A new study explores whether interactions between genomes found in the nucleus of a cell and within the mitochondria of a cell, which are fine-tuned by natural selection over deep evolutionary time, could be altered when genes of different geographic origins are brought together within a genome.
DNA sequences with the potential to form unusual conformations, which are frequently associated with cancer and neurological diseases, can in fact slow down or speed up the DNA synthesis process and cause more or fewer sequencing errors.
A new study led by researchers at Penn State reveals that the total amount of rare mutations — deletions, duplications or other changes to the DNA sequence — in a person’s genome can explain why individuals with a disease-associated mutation can have vastly different symptoms.
The latest episode in the “Ask the Experts” series features Thomas Hess, senior vice president and chief financial officer at biotechnology company Genomind, who discusses a new approach to treatment and therapy of mental health conditions using genome testing.
In the not too distant future, every patient seen by providers at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Center will be offered genome analysis, something the organization’s founders could have never conceived of 50 years ago when the first shovel was plunged into the farm fields on Feb. 26, 1966, of what would become the Medical Center and Penn State College of Medicine.
Schreyer Honors College Scholar Maya Evanitsky will sequence DNA from the Nittany Lion with hopes of aiding conservation efforts for one of the most endangered mammals in the U.S., the mountain lion.
As our cells grow, reproduce, and die, DNA is repeatedly replicated and repaired, and bits and pieces of its sequences are perpetually changed, misplaced, and swapped in the process, thus producing mutations. These mutations create genetic variation, which results in different observable traits or phenotypes -- providing material for the process of natural selection to act upon and driving the evolution of fitter populations.
A free public lecture titled "Bringing Genomic Medicine into Focus" will take place at 11 a.m. on Feb. 2, in 100 Thomas Building on the Penn State University Park campus. The speaker will be Eric Green, the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
A free public lecture titled "Life's Little Problem: Determinism Versus Chance in the Complex Ways of Genomes" will take place on 26 January 2013 at 11:00 a.m. in 100 Thomas Building on the Penn State University Park campus. The speaker will be Kenneth M. Weiss, Evan Pugh Professor of Biological Anthropology and Genetics at Penn State University.
The event is the second of six lectures in the 2013 Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science, a free minicourse for the general public with the theme "Your Genes: How They Contribute to Who You Are." No registration is required. The lectures take place on six consecutive Saturday mornings from 11:00 a.m. to about 12:30 p.m. in 100 Thomas Building.
An animal scientist in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences played a role in the first complete sequencing of the pig genome by an international team of researchers. The study, conducted by the International Swine Genome Sequencing Consortium, provides a genetic comparison of the domesticated pig and its wild cousins.
The research, described in the cover article of the Nov. 15 issue of the journal Nature, offers clues about how the animal evolved. The article is available at http://psu.ag/SHjXHu. Wansheng Liu, associate professor of animal genomics in the Department of Animal Science, participated in the study, which includes comparisons of the human, mouse, dog, horse, cow and pig genomes.
A revolutionary species-preservation approach based on whole-genome analyses of two Tasmanian devils -- one that had died of a contagious cancer known as Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD) and one healthy animal -- has been used to develop a theoretical model to predict which individuals would need to be kept in captivity to maximize chances of preserving enough genetic diversity for the species to survive.
The research helps to formulate one possible plan of action to prevent the extinction of the Tasmanian devil -- a marsupial found in the wild exclusively in the Australian island-state of Tasmania. The research model also may be extended to other endangered species.
A rare, ancient polar bear fossil discovered in Norway in 2004 is yielding a treasure trove of essential information about the age and evolutionary origins of the species. A paper published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by researchers at Penn State, the University at Buffalo, the University of Oslo and other institutions is filling in key pieces of the evolutionary history of polar bears and brown bears, including their response to past climate changes.
Technological advances in DNA sequencing make it possible to determine how living things are related by analyzing the ways in which their genes have been rearranged on chromosomes. However, inferring these evolutionary relationships from rearrangement events requires massive computing impossible even on the most advanced computing systems available today.
All the genes that the exotic Tasmanian Tiger inherited only from its mother will be revealed by an international team of scientists in a research paper published today (Jan. 13) in the online edition of Genome Research. The research marks the first successful sequencing of genes from this carnivorous marsupial, which looked like a large tiger-striped dog and became extinct in 1936. The research also opens the door to the widespread, nondestructive use of museum specimens to learn why mammals become extinct and how extinctions might be prevented. "Our goal is to learn how to prevent endangered species from going extinct," said Webb Miller, a Penn State professor of biology and of computer science and engineering and a member of the research team that includes scientists from the United States, Sweden, Spain, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Germany. "I want to learn as much as I can about why large mammals become extinct because all my friends are large mammals," Miller said. "However, I am expecting that publication of this paper also will reinvigorate discussions about possibly bringing the extinct Tasmanian Tiger back to life."
