Molecular Genetics

(submitted by SS) Until now, scientists have only been able to produce clones using cells from live animals. This is how researchers created Dolly the Sheep, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult animal.

Researchers had thought that frozen cells were unusable because ice crystals would have damaged the DNA. That belief would rule out the possibility of resurrecting extinct animals from their frozen remains.

Recently, scientists in Japan have generated clones from frozen mice. Mice that have been dead and frozen for 16 years. This opens the possibility of cloning mammoths and other animals that long disappeared from the extant fauna of the Earth. Jurassic Park is one step closer…

(submitted by RH) When they say that people in love have a certain chemistry, there may be something to it. Some time ago, it was observed that voles of different species can have remarkably different behaviour. In general, very few animals are monogamous, but Prairie Voles practice an unparalleled fidelity. While their close cousins are the studmuffins of the meadow. The difference appears to be in their response to vasopressin- a hormone with many functions, among them regulating blood pressure in response to stress.
However, both species (Prairie and Meadow Voles) have similar levels of vasopressin. The difference appears to lie in where the receptors for the hormone are expressed. Those animals with one or two copies of the gene that is driven to be expressed in the brain are more faithful than those that do not have the receptor. This was confirmed when the gene was transfered in to the straying Meadow Voles, which then became doting spouses.
The gene has been identified in humans along with variants in the gene coding for the enzyme that produces vasopressin. Those men with two copies of the variant allele report consistent relationship problems. No doubt, KwikKits that test for this gene will be on store shelves soon.

Researchers say “countless” lives could be saved with a blood test to quickly and easily determine if breast cancer survivors were suffering another bout of the disease.

Experts in the cutting-edge sciences of nanotechnology and the new field of epigenetics are teaming up to develop a test with the aim of diagnosing cancer while it is still tiny, instead of waiting for a lump to appear.

The same test could be used to determine if cancer had spread from the breast to other parts of the body, and the researchers hope it could ultimately be used to screen all women for breast cancer.

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Here is an opinion page about the insertion of human genes into GM crops. In theory, we have been modifying our food crops genetically for thousands of years, but we are at the dawn of a new era– in the past we have selected for advantageous traits or genes found in plants, but now we just install the ones that we want with a particular twist: they may come from an entirely different organism. These are “transgenic” organisms, not arising from evolutionary processes, but rather by design… intelligent or not.
This link is from the parent page which is a special report from NewScientist with many articles on genetically modified foods.

By manipulating the genome of a mouse, scientists have been able generate a line that is less likely to reject foreign tissue, even from other species.

Today, tissue engineered skin, the first so-called “neo-organ” approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, comes to the aid of burn victims and patients with severe skin sores or ulcers. In the not-too-distant future, lab-grown cartilage and bone could relieve arthritis sufferers, while blood vessels, cardiac valves and muscle tissue could save thousands of cardiovascular disease patients. Ultimately, custom-made hearts, livers, breasts, corneas, kidneys, bone marrow and bladders could offer elegant solutions to most life-threatening illnesses.

Did Texas Execute an Innocent Man?
A Texas judge on Monday blocked officials from destroying biological evidence in the case of Claude Jones, who was executed in 2000. DNA testing on a hair from the scene of a 1989 murder for which Jones was executed could prove whether he was guilty or innocent, and the judge set an Oct. hearing to decide whether to conduct DNA testing.
The Innocence Project works to employ DNA testing to reverse injustices– sometimes in deathrow cases.