Thymine News and Research

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Thymine is one of the four bases in DNA that make up the letters ATGC, thymine is the "T". The others are adenine, guanine, and cytosine. Thymine always pairs with adenine.

Groundbreaking research on type 1 congenital myotonic dystrophy

Each year, the parents of an estimated one in 20,000 newborns are shocked to learn their child has type 1 congenital myotonic dystrophy (CDM1), a progressive and crippling genetic disorder.

24 May 2007

Scientists find surprising way of switching off a gene involved in cell division

Scientists at the University of Oxford have identified a surprising way of switching off a gene involved in cell division.

22 Jan 2007

Dark state and DNA

Chemists at Ohio State University have probed an unusual high-energy state produced in single nucleotides - the building blocks of DNA and RNA - when they absorb ultraviolet (UV) light.

9 Jan 2007

Detecting rare microRNAs with gold nanoparticles

Over the past three years, numerous studies have shown that short pieces of single-stranded RNA, known as microRNAs, play a central role in the development of at least some cancers.

30 Oct 2006

Research explains how pathogenic bacteria evolved over millions of years

Bacteria like Salmonella have a complicated immune system that helps them recognize and isolate foreign DNA trying to invade their cell membrane, according to a University of Washington-led study in the June 8 issue of Science Express.

9 Jun 2006

Better understanding of DNA damage

Researchers have known for years that damaged DNA can lead to human diseases such as cancer, but how damage occurs - and what causes it - has remained less clear.

6 Jun 2006

Environmentally damaged DNA may contribute to human genetic diversity

In this month's issue of the leading scientific journal Genome Research, scientists from Kyushu University report how environmentally damaged DNA may contribute to human genetic diversity.

2 May 2006

DNA "dark state" findings help explain evolution of life

Chemists at Oregon State University have pioneered a controversial theory about how supposedly-stable DNA bases can be pushed into a "dark state" in which they are highly vulnerable to damage from ultraviolet radiation - an idea that has challenged some of the most basic concepts of modern biochemistry.

11 Apr 2006

Genetic clues to longevity

In a new study, Drs. Gil Atzmon and Nir Barzilai at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found that people harbor alleles--alternative forms of a gene--that confer the same sort of longevity advantage.

4 Apr 2006

Wobble pairs make RNA more reactive

The wealth of information contained in a strand of genetic material boils down to sequences of matched pairs of nucleotides that cellular machinery decodes to construct proteins.

13 Mar 2006

60 new genes controlled by regulatory sequences

Researchers worldwide are seeking to define ancient sections of our genetic code that may soon be as important to medical science as genes.

2 Feb 2006

DinB DNA polymerase is a key player in DNA repair

A quarter century after they discovered it, researchers have identified the job of one of the most common DNA-damage response proteins. The enzyme has puzzled scientists because it is present in nearly every organism, which suggests that it is crucial to life, and yet, in laboratory experiments, its function has remained a mystery.

11 Jan 2006

New insights into how genetic mutations arise

Researchers at Stanford University have created a larger-than-normal DNA molecule that is copied almost as efficiently as natural DNA.

27 Oct 2005

New tool to help unravel the function of an elusive DNA structure

A Rensselaer researcher has developed a new tool to help unravel the function of an elusive DNA structure. The findings, which were presented today at the 230th national meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Washington, D.C., could lead to a better understanding of diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

29 Aug 2005

New insight into how sunlight affects DNA

Chemists at Ohio State University have gained new insight into how sunlight affects DNA. And what they found overturns ideas about genetic mutation that originated decades ago.

24 Aug 2005

Flaw in DNA helps explain cancers and aging

Their finding explains how oxidative DNA damage - a process long believed to underlie cancers and aging - can create permanent genetic damage.

30 Aug 2004

How DNA repair machinery detects and corrects errors in DNA replication

Biochemists at Duke University Medical Center have discovered key components that enable the cell's DNA repair machinery to adeptly launch its action in either direction along a DNA strand to strip out faulty DNA.

2 Jul 2004

New technique of identifying genes may help researchers developing drugs

A quick new technique able to identify genes that evolve rapidly as well as those that change slowly already has pinpointed new targets for researchers developing drugs against tuberculosis and malaria, and it could do the same for other infectious diseases, according to a paper in this week's Nature.

29 Apr 2004

Zebrafish show effects of ionizing and UV radiation differ during embryo development

Adam Dicker, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of radiation oncology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson’s Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Mary Frances McAleer, M.D., Ph.D., a resident in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Jefferson Medical College and their co-workers compared the effects on zebrafish embryos of two types of radiation – ionizing radiation, which is the kind given to patients for cancer treatment, and ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which comes naturally from the sun.

30 Mar 2004