Category Archives: DNA

Over the last several decades, DNA the genetic material of life as we know it has completed a remarkable scientific cycle. In 1953, it was a mysterious blur on an X-ray diffractogram. By the 1970s, it was possible to determine the sequence of short nucleotide chains. And now, a scientist can produce her own genetic code of choice with the click of a mouse.

What happens after the mouse click, after an order for a chain of DNA is sent, is an impressive series of events that represents one of the most mature, yet dynamic, sectors of the biotech industry. DNA synthesis companies range from scrappy start-ups to Cambridge-area behemoths, each touting a distinct set of tools that carves out a slice of the ever increasing pie.

For many groups, the human genome project the $3 billion effort funded by the U.S. government was an important launching point that both advanced DNA sequencing and synthesis technology and prompted important questions worthy of further scientific investigation. We are a direct beneficiary of all the sequencing information that came out of the Project, says Kevin Munnelly, CEO of Gen9, and its all going to impact synthetic biology and our ability to write DNA. Jerry Steele, the Director of Marketing for IDT, recalls that the thing that really helped us take off was synthesizing the oligos for the human genome project. 10 or 15 years ago, it cost a few dollars per base to make oligos, he recalls, and now were down to a few cents.

Several different industries are reaping the benefits, from agriculture to clean-tech to pharmaceuticals. Emily Leproust, CEO of Twist Bioscience, thinks the biochemical arms race between pathogens and pharmaceutical companies is worse than most people realize. With increasing antibiotic resistance and a diminished rate of new antibiotic discovery, were going back to an era of pre-penicillin, Leproust maintains, and it will be a shock to people. With affordable methods to produce alternative genes, regulatory structures, or even entire metabolic pathways now available, the range of possible products has grown exponentially. Now we can make new candidates and new antibiotics that will enable us to start fighting back.

But just because scientists can make DNA doesnt mean they always know precisely what those chains of As, Ts, Gs, and Cs are up to. That quest to understand the nature of lifes instructions is driving much of the DNA being produced for scientific research. After all, with a 3.5 billion year head-start, life has optimized its activities in ways that were still just beginning to appreciate, and changes to these finely tuned processes are much more likely to have a deleterious effect than a beneficial one.

Biotech has promised great things for years, since DNA sequencing went mainstream. And while many believe those promises have gone largely unfulfilled, a renewed sense of potential is growing based on DNA synthesis technologies. Its a shift from a purely observational mode of interaction with the code of life (DNA sequencing) to active tinkering and experimentation (DNA synthesis). For decades, weve just been getting a sense of the potential that sequencing can give us, says Munnelly. But the ability to write good, high-quality DNA constructs represents the future of medicine and the future of science.

*This article is part of a special series on DNA synthesis and was previously published at SynBioBeta, the activity hub for the synthetic biology industry.

See more here:
The Brave New World of DNA Synthesis

DNA production is becoming cheaper than ever, propelled down a Moores law curve by maturing technologies and cheaper reagents. This new biosynthetic industry allows researchers to order up a customized sequence for overnight delivery.

But many users dont just want a chain of nucleotides, they want ready-to-use sequences that can be inserted into a cell to make a product of interest. Such DNA products, known as constructs, include two components a vector that will be read by host machinery and initiate transcription, and an inserted gene that will generate the non-native biomolecule. Constructs can be thousands of bases in length, but once theyre uploaded to the cell, production should be good to go.

This niche is where Genscript is staking its claim. Were the worlds largest provider for construct based gene synthesis, says Jeffrey Hung, a Genscript Vice President, and a lot of our growth is coming from higher demand for biologics, or medicinal biomolecules generated through a microbial host (as opposed to an exclusively chemical synthetic process). Most frequently, the company takes orders for non-native products to be expressed in a different organism, turning the unwitting target cell into a biofactory for recombinant proteins or antibodies. In many cases, biologics the result of intentional expression of known biomolecules are safer than uncharacterized but empirically promising small molecules taken from a cellular milieu. And using the cell as a production platform is an appealing prospect: organisms can tune behavior and metabolism to changing conditions, so small fluctuations in temperature or reactant concentration wont doom a costly industrial process.

For example, in an effort to identify antibodies best suited to recognize potentially threatening pathogens, a range of recombinant antibodies can be produced in a host cell. Tracking how well the displayed pathogenic molecule is bound by different antibodies can identify promising new treatment options. And once that lead is found, explains Hung, we can improve upon it by making the affinity better and better, through iterative design modifications. This sort of approach is becoming increasingly prevalent in immunological fields, including immuno-oncology and autoimmune disease research.

Genscript has also generated a platform for yeast genetics that can quickly narrow the search for case-specific essential genetic components. Its called SC 2.0, and it starts by creating mutations in each of the organisms 6,000 genes. The resulting mutants are grown in isolated wells and monitored for growth. If nothing happens, then youve mutated an essential gene; if the media turns cloudy with cells, then youve identified a non-essential component. We can ask the simple question, says Hung, of which genes are specifically more important for responding to certain environments given certain environmental stimuli. This way, experimenters can separate housekeeping genes from those needed for higher temperature growth, or increased biofuel production. Understanding which aspects of the wild type yeast lifestyle are superfluous under industrial settings highlights opportunities to trim the fat and ensure that the biologically mediated process youre after is as efficient as possible.

Weve found that about 25% of the yeast genome is essential, says Hung, and that 75% is where a lot of future discoveries remain to be found.

*This article is part of a special series on DNA synthesis and was previously published at SynBioBeta, the activity hub for the synthetic biology industry.

See the rest here:
Plug and Play with DNA Constructs

A new state requirement that takes effect Wednesday will generate tens of thousands of new DNA profiles that could help identify suspects in unsolved crimes, Attorney General Brad Schimel said Tuesday.

The law requires all people arrested for violent felonies and anyone convicted of either a felony or misdemeanor to submit a DNA sample.

There is a huge investigative benefit to taking DNA at arrest by solving crimes and preventing future victimizations, Schimel said in a statement.

The requirement is expected to add 25,000 DNA samples from people arrested or convicted of felonies in the first year and 43,000 samples from adults convicted of misdemeanors.

Wisconsin is the 29th state to require DNA sampling at arrest, along with the federal government.

Until Wednesday, the state required DNA samples only of convicted felons and sex offenders. The state added eight DNA analysts and eight forensic program technicians and expanded the size of the state Crime Laboratory in Madison to handle the additional workload.

A key backer of the requirement was the family of Brittany Zimmermann, a UW-Madison student found strangled and stabbed to death in her Downtown apartment in 2008.

Madison police have said they collected DNA from the Zimmermann murder scene that matches DNA found at a burglary but does not match any profiles in the federal database.

As in the Zimmermann case, Schimel said there are 13,906 DNA profiles developed from Wisconsin crime scenes that lack a matching offender profile.

Originally posted here:
DNA collection at arrest begins Wednesday

gallery_thumbnails_photo|photo-7743958|article-gallery-6169230|1 gallery_thumbnails_photo|photo-7743959|article-gallery-6169230|2 gallery_thumbnails_photo|photo-7721535|article-gallery-6169230|3

Photo: Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle

gallery_thumbnails_show|article-gallery-6169230|article-gallery-6169230|0

gallery_overlay_open|article-gallery-6169230|article-gallery-6169230|0

gallery_overlay_open_thumbs|article-gallery-6169230|article-gallery-6169230|0

Police Chief Greg Suhr, seen in December, said Monday that authorities were looking at 1,400 criminal cases that were prosecuted in part based on DNA work done by a technician identified in court records as Mignon Dunbar and her supervisor, Cherisse Boland. Both are civilian police employees.

Police Chief Greg Suhr, seen in December, said Monday that...

Lab director Jim Mudge shows criminalist Deborah Maddens work station at the police crime lab in San Francisco in March 2010. Madden was accused of stealing cocaine that was used as criminal evidence by prosecutors.

Lab director Jim Mudge shows criminalist Deborah Maddens work...

Public defender Jeff Adachi plays audio at the S.F. Public Defender's Office, Thursday, March 26, 2015, in San Francisco, Calif. The audio is a testimony of an inmate saying that S.F. sheriff deputies are staging cage-fight style matches between inmates for their entertainment and gambling purposes.

Read the original:
Technician, boss in SFPD lab scandal flunked DNA skills exam

DNA sequencing and synthesis are two sides of the same coin, the read and write functions of genetic material. The field and its requisite technology took off in the 1990s with the Human Genome Projects effort to sequence billions of bases and unlock a new era of genetically informed medicine. The resulting science is still a work in progress it turns out the genetic code is more complicated than anticipated but the technologies and companies it helped spawn are an impressive legacy.

Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT) got its start during the Human Genome Project, as it produced single nucleotides (the As, Ts, Cs, and Gs that comprise the genetic code) and short oligonucleotide chains (or oligos) to help facilitate a massive sequencing effort around the world. Of course, sequencing technology has advanced dramatically in the intervening decades, but you still need oligos to do the sequencing, explains Jerry Steele, IDTs Director of Marketing, especially in the next gen sequencing space. Sequencing and DNA synthesis go hand in hand.

The current sequencing method of choice is Illumina, a process that frequently returns millions of bases of DNA sequence by reading distinct stepwise fluorescent signals associated with each base in a massively parallel array. To distinguish genetic material from different samples (a few hundred are often run on the same plate), scientists label each samples DNA extract with a distinct barcode. With each barcode comprised of about ten nucleotides, the demand for synthetic DNA chains in the sequencing process is substantial.

Unlike other biotech companies prioritizing longer constructs or gene variants, IDT specializes in relatively short oligos. These chains are used not only in Illumina barcoding, but also as primers consistent patches of sequence that may border unknown regions and facilitate PCR-based amplification. Both techniques next gen Illumina sequencing and primer-based amplification are staples of any self-respecting applied or research-based microbiology laboratory, as they allow researchers to identify constituent organisms or confirm a genes presence.

With such short sequences, a single nucleotide discrepancy could mean the difference between two Illumina samples from opposite ends of the world, or between a gene native to the Firmicutes or the Proteobacteria. Its a small margin for error, so every base better be right, explains Steele. As weve grown, its just a matter of maintaining that consistency on a larger scale. In the spirit of not fixing something that needs no repairs, IDT shipped an entire fabrication room from its headquarters in Des Moines to Belgium when that facility was being built.

Fundamental as they are to modern biology, oligos are used every day in thousands of laboratories around the world, often in innovative ways that the company itself may not have predicted. The things that people are doing with DNA are really inspiring, notes Steele. One of his favorite use cases involves low-impact prenatal tests: rather than a painful and invasive amniosyntesis, weve discovered that now because of sequencing, we can see the babys DNA in a blood draw from the mother. Improved sequencing fidelity and throughput are expanding the resolution of the technique, and Steele soon envisions scientists using next gen sequencing to detect cancer cells from the blood stream as an early diagnosis tool. Biology is really leaving the lab and coming into the real world, Steele explains, and its going to improve a lot of lives.

*This article is part of a special series on DNA synthesis and was previously published at SynBioBeta, the activity hub for the synthetic biology industry.

More here:
Short and Sweet: Why Modern Molecular Biology Needs Oligos

Researcher from Lomonosov Moscow State University managed to clarify how DNA damage signaling works

Credit: Courtesy of Tom Ellenberger, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

The DNA molecule is chemically unstable giving rise to DNA lesions of different nature. That is why DNA damage detection, signaling and repair, collectively known as the DNA damage response, are needed. The DNA damage response is immensely important, for example, for ensuring the highest possible quality of the DNA before replication - duplication of the DNA prior to cell division. If the damaged DNA is replicated, the risk of cancer and other diseases increases significantly due to mutations. All in all this may lead to the death of a cell itself.

DNA repair consists of enzymes which find the damaged DNA and repair it before the replication. These enzymes work differently. Some of them recognize the damaged bases and give signals to the other enzymes, which repair the DNA.

Ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) is a kinase that transmits the signal from damaged DNA to cellular repair systems. Scientists used to think that ATM exclusively recognizes DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). These breaks are extremely dangerous because they may lead to the loss of genetic information.

Svetlana V. Khoronenkova who is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Lomonosov Moscow State University and at the University of Oxford was among the scientists who managed to discover a novel role for ATM. She designed the project, controlled its experimental part and prepared the results for the publication. The article written by Svetlana V. Khoronenkova and her colleague Grigory L. Dianov was published in PNAS.

"Endogenous double-strand breaks are rarely formed in the DNA. The concept of the cellular function lies in the prevention of DNA double-strand break's formation", -- Svetlana V. Khoronenkova said, -- "We now understand that ATM recognizes and is activated in response to DNA single-strand breaks (SSBs)".

Svetlana V. Khoronenkova mentioned that about 15 to 20 thousand endogenous DNA single-strand breaks form per day. On the other hand, only 10-20 DNA double-strand breaks are formed during this period. This highlights the importance of signaling the presence of unrepaired DNA single-strand breaks to repair systems.

In response to DNA single-strand breaks ATM self- activates and transmits the signal about the damage.

This leads to a delay in the DNA replication, giving a cell more time to repair.

See the original post:
How DNA alarm-system works

ONE SHOT Gameplay With a DNA
Dropped a DNA on ONE SHOT HARDPOINT SHAREfactory https://store.playstation.com/#!/en-us/tid=CUSA00572_00.

By: Ghosts FaDE

The rest is here:
ONE SHOT Gameplay With a DNA - Video

AW: *SOLO* Hip Fire Every Kill DNA Bomb (56 GS Hip
UPLOAD EVERY 4 DAYS*

By: ENGM Fuxik | Home of Unique Gameplayes

See original here:
AW: *SOLO* Hip Fire Every Kill DNA Bomb (56 GS Hip - Video

Advanced Warfare - "Bulldog" Shotgun DNA Bomb! (DNA Bomb w Every Gun #19)
Subscribe http://bit.ly/BecomeAnImmortal Follow me on Twitter https://twitter.com/WhosImmortal Follow my Livestream http://www.twitch.tv/immortalresistance My 2nd...

By: ImmortalResistance

Read more from the original source:
Advanced Warfare - "Bulldog" Shotgun DNA Bomb! (DNA Bomb w Every Gun #19) - Video

Triple DNA Fail | Wollt ihr ein FAQ?
Wollt ihr ein FAQ dann haut ein paar Fragen in die Kommentare 😀 MFG DerDrachenritter ...

By: DerDrachenritter

Follow this link:
Triple DNA Fail | Wollt ihr ein FAQ? - Video