Category Archives: Transhuman News

Published: Sept. 17, 2013 at 7:43 PM

SUWON, South Korea, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- International scientists say they've mapped the genomes of the tiger, lion and snow leopard, hoping to bolster efforts to protect the endangered species.

The team led by Yun Sung Cho at the Genome Research Foundation in Suwon, South Korea, sequenced the genome of a female Siberian tiger at the Everland Zoo in South Korea.

Writing in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers said the sequencing revealed tigers share 96 percent of their genes with domestic cats.

The team then went on to sequence the DNA of four other big cat species -- the African lion, snow leopard, white Bengal tiger and white African lion.

The genomes show how big cats gained their superior muscle strength, the ability to digest large amounts of meat and a keen sense of smell, and also yielded genetic clues to how the white lion gained its pale coat and how the snow leopard adapted to the snowy mountain ranges, the researchers said.

The tiger genome map will be an important resource for looking at genetic diversity, they said, as the preservation of diminishing wild tiger populations is a major concern of animal conservationists.

"Our tiger reference genome can be used as the basis for comparing all the tigers in the world, so that we know the genetic diversity of tigers," researcher Jong Bhak told the BBC.

"And we can actually have a plan of how we can breed tigers effectively [in zoos] to save the genetic diversity."

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Scientists decode the genome of the world's big cats

Public release date: 17-Sep-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: David McKeon dmckeon@nyscf.org 212-365-7440 New York Stem Cell Foundation

New York, NY (September 17, 2013) The New York Genome Center (NYGC) announced today that The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) has become an Associate Member, joining NYGC's growing consortium of 16 research and clinical institutions, all working together in new ways to utilize genomic data for better detection, treatment, and prevention of disease.

"Biologists at the NYSCF working with the genomic scientists at NYGC will help address some of the critical roadblocks in stem cell research," said Dr. Robert B. Darnell, President and Scientific Director of NYGC. "Modern genomics has the potential to provide vital missing information to help us learn how to harness stem cells for use in clinical medicine. We've developed techniques and ideas here at NYGC that will greatly synergize with the beautiful and pioneering work ongoing at the NYSCF."

Stem cell biology and genomic analysis are both critical to the advancement of precision medicine. The collaboration between the Genome Center and NYSCF will merge cutting-edge capabilities in human biology with genomic research, creating an optimal environment for translating research into a better standard of care for patients.

"We are excited to work with NYGC as we continue to accelerate cures for the major diseases of our time. This will enable collaboration within the growing biotechnology community in New York," said Susan L. Solomon, CEO of The New York Stem Cell Foundation. "NYSCF has a number of current projects in which additional genomic analysis may play a critical role in better understanding disease susceptibility and risk factors. We hope to work with NYGC to integrate their genomic analysis into our research."

The New York Genome Center provides an "Integrated Genomics Solution", which includes (1) scientific consultation, (2) next-generation sequencing services for exomes, whole genomes, and RNA, (3) bioinformatic analysis of sequencing results using a high performance computing environment, and (4) data storage so that researchers and clinicians can readily access these results.

As an Associate Member, NYSCF will have priority access to these services. NYSCF will also become a member of the NYGC's Scientific and Clinical Steering Committee (SCSC), which provides guidance on research direction and oversees research collaborations and related funding.

NYSCF employs 45 full-time scientists and engineers in its laboratory who are engaged in the most advanced stem cell research and technology development, including creating NYSCF's Global Stem Cell Array, an automated technology platform that for the first time makes it possible to create identical stem cell lines from a large number of patients in a massively parallel process. This is a revolutionary tool that takes the vast amount of information we have learned from sequencing the human genome and puts it into a biological context to accelerate the development of safe and effective medicine. This robotic system creates induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell lines and cell derivatives in a standardized manner from genetically diverse patients and patients with disease. This program will create an array of stem cell lines representing the full range of human genetics and the diversity of the world's population.

"This collaboration will expand our resources to analyze our stem cell samples at the genetic level, as we continue to bring the latest discoveries in genome science to our work to understand, prevent, and eventually cure diseases like diabetes, Alzheimer's, and multiple sclerosis among many others," said Scott Noggle, Director of the NYSCF Laboratory and the Charles Evans Senior Research Fellow for Alzheimer's Disease.

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New York Genome Center announces the New York Stem Cell Foundation as an Associate Member

Sep. 17, 2013 Numerous recent studies linked gut microbiota with various diseases such as obesity or diabetes. Little is known, however, on how gut and skin microbiota composition is controlled. In a recent study published in the journal Nature Communications on 17 September, John Baines, Saleh Ibrahim and their colleagues of the Inflammation Research Excellence Cluster show that composition of skin microbiota is controlled by the host genome and that skin bacteria may have a greater influence on inflammatory diseases than previously thought. Their landmark findings will open the door to identify gene variants controlling skin microbiota and to define their link to various diseases such as skin inflammatory disorders.

The human body contains more bacteria than human cells. Most of these bacteria comprise the normal gut and skin microbiota. Susceptibility to chronic inflammatory diseases is determined by immunogenetic and environmental risk factors that include resident microbial communities. Whether these differences are of primary etiological importance or secondary to the altered inflammatory environment remains largely unknown.

The inflammation cluster research groups led by Saleh Ibrahim of the University of Lbeck, and John Baines of the MPI and CAU, correlated the genomic variations of hundreds of mice that partially develop skin inflammatory diseases with skin microbiota. They showed evidence for host gene-microbiota interactions contributing to disease risk in a mouse model of autoantibody-induced inflammatory skin disease. Furthermore they identified genetic loci contributing to skin microbiota variability, susceptibility to skin inflammation and their overlap. The majority of the identified microbiotal communities are characterized by reduced abundance being associated with increased disease risk, providing evidence of a primary role in protection from disease.

These findings offer a promising potential for using those probiotic species for preventative and therapeutic treatment development. John Baines: "It appears that the skin flora is a phenotype that is partially controlled by the host genome variations. This in turn predisposes to the development of disease. The more we learn about these interactions, the more possibilities there will be for a better and more individualized treatment and prevention of skin inflammatory diseases.

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The above story is based on materials provided by Christian-Albrechts-Universitaet zu Kiel.

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Host genome controls skin microbiota and inflammation