Human genes sing different tunes in different tissues
Biologists find almost all genes express multiple messenger RNAs
Anne Trafton, News Office
Scientists have long known that it's possible for one gene to produce slightly different forms of the same protein by skipping or including certain sequences from the messenger RNA. Now, an MIT team has shown that this phenomenon, known as alternative splicing, is both far more prevalent and varies more between tissues than was previously believed.
Photo / Donna Coveney
Eric Wang, graduate student in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences
and Technology, and Christopher Burge, Whitehead Career Development Associate Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering at MIT used a gene-sequencing
machine in their work finding that nearly all human genes undergo differential splicing.
IF YOUR SYSTOLIC STINKS, "ROTTEN EGG" GAS MAY BE WHY
--Researchers Discover Hydrogen Sulfide Is a Major Regulator of Blood Pressure
Anyone with a nose knows the rotten-egg odor of hydrogen sulfide, a gas generated by bacteria living in the human colon. Now an international team of scientists has discovered that cells inside the blood vessels of mice — as well as in people, no doubt — naturally make the gassy stuff, and that it controls blood pressure.
SUDDEN CARDIAC DEATH NUMBER ONE RISK FOR PATIENTS ON DIALYSIS
-Inflammation, malnutrition identified as key risk factors
In a 10-year study of more than a thousand kidney failure patients, sudden cardiac death emerged as the number one cause of death for patients on dialysis, according to a Johns Hopkins researcher. The study, already published online and appearing in the Nov. 2 issue of Kidney International, identified systemic inflammatory response and malnutrition as key risk factors for the fatal heart attacks.
Early Pandemic Flu Wave May Protect Against Worse One Later
Evidence Shows Spring Outbreak in 1918 May Have Immunized Against Deadlier Second Wave
New evidence about the worldwide influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 indicates that getting the flu early protected many people against a second deadlier wave, an article co-authored by an NIH epidemiologist concludes.
JOHNS HOPKINS RESEARCHERS DETECT SWEET CACOPHANY WHILE LISTENING TO CELLULAR CROSS-TALK --Sugar Plays Key Role In How Cells Work
Johns Hopkins scientists were dubious in the early 1980s when they stumbled on small sugar molecules lurking in the centers of cells; not only were they not supposed to be there, but they certainly weren't supposed to be repeatedly attaching to and detaching from proteins, effectively switching them on and off. The conventional wisdom was that the job of turning proteins on and off -- and thus determining their actions -- fell to phosphates, in a common and easy-to-detect chemical step in which phosphates fasten to and unfasten from proteins; a process called phosphorylation.
