Chromosome 6 News and Research

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Humans normally have 46 chromosomes in each cell, divided into 23 pairs. Two copies of chromosome 6, one copy inherited from each parent, form one of the pairs. Chromosome 6 spans about 171 million base pairs (the building blocks of DNA) and represents between 5.5 percent and 6 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 6 likely contains between 1,100 and 1,600 genes.

Genes on chromosome 6 are among the estimated 20,000 to 25,000 total genes in the human genome.

SUMO1 gene implicated in cleft lip and palate defects

Researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health report in the current issue of the journal Science that a much-studied gene called SUMO1, when under expressed, can cause cleft lip and palate, one of the world's most common birth defects.

21 Sep 2006

HIV needs human protein - potential therapy target

Mayo Clinic virologists have discovered that a specific human protein is essential for HIV to integrate into the human genome.

7 Sep 2006

Researchers identify genetic risk for type 1 diabetes

A discovery at the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes has identified a genetic risk for type 1 diabetes three to four times higher than previously thought possible.

4 Sep 2006

Variation in 3 genes influences risk of age-related macular degeneration

Researchers in Boston have discovered a new common, noncoding variant in the Complement Factor H (CFH) gene that is associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of irreversible visual impairment and blindness among persons aged 60 and older.

30 Aug 2006

New novel protein-genome interaction mapping technology

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, The Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) and Cancer Research Technology Limited (CRT) today have released details of the development and commercialisation of a powerful protein-genome interaction mapping technology termed 'DamID.'

14 Aug 2006

Rett syndrome can also strike males

The common thinking in the past had been that Rett syndrome only affects girls.

8 Aug 2006

Gene family expansion can begin even before a gene is duplicated

Theoretical biologist Stephen Proulx studies gene families to explore how genomes become diverse and evolve.

6 Aug 2006

DNA of human embryonic stem cells is chemically modified in a characteristic, predictable pattern

Embryonic stem cells are derived from embryos that are undergoing a period of intense cellular activity, including the chemical addition of methyl groups to specific DNA sequences in a process known as DNA methylation.

6 Aug 2006

Genomic expansion and diversification in a African sleeping sickness parasite allow it to evade host detection

A team of scientists headed by Dr. Sara Melville at the University of Cambridge has shown that the parasite known to cause African sleeping sickness has evolved an unusual chromosomal structure as a result of environmental adaptation.

3 Aug 2006

Different genes may be responsible for causing autism in boys and girls

In the on-going search to find the cause of Autistic Spectrum Disorders, the latest research says different genes may be responsible for causing autism in boys than in girls, and the discovery may help explain why the condition is more common in boys.

3 Aug 2006

Different genes may be responsible for causing autism in boys than in girls

Like detectives trying to solve a murder case, researchers searching for the biological cause of autism have come up with some surprising suspects.

2 Aug 2006

Mice more complicated than humans when it comes to telomeres

In terms of their telomeres, mice are more complicated than humans. That's the finding from a recent Rockefeller University study.

2 Aug 2006

Genes may be responsible for obsessive-compulsive disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder tends to run in families, causing members of several generations to experience severe anxiety and disturbing thoughts that they ease by repeating certain behaviors.

26 Jul 2006

Genetic key to treating deadly fungal infections

University of Minnesota researchers have discovered how a prevalent fungal pathogen that causes 10,000 deaths per year in the United States overcomes the effects of antifungal drugs by duplicating a section of one of its chromosomes.

24 Jul 2006

Gene variant increases risk of type 2 diabetes - but healthy lifestyle changes reduce genetic risk

Researchers have confirmed that a gene variant confers susceptibility to type 2 diabetes in participants of the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), a large clinical trial in adults at increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes.

21 Jul 2006

Latest sequencing targets for NHGRI

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) has announced several new sequencing targets including the Northern white-cheeked gibbon (Nomascus leucogenys).

19 Jul 2006

Certain genetic variations increase risk of the vision disorder age-related macular degeneration

The combination of a certain genetic variation, along with inflammatory factors and smoking, significantly increases the risk of the vision disorder age-related macular degeneration.

19 Jul 2006

New diagnostic tool for prostate cancer

According to the World Health Organization there are about 250,000 new cases of prostate cancer every year but, when caught in time, the disease has a cure rate of over 90%.

19 Jul 2006

Crohn's disease - possible genetic cause found

Patients with Crohn's disease of the colon have one copy less than healthy persons of the beta-defensin 2 gene, a gene coding for an important defense molecule of the body.

17 Jul 2006