Datum: 21.4.2009
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. But those are not the whole story. The rise of epigenetics in the past decade has drawn attention to a fifth nucleotide, 5-methylcytosine (5-mC), that sometimes replaces cytosine in the famous DNA double helix to regulate which genes are expressed. And now there’s a sixth. In experiments to be published online Thursday by Science, researchers reveal an additional character in the mammalian DNA code, opening an entirely new front in epigenetic research.
The work, conducted in Nathaniel Heintz’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology at The Rockefeller University, suggests that a new layer of complexity exists between our basic genetic blueprints and the creatures that grow out of them. “This is another mechanism for regulation of gene expression and nuclear structure that no one has had any insight into,” says Heintz, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. “The results are discrete and crystalline and clear; there is no uncertainty. I think this finding will electrify the field of epigenetics.”
More on newswire.rockefeller.edu
Seminář - Odstranění toxických polutantů z odpadních vod
BioInova, Praha, Česká republika, September 07, 2010
Národní informační den Regiony znalostí a výzkumný potenciál: Aktuální výzvy pro rok 2011
Aula rektorátu VUT, Antonínská 1, Brno, ČR, September 14, 2010
České fórum pro výzkum, vývoj a inovace 2010
Budova E, Mendelova univerzita v Brně, Brno, Česká republika, September 23, 2010
Trends in Nanotechnology International Conference (TNT2010)
Braga, Portugal, September 06-10, 2010
Protein Engineering
Greifswald, Germany, September 06-10, 2010
2010 International Conference on Environmental Engineering and Applications
(ICEEA 2010)
Singapore, September 10-12, 2010
Gate2Biotech - Biotechnology Portal - All Czech Biotechnology information in one place.
ISSN 1802-2685
© 2006 - 2010 South Bohemian Agency for Support to Innovative Enterprising (JAIP)
Interesting biotechnology content:
Animal Biotechnology - Animals, animal biotech
Biotechnology Events - Current biotechnology events
Are GMOs a health problem?
Calcium Supplements Linked To 30% Increased Risk Of Heart Attack