Whole genome sequencing reveals genetic structural secrets of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia word concept (stock image).Credit: © Chris Titze Imaging / Adobe Stock Most research about the genetics of schizophrenia has sought to understand the role that genes play in the development and heritability of schizophrenia. Many discoveries have been made, but there have been many missing pieces. Now, UNC School of Medicine scientists have conducted the […]

CRISPR gene cuts may offer new way to chart human genome

Gene manipulation concept photo illustration (stock image).Credit: © vchalup / Adobe Stock In search of new ways to sequence human genomes and read critical alterations in DNA, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have successfully used the gene cutting tool CRISPR to make cuts in DNA around lengthy tumor genes, which can be used to […]

Reproductive genome from the laboratory

DNA illustration (stock image).Credit: © BillionPhotos.com / Adobe Stock The field of synthetic biology does not only observe and describe processes of life but also mimics them. A key characteristic of life is the ability to ability for replication, which means the maintenance of a chemical system. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in […]

Tiny salamander’s huge genome may harbor the secrets of regeneration

Axolotl (stock image).Credit: © haseg77 / Adobe Stock The type of salamander called axolotl, with its frilly gills and widely spaced eyes, looks like an alien and has other-worldly powers of regeneration. Lose a limb, part of the heart or even a large portion of its brain? No problem: They grow back.advertisement “It regenerates almost anything […]

The mysterious, legendary giant squid’s genome is revealed

How did the monstrous giant squid — reaching school-bus size, with eyes as big as dinner plates and tentacles that can snatch prey 10 yards away — get so scarily big?advertisement Today, important clues about the anatomy and evolution of the mysterious giant squid (Architeuthis dux) are revealed through publication of its full genome sequence […]

An algorithm for large-scale genomic analysis

Haplotypes are a set of genetic variations that, located side by side on the same chromosome, are transmitted in a single group to the next generation. Their examination makes it possible to understand the heritability of certain complex traits, such as the risk of developing a disease. However, to carry out this analysis, genome analysis […]

Grain traits traced to ‘dark matter’ of rice genome

Rice plant (stock image).Credit: © apisitwilaijit29 / Adobe Stock Domesticated rice has fatter seed grains with higher starch content than its wild rice relatives — the result of many generations of preferential seed sorting and sowing. But even though rice was the first crop to be fully sequenced, scientists have only documented a few of the […]