News tagged with dna
Experts urge caution over use of new genetic sequencing techniques
The use of genome-wide analysis (GWA), where the entirety of an individual's DNA is examined to look for the genomic mutations or variants which can cause health problems is a massively useful technology for diagnosing disease. ...
Genetics
May 16, 2013 |
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Collecting DNA for human rights: How to help while safeguarding privacy
DNA databases might help identify victims of crime and human trafficking, but how do we safeguard the personal privacy of innocent victims and family members? A new report online May 15 in the Cell Press journal Trends in ...
Genetics
May 15, 2013 |
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What is BRCA1?
Actress Angelina Jolie has today written an op-ed in the New York Times explaining that she has opted to have a double mastectomy because she carries the hereditary BRCA1 gene, which she says increases her risk o ...
Cancer
May 15, 2013 |
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Evidence of host adaptation of avian-origin influenza A virus
The connection between human avian-origin influenza A (H7N9) virus infection and environmental sources of the virus were determined based on clinical data, epidemiology, and virological characteristics of the three early ...
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
May 15, 2013 |
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Study IDs key protein for cell death, offers way to kill cancer cells by forcing them into programmed-death pathway
When cells suffer too much DNA damage, they are usually forced to undergo programmed cell death, or apoptosis. However, cancer cells often ignore these signals, flourishing even after chemotherapy drugs have ...
Genetics
May 14, 2013 |
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Gene mutation as cause of breast and ovarian cancer
A change to the so-called TERT gene considerably increases the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. This is the result of a current, multicenter study in which the University Department of Gynaecology and the ...
Cancer
May 10, 2013 |
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Scientists confirm Justinianic Plague caused by bacterium Yersinia pestis
(Medical Xpress)—From the several pandemics generally called 'pestilences' three are historically recognized as due to plague, but only for the third pandemic of the 19th-21st centuries AD there were microbiological ...
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
May 10, 2013 |
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Mapping the embryonic epigenome
A large, multi-institutional research team involved in the NIH Epigenome Roadmap Project has published a sweeping analysis in the current issue of the journal Cell of how genes are turned on and off to direct early human ...
Genetics
May 09, 2013 |
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Research reveals cancer-suppressing protein 'multitasks'
The understanding of how a powerful protein called p53 protects against cancer development has been upended by a discovery by Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researchers.
Cancer
May 09, 2013 |
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Red hair pigment might raise melanoma risk, study says
(HealthDay)—The red in redheads' hair is thought to put them at increased risk of the dangerous skin cancer melanoma, even if they don't spend a lot of time in the sun, according to a new study.
Cancer
May 09, 2013 |
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Geneticists find causes for severe childhood epilepsies
(Medical Xpress)—Using a state-of-the-art DNA sequencing technique, UA researchers have discovered genetic mutations underlying seizure disorders in previously undiagnosed children.
Neuroscience
May 07, 2013 |
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Wip1 could be new target for cancer treatment
Researchers have uncovered mutations in the phosphatase Wip1 that enable cancer cells to foil the tumor suppressor p53, according to a study in The Journal of Cell Biology. The results could provide a new ...
Cancer
May 06, 2013 |
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Tick-borne Lone Star virus identified through new super-fast gene sequencing
The tick-borne Lone Star virus has been conclusively identified as part of a family of other tick-borne viruses called bunyaviruses, which often cause fever, respiratory problems and bleeding, according to ...
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
May 02, 2013 |
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Scientists discover new target for personalized cancer therapy
A common cancer pathway causing tumor growth is now being targeted by a number of new cancer drugs and shows promising results. A team of researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have developed a ...
Cancer
May 02, 2013 |
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HPV leaves its mark in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma
Oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) is a form of cancer that affects the cells lining the middle part of the throat, including the soft palate, the base of the tongue, the tonsils, and the pharynx.
Cancer
May 01, 2013 |
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DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses. The main role of DNA molecules is the long-term storage of information. DNA is often compared to a set of blueprints or a recipe, or a code, since it contains the instructions needed to construct other components of cells, such as proteins and RNA molecules. The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in regulating the use of this genetic information.
Chemically, DNA consists of two long polymers of simple units called nucleotides, with backbones made of sugars and phosphate groups joined by ester bonds. These two strands run in opposite directions to each other and are therefore anti-parallel. Attached to each sugar is one of four types of molecules called bases. It is the sequence of these four bases along the backbone that encodes information. This information is read using the genetic code, which specifies the sequence of the amino acids within proteins. The code is read by copying stretches of DNA into the related nucleic acid RNA, in a process called transcription.
Within cells, DNA is organized into X-shaped structures called chromosomes. These chromosomes are duplicated before cells divide, in a process called DNA replication. Eukaryotic organisms (animals, plants, fungi, and protists) store most of their DNA inside the cell nucleus and some of their DNA in the mitochondria (animals and plants) and chloroplasts (plants only). Prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) however, store their DNA in the cell's cytoplasm. Within the chromosomes, chromatin proteins such as histones compact and organize DNA. These compact structures guide the interactions between DNA and other proteins, helping control which parts of the DNA are transcribed.
For more information about DNA, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
