Daily Archives: January 3, 2014

Best of DNA 2013 - Part 1
Best of DNA 2013 - Part 1 , ...

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Best of DNA 2013 - Part 1 - Video

Lion D N A - 2014 Interborough S.

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BEIRUT, Lebanon, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- DNA tests have confirmed a man arrested in Lebanon is wanted in connection with the bombing of the Iranian Embassy in Beirut last year, an official said Friday.

A security official said the man has been identified as Majid al-Majid, the head of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, which claimed responsibility for the Nov. 19 suicide bombing, the Daily Star in Beirut reported.

DNA samples from relatives in Saudi Arabia confirmed his identity, the official said.

The attack killed 30 people, including an Iranian diplomat, and wounded 150 others.

Majid was captured last week by the Lebanese army, although his arrest was not announced by Lebanese security officials until Wednesday. Officials said Majid was being questioned at a secret location.

The Abdullah Azzam Brigades are an offshoot of al-Qaida. They warned attacks such as those on the embassy would continue unless Hezbollah withdrew its forces from Syria.

Majid is on Saudi Arabia's list of 85 most wanted individuals for his links to al-Qaida.

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DNA tests confirm detainee is man sought in Iranian Embassy bombing

Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg

A woman walks past signage for a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. store in the Shekou district of Shenzhen.

A woman walks past signage for a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. store in the Shekou district of Shenzhen. Close

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A woman walks past signage for a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. store in the Shekou district of Shenzhen.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) said its adding DNA tests of meat it sells in China after recalling donkey products from a local supplier that authorities said contained fox DNA.

Wal-Mart withdrew all products from vendor Dezhou Fujude Food Company Ltd., after fox DNA was identified in samples, the retailer said yesterday in a statement. Yucheng, China authorities put Dezhou Fujude officials in criminal detention, and Wal-Mart is considering legal action, according to the statement.

Wal-Mart said its offering compensation to customers and that the testing its adding goes beyond what is legally required in China. The worlds largest retailer had previously increased safety measures after contamination and mis-labeling incidents, including a 2012 citation by regulators for selling sesame oil and squid with hazardous levels of chemicals.

Walmart will spare no effort in fulfilling its obligations as a retailer and in working with government authorities in their investigation, Greg Foran, the companys China president, said in the statement yesterday. Walmart commits to further enhance sample testing in the future.

Calls to the publicity department of Yucheng police bureau seeking comment went unanswered. An official at Fujudes general office who asked not to be identified declined to comment.

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Wal-Mart Adds DNA Tests in China After Donkey Meat Recall

Jan. 3, 2014 DNA carries out its activities "diluted" in the cell nucleus. In this state it synthesises proteins and, even though it looks like a messy tangle of thread, in actual fact its structure is governed by precise rules that are important for it to carry out its functions. Biologists have studied DNA by observing it experimentally with a variety of techniques, which have only recently been supplemented by research in silico, that is to say, the study of DNA by means of computer simulations. This is a recent area of study, but it has already given a major contribution to knowledge in this field.

Angelo Rosa, a theoretical physicist of the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste, with the collaboration of Christophe Zimmer, an experimental physicist from the Pasteur Institute in Paris has assessed the state of the art of this novel but powerful approach in a systematic review that has just been published in the journal International Review of Cell and Molecular Biology.

"Apart from some rare exceptions, we reviewed virtually all of the models developed to date," explains Rosa. "The review is mainly aimed at biologists in that we have made minimal use of mathematical formulas which hamper reading. I think this is the first review of its kind. The paper is actually also interesting for physicists and mathematicians who are approaching this new field for the first time."

The two physicists reviewed 25 years of computational models: "in this relatively short time span the models have become increasingly sophisticated and this, thanks to the development of computers," explains Rosa. "Today we are able to make far more detailed and predictive simulations, which allow us to lead the work of experimental researchers in previously unthought-of directions."

"This is a useful tool which, without going into mathematical detail, provides the biologist with an overview of the type of studies that will increasingly complement the more traditional approaches" continues Rosa. "Today, for example, we already have software programmes which, starting from experimental data, allow us to reconstruct the structure of specific portions of chromosomes. I think that if computers continue to evolve as they have done until now -- and there's no reason to doubt this -- we'll be able to reconstruct entire chromosomes."

"At the present time, the future prospects of in silico research into nuclear DNA are twofold," concludes Rosa, "to understand in detail the dynamics of gene expression (the details of protein synthesis) and to identify precisely where the chromosomes are when DNA unravels in the nucleus."

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The above story is based on materials provided by Sissa Medialab.

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25 years of DNA on computers

Jan. 2, 2014 Stretches of DNA called retrotransposons, often dubbed "junk DNA," might play an important role in schizophrenia. In a study published today in the journal Neuron, a Japanese team revealed that LINE-1 retrotransposons are abnormally abundant in the schizophrenia brain, modify the expression of genes related to schizophrenia during brain development, and may be one of the causes of schizophrenia.

Retrotransposons are short sequences of DNA that autonomously amplify and move around the genome. One class of retrotransposons named Long Interspersed Nuclear Elements (LINE) make up a large part of the eukaryotic genome and it is believed that they may contribute to a number of disorders and diseases such as cancer.

LINE-1 have been shown to be more abundant in brain cells than in other cells in the body in adults, providing evidence for enhanced activity of LINE-1 in the human brain. However, the role played by LINE-1 in mental disorders, and in particular schizophrenia, has remained unclear.

The team led by Dr Kazuya Iwamoto from the University of Tokyo and Dr Tadafumi Kato from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute demonstrated that the number of LINE-1 copies is elevated in the post-mortem brains of patients with schizophrenia. They show using mouse and macaque models for schizophrenia and iPS cells that exposure to environmental risk factors during development, as well as the presence of genetic risk factors for schizophrenia, can lead to increased levels of LINE-1 in neurons. The authors reveal employing whole genome analysis that in schizophrenia patients LINE-1 reinserts into genes involved in synaptic function or schizophrenia and may result in disruptions in their normal functions.

"Our findings strongly suggest that abnormal, enhanced retrotransposition of LINE-1 in neurons, triggered by environmental factors and/or combined with a genetic risk factor, plays a defining role in schizophrenia," conclude the authors.

"This study proposes a brand new mechanism of pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Previously, schizophrenia was regarded as a disease caused by gene-environment interactions, but our study shows that the environment can alter the genome and may contribute to the disease," explains Tadafumi Kato.

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The above story is based on materials provided by RIKEN, via AlphaGalileo.

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Jumping DNA in brain may be cause of schizophrenia