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Study shows your genes determine how fast your DNA mutates with age

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  The study found that common genetic variants can speed up or slow down this process by up to fourfold, and that certain expanded sequences are linked to serious diseases including kidney failure and liver disease. Why it matters More than 60 inherited disorders are caused by expanded DNA repeats: repetitive genetic sequences that grow longer over time. These include devastating conditions like Huntington's disease, myotonic dystrophy, and certain forms of ALS. Most people carry DNA repeats that gradually expand throughout their lives, but this instability and what genetic factors control it hadn’t been fully analyzed within large biobanks. This study demonstrates that DNA repeat expansion is far more widespread than previously recognized and identifies dozens of genes that regulate this process, opening new avenues for developing treatments that could slow disease progression. What the study did Researchers from UCLA, the Broad Institute, and Harvard Medical School analyzed whole...
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First map of a cellular stress memory landscape paves the way for better understanding of cell stress-related disease processes

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  When does that seasonal suntan become a risk for melanoma? At what point could those extra pounds trigger diabetes? Could severe head injuries tip one over into Alzheimer’s disease? In the larger scheme of things, the risk factors include genetics, lifestyle and age, with the answers often only coming after the unfortunate diagnoses.   However, a record of the physical slights, injuries, bad choices we make and abuses we experience exists as stress at a cellular level. UC Santa Barbara researchers have found a way to map this cellular “stress memory landscape,” which interprets the stresses that cells have already undergone and predicts the cells’ future reaction to stressors.   “We’ve developed a platform that could allow us to eventually figure out how all stress-related diseases occur,” said molecular biologist   Max Wilson,  a senior author of a paper that appears on the cover the journal Cell System. In addition to demystifying the onset of cellular ...
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Drug resistance in pancreatic cancer: Scientists pinpoint major and minor signaling pathways that drive it

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  Cancer drug resistance is the devastating reason that treatments fail and cancers metastasize, spreading to distant sites seeding new resistant tumors elsewhere in the body. Combating the problem has become the singular enterprise of some cancer research laboratories, which have been seeking the myriad causes of drug resistance and searching for methods to thwart them. At the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, scientists who had been searching for elusive signaling pathways that underpin drug resistance in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma not only found them, but traced them to another molecular mechanism that insidiously sustains drug resistance. As scientific sleuths, the team relied on information theory, a branch of applied mathematics, to aid their hunt for errant molecules that help drive drug resistance in cancer. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is the most common form of the disease, affecting up to 90% of people diagnosed with the cancer, according to the U.S. N...
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Two Main Gene Discovery Methods Reveal Complementary Aspects of Biology

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  The two main approaches for discovering disease genes reveal distinct aspects of biology, a new study shows. Although both methods are widely used, the research found that they identify different genes, with major implications for drug development. Published online November 5 in  Nature , the study revolves around the human genome, which contains thousands of genes that provide instructions for making proteins, as well as regulatory DNA that controls when genes turn on. The new investigation takes a genome-wide view of how small DNA differences—called variants—can influence traits such as height, hair color, and disease risk. Led by researchers at NYU Langone Health; Stanford University; University of California, San Francisco; and the University of Tokyo, the new work analyzed two main methods used to determine how genetic differences influence disease biology. These are genome-wide association studies (GWAS), which test common variants across the genome—in genes and regula...
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Tiny RNA molecule helps viruses hijack bacterial cells

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  Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have found a previously unknown way that viruses infecting bacteria take control of their hosts. They discovered a tiny RNA molecule that acts as a molecular ‘switch’ to speed up infection, providing key insights on phage biology that could support future efforts to develop alternatives to antibiotics. The study focused on bacteriophages – viruses that infect bacteria – and revealed an unexpected regulatory role for a small RNA molecule called PreS. The findings demonstrate that phages can manipulate bacterial cells not only through proteins, but also by using RNA to reprogramme the cell from within. A new layer of viral control The research team, led by Dr Sahar Melamed at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem alongside PhD student Aviezer Silverman, MSc student Raneem Nashef and computational biologist Reut Wasserman, worked in collaboration with Professor Ido Golding from the University of Illinois Urbana-C...
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Cutting Back One Amino Acid Increased The Lifespan of Mice Up to 33%

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  In mice, limited intakes of one specific essential amino acid can slow the effects of aging and even extend their lifespan, research from the US shows. Scientists wonder if these findings could help people improve their longevity and quality of life. Isoleucine is one of three branched-chain amino acids that our bodies use to make proteins. It's essential for our survival, but our cells can't produce it from scratch, so we have to get it from sources like eggs, dairy, soy protein, and meats. In the most recent study, a genetically diverse group of mice was fed either a diet containing 20 common amino acids as a control, a diet where all amino acids were reduced by about two-thirds, or a diet where only isoleucine was reduced by the same amount. The mice were around six months old at the start of the study, which is the equivalent age of a 30-year-old person. They could eat as much as they wanted, but only from the specific kind of food provided to their group. Event Name : I...
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New AI tool identifies not just genetic mutations, but the diseases they may cause

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  Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have developed a novel artificial intelligence tool that not only identifies disease-causing genetic mutations but also predicts the type of disease those mutations may trigger. The method, called V2P (Variant to Phenotype), is designed to accelerate genetic diagnostics and aid in the discovery of new treatments for complex and rare diseases. The findings were reported in the December 15 online issue of  Nature Communications . How V2P advances genetic diagnostics Current genetic analysis tools can estimate whether a mutation is harmful, but they cannot determine the type of disease it might cause. V2P fills that gap by using advanced machine learning to link genetic variants with their likely phenotypic outcomes—that is, the diseases or traits a mutation might cause—effectively predicting how a patient's DNA could influence their health. "Our approach allows us to pinpoint the genetic changes that are most relevant t...
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