Mammalian DNA News and Research

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A single base-resolution sequencing methodology that sequences the two most common cytosine modifications in a single workflow

Researchers developed a WGS method that read four canonical DNA bases, viz., adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T) plus 5mC and 5hmC, epigenetic variants of unmodified C to yield an accurate six-letter digital readout in a single workflow.

9 Feb 2023

Nucleoside modifications suppress the potential of RNA to activate dendritic cells

A new paper shows that human TLR3, TLR7, and TLR8 receptors are activated with naturally occurring RNA, but this is eliminated once modified nucleosides such as m5C, m6A, m5U s2U, or pseudouridine are incorporated.

12 Oct 2021

Researchers solve crystal structure for enzyme that plays key role in DNA methylation

A research team led by a biochemist at the University of California, Riverside has solved the crystal structure for an enzyme that plays a key role in DNA methylation, the process by which methyl groups are added to the DNA molecule.

7 Feb 2018

Comparison of 1,000-year-old and modern bacterial genomes provides insights into history of leprosy pathogen

From skeletons and biopsies, an international team of scientists was successful in reconstructing a dozen medieval and modern genomes of the leprosy-causing bacteria Mycobacterium leprae.

15 Jun 2013

UT Southwestern researchers create 35 new rat "lines" with mutations in specific genes

For two decades, the laboratory mouse has been the workhorse of biomedical studies and the only mammal whose genes scientists could effectively and reliably manipulate to study human diseases and conditions.

28 May 2010

University of Utah researchers knock out genes in nematode worms

Knocking genes out of action allows researchers to learn what genes do by seeing what goes wrong without them. University of Utah biologists pioneered the field. Mario Capecchi won a Nobel Prize for developing knockout mice. Kent Golic found a way to cripple fruit fly genes. Now, biologist Erik Jorgensen and colleagues have devised a procedure for knocking out genes in nematode worms.

26 Apr 2010

New nucleotide could revolutionize epigenetics

Anyone who studied a little genetics in high school has heard of adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine - the A,T,G and C that make up the DNA code.

16 Apr 2009

Researchers develop new tool to find gene control regions

Researchers at the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at Johns Hopkins have invented a cost-effective and highly efficient way of analyzing what many have termed "junk" DNA and identified regions critical for controlling gene function.

28 Mar 2006

Artificial mammalian origin of replication

A collaboration of researchers from Harvard Medical School and the University of Virginia, led by Dr. Anindya Dutta, has created an artificial mammalian origin of replication that will facilitate the future study of mammalian DNA replication.

2 Dec 2005

Discovery gives clinicians new targets for making existing therapies more effective and developing drugs to inhibit the growth of cancers

A team of researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute in Toronto have discovered how a key enzyme involved in repairing DNA is put together and how it works--a development that opens up new therapies for making cancer cells more vulnerable to attack.

3 Mar 2005