(Press-News.org) COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Analyzing massive amounts of data officially became a national priority recently when the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy announced the Big Data Research and Development Initiative. A multi-disciplinary team of University of Missouri researchers rose to the big data challenge when they solved a major biological question by using a groundbreaking computer algorithm to find identical DNA sequences in different plant and animal species.
"Our algorithm found identical sequences of DNA located at completely different places on multiple plant genomes," said Dmitry Korkin, lead author and assistant professor of computer science. "No one has ever been able to do that before on such a scale."
"Our discovery helps solve some of the mysteries of plant evolution," said Gavin Conant, co-author and assistant professor of animal sciences. "Basic research on the plant genome provides raw materials and improves techniques for creating medicines and crops."
Previous studies found long strings of identical code in different species of animals' DNA. But before this new MU research, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, computer programs had never been powerful enough to find identical sequences in plant DNAs, because the identical sections weren't found at the same points.
The genomes of six animals (dog, chicken, human, mouse, macaque and rat) were compared to each other. Likewise, six plant species (Arabidopsis, soybean, rice, cottonwood, sorghum and grape) were compared to each other. Comparing all the genetic sequences took 4 weeks with 48 computer processors doing 1 million searches per hour for a grand total of approximately 32 billion searches.
Although the scientists found identical sequences between plant species, just as they did between animals, they suggested the sequences evolved differently.
"You would expect to see convergent evolution, but we don't," Conant said. "Plants and animals are both complex multi-cellular organisms that have to deal with many of the same environmental conditions, like taking in air and water and dealing with weather variations, but their genomes code for solutions to these challenges in different ways."
The MU team's research laid the groundwork for future studies into the reasons plants and animals developed different genetic mechanisms and how they function. Their basic research created a foundation for discoveries that may improve human life. Besides advancing genetic science's potential to fight disease, the code-analyzing computer program itself could help in the development of new medicines.
"The same algorithm can be used to find identical sequential patterns in an organism's entire set of proteins," said Korkin. "That could potentially lead to finding new targets for existing drugs or studying these drugs' side effects."
The PNAS paper, titled "Long Identical Multispecies Elements in Plant and Animal Genomes," involved collaboration between the Universities of Missouri, California and Arizona. The computer algorithm was developed by Jeff Reneker, a senior research informatician at MU's Center for Computational Biology and Medicine, during his doctoral study at the MU Computer Science Department under the supervision of Chi-Ren Shyu, Director of the MU Informatics Institute.
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DURHAM, N.C. -- A female's social status affects how her genes turn on and off, and those who rank higher tend to be healthier -- so long as their social status doesn't decline, according to a study of rhesus macaques published in the April 9 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The study is the first to use an experimental approach to observe how gene expression patterns across a range of genes correlate with an animal's social dominance. It estimates that gene expression can predict the social status of an individual with 80 percent accuracy.
"Our study ...
If a monkey's social status changes, her immune system changes along with it say researchers who conducted the study with rhesus macaques at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. This finding may have implications for how the stress of low socioeconomic status affects human health and how individuals' bodies adapt after a shift in their social environment. The results are published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition.
Researchers led by Jenny Tung, PhD, say they can predict a rhesus macaque's rank within a small group ...
NEW YORK (April 9, 2012 ) -- An international research team led by Weill Cornell Medical College investigators have discovered two inherited-genetic deletions in the human genome linked to development of aggressive prostate cancer. The findings, published online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), indicate a man's risk of developing prostate cancer either triples or quadruples, depending on the genetic variant they inherit.
In the study, one genetic deletion is shown to affect the functioning of a known gene, while the other, found ...
BETHESDA, MD -- April 9, 2012 -- Scientists have moved a step closer to correcting some unhealthy gene mutations with diet, according to a new research report appearing in the April 2012 issue of the journal GENETICS (http://www.genetics.org/). Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, determined variations and responses to vitamin treatment in the human cystathionine beta synthase gene, which when defective, causes the disease homocystinuria, an inherited metabolic disorder sometimes treatable with vitamin B6. After the analysis, scientists correlated specific ...
Boston, MA – New research from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) suggests that seemingly small changes in summer temperature swings—as little as 1°C more than usual—may shorten life expectancy for elderly people with chronic medical conditions, and could result in thousands of additional deaths each year. While previous studies have focused on the short-term effects of heat waves, this is the first study to examine the longer-term effects of climate change on life expectancy.
The study will be published online April 9, 2012 in the Proceedings of the National Academy ...
The release of the new iPad must surely have convinced even the hardest of cynics that the Apple tablet computer is here to stay. This is particularly great news for mobile casino enthusiasts who like to play a quick game of blackjack, roulette, craps or slots while on the move. The success of the latest Apple tablet looks set to revolutionise the world of iPad Casinos in the near future.
Most of us at this stage have played real money casino apps on our iPhone or Android smartphones and have enjoyed their many benefits. Blackjack, keno and video poker apps look and ...
Researchers at the University of Central Florida have developed a novel technique that may give doctors a faster and more sensitive tool to detect pathogens associated with inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn's disease.
The new nanoparticle-based technique also may be used for detection of other microbes that have challenged scientists for centuries because they hide deep in human tissue and are able to reprogram cells to successfully evade the immune system.
The microbes reappear years later and can cause serious health problems such as seen in tuberculosis ...
(WASHINGTON, April 9, 2012) –A novel anti-leukemia compound with little toxicity successfully treated zebrafish with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), suggesting its potential to become a new highly targeted therapy for humans – even those resistant to conventional therapies – according to results from a study published online today in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH).
T-ALL is a cancer of the white blood cells in which genetic mutations cause normal immature T-cells to develop into leukemic cells, or "blasts." These blasts then ...
WASHINGTON, April 9, 2012– Education research experts will unveil findings critical to the future of education at the upcoming AERA 2012 Annual Meeting, the largest gathering of education research experts in the world. More than 13,000 participants from over 60 countries plan to attend the meeting from April 13 through 17 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Researchers will present their latest findings in more than 2,400 sessions, invited lectures, and other events.
New peer-reviewed research findings address a wide range of areas in education including the public ...
The ranking of a monkey within her social environment and the stress accompanying that status dramatically alters the expression of nearly 1,000 genes, a new scientific study reports. The research is the first to demonstrate a link between social status and genetic regulation in primates on a genome-wide scale, revealing a strong, plastic link between social environment and biology.
In a comparison of high-ranking rhesus macaque females with their low-ranking companions, researchers discovered significant differences in the expression of genes involved in the immune response ...
