Category Archives: DNA

(NEWSCHANNEL 3) Newschannel 3s I-Team is exposing a grim reality that police, medical examiners, and families in Michigan now face.

There will be many more lonely bodies that lay in a morgue unidentified, said Kellie Yunginger.

Newschannel 3 has learned that for the foreseeable future, unidentified bodies have almost no chance of being tested for DNA.

The type of DNA work needed in these cases is highly specialized. In fact, investigators in Michigan really only have one option, shipping the bones down to a lab in Texas.

That lab just sent out a letter saying, effective immediately, they cant accept any new cases.

The bones belong to people who lived with a name but died without when. Instead of being laid to rest, they lie in labs and rest in boxes.

Having these people in this limbo is kind of the worst fate I think, said Carolyn Isaac.

Isaac is a forensic anthropologist at the Medical Examiners office in Kalamazoo. The lab there takes in bodies from nine local counties. Most of the bodies can be identified within a week through family or fingerprints, dental records or even tattoos, but there are four or five each year who get slapped with a label Isaac dreads, unidentified.

Those complicated cases are the ones they typically send off to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification.

We sent this whole vertebra to get DNA analysis, said Isaac.

UNT performs specialized sampling to upload into CODIS, the DNA database run by the FBI. The hope is to strike a match with a person whos been reported missing and solve two mysteries at once.

The National Institute of Justice has footed the bill for the past thirteen years with special grant money set aside for the voiceless victims.

Now, according to an urgent memo, the lab was recently notified that the grant would not be offered this year, or next year, so they will not be able to offer DNA testing or accept new submissions.

This is extremely crippling to law enforcement efforts, said Det. Sgt. Sarah Krebs, Michigan State Police.

Det. Krebs runs the Missing Persons Clearinghouse for Michigan State Police, working with both unidentified remains and the families of the missing.

How many cases would you anticipate this would affect in Michigan? asked Newschannel 3s Alex Jokich.

Oh, Im going to say its going to affect hundreds of cases, said Det. Krebs. It has put an absolute halt to our efforts.

UNT was told the money is being redirected to other DNA needs like backlogged rape kits, but Det. Krebs believes slashing the missing persons grant slashes whatever hope the families have left.

Its very hard to tell a family if we cant identify their loved one any other way, hey, we may not be able to do this unless this grant gets refunded, said Det. Krebs, so its caused some heartache.

Kellie Yunginger knows the heartache all too well.

We never did anything to deserve this, and neither did Rich, said Yunginger.

Yungingers cousin, Richard Hitchcock, disappeared from Allegan 26 years ago. Shes spearheaded the efforts to find him and shudders at the thought that with the current cuts, if his body is found, it could sit untested in a morgue somewhere while she keeps up a futile search.

How sad its a possibility that someone could just sit in a lab forever because no one thinks its worth it, said Yunginger.

The Medical Examiners Office in Kalamazoo showed Newschannel 3 two skulls they recently got in.

We really have no hope of identifying this individual, said Isaac.

Theyd normally send the skulls to Texas. Isaac says its the worst feeling, knowing theres probably a family out there looking for someone.

Seeing their case numbers every week, just staring back at us, that these people arent identified and maybe never will be, said Isaac.

The Center for Human Identification in Texas says theyre working with the federal government toward a resolution on this issue.

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DNA Delay - WWMT-TV

New York Post

24 Years Later, DNA Leads to Arrest in Manhattan Attack on a Girl ... New York Times The arrest in the rape of an 11-year-old girl in Upper Manhattan was the latest product of an effort by Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, to focus ... DNA links child rapist to 1993 sex attack, officials say | New York PostNew York Post Rapist's DNA links him to 1993 sex assault of girl, 11, in NYC - NY ...New York Daily News all 5 news articles »

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24 Years Later, DNA Leads to Arrest in Manhattan Attack on a Girl ... - New York Times

The inside story of Damn.'s showstopping second single, as told by the super producer who made it.

Last week, Mike Will Made-It (referred to as "Will" for the rest of this story) notched his second No. 1 hit on the Billboard singles chart so far this year. Humble., the three-minute riot he produced for Kendrick Lamar, follows Black Beatles, Rae Sremmurds strip-club anthem turned viral sensation, which descended the charts peak in January. One of the most continuously in-demand hitmakers of this decade, Will is a strong bet to summit again (hes a rumored collaborator on Katy Perrys fifth album, among other percolating projects hed rather not talk about), but his achievement with Lamar is a special milestone. Will produced three songs on Lamars widely acclaimed new album, Damn. two of which, Humble. and DNA., have reached the top five on Billboard in a culmination of a half-decade of missed connections with the rapper, spanning what he (only half-jokingly) estimates are over 1,000 unused beats.

Will, born Mike Williams, 28, first met Lamar in 2011 through the latters label-mate Schoolboy Q. He sent beats while the rising star was working on his first two groundbreaking albums, 2012s Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City and 2015s To Pimp a Butterfly, but struck out on both occasions.

I never got discouraged or asked him, Why didnt I make your album? or Why this and that? Will told BuzzFeed News. After hearing those projects, I could see why my beats didnt really match.

In late 2015, though, the stars finally aligned. Will who had accumulated hits for Future, Jay Z, Kanye West, Beyonc, Perry, and Miley Cyrus connected with Lamar in Atlanta toward the end of the To Pimp a Butterfly tour, as the rapper was beginning sessions for what would become Damn. He spoke to BuzzFeed News previously about one product of their collaboration the polemical, U2-featuring XXX. Below, taken from the same conversation, are two short stories about the volcanic second single DNA., which illuminate Wills particular gifts as a song whisperer, and reveal the friendly rivalry (and Rick James concert DVD) that produced one of the years breakout hits.

The first story is a story of creative overabundance. It concerns the first of the two distinct sections on DNA. (I got I got I got loyalty got royalty inside my DNA) and starts late last year, after production on the song had wrapped. Will was frantically searching his laptop for the hazy, two-and-a-half-second guitar sample that loops throughout this section and gives it a psychedelic backbone. He needed to tell Lamars team the origin of the sample, so they could contact the songwriter and clear its usage a prerequisite for including the song on the album. But Wills memory was failing him.

Will is a walking font of far-flung sonic ideas and musical non sequiturs: He told BuzzFeed News that hed made between four and six other beats the night he produced DNA. The first part of the song took him only about 10 minutes while jamming with Rae Sremmurd who are signed to his Ear Drummer Records label in the basement of the sibling duos sprawling house in Encino, California.

Something about the instrumental made Will think of Lamar. He likes to think he could produce music for anyone, like a musical MacGyver with the right song for any job (his dream is to work with Adele), and he reserves a certain phylum of beat for the artist he refers to as Dot (a reference to K. Dot, Lamars first stage name).

I try to send him beats that I think could stand on their own, because I know when Dot gets on them hell take them even further, Will said. A lot of people use beats as a crutch and try to hide behind them, but he takes them to the next level.

Searching for the guitar sample on an old computer, Will eventually discovered the answer: There was no guitar sample. On a hot streak at Rae Sremmurd's house, he'd recorded it himself and simply forgot. I kept thinking, did I really play this? he laughed, still amused at the goose chase. I dont know what kind of vibe I was on that night.

The second story is about creative competition. While still recording DNA., Lamar summoned Will to his studio in Los Angeles to build the second section of the song, based on a breathlessly intense a capella in which he raps as if the roof is caving and he wants it to fall. He asked Will to add drums under the vocal track: It dont have to be like a full beat or anything, Will recalled Lamar saying. I just want you to make it knock.

But Will heard the verses ferocity as a challenge (I can't let him just outdo the beat like that, he remembers thinking) and started cooking up an equally formidable instrumental as Lamar looked on. I wanted it to sound like a horse race, Will said.

After adding some drums snarling 808s, some triangle, and a clap he searched a folder full of vocal samples on his laptop and pulled out a snippet of Rick James shouting Gimme some ganja! before a performance of Mary Jane from the documentary Rick James Super Freak Live 1982. He peppered the command over Lamars raps, sporadically hammering on the word Gimme like a machine gun.

I just felt like what Kendrick was rapping was like some ganja, like some piff, Will said, using another synonym for weed. I wanted it to sound like somebody's right there standing next to him, in his ear just screaming at him, like, Gimme some ganja! Gimme some more bars! Go harder!'

When he was finished with the track, he asked Lamar what he thought of the horse race, half wondering whether hed overstepped his bounds. But the rapper was charmed. According to Will, he said so in a characteristically understated fashion. I like that shit.

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The Making Of DNA., Kendrick Lamar And Mike Will Made-It's Militant Masterpiece - BuzzFeed News

It was the shortest day we've seen so far but packed with a ton of evidence. One piece disconnecting a Yoder while connecting Conley to the fatal drug.

Microscopic strands of evidence, may carry a very large role. DNA experts taking the witness stand today explaining how the anonymously submitted letters and the evidence connected to the fatal dosage of colchicine do not add up and Adam Yoder's finger prints- not found.

"Adam Yoder is excluded as a DNA contributor obtained from the vial"- and how about William Yoder? "The mixture DNA of obtained from the vial is at least 115 times more likely if it originated from three unknown unrelated individuals than if it orig anted from William Yoder and two unrelated individuals this likelihood ratio is inconclusive result based on labs--therefore no conclusion that be determined if William Yoder is a contributor in DNA obtained."

The annalist who spent hours going through those letters walking the court through the process of learning their true author.

"The partial DNA profile from the stamp from the coroners office matched the DNA profile consistent with the DNA profile of Kaitlyn Conley." "Is there a stat that goes along with that?" "Yes I did generate a stat to the match to the evidence item and the probability of matching the partial profile was one in 395 million."

And that DNA on the stamp isn't the only tie to the defendant. Her DNA found on another piece of crucial evidence. The wrapper holding the colchicine in Adam Yoder's jeep

"There again was a major contributor on the outside of the cardboard wrapper-someone that I could pick out of every location and the major contributor was Kaitlyn Conley."

Court is back again tomorrow. Judge Dwyer telling us it'll be a long day.

Reporter Nicole Todd will be tweeting again live updates from the courtroom at @NicoleTodd_WUTR

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DNA Experts Take the Stand: Conley Trial - Story | CNYHomepage - WUTR WFXV CNYhomepage

News & Observer (blog)

I found a Minuteman, a shoemaker and an indentured servant in my DNA Shaffer News & Observer (blog) This week, I discovered that I have a second cousin named Kermit who lives in New Mexico a retired crane operator and complete stranger who shares some of my Norwegian-Irish DNA. It all started with a container of my spit. For $99, I paid ancestry ...

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I found a Minuteman, a shoemaker and an indentured servant in my DNA Shaffer - News & Observer (blog)

Western spotted skunks striped skunks' smaller cousins that stand on their "hands" to blast their smelly defensive spray are helping scientists piece together a picture of how ancient climate change shaped animal populations millions of years ago, and could provide clues for how present climate change may affect animals alive today.

These endearing and widely distributed skunks have been around for about 1 million years and live in a range of habitats across western North America. But even thoughthe skunksall belong to one species,Spilogale gracilis, genetic differences divide them into three distinct groups that are known as clades, and scientists have puzzled over what might have driven these changes in the skunks' DNA. [The 12 Weirdest Animal Discoveries]

Researchers investigating these adorable little stinkers recently discovered the likely scenario that led to these genetic divisions ancient climate change duringthe Pleistocene ice age, as glaciers divided skunk populations into habitats isolated from each other.

Unlike the bold bandsof white furlining the black backs of striped skunks, western spotted skunks' markings curve and twine like the walls of a maze, with a single large spot marking the center of their heads. They are the smallest of the North American skunks, with males measuring about 16 inches in length and weighing about 22 ounces, according toa species descriptionby the Montana Natural Heritage Program and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Because their distribution is so broad from British Columbia to northern Mexico, and from California to the central Great Plains groups of skunks could potentially be separated from each other by manynatural geographical barriers, such are rivers and mountain ranges. Scientists wanted to know whether geography could explain how skunk populations separated from each other and evolved unique genetic signatures, or if other land-shaping factors might have played a part, study lead author Adam Ferguson, collection manager of mammals at the Field Museum of Natural History, told Live Science.

"We were interested in whether we would see if genetic breaks are associated with older events major biogeographic events, like the Sierra, the Rockies, the Rio Grande or withclimate change," Ferguson explained.

In general, skunks aren't well-studied, probably because working with them comes with an odious olfactory price "even their tissues stink," Ferguson said. In fact, during each season of fieldwork, he puts aside what will be "the skunk clothes," an outfit that sometimes must be permanently retired when the season ends, he said.

Study lead author Adam Fergusun wearing impromptu Kleenex nose plugs not to block the smell of his study subject, but because he had a cold.

Courtesy of Adam Fergusun

For the study, the scientists sampled genetic data from 97 skunks representing a range of habitats and climates in thesouthwestern U.S.But the genetic differences that separated them didn't map to geographic features. For example, two skunk populations divided by mountains were mostly identical on a genetic level, the study authors found.

By modeling climate conditions during theice ageglacial maximum the period when ice covered the most land mass the researchers discovered that advancing glaciers could have effectively isolated habitat "refuges" from each other, allowing genetic differences to evolve in separated animal groups.

Their findings help to fill in the picture of how ancient climate change affected not only the western spotted skunks, but possibly other animals as well large and small that shared the skunks' habitats across the southwestern U.S. And this could help scientists predict how ecosystems and their inhabitants might be affected by present-day climate change, Ferguson said.

"If we have data from rodents, bats, small carnivores, large carnivores, reptiles, birds, we can say, 'How as a whole would theSonoran Desert communityrespond potentially to climate change across the board?' You can make these general predictions of how climate change might affect an entire community not just a single species," he told Live Science.

The findings were published online May 3 in the journalEcology and Evolution.

Original article onLive Science.

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Handstanding skunks' DNA holds clues to ancient climate - CBS News - CBS News

Hide and Seek

Recent estimates by the United Nationssay as many as 36.7 million peopleworldwide are known to have HIV.Of these, roughly 1.2 million people are in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These alarming numbers actually grow every year, and adequate treatment let alone a cure still seems a long way off. One of the major reasons thats so isbecause HIV as a disease is something of a tough nut to crack: the virus is capable of hiding itself in latent reservoirs, making it extremely difficult for a permanent cure to be developed.

Theres a glimmer of hope, though: scientists atthe Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM) and the University of Pittsburgh published astudy in the journal Molecular Therapyshowing itspossible to surgically remove HIV DNA from a living animal genome. This is the first time that such a method was demonstrated to be possible, and it could increase the chances of eliminating HIV infection.

The secret is in CRISPR/Cas9, the worlds most efficient and effective gene editing tool, which made it possible to delete targeted HIV-1 fragments from the infected animal tissue genome. CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9)-mediated genome editing provides a promising cure for HIV-1/AIDS, the studys abstract notes. This research built on a proof-of-concept study that the same team of researchers conductedlast year.

Our new study is more comprehensive, LKSOMs Wenhui Hu explained. We confirmed the data from our previous work and have improved the efficiency of our gene editing strategy. We also show that the strategy is effective in two additional mouse models, one representing acute infection in mouse cells and the other representing chronic, or latent, infection in human cells.

The researchers used CRISPR/Cas9 to shut down HIV on three sets of animal models: one performed ontransgenic mice with HIV-1, another with mice acutely infected with the mouse equivalent of human HIV (ecoHIV), and a third group of mice that had human immune cells with latent HIV-1 embedded into their tissues and organs.

In all three animal models, the researchers were able to successfully render HIV inactive via gene editing, reducing the RNA expression of viral genes by up to 95 percent in the first model, and up to 96 percent in the second. For the third model, they were able to remove viral fragments from the latently infected human cells in the mouse organs after only a single CRISPR/Cas9 treatment.

Now, researchers need tomake the treatment more viable for humans:The next stage would be to repeat the study in primates, a more suitable animal model where HIV infection induces disease, in order to further demonstrate elimination of HIV-1 DNA in latently infected T cells and other sanctuary sites for HIV-1, including brain cells, said researcher Kamel Khalili. Our eventual goal is a clinical trial in human patients.

As this is the first time gene editing was demonstrated to work on HIV in animals, this method could prove to be a game changer in treating the elusive virus: its a crucial step in, eventually,creating a cure.

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Scientists Just Surgically Removed HIV DNA From Live Animals - Futurism

New York's PIX11 / WPIX-TV

Child rapist gives DNA to cops, gets nabbed in 1993 sex assault ... New York's PIX11 / WPIX-TV HAMILTON HEIGHTS, Manhattan A man who pled guilty earlier this year to raping a child has just been tied, through DNA evidence, to the 1993 knifepoint ... Decades-Old Rape of 11-Year-Old Girl Solved With DNA Evidence ...DNAinfo DNA Evidence Links Man To Unsolved Rape From 1993, Manhattan ...Gothamist DNA links NYC child rapist to young girl's 1993 cold case sexual ...Fox News all 5 news articles »

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Child rapist gives DNA to cops, gets nabbed in 1993 sex assault ... - New York's PIX11 / WPIX-TV

Discovering that your German heritage is actually Scottish and turning in your lederhosen for a kilt thats the premise of a commercial playing a lot these days. It taps into a common human desire: to find out our true identity. Or perhaps, more specifically, to find out were a little more interesting than we thought or that our ancestors were.

Only its not so easy, or precise, as the commercials suggest.

Colleen Greene, Cal State Fullerton marketing librarian, shared advice with a roomful of people on National DNA Day last month on using DNA testing to research their ancestry. She also told them how to choose from among the DNA kits on the market to find the one that best fits their goals and how to save money in the process.

People expect it to tell them their whole family history. Theyve seen the commercials. Theyve seen the guy in the kilt, Greene said. They all want to find out theyre related to William Wallace, the Scottish knight of Braveheart fame, she joked.

Most wont, of course. But Greene related how she started piecing together her own heritage a couple of years ago and has connected with multiple relatives by using the kits and the tools on the websites for Ancestry.com, 23andMe and Family Tree DNA.

Greene, who teaches an online graduate-level genealogy seminar through San Jose State University, stressed that those really interested in going down their personal rabbit hole must combine DNA testing with historical research.

Many in the audience, which included members of CSUFs Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, had already done some DNA testing. A little testing can evidently lead to more testing, more research and more contacts with long-lost relatives; several sites include avenues to email those who match your DNA.

The interest in testing has soared as the cost of DNA kits has come down. What once cost $500 to $1,000 a pop, Greene said, now can be found for less than $100.

Also, the technology has been progressing quickly, allowing more detailed and accurate results. Two books published just last year dont reflect the latest changes, she said. One DNA kit maker recently changed its algorithms, thereby changing peoples results.

AncestryDNA gained more than a million members just over the holiday season, due partly to a heavy advertising campaign, Greene said.

But that increased visibility and the surge in commercials is leading to some confusion, Greene said. Which kit you go with, and from which company, depends on what you are hoping to find out. Do you want to learn the identity of your great-grandfather who emigrated from Scotland or just find out whether you should buy a kilt, like the guy in the commercial?

If you are investing money in a kit, you want to make sure youre getting the right one not the $500 one but the $79 one, Greene said.

The two main goals are to find out family history or ethnicity, she said. Ethnicity is what most people are after when they ponder ordering a kit.

These are the people who really dont care about their family history, Greene said. They dont care about their ancestors. They want to know their ethnicity. This is one of the most consuming things.

Most of us dont know our ethnicity, she said. We just think we know, based on our appearance or what mom and dad told us.But depending on what country they came from, parents and grandparents dont always want to talk about such things. Perhaps they fled a country in revolution or under occupation.

Ethnicities also get a little cloudy due to migrations, such as that of the Sephardic Jews, and intermarriage between groups, such as in Mexico. Some groups just have more meager historical records, such as Hispanics and pre-Civil War African Americans. And others, such as Native Americans, are classified various ways, adding to the confusion.

A lot of family trees online are junk, Greene said. Results for many Latinos dont come back as Mexican, she said, because the kits test race and Mexicans are a diverse race. Also, many names include two surnames.

On the other hand, New Mexico, which has some of the oldest settlements in the nation, has conducted statewide tests to compile a comprehensive DNA database. That wealth of information helped Greene track down some of her relatives.

Those wanting to learn their ethnicity should look for an autosomal DNA kit, Greene said, which is typically the least expensive kind. It goes back only about five or six generations, however.

More distant or complicated searches for ancestors require either a Y-DNA kit, which tests the patrilineal line, or a mitochondrial or mtDNA kit, which tests the matrilineal line. These are more expensive and often require sleuthing out a male or female relative to test, but provide results such as those that confirmed descendants of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings or identified the remains of King Richard III.

Its really fun if you love puzzles, Greene said. You have to weave back. In the case of confirming that remains found in 2012 under a parking lot in Leicester, England, were indeed those of Richard III, researchers had to trace the lineage through his eldest sister using mitochondrial DNA.

Often DNA cant prove something alone, Greene said. DNA results have to be combined with historical records. Jefferson kept meticulous records and journals, for example, which allowed researchers to determine that his younger brother Randolph wasnt near Monticello at the time the children in question wereconceived, leaving Thomas as the more likely candidate as their father.

Greene used obituaries, newspaper articles, and military, border crossing and naturalization records to track down some of her ancestors.

Her own search and those she does for others have taught Greene that DNA testing is rife with the potential for uncomfortable family secrets and other privacy concerns.

You have to anticipate you will find something, she said, especially with searches of family history. Imagine someone finding out her parents werent really her biological parents or a white supremacist finding out he has African American DNA, and its easy to see how things can get messy, she said.

It can be really surprising to get these results. she said.

***

DNA science about siblings an eye-opener

Heres a little bit of science for those whose sibling takes a DNA test and think they can piggyback on the findings: Siblings other than identical twins dont share the same distribution of their parents DNA, and so can have slightly different percentages of ethnicity. Colleen Greene mentioned one family in which a man had 17 percent Irish heritage vs. 34 percent for his older sisters. They would call him their almost Irish brother. Think of a jar of M&Ms, Greene said. Toss in half from mom and half from dad, shake them up and take a handful. The assortment of M&Ms that you and your sibling pull out will be different, unless you are identical twins. It really confuses people, she said.

***

More on testing

CSUFs Pollak Library website includes information from Colleen Greene on the most popular DNA kits on the market and which to buy for various purposes. Some makers sites include information on genetic health risks or allow you to compare chromosomes of your relatives. Go to Library Guides and search for DNA. Greene plans a monthly interest group for those interested in tracing their family roots and, next spring, CSUF staff will launch a program series on the topic.

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What can a DNA kit tell you? A CSUF expert has some answers - OCRegister

May 4, 2017

A new study in Science from Karolinska Institutet maps out how different DNA-binding proteins in human cells react to certain biochemical modifications of the DNA molecule. The scientists report that some 'master' regulatory proteins can activate regions of the genome that are normally inactive due to epigenetic changes. Their findings contribute to a better understanding of gene regulation, embryonic development and the processes leading to diseases such as cancer.

The DNA molecule carries information in the form of a sequence of four nucleotide bases, adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G) and thymine (T), which can be thought of as the letters of the genomic language. Short sequences of the letters form 'DNA words' that determine when and where proteins are made in the body.

Almost all of the cells in the human body contain the letters in precisely the same order. Different genes are however active (expressed) in different cell types, allowing the cells to function in their specialised roles, for example as a brain cell or a muscle cell. The key to this gene regulation lies in specialised DNA-binding proteinstranscription factorsthat bind to the sequences and activate or repress gene activity.

The DNA letter C exists in two forms, cytosine and methylcytosine, which can be thought of as the same letter with and without an accent (C and ). Methylation of DNA bases is a type of epigenetic modification, a biochemical change in the genome that does not alter the DNA sequence. The two variants of C have no effect on the kind of proteins that can be made, but they can have a major influence on when and where the proteins are produced. Previous research has shown that genomic regions where C is methylated are commonly inactive, and that many transcription factors are unable to bind to sequences that contain the methylated .

By analysing hundreds of different human transcription factors, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have now found that certain transcription factors actually prefer the methylated . These include transcription factors that are important in embryonic development, and for the development of prostate and colorectal cancers.

"The results suggest that such 'master' regulatory factors could activate regions of the genome that are normally inactive, leading to the formation of organs during development, or the initiation of pathological changes in cells that lead to diseases such as cancer", says Professor Jussi Taipale at Karolinska Institutet's Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics who led the research.

The results pave the way for cracking the genetic code that controls the expression of genes, and will have broad implications for the understanding of development and disease. The availability of genomic information relevant to disease is expanding at an exponentially increasing rate.

"This study identifies how the modification of the DNA structure affects the binding of transcription factors, and this increases our understanding of how genes are regulated in cells and further aids us in deciphering the grammar written into DNA", says Professor Taipale.

Explore further: Complex grammar of the genomic language

More information: Yimeng Yin, Ekaterina Morgunova, Arttu Jolma, Eevi Kaasinen, Biswajyoti Sahu, Syed Khund-Sayeed, Pratyush K. Das, Teemu Kivioja, Kashyap Dave, Fan Zhong, Kazuhiro R. Nitta, Minna Taipale, Alexander Popov, Paul A. Ginno, Silvia Domcke, Jian Yan, Dirk Schbeler, Charles Vinson, and Jussi Taipale. 'Impact of cytosine methylation on DNA binding specificities of human transcription factors'. Science, 5 May 2017. science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi/10.1126/science.aaj2239

Journal reference: Science

Provided by: Karolinska Institutet

A new study from Sweden's Karolinska Institutet shows that the 'grammar' of the human genetic code is more complex than that of even the most intricately constructed spoken languages in the world. The findings, published ...

Scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have made a large step towards the understanding of how human genes are regulated. In a new study, published in the journal Cell, they identified the DNA sequences that bind to ...

In a study published in Nature, Dirk Schbeler and his group at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI) describe how the interplay between transcription factors and epigenetic modifications of DNA ...

Using human cells, they have mapped how different proteins bind along the DNA to control which genes are active during barrier formation.

"Human satellite II," an exceptionally high-copy but unexplored sequence of the human genome thought of as "junk DNA," has a surprising ability to impact master regulators of our genome, and it goes awry in 50 percent of ...

The cells in our bodies can divide as often as once every 24 hours, creating a new, identical copy. DNA binding proteins called transcription factors are required for maintaining cell identity. They ensure that daughter cells ...

Protected areas in the United States, representing 14 percent of the land mass, provide places for respite, recreation, and natural resource conservation. However, noise pollution poses novel threats to these protected areas, ...

A new study in Science from Karolinska Institutet maps out how different DNA-binding proteins in human cells react to certain biochemical modifications of the DNA molecule. The scientists report that some 'master' regulatory ...

University of California, Berkeley, researchers have described 10 new CRISPR enzymes that, once activated, behave like Pac-Man to chew up RNA in a way that could be used as sensitive detectors of infectious viruses.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have discovered a new mechanism that could explain how the Merkel Cell Polyomavirus, responsible for the most aggressive form of skin cancer, can stay dormant for decades after ...

One of humankind's oldest industrial partners is yeast, a familiar microbe that enabled early societies to brew beer and leaven bread and empowers modern ones to synthesize biofuels and conduct key biomedical research. Yeast ...

The synthetic biologists from Imperial College London have re-engineered yeast cells to manufacture the nonribosomal peptide antibiotic penicillin. In laboratory experiments, they were able to demonstrate that this yeast ...

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Scientists reveal how epigenetic changes in DNA are interpreted - Phys.Org