We do
know genes often don't work like
We do
know genes often don't work like switches or car parts, they're more music - like.
Not exact matches
Muscle biologists Qi Long Lu and Terence Partridge at the Medical Research Council Clinical Sciences Centre in London, U.K., and their colleagues decided to combined the antisense strategy with a chemical
often used in
gene therapy because it is
known to improve delivery of DNA into cells.
They
knew that
genes that evolve within a prokaryote's own genome are
often located near similar
genes and have similar functions in existing
genes.
For instance, researchers
often use so - called «
gene guns» to fire particles coated with strands of DNA
known as plasmids at large populations of cells.
«The major
known cancer driver
genes are
often mutated in the primary tumor and all metastases, and successfully targeting them in therapy could provide widespread therapeutic benefit,» said Townsend.
And large, genome - wide studies searching for genetic underpinnings for more common diseases, such as lung cancer or autism, have pointed to the nether regions of the genome between the protein - producing
genes — areas that were
often thought to contain «junk» DNA that was not part of the pantheon of
known genes.
In one kind of epigenetic change,
known as DNA methylation, a methyl group (a carbon atom plus three hydrogen atoms) is added to a portion of DNA; it essentially flips a
gene's switch to the «off» position, shutting down the
often - crucial function it performs.
Dr Kat Arney, science communication manager at Cancer Research UK, said: «Only a tiny fraction of our DNA contains actual
genes, and we
know that at least some of the bits in between —
often dismissed as «junk» — play important roles in controlling how
genes get switched on and off at the right time and in the right place.
Gene therapy, which often employs viruses to deliver the good genes to a body's target cells, has been known to trigger severe immune responses and was blamed for the death of an 18 - year - old in 1999, who was receiving gene therapy for a hereditary metabolic disor
Gene therapy, which
often employs viruses to deliver the good
genes to a body's target cells, has been
known to trigger severe immune responses and was blamed for the death of an 18 - year - old in 1999, who was receiving
gene therapy for a hereditary metabolic disor
gene therapy for a hereditary metabolic disorder.
Species
often dump
genes that they
no longer use, he notes, but these
genes must have stuck around for Crotoniidae to reactivate them.
Gene therapy's clearest success to date has been restoring the health of about 40 children with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), also
known as «bubble boy» disease because patients can not fight off infections and are
often isolated to protect them from germs.
The researchers analyzed DNA sequences
known as transposons, or «jumping
genes,» which can jump from one part of the genome to another,
often duplicating themselves in the process.
De Man and his collaborators identified four
genes known to confer resistance to beta - lactams, a family of broad spectrum antibiotics
often used to treat gram - positive and gram - negative infections.
In addition to well - described
genes, clusters
often contain transcripts the function of which has not yet been associated with a specific biological process thus providing novel unexplored links to
known molecular pathways.
But did you
know that we are
often healthy even when we have two faulty copies of the same
gene?
Dr. Tove Fall, lead study researcher at the Department of Medical Sciences and the Science for Life Laboratory at Uppsala University commented, «We
knew already that obesity and cardiovascular disease
often occur together... in this study we found that individuals with
gene variants that lead to increased body - mass index also had an increased risk of heart failure and diabetes.»
This is because atopic dermatitis, better
known as eczema, is
often a result of
gene variation.
The canine disease is compared to similar diseases in other species, most
often humans, to determine if there are any possible candidate
genes (i.e.,
genes that are
known to be involved in these similar diseases or in the normal processes affected by the disease may offer important leads).