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Showing posts with the label Genetic

Scientists have sequenced the first ancient human genomes from Ireland

The genome is the instruction booklet for building a human, comprising three billion paired DNA "letters". The work shows that early Irish farmers were similar to southern Europeans. Genetic patterns then changed dramatically in the Bronze Age - as newcomers from the eastern periphery of Europe settled in the Atlantic region. Details of the work, by geneticists from Trinity College Dublin and archaeologists from Queen's University Belfast are published in the journal PNAS.Team members sequenced the genomes of a 5,200-year-old female farmer from the Neolithic period and three 4,000-year-old males from the Bronze Age. Opinion has been divided on whether the great transitions in the British Isles, from a hunting lifestyle to one based on agriculture and later from stone to metal use, were due to local adoption of new ways by indigenous people or attributable to large-scale population movements. The ancient Irish genomes show unequivocal evidence for mass mi...

Scientists build 'frozen zoo' to save endangered species

Endangered big cats The University of Georgia's Regenerative Bioscience Center is building what's being called a "frozen zoo," a genetic storage center that their scientists believe will someday save endangered big cats (and eventually other species) from extinction. This ambitious vision comes from RBC Director Steven Stice and animal and dairy science assistant professor Franklin West. Here's how the pair say it will work: Cells from the skin of a sedated animal are extracted in a noninvasive procedure. Researchers convert those cells into stem cells by introducing a series of specialized reprogramming genes. And from there, those stem cells can be made into sperm or eggs. The RBC said sperm has already been created from pig stem cells. Stice and West are positive that big cats, which were chosen because scientists have a firm grasp on their biological makeup, won't be far behind. Working in conjunction with Zoo Atlanta, the team ha...

Sections of DNA that control the menopause have been identified by scientists

Their report, in the journal Nature Genetics, identified genes involved in how the body repairs itself. Ultimately the findings could contribute to a fertility or menopause test, or lead to new drugs. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said the results were important for those at risk of an early menopause. Most women go through the menopause between the ages of 40 and 60. However, what controls that timescale is not completely clear.Comparing the DNA of nearly 70,000 women allowed the researchers to identify the differences between those starting the menopause early and late. The team at Exeter and Cambridge universities showed that at least two repair mechanisms were involved. The first is used when the eggs are being formed and the woman's DNA is being broken, rearranged and repaired. The second corrects damage, caused by factors such as smoking or alcohol, throughout a woman's life. Both would influence the number o...

Genetic clue to breast cancer relapses, which could lead to better treatment

A research team from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge found that cancers that return were more likely to contain certain genes or combinations of genes. Targeting these genes with early treatments could be key, they said. The study is being presented at the European Cancer Congress in Vienna. In around one in five people with breast cancer, the disease will return - either to the same place as the original tumour or another part of the body. Dr Lucy Yates, clinical research oncologist from the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, and her colleagues analysed data from the tumours of 1,000 breast cancer patients including 161 people whose cancer had recurred or spread. When comparing primary and secondary tumours, they found noticeable genetic differences and several of the mutations present in the secondary cancers were relatively uncommon in cancers diagnosed for the first time. Dr Yates said the patterns they found suggested that t...