Thursday, July 29, 2010
'Identical' cells? Not so much
"Genetically identical cells may be far more different than previously believed. Published this week in Science, researchers find striking variation in levels of gene expression among individual, genetically identical E. coli, seemingly the result of simple chance." They also find that "a single cell’s protein and mRNA copy numbers for any given gene are uncorrelated."
Read more @The Scientist. Full paper in Science:
Y. Taniguchi et al "Quantifying E. coli proteome and transcriptome with single-molecule sensitivity in single cells," Science, 329:533-8, 2010.
Read more @The Scientist. Full paper in Science:
Y. Taniguchi et al "Quantifying E. coli proteome and transcriptome with single-molecule sensitivity in single cells," Science, 329:533-8, 2010.
Labels: genomics, transcription
Friday, July 02, 2010
The Evolution of Complexity
Focus issue on the evolution of complexity from "how variation in signaling proteins and signaling networks influences the function of signaling pathways to regulate cellular behavior". Focus issue @ Science Signaling
A cartoon representation of sample chemotaxis networks and their dynamics in bacteria living under different conditions and possessing different motility machinery. (From Science Signalling)
Behavioral Epigenetics
A couple of news overviews of recent work on behavioral epigenetics @ Science: The Seductive Allure of Behavioral Epigenetics and A Role for Epigenetics in Cognition
Epigenetic breakdown. Several epigenetic mechanisms alter gene activity in neurons, with potentially important effects on brain function and behavior. Histone acetylation tends to promote gene activity, whereas histone methylation and DNA methylation tend to inhibit it. From Science.org
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Earlier start to multicellular life?
"Newly uncovered fossils hint that multicellular life may have evolved more than 2 billion years ago -- some 200 million years earlier than previously expected, according to a study published this week in Nature". News reports @ The Scientist and @ Nature.
