Editorial and Comments

Canada to search for Arctic explorer's ships

By ROB GILLIES Associated Press Writer

TORONTO—For more than 160 years, the fate of British explorer Sir John Franklin and his men has remained locked in the frozen Arctic, but warming temperatures are threatening to change that.

Canadian officials announced Friday they will lead a new search for Franklin's two ships, their efforts driven by a desire to assert control over the Northwest Passage and fears that melting ice will allow others to find and plunder the remains.

"Obviously more of this water will be traversable in more parts of the year so we want to find it before Hollywood," Environment Minister John Baird told The Associated Press after announcing the Parks Canada-led search for the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.

Franklin and 128 hand-picked officers and men vanished mysteriously between 1845-48 on an expedition to find the fabled Northwest Passage. Franklin's disappearance prompted one of history's largest rescue searches, from 1848 to 1859, which resulted in the discovery of the passage.

Genetic Map of Europe Shows Relationships

Manfred Kayser, a geneticist at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands has constructed a genetic map of Europe. In the near future it should be possible to devise a forensic test allowing an individual to learn which country in Europe they likely come from.

Link Between DNV and Cancer Susceptibility Found

Scientists at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) have discovered a link between a newly discovered form of inherited genetic alteration, termed DNA copy number variation (CNV), and cancer susceptibility.

Therapies For Cancer And Other Diseases Venture Announced

The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Seed-One Ventures announce the formation of Heat Biologics Inc. to develop two related platform technologies which introduce a novel lung cancer vaccine and asthma therapy, with potential applications in the treatment of a number of other inflammatory diseases. The two treatments were developed by Eckhard Podack, M.D., Ph.D., Sylvester Distinguished Professor of Medicine and chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.

Survival of the fittest: even cancer cells follow the laws of evolution

Contact: Cody Mooneyhan
cmooneyhan@faseb.org
301-634-7104
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology

Scientists from The Institute of Advanced Studies at Princeton and the University of California discovered that the underlying process in tumor formation is the same as for life itself—evolution. After analyzing a half million gene mutations, the researchers found that although different gene mutations control different cancer pathways, each pathway was controlled by only one set of gene mutations. This suggests that a molecular "survival of the fittest" scenario plays out in every living creature as gene mutations strive for ultimate survival through cancerous tumors. This finding, which appears in the August 2008 issue of The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org), improves our understanding of how evolution shapes life in all forms, while laying a foundation for new cancer drugs and treatments.

"This study lays the groundwork for understanding the nature of different mutations in cancers," said Chen-Hsiang Yeung, first author of the study, "and helps with understanding the mechanisms of cancers and their responses to drug treatments."

To arrive at these conclusions, researchers analyzed about 500,000 cancer mutation records from the Catalog of Somatic Mutations in Cancer database and then divided the data into 45 tissue types. Within each tissue type, they calculated the frequency that multiple genes were mutated in the same sample. They identified the frequencies of mutations that were significantly higher or lower than if the genes had mutated independently. Then they mapped out how these genes ultimately lead to cancerous tumors and checked whether the genes occurring in specific tissues used the same or different cancer pathways.

"Little could Darwin have known that his 'Origin of the Species' would one day explain the 'Origin of the Tumor,'" said Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. "This research report completely changes our understanding of the many gene mutations that cause cancer."

How reliable is DNA in identifying suspects?

By Jason Felch and Maura Dolan

Los Angeles Times

State crime lab analyst Kathryn Troyer was running tests on Arizona's DNA database when she stumbled across two felons with remarkably similar genetic profiles.

The men matched at nine of the 13 locations on chromosomes, or loci, commonly used to distinguish people.

The FBI estimated the odds of unrelated people sharing those genetic markers to be as remote as 1 in 113 billion. But the mug shots of the two felons suggested that they were not related: One was black, the other white.

In the years after her 2001 discovery, Troyer found dozens of similar matches -- each seeming to defy impossible odds.

As word spread, these findings by a little-known lab worker raised questions about the accuracy of the FBI's DNA statistics and ignited a legal fight over whether the nation's genetic databases ought to be opened to wider scrutiny.

The FBI laboratory, which administers the national DNA database system, tried to stop distribution of Troyer's results and began an aggressive behind-the-scenes campaign to block similar searches elsewhere, even those ordered by courts, a Times investigation found.

At stake is the credibility of the compelling odds often cited in DNA cases, which can suggest an all but certain link between a suspect and a crime scene.

When DNA from such clues as blood or skin cells matches a suspect's genetic profile, it can seal his fate with a jury, even in the absence of other evidence. As questions arise about the reliability of ballistic, bite-mark and even fingerprint analysis, genetic evidence has emerged as the forensic gold standard, often portrayed in courtrooms as unassailable.

How do genes direct the production of proteins?

News from the National Institute of Health

Most genes contain the information needed to make functional molecules called proteins. (A few genes produce other molecules that help the cell assemble proteins.) The journey from gene to protein is complex and tightly controlled within each cell. It consists of two major steps: transcription and translation. Together, transcription and translation are known as gene expression.

During the process of transcription, the information stored in a gene’s DNA is transferred to a similar molecule called RNA (ribonucleic acid) in the cell nucleus. Both RNA and DNA are made up of a chain of nucleotide bases, but they have slightly different chemical properties. The type of RNA that contains the information for making a protein is called messenger RNA (mRNA) because it carries the information, or message, from the DNA out of the nucleus into the cytoplasm.

Translation, the second step in getting from a gene to a protein, takes place in the cytoplasm. The mRNA interacts with a specialized complex called a ribosome, which “reads” the sequence of mRNA bases. Each sequence of three bases, called a codon, usually codes for one particular amino acid. (Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins.) A type of RNA called transfer RNA (tRNA) assembles the protein, one amino acid at a time. Protein assembly continues until the ribosome encounters a “stop” codon (a sequence of three bases that does not code for an amino acid).

The flow of information from DNA to RNA to proteins is one of the fundamental principles of molecular biology. It is so important that it is sometimes called the “central dogma.”

 

Through the processes of transcription and translation, information from genes is used to make proteins.

Three Sequencing Companies Join 1000 Genomes Project

Bethesda, Md.,  June 11, 2008 — Leaders of the 1000 Genomes Project announced today that three firms that have pioneered development of new sequencing technologies have joined the international effort to build the most detailed map to date of human genetic variation as a tool for medical research. The new participants are: 454 Life Sciences, a Roche company, Branford, Conn.; Applied Biosystems, an Applera Corp. business, Foster City, Calif.; and Illumina Inc., San Diego.

The 1000 Genomes Project, which was announced in January 2008, is an international research consortium that is creating a new map of the human genome that will provide a view of biomedically relevant DNA variations at a resolution unmatched by current resources. Organizations that have already committed major support to the project are: the Beijing Genomics Institute, Shenzhen, China; the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge, U.K.; and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health. The NHGRI-supported work is being done by the institute's Large-Scale Sequencing Network, which includes the Human Genome Sequencing Center at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston; the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Mass.; and the Washington University Genome Sequencing Center at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis.

Fungus Genome: Key to Clean Fuels?

By:  Eric Bland, Discovery News

May 9, 2008 -- By decoding the genome of a green fungus with a hunger for fibrous plants, scientists hope to boost the supply of cellulose-based ethanol, leaving more food for consumption and driving down transportation costs.

"People have had the idea for many years to use the inedible portion of food and turn it into fuel," said Diego Martinez, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and study author.

"Right now it's too pricey," he explained. "We want to bring down that cost."

Purdue Scientists Create Detailed Map of Carbon Emissions

Scientists at Purdue University have created a high-resolution, interactive map tracking carbon emmissions in the U.S.