http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Inbreeding is generally deleterious, even in flowering plants. Since inbreeding raises the risk that bad copies of a gene will be expressed, inbred progeny suffer from reduced viability. http://phys.org/news290094161.html Biology Mon, 10 Jun 2013 14:42:48 EST news290094161 The microorganism Methanosarcina acetivorans lives off everything it can metabolize into methane. How it finds its sources of energy, is not yet clear. Scientists at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum together with colleagues from Dresden, Frankfurt, Muelheim and the USA have identified a protein that might act as a "food sensor". They characterized the molecule in detail and found both similarities and differences to the system that is responsible for the search for food in bacteria. http://phys.org/news290084249.html Chemistry Mon, 10 Jun 2013 11:57:38 EST news290084249 The freshly sequenced genome of the most commonly cultivated cacao plant in the world is revealed in the open access journal Genome Biology this week. Researchers have utilised high quality DNA sequences to demonstrate the usefulness and quality of the sequence to identify genetic markers that can lead to higher yielding cocoa plants that still produce better tasting cocoa. http://phys.org/news289395659.html Biology Sun, 02 Jun 2013 20:00:01 EST news289395659 Swedish scientists have mapped the gene sequence of Norway spruce (the Christmas tree) – a species with huge economic and ecological importance - and that is the largest genome to have ever been mapped. The genome is complex and seven times larger than that of humans. The results have been published in the journal Nature. http://phys.org/news288445984.html Biology Wed, 22 May 2013 13:00:01 EST news288445984 At seven times the toughness of Kevlar, a silk produced by the Caerostris darwini spider of Madagascar is more robust than any other material—synthetic or natural. Most spider silks are about two times tougher than Kevlar, and have long been considered an intriguing alternative for bulletproof vests and other protective gear. There's only one problem: producing spider silk on demand is a tricky task. http://phys.org/news287649960.html Chemistry Mon, 13 May 2013 07:46:11 EST news287649960 In 2001, the Human Genome Project and Celera Genomics announced that after 10 years of work at a cost of some $400 million, they had completed a draft sequence of the human genome. Today, sequencing a human genome is something that a single researcher can do in a couple of weeks for less than $10,000. http://phys.org/news261141702.html Biology Tue, 10 Jul 2012 12:21:58 EST news261141702 Chloroplasts, the plant cell's green solar power generators, were once living beings in their own right. This changed about one billion years ago, when they were swallowed up but not digested by larger cells. Since then, they have lost much of their autonomy. As time went on, most of their genetic information found its way into the cell nucleus; today, chloroplasts would no longer be able to live outside their host cell. Scientists in Ralph Bock's team at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology have discovered that chloroplast genes take a direct route to the cell nucleus, where they can be correctly read in spite of their architectural differences. http://phys.org/news253539663.html Biology Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:45:34 EST news253539663 Max Planck researchers analyze the two chromosome sets in the human genome separately for the first time. http://phys.org/news235062448.html Biology Mon, 12 Sep 2011 16:08:23 EST news235062448 The protein complex responsible for the distribution of chromosomes during cell division is assembled in the transition regions between heterochromatin and euchromatin. http://phys.org/news229085870.html Biology Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:58:17 EST news229085870 As it turns out, humans aren't the only organisms that turn to caffeine for a pick-me-up. University of Iowa scientists have identified four different bacteria that actually can live on caffeine. http://phys.org/news226675354.html Biology Tue, 07 Jun 2011 14:23:34 EST news226675354 When most genes are transcribed, the nascent RNAs they produce are not quite ready to be translated into proteins - they have to be processed first. One of those processes is called splicing, a mechanism by which non-coding gene sequences are removed and the remaining protein-coding sequences are joined together to form a final, mature messenger RNA (mRNA), which contains the recipe for making a protein. http://phys.org/news207217401.html Biology Mon, 25 Oct 2010 09:23:44 EST news207217401 (PhysOrg.com) -- Rare variants in the gene coding of an enzyme that controls the activity of a key immune cell occur more often in people with autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes, Harvard researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital found in a multi-institutional study. The researchers' report, published in the journal Nature, identifies a pathway that could be a therapeutic target and may present a model for future studies of the role of rare gene variants in common disorders. http://phys.org/news197204464.html Medicine & Health Thu, 01 Jul 2010 12:01:27 EST news197204464 The Human Genome Project, along with numerous parallel efforts to solve the DNA sequences of hundreds of animal, plant, fungal, and microbe genomes in the last few decades, has produced enormous amounts of genetic data with which researchers are struggling to keep pace. Knowing gene sequences, after all, may not directly reveal what roles that genes play in the actual manifestation of physical traits (or phenotypes) of an organism -- including their roles in human diseases. To help navigate the new genomic landscape, researchers are developing experimental approaches and analysis tools to help prioritize and organize complex genetic information with respect to phenotypic effects. http://phys.org/news196430728.html Biology Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:30:01 EST news196430728 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists with the Joint BioEnergy Institute have identified a trio of bacterial enzymes that can catalyze key steps in the conversion of plant sugars into hydrocarbon compounds for the production of green transportation fuels. http://phys.org/news196336883.html Biology Mon, 21 Jun 2010 11:02:16 EST news196336883 A multi-institutional research team has found that rare variants in the gene coding an enzyme that controls the activity of a key immune cell occur more frequently in individuals with autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes. Their report, which will appear in the journal Nature and is receiving early online release, identifies a pathway that could be a therapeutic target and may present a model for future investigations of the role of rare gene variants in common disorders. http://phys.org/news195911215.html Medicine & Health Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:00:07 EST news195911215 Two Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are part of an international team that has found a way to boost the nutritional value of corn. This has the potential to reduce the number of children in developing countries who lose their eyesight, become ill or die each year because of vitamin A deficiencies. http://phys.org/news192110789.html Biology Mon, 03 May 2010 13:20:01 EST news192110789 (PhysOrg.com) -- In microbial genomes, genes are typically depicted as linear series of separate regulatory and coding regions. This leads to the assumption that annotations done by computer to predict such arrangements completely describe the coding capacity of bacterial genomes. http://phys.org/news185182727.html Biology Fri, 12 Feb 2010 08:10:02 EST news185182727 An international team of scientists has discovered how changes in both gene expression and gene sequence led to the diversity of visual systems in African cichlid fish. http://phys.org/news180727170.html Biology Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:30:01 EST news180727170 (PhysOrg.com) -- The first analysis of immunity-related genes in a solitary bee has been conducted by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and cooperators. http://phys.org/news178792830.html Biology Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:50:01 EST news178792830 (PhysOrg.com) -- Termite damage costs the U.S. more than $1 billion each year, but that same destructive power might help solve one of the nation’s most pressing economic quandaries: sustainable fuel production. http://phys.org/news176581694.html Biology Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:50:03 EST news176581694 (PhysOrg.com) -- A University of Oregon research team has found that evolution can never go backwards, because the paths to the genes once present in our ancestors are forever blocked. The findings -- the result of the first rigorous study of reverse evolution at the molecular level -- appear in the Sept. 24 issue of Nature. http://phys.org/news172931418.html Biology Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:31:30 EST news172931418 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have completed the first thorough, system-level assessment of the diversity of an environmentally important genus of microbes known as Shewanella. Microbes belonging to that genus frequently participate in bioremediation by confining and cleaning up contaminated areas in the environment. http://phys.org/news170950956.html Biology Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:23:19 EST news170950956 A study published in this week's online issue of Nature Biotechnology, demonstrates a unique and highly sensitive method for detecting methylation-associated cancers. http://phys.org/news169650435.html Biology Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:07:55 EST news169650435 The goal of DNA barcoding is to find a simple, cheap, and rapid DNA assay that can be converted to a readily accessible technical skill that bypasses the need to rely on highly trained taxonomic specialists for identifications of the world's biota. This is driven by a desire to open taxonomic identifications to all user groups and by the short supply of taxonomists that do not even exist in many groups. http://phys.org/news165146706.html Biology Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:05:30 EST news165146706 In a controversial achievement, Japanese scientists announced on Wednesday they had created the world's first transgenic primates, breeding monkeys with a gene that made the animals' skin glow a fluorescent green. http://phys.org/news162649086.html Biology Wed, 27 May 2009 13:18:36 EST news162649086 DNA sequencing is the next frontier in biological research. As new sequencing technology becomes more efficient and affordable, it is increasingly available to small laboratories. Thus, sequencing data is being generated at a faster rate than ever before. http://phys.org/news159721281.html Technology Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:02:19 EST news159721281 (PhysOrg.com) -- Bioengineers at UC San Diego have developed a breakthrough method for sequencing-based methylation profiling, which could help fuel personalized regenerative medicine and even lead to more efficient and cost-effective methods for studying certain diseases. http://phys.org/news159643088.html Biology Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:19:15 EST news159643088 Proteins, the work-horse molecules necessary for virtually every human action from breathing to thinking, have proved an almost ghostly presence, daring scientists to fully grasp their structure and behavior. Now, physicists at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee have developed powerful imaging techniques that promise to tell us much more about what proteins are and what they do, how they change shapes and how they work together in a cell. http://phys.org/news158941208.html Physics Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:20:32 EST news158941208