http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Gene expression is the process of converting the genetic information encoded in DNA into a final gene product such as a protein or any of several types of RNA. Scientists have long thought that the gene programs regulated by different physiological processes throughout the body are robustly pre-determined and relatively fixed for every specialized cell. But a new study by researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine reveals the unsuspected plasticity of some of these gene expression programs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-plasticity-hormonal-response-rapid-gene.html Genetics Sun, 15 May 2011 13:00:05 EST news224506358 Japanese and U.S. scientists in the young field of epigenetics Thursday reported a rationale as to how specific genes are silenced and others are not. Because this effect can be reversed, it may be possible to devise therapies for cancer and other diseases using this information. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-clue-genetic-piano.html Genetics Thu, 12 May 2011 14:00:03 EST news224427187