Category Archives: Transhuman News

merging projects Hi Everyone,

Here's an update to the status of DNA@Home.

Currently, I have a student who has been working on getting files in the appropriate format for the application here. I think we're pretty close to getting work units sent back out. As opposed to what we were doing before, the new data files are from the human genome, and we'll be looking for protein binding sites that could potentially be related to different cancer causing genes -- I will get more information from this from our biologists here.

I also want to merge DNA@Home, Wildlife@Home and SubsetSum@Home so I can more easily provide feedback. I'm open to suggestions on how to do this. Right now I'm thinking about moving all the accounts into a new project and then have a combined forum for all three. If anyone has any good suggestions for an easy way to merge the three, I'd appreciate it.

Will have more updates, and hopefully more work units soon.

--Travis 23 Dec 2013, 17:46:48 UTC Comment

more updates Sorry for things being so slow here, too many projects going on at once on top of being a new faculty member!

However, I have some pretty interesting news for the project. Two new professors have joined University of North Dakota this year who are working on epigenomics. So we'll be able to use the same algorithms and client applications currently being used by DNA@Home to analyze segments of the human genome -- in part to help understand cancer formation.

I'm hoping to be sending out some new workunits using new data (from the human genome!) as soon as we can get it cleaned up and processed.

--Travis 27 Sep 2012, 16:25:01 UTC Comment

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DNA@Home - University of North Dakota

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Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses. The main role of DNA molecules is the long-term storage of information. DNA is often compared to a set of blueprints or a recipe, or a code, since it contains the instructions needed to construct other components of cells, such as proteins and RNA molecules. The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in regulating the use of this genetic information.

Chemically, DNA consists of two long polymers of simple units called nucleotides, with backbones made of sugars and phosphate groups joined by ester bonds. These two strands run in opposite directions to each other. Attached to each sugar is one of four types of molecules called bases. It is the sequence of these four bases along the backbone that encodes information. This information is read using the genetic code, which specifies the sequence of the amino acids within proteins. The code is read by copying stretches of DNA into the related nucleic acid RNA, in a process called transcription.

Within cells, DNA is organized into structures called chromosomes. These chromosomes are duplicated before cells divide, in a process called DNA replication. Eukaryotic organisms (animals, plants, fungi, and protists) store their DNA inside the cell nucleus, while in prokaryotes (bacteria and archae) it is found in the cell's cytoplasm. Within the chromosomes, chromatin proteins such as histones compact and organize DNA. These compact structures guide the interactions between DNA and other proteins, helping control which parts of the DNA are transcribed.

DNA is a long polymer made from repeating units called nucleotides.[1][2] The DNA chain is 22 to 26ngstrms wide (2.2 to 2.6nanometres), and one nucleotide unit is 3.3 (0.33nm) long.[3] Although each individual repeating unit is very small, DNA polymers can be enormous molecules containing millions of nucleotides. For instance, the largest human chromosome, chromosome number 1, is approximately 220 million base pairs long.[4]

In living organisms, DNA does not usually exist as a single molecule, but instead as a tightly-associated pair of molecules.[5][6] These two long strands entwine like vines, in the shape of a double helix. The nucleotide repeats contain both the segment of the backbone of the molecule, which holds the chain together, and a base, which interacts with the other DNA strand in the helix. In general, a base linked to a sugar is called a nucleoside and a base linked to a sugar and one or more phosphate groups is called a nucleotide. If multiple nucleotides are linked together, as in DNA, this polymer is called a polynucleotide.[7]

The backbone of the DNA strand is made from alternating phosphate and sugar residues.[8] The sugar in DNA is 2-deoxyribose, which is a pentose (five-carbon) sugar. The sugars are joined together by phosphate groups that form phosphodiester bonds between the third and fifth carbon atoms of adjacent sugar rings. These asymmetric bonds mean a strand of DNA has a direction. In a double helix the direction of the nucleotides in one strand is opposite to their direction in the other strand. This arrangement of DNA strands is called antiparallel. The asymmetric ends of DNA strands are referred to as the 5 (five prime) and 3 (three prime) ends, with the 5' end being that with a terminal phosphate group and the 3' end that with a terminal hydroxyl group. One of the major differences between DNA and RNA is the sugar, with 2-deoxyribose being replaced by the alternative pentose sugar ribose in RNA.[6]

The DNA double helix is stabilized by hydrogen bonds between the bases attached to the two strands. The four bases found in DNA are adenine (abbreviated A), cytosine (C), guanine (G) and thymine (T). These four bases are attached to the sugar/phosphate to form the complete nucleotide, as shown for adenosine monophosphate.

These bases are classified into two types; adenine and guanine are fused five- and six-membered heterocyclic compounds called purines, while cytosine and thymine are six-membered rings called pyrimidines.[6] A fifth pyrimidine base, called uracil (U), usually takes the place of thymine in RNA and differs from thymine by lacking a methyl group on its ring. Uracil is not usually found in DNA, occurring only as a breakdown product of cytosine.

Excerpt from:
DNA - Psychology Wiki

Researchers for the first time created microbes containing artificial DNA, expanding the universal genetic code that guides life. The advance one day could lead to new antibiotics, vaccines and other medical products not possible with today's bioscience.

In a report published Wednesday in Nature, the scientists said they created two additions to the normal genetic code, and then prompted bacteria to incorporate these pieces of man-made DNA with few ill effects.

"The cells recognized it as natural," said chemical biologist Floyd Romesberg at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., who led the research group.

The experiment demonstrates the feasibility of life-forms based on a different DNA code, independent experts said. Eventually, scientists could use an expanded genetic code to design living cells that could make new medical compounds.

By one recent estimate, the market for biologic and protein-based therapies is expected to reach $165 billion a year by 2018.

"Most people thought this wasn't possible," said biochemist Steven Benner at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution in Gainesville, Fla., who wasn't involved in the project. Many scientists assumed that a normal cell would ignore any imitation DNA. "He has gone inside a cell and gotten it to work and that is a shock," said Dr. Benner.

Click here for more from The Wall Street Journal.

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DNA BREAKTHROUGH Scientists create life form with artificial genetic code