When most people discover mold on their bread, they immediately throw it out. Others see a world of possibilities in the tiny fungus. A University of Missouri scientist, along with a collaborative research team, has examined a new mechanism in the reproductive cycle of a certain species of mold.
Using advanced gene-hunting technology, an international team of researchers has for the first time identified a chromosome region that is the source of genetic events that give rise to neuroblastoma, an often fatal childhood cancer.
Whole-organ maps that superimpose genetic information over the terrain of cancerous bladders chart the molecular journey from normal cell to invasive cancer, an international research team led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports online at the journal Laboratory Investigation.
Scientists from deCODE genetics report the discovery of two common single-letter variants (SNPs) on chromosome 5 of the human genome that are associated with risk of estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer.
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has discovered a new form of intellectual disability involving mental retardation (MR) along with the eye defect retinitis pigmentosa (RP).
In a collaborative effort, researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have discovered that deletions or mutations within the TFAP2A gene (Activating Enhancer-Binding Protein) result in the distinctive clefting disorder Branchio-Oculo-Facial syndrome (BOFS).
Although letters representing the three billion pairs of molecules that form the "rungs" of the helical DNA "ladder" are routinely called the human "genetic code," the DNA they comprise transmits traits across generations in a variety of ways, not all of which depend on the sequence of letters in the code.
Boys are twice as likely as girls in the U.S. and Asia (mostly Japan) to receive recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) for growth hormone deficiency, illnesses that affect height, and short stature of a non-medical nature.
In a new study, published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, researchers were able for the first time to convincingly demonstrate a genomic locus to be linked to migraine susceptibility in two diverse populations.
Researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have discovered evidence that a series of genetic mutations work together to initiate most cases of an aggressive and often-fatal form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have found a small molecule they say can block the action of the oncogene that causes Ewing's sarcoma, a rare cancer found in children and young adults.
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