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.
Researchers have identified a new cancer gene - one that is common to many cancers and affects the most basic regulation of our genes.
Cancer Research UK scientists have found two new regions of the genome that alter a woman's risk of breast cancer, according to a study in Nature Genetics.
Researchers have unveiled the evolutionary origin of the different chromosomal architectures found in three species of Agrobacterium.
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have identified the genetic machinery responsible for synthesizing thiostrepton, a powerful antibiotic produced by certain bacteria.
The study, published in the journal Nature Genetics, has shown that susceptibility to a series of blood cancers, known as myeloproliferative disorders (MPDs), is linked to a particular area of the patient's DNA, which is prone to developing mutations.
Characteristic changes in the DNA of medulloblastoma, the most frequent malignant brain tumor in childhood, indicate precisely how aggressively the tumor will continue to spread and what the chances of disease relapse are.
Women who maintain a healthy weight and who have lower perceived stress may be less likely to have chromosome changes associated with aging than obese and stressed women, according to a pilot study that was part of the Sister Study.
A newly identified molecular pathway that directs stem cells to produce glial cells yields insights into the neurobiology of Down's syndrome and a number of central nervous system disorders characterized by too many glial cells, according to a recent study by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
Researchers have taken a first look at the broad genetic changes that accompany reproductive declines in inbred populations.
It's well known that puffing on cigarettes can eventually leave you out of puff.
It's about as long as the width of a human hair and only half that length across. So it's tiny - measured in millionths of a meter - and extremely tricky to manipulate. But the meiotic spindle plays so irresistibly important a role in separating our chromosomes during cell division that scientists are compelled to try to study it.
University of Washington (UW) researchers are helping to write the operating manual for the nano-scale machine that separates chromosomes before cell division.
Comparing 500,000 snippets of human DNA put scientists from the University of Bonn on the right track.
Frontal lobe dementia (Frontotemporal Dementia, FTD) strikes people at an earlier age. After Alzheimer's disease, FTD is the form of dementia that occurs most frequently in patients younger than 65.
A collaborative research effort spanning nearly a decade between researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), MIT, the Broad Institute, King's College London (KCL) and other institutions has identified a novel gene for inherited amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease).
A molecular marker used in America to predict whether children with a form of kidney cancer, called Wilms' tumour, are more likely to relapse than other children, could be useful for UK patients.
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) have discovered a new gene whose mutations cause familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal neurological disorder.
A collaborative research effort spanning nearly a decade between researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and King's College London (KCL) has identified a novel gene for inherited amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease).
A collaborative research project involving Professor Christopher Shaw of the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London (KCL), Dr Tom Kwiatkowski at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Professor Robert H Brown at University of Massachusetts, has revealed that mutations in a gene called FUS (fused in sarcoma) cause familial Motor Neuron Disease (also known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis).
A paper published online today in Nature Neuroscience reveals the presence of methyl CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2) in glia. MeCP2 is a protein associated with a variety of neurological disorders, including Rett Syndrome, the most physically disabling of the autism spectrum disorders.
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