Splicing News and Research

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A gallery of highly-specific, gene and protein “mug shots” of cancer types would be a powerful for oncologists

Doctors would like to diagnose malignancies rapidly by matching them with highly-specific genetic “mug shots” based on the presence of characteristic mRNAs or proteins. This kind of specificity would facilitate screening and early detection, and would potentially allow targeted treatments specific to each type of cancer

4 Dec 2004

Researchers attempt to quantify processes underlying cell heterogeneity

Combining the latest methods in gene splicing and computer modeling, Rice University researchers are trying to develop a predictive framework for one of the most basic and complex biological phenomena — cellular heterogeneity, or the ability of genetic clones to act and behave differently when exposed to the same set of environmental stimuli.

8 Nov 2004

Study provides insight on how DNA code is turned into instructions for protein construction

A team of scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Weizmann Institute of Science has revealed the structure of a cellular editor that “cuts and pastes” the first draft of RNA straight after it is formed from its DNA template.

9 Sep 2004

Scientists reveal the crystal structure of the first described enzymatic RNA

Scientists in the department of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale revealed the crystal structure of the first described enzymatic RNA - what it looks like and how it reacts - in the journal Nature.

2 Jun 2004

Research uncovers critical pieces of human genome

Researchers have found precisely the same sequences in the genomes of humans, rats, and mice; sequences that are 95 to 99 percent identical to these can be found in the chicken and dog genomes, as well.

6 May 2004

Protein sequences harder to predict than originally thought

Scientists have believed for decades that the sequencing of the human genome would automatically yield the sequences of proteins, the functional products of genes, and thus lead to the unraveling of the mechanisms behind human cell biology and disease.

12 Apr 2004

Analysis of Bacterial Genomes Begins to Unravel Complex Story of Metabolic Evolution

In a paper published in the current issue of the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution , Arizona State University biochemists Jason Raymond, Christopher Staples and Robert Blankenship and Rice University's Janet Siefert do an analysis of the genomes of a large group of bacteria and archaea, comparing in particular similar genes that produce the protein nitrogenase.

7 Apr 2004

Researchers discover new form of the Rett syndrome protein

Adrian Bird and Skirmantas Kriaucionis of the University of Edinburgh have discovered a novel form of the protein MeCP2. This alternate form, coined MeCP2 alpha, differs from the original only in the first 19 amino acids. Interestingly, Adrian Bird, Director of the Welcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology at Edinburgh University, found that MeCP2 alpha, is ten times more prevalent not only in the brain but also in other tissues. These findings are currently reported online in Nucleic Acids Research. Similar findings were reported yesterday in Nature Genetics online by Berge Minassian, a neurologist and scientist at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.

22 Mar 2004