Zombie DNA Can Cause Muscular Dystrophy

Human cells can copy not only DNA, but also RNA, says team from Pitt, Helicos BioSciences

scienceblog.com

by bjs on August 10, 2010

PITTSBURGH, Aug. 10 — Single-molecule sequencing technology has detected and quantified novel small RNAs in human cells that represent entirely new classes of the gene-translating molecules, confirming a long-held but unproven hypothesis that mammalian cells are capable of synthesizing RNA by copying RNA molecules directly. The findings were reported in Nature by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Helicos Biosciences Corp., Integromics Inc., and the University of Geneva Medical School.

“For the first time, we have evidence to support the hypothesis that human cells have the widespread ability to copy RNA as well as DNA,” said co-author Bino John, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Computational and Systems Biology, Pitt School of Medicine. “These findings emphasize the complexity of human RNA populations and suggest the important role for single-molecule sequencing for accurate and comprehensive genetic profiling.”

Scientists had thought that all RNA in human cells was copied from the DNA template, Dr. John explained. The presence of mechanisms that copy RNA into RNA, typically associated with an enzyme called RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, has only been documented in plants and simple organisms, such as yeast, and implicated in regulation of crucial cellular processes. Since thousands of such RNAs have been detected in human cells and because these RNAs have never before been studied, further research could open up new fronts in therapeutics, particularly diagnostics, Dr. John said.

In the study, the researchers profiled small RNAs from human cells and tissues, uncovering several new classes of RNAs, including antisense termini-associated short RNAs, which are likely derived from messenger RNAs of protein-coding genes by yet uncharacterized, pervasive RNA-copying mechanisms in human cancer cell lines.

“This class of non-coding RNA molecules has been historically overlooked because available sequencing platforms often are unable to provide accurate detection and quantification,” said Patrice Milos, Ph.D., chief scientific officer at Helicos Biosciences. “Our technology provides the platform capability to identify and quantify these RNAs and reinforces the potential clinical advantages of our single molecule-sequencing platform.”

Co-authors include A. Paula Monaghan, Ph.D., and Sang Woo Kim, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; Sylvain Foissac, Ph.D., Integromics Inc.; Stylianos Antonarakis, M.D., Ph.D., and Christelle Borel, Ph.D., University of Geneva Medical School; and Philipp Kapranov, Ph.D., and others from Helicos BioSciences.

The research was funded by the American Cancer Society, the National Institutes of Health, the Swiss National Science Foundation, Integromics Inc., and Helicos BioSciences Corporation.

DNAWellnessinfo.com Resource:  http://scienceblog.com/37388/human-cells-can-copy-not-only-dna-but-also-rna-says-team-from-pitt-helicos-biosciences/

DNA Mutation in c-Myb Gene linked to Leukaemia

thglobalherald.com

Australian researchers have uncovered a novel DNA mutation in the c-Myb gene that may be linked to the development of leukaemia, breast and colon cancer.

A team led by Dr Peter Papathanasiou from the John Curtin School of Medical Research at The Australian National University and Associate Professor Andrew Perkins from the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at The University of Queensland completed a three-year screening project to find the genes that control the development and turnover of stem cells.

“We’ve shown that blood stem cells with this genetic mutation behave the same way as those present in human bone marrow diseases, including diseases that can evolve into leukaemia,” said Dr Papathanasiou, who is also affiliated with the Australian Phenomics Facility at ANU.

“By understanding more about the genetic blueprint of these kinds of disorders, we can start to develop new ways of targeting diseases,” Dr Perkins said.

“Currently, there is no treatment for this group of blood diseases, but the discovery of this mutation provides new avenues for investigation.”

As a result of the screening project, the researchers have also identified five other abnormal blood stem cell profiles, adding to understanding of the genetic diversity of blood cells. The project has also led to a better understanding of how blood cells develop and how this process becomes corrupted.

“Given that the same genes that operate in stem cells also function in cancer cells – albeit with genetic mutation – this research also has potential implications for regenerative medicine, by understanding how to stimulate the growth of new blood cells,” Dr Papathanasiou said.

The project was the first in the world to mutate the mammalian genome in a specific search for novel genetic regulators of stem cells.

The following is taken from the research paper’s abstract:

Here we demonstrate that chemical mutagenesis of mice combined with advances in hematopoietic stem cell reagents and genome resources can efficiently recover recessive mutations and identify genes essential for generation and proliferation of definitive hematopoietic stem cells and/or their progeny.

We employed high-throughput FACS to analyze nine subsets of blood stem cells, progenitor cells, circulating red cells and platelets in >1,300 mouse embryos at embryonic day (E) 14.5. From 45 pedigrees we recovered six strains with defects in definitive hematopoiesis.

We demonstrate rapid identification of a novel mutation in the c-Myb transcription factor that results in thrombocythemia and myelofibrosis as proof-of-principal of the utility of our FACS-based screen.

The work was made possible by grants from the National Health & Medical Research Council, the Leukaemia Foundation, and by the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy to establish the Australian Phenomics Network.

Get the full paper by visiting: http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org/cgi/content/abstract/blood-2010-04-269951v1

DNAWellnessinfo.com Resource:  http://theglobalherald.com/science-dna-mutation-in-c-myb-gene-linked-to-leukaemia/5384/

How DNA Evidence Works

howstuffworks.com

by William Harris

Urine in Public Pools Could Cause Cell Damage

foxnews.com
Thursday, July 22, 2010

Public swimming pools are more dangerous than you might think, a new study suggests. When sweat and urine, among other organics, mix with the disinfectants in pool water, the result can be hazardous to health.

The findings, announced this week, link the application of disinfectants in recreational pools to genetic cell damage that has been shown to be linked with adverse health outcomes such as asthma and bladder cancer.

Pool water represents extreme cases of disinfection that differ from the disinfection of drinking water as pools are continuously exposed to disinfectants. But with so many people cooling off and exercising in pools and water parks (339 million visits across the United States each year), the disinfectants are a must to prevent outbreaks of infectious disease.

Chlorine and Pee Don’t Mix

The problem occurs when the sanitizers mix with organic matter.

“All sources of water possess organic matter that comes from decaying leaves, microbes and other dead life forms,” said study researcher Michael Plewa, University of Illinois professor of genetics. “In addition to organic matter and disinfectants, pool waters contain sweat, hair, skin, urine and consumer products such as cosmetics and sunscreens from swimmers.”
These consumer products are often nitrogen-rich, and when mixed with disinfectants, these products may become chemically modified and converted into more toxic agents.

Long-term exposure to these disinfection byproducts can mutate genes, induce birth defects, accelerate the aging process, cause respiratory ailments, and even induce cancer, according to the researchers. While the new study did not examine actual effects on humans, it suggests such research might be warranted.

Pool Samples

In this study, researchers evaluated water samples from public pools and a control sample of tap water. They tested whether the byproduct chemicals in the samples could induce gene mutations using a so-called systematic mammalian cell genotoxicity analysis.

This sensitive DNA technology can detect genomic damage in mammalian cells, allowing researchers to investigate damage at the level of each nucleus within each cell.

Results proved that all disinfected pool samples had more genomic DNA damage than the source tap water, Plewa said.

The findings are published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. The work was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation.
Cleaner Pools

All this doesn’t mean you need to ditch your pool plans. Plewa offers recommendations for pool operators and swimmers to reduce hazardous chemicals and make for safer pool water.

“Care should be taken in selecting disinfectants to treat recreational pool water,” Plewa advised.

“The data suggest that brominating agents should be avoided as disinfectants of recreational pool water. The best method
to treat pool waters is a combination of UV treatment with chlorine as compared to chlorination alone.”

In addition, organic carbon should be removed prior to disinfection when the pool water is being recycled, Plewa said.

Swimmers can also help by showering before entering the water, which would mean fewer organics and so reduce the genotoxicity of the pool water. One recommendation that may seem obvious: Don’t pee in the pool. Plewa suggests pool owners remind patrons about the potential harm caused by urinating in a pool.

DNAWellnessinfo.com Resource: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,597467,00.html

Human Genome Project will live up to its potential: NIH director

English.news.cn 2010-07-06 05:51:08

By Xinhua writer Ren Haijun

WASHINGTON, July 5 (Xinhua) — A decade after the historic completion of the “book of life” — the first blueprint of human DNA, the benefits of the Human Genome Project still lie ahead. However, Francis Collins, director of the U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH), is “confident” the project will live up to its potential.

“The First Law of Technology states that a truly transformational discovery will always have its immediate consequences overestimated — and its long-term consequences, underestimated. That certainly is turning out to be true from what we are learning about the human genome sequence!” Collins told Xinhua in an interview.

“The greatest significance of the Human Genome Project is the door that it has opened into the vast and complex landscape of human biology,” Collins said. “Exploring this landscape in a way that benefits human health will require creative thinking and hard work by researchers in the United States, China, and everywhere else around the globe.”

Collins, noted for his leadership of the project, thought having the complete sequence of the human genome is similar to having all the pages of an instruction manual needed to make the human body.

“Thanks to the sequencing of the human genome, we have much more powerful tools to study the role that genetic factors play in more complex diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, and even in susceptibility to infectious diseases, such as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS),” he said. “Genomic sequencing has facilitated the diagnosis of genetic conditions, ranging from very rare to quite common. It is shedding new light on the process of aging and providing tantalizing clues to the secrets of longevity. If we fully understand this instruction manual, it could become the most powerful textbook of medicine imaginable!”

The famous U.S. physician-geneticist thought cancer is one category of disease in which he expects genomic research to have a major impact in the near future.

Cancer is caused by changes in a cell’s genome. However, the pattern of these genomic changes varies among different types of cancer — and even among subsets of patients with the same cancer. So, it is important to produce genomic classification systems for many types and subtypes of cancer.

In the United States, the NIH is supporting an effort to build comprehensive catalogs of the key genomic changes in 20 major types and subtypes of cancer. This project, called The Cancer Genome Atlas, is working collaboratively with researchers in China and elsewhere around the world through the International Cancer Genome Consortium. The information generated by such research is already proving useful in developing new cancer therapies, as well as in matching individual cancer patients with the therapies most likely to work for them.

However, Collins warned that amid all the excitement over the promise of genomics research, we need to remember that genes do not operate in a vacuum. There are other important factors that influence people’s risk of developing most common diseases. These factors include smoking, diet, exercise, and exposure to pollution.

“Unless we as humans dramatically change our lifestyles and our environment, I do not see a future in which all common diseases are completely prevented or eradicated,” he said.
Collins, a supporter of free access to human genome sequencing data, thought human genetic information should be kept in the public domain to allow researchers to analyze it and to give members of the public fair access to medical treatments.

“From the outset, the Human Genome Project and the international endeavors that built upon its foundation, such as the International HapMap Project and 1,000 Genomes Project, have made all their data rapidly available to scientists around the globe,” he said. “In many ways, this is one of the most significant legacies of the Human Genome Project — and one that gives me hope that worldwide research community will come up with innovative ways to use this treasure trove of information to fight disease.”

Collins thought there are two major challenges associated with the application of sequencing technologies. The first is lowering the cost of DNA sequencing. “We’ve made dramatic progress in that area over the past 10 years. The cost of sequencing the first human genome was about 400 million dollars. Today, the cost of sequencing one genome is about 9,500 dollars, and we expect that cost to fall to 1,000 dollars or less within the next four or five years.”

The second, perhaps even bigger, challenge is figuring out how to analyze the tidal wave of data being generated by genomic sequencing and then translate those findings in ways that benefit patients in the clinic. However, “this is a challenge that can be met if we pull together the best minds in biology, medicine, statistics, and computer science.”

Collins also thought the completion of the human genome sequence was just the beginning of the effort to understand how all the parts of the genome work together to contribute to health and disease.

“Genomic research is not a sprint, it is a marathon that requires sustained commitment over a long period of time to yield maximum success,” he said.

DNAWellnessinfo.com Resource: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2010-07/06/c_13384897.htm

Smokeless tobacco may hurt DNA, enzymes

CHANDIGARH, India, June 18 (UPI) — A researcher in India warns smokeless tobacco use may damage the body’s DNA and key enzymes.

Krishan Khanduja of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, India, suggests smokeless tobacco not only may damage DNA, but may also affect the normal functioning of a key family of enzymes found in almost every organ.

Khanduja and colleagues found laboratory rats exposed to extracts of smokeless tobacco had altered DNA material in the liver, kidney and lungs — as well as changed function of the CYP-450 family of enzymes. This enzyme group affects many functions including the production of hormones such as estrogen and testosterone, the processing of cholesterol and vitamin D and the breaking down of prescription drugs and possibly toxic substances.

The study, published in Chemical Research in Toxicology, noted use of smokeless products is increasing not only among men but also among children, teenagers and women.

“These products are used around the world but are most common in Northern Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Mediterranean region,” the study authors said in a statement. “Most of the users seem to be unaware of the harmful health effects and, therefore, use smokeless tobacco to ‘treat’ toothaches, headaches, and stomachaches.”

DNAWellnessinfo.com Resource: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2010/06/18/Smokeless-tobacco-may-hurt-DNA-enzymes/UPI-41481276902848/

From Californians’ DNA, a Giant Genome Project

ntimes.com
By SABIN RUSSELL
Published: May 28, 2010

Still in fine fettle at the age of 87, Ruth Young, a retired Oakland school nurse, jumped at the chance, she said, to “spit for the cause.”

Mrs. Young is one of more than 130,000 members of Kaiser Permanente in Northern California who have volunteered to have their DNA scanned by robotic, high-speed gene-reading machines as part of the largest human genome study of its kind ever attempted.

The goal of the study they are participating in is to help scientists uncover the genetic roots of chronic disease and, perhaps, to find out why some people live longer than others.

This month, researchers at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland and the University of California, San Francisco began the highly automated, large-scale process of analyzing that DNA, which is being extracted from tens of thousands of saliva samples donated by Kaiser members in Northern California since 2008.

Each sample of ordinary spit is laden with cells containing the volunteer’s entire set of genes, their genomes, which carry in sequences of DNA the coded instructions for building and maintaining life. The hope for this so-called genome-wide association study is that, when the genes of people with diseases like cancer and multiple sclerosis are compared with the genes of those in good health, computer analysis will pinpoint genes responsible for the illnesses.

With a speed that would have seemed preposterous to contemplate a decade ago, the work of collecting, purifying and digitizing billions of discrete bits of chemical information will be finished in less than 18 months, providing a rich resource for scientists to analyze for decades to come.

Winifred K. Rossi, who is managing the project for the National Institute on Aging, said most genome-wide association studies scan between 5,000 and 8,000 participants, although data from multiple, smaller studies can be pooled to form a larger group. What makes the Kaiser study unique is that members of a single, colossal cohort will have their genomes scanned uniformly, then paired with their medical histories. “It is absolutely the largest study of its kind, and it has enormous statistical power.” Ms. Rossi said.

Mrs. Young, a Kaiser member for 63 years, suffers from arthritic knees and Type II diabetes, which took her father’s life at an early age. “I’m conscientious about my diet, but I do love sweets,” she said.

She had originally been one of nearly two million patients asked in 2007 about participating in the Kaiser study. A huge group of volunteers, ranging in age from 18 to 107, filled out questionnaires. Tens of thousands of them, like Mrs. Young, were asked for specimens.

Following instructions found in a kit mailed to her Oakland home, Mrs. Young deposited the requested spit into a special plastic cup. She sealed it with a blue lid fitted with a built-in preservative and sent it back to Kaiser. Along with her saliva, the samples from the other 130,000 people began arriving in Kaiser’s mailbox.

Experiments like this one underscore how quickly gene-scanning technology is moving from the lab to the home. Last week, officials of the University of California, Berkeley, disclosed that 6,000 incoming freshman and transfer students will be asked to swab their cheeks at home for DNA, to participate in a collective lesson in genetics and a preview of the predicted era when medicine will be tailored to each person’s genetic makeup.

Each student who agrees to participate will be able to tap in a security code on a laptop and check whether they carry gene variants that might affect their ability to process lactose, alcohol or folate, a vitamin found in leafy greens. The Kaiser study participants will not have the same option. Their names are scrubbed from their samples, and only researchers — working with codes instead of names — will be able to link the gene scans to medical histories. Their goal is to discern the larger picture, hoping to spot associations between genes and health that would not show up until very large numbers of individuals are compared at once.

Although this vast experiment has been contemplated for years, it was given a boost last year when Kaiser and the university won a $25 million grant from the National Institutes of Health as part of the stimulus package.

However, the study has begun just as some scientists have started to question the value of these experiments, and when private ventures, like 23andMe, are struggling to find a consumer market for gene tests.

David B. Goldstein, a Duke University researcher, said he believed “interesting and valuable information” would come from the Kaiser study, but he questioned whether it was the most efficient way to gather information about the genetic links to disease. “It’s an awfully expensive study,” Dr. Goldstein said in an e-mail message.

He added, “We have literally hundreds of genome-wide association studies for common diseases, and in most cases we are having trouble making much use of them.” While Dr. Goldstein stresses that discoveries are being made using that technique, he believes that a different approach — sequencing the entire genetic code of fewer patients rather than scanning the genome for variations — “is likely to yield more useful returns.”

For Kaiser, the federal grant is just the beginning of a long-term endeavor.

In the coming years, 400,000 more members will be asked to contribute their DNA to the project when they come in for routine blood work. Kaiser is spending $9 million to build a repository for the blood samples.

“It’s an idea whose time has come,” said Dr. Pui-Yan Kwok, an investigator at the Institute for Human Genetics at the University of California, San Francisco, where the genes are being scanned. “The genotyping technology is here, the electronic medical records are here.”

Using high-precision robots to process each sample, the genomes of 2,500 participants are being analyzed each week. The genetic information will be stored in computers for future studies by scientists all over the globe.

At the same time, Elizabeth Blackburn, a Nobel-prize winning biologist at the university, and her lab will be conducting a mass experiment on a separate set of 100,000 samples of DNA from the Kaiser patients. They will be measuring the length of telomeres — wads of DNA at the top and bottom of every chromosome that, like shoelace tips, keep them from unraveling when a cell divides. Telomere length tends to shorten with age, and shorter telomeres tend to be linked with shorter life spans.

“Telomere length is more reflective of things that happen in your life than the genetic hand you are born with,” said Dr. Blackburn.

She said that the Kaiser patients are a valuable resource for science because their detailed medical histories can be matched with the varied measurements of telomere length and matched to the gene scans that will be done for each participant as well. Her targets are the three top diseases that kill the elderly: cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

At the Kaiser research lab, a production line of robotic equipment has been set up to process the 130,000 cups of saliva that have been mailed by patients and stored, at room temperature, in racks of cardboard “pizza boxes,” 50 cups to a box. Here, the robots draw out a sample of spit, and chemically process it to extract the donor’s DNA.

One set of Mrs. Young’s DNA will be sent to Dr. Blackburn’s lab, where the length of its telomeres will be measured. A second set will arrive at Dr. Kwok’s newly equipped facility, where the genome of each Kaiser participant will be scanned using an array of robots, each costing about a quarter million dollars.

At Dr. Kwok’s ninth-floor lab, three sets of robots prepare the DNA samples shipped from Oakland. The full complement of DNA from each volunteer is washed over a custom-designed silicon chip about this size of small fingernail. Microscopic wells etched into the chip are each engineered to pluck out one of 675,000 possible gene variants.

“Our biggest fear is a power-failure,” said Dr. Kwok. Each array, filled with 96 processed DNA samples, costs $10,000.

DNAWellnessinfo.com Resource: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/science/30sfgenome.html?pagewanted=1

UPDATE 1-Benefits trump risks of rotavirus vaccine-US panel

By Lisa Richwine

GAITHERSBURG, Md., May 7 (Reuters) – Benefits from rotavirus vaccines made by GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK.L) and Merck & Co Inc (MRK.N) outweigh any risk from recently discovered contamination with a pig virus, members of a U.S. advisory panel said on Friday.

Pieces of DNA from porcine circovirus (PCV) have been detected in Glaxo’s Rotarix and Merck’s Rotateq. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said there was no evidence the virus harms people.

Several members of a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel said the vaccines carried impressive benefits from preventing rotavirus, which can cause fatal diarrhea, and agreed there was no sign so far of illness in people from PCV.
Any risks “are at best theoretical,” said Dr. Melinda Wharton, a panelist and deputy director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

“Based on where we are with current knowledge, to me the known benefits clearly outweigh the risks,” she said.

The panel did not take any votes on formal recommendations to the agency.

In March the FDA advised doctors to stop using Rotarix after PCV-1 was found in the vaccine. Merck then tested its vaccine and the FDA announced on Thursday the company found pieces of DNA from PCV-1 and a related virus, PCV-2.

The FDA said it wanted the advisory panel’s input before making new recommendations on either vaccine. The agency will issue its latest advice “in the very near future,” said Karen Midthun, acting head of the FDA unit that reviews vaccines. “We need to consider this very expeditiously,” she told reporters.

Both PCV1 and PCV2 are common in pigs but neither is known to cause illness in humans, the FDA said. PCV2 is believed to cause postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome in young piglets, marked by diarrhea and an inability to gain weight.

Advisory panel members urged further study to check for any long-term effects from PCV. Some also said parents needed to be told about the PCV finding.
“The fact that it poses no risk in the short term is certainly comforting. I don’t think that necessarily says it’s risk-free in the long term,” said panelist Stephen Hughes, head of the HIV drug resistance program at the National Cancer Institute.

Some panelists said they wanted to know more about PCV2. The committee heard less about that type as Merck’s finding was so recent. The meeting was originally scheduled just to discuss the Glaxo vaccine.

PCV1 apparently has been in Glaxo’s vaccine since it was first developed, the company said. Testing found DNA from the virus in master cells used to make the product.

The material may have come from a pig-derived enzyme called trypsin used early in development, Glaxo officials said.

“All available data support this is a manufacturing quality issue and not a safety issue. PCV1 does not pose a risk for infants vaccinated with Rotarix,” said Dr. Barbara Howe, a Glaxo vice president.

Glaxo said it planned to develop a rotavirus vaccine free from PCV1 but the process would take time.

Merck was not scheduled to speak at the meeting, but the company said on Thursday the levels of DNA from PCV were low in Rotateq and there was no sign it was harmful to people.

Vaccines against rotavirus have a troubled history. Wyeth’s Rotashield was pulled off the market in 1999 after it was linked with a rare but deadly bowel obstruction.

Rotavirus kills more than 500,000 infants each year, mostly in low- and middle-income countries. In the United States, deaths from the virus are rare but it caused more than 50,000 U.S. hospitalizations annually before Merck’s vaccine won FDA approval in 2006.

The World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency have not recommended any changes in rotavirus vaccine use in Europe or developing countries.

In 2009, sales of Merck’s vaccine totaled $522 million, including $468 million from the United States.

Most of Glaxo’s rotavirus vaccine sales occur outside the United States. Worldwide sales in 2009 were $440 million, including $118 million from the United States. Glaxo’s vaccine won U.S. approval in 2008. (Reporting by Lisa Richwine, editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Carol Bishopric)

DNAWellnessinfo.com Resource: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0712973220100507

Canadian scientists crack hidden DNA code

Last Updated: Wednesday, May 5, 2010 | 1:11 PM ET

Canadian researchers have unraveled a genetic “code within a code” that helps explain how the instructions for building complex organisms, like humans, can be found in a small number of genes.

University of Toronto scientists Brendan Frey and Benjamin Blencowe said they have found a hidden code in DNA that helps explain how a small number of genes can contain instructions for a larger number of proteins and structures.

When researchers fully sequenced the human genome in 2004, they were surprised at how few genes humans actually have.

“Human DNA has 22,000 genes. That might seem like a lot, but not when you consider that a poplar tree has 45,000,” said Frey, in a statement.

Frey said his team, including Blencowe and Yoseph Barash, found a second level of information that the cells of living organisms use to create a larger set of instructions.

“We discovered a hidden code within DNA that living cells use to turn 20,000 genes into hundreds of thousands of genetic messages, by rearranging their parts,” he said.

Barash and Frey, who is also a professor of computer science and engineering, created a computer program that analyzes DNA to find “code words” in the genome.

The code words together are called the “splicing code,” containing the biological information needed to splice together different parts of the genetic code in different orders to generate a greater number of messages.

“For example, three neurexin genes can generate over 3,000 genetic messages that help control the wiring of the brain,” said Frey.

Neurexin is a protein that glues together the connections between nerve cells in the brain.

Frey said their work is the result of a close collaboration between computer scientists and experimental biologists.

“Understanding a complex biological system is like understanding a complex electronic circuit. Our team ‘reverse-engineered’ the splicing code using large-scale experimental data generated by the group,” he said.

The research was the cover story in this week’s issue of the journal Nature.

DNAWellnessinfo.com Resource: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/05/05/tech-dna-splicing-code.html#ixzz0n9Wn5yO0