Laboratory Equipment

Success May Be Genetic

Genes play a greater role in forming character traits than was previously thought, new research suggests. A study of more than 800 sets of twins found that genetics were more influential in shaping key traits than a person’s home environment and surroundings. Univ. of Edinburgh psychologists, who carried out the study, say that genetically influenced characteristics could well be the key to how successful a person is in life.

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Red Hair Linked to Rare Birthmarks

New research, using data from Children of the 90s (ALSPAC) at the Univ. of Bristol, has identified that the gene causing red hair (MC1R) is more common in children with Congenital Melanocytic Naevi (CMN), a rare form of birthmark. The research was carried out at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and the UCL Institute of Child Health.

CMN are rare brown or black birthmarks which cover up to 80 percent of the skin surface area. They can vary in size and number, and can occur anywhere on the body. The incidence of larger or multiple lesions is approximately 1 in 20,000 new births per year.

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Odor Receptors Explain Why Some Dislike Pork

If people don’t like the taste of pork, the reason may be that their genes cause them to smell the meat more intensely, according to a new study.

Duke Univ. Medical Center scientists, working with colleagues in Norway, found that about 70 percent of people have two functional copies of a gene linked to an odor receptor that detects a compound in male mammals called androstenone, which is common in pork. People with one or no functional copies of the gene can tolerate the scent of androstenone much better than those with two, the researchers say.

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Radio-Frequency Electric Field Aids DNA Sequencing

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Yale Univ. have developed a new concept for use in a high-speed genomic sequencing device that may have the potential to substantially drive down costs.

“The low cost — if it can be achieved — would enable genomic sequencing to be used in everyday clinical practice for medical treatments and preventions,” says Predrag Krstic, project director and former ORNL physicist now at the Univ. of Tennessee-ORNL Joint Institute for Computational Sciences. The research is part of a nearly decade-long drive by the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health to support the science needed to bring the cost of sequencing a human genome down to $1,000.

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Genetic Similarity Encourages Teamwork

In a dog-eat-dog world of ruthless competition and “survival of the fittest,” new research from the Univ. of Leicester reveals that individuals are genetically programmed to work together and cooperate with those who most resemble themselves.

A tendency for similar individuals to cooperate selectively with one another, even if they are not close relatives, can evolve spontaneously in simple organisms. This may help to explain why cooperation is so widespread in nature, the study suggests.

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Head, Body Lice May Be Same Species

In a new study, researchers have found that head and body lice — one a mere annoyance, the other a serious health threat — may actually be the same species.

There are some big differences in the way the blood-suckers look and act. In an evolutionary quirk, almost every species of mammal or bird hosts a distinct species of lice — so dogs and humans don’t feed the same critters. Head lice are highly dependent upon human body warmth and will die if separated from their human host for 24 hours.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Head-Body-Lice-May-Be-Same-Species-041712.aspx

Promiscuous Bees Keep Isolated Colonies Healthy

By mating with nearly 100 males, queen bees on isolated islands avoid inbreeding and keep colonies healthy. The results, published in the current issue of PLoS ONE, focused on giant honey bee colonies on Hainan Island, off the coast of China. Since these bees have long been separated from their continental cousins, it was thought that the island bees would be prime candidates for inbreeding as well as having very different genes, says Zachary Huang, Michigan State Univ. entomologist.

“We believed that the island bees would show evidence of the founder effect, or random genetic changes in an isolated population, on a unique sex determination gene from the mainland bees,” he says. “At first we were surprised when we couldn’t document this effect. Looking at it further, I asked myself, ‘Why didn’t I think of this before?’”

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Researchers ID Genes Linked to Brain Size, Intelligence

In the world’s largest brain study to date, a team of more than 200 scientists from 100 institutions worldwide collaborated to map the human genes that boost or sabotage the brain’s resistance to a variety of mental illnesses and Alzheimer’s disease. Published in the advance online edition of Nature Genetics, the study also uncovers new genes that may explain individual differences in brain size and intelligence.

“We searched for two things in this study,” says senior author Paul Thompson, professor of neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a member of the UCLA Laboratory of Neuro Imaging. “We hunted for genes that increase your risk for a single disease that your children can inherit. We also looked for factors that cause tissue atrophy and reduce brain size, which is a biological marker for hereditary disorders like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.”

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Body’s Ability to Burn Fat with Exercise is Genetic

While exercise is accepted universally as the most beneficial prescription physicians can write for patients, little is known about the molecular mechanisms that generate its widespread health benefits. Researchers from Case Western Reserve School of Medicine have shed light on this mystery by discovering that a genetic factor, Kruppel-like Factor 15 (KLF15), governs the body’s ability to burn fat during exercise.

Previous research from the laboratory of Mukesh Jain identified the importance of KLF15 in the metabolism of two of the three basic nutrients used by the human body: sugar and protein. The most recent discovery of the essential role for the gene in the metabolism of the third nutrient, fat, completes the trilogy. Ultimately, research has uncovered that KLF15 drives the ability of our body’s working muscles to increase their capacity to burn fat and generate force.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Bodys-Ability-to-Burn-Fat-with-Exercise-is-Genetic-041012.aspx