News tagged with retrotransposons

The power of flowers: Research sprouts a closer look at sunflower genetics

A Kansas State University researcher's plant genetic work is rooted in the sunflower state.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jan 19, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Researchers find retrotransposons cause genetic changes in brain cells over time

(Medical Xpress) -- Researchers in Scotland have discovered that retrotransposons, a type of gene that inserts itself into other parts of the human genome, are able to continue inserting copies of themselves ...

Medicine & Health / Research

created Oct 31, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

'GPS system' for protein synthesis in nerve cells gives clues for understanding brain disorders

Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania explain how a class of RNA molecules is able to target the genetic building blocks that guide the functioning of a specific part of the nerve cell. Abnormalities at this site are ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Mar 09, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Rett syndrome mobilizes jumping genes in the brain

With few exceptions, jumping genes-restless bits of DNA that can move freely about the genome-are forced to stay put. In patients with Rett syndrome, however, a mutation in the MeCP2 gene mobilizes so-called ...

Medicine & Health / Research

created Nov 17, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Jumping Genes Provide Extensive 'Raw Material' for Evolution, Study Finds

(PhysOrg.com) -- Using high-throughput sequencing to map the locations of a common type of jumping gene within a person's entire genome, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found extensive variation ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jun 01, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Parasites in the genome -- A molecular parasite could play an important role in human evolution

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen, Germany, determined the structure of a protein (L1ORF1p), which is encoded by a parasitic genetic element and which is responsible ...

Biology /

created Jan 19, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 1