Eye on DNA Headlines for 3 September 2007

by Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei
Posted September 3, 2007 in DNA Fun, Eye on DNA Headlines

• DNA 11, a company that produces personalized prints from RFLP DNA patterns, is featured in The Independent. For other artwork you can have commissioned using your DNA, see my previous post.
• Medgadget cracked me up with this comment about follistatin knockout mice that develop huge muscles.

  At one point, we think, these engineered beasts will be ready to defend democracy from enemies foreign and domestic.
  
  Researchers think tinkering with this gene can help “beef up” livestock or build muscle in patients with muscular dystrophy and other wasting diseases.

• Dr. T Ryan Gregory at Genomicron dissects bad science stories with a list of 10 misdeeds committed by science writers.
• RPM at evolgen takes a look at the mishmash of DNA sequences that make-up eukaryotic genomes in I’M IN UR GENOME, ADPATING UR HOST-SYMBIONT RELATIONSHIPS. And Shelley chimes in, “Kimeric geenome iz mixin’.” LOL We luvz us sum chimeras. Right, Krissy? For those of you who don’t know what we’re LOLing about, check out I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER?

  

• The HMGA2 gene has been linked to height. People who have two copies of the short version are an average of a centimeter shorter than those with two copies of the taller alleles. The researchers have also hypothesized a link between the tall version of HMGA2 gene and abnormal cell division leading to cancer.

Tags: genetics, genes, dna, lolcats, chimeras, height gene

(2 comments)

RSS feed

2 Comments

Comment by Krissy Poopyhands

2007-09-04 14:32:44

In conclusion: Being short is a genetic advancement associated with a lower risk of Horrible Deadly Illness That Will Strike You Horribly Dead, and I IZ SMARTZ ON CHIMERAS.

Reply to this comment

Comment by Hsien

2007-09-04 17:39:14

You got it! And you told me you didn’t understand what I’m yammering on about over on this here DNA blogz.

Reply to this comment

 

 

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.