Genetics

A large study from Children's Hospital Boston and the Boston-based Autism Consortium finds that a genetic test that samples the entire genome, known as chromosomal microarray analysis, has about three times the detection rate for genetic changes related to autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) than standard tests.

UC Irvine researchers have played a leading role in the genome sequencing of Hydra, a freshwater polyp that has been a staple of biological research for 300 years.

Two research teams have independently decoded the entire genome of patients to find the exact genetic cause of their diseases. The approach may offer a new start in the so far disappointing effort to identify the genetic roots of major killers like heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s.

Researchers at the University of Utah and other institutions have sequenced for the first time the entire genome of a family, enabling them to accurately estimate the average rate at which parents pass genetic mutations to their offspring and also identify precise locations where parental chromosomes exchange information that creates new combinations of genetic traits in their children.

Cells may not have a mouth, but they still need to ingest substances from the external environment. If this process - known as endocytosis - is affected, it can lead to infectious diseases or cardio-vascular diseases, cancer, Huntington’s and diabetes.

Researchers have discovered that the ability or inability to recognise faces is not a learned skill or the product of a person's environment as previously thought - it's actually in their genes.

For the first time, scientists have sequenced the entire genome of the pea aphid, a notorious horticultural and agricultural pest. The findings reveal the extent of the genetic collaboration of the aphid host with its bacterial symbiont, which may account for some of the extraordinary characteristics of this insect.

Working with worms may not be your average person’s idea of a good time, but for University of Toronto researcher Dr. Andrew Fraser, they are fascinating.

A few minor variations in one gene may make a difference in athletic endurance, according to a new study from Physiological Genomics.

In the dominoes that make up human cells, researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have traced another step of the process that stops cells from becoming cancerous.

Arizona State University scientists have come up with a new twist in their efforts to develop a faster and cheaper way to read the DNA genetic code. They have developed the first, versatile DNA reader that can discriminate between DNA's four core chemical components⎯the key to unlocking the vital code behind human heredity and health.

The genes are the first to be associated with the speech impediment that affects as many as 1% of adults. Experts say the finding should relieve guilt feelings in parents who think they are at fault.

To find the causes for cancer, biochemists and developmental biologists at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, retraced the function of an important human cancer gene 600 million years back in time.

Scientists at the University of Copenhagen have become the first to reconstruct the nuclear genome of an extinct human being. It is the first time an ancient genome has been reconstructed in detail.

Groundbreaking research led by Dr Emmeline Hill, a leading horse genomics researcher at University College Dublin’s (UCD) School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine has resulted in the identification of ‘The Speed Gene’ in Thoroughbred horses.