Category: Uncategorized

40 YEARS WITH HALF A WHEEL. "For over 40 years we have assumed that DNA changes affecting the genetic code solely impact how proteins are made…Now we know that this basic assumption about reading the human genome missed half of the picture." https://lnkd.in/dF_aARJ View in LinkedIn

TWO LANGUAGES. "Genomes use the genetic code to write two separate languages. One describes how proteins are made, and the other instructs the cell on how genes are controlled. One language is written on top of the other." https://lnkd.in/dF_aARJ View in LinkedIn

SECOND CODE. "Scientists have discovered a second code hiding within DNA. The second code contains information that changes how scientists read the instructions contained in DNA and interpret mutations to make sense of health and disease." https://lnkd.in/dF_aARJ View in LinkedIn

HIDDEN SUB-CODE. "Transcription Factors which can modulate the expression levels of genes. This new research suggests that there is a sub-code buried within the same stretches of DNA that make proteins, one that specifies TF binding and thus at least partially controls gene expression." http://www.geek.com/science/scientists-discover-a-second-genetic-code-except-not-really-1579496/ View in LinkedIn

SENSATIONAL HEADLINE. "It’s hard to imagine a more sensational biology headline than that: a second genetic code. The foundation of our modern understanding of life is based on the original, a 64-line legend to the biological map." https://lnkd.in/dkCZ-Qy View in LinkedIn

ANTISENSE. “Compared with coding transcripts, most antisense lncRNAs are expressed at 10-fold lower levels on average, and their expression in different tissues and cell types has generally been found to be more cell type specific. A biological role of antisense lncRNAs, despite this low expression, could still be rationalized due to the fact that there are two copies of DNA for any given gene in a cell; consequently, just two antisense lncRNA molecules are sufficient to interact with the two gene copies and elicit regulatory effects.” (IncRNA = long non coding RNA). http://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/16/2/3251/htm View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this first weekend of postings about the most common protein fold on planet earth. No surprises that such an innovation came from viruses, which are so quickly evolving and numerous, that they have generated vast varieties of genetic and structural molecules that have been incorporated into all life forms. And there are still those who believe that viruses are not alive, and simply cannot recognize an alternative and innovative life format. View in LinkedIn

VIRAL-BACTERIAL HYBRIDS. "Many phage genomes are integrated into bacterial chromosomes (prophages) with some species harboring as many as 20 prophages." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042682215001920 View in LinkedIn

CHAINMAIL AND CEMENT. "In HK97 itself, the intersubunit contacts are reinforced by a post-assembly covalent linkage—an isopeptide bond between adjacent gp5 subunits, so positioned that the entire capsid is topologically interlinked in a ‘chainmail’ arrangement. In other cases, such as bacteriophage λ, the non-covalent interactions between the subunits are reinforced by an additional ‘cement’ protein, which binds on the outer surface of the capsid at positions close to those of the isopeptide bonds in HK97." https://elifesciences.org/content/2/e01299 View in LinkedIn

MOST ABUNDANT ON EARTH. "Viruses, in particular the tailed bacteriophages (Caudovirales), are by far the most abundant biological entities in the biosphere. Phages outnumber bacteria by a factor of ten with an estimated 10(31) virus particles on Earth." https://lnkd.in/dXvJFtt View in LinkedIn