Monthly Archives: January 2014

Neanderthal genes are in you

Posted: January 30, 2014 at 5:46 am

WASHINGTON Next time you call someone a Neanderthal, better look in a mirror.

Many of the genes that help determine most people's skin and hair are more Neanderthal than not, according to two new studies that look at the DNA fossils hidden in the modern human genome.

About 50,000 years ago, modern day humans migrated out of Africa north to Europe and East Asia and met up with furrow-browed Neanderthals that had been in the colder climates for more than 100,000 years. Some of the two species mated. And then the Neanderthals died off as a species except for what's left inside of us.

Scientists isolated the parts of the non-African modern human genetic blueprint that still contain Neanderthal remnants. Overall, it's barely more than 1 percent, said two studies released Wednesday in the journals Nature and Science.

However, in some places, such as the DNA related to the skin, the genetic instructions are as much as 70 percent Neanderthal and in other places there's virtually nothing from the species that's often portrayed as brutish cavemen.

- University of Washington genome scientist Joshua Akey

The difference between where Neanderthal DNA is plentiful and where it's absent may help scientists understand what in our genome "makes humans human," said University of Washington genome scientist Joshua Akey, lead author of the paper in Science.

Harvard researcher Sriram Sankararaman, the lead author of the Nature study, said the place where Neanderthal DNA seemed to have the most influence in the modern human genome has to do with skin and hair. Akey said those instructions are as much as 70 percent Neanderthal.

"We're more Neanderthal than not in those genes," Akey said.

However, Sankararaman cautions that scientists don't yet know just what the Neanderthal DNA dictates in our skin and hair.

Read more from the original source:
Neanderthal genes are in you

Posted in Human Genetics | Comments Off on Neanderthal genes are in you

KOTD – Rap Battle – DNA vs Eurgh – Collaborated – Video

Posted: at 5:46 am


KOTD - Rap Battle - DNA vs Eurgh - Collaborated

By: Sevil ien

See the article here:
KOTD - Rap Battle - DNA vs Eurgh - Collaborated - Video

Posted in DNA | Comments Off on KOTD – Rap Battle – DNA vs Eurgh – Collaborated – Video

Review HTC Droid DNA Nillkin Case3970 – Video

Posted: at 5:46 am


Review HTC Droid DNA Nillkin Case3970

By: Ayesha Henney

See the original post:
Review HTC Droid DNA Nillkin Case3970 - Video

Posted in DNA | Comments Off on Review HTC Droid DNA Nillkin Case3970 – Video

DNA Fingerprinting – Video

Posted: at 5:46 am


DNA Fingerprinting
Source: http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0072835125/126997/animation40.html.

By: juvedelinhm

Read more:
DNA Fingerprinting - Video

Posted in DNA | Comments Off on DNA Fingerprinting – Video

Sachin DNA Sample – Video

Posted: at 5:46 am


Sachin DNA Sample
Sachin Tendulkar provides a swab of his DNA for the Official Sachin Tendulkar Opus at the Press Announcement of his Opus, the Opus Store, Covent Garden.

By: thisisopus

Read more:
Sachin DNA Sample - Video

Posted in DNA | Comments Off on Sachin DNA Sample – Video

STOLEN BABIES "Filistata" live 10/22/13 @ DNA Lounge CAPITALCHAOSTV.COM – Video

Posted: at 5:46 am


STOLEN BABIES "Filistata" live 10/22/13 @ DNA Lounge CAPITALCHAOSTV.COM
http://www.facebook.com/CapitalChaos https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/118015811605522173893/118015811605522173893/photos http://www.capitalchaostv.com/ Stolen B...

By: Capital Chaos TV

More here:
STOLEN BABIES "Filistata" live 10/22/13 @ DNA Lounge CAPITALCHAOSTV.COM - Video

Posted in DNA | Comments Off on STOLEN BABIES "Filistata" live 10/22/13 @ DNA Lounge CAPITALCHAOSTV.COM – Video

DNA PREMIER – Video

Posted: at 5:46 am


DNA PREMIER
World premier of MAINBASE NEW MUSIC DNA on Irie fm JAMAICA https://www.facebook.com/BlueFlamesEntertainment?ref=hl.

By: Marlon Clarke

See more here:
DNA PREMIER - Video

Posted in DNA | Comments Off on DNA PREMIER – Video

Neanderthal DNA lives on in modern humans, research shows

Posted: at 5:46 am

The ancestors of most modern humans mated with Neanderthals and made off with important swaths of DNA that helped them adapt to new environments, scientists reported Wednesday.

Some of the genes gained from these trysts linger in people of European and East Asian descent, though many others were wiped out by natural selection, according to reports published simultaneously by the journals Nature and Science.

The stretches of Neanderthal DNA that remain include genes that altered hair and pigment, as well as others that strengthened the immune system, the scientists wrote. Together, they offer intriguing hints about how Neanderthal genes may have helped humans adapt as they spread around the globe.

They also add to evidence that Neanderthals linger in us, about 30,000 years after they mysteriously vanished.

"They are not fully extinct, if you will," said geneticist Svante Paabo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, a coauthor of the Nature study. "They live on in some of us today a little bit."

Genes controlling keratin, a key component in the development of skin and hair, stand out as the strongest Neanderthal signal in a modern genome, Paabo said. Precisely how these may have helped change modern physical characteristics remains unresolved, he added.

The new studies confirm earlier findings that modern humans did more than bump elbows with Neanderthals when they encountered them after they left Africa.

An estimated 1% to 3% of the human genome comes from Neanderthals, suggesting that members of the two species mated perhaps 300 times about 50,000 years ago, said Joshua M. Akey, a population geneticist from the University of Washington and lead author of the study published in Science. There's no way to tell whether those encounters happened about the same time or were spread out over many generations, he said.

"Individually, we are a little bit Neanderthal," Akey said. "Collectively, there is a substantial part of the Neanderthal genome that's still floating around in the human population that's just shattered into different pieces, and everyone has slightly different parts."

Confirming that there are slivers of Neanderthal DNA in modern humans is one thing; knowing what effect it had on us is another, said UC Berkeley biologist Montgomery Slatkin, who has done similar research on Neanderthal genetics but was not involved in either study. "Now there is convincing evidence that indeed some [genes] were selected in humans."

Read the original here:
Neanderthal DNA lives on in modern humans, research shows

Posted in DNA | Comments Off on Neanderthal DNA lives on in modern humans, research shows

Neanderthal Genes Found in Modern Human DNA, Studies Find

Posted: at 5:46 am

Neanderthals that have been extinct for 28,000 years live on in human DNA, according to research suggesting the genes may help us better survive cold weather and be linked to some present-day diseases.

The Neanderthal genes make up only about 2 percent to 4 percent of the DNA carried by a given human today, according to a paper published in the journal Science. Even so, it may be linked to the development of our hair and skin, as well as to immune disorders such as Type 2 diabetes, the research found.

New DNA techniques are reshaping knowledge of human evolution just as quickly as theyre sparking the development of medical tests and treatments. Thats allowing scientists to peek into history by comparing modern DNA with the Neanderthal genome, recently reconstructed by scientists using material from the toe bone of a female who lived 50,000 years ago.

Were not as beholden to ancient DNA anymore, said Joshua Akey, an associate professor of genome science at the University of Washington in Seattle, and an author of one of the studies. Rather than excavating bones, we can now excavate DNA from modern individuals.

Akeys study identified the skin and hair traits. A second report yesterday by scientists at Harvard Medical School in Boston and the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, found nine links between Neanderthal DNA and previously identified human genes, some of which affect immune function.

The Neanderthal DNA found in the ancient toe bone was reported in the journal Nature in December. That study suggested inbreeding may have been common for Neanderthals, and may have led to their demise. Earlier studies using less complete genetic profiles determined that Neanderthals probably mated with ancient humans as well.

The latest DNA research supports that conclusion and suggests the Neanderthal genes left behind as a result may have aided humans in adapting to non-African environments, Akey said, adding, Whats striking is you can really look at the distribution of Neanderthal DNA across the entire genome.

Both studies published yesterday identified significant areas within the human genome where no Neanderthal genes appear, more than would be anticipated by chance. That suggests some mutations werent passed on, probably because they didnt help survival.

The shared genes that influence hair and skin traits also influence other things, Akey said. Its possible, for instance, that the Neanderthal genes helped alter pigmentation and moisture retention in humans, helping to increase body warmth in colder climates.

The Harvard study found that genes that are most active in the testes and those in the X chromosome have the least Neanderthal influence, compared to other parts of the genome. The pattern may have been a way for the body to naturally overcome infertility among different species.

Continued here:
Neanderthal Genes Found in Modern Human DNA, Studies Find

Posted in DNA | Comments Off on Neanderthal Genes Found in Modern Human DNA, Studies Find

FASEB announces 2014 Science Research Conference: Dynamic DNA Structures in Biology

Posted: at 5:46 am

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

29-Jan-2014

Contact: Robin Crawford, CMP src@faseb.org 301-634-7010 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology

Bethesda, MD This 2014 FASEB Science Research Conference focuses on dynamic DNA structures. For decades after its discovery, DNA was believed to be a canonical, right-handed double helix. This belief was shaken by the findings that DNA structure is much more dynamic. In fact, DNA can form an enormous variety of secondary structures, including cruciform-like, left-handed helixes, three and four stranded helices, slip-stranded configurations, etc. Most importantly, repetitive DNA sequences, which are overrepresented in genomic DNA, are particularly prone to structural transitions.

Transient denaturation of the double helix, which promotes these dynamic transitions in DNA structure, occurs during all major DNA transactions, including replication, transcription, and recombination. Studies conducted in many labs worldwide have confirmed that structure-prone DNA sequences are central to the normal functioning of the genome, and they are also responsible for its occasional malfunctioning. One striking example is the discovery that expansions of structure-prone DNA repeat leads to more than thirty hereditary neurological and developmental diseases in humans.

Dynamic DNA structures are also involved in regular DNA processes including transcriptional activation, regulation of antigenic switching, and DNA recombination essential to the immune response. DNA structures are associated with recurrent translocations observed in common human cancers, and they also contribute to genomic instability in human hereditary diseases. In an unexpected twist, these DNA structures appeared to be invaluable for nanotechnology, where their unusual physical properties find many applications. These and related topics will be discussed at the conference.

###

FASEB has announced a total of 35 Science Research Conferences (SRC) in 2014. Registration is open. For more information about an SRC, view preliminary programs, or find a listing of all our 2014 SRCs, please visit http://www.faseb.org/SRC.

Since 1982, FASEB SRC has offered a continuing series of inter-disciplinary exchanges that are recognized as a valuable complement to the highly successful society meetings. Divided into small groups, scientists from around the world meet intimately and without distractions to explore new approaches to those research areas undergoing rapid scientific changes.

In efforts to expand the SRC series, potential organizers are encouraged to contact SRC staff at SRC@faseb.org. Proposal guidelines can be found at http://www.faseb.org/SRC.

Link:
FASEB announces 2014 Science Research Conference: Dynamic DNA Structures in Biology

Posted in DNA | Comments Off on FASEB announces 2014 Science Research Conference: Dynamic DNA Structures in Biology