Here's another cool animation to understand this complicated but amazingly fast DNA replication process!
Monday, March 29, 2010
What makes you 'Unique' may imply Your Clones may 'NOT' be 100% identical!
DNA of an organism determines its biological constitution (genotype), and physical appearances (phenotype). In other words, its our DNA that makes us unique, and in particular, its our "genes" which help in shaping our destiny in terms of the biological make up, and physical appearances!
Do you know that this genetic difference between me and you, is minuscule - just about 0.025% or (1:4000). Imagine this could result in two completely different individuals!
According to scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine and Yale University, it may not be entirely these genetic differences that result in our 'uniqueness', a direction of many researches aiming to identify the genes that determine our individuality! Results from their research suggest that it is due to the sequences surrounding the genes (on our DNA) like DNA binding sites, transcription factors etc.. These sequences may be upstream or downstream w.r.t a gene's loci on the DNA, and control or regulate the translation of genes (code for proteins) on DNA, and making of proteins - vital molecules in several physiological processes which in tandem, keep us alive and functioning. These genomic differences in non-gene coding regions of DNA play a pivotal role in deciding our uniqueness, and making you YOU, and me ME! As a result, several scientific studies are now shifting their focus from discovering/identifying the genes but to a more broader regions of DNA.
Now, what about cloning? What happens if you were to clone yourself?
Having just the oligo-nucleotides for translation of genes to make proteins be enough? I guess not! Constructing a perfect (100% identical) clone, would require a nature's miracle. And, to get a nearly perfect gene, you will need a lot more than just genes! Keeping DNA polymerase (an enzyme acts as catalyst in DNA replication) happy, you would also need identical transcription factors, and binding sites,... Due to some genomic catastrophic event like inversion or deletion or crossing of some section of chromosome, there may be some difference between sequences surrounding the genes on DNA. And, guess what the way they regulate genes may be altogether a different prospect, resulting in near to perfect clones only!
Source: http://med.stanford.edu/ism/2010/march/genes.html
Image Source: http://www.dnareplication.info/images/dnareplication.jpg
Do you know that this genetic difference between me and you, is minuscule - just about 0.025% or (1:4000). Imagine this could result in two completely different individuals!
Now, what about cloning? What happens if you were to clone yourself?
Having just the oligo-nucleotides for translation of genes to make proteins be enough? I guess not! Constructing a perfect (100% identical) clone, would require a nature's miracle. And, to get a nearly perfect gene, you will need a lot more than just genes! Keeping DNA polymerase (an enzyme acts as catalyst in DNA replication) happy, you would also need identical transcription factors, and binding sites,... Due to some genomic catastrophic event like inversion or deletion or crossing of some section of chromosome, there may be some difference between sequences surrounding the genes on DNA. And, guess what the way they regulate genes may be altogether a different prospect, resulting in near to perfect clones only!
Source: http://med.stanford.edu/ism/2010/march/genes.html
Image Source: http://www.dnareplication.info/images/dnareplication.jpg
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Interestingly different Sexes are at War -The Genetic War!
Can regular altercations (arising from basic behavior) between men and women be blamed on to their genes?
Basic instinct of female fruit flies to make more and more eggs, while that of males to increase their success of mating and fertilization, can now be blamed onto their genes, as shown by researchers at Uppsala University, Sweden. Ted Morrow (leader of this research) said that the genes that are most beneficial for one sex, say female, are most disadvantageous for the other (male) resulting in "conflict of interests" and, the saga begins.
For humans, sex chromosome for "Male" are XY, and for "Female": XX. And, its interesting to see that these most of the conflicting genes reside on X-chromosome.
For more details:
Original news @Scicasts: Genetic War of the Sexes
Published paper @PLoS: The Sexually Antagonistic Genes of Drosophila melanogaster
Image source: http://www.tetrasomy18p.ca/chromosome.jpg
Basic instinct of female fruit flies to make more and more eggs, while that of males to increase their success of mating and fertilization, can now be blamed onto their genes, as shown by researchers at Uppsala University, Sweden. Ted Morrow (leader of this research) said that the genes that are most beneficial for one sex, say female, are most disadvantageous for the other (male) resulting in "conflict of interests" and, the saga begins.
For humans, sex chromosome for "Male" are XY, and for "Female": XX. And, its interesting to see that these most of the conflicting genes reside on X-chromosome.
For more details:
Original news @Scicasts: Genetic War of the Sexes
Published paper @PLoS: The Sexually Antagonistic Genes of Drosophila melanogaster
Image source: http://www.tetrasomy18p.ca/chromosome.jpg
Monday, March 15, 2010
Who spent most time social networking in 2009? Its the Australians!
With Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, social networking sites with gigantic, but continually growing online users base, its easy to anticipate Americans to lead the world in terms of time spent online and socializing virtually. The Nielsen Company concluded that it was the Australians who spent most time (average) socially online in last year.
As Facebook and Twitter mania continues this year, these statistics are most likely to change, and it will be interesting to see who is the new world leader for 2010.
Links to the sites mentioned in this post:
Facebook.com
Twitter.com
MySpace.com
References:
iTWire: http://www.itwire.com/your-it-news/entertainment/30681-australia-leads-world-in-time-spent-socially-online
nielsonWire: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/global/led-by-facebook-twitter-global-time-spent-on-social-media-sites-up-82-year-over-year/
As Facebook and Twitter mania continues this year, these statistics are most likely to change, and it will be interesting to see who is the new world leader for 2010.
Links to the sites mentioned in this post:
Facebook.com
Twitter.com
MySpace.com
References:
iTWire: http://www.itwire.com/your-it-news/entertainment/30681-australia-leads-world-in-time-spent-socially-online
nielsonWire: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/global/led-by-facebook-twitter-global-time-spent-on-social-media-sites-up-82-year-over-year/
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