We designed our strategy to select against re-targeting the «knockout - first» allele and identify
essential genes in ES cells, including the histone methyltransferase Setdb1.
We use the Haplobank in reverse genetic screens to investigate the temporal resolution of
essential genes in mES cells, and to identify novel genes that control sprouting angiogenesis and lineage specification of blood vessels.
In a breakthrough study, Blomen et al. (Science, 2015) used extensive mutagenesis to describe the complete set of
essential genes in the human haploid cell line Hap1.
Even so, Goldstein is quick to point out that 3230 is not the complete set of
essential genes in the human body and that only by studying more exomes will researchers be able to refine that number.
Ping and others have similarly found such
essential genes in bacteria or in mice.
«By using chloroplast transformation we generated potato plants that accumulate high amounts of long stable dsRNAs targeting
essential genes in the beetle,» says Ralph Bock.
«This new genomic platform would allow us to quickly engineer
any essential gene in the «simplest» M. mycoides genome and obtain a quick, binary «yes» or «no» answer as to whether the modification introduced could support cellular viability.
Not exact matches
Genetic Variants of the FADS1 FADS2
Gene Cluster Are Associated with Altered (n - 6) and (n - 3)
Essential Fatty Acids
in Plasma and Erythrocyte Phospholipids
in Women during Pregnancy and
in Breast Milk during Lactation
Because the
genes that are massively amplified
in the neochromosomes are
essential for the cell's survival, drugs that turn those off are an obvious target for research.
The huntingtin
gene is
essential for embryonic development, and scientists have already shown that if mouse embryos don't have it at conception, they die
in utero.
And scientists have isolated some of the
essential genes that allow bacteria to tolerate their harsh living conditions — because these same
genes might help
in the creation of new vaccines.
They studied KAP1, a
gene that codes for an
essential protein associated with several fundamental processes
in neurodevelopment.
A new study indicates an
essential role for a maternally inherited
gene in embryonic development.
Functioning with 473
genes, the cell is a milestone
in his team's 20 - year quest to reduce life to its bare
essentials and, by extension, to design life from scratch.
In this way, the team identified a new small protein, growth inhibitor
gene product (Gp) 0.6, which specifically targets and inhibits the activity of a protein
essential to bacterial cells.
In 2001 a team of British scientists announced the discovery of a
gene, called FOXP2, that seems to be
essential for language.
«However, recent work has shown that at least some of the fungal partners
in arbuscular mycorrhizal symbioses lack the
genes for enzymes involved
in the major pathway of lipid biosynthesis, and are therefore unable to produce certain
essential fatty acids,» Gutjahr explains.
The proportion of
genes that are
essential is similar
in every evolutionary age group that we examined.
Under constitutive silencing of these young
essential genes, lethality was high
in the pupal stage and also found
in the larval stages.
These data suggest that new
genes frequently and rapidly evolve
essential functions and participate
in development.
Based on studies of other tissues, the
genes very well could play an
essential role
in the health of the corneal endothelium, according to the study authors.
With just a bit of hindbrain and a flap of ear where the head should be, the mouse pup is a freak of science — but it is also the first proof that a single
gene plays an
essential role
in creating a head.
«Identifying targets
essential to cell survival
in tumor suppressor
genes has long been an investigational goal with the aim of offering cancer - specific vulnerabilities for targeted therapy,» said Ronald DePinho, M.D., professor of Cancer Biology, MD Anderson president, and senior author for the Nature paper.
By searching for
gene deletion patterns
in cancer through a concept the investigators call «synthetic essentiality,» the team identified a synthetic
essential gene known as chromatin helicase DNA - binding factor (CHD1) as a therapeutic target for prostate and breast cancers lacking a tumor suppressor
gene called phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN).
«Because many broadly expressed
genes that play key roles
in essential cellular functions are under the control of cell - specific enhancers, the ability to affect enhancer function by knocking down eRNAs could potentially provide a new strategy for altering
gene expression
in vivo
in a cell - specific manner,» said Glass, noting that
in his research, anti-sense oligonucleotides were developed
in conjunction with Isis Pharmaceuticals, which suppressed enhancer activity and reduced expression
in nearby
genes.
The disease arises from a mutation
in genes that normally make a protein, called myotubularin,
essential for proper muscle function.
Explaining the background to the research, Dr. Ramiro describes how «an
essential process
in antibody generation takes place
in structures called germinal centers, where antibody
genes undergo small modifications that increase the efficiency and specificity of the immune response.
GENES from ancient viruses may be an
essential component of mammalian reproduction, helping the placenta to establish itself
in the womb, suggest biologists
in California.
The protein studied
in the mold is part of a larger family of proteins also found
in humans and involved
in many
essential biological processes including
gene regulation and fatty acid metabolism.
Because the precise activation of Hox
genes is
essential for a cell's fate, «the research should prove extremely useful
in developing novel embryonic stem cell - based therapies, Mazzoni adds.
«They need to find another
gene in the insect that is
essential for it but not
in other organisms,» says Saskia Hogenhout of the John Innes Centre
in Norwich, UK.
Stewart and other researchers would like to compare primitive
genes and proteins with modern ones,
in order to sort out which molecular structures are
essential to life, and which are passed down through the ages as «frozen accidents».
Genes that displayed no variants should be
essential or play crucial biological functions,» says Ping Xu, a molecular microbiologist at Virginia Commonwealth University
in Richmond.
«The cell did not evolve to protect itself against the deletion of these «
essential»
genes,» Bar - Joseph said, noting that's an event that doesn't often occur
in nature.
But Ziv Bar - Joseph, an associate professor
in the Machine Learning Department and the Lane Center for Computational Biology, said that view of what is
essential and what isn't reflects how scientists study
genes — by noting their effects on an organism when a
gene is removed — not necessarily the
gene's importance.
Instead there is an
essential smoothness
in the way organisms are related to their
genes: A small change
in DNA yields a small change
in a creature — not always, but often enough that gradual evolution is possible.
Cloning is frequently employed to amplify DNA fragments containing
genes, an
essential step
in their subsequent analysis.
Scientists from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) have discovered that NANOG, an
essential gene for embryonic stem cells, also regulates cell division
in stratified epithelia — those that form part of the epidermis of the skin or cover the esophagus or the vagina —
in adult organisms.
Named HCR1, this
gene reduces water entry into the roots when there's a lack of oxygen, but only when the soil is also rich
in potassium, a mineral salt
essential for plant growth.
A large number of rare childhood diseases stem from mutations
in genes that play an
essential role
in lipid synthesis.
PRC2 is
essential to
gene regulation and expression
in all multicellular organisms.
This interaction is explained by divergent evolution occurring among paralogs of an
essential duplicate
gene, for which the functional copy is not located at the same locus
in different accessions.
When flying isn't
essential for survival, the mutations that hinder flight can gradually accumulate
in the
gene pool.
A new study involving roundworms appears to have isolated one
gene — a transcriptional factor (or
gene that controls the regulation of other
genes in the genome)-- that appears to be an
essential member of the pathway that translates reduced caloric intake into a longer life span.
Because CRISPR will never fully be rid of off - target effects, the key question for a given therapy is not strictly how many unwanted cuts it makes, but whether it disrupts any
essential genes, says Jiing - Kuan Yee, a molecular biologist at the research center City of Hope
in Duarte, California.
The therapy consists
in injecting into the hippocampus - a region of the brain
essential to memory processing - a
gene which causes the production of a protein blocked
in patients with Alzheimer's, the «Crtc1» (CREB regulated transcription coactivator - 1).
Next steps include trying to duplicate the mutant of this
gene in the pathogenic form of mycobacteria, to demonstrate that the
gene is indeed
essential as predicted for infection to take place, the microbiologists say.
«Mutations
in gene essential for cell regulation cause kidney cancer
in children.»
The GJB6
gene encodes the CONNEXIN 30 protein, which is
essential in hearing development, and a deficiency of the
gene results
in the second most common disease among cases of hereditary hearing loss that have no other disease
in the inner ear.
The Bag1
gene, for example, codes for a protein that
in humans is involved
in inhibiting an
essential natural process called «programmed cell death.»