Colorado company using DNA to predict athletic performance

Posted: 5:19 PM Feb 8, 2010
Reporter: KKTV

Colorado company is testing young athletes’ DNA to find out if they have what it takes to compete at an elite level.

Atlas Sports Genetics uses a cotton swab to take a saliva sample to be sent and analyzed by an Australian lab. The test screens for variants of the gene ACTN3, which is associated with a muscle protein that is commonly found in high levels in elite athletes, such as Olympians. Atlas says the results can help guide young athletes to play in particular sports that are better suited to their physical make-up.

Atlas president Kevin Reiley says if they can direct a young athlete to such a sport at an early age and it can help them get ready to make a run at a college scholarship by the end of their high school career.

“Now the expectation is, when you recruit an athlete at a collegiate level, you want the recruit to be an impact player right away,” says Reiley. “That puts emphasis on high school and junior high to get them up to the point where they can be an impact player right away.”‘

Dr. Matthew Taylor, the Director of Adult Clinical Genetics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine says Atlas can indeed test for the presence of the gene ACTN3 and the associated proteins, but he feels it’s way to early to say the results can predict better performance in certain sports.

“At the moment, you’re welcome to use the test. You might find it interesting,” admits Dr. Taylor. “But anybody who thinks you should use the test to guide or dictate your own athletic work or what your kids do is probably not getting the message. I think it’s too premature.”

Atlas admits there is still plenty of research to be done with such testing, but it feels like the results, combined with a proper training regimen is the best way to identify athletic talent at the present time.

The test costs $169.00 and can be purchased on Atlas’s website at www.atlasgene.com

DNAWellnessinfo.com Resource:  http://www.kktv.com/sports/headlines/83841927.html

Researchers Get Grant for DNA Factory

February 8, 2010, 2:04 pm – bay area blogs

Living fast? Scientists show lifespan is linked to DNA

Ian Sample, science correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 7 February 2010 19.55 GMT

Scientists have isolated a gene sequence that appears to determine how fast our bodies age, the first time a link between DNA and human lifespan has been found.

The discovery could have a profound impact on public health and raises the best hope yet for drugs that prevent the biological wear and tear behind common age-related conditions such as heart disease and certain cancers.

The work is expected to pave the way for screening programmes to spot people who are likely to age fast and be more susceptible to heart problems and other conditions early in life. People who test positive for the gene variant in their 20s could be put on cholesterol-lowering statin drugs and encouraged to exercise, eat healthily and avoid smoking.

The breakthrough is unlikely to lead to drugs that dramatically extend lifespan, but doctors say it may help prolong the lives of patients whose genes make them susceptible to dying young.

The research gives the kind of insight into the biology of ageing that has not emerged from work on other strategies that claim to extend lifespan, such as consuming vast quantities of antioxidants or pursuing a severely calorie-restricted diet.

“This may help us identify patients who are at a greater risk of developing common age-related diseases so we can focus more attention on them,” said Professor Nilesh Samani, a cardiologist at the University of Leicester, who led the research.

The research highlights the difference between chronological age and biological age, the latter of which is determined by our genetic makeup and lifestyle factors, such as diet and smoking. Two people of the same age can have biological ages that differ by more than 10 years.

A team led by Samani and Professor Tim Spector at King’s College, London found a common sequence of DNA was strongly linked to a person’s biological age. In a study of nearly 3,000 people, around 38% inherited one copy of the gene variant and were biologically three to four years older than those who did not carry the sequence.

A minority of 7% inherited two copies of the DNA sequence and were on average six to seven biological years older. The majority of the population, 55%, do not carry any copies of the variant.

The study, published in the journal Nature Genetics, was prompted by the huge variability in the age at which people develop medical problems that are often considered diseases of the elderly.

“I see patients in their 80s with high blood pressure who have healthy coronary arteries and I see people in their 40s who don’t seem to have any risk factors yet have advanced heart disease,” Samani said. “We think this kind of variability must have something to do with premature ageing.”

Most of the cells in our bodies contain long molecules of DNA called chromosomes that have protective caps at either end called telomeres. Every time a cell divides, the telomeres shorten, like plastic tips fraying on a shoelace. When the telomeres become very short, the cell starts to malfunction and show signs of ageing.

From blood samples, Samani and Spector found a particular gene sequence was more common in people who had unusually short telomeres for their age. The section of DNA was found on chromosome three, next to a gene called TERC, which makes an enzyme that repairs telomeres when they shorten.

People who carry one or two copies of the genetic sequence probably make less of the enzyme, called telomerase, when they are growing in the womb. This means they are born with shorter telomeres, and so are prone to ageing more quickly.

“The effect may be built in at a very early stage in life. If you’re born with shorter telomeres, there’s evidence you will be prone to heart disease and other age-related diseases,” Samani said.

Scientists are unlikely to reverse the ageing process by boosting telomerase in people’s bodies. Telomerase is almost completely deactivated after birth, but is switched back on in cancer cells so they can divide endlessly without dying. “Introducing telomerase might protect you from heart disease, but if you turn it on willy nilly you could cause cancer instead,” Samani said.

DNAWellnessinfo.com Resource:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/feb/07/ageing-genetics

Premature birth gene clue found

Friday, 5 February 2010 – bbc news

DNA differences which appear to affect the risk of giving birth early have been found by US scientists.

The US National Institutes of Health study found the variants in both babies and mothers, a US conference was told.

It is thought they may play a role in controlling immune responses which could theoretically trigger labour if they become too powerful.

Premature birth – which accounts for 7% of UK births – is one of the biggest threats to a baby’s future health.

The causes of premature birth are poorly understood, although infections and other medical complications are blamed in some cases.

The study looked at 700 DNA variants in 190 genes in women who delivered early, and those who carried their baby to term.

The cord blood of the babies was also tested for these variations.

They narrowed the search down to a handful of gene variations found more often in the women who gave birth prematurely, and their babies.

In particular, babies who carried the gene for the “Interleukin 6 receptor” were more likely to be born early.

This was a good candidate gene because Interleukin 6 is produced by cells in response to infection and is involved in inflammation.

High levels of Interleukin 6 in the amniotic fluid and foetal blood have been linked to the onset of premature labour.

Baby threat

Dr Roberto Romero, who led the study, said: “Our hypothesis is that the mother and/or the foetus signal the onset of preterm labour when the environment inside the uterus is unfavourable and threatens the survival of the maternal-foetal pair.

“When there is an infection in the uterus, the onset of premature labour appears to have survival value – it would allow the mother to rid herself of infected tissue and preserve her ability to have future pregnancies.”

The chief executive of charity Bliss, Andy Cole, welcomed the study results.

“In England alone, 54,000 babies are born prematurely each year, a third of these for no known reason,” he said.

“The development of a reliable test for identifying these mothers is vital in ensuring our most vulnerable babies have the best possible outcomes.”

DNAWellnessinfo.com Resource:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8498712.stm

DNA Mapping Used To Track MRSA Transmission

Submitted by Barinder Khatra on Sat, 01/23/2010 – 18:50

In path breaking research, scientists from Britain’s Bath, Oxford and London and Portugal, Thailand and the United States came together at the University of Cambridge to discover a revolutionary method for precisely tracking the spread of MRSA from country to country, patient to patient. The technique involves the usage of DNA mapping technology in studying the genome of the bacteria.

HUMAN-DNA-MAPING

This study would now help scientists and medical practitioners to better understand the spread and of the super bug, whether the bacteria is being transmitted as a result of inner hospital infections or its coming in from the outside.

By comparing samples of patients from various parts of the world, the team appeared to have reached the conclusion that MRSA originated in Europe in the early 1960s as a result of the first large scale usage of anti-biotic.

According to Dr. Shannon Peacock of Cambridge University, “Our research should inform global surveillance strategies to track the spread of MRSA. The implications for public health are clear: this technology represents the potential to trace transmission pathways of MRSA more definitively so that interventions or treatments can be targeted with precision and according to need”.

DNAWellnessinfo.com Resource:  http://topnews.co.uk/22109-dna-mapping-used-track-mrsa-transmission

Evolution faster than thought

2010-01-01 22:18 news24.com

Berlin – A team of German and US scientists has discovered that genetic mutation – the basic process of evolution – occurs much faster than previously thought, according to a study published on Friday.

The team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biology in Tuebingen and the University of Indiana studied genome mutation in a species of cress (Arabidopsis thaliana), and found that each gene in the plant will mutate on average once in every 143 million generations.

Genomes are the complete set of genetic information for any organism, consisting of individual genes found in DNA.

“While the long-term effects of genome mutations are quite well understood, we did not know how often new mutations arise in the first place,” project leader Detlef Weigel of the Max Planck Institute said in a press statement.

Thousands of years

The discovery means that for many plant species, whose millions of individual members produce thousands of seeds with each generation, an entire genome mutation can occur within a relatively short space of time.

“Evolution reveals itself only after thousands, not millions of years,” Weigel said.

Such a rate of genetic change can explain how species adapt to changing circumstances quickly, and the study gives the example of weeds becoming resistant to specific herbicides within just a few generations.

60 new mutations in humans

The team used new methods to track all the genetic changes in five “lines” (plants with common ancestors) of Arabidopsis thaliana over 30 generations. In the final generation they searched for differences to the original plants.

“To ferret out where the genome had changed was only possible because of new methods that allowed us to screen the entire genome with high precision and in a very short time,” Weigel said.

The team said that the same speed of genetic change could in theory be expected in human DNA, meaning that with six billion people on earth each form of human gene would be permanently mutating somewhere on the planet.

“If you apply our findings to humans, then each of us will have in the order of 60 new mutations that were not present in our parents. Everything that is genetically possible is being tested in a very short period,” said Indiana University’s Michael Lynch. Max Planck Society:

- SAPA

DNAWellnessinfo.com Resource:  http://www.news24.com/Content/SciTech/News/1132/fde544679f8e47fb9d0155d6adc6171a/01-01-2010-10-18/Evolution_faster_than_thought

Faster, Cheaper DNA Sequencing Method Devised

ScienceDaily (Dec. 22, 2009) — Boston University biomedical engineers have devised a method for making future genome sequencing faster and cheaper by dramatically reducing the amount of DNA required, thus eliminating the expensive, time-consuming and error-prone step of DNA amplification.

A team of researchers led by Boston University biomedical engineer Amit Meller is using electrical fields to efficiently draw long strands of DNA through nanopore sensors, drastically reducing the number of DNA copies required for a high throughput analysis. (Credit: Figure copyright, Nature Nanotechnology, 2009)

In a study published in the Dec. 20 online edition of Nature Nanotechnology, a team led by Boston University Biomedical Engineering Associate Professor Amit Meller details pioneering work in detecting DNA molecules as they pass through silicon nanopores. The technique uses electrical fields to feed long strands of DNA through four-nanometer-wide pores, much like threading a needle. The method uses sensitive electrical current measurements to detect single DNA molecules as they pass through the nanopores.

“The current study shows that we can detect a much smaller amount of DNA sample than previously reported,” said Meller. “When people start to implement genome sequencing or genome profiling using nanopores, they could use our nanopore capture approach to greatly reduce the number of copies used in those measurements.”

Currently, genome sequencing utilizes DNA amplification to make billions of molecular copies in order to produce a sample large enough to be analyzed. In addition to the time and cost DNA amplification entails, some of the molecules — like photocopies of photocopies — come out less than perfect. Meller and his colleagues at BU, New York University and Bar-Ilan University in Israel have harnessed electrical fields surrounding the mouths of the nanopores to attract long, negatively charged strands of DNA and slide them through the nanopore where the DNA sequence can be detected. Since the DNA is drawn to the nanopores from a distance, far fewer copies of the molecule are needed.

Before creating this new method, the team had to develop an understanding of electro-physics at the nanoscale, where the rules that govern the larger world don’t necessarily apply. They made a counterintuitive discovery: the longer the DNA strand, the more quickly it found the pore opening.

“That’s really surprising,” Meller said. “You’d expect that if you have a longer ‘spaghetti,’ then finding the end would be much harder. At the same time this discovery means that the nanopore system is optimized for the detection of long DNA strands — tens of thousands basepairs, or even more. This could dramatically speed future genomic sequencing by allowing analysis of a long DNA strand in one swipe, rather than having to assemble results from many short snippets.

“DNA amplification technologies limit DNA molecule length to under a thousand basepairs,” Meller added. “Because our method avoids amplification, it not only reduces the cost, time and error rate of DNA replication techniques, but also enables the analysis of very long strands of DNA, much longer than current limitations.”

With this knowledge in hand, Meller and his team set out to optimize the effect. They used salt gradients to alter the electrical field around the pores, which increased the rate at which DNA molecules were captured and shortened the lag time between molecules, thus reducing the quantity of DNA needed for accurate measurements. Rather than floating around until they happened upon a nanopore, DNA strands were funneled into the openings.

By boosting capture rates by a few orders of magnitude, and reducing the volume of the sample chamber the researchers reduced the number of DNA molecules required by a factor of 10,000 — from about 1 billion sample molecules to 100,000.

The research was funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute of the Institutes of Health and by the National Science Foundation.

DNAWellnessinfo.com Resource:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091220143923.htm

New DNA Test Could Speed Time to Sepsis Diagnosis

Method saves an average 18 hours over conventional blood culture, research shows

THURSDAY, Dec. 10 (HealthDay News) — A new DNA test for sepsis-causing bacteria provides results much sooner than the current gold-standard blood-culture method, a new study shows.

Sepsis is a potentially fatal condition caused by the immune system’s strong reaction to a serious infection. The sooner sepsis is diagnosed, the sooner infection-specific treatment can begin, leading to improved patient outcomes.

In this study, researchers found that the new Prove-it microarray platform — a series of microscopic spots of short DNA fragments whose sequences are specific for individual organisms — delivered results an average of 18 hours faster than the blood culture technique, which is based on detecting inhibition of growth of bacteria through antibiotics

.

The blood culture method typically takes one to three days to become positive. Another one or two days may be needed to identify the bacteria and their antibiotic sensitivity patterns, according to background information in the study.

“The Prove-it sepsis assay yielded a high sensitivity and specificity, and identified bacterial species about 18 hours before conventional culture methods did, providing practical and realistic delivery of same-day bacterial identification after the blood-culture positivity,” the researchers wrote.

“Our study was not designed to address health-care costs,” they added. “Although additional costs are associated with this assay, these costs need to be assessed in the context of the effect of early identification on total patient management, which might include savings relating to factors such as targeted investigation, length of stay in hospital, and outcomes for the patient.”

The study was released online Dec. 9 in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of The Lancet.

DNAWellnessinfo.com Resource:  http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/12/10/new-dna-test-could-speed-time-to-sepsis-diagnosis.html

DNA test could prevent blood disorder in infants

2009-12-09 22:11:17 CST

by Brendan Missett

Genetic testing in newborns can help identify T-cell lymphopenia, a blood disorder that disrupts the function of the immune system, according to new research.

As part of the study, which was published in the December 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers screened all infants born in Wisconsin in 2008 for T-cell lymphopenia using a DNA test which measures the number of T-cell receptor excision circles (TREC) in a blood sample, HealthDay reports.

Of a the 71,000 infants screened, a total of 11 were found to have at least one abnormal TREC test result, eight of whom were diagnosed with T-cell lymphopenia after being evaluated by a clinical immunologist.

In many cases, the study notes, babies with the blood disorder, manifested by a low level of white blood cells, can appear to be healthy and have no family history of immunodeficiency.

“Consequently, many infants with severe T-cell deficiencies are not identified until life-threatening infections occur,” said Dr John Routes of the Medical College of Wisconsin.

He added that early diagnosis, which could be facilitated by the DNA testing, dramatically improves the prognosis of newborns with the condition.

The T-cell lymphopenia screen costs only $5.50 per test, according to Medscape.com.

DNAWellnessinfo.com Resource:  http://www.privatemdlabs.com/news/Blood_and_Blood_Diseases/DNA-test-could-prevent-blood-disorder-in-infants$19504807.php

Salivary DNA tests to support dentists’ fight against periodontal disease