Page 4 - Genes Development News Today

Essential Mechanisms Identified for Proper Skin Development A severely burned left hand with permanent scars against a plain background February 22, 2021 Share An international research team reports that it has found that Polycomb complexes are essential for proper skin development. This latest discovery could improve development of future stem cell therapies to generate “skin on a dish” to transplant into burn victims and patients with skin-blistering disorders, according to the scientist...

Changes in behavior and gene expression show which worker will come out on top in the first days of a month-long battle between worker ants to establish new leadership after their queen dies, researchers report. “Despite prolonged social upheaval in ant colonies following the loss of the queen, the winners of these dueling tournaments are rapidly determined,” says Claude Desplan, a professor of biology at New York University. “Our findings may provide clues on adaptability in reproduction...

Date Time Share In Dueling Ants Vying to Become Replacement Queen, Behavioral and Molecular Cues Quickly Determine Who Will Win “Pseudoqueens” rapidly emerge after social structure is disrupted by the loss of queen In Indian jumping ants, workers duel with their antennae to establish new leadership after the death of their queen. Photo credit: Giacomo Mancini, NYU In one species of ants, workers duel to establish new leadership after the death of their queen. While these sparring matches...

January 20, 2021 Biologists have long wondered how complex organisms contain a variety of dramatically different types of cells with specialized functions, even though all of those cells are genetically identical. New research reveals how proteins, called “pioneer transcription factors,” help turn on key genes that give cell types their unique properties and functions. These pioneer factors, it turns out, help unspool tightly wound coils of DNA so that genetic blueprints in genes can be rea...

BOSTON - Studies with a popular laboratory model, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, have revealed a possible therapeutic avenue for a rare but deadly condition in which children are born without the ability to make molybdenum cofactor (Moco) on their own. Though little known, Moco is essential for life and so far it has proven extremely difficult to stably isolate this compound in the laboratory, preventing its use as a therapeutic supplement. This new work, which appears in Genes & Dev...